Hilton Infared Pedal

Ron Whitworth · Post by **Ron Whitworth** » 17 Mar 2000 10:30 am

I just wanted to give my personal opinion on this latest pedal.I received mine 2 days ago.After reading over the instructions a couple of times to make sure I understood how to adjust the pedal correctly; I hooked it up.The only thing Missing from the instructions was "turn your amp volume down"
When I hit the guitar it about blew me off of the seat.All I can say is "WOW".This baby has easily 2 times the volume of my pot style pedals;maybe more.I had to cut the amp volume way down.The ads are correct-this baby stays clean & no change in tone thru the full sweep of the pedal.Now I understand why some of the guys are saying it is like taking the blanket off of your amp- I fully agree with that..Just wanted to let some of you who are thinking about this know what I thought about it. Ron [This message was edited by Ron Whitworth on 17 March 2000 at 10:31 AM.]

Chris Walke · Post by **Chris Walke** » 17 Mar 2000 2:14 pm

Where can I get info on this pedal? Where to buy, cost, etc...

Keith Hilton · Post by **Keith Hilton** » 17 Mar 2000 6:52 pm

Ron, thanks for the good words about my pedal. It's all about sound quality! On the 1999 pedals you could not turn the volume down below the base signal. On the 2000 pedals, you can turn the volume down, down, clear to off. This just proves a point. Pot pedals lose signal. If you measure the resistance between the in and the out, when the pedal is wide open, there is a lot of resistance left. Many of the pedals leave between 20,000 to 100,000 ohms resistance on the pedal, even when it is wide open. That is a lot left out of the 500,000 possible. I won't mention brand names, but there are two pot pedals that leave more resistance, when wide open, than others. If the pot isn't going wide open, and is leaving resistance, no wonder you have to turn up your amp. Even if a pot is rotated all the way, there is sometimes resistance left on the pot. Here is a simple test to hear the signal ,and the high end frequency ,you are losing with a pot pedal; Un-hook your pot pedal and put it away. Hook the guitar cord directy to your guitar jack. Turn up stuff in line, and your amp ,till you get a good hum. You need your hand on the strings to keep them from vibrating. Listen closely to the volume and crispness of the hum. Now, plug in your old pot pedal ,and have it wide open. That hum you hear with the pot pedal, will be lower in volume,because you are losing signal. The old pot pedal sound will also have a "DULLER" tone to the hum. Yes "DULLER", because the pedal is losing high end frequency. The crispness you heard in the hum ,with the direct cord, has changed to a duller hum. The volume is lower, because the pedal has resistance between the in and the out. This is proof positive of the signal loss, frequency loss, tone loss and total response loss of a pot pedal. Anyone can hear the difference in the crispness of the hum with a direct cord, as compaired to a old pot pedal. If the sound is crisper with a direct cord--you are bound to be losing high end frequency.
Ron, if you would like the 2000 volume control installed on the pedal you bought, just return it to me. I will put the new control on for no charge. Please visit my web-site at-- http://www.duanesmusic.com/hilton.html

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[This message was edited by Keith Hilton on 17 March 2000 at 06:53 PM.]

Mark Amundson · Post by **Mark Amundson** » 17 Mar 2000 7:53 pm

I will not ring the bell for or against Keith's opto-pedal until I try one, but the emperical demo results are true just based on basic electronics theory.

We (some of us) use buffer stages to create high impedances for the pickup tonal preservation and also to be able to drive the cable capacitance that could diminish the high audio frequencies. The output of a 500k pot pedal does not have the ability to adequately drive the cable capacitance and thus loses treble.

Ideally, a perfect volume pedal would buffer the input and the output, preserving good tone and minimizing signal losses. I believe the Hilton Electronics pedal does this plus the crackle free control of signal level (volume) via photonic (optical) devices.

Terry Wood · Post by **Terry Wood** » 18 Mar 2000 3:36 pm

Steel Guitar Forum Members,

I must say that the new Hilton volume pedals are the best thing since sliced bread with honey on it!

Next, I would like to share some info on Keith Hilton. I have known Keith since I was a youngster in Junior High School. It so happens that he was my math teacher and the principal of the Jr. High School I attended. He also taught High School Mathematics.

Keith Hilton knows his stuff. He has been playing, exploring and inventing better things for steel guitarists for years.
He was one of the very first, if not the first, to start writing steel guitar courses for steel players. His stuff was great even back then in 1976, when he first went to St. Louis at the Steel Guitar Convention. You know why I know it was great, because all of the big steel cats were surrounding and circling his booth, and they were buying his steel guitar courses. Not only the Nashville players, but steel players from all over the world bought his steel courses books and videos. Steel Guitar Hall of Famer Doug Jernigan thought it great, because he hooked up with Keith and they sold their great courses for 22 years.

Next, Keith invented a new type of amp stand, and they worked better than anything that had been produced by anyone.

Now, he's done it again. He has revolutionized the volume pedal and steel guitar playing will never be the same. If you want to sound like the big Steel Cats, I suggest you purchase one of Keith's new volume pedals.

Yes, Keith knows his electronics. Back in the 1960's he was working for North American Aviation and he worked on a thing called the Lunar Landing Module. Then in 1969 the US landed on the moon, the rest is history.

I have known Keith Hilton for nearly 30 years and simply put the guy is a genius, a electronic wizard, a lover of steel guitar and steel guitarists. I don't know about you all but I am glad he's on our side! I am proud to call him friend. Finally, because of his numerous achievements and dedicaton I think he's a guy who deserves to be included into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame.

Terry Wood
14 strings + 14 pedals BMI and the New Hilton Volume Pedal all the way!

Terry Wood · Post by **Terry Wood** » 20 Mar 2000 6:41 am

Steel Forum Members,

I forgot to mention all of the thousands of hours that Keith worked putting into the development of his new pedal. Why? Because he wants only the best in sound quality for the instrument we all love, the Steel Guitar.

God Bless You All!
Terry Wood

Kenneth Kotsay · Post by **Kenneth Kotsay** » 24 Mar 2000 4:41 pm

I received a new ME262-B the other day and in short, it's like going from black & white T.V. to Color H.D.T.V. or 78 records to CDs. The sound I get is just out of this world, it's very clean, strong and pure. This pedal is so good I will most likely order a second one in the near future. I want to thank Keith for his great contribution to the pedal steel guitar industry. To those who have yet to hear what a great sound improvement volume pedal this is, it's your loss if you don't buy one and if you think you have "thee greatest sounding steel going" wait till you hook this baby up, you'll be MARS bound.

WWJD [This message was edited by Kenneth Kotsay on 24 March 2000 at 04:42 PM.]

Buck Grantham · Post by **Buck Grantham** » 25 Mar 2000 8:04 am

I received my latest pedal two days ago and it sounds so good it really makes you want to play. There's no hum and the highs are still there. It makes my axe sound like it's brand new. You know ,we spend thousands of dollars to try to get a good sound and there it is in that pedal. All of you owe it to yourself to try one of these. I'm at a lot of these steel shows. Come by me and say hello. You're welcome to try mine any time. In fact i'd be real pleased to meet you any way...... Buck