The Steel Guitar Forum

The other day I had a volume pedal crap out on me. While I wait for the new one to arrive, I've been practicing with my band without one.
I gotta say, I'm not sure if i'm going to go back...

I can play softly, and also lay into it. I think this whole time I've been doing a lot of hiding behind the pedal, Using it to control my playing and not my fingers.

Also, I quit using any effects. Just playing straight through an ampeg V-4, running it a little hot, and wailing.

Its been very liberating. Anyone else got this style?

I agree , although I still use my VP I could play without it . Especially when starting out I tended to use the VP to back off quick to hide mistakes etc making for a very uneven sound .Nowadays I mainly use if for swells and sustain .

I am totally with you, John. I found dropping the VP was the most liberating move I've made in pedal steel (and I never used one with lap steel). Of course we're going to hear why you have to have one from even the veterans, but I love being VPless. I've gone through spells with no reverb; just depends on the music, but mostly it sounds great without it. While it has limited use that you can't create without it, for the most part, a VP is simply a mechanical compressor...and even on professional recordings you hear it poorly used in the attack. I've recorded some beautiful pedal steel on ballads with no VP. It's all in the right hand.