Tone control on a pedal?

Brett Lanier · From: Hermitage, TN

I'm seriously considering adding a ninth pedal and hooking it up to a second tone control somewhere under the guitar. I guess I'd just wire it in place of the existing tone control on my Emmons. Anyone tried this before? Just looking for some tips or ideas in case anyone has been there or done that. Thanks

Eddie Cunningham · From: Massachusetts, USA

I don't think your idea would work out too well !! Better to get a Fender vol./tone control unit that has both in one pedal !! Eddie "C"

Brett Lanier · From: Hermitage, TN

I think it could work. I first got the idea when working on a Little Buddy, which has a mounted pedal that operates a volume pot. That system turns the pot quite well. Anyway if it doesn't work, I'll have a ninth pedal which wouldn't be the end of the world.

I guess I'd just be surprised if no one has ever done this before. I have one of those fender pedals. It's cool, but not the volume pedal I want to be using.

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

What is the purpose? Especially since your Emmons already has a tone pot. Are you thinking of changing the tone settings WHILE playing? Don't see a need to do that, but you might have some ideas for using it in what you play. I think it would be hard to control the exact spot you want to set it at with your foot. That is probably a good reason why the concept of integrating a volume control on a pedal never took off. And, a volume control on the pedal would probably be spring loaded, whereas the tone control probably wouldn't, requiring more effort to adjust up and down to an exact spot. If you have an extra pedal you don't use, I would suggest finding a change that you might use that you don't already have.

But, it would be cool to take pedal 10 and wire it up to be a wah wah pedal. Of course, you would have to mount the electronics in the guitar and I would mount a toggle switch in place of the push switch somewhere handy to activate. Whoa!

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Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 55 years and still counting.

Brett Lanier · From: Hermitage, TN

The purpose is only for the speedy west effect (b-wahhh). The handy thing about doing it on an Emmons I think, is that there would already be a return spring in the pedal stop so that the pedal moves up and down, and there is already a tone control bypass toggle switch between the necks.

Tim Marcus · From: San Francisco, CA

wouldn't it be easier just to get one of those mini wah wah pedals and stick it next to your volume pedal?

like this one:
http://thepedallab.com/2011/05/15/plutoneium-chi-wah-wah/

my concern is that you will go through a lot of tone pots using your method - the Emmons tone pot is not meant to be turned that often. Plus you are relying on a mechanical "jerry rig" that will take a lot of calibration. Think about how much the pot rotates versus the pedal throw... its going to take a few different carefully calculated pulleys and wheels to make that work especially because you'll find that the tone pot has a sweet spot - you won't want to be turning it the whole way like a volume pot.
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Michael Maddex · From: Northern New Mexico, USA

Brett, what you want to do sounds pretty straight forward to me. Put an arm on the new tone pot shaft with adjustable stops to limit the travel to just where you want it. Have your pedal rod pull that arm. Use a spring to return the arm to start. Since the pot is simply bleeding some of the signal, determined by the cap, to ground, I think that you should be able to wire the new circuit in parallel to the old pot and which ever one is used will change the tone.

Hope this makes some sense.
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"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert." -- Arthur C. Clarke

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

Brett Lanier · From: Hermitage, TN

Though the tone wop sound isn't used by steel players much anymore, other musicians haven't forgotten about it, and people are constantly asking me to do it. I've thought awhile about the best way to do it and I've come up with two ideas other than the vol/tone pedal.
1. A ninth pedal.
2. A spring loaded 'stick' between the necks that you could pull to the left with your little finger to cut the tone then let go of to bring back to full bright sound. This idea seems better for a steel built new rather than messing with an already good steel.

I simply can't believe that no one has ever put a tone control on a pedal before, or at least tried and failed.

Another thing I might try is the crybaby 95q pedal. It has a Q control to make it less of a wah and more like a tone control, and it is spring loaded so it returns to off on it's own. The chi-wah wah looks like it would drift around the floor a little too much, plus I already know I like the sound of a crybaby.

I appreciate all the thoughts and suggestions on the subject. I'd love to hear more.

Tim Marcus · From: San Francisco, CA

Not if you jam it under a pedal Smile

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Dale Ware · From: Texas, USA * R.I.P.

I have a Goodrich light beam pedal with a tone control knob on the side that I roll with my foot. You might contact Goodrich to see if they still manufacture this pedal. Dale

Tim Whitlock · From: Colorado, USA

I'm one that loves that playing style and use the "doo-wah" effect a lot in my playing. Speedy West (and others) would achieve the effect by slamming the bar on the strings with the left hand and manually rolling the tone control on the guitar from full off to on with the right hand.

There was also the doorbell button mod that cut the highs in and out of the circuit rapidly for a similar effect, but more staccato.

Lastly there were the Bigsby, Fender, Dearmond vol/tone pedals so you could do the effect with your foot.

By the time pedals were standard for steel guitar, the doo-wah effect was pretty much abandoned in favor of the new moving tone playing style. This is probably the main reason why a tone control was never hooked to a pedal. That and the fact that there are much easier ways to achieve the effect.

Also, if you put your tone control to the far left of your pedal rack, you lose the option to mash your normal pedal changes with your left foot, while operating the tone pedal. Likewise if you put the tone pedal the the far right, you have to come off your volume pedal. It really does not seem like a practical solution.

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