Emmons Volume Pedal Noise

Hamilton Belk · Post by **Hamilton Belk** » 17 Feb 2017 4:04 pm

Hello Forum,

I am having a very frustrating issue with my Emmons volume pedal. When the pedal is all the way down and my foot is on it, I get a very loud, crackly, distorted signal ONLY when I am pressing/releasing the pedals and levers. If I take my foot off the VP, but leave it fully engaged, the problem disappears. The problem also disappears when I plug straight into the amp, bypassing the VP.

My guess is that it's a grounding issue, but the wiring looks consistent with a diagram I saw, and descriptions I found in another thread.

I've played a lap steel through it with no issue. It's really just when I have the VP fully engaged and I manipulate the pedals/levers. I've tried a BOSS volume pedal and the problem goes away. I've also tested all of my cables, no problem there.

Any ideas for what could be the cause?

Thank you kindly for any help.

Best,

Hamilton

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 17 Feb 2017 10:27 pm

probably bad connection somewhere...

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 18 Feb 2017 6:08 am

That's going to be an old pedal,and there may be some oxidation in grounding of the jacks, lessening the effectiveness of the chassis ground.
I can think of two ways to address it: either remove the jacks and take a wire brush to the mating surfaces of pedal and jacks, or stop trusting the chassis ground and run ground wires to pot and both jacks.

Wait! If it happens as you're pressing guitar pedals, I'd check guitar grounds and cables.

David Nugent · Post by **David Nugent** » 18 Feb 2017 7:37 am

If the problem does not exist when activating the pedals but not fully engaging the VP, you might check to determine if when fully engaged the pedal is turning the shaft completely and attempting to over ride the stop mechanism in the pot. Try depressing the pedal fully with your hand and see if you can move the pot further by manually turning the shaft. If not, simply loosen the string ferrule and turn the pot shaft SLIGHTLY counterclockwise.

Dan Robinson · Post by **Dan Robinson** » 24 Feb 2017 10:43 pm

Mckay, let's get together and have anotherlook at it. Lane is right, that is an old pedal. I couldn't spot anything suspicious from looking at it last night. Everything appears to be connected, but oxidation or a bad solder joint could be the culprit. We can try cleaning the pot wiper with some contact cleaner, and check continuity with an ohm meter.

I want to see your guitar!

Nice to meet another New England native out here.