Volume pedals

Bill Jacklin · From: Arizona, USA

Here's the situation: I'm an 81 year old retired guy who is an absolute amateur PSG aficionado. I play for my own enjoyment and that's all. My setup is a 1970's MSA semi-Classic, a late 70's or early 80's Peavey N 400, and a same-era Dekley volume pedal. Incidentals include a Peterson strobe tuner, a satellite radio tuner, and a resistive sound mixer. All of this is/was/will be adequate for me.

Or, it was until the Dekley went South -- bad pot. No sweat; perusal of this forum convinced me to buy a new pot from Tom Bradshaw. When it arrived, I disconnected the Dekley and examined it carefully. I quickly came to the conclusion that a geezer with bad eyes and no depth perception should NOT monkey around with this thing. A few phone calls later, I found someone qualified and willing to switch out the pot for something in the range of $50 - $75. No sweat again, I can afford that. But, just because it was easy, I checked the internet. There, I find that the Ernie Ball MVP and the BOSS FV-500H are the hot items, either one not that much more than fixing the Dekley.

Now I am well aware that folks who are recommending these pedals are exactly the ones who buy $25 - $50 tuners on Amazon and would be shocked at the thought of buying my Peterson. I, on the other hand, would normally be considering Goodrich or Hilton if buying a new one. However, it costs little to simply put this quandary out here and see what folks here think this old guy should do ... 1) fix the Dekley, 2) get a cheapo from Amazon, 3) get a 'no pot' one, or 4) ?? Thanks!

Larry Bressington · From: Nebraska

Bill, you probably already have $35.00 in a new pot? i'd just get it installed, these newer pots last forever, put new rope on too whilst your at it, i re-did mine 10 years ago and it's still in action, and i play a lot.
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A.K.A Chappy.

Kevin Fix · From: Michigan, USA

I own a H10K Goodrich and a Hilton. I like them both. I replaced the pot in my Goodrich 2 years ago. The original was 11 years old. I use the Hilton mostly. I also have a Peterson Strobo Plus HD tuner. Best tuner I have owned in 40 years of pedal steel.

Larry Dering · From: Missouri, USA

I replaced my own pots. Take pictures and make reference notes. Or pay a qualified tech to do it. Personally, 50 is a bit strong for labor. I have several Goodrich pedals, a Hilton and a couple Ernie Ball pedals. The Ball pedals will work and I have used them but the pot is usually a 250k and better matches a 6 string guitar. We use the 500k in the Goodrich volume pedal for our steels. I prefer the sweep of the Goodrich and Hilton. If you like your pedal then get it fixed.

Jim Palenscar · From: Oceanside, Calif, USA

Get the Dekley fixed- Tom's pots are great. I'd offer for you to send it to me- I'd handle it for you for nothing but the cost of shipping it would likely make it not worth it.

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

Ken Mizell · From: Lakeland, Florida, 33809, USA

Iâ€™m getting back into steel guitar, and I previously owned a Dekley Low Boy. I like them because they are really low and I like the leg clearance they provide. I was able to locate a Dekley here on the forum, and I completely refurbished it. New Goodrich L120 is about $250, Iâ€™ve got $100 in my Dekley. If you like it, get a new pot installed.
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Steeless.

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

Jim Palenscar · From: Oceanside, Calif, USA

Thanks Lee Smile

Andrew Goulet · Posted 17 Nov 2020 12:54 pm

Do you know any non-musicians that are even moderately handy with a soldering iron and electronics? Tom includes some good instructions with those pots. You could probably hand the whole pile to someone who has a way with wires. I think Tom's pots are good for somethbg like a million wipes.

By the way, I recently bought and installed a pot from Tom and it's super smooth.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

For me, the greatest advantage of a pot pedal is that I can fix it myself. No worries about sending it back to whoever made it, and waiting for a return. No worries about forgetting or losing the power supply, or having it fail. No worries about lugging around a spare pedal. I played very regularly for 30+ years, thousands upon thousands of gigs, and never ever carried a spare volume pedal! Why? Because I didn't have to. If the string broke, I could fix it in less than 5 minutes with no tools other than a pocket knife. And if the pot was going bad, I had plenty of notice and time to get another, because pots never fail totally and completely. It's more an over-time thing, like... "Ho hum, starting to get a little noisy, ain'tcha? A shot of cleaner lube will fix you for a week or so, and then I'll put in another pot". I probably went through five of the AB and Clarostat pots over the past 50+ years.

In the last 15 years, I've bought more pedals, even bought a Hilton - a very fine pedal. I used it for a few days and it quit. I took it apart and the plastic "grid thingy" had fallen off. I reglued it, used it a couple more times and put it back in the box. I just didn't care for the extra cord and outlet it required.

Y'all can use whatever you want. I'm a simple-minded guy, and I just use what works.

Andrew Goulet · Posted 17 Nov 2020 3:41 pm

I agree with Donny. I generally prefer equipment I can fix myself, especially with a pedal steel and associated equipment. There's so much that could go wrong, I like to eliminate any potential problems I can.

Tom Bradshaw · From: Walnut Creek, California, USA

Hey Bill. Sit tight. There are dozens of fellow steel players in and around Tucson. I'll get one of them to install the pot you bought from me. We old geezers (I'm 85) need to look out for one another. ...Tom

Tom Bradshaw · From: Walnut Creek, California, USA

Jerry Bartee (in Tucson) will be installing the new pot for our friend in need. As I mentioned, the cavalry has come to the rescue. ...Tom

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

With apologies to both Simon & Garfunkel and Hanna-Barbera, kudos to Tom & Jerry!

Ken Mizell · From: Lakeland, Florida, 33809, USA

Tom Bradshaw · From: Walnut Creek, California, USA

Hey Bill. Jerry Bartee is trying to get you to respond to his offer to install the pot. He has sent you an email, but you haven't responded to him. Please do so. ...Tom

Dwight Lewis · From: Huntsville, Alabama

Get the pot installed, since that the pedal you are use to.... then buy one of the good photocell pedals and flip flop between the 2 from time to time.

Always have a back up pedal.
My opinion.

Dwight
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Dekley 7p4k(PRS-10C), BMI S12 5p5kn

Tom Bradshaw · From: Walnut Creek, California, USA

A great friend, Jerry Bartee, in Tucson, installed the pot for Bill. All is well. Hey, what a village we have here, and sometimes it takes one. ...Tom

Dwight Lewis · From: Huntsville, Alabama

Amen ðŸ™ Mr. Bradshaw.

Dwight
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Dekley 7p4k(PRS-10C), BMI S12 5p5kn

Bill Jacklin · From: Arizona, USA

I did indeed get the pot installed in the pedal yesterday afternoon. Jerry did all the work while I occasionally held something still for him. We tweaked it to perfection on Jerry's steel. It is very clean and smooth; I will put it back onto my MSA later this afternoon.

This forum, and steel players, suppliers, and aficionados on it are truly great people, more than willing to give advice and aid. A rarity in these days.

My most grateful thanks to those who replied to this thread, to Tom Bradshaw for supplying a great product and for the follow-on support, and to Jerry Bartee for the timely and competent installation and tweaking. Special thanks to Carmen, Jerry's wife, who makes a mean apple pie!

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