No response required - he said to his pedal

[RVA]

So, it is frequently boasted in sales pitches how responsive a particular distortion/OD/gain pedal is to a guitar's volume knob - "It cleans right up when you roll back the volume!!" But IMO, this is not always a good thing. Sometimes the darn volume is set too high on the pedal and I want to be able to roll back the guitar volume and retain my grit. Sometimes I want grit at low volume and then high volume in one song. Also, when stacking pedals, it gets difficult to get the volume just right and the guitar volume could act like a master volume IF ONLY the darn pedals did not lose their mojo when you rolled it back.

So, could someone please sell a pedal that has "grit that will stick"? I mean permanent grit that you can't clean with a volume drop.

BTW, I do have such a pedal on my board..thank goodness. The Snouse Black Box. Thank you Snouse, for not treading the beaten path. However, I think they claim their pedal cleans up too - FYI - it doesn't

Thanks for listening!

 

[Tony M.]

This may do that and the other thing too.
I'll fool around with it some more and see.

 

[Gahr]

Maybe you could solve it with a pedal after the distortion? Like a Mad Professor Underdrive?

I know it is made for cleaning up oberdriven amps, but if the drive is provided by a pedal and not so much the amp, maybe it will work. I really have no idea though, just a thought.

 

[smitty_p]

So, it is frequently boasted in sales pitches how responsive a particular distortion/OD/gain pedal is to a guitar's volume knob - "It cleans right up when you roll back the volume!!" But IMO, this is not always a good thing. Sometimes the darn volume is set too high on the pedal and I want to be able to roll back the guitar volume and retain my grit. Sometimes I want grit at low volume and then high volume in one song. Also, when stacking pedals, it gets difficult to get the volume just right and the guitar volume could act like a master volume IF ONLY the darn pedals did not lose their mojo when you rolled it back.

So, could someone please sell a pedal that has "grit that will stick"? I mean permanent grit that you can't clean with a volume drop.

BTW, I do have such a pedal on my board..thank goodness. The Snouse Black Box. Thank you Snouse, for not treading the beaten path. However, I think they claim their pedal cleans up too - FYI - it doesn't

Thanks for listening!

The solution I use isn't exactly what you're looking for, but a volume pedal in the effects loop allows me to ramp my volume down, but maintain the drive. Of course, I don't use a distortion pedal; I use a two-channel amp. But , the effect is the same.

Use an active, powered volume pedal for this, something like a Morley Little Alligator.

 

[RVA]

The solution I use isn't exactly what you're looking for, but a volume pedal in the effects loop allows me to ramp my volume down, but maintain the drive. Of course, I don't use a distortion pedal; I use a two-channel amp. But , the effect is the same.

Use an active, powered volume pedal for this, something like a Morley Little Alligator.

That seems like it would work, as long as you have an FX loop.

Ivan will likely be able to answer this...what is it about the pedal circuitry that makes it clean up or not?

 

[smitty_p]

That seems like it would work, as long as you have an FX loop.

It also works if you get all your distortion from the distortion pedal. Just put the volume pedal after the distortion pedal.

Before I got a two channel amp with an FX loop, I'd run everything into the front of a clean amp. All my effects and distortion were derived from pedals. Placing a volume pedal after the distortion and drive pedals allows you to reduce volume, while maintaining distortion.

This approach really allows the best of both worlds. You can use your guitar's volume controls to "clean up" when necessary, and you can use the volume pedal to simply ramp the volume, with minimal (if any) effect on distortion.

 

[RVA]

It also works if you get all your distortion from the distortion pedal. Just put the volume pedal after the distortion pedal.

Before I got a two channel amp with an FX loop, I'd run everything into the front of a clean amp. All my effects and distortion were derived from pedals. Placing a volume pedal after the distortion and drive pedals allows you to reduce volume, while maintaining distortion.

This approach really allows the best of both worlds. You can use your guitar's volume controls to "clean up" when necessary, and you can use the volume pedal to simply ramp the volume, with minimal (if any) effect on distortion.

I now have a reason to get a volume pedal, thank you!!

 

[smitty_p]

I now have a reason to get a volume pedal, thank you!!

Again, I'd recommend an active, powered pedal...something like a Morley Little Alligator. Because of its input and output impedances, it seems more transparent to the signal than a passive pedal, like an Ernie Ball.

By the way, Ernie Ball makes a pedal that they call an "active" pedal, but it isn't. It just has a 25 k ohm potentiometer in it rather than the 250 K ohm pots in their "passive" pedal. The idea behind the EB "active" pedal is that it is to be used in active circuits because the impedance of that pedal is more suitable for those applications. But, the pedal, itself, is passive. I have a 25 k ohm EB pedal, and I use it for an expression pedal in my Line 6 processor. It works really well in that application.

 

[Hackmaster]

Another vote for the Little Alligator.
When I played acoustic out I would use one to ramp up my solos and then pedal back to a respectful rhythm level.
It was so much easier than trying to fiddle with the tiny knobs on an onboard preamp on an acoustic.

 

[RVA]

Again, I'd recommend an active, powered pedal...something like a Morley Little Alligator. Because of its input and output impedances, it seems more transparent to the signal than a passive pedal, like an Ernie Ball.

By the way, Ernie Ball makes a pedal that they call an "active" pedal, but it isn't. It just has a 25 k ohm potentiometer in it rather than the 250 K ohm pots in their "passive" pedal. The idea behind the EB "active" pedal is that it is to be used in active circuits because the impedance of that pedal is more suitable for those applications. But, the pedal, itself, is passive. I have a 25 k ohm EB pedal, and I use it for an expression pedal in my Line 6 processor. It works really well in that application.

Another vote for the Little Alligator.
When I played acoustic out I would use one to ramp up my solos and then pedal back to a respectful rhythm level.
It was so much easier than trying to fiddle with the tiny knobs on an onboard preamp on an acoustic.

Nice pic Hack!

Fellas, how is the taper on the Little Alligator? I have read that the other Morleys have a very uneven taper, going from full to almost no volume. The mod suggested to correct this seems imprecise at best.

 

[smitty_p]

Nice pic Hack!

Fellas, how is the taper on the Little Alligator? I have read that the other Morleys have a very uneven taper, going from full to almost no volume. The mod suggested to correct this seems imprecise at best.

I admit, that can be an issue. I've never tried the mod on my Little Alligator. I took it off my board to replace it with a Morley Volume Pedal Plus. The Volume Pedal Plus is the same as the Little Alligator except it has two, switchable modes.

I still have the Little Alligator, though.

As I recall, it did seem to ramp into full volume rather quickly with little change after that. I wouldn't say it was sudden, but most of the volume change occurred relatively early in the sweep.

I bought it used, but I doubt the mod has ever been attempted. I may take it apart and check it out.

 

[RVA]

I admit, that can be an issue. I've never tried the mod on my Little Alligator. I took it off my board to replace it with a Morley Volume Pedal Plus. The Volume Pedal Plus is the same as the Little Alligator except it has two, switchable modes.

I still have the Little Alligator, though.

As I recall, it did seem to ramp into full volume rather quickly with little change after that. I wouldn't say it was sudden, but most of the volume change occurred relatively early in the sweep.

I bought it used, but I doubt the mod has ever been attempted. I may take it apart and check it out.

Start at 6:20 to get the general idea. His work is sloppy, but conveys the concept. There are other videos out there.

 

[smitty_p]

Start at 6:20 to get the general idea. His work is sloppy, but conveys the concept. There are other videos out there.

Yeah. I've seen that. There is another mod where you essentially bend the either the LED or photo detector (I can't remember which) away at a bit of an angle to accomplish something similar.

 

[gball]

I solved this problem by getting amps that simply don't need a pedal to go balls-out. I flipped dirt boxes for 30 years but nothing at any price compares to a good tube amp with it's own ample grit for responsiveness and quality of tone. IMO of course. And I do still use a clean boost in front of the amps to give them a kick in the stones.

 

[smitty_p]

I solved this problem by getting amps that simply don't need a pedal to go balls-out. I flipped dirt boxes for 30 years but nothing at any price compares to a good tube amp with it's own ample grit for responsiveness and quality of tone. IMO of course. And I do still use a clean boost in front of the amps to give them a kick in the stones.

That's my approach, too. I do use a Tubescreamer to put a little hair on the clean channel if I'm looking for something between clean and the distortion of my high gain channel. Plus, I'll use the Tubescreamer to saturate the high gain channel a little more, if necessary. Though, usually when using full-on distortion, I just use the high gain channel.

So, I essentially end up with four different gain structures: Clean, Clean plus Tubescreamer, Distortion, and Distortion plus Tubescreamer. But, the essential nature of the distortion comes from the amp, itself.

The constant hunt for distortion pedals got a little old.

 

[gball]

The constant hunt for distortion pedals got a little old.

That's the main truth right there. I spent enough on dirt boxes over the years to buy a really nice amp. Never found a single one, at any price (and I paid way too much for some of them) that could clean up with the volume knob the same way a good high-gain amp does (operative word is good). Some did it well but none were as responsive as an actual amp.

These days for a clean boost I am using a Boss Waza Blues Driver. Set with the gain knob at zero in classic mode there is really no coloration, it just juices the front end nicely and it works great with all my amps. For medium gain sounds from my clean channels you probably won't believe it but I use a DS-1 with the gain set relatively low. I know that's not a common choice for that purpose but I have found that those ubiquitous little boxes are really nice in front of a completely clean amp, which I suppose they were originally designed for, and very responsive to the volume knob. They sound horrible at low volume though, box of bees. It's a pedal that only comes to life at band volume.

 

[RVA]

I wish that would work for me. bedroom levels only and I do not want to get stuck exclusively with 3 watt amps.

 

[gball]

I wish that would work for me. bedroom levels only and I do not want to get stuck exclusively with 3 watt amps.

It'll work. I use my amps at home volume levels far more than at band levels and they are just fine. Both of my Mesas sound much better at bedroom volumes than the Boss Katana I have. Yes, they cost many times more than the Katana, but you definitely know where your money went with them. Other similarly high-quality high-gain amps should work just as well at lower volumes. 9 times out of 10 I am running them in 25-watt mode, rarely 10-watt mode.

 

[RVA]

It'll work. I use my amps at home volume levels far more than at band levels and they are just fine. Both of my Mesas sound much better at bedroom volumes than the Boss Katana I have. Yes, they cost many times more than the Katana, but you definitely know where your money went with them. Other similarly high-quality high-gain amps should work just as well at lower volumes. 9 times out of 10 I am running them in 25-watt mode, rarely 10-watt mode.

Hmmm, and yet another reason to add a Mesa...

 

[Tony M.]

Hmmm, and yet another reason to add a Mesa...

You're gonna need a bigger room soon.
Either that or let it all spill out into the rest of the house.
Works for me.