volume pedal advice

George Biner · From: Los Angeles, CA

I currently use an old Goodrich passive pedal, but the taper is not adjustable -- I don't know if it's my foot or the taper -- I'd like to try an adjustable taper -- any advice as to a less expensive (<$200) pedal, hopefully passive and adjustable taper?
_________________
Guacamole Mafia - acoustic harmony duo
Electrical engineer / amp tech in West Los Angeles -- I fix Peaveys
"Now there is a snappy sounding instrument. That f****r really sings." - Jerry Garcia

Michael Hill · From: Arizona, USA

There's a mod where you add a 2nd pot that supposedly allows you to alter the taper. In my experience it does modify the taper but only in a small range of the volume pedal's travel.

I eventually removed the mod and just got a new pot. I believe I got the one Tom Bradshaw sells.

George Biner · From: Los Angeles, CA

Thanks, Michael, the pot already is a Bradshaw pot, works great, but I need the pedal to be less sensitive to movement, that's the "taper" I'm referring to.

I'm under the impression that adjustable taper pedals are very expensive, but ??
_________________
Guacamole Mafia - acoustic harmony duo
Electrical engineer / amp tech in West Los Angeles -- I fix Peaveys
"Now there is a snappy sounding instrument. That f****r really sings." - Jerry Garcia

Bobby D. Jones · From: West Virginia, USA

Controlling the volume pedal is 1 of the hardest things for some people to learn. It takes practice to learn.

If the pivot pin is dry, A drop of oil to both sides of shaft will help. If the pedal does not move smoothly can be part of the problem.

If someone has worked on the pedal.
If the pot was not in the right position when the string is wrapped and anchored, Could be part of the problem.

You should have just a little volume with the back of pedal down on stop, Then volume going up as the front of the pedal goes down.

Take the bottom off, Watch the pot rotate. The pot should rotate about 1/2 turn (180 Degrees) with a standard factory string sleeve. If someone has changed the string sleeve to a larger sleeve will make the pedal more sensitive to movement.
Good Luck in getting this problem worked out.

George Biner · From: Los Angeles, CA

Hey Bobby:

I believe the pedal is working as it should, I replaced the pot and the string looked pretty good when I had it apart. Moves freely, no binding.

the problem I guess is when I control the pedal "normally", there is too much change in the volume, so it sounds abrupt -- so I could either get a different acting pedal or move my foot less

it is frustrating as I'm a pretty good player except for that, I just never learned how to do it right

I do see people spending big bucks on pedals, must be a reason -- I just can't justify $500 for a volume pedal

hmmm, the diameter of the string sleeve can be changed? hmmm
_________________
Guacamole Mafia - acoustic harmony duo
Electrical engineer / amp tech in West Los Angeles -- I fix Peaveys
"Now there is a snappy sounding instrument. That f****r really sings." - Jerry Garcia

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

Although I agree with others its controlling the foot, another problem is the Pot taper. The original pot used was a modified logarithmic (audio) taper pot. Pots available now are just standard audio taper and can be a source of the problem.

There is no adjustable passive pot volume pedal that I'm aware of. The pricey Telonics pedal has selectable tapers and one that emulates the old modified logarithmic taper pot.
An alternative to the Telonics is a Hilton. I've seen them advertised for sale here on the forum for under $200. I'm not a fan of the new pots so I use a Hilton. I don't know what taper the Hilton emulates but it works for me.

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

Jack.

I once did a pot and volume pedal comparison, graphing the actual curves relating to pedal movement. The orignal AB or Clarostat mil-spec types had really good curves, smooth, no kink. The Telonics had that neat variety of curves, but due to the nature of the sensors, the curve wasn't perfectly smooth, probably negligible in real practice. But the Hilton was the most perfect curve of them all, perfectly log, perfectly smooth.

Brad

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

The old Hilton with the built-in power supply cord had a different taper than the newer one with removable power supply.
I really like the old one much better - much smoother, to my feel and ears. In fact, I bought a Telonics pedal, and used the Old Hilton taper on the selector switch after comparing all of the available ones...(it has both Hilton tapers available, along with a number of others)
_________________
https://www.lostsailorspdx.com
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

Another thing (thinking out loud), Pot Volume Pedals for 6 string guitar are 250K ohms, Pedal steel pedals are 500K ohms (470K). I wonder if that is also taken into consideration and a difference between 6 string and pedal steel pedal design.

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

A few thoughts…

Are you sure the new pot was wired properly? Have you tried swapping the cords at the pedal and seeing what that does? Have you tried lowering the volume on the amp? Is the “taper problem” why you replaced the pot, and did it work better or worse after you changed the pot? Have you tried moving your foot farther back on the pedal?

Jonathan Shacklock · From: London, UK

Tom Gorr · From: Three Hills, Alberta

https://www.amplifiedparts.com/tech-articles/potentiometer-taper-modifications

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

and try a different foot position...the place where your ankle pivots has a lot of influence on the taper...
_________________
https://www.lostsailorspdx.com
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor

Tom Gorr · From: Three Hills, Alberta

My pre-Cali used Goodrich L-120 has an Alpha 100k pot with an 3L2 ink stamp on it... and has just a little bit of travel where's its off.

Am I correctly assuming this is most likely not a stock pot? I bought a pretty expensive compressor to help manage the early attack envelope given the problemati early part of the pedal travel / taper.
which did the job well...but now I'm thinking $20 for a proper pot may have been better use of funds.

I also have a Telonics FP100 Pro (eg full bandwidth). It seems my pickups overdrive the front end as it gets really harsh and brittle . My pickups are GL Eons set up to my eye at the spec height. The clipping of the Telonics is why I use the Goodrich. I don't recall the Telonics cliping when I first got it so thinking there might be a problem with it.

The tone of the guitar into a 72 Fender Vibrolux is plenty bright also, abput right with a passive system (T=4, B=2) and nearly unmanageablely bright and edgey with a short cable into a buffered pedal (rg Boss TU3, which doesnt clip). . I have to use a min of 10 ft cable to suck sone highs out of the signal.

Anyways... maybe I should drop the pickups down a bit... and mod the pedal to spec.

Bill Ferguson · From: Milton, FL USA

Tom,
First, the Telonics has an adjustment to compensate for HOT pickups.

Goodrich: That is definitely not a stock pot.

The early Goodrich pedals used and Allen/Bradley pot (500k) that lasted a very long time.
Over the years, AB pots were discontinued. Then along came the Clarostat to immulate the AB pot. While they sounded good (actually excellent), the life span was marginal to none. Then the PEC pot came along (1000000 cycle they claimed), but they did not sound good and did not last very long either.

After that, Dunlop made the "Hot Potz". To me, they altered the tone too much and added a harshness to my tone, plus they were very sensitive to install as the wiring posts could easilly be overheated.

Finally, Dunlop came out with the 470k pot that is now currently being used in new Goodrich pedals and is also sold by Tom Bradshaw and myself.
These pots are closer in tone to the original AB pots than anything else I have heard. That being said, they do not have as much tension resistance as the old pots and might require an adjustment of the tension spring inside a Goodrich pedal (or the old ShoBud pedal).

Goodrich, in their newer pedals, have devised a new shaft that has a tension adjustment to compensate for the new pot. Goodrich does not sell the axles, but if someone sends their pedal to Goodrich for a new pot or rebuild, they will install the new adjustable axle. (The holes on the old pedal have to be reamed out to fit the new shaft.)

I hope this help.

Regards,
Bill
_________________
AUTHORIZED George L's, Goodrich, Telonics and Peavey Dealer: I have 2 steels and several amps. My current rig of choice is 1993 Emmons LeGrande w/ 108 pups (Jack Strayhorn built for me), Goodrich OMNI Volume Pedal, George L's cables, Goodrich Baby Bloomer and Peavey Nashville 112. Can't get much sweeter.

Tom Gorr · From: Three Hills, Alberta

Very helpful info. I do get to San Diego on occasion...

As for the Telonics, Ive turned the impedance adjustment to try to compensate (never solved issue). Is there something else?

Bill Ferguson · From: Milton, FL USA

Tom, you did not state, or I did not see, what kind of amp you are using.

For any amp with a Pre and Post Volume control. The POST volume should ALWAYS be considerably higher than the PRE volume, to help prevent distortion. (except when you want distortion).

Other than that, be sure you have high quality cables and the connections are solid.

As far as the Telonics, I have always been able to match the impedance of my pickup to my amp with the control on the Telonics, so I am guessing the problem might be what I note above.

Let us know,
bill
_________________
AUTHORIZED George L's, Goodrich, Telonics and Peavey Dealer: I have 2 steels and several amps. My current rig of choice is 1993 Emmons LeGrande w/ 108 pups (Jack Strayhorn built for me), Goodrich OMNI Volume Pedal, George L's cables, Goodrich Baby Bloomer and Peavey Nashville 112. Can't get much sweeter.

Dave Grafe · From: Hudson River Valley NY

Rather than trying to change the taper simply change your amp gain to get the response you desire by operating the volume pedal in a different part of it's range of travel.

Tom Gorr · From: Three Hills, Alberta

Hi Bill, I have a number of amps I have circulated through depending on context. My practice room amp is a 74 Vibrolux Reverb, but also have used a Peavey Heritage VTX or Musicman 65 RP112 in the timeframe of the Telonics distortion.

So, after reading your last post I hooked up the Telonics.

I used my 10 foot rather than 3 foot cable from guutar to pedal.

Also decided to switch the taper from 1 (Hilton) to 3 (Goodrich Clarostat). Clicked the taper selection to zero by mistake first, the LED flashed a few times) and then proceeded to Taper 3.

And voila, the distortion is gone. It's almost like an internal pad was switched on from off - it now works just as I remember it... nice..!

Gremlins abound. It is entirely possible the 3 foot cable was forcing a resonant peak driving the distortion, or perhaps the Telonics had some kind of internal setting that went away as I switched through tapers. Will see if I can reconstruct the problem.

Tom Gorr · From: Three Hills, Alberta

So, I'm glad thats resolved.

Now I'm thinking about this,100k Alpha pot in the goodrich. The pedal never seemed to deliver enough dynamic range (althoughit wasn't hirrible by any means) and now it makes sense why.

Also the reason, perhaps, there is a huge gap between active and true bypass tone control settings when I intriduce active buffers like tuner or compressor - eg the pickup was being "swamped" by the low impedance load.. vs full range buffer.

This EON pickup (which I use in split coil mode) is incredibly bright, so swamping it with low inpedance load doesnt "hurt" my tone much. In fact with an active buffer it is hard to dial in because its too bright.

The alpha pot has a nice level of friction. I do like the way the pedal operates mechanically.

Forum Index > Electronics		Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic