The Steel Guitar Forum

I've used the same old Fender (side jack) pot-pedal for over 40 years. Over the years, I've probably replaced the pot 4 or 5 times. I don't play much now, but the last pot was installed in '92 or '93, and it still works fine.

I have one of the newer (expensive) "powered" electronic pedals that everyone talks about, but I just can't come up with a good enough reason to use it.

I'm a beginner, so I can empathize with not wanting to spend a bunch on a volume pedal.

I use an old DeArmond 1602 I got off of ebay. I replaced the pot and the jacks, added a tone control and a jfet line buffer, power, and a light. I bought the PCB for the buffer at muzique.com

Less than $100 all in.

It's pretty messy inside (I kept adding features) but it works great and sounds really clean.