With some pedals a normal mono cables from the output of the volume pedal to the expression in works as well! The TRS method definitely works, but you might not actually need one. Just try it and see if it works. I used my Ernie Ball VP JR to control a Line6 Helix I borrowed for a gig once because the Helix pedal was terrible...
I’d like to take a moment to recognize two items: 1. Nick’s “brushes on toms” drum tone during the Prairie dog jam was amazing. Very pleasing. I think that deserves to be recognized. 2: Referring to what happened to the see saw as if everyone knows what happened, although no one, in fact, actually knows what happened, isn’t nice. You have the tea. Spill the tea. Oh, and I use my volume pedal to control my volume, post gain but pre wet.
Totally agree with Nick’s drumming. I kept thinking during this whole episode how much credit he’s due because not only is he really good, his kit sounds amazing. And the brush work on the Prairie Dog jam was fantastic.
As a pedal steel player, I want to recommend looking up the 1950s Bigsby volume/tone pedals. Up and down for volume (like we all know) but also left and right for that “boo-wah” tone effect. Two pots. I think you all might dig knowing about it.
This guy I played with a long time ago was a master of using his Ernie Ball volume pedal with bends on his Telecaster to simulate Country pedal steel guitar. I tried it but it takes years of practice.
@@ZachisSublime All I can remember is he used little or no other effects going into a Fender amp. I doubt if he used any overdrive, distortion or fuzz while using the volume pedal.
JHS is such an amazing musician-composer. His "jams" are full-blown awesome mini songs with lots of soul, feel and good ole rock n' roll. Thanks for the great tips, and, most of all, thanks for the great music.
The Rig Doctor just built a new pedalboard for Rhett Shull, so I think if anything he'd swap out a pedal rather than add one... To learn what a Rhett is, you need to watch or read "Gone With the Wind." Both Rhetts are from Georgia, but the one in the movie is a bit older than the other, since he served with a B-17 group in England.
The trick with the volume pedal in the effects loop really blew my mind, but it also made me wonder why more amps don't just come with a volume pot in that part of the circuit. Seems like a feature many people would want. Lots of folks use an attenuator with loud amps and I imagine that's better at capturing power-tube distortion, too. But is the fancy attenuator really that much better? Many interesting questions here. Oh and fantastic video. Just amazing.
Holy crap! I didnt expect to see you in an effects pedal comment thread! Do you make guitars too? I'd kill to see you make a luthiery for humans series!!!
The little red pedal getting trash-talked near the end looked like the Hotone Soul Press. I’ve got one, and I really like it. I use it primarily as a volume pedal, doing swells, but on a crowded board, having the option of using it as a wah or an expression pedal (it does all three)-and the whole thing having a fairly small footprint-is super nice.
Yup, I have a Marshall SV20 coming this week that is gonna get that treatment. And before people start howling at me about power tube OD, you are wrong, that's actually PI tube OD. Power tube distortion sounds bad.
Just want to say yall's channel really relit my love of guitar, and music too. Thanks for all you do, I hope to one day be able to afford one of your pedals
Ah... I remember the first time I felt that swelling - 1975 in my girlfriend’s basement the first time we played The Wanton Song. A typically simple driving Page riff and a great Leslie effect solo - all over shadowed by the incredible distorted guitar swell transitioning back to the verse. EPIC
@@christopherweise438 Except according to Demone, “... And five, now this is the most important, Rat. When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV.” But Rat was playing Kashmir in the car. So there was a definite PG nod.
This past Christmas I was driving from Austin to the San Antonio area to see family for Christmas & whenever I drive through San Marcos I turn the radio to KTSW, the college radio station at Texas State. They always play the coolest, weirdest things. I was entranced by the sounds coming out of my car speakers so I asked my wife to Shazam the song so see what they were playing. It was Worth It by beabadoobee. We had a long conversation when the song ended about how to say the name (I'm sure we were both wrong) and after the station signal faded out of reach, we pulled up Spotify & put on Fake It Flowers. What a great album. Worth It is still my favorite track
I was using my volume pedal to sweep my delay's time for.... 20 years now? Great fun. At the time, this was a quick mod. No "expression pedal" out Jacks were made. Plus. It was an old Nady delay. Now I will get demerits for defiling an old pedal....
for those who have "effects loop free" amps (like me): put the volume pedal after your drive pedals - your tone stays the same, but the singer will love you ;-) If she doesn't, you can always use the volume pedal as a door stop or paper weight :-D
I could have written this comment on any of the many many videos of yours I've consumed but I just love everything you put out and it's like living and playing vicariously as life seems to rob me of Music Time in regular intervals. Please keep it up, it's genuinely helping me through some poo poo times
This video is very informative and it justifies all the time that I have watched your channel. Thank you very much, Josh. You are a gigantic albino angel.
Steve Morse was famous for using volume pedals as expression pedals. I think he invented their use as such back in the mid-70's. He would use his main amp as the dry sound and then use the preamp out of that amp to drive a second amp for effected sound only. The cable to the second amp would go to a passive splitter and then have one cable going to each of his three effects (long delay, short delay, and guitar synth) He would then place a volume pedal between each effect and then run all three back to a 2nd splitter which reassembled the three cables into a single one that plugged into the 2nd amp. He could thus bring his effects in and or combine 2 or three at various levels for an almost infinite variety of sounds. Simple, brilliant, and effective. He constantly switched pickups and hit those pedals...he was a busy man onstage. Look at any performance from any era and you'll see.
I feel like the volume pedal as expression pedal hack was some industrial secret. I would have never known this unless I studied the inside of an expression pedal
Thanks for letting me know that I didn't have to buy that expression pedal fourteen years ago. At least it keeps the volume pedal company as they both sit mostly unused for lo these many years.
I don't always keep a volume pedal on my board but it's definitely a staple for any pedal collection. You did an excellent job showing how versatile they are. Can't go wrong with the Ernie Ball volume pedals.
I use an old Korg volume pedal that somebody gave me in 1985. It’s simple, and it has never failed me. It made the trans Atlantic move from Sweden to Missouri and back again in the 90s, and it’s still on my board today. I mostly use it for swells, sometimes to affect my gain pedals.
my favorite way to use volume pedals is to split the chain to create a parallel fx chain and use the volume pedal in this parallel chain to control the fx intensity.
@@xebio6 one example: i have a cheap chinese stereo tremolo pedal that works as a buffered splitter when it's turned off. behringer stereo chorus is another example of a cheap pedal that can do that, or just buy a designated splitter. my amp has a second input jack for mp3-players and phones. so I split the signal with whatever stereo pedal or buffered splitter i have lying around, then my "dry" line goes into the normal amp input and the other goes into a 10€ passive DI box (maybe optional? but changes impedance to line level) and then into the 3,5mm input jack of my amp. ofc if your amp doesn't have 2 line ins you could just use a mixer before the amp, or use 2 amps, or go from the di box into any other speakers with a line input you have lying around, a cheap bluetooth box with a 3,5mm jack might even do. or run both chains into an audio interface and let the computer do the mixing...
@@KrumpusPlunk Ok, I'm assuming your volume pedal is at the end (or maybe start) of the "effected" line? Also, would this work using the return input in the back of my amp for the effected line + volume pedal? Thx again!
@@xebio6 as long as you don't have a drive pedal in the fx chain, the placement of the volume pedal does not matter. if you plug anything into your fx loop return, the preamp will be bypassed so that won't work... could try a passive a-b-y pedal, those are cheap to get.
That TRS-2xTS in a volume pedal=expression-trick really made me free up some space for my live-pedalboard. I had two volume pedals and an expression pedal, but both volume pedals has double in- and outputs, so now one of them doubles as an expression pedal. Thanks!
Your videos are SO well produced; Incredible content, brilliant humor, articulate editing and always great sounds/music! 🌟 Question 🙋🏼♂️: How long does it take you guys from conception of the idea or ideas to the completed video? Thank you
Just found an Ernie ball 6166 at a pawn shop for real cheap and this was super helpful in helping me make my decision to buy it, thank you Josh and co !!
I’ve got a cheapo “Rogue” stereo (but I use it mono as I simplified the rest of my setup to mono) volume, it’s plastic, but it feels like truck can stand on it no problem, and it has a slider at the top for the “minimum volume” so you can have just go from full volume to about 1/4 volume or zero, or anything in between. (This feature might work great for that trick with a fuzz.) I can’t remember when I got it, must’ve been 20 years ago.
I double on electric bass (sometimes active, sometimes passive) and upright bass in a band with a singer. I use a Morley Volume Plus Mini, because once it's switched on, I set the minimum volume knob for a "vocally-respectful volume", so I can heel-down to that when needed, and then toe-down when I need to make everyone mad at me.
My favorite trick is to use the tuner out jack as a splitter. Opens up crazy possibilities. Multi amp scenarios, simultaneous synth and modulation mixed with clean tones etc...Or go tuner out into a second volume pedal... It's endless. HAVE FUN :)
@@mgm5781 The volume pedal has 2 outputs . "TUNER", which is dry and "OUT", that does the volume control. You can use both outputs simultaneously to anything you want.
What's cool about the Vertex Boost is that it works as a standard volume pedal with the expression pedal hooked up, even when the boost is turned off. This setup removes tone suck that you can get from a standard volume pedal.
I was literally writing a song today and I had a 1 string volume swell bend on the 14th fret right after playing an F chord on the 1st fret. I was trying to do it with the volume knob on my guitar but the timing was off with the strumming pattern. I eventually moved the F chord to the 13th fret so I had time to swell in the bend on the 14th fret. I never even thought of using my volume pedal that was sitting behind me on the shelf. Josh, you just saved my song! Lol
I say, thank goodness you're not a Josh clone. One Josh goes a long way. Having two might break the space-time Continuum. Enjoy the heck out of your little multi treadle.
Buy an Ernie Ball volume pedal and rewatch the video. You are welcome. (I'm very happy about by little red btw, as a volume at least, small on the board and does the job.)
Josh has spoken, and his words are true. WHen I was wee, I wanted to convert the pedal for my mum's sewing machine into a volume pedal, but she wouldn't let me. She's dead now, after never ever sewing anything on that machine. Now I have my own mini sewing machine, which I only ever used once, seven years ago, but I can't bring myself to convert its pedal. I'm on my second Cry Baby, but I've never felt good about buying a volume pedal. One day, I'll probably have an accident and lose both legs, then I'll invent an elbow "pedal"., but as far as floor-based volume pedals, I must put my foot down.
Another tip, if you are playing out and the sound guy is known to not give you enough volume, do the soundcheck with the volume pedal at 75% and when it comes time to play or solo you have the volume you deserve. 🤓
As someone who’s done sound work for local shows before, every sound guy hates you for this. We will 100% cut your mix down extra just to punish you. Trust your sound guy.
@@nickspence5977 haha , i always ignored the sound guyz, they were busy trying to get drunk and or laid and barely did their jobs at the gigs ive done. So i just cranked the amp up way louder than soundcheck. Thats how I get off
Even though it's kind of been mentioned, I like to do the Michael Landau thing and put a volume pedal after gain pedals, but before time-based effects. ML basically uses it as his version of a master volume, as his amps are pedal platforms. This setup works pretty well!
Great video !! Would have been nice to mention high vs low impedance vol pedals and also what does and doesn't work when there's a treble bleed circuit in the guitar or in the vol pedal.
Me - original ('81) RAT BEFORE the BOSS FV-100 volume pedal - RAT settings: Filter= about 2:30 (o'clock), Distortion= MAX, Volume= slightly higher than unity gain, Roland RE-501 chorus echo - neck pickup - syrupy lead tone like no other. Still my favorite even all these years later.
I could have used this episode 2 months ago when I bought the expression pedal for this processor I have, meanwhile I have an Ernie Ball VP Jr. that I had indeed fallen out of love with. Thanks Mr. Monday morning quarterback!
@@samnichols4692 Hey Sam. You may or may not already know this, most of us old guys do. But I wanna flesh it out for anyone that might be confused, as these cables Can be confusing if you don't know what they're trying to do. They look a lot like standard Y-Cables, and the beginner probably assumes that TRS jacks are either for Balanced Mono connections, or Unbalanced Stereo, but may not have encountered Unbalanced Send-n-Return. I was referring to the specific Y-Cable he showed in the video. It has a single 1/4"-TRS jack on 1 end, and it 'why's out' to two 1/4"-TS jacks on the other. They're sold, or built as "Insert Cables" as when the TRS side is plugged into a Channel Insert on a mixing console, it breaks the channel's internal signal-flow, 'sends' the signal out either the tip or the ring of the TRS jack, the signal can be processed by "Outboard" gear, and 'returns' the signal on the other (ring or tip). The Shield of all three jacks are tied together, so common ground. The TRS-Tip is tied to one TS-Tip (A). The TRS-Ring is tied to the other TS-Tip (B). Depending upon which way the Insert Jack was wired on the mixer, (A) or (B) get plugged into the Unbalanced input and output of whatever Outboard processor. Insert Cables are also Re-purposed for a number of other tasks, such as in this video. A common one being splitting out a Stereo headphone jack to separate Mono left and right (or 1 and 2) for any number of reasons. (Recently used that from the TRS Headphone out on an Apollo Twin x, with the volume all the way up (line) into dual TS jacks, patched into the dual TRS- LR inputs on the Stereo channels of an Solid State Logic SiX. The result is a studio grade tracking and mixing system, UA & SSL, in a backpack. (Well, carry-on size Pelican, with iLoud MTMs. Unbelievable. )
My favourite music- related channel on RUclips (okay... tied with Premier Guitar's 'Rig Rundown' which is exceptional) - defo my fave content creator. Have learned an awful lot, even though I'm a 30 years in to my playing. Have even bought stuff based on stuff Josh has said and demonstrated. Big Love and Best Regards from the UK
It's amazing how 15 years ago, the way a fuzz cleaned was basically the way eveyone meassured how good it was. Now there's a new generation that has to be taught this fact for the first time
my first volume pedal was a Morley (circa early 80s).. it ran through my amp FX loop: Send > Morley Volume > Boss CE-1 > DOD Delay > Return. the Morley was built like a tank..but being an optical device you needed to keep a spare bulb in your tool kit.
No, no pot to get dirty. Just a cheap plastic strip with opto electric cells , that you can’t fix when the cheap plastic strip breaks or folds. No thanks, I have a forty year old Morley still waiting to work again. Paid over a hundred for the pos.
I have never thought to bend a single string past the nut for those slide/faux b-bender sounds like you did in the last song. That just blew my mind. Well done
My favorite stupid volume pedal trick is to split your clean signal and send it to a second amplifier with a chorus and a delay. When it's time to solo hit the volume pedal and some chorus into a short delay gives you this technicolor sheen for your solo. Your sound gets larger and more colorful. That was my trio sound in the 80's.
I bought a classic big ernie ball in the late 90s for shifting my slide playing closer to pedal steels. Today I use a lehle mono on my ambient board for swells and pads🤘✌💜
3 года назад+17
Alternative title: How to sell a lot of VP juniors?
I ended up creating a volume pedal out of my m-audio expression pedal. I had made a simple circuit (two mono jacks connected to a stereo jack where the expression plugs in). Recently I just put it all into the expression pedal’s housing. Volume pedal check!
What a fascinating video. Thanks very much! Will try the vol pedal in the effects loop of my JVM. Do I turn the effects level high or low and to wet or dry? I'm guessing level high and wet. What a great idea cutting the vol between the gain stages!
The knowledge these guys drop for free is just astounding. Though they have reaped $$ cause on the rare occasion I buy pedals I always check JHS first.
I used to use a Boss passive volume pedal (from about 1993 to 2000) for ambient stuff. Mostly, I was trying to learn every guitar, bass and synth part from every Rush song and was using the volume pedal with a little chorus, delay and reverb to mimic the synth pads on songs like YYZ and Hemispheres. I felt pretty creative at the time because no one I knew was doing that. Doesn’t matter much since I never got anywhere with music. Now if I hit it big, I’d just look like I was copying everyone else. Still, the effects loop and expressive pedal hacks were new to me and awesome!
This video is like a missing puzzle piece I've been looking for. Thank you so much! I just wish I had stumbled upon this when it was first came out 3 years ago (seems like a lifetime, but better late than never!)
Thanks a lot! I've been trying to find the right way to control my, mostly clean but occasional effects, Ampeg Rocket sound/tone/VOLUME without using an inline pot and losing the output/tone. I put an EB VPJR in the Effects loop AND IT"S PERFECT! You saved me hours of tinkering, Thank you.
Impedances can make a difference depending on your use case: - High impedance (>200k): Whenever you plug a guitar directly into a volume pedal, so your guitar sees a properly high input impedance. A low impedance pedal would probably make your guitar sound pretty dull here. - Low impedance (~10k): If you're using the volume pedal after any other pedals, buffers or in the fx loop a low impedance pedal is better. A high impedance one would certainly work here but the sweep is likely to be very uneven. - Bonus: Active volume pedals: They have a buffer built in, so it doesn't matter where you place them as long as it's not in front of a vintage fuzz.
nah when the volume pedal is in the open position, the impedance is next to zero in all cases. the potentiometer just defines how steep the volume ramp is.
@@KrumpusPlunk There still is a noteworthy impedance to ground, regardless of the pedal's setting. 10k to ground is pretty significant in comparison to the output impedance of a guitar. You can easily try this yourself: Try plugging a guitar (with passive electronics) straight into a 10k volume pedal without any buffers in between and you will notice a difference, i.e., lack of definition and treble.
@@error8418 I would still argue that the most important aspect is that a bigger potentiometer would give you a steeper volume ramp. how much is the residual R of a pot that's completely open? this can hardly be a bigger factor than the completely open volume pod on the guitar, since those are usually 250k-500k, are they not? also, what's the reason the sweep would be uneven with a high-R volume pedal? also, say we have a 50k and a 200k volume pedal, wouldn't both act exactly the same way if you only used the first quarter of travel on the 200k pedal?
@@KrumpusPlunk Except the fact that a volume pot is not just a variable resistor but usually works like a variable voltage divider. 500k to ground like you would find in a guitar has much less influence than 10k to ground. And here everything else starts to make a difference as well: The output impedance of whatever is before the volume pedal and the input impedance of whatever follows the volume pedal - we are basically dealing with a LOADED voltage divider here. And therefore, the volume pedal's impedance might result in an uneven sweep. (Also, don't forget the pot's taper.)
BACK IN THE DAY: I played in a heavy ambient style band. Think: Explosions in the Sky. I used my volume pedal with bass and fuzz to do swells. It was so much fun and would generally shake venues. I would watch the audience and see them react, good times.
Damn I have the T.R.S cable with two T.S ends into a EHX Grand Canyon into that same volume pedal and it doesn't work. As soon as I touch the tip on the T.S end it goes silent. My electrician made the cable especially for me. Awwww
I have one of those old fender pedals. They had a switch on either side of the pedal. One switch was for wah, one for a fuzz effect and the foot pad went up and down for wah and/or side to side for volume. I gutted it and used the up/down for volume for years but eventually abandoned it for a smaller more portable volume for my board. The old Fender pedal was very popular with steel players. I think I still have all the components of the pedal in case I want to restore it (for sentimental or mental reasons)
another neat volume pedal trick courtesy of junior brown: set your normal level for when the pedal is half-cocked, ease into the toe-down position as your note decays for extra long clean sustain without a compressor. sounds positively beautiful when done well.
I have been using a volume pedal for forty years. My first was a passive DeArmond that I got from PAiA that is dual branded as PAiA/DeArmond. I still have it. I had an old AC powered Morley VOL that I sold and newer 9 volt one that eventually stopped working. Now I have two that I currently use a Visual Volume like the one in the video on my main pedal board and a Dunlop that I have on my acoustic pedal board. Most of the time I have them in the effects loop which I have been doing ever since I got the DeRmond in 1981.
I use the length of string behind the bridge on my SG copy for my pedal-steel fakery. I can push down on the string, but I find it's actually more effective to pull up towards me when I'm bending those intervals. Great reverb tones today. EDIT: I love Beabadobee's music, one of my favorite new discoveries of the year. Also, I have never used a volume pedal because it's already right next to my hand.
I LIKE THE PART WHERE THE BIG MAN HOLDS THE ELECTRONICS
i'm deaf so i can only relate to this.
I like to wave to the pedals 👋
Gosh!
Timestamp please, I missed that part and can't watch it all again.
@@rootsradical just watch the part from 0:00
HE USED ONE OF THE SOVTEKS! HE USED ONE OF THE SOVTEKS! Does this mean we're one step closer to the mythical Sovtek episode???
Please!!!!!!
@@carminenevills6327 I think he's buying all of them first, then he's going to dump them on Reverb after he drops the video...
This is not a drill
James Hoffman just started his mythical Aeropress series, so anything is POSSIBLE!
It's definitely a sickness
BREAKING NEWS: volume pedal sales volume has just increased beyond expression
FOLLOW UP: they are nearing wah sales on reverb
I see what you did there
That speaks volumes.
Thank god I have my brother's
That’s a swell comment
The trick of turning your volume pedal into an expression pedal just blew my mind. This may be the most important video ever!!!
I wish I knew this soooooo long ago, now to make/find that splitter cable!
Makes me glad I held off adding to my new board. I concur. This video is a must watch.
That's a clever trick!
I'm not sure whether the sweep range is particularly good tho: Don't regular expression pedals utilize linear potentiometers?
@@tomlang1005 Look for an insert cable (TRS -> 2x TS). They are usually used for insert effects (send/return) on consoles.
With some pedals a normal mono cables from the output of the volume pedal to the expression in works as well! The TRS method definitely works, but you might not actually need one. Just try it and see if it works.
I used my Ernie Ball VP JR to control a Line6 Helix I borrowed for a gig once because the Helix pedal was terrible...
I love it when Nick yells from offscreen, I just always find it hilarious for some reason.
(That’s why they do it
I’d like to take a moment to recognize two items:
1. Nick’s “brushes on toms” drum tone during the Prairie dog jam was amazing. Very pleasing. I think that deserves to be recognized.
2: Referring to what happened to the see saw as if everyone knows what happened, although no one, in fact, actually knows what happened, isn’t nice. You have the tea. Spill the tea.
Oh, and I use my volume pedal to control my volume, post gain but pre wet.
Totally agree with Nick’s drumming. I kept thinking during this whole episode how much credit he’s due because not only is he really good, his kit sounds amazing. And the brush work on the Prairie Dog jam was fantastic.
It was ‘amazing’? It left you astonished and in pure wonder?
As a pedal steel player, I want to recommend looking up the 1950s Bigsby volume/tone pedals. Up and down for volume (like we all know) but also left and right for that “boo-wah” tone effect. Two pots. I think you all might dig knowing about it.
One on eBay today.
Looks unbreakable.
$450 + shipping.
Cool video! Thanks for the honorable mention at 16:13 we appreciate it!
I heard it's a really good input butter too. Someone smart told me that. I forgot who...
@@danmorrison8746 the buffer is "butter" ;)
@@VertexEffectsInc input butter is the new input buffer. 🤣 Just let's everything slide on through.
@@RobertNolan Can you tell the difference between Stork and butter?
This guy I played with a long time ago was a master of using his Ernie Ball volume pedal with bends on his Telecaster to simulate Country pedal steel guitar. I tried it but it takes years of practice.
And I'm sure some of the sounds created prior to mastery are cool as well.
Gary Louris from the Jayhawks does that
Do you remember where he placed it in the chain?
@@ZachisSublime All I can remember is he used little or no other effects going into a Fender amp. I doubt if he used any overdrive, distortion or fuzz while using the volume pedal.
Honestly the acting with the baby was moving. Just as good as the musical
Alex Lifeson is a master at using volume swells to remove the attack of his picks. One of my favorite guitarists.
Steve howe also a master at volume swells.
Steve Hackett...
Came here to say this. The start of the slow-build solo in La Villa Strangiato (esp. the live version on Exit Stage Left). Perfection.
XANADU
Jan Akkerman of Focus did the most beautiful volume swells imo. He used the volume pot though.
JHS is such an amazing musician-composer. His "jams" are full-blown awesome mini songs with lots of soul, feel and good ole rock n' roll. Thanks for the great tips, and, most of all, thanks for the great music.
I'm still hoping someone makes a compilation of all the jams they make. They're the highlights of his videos for me.
@@dhauz___7855 He said in the video they were all available.
wow I never thought I would SEE what I SAW in this video
That fuzz/volume jam was badass
And Josh's Slide Guitar sound takes a giant leap forward. Rhett Shull weeps.
Rhett Shill?
@@DMSProduktions I know what a skull is, but what's a rhett?
The Rig Doctor just built a new pedalboard for Rhett Shull, so I think if anything he'd swap out a pedal rather than add one... To learn what a Rhett is, you need to watch or read "Gone With the Wind." Both Rhetts are from Georgia, but the one in the movie is a bit older than the other, since he served with a B-17 group in England.
@@Ndlanding LOL!
Your simplicity is amazing!. That fact that you show different and good products on your channel makes me wanna buy ur product more.
The trick with the volume pedal in the effects loop really blew my mind, but it also made me wonder why more amps don't just come with a volume pot in that part of the circuit. Seems like a feature many people would want. Lots of folks use an attenuator with loud amps and I imagine that's better at capturing power-tube distortion, too. But is the fancy attenuator really that much better? Many interesting questions here. Oh and fantastic video. Just amazing.
Surely, if you put a volume pedal in the effects loop it acts like a remote control of the master volume?
Holy crap! I didnt expect to see you in an effects pedal comment thread! Do you make guitars too? I'd kill to see you make a luthiery for humans series!!!
The little red pedal getting trash-talked near the end looked like the Hotone Soul Press. I’ve got one, and I really like it. I use it primarily as a volume pedal, doing swells, but on a crowded board, having the option of using it as a wah or an expression pedal (it does all three)-and the whole thing having a fairly small footprint-is super nice.
I second all of the above 😊
Me too
The trick to put the volumen pedal in the effects loops is a nice way to get a master volume for your amp ( if it doesn't have already )
Good idea
Yeah it's just a home made master V right?
I put it in the loop, great swells!...especially first and then all the other effects....
Yup, I have a Marshall SV20 coming this week that is gonna get that treatment. And before people start howling at me about power tube OD, you are wrong, that's actually PI tube OD. Power tube distortion sounds bad.
I was thinking of cranking the master volume and using the vol pedal for control. That way I'll never be drowned out again.
Got one 4 yrs ago, gave it away, now want another, thank you very much.
Just want to say yall's channel really relit my love of guitar, and music too. Thanks for all you do, I hope to one day be able to afford one of your pedals
You don't realise how much I need you. Love you all the time and never leave you.
Ah... I remember the first time I felt that swelling - 1975 in my girlfriend’s basement the first time we played The Wanton Song. A typically simple driving Page riff and a great Leslie effect solo - all over shadowed by the incredible distorted guitar swell transitioning back to the verse. EPIC
I thought you were going somewhere else with this story, but ok then
@@b.scottfarthingsworth - Totally. Swelling.....girlfriend's basement.......Zeppelin....all the ingredients were there.
And I always thought this was a CHINESE song about soup... who knew?
@@DMSProduktions You are thinking of The Dim Sum Shuffle.
@@christopherweise438 Except according to Demone, “... And five, now this is the most important, Rat. When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV.” But Rat was playing Kashmir in the car. So there was a definite PG nod.
The co worker with the sleeping baby always has the answers to turn down the volume without losing the tone. Amazing!
This past Christmas I was driving from Austin to the San Antonio area to see family for Christmas & whenever I drive through San Marcos I turn the radio to KTSW, the college radio station at Texas State. They always play the coolest, weirdest things. I was entranced by the sounds coming out of my car speakers so I asked my wife to Shazam the song so see what they were playing. It was Worth It by beabadoobee. We had a long conversation when the song ended about how to say the name (I'm sure we were both wrong) and after the station signal faded out of reach, we pulled up Spotify & put on Fake It Flowers. What a great album. Worth It is still my favorite track
I was using my volume pedal to sweep my delay's time for.... 20 years now? Great fun.
At the time, this was a quick mod. No "expression pedal" out Jacks were made. Plus. It was an old Nady delay.
Now I will get demerits for defiling an old pedal....
for those who have "effects loop free" amps (like me): put the volume pedal after your drive pedals - your tone stays the same, but the singer will love you ;-) If she doesn't, you can always use the volume pedal as a door stop or paper weight :-D
I could have written this comment on any of the many many videos of yours I've consumed but I just love everything you put out and it's like living and playing vicariously as life seems to rob me of Music Time in regular intervals. Please keep it up, it's genuinely helping me through some poo poo times
This video is very informative and it justifies all the time that I have watched your channel. Thank you very much, Josh. You are a gigantic albino angel.
Steve Morse was famous for using volume pedals as expression pedals. I think he invented their use as such back in the mid-70's. He would use his main amp as the dry sound and then use the preamp out of that amp to drive a second amp for effected sound only. The cable to the second amp would go to a passive splitter and then have one cable going to each of his three effects (long delay, short delay, and guitar synth) He would then place a volume pedal between each effect and then run all three back to a 2nd splitter which reassembled the three cables into a single one that plugged into the 2nd amp. He could thus bring his effects in and or combine 2 or three at various levels for an almost infinite variety of sounds. Simple, brilliant, and effective. He constantly switched pickups and hit those pedals...he was a busy man onstage. Look at any performance from any era and you'll see.
I feel like the volume pedal as expression pedal hack was some industrial secret. I would have never known this unless I studied the inside of an expression pedal
it's not really that much of a secret since even the cheap chinese volume pedals get sold as "combo volume/expression pedals" these days ;)
Thanks for letting me know that I didn't have to buy that expression pedal fourteen years ago. At least it keeps the volume pedal company as they both sit mostly unused for lo these many years.
4:37 this is absolutely beautiful
Awesome !!
I don't always keep a volume pedal on my board but it's definitely a staple for any pedal collection. You did an excellent job showing how versatile they are. Can't go wrong with the Ernie Ball volume pedals.
First volume pedal I purchased was the Ernie ball, and it was to play George Harrison’s song “I need you” from the “Help” album.
GH song = money well spent
I use an old Korg volume pedal that somebody gave me in 1985. It’s simple, and it has never failed me. It made the trans Atlantic move from Sweden to Missouri and back again in the 90s, and it’s still on my board today. I mostly use it for swells, sometimes to affect my gain pedals.
my favorite way to use volume pedals is to split the chain to create a parallel fx chain and use the volume pedal in this parallel chain to control the fx intensity.
I'm interested! Care to share how you route your signal? Thx in advance!
@@xebio6 one example: i have a cheap chinese stereo tremolo pedal that works as a buffered splitter when it's turned off. behringer stereo chorus is another example of a cheap pedal that can do that, or just buy a designated splitter. my amp has a second input jack for mp3-players and phones. so I split the signal with whatever stereo pedal or buffered splitter i have lying around, then my "dry" line goes into the normal amp input and the other goes into a 10€ passive DI box (maybe optional? but changes impedance to line level) and then into the 3,5mm input jack of my amp. ofc if your amp doesn't have 2 line ins you could just use a mixer before the amp, or use 2 amps, or go from the di box into any other speakers with a line input you have lying around, a cheap bluetooth box with a 3,5mm jack might even do. or run both chains into an audio interface and let the computer do the mixing...
@@KrumpusPlunk Ok, I'm assuming your volume pedal is at the end (or maybe start) of the "effected" line? Also, would this work using the return input in the back of my amp for the effected line + volume pedal? Thx again!
@@xebio6 as long as you don't have a drive pedal in the fx chain, the placement of the volume pedal does not matter. if you plug anything into your fx loop return, the preamp will be bypassed so that won't work... could try a passive a-b-y pedal, those are cheap to get.
That TRS-2xTS in a volume pedal=expression-trick really made me free up some space for my live-pedalboard. I had two volume pedals and an expression pedal, but both volume pedals has double in- and outputs, so now one of them doubles as an expression pedal. Thanks!
Nice!
Your videos are SO well produced;
Incredible content, brilliant humor, articulate editing and always great sounds/music! 🌟
Question 🙋🏼♂️:
How long does it take you guys from conception of the idea or ideas to the completed video?
Thank you
Just found an Ernie ball 6166 at a pawn shop for real cheap and this was super helpful in helping me make my decision to buy it, thank you Josh and co !!
Josh: “We can..”
Nick: “YEAH!!!”
Josh: “You can download...”
Nick: “DO IT!!!”
That trick of pressing above the nut to get that pedal steel half step rise is great. Had never seen that before.
I’ve got a cheapo “Rogue” stereo (but I use it mono as I simplified the rest of my setup to mono) volume, it’s plastic, but it feels like truck can stand on it no problem, and it has a slider at the top for the “minimum volume” so you can have just go from full volume to about 1/4 volume or zero, or anything in between. (This feature might work great for that trick with a fuzz.) I can’t remember when I got it, must’ve been 20 years ago.
I double on electric bass (sometimes active, sometimes passive) and upright bass in a band with a singer. I use a Morley Volume Plus Mini, because once it's switched on, I set the minimum volume knob for a "vocally-respectful volume", so I can heel-down to that when needed, and then toe-down when I need to make everyone mad at me.
My favorite trick is to use the tuner out jack as a splitter. Opens up crazy possibilities. Multi amp scenarios, simultaneous synth and modulation mixed with clean tones etc...Or go tuner out into a second volume pedal... It's endless. HAVE FUN :)
Hell yea man! I did that a couple times. Even had a di box after it and split it again. It gets crazy.
I have a multi amp setup (both have effects loops) Could I use my 1 Ernie Ball JR volume pedal do get this effect? Thx
@@mgm5781 The volume pedal has 2 outputs . "TUNER", which is dry and "OUT", that does the volume control. You can use both outputs simultaneously to anything you want.
@@alanstahl594 I understand that but how do you connect 2 effects loops together?
@@mgm5781 I don't really understand your question. The possibilities are almost endless. You just need to experiment with different signal paths
What's cool about the Vertex Boost is that it works as a standard volume pedal with the expression pedal hooked up, even when the boost is turned off. This setup removes tone suck that you can get from a standard volume pedal.
I look forward to 11 CST every Friday
I was literally writing a song today and I had a 1 string volume swell bend on the 14th fret right after playing an F chord on the 1st fret. I was trying to do it with the volume knob on my guitar but the timing was off with the strumming pattern. I eventually moved the F chord to the 13th fret so I had time to swell in the bend on the 14th fret. I never even thought of using my volume pedal that was sitting behind me on the shelf. Josh, you just saved my song! Lol
The exciting moment Josh picks the pedal you own up....then says he hates it 😔
🤣
I say, thank goodness you're not a Josh clone. One Josh goes a long way. Having two might break the space-time Continuum.
Enjoy the heck out of your little multi treadle.
Buy an Ernie Ball volume pedal and rewatch the video. You are welcome. (I'm very happy about by little red btw, as a volume at least, small on the board and does the job.)
Won't happen often, apparently only if you use volume/wah combos. Otherwise, he turns no pedal away.
@@christopherkennedy873 what are the chances? 😂
Josh has spoken, and his words are true. WHen I was wee, I wanted to convert the pedal for my mum's sewing machine into a volume pedal, but she wouldn't let me. She's dead now, after never ever sewing anything on that machine. Now I have my own mini sewing machine, which I only ever used once, seven years ago, but I can't bring myself to convert its pedal. I'm on my second Cry Baby, but I've never felt good about buying a volume pedal. One day, I'll probably have an accident and lose both legs, then I'll invent an elbow "pedal"., but as far as floor-based volume pedals, I must put my foot down.
Another tip, if you are playing out and the sound guy is known to not give you enough volume, do the soundcheck with the volume pedal at 75% and when it comes time to play or solo you have the volume you deserve. 🤓
I will neither confirm not deny doing that in church before.
Rofl!
Yes. 🤣
As someone who’s done sound work for local shows before, every sound guy hates you for this. We will 100% cut your mix down extra just to punish you. Trust your sound guy.
@@nickspence5977 haha , i always ignored the sound guyz, they were busy trying to get drunk and or laid and barely did their jobs at the gigs ive done. So i just cranked the amp up way louder than soundcheck. Thats how I get off
Even though it's kind of been mentioned, I like to do the Michael Landau thing and put a volume pedal after gain pedals, but before time-based effects. ML basically uses it as his version of a master volume, as his amps are pedal platforms. This setup works pretty well!
Wasn’t aware that the Mig-50 has an effects loop. Did I miss something? Thanks again JHS.
It's true! We do fall in and out of love with certain pedals.
Great video !! Would have been nice to mention high vs low impedance vol pedals and also what does and doesn't work when there's a treble bleed circuit in the guitar or in the vol pedal.
Me - original ('81) RAT BEFORE the BOSS FV-100 volume pedal - RAT settings: Filter= about 2:30 (o'clock), Distortion= MAX, Volume= slightly higher than unity gain, Roland RE-501 chorus echo - neck pickup - syrupy lead tone like no other. Still my favorite even all these years later.
I just learned I have an expression pedal. My world has just been turned upside down.
Truth! Just need an adapter cable. I had no clue
And they work well. Ernie ball has such a nicer feel than a M-Audio.
Will this work with any pedal with an expression jack?
@@PedalChainsAddiction if the exp input is trs, then yes.
@@PedalChainsAddiction so, not line6. They’re usually mono.
I could have used this episode 2 months ago when I bought the expression pedal for this processor I have, meanwhile I have an Ernie Ball VP Jr. that I had indeed fallen out of love with. Thanks Mr. Monday morning quarterback!
FYI: that was an “Insert Cable” he used to turn a volume pedal into an expression.
old timers like me might call it a "channel insert"
@@samnichols4692 Hey Sam. You may or may not already know this, most of us old guys do. But I wanna flesh it out for anyone that might be confused, as these cables Can be confusing if you don't know what they're trying to do. They look a lot like standard Y-Cables, and the beginner probably assumes that TRS jacks are either for Balanced Mono connections, or Unbalanced Stereo, but may not have encountered Unbalanced Send-n-Return.
I was referring to the specific Y-Cable he showed in the video.
It has a single 1/4"-TRS jack on 1 end, and it 'why's out' to two 1/4"-TS jacks on the other.
They're sold, or built as "Insert Cables" as when the TRS side is plugged into a Channel Insert on a mixing console, it breaks the channel's internal signal-flow, 'sends' the signal out either the tip or the ring of the TRS jack, the signal can be processed by "Outboard" gear, and 'returns' the signal on the other (ring or tip).
The Shield of all three jacks are tied together, so common ground.
The TRS-Tip is tied to one TS-Tip (A).
The TRS-Ring is tied to the other TS-Tip (B).
Depending upon which way the Insert Jack was wired on the mixer, (A) or (B) get plugged into the Unbalanced input and output of whatever Outboard processor.
Insert Cables are also Re-purposed for a number of other tasks, such as in this video. A common one being splitting out a Stereo headphone jack to separate Mono left and right (or 1 and 2) for any number of reasons.
(Recently used that from the TRS Headphone out on an Apollo Twin x, with the volume all the way up (line) into dual TS jacks, patched into the dual TRS- LR inputs on the Stereo channels of an Solid State Logic SiX. The result is a studio grade tracking and mixing system, UA & SSL, in a backpack. (Well, carry-on size Pelican, with iLoud MTMs. Unbelievable. )
My favourite music- related channel on RUclips (okay... tied with Premier Guitar's 'Rig Rundown' which is exceptional) - defo my fave content creator. Have learned an awful lot, even though I'm a 30 years in to my playing. Have even bought stuff based on stuff Josh has said and demonstrated. Big Love and Best Regards from the UK
I like when he played my favourite Grean Dag song really loud.
What is Grean Dag?
@@TheRealcdawg22 The band in which Belly Goe Jamstrong sings and play guitar
4:22 That magical sweet spot .. Good point! Yes, I've done it, altho not with a Fuzzface, but with a similar distortion device. It does work! 👍
It's amazing how 15 years ago, the way a fuzz cleaned was basically the way eveyone meassured how good it was. Now there's a new generation that has to be taught this fact for the first time
It cracks me up when demos or shows highlight fuzz pedals only to spend an hour demonstrating how clean they can sound lol
my first volume pedal was a Morley (circa early 80s).. it ran through my amp FX loop: Send > Morley Volume > Boss CE-1 > DOD Delay > Return. the Morley was built like a tank..but being an optical device you needed to keep a spare bulb in your tool kit.
I like Morley optical volume pedals. There is no pot to get dirty
OR suck your treble I'm guessing!
SOunds like just the thing for my kitchen! Can you use it to pan, too?
@@Ndlanding pot is short for potentiometer
@@Saxby8six And "pan" is short for panorama. And IQ is what you are short on.
No, no pot to get dirty. Just a cheap plastic strip with opto electric
cells , that you can’t fix when the cheap plastic strip breaks or folds. No thanks, I have a forty year old Morley still waiting to work again. Paid over a hundred for the pos.
I have never thought to bend a single string past the nut for those slide/faux b-bender sounds like you did in the last song. That just blew my mind. Well done
My favorite stupid volume pedal trick is to split your clean signal and send it to a second amplifier with a chorus and a delay. When it's time to solo hit the volume pedal and some chorus into a short delay gives you this technicolor sheen for your solo. Your sound gets larger and more colorful. That was my trio sound in the 80's.
The fx loop and expression pedal thing was pretty neat.
Didn’t know that existed.
That was awesome.
Dude, Josh, how are you doing? Today’s episode has a dimmer feel to your typically bright demeanor. Hope all is well.
Been using a Roland for about 15 years. I use it after all my effects except the delay pedal. Makes for super cool swells when needed.
>baby sleeping
>still yelling
This dude is such a meme-lord lmao I'm dying
I bought a classic big ernie ball in the late 90s for shifting my slide playing closer to pedal steels. Today I use a lehle mono on my ambient board for swells and pads🤘✌💜
Alternative title: How to sell a lot of VP juniors?
I ended up creating a volume pedal out of my m-audio expression pedal. I had made a simple circuit (two mono jacks connected to a stereo jack where the expression plugs in). Recently I just put it all into the expression pedal’s housing. Volume pedal check!
What a fascinating video. Thanks very much! Will try the vol pedal in the effects loop of my JVM. Do I turn the effects level high or low and to wet or dry? I'm guessing level high and wet. What a great idea cutting the vol between the gain stages!
The knowledge these guys drop for free is just astounding. Though they have reaped $$ cause on the rare occasion I buy pedals I always check JHS first.
I love how they're shouting through the entire effects loop section.
I used to use a Boss passive volume pedal (from about 1993 to 2000) for ambient stuff. Mostly, I was trying to learn every guitar, bass and synth part from every Rush song and was using the volume pedal with a little chorus, delay and reverb to mimic the synth pads on songs like YYZ and Hemispheres. I felt pretty creative at the time because no one I knew was doing that. Doesn’t matter much since I never got anywhere with music. Now if I hit it big, I’d just look like I was copying everyone else. Still, the effects loop and expressive pedal hacks were new to me and awesome!
Just when I thought I had all the pedals I needed
I think the real question here is....how do those cool sneakers affect the tone of the volume pedal?
This video is like a missing puzzle piece I've been looking for. Thank you so much! I just wish I had stumbled upon this when it was first came out 3 years ago (seems like a lifetime, but better late than never!)
I own a JHS modded ernie ball volume pedal, so I feel like this video applies to me.
Since the mod makes the VP Jr active and is now buffered, where is it in your chain? Mine is in at the front after my tuner
Thanks a lot! I've been trying to find the right way to control my, mostly clean but occasional effects, Ampeg Rocket sound/tone/VOLUME without using an inline pot and losing the output/tone. I put an EB VPJR in the Effects loop AND IT"S PERFECT! You saved me hours of tinkering, Thank you.
“And eat a sandwich. Watch this...” where’s the sandwich JOSH!! Lmao great vid
Down AT Subway!
The fuzz jam you all recorded may be the best one yet.
Hey, I see a bunch of sovteks behind you.... I would love to hear about them
Wow. That volume pedal in the effects loop trick. Thanks, man. That's brilliant.
"WHY ARE WE YELLING?"
You's guys... :D
I use volume pedal to cover violin sounds !
Volume pedal plus a slide, a little ‘verb and delay is so good.
Sweet!
I do believe "violining" was invented in the 60s.
Dude! The splitting trip with the expression pedal is dope! So cool
Hey Josh, you forgot the Morley Optical Volume. Also the difference between the volume pedal and the 25K, 250K, 500K version... Do I need them all?
Impedances can make a difference depending on your use case:
- High impedance (>200k): Whenever you plug a guitar directly into a volume pedal, so your guitar sees a properly high input impedance. A low impedance pedal would probably make your guitar sound pretty dull here.
- Low impedance (~10k): If you're using the volume pedal after any other pedals, buffers or in the fx loop a low impedance pedal is better. A high impedance one would certainly work here but the sweep is likely to be very uneven.
- Bonus: Active volume pedals: They have a buffer built in, so it doesn't matter where you place them as long as it's not in front of a vintage fuzz.
nah when the volume pedal is in the open position, the impedance is next to zero in all cases. the potentiometer just defines how steep the volume ramp is.
@@KrumpusPlunk There still is a noteworthy impedance to ground, regardless of the pedal's setting. 10k to ground is pretty significant in comparison to the output impedance of a guitar. You can easily try this yourself: Try plugging a guitar (with passive electronics) straight into a 10k volume pedal without any buffers in between and you will notice a difference, i.e., lack of definition and treble.
@@error8418 I would still argue that the most important aspect is that a bigger potentiometer would give you a steeper volume ramp. how much is the residual R of a pot that's completely open? this can hardly be a bigger factor than the completely open volume pod on the guitar, since those are usually 250k-500k, are they not? also, what's the reason the sweep would be uneven with a high-R volume pedal? also, say we have a 50k and a 200k volume pedal, wouldn't both act exactly the same way if you only used the first quarter of travel on the 200k pedal?
@@KrumpusPlunk Except the fact that a volume pot is not just a variable resistor but usually works like a variable voltage divider. 500k to ground like you would find in a guitar has much less influence than 10k to ground. And here everything else starts to make a difference as well: The output impedance of whatever is before the volume pedal and the input impedance of whatever follows the volume pedal - we are basically dealing with a LOADED voltage divider here. And therefore, the volume pedal's impedance might result in an uneven sweep. (Also, don't forget the pot's taper.)
BACK IN THE DAY: I played in a heavy ambient style band. Think: Explosions in the Sky. I used my volume pedal with bass and fuzz to do swells. It was so much fun and would generally shake venues. I would watch the audience and see them react, good times.
I love how some of the jams sounded like early 2000s Radiohead
Damn I have the T.R.S cable with two T.S ends into a EHX Grand Canyon into that same volume pedal and it doesn't work. As soon as I touch the tip on the T.S end it goes silent. My electrician made the cable especially for me. Awwww
I have one of those old fender pedals. They had a switch on either side of the pedal. One switch was for wah, one for a fuzz effect and the foot pad went up and down for wah and/or side to side for volume. I gutted it and used the up/down for volume for years but eventually abandoned it for a smaller more portable volume for my board. The old Fender pedal was very popular with steel players. I think I still have all the components of the pedal in case I want to restore it (for sentimental or mental reasons)
another neat volume pedal trick courtesy of junior brown: set your normal level for when the pedal is half-cocked, ease into the toe-down position as your note decays for extra long clean sustain without a compressor. sounds positively beautiful when done well.
I have been using a volume pedal for forty years. My first was a passive DeArmond that I got from PAiA that is dual branded as PAiA/DeArmond. I still have it. I had an old AC powered Morley VOL that I sold and newer 9 volt one that eventually stopped working. Now I have two that I currently use a Visual Volume like the one in the video on my main pedal board and a Dunlop that I have on my acoustic pedal board. Most of the time I have them in the effects loop which I have been doing ever since I got the DeRmond in 1981.
I love volume pedals. Robert Fripp is a great example of a guitarist using a volume pedal effectively.
That's Adrian, who's into scooping the volume knob on his strat- that's the trick
@@colinburroughs9871 Fripp uses the volume pedal plenty especially in the Wetton Cross Bruford Fripp band.
I have 2 JHS pedals and love them both. Ive got to say your videos have educated me so much.
I use my Boss FV-500-L for swells and as a wah-pedal for EHX Cockfight same time. Leaves another foot for EHX Freeze.
I use the length of string behind the bridge on my SG copy for my pedal-steel fakery. I can push down on the string, but I find it's actually more effective to pull up towards me when I'm bending those intervals. Great reverb tones today.
EDIT: I love Beabadobee's music, one of my favorite new discoveries of the year. Also, I have never used a volume pedal because it's already right next to my hand.