Volume pedal and Cube 60 (No send and return)

Somnus

Hi,

Was thinking about getting a volume pedal, probably a Boss FV-500H, I was reading some reviews and a few people are saying that if you dont have a send and return loop (which my Cube 60 doesnt have) and are plugging your guitar to the pedal then the amp you'll lose an edge off the sound. SO i was just wondering could anyone here tell me whether it makes a big,noticible difference or would I be alright using it? Any replies would be helpful.

Thanks,
Ciarán

Dord

I use a volume pedal straight into the front of my bass amp. I haven't noticed any difference in sound. Its basically just a volume pot with a treadle attached that you move with your foot. My one is optical so there's no pot though.

cornbb

Depending on the guitar tone you like, it could have a big impact on your sound. If you like a 100% clean sound it probably won't matter. If you play with distortion then the volume pedal will instead act as a gain control and mess up your tone big time.

Somnus

Hmmm.. I'd be using it with both probably.Maybe a bit more with distortion. So you reckon it'd be best to just leave it then?

Karl Hungus

Hmm, I think straight into the amp would be the best, can't think it would impact your tone that much, and as for using it with distortion messing up your tone? wtf? No. I think a volume pedal works fantastic with distortion for volume swells and the like, and sounds great.

cornbb

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Hmm, I think straight into the amp would be the best, can't think it would impact your tone that much, and as for using it with distortion messing up your tone? wtf? No. I think a volume pedal works fantastic with distortion for volume swells and the like, and sounds great.

Only if the volume pedal goes into the effects chain after the distortion stage, eg. Guitar -> Distortion pedal -> volume pedal -> amp. If the volume pedal goes into the signal path before the distortion pedal, or if a distortion channel is being used in the amp, the pedal will act as a gain control, not volume control, and affect the tone.

Karl Hungus

cornbb wrote: »

Only if the volume pedal goes into the effects chain after the distortion stage, eg. Guitar -> Distortion pedal -> volume pedal -> amp. If the volume pedal goes into the signal path before the distortion pedal, or if a distortion channel is being used in the amp, the pedal will act as a gain control, not volume control, and affect the tone.

It's used much in the same way as the volume control on your guitar, if you use that to do volume swells, it's the same thing. It's not going to "Mess up" your tone.

cornbb

Fine, "mess up" was the wrong choice of words. But it will act as a gain control (i.e. controlling the amount of signal going into the distortion stage) as opposed to an output volume control, therefore it will affect the tone more than the volume.

OP, if you are using a distortion pedal then you can just put the volume pedal after it and you will get exactly what you are looking for. If you are using your amp's distortion then try rotating your guitar's volume knob to see if you like the effect it has (clean/distorted), this is exactly the same thing a pedal will do.

Karl Hungus

cornbb wrote: »

Fine, "mess up" was the wrong choice of words. But it will act as a gain control (i.e. controlling the amount of signal going into the distortion stage) as opposed to an output volume control, therefore it will affect the tone more than the volume.

OP, if you are using a distortion pedal then you can just put the volume pedal after it and you will get exactly what you are looking for. If you are using your amp's distortion then try rotating your guitar's volume knob to see if you like the effect it has (clean/distorted), this is exactly the same thing a pedal will do.

I think it depends more on what you want to do with it, I mean, the main thing I'd do with it is volume swells, and running it infront of the amp, it sounds better, because it does affect the gain, you get much smoother swells.

Anyway, enough back and forth there... You're right, mess about with the volume knob first, and see if this suits.

Giblet

I use two volume pedals. Infront and last in the chain.

Karl Hungus

Giblet wrote: »

I use two volume pedals. Infront and last in the chain.

Really? Why?

Giblet

Last in the chain brings the overall volume before the power stage down (doesn't affect gain or anything, just lower volume), and is completely silent when fully down, which is handy for gigs. The front one is more dynamic, like you say.

Karl Hungus

Fair enough.

Neo#

What is the use of a volume pedal? Is it to simply boost the volume for a solo? Or to lower the volume to get a less ditorted sound? Ive never got the appeal.

Karl Hungus

Neo# wrote: »

What is the use of a volume pedal? Is it to simply boost the volume for a solo? Or to lower the volume to get a less ditorted sound? Ive never got the appeal.

Personally, volume swells.

Like using your volume knob on the guitar, roll it down to 0, hit a note, then bring the volume up again, you get that unique kinda sound to it, except without trying to use the knob, you've got it in an expression pedal at your feet, so it's much handier.

Dord

Yeah volume swells are cool. not if you overuse them though.

Neo#

I must test one out in the future. That could be a handy effect. Ive never really used volume swells myself.

Somnus

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Personally, volume swells.

Like using your volume knob on the guitar, roll it down to 0, hit a note, then bring the volume up again, you get that unique kinda sound to it,

Yeah thats what I was gonna be using it for. So you think it'd sound grand going guitar,volume pedal,then amp then? I use the amp for distortion

Karl Hungus

Dr.Poca wrote: »

Yeah thats what I was gonna be using it for. So you think it'd sound grand going guitar,volume pedal,then amp then? I use the amp for distortion

I not only think it would sound grand, I think it would be the best way to do things. Guitar>Volume pedal>Amp.

SirLemonhead

Real men swell with the volume knob

Somnus

Cool, Thanks for all the replies guys. I'll give it a go with the volume knob but I'll probably get the pedal anyway.

Thanks

Ciarán