# Vol pedal vs PU booster pedal?



## Mahogany Martin (Mar 2, 2006)

Again please be patient with me, I'm trying to understand these things by reading about them at this point (I don't have a reference yet from experimenting with them).

I'm thinking about slightly *boosting* lead parts. Is the volume pedal a better investment (it's also used as a Wah right)?


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

ofender said:


> Again please be patient with me, I'm trying to understand these things by reading about them at this point (I don't have a reference yet from experimenting with them).
> 
> I'm thinking about slightly *boosting* lead parts. Is the volume pedal a better investment (it's also used as a Wah right)?


Boosting for lead isn't necessarily just boosting volume, it usually means boosting volume and certain mid frequencies to help you cut through the mix.

I suggest looking at a boost pedal. The Fulltone FatBoost is great, the Klon Centaur is the absolute best IMO. There are much cheaper alternatives as well.


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## Mahogany Martin (Mar 2, 2006)

Where does an EC mid booster fits in with this topic? I'm guessing that being part of your guitar setup that it boosts your mid as an overall sound. And could you use that to boost leads? I understand that having that setup on your guitar that one of the tone pot is replaced so that would mean that you'd have to quickly reach that pot to increase the mids just before your lead and reach again to turn it down after the lead? Anybody uses this that way?

Thanks Jeff, I'll have a look at these pedals.


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## Lester B. Flat (Feb 21, 2006)

I think a lot of guitarists (me included) use a volume pedal to reduce volume, not as a boost. You adjust your amp and other pedals with the volume pedal full on. Usually a stomp box is used to add distortion and volume for lead work. In some instances you want to maintain the 'lead" sound throughout the song so the volume pedal is used to control the dynamics. It can also be used for doing swells.

A volume pedal and a wah are two different things. One is foot controlled volume pot and the other is a foot controlled tone pot. Some pedals are switchable and allow you to do both.


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## Mahogany Martin (Mar 2, 2006)

Lester B. Flat said:


> I think a lot of guitarists (me included) use a volume pedal to reduce volume, not as a boost. You adjust your amp and other pedals with the volume pedal full on. Usually a stomp box is used to add distortion and volume for lead work. In some instances you want to maintain the 'lead" sound throughout the song so the volume pedal is used to control the dynamics. It can also be used for doing swells.
> 
> A volume pedal and a wah are two different things. One is foot controlled volume pot and the other is a foot controlled tone pot. Some pedals are switchable and allow you to do both.


And there's a difference I'm realizing between volume and gain boost. In the set up you talk about here, the stomp box allows you to preset your volume and gain boost and *kick it it* with the foot switch for extra lead *cutting through*. Does it need to somehow bypass the rest of the pedals (and volume pedal) or you simply leave volume pedal full on ? (I'm trying to grasp that you not only *boost* the volume for leads to cut through but you're also adding definition (gain, presence, bass, mid, ..) to the *sound* ?)


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## Lester B. Flat (Feb 21, 2006)

Think of it this way. When the volume pedal is on full, it's off. Pretend it is'nt there. Adjust your amp volume or volumes, your boost pedal volume and amount of distortion etc. so you can get all the sounds you need. Changing the volume on the guitar, amp or boost pedal is going to have an affect on tone. The volume pedal is neutral in this respect and only used to reduce volume without having any major affect on tone, and the full on position is like it was'nt even there. It's usually the first in line in your pedal board.

It can also be "played" by hitting a note or chord with it rolled back and then increasing the volume for a swell effect, removing the attack from each note. Some guitar players do this with the pinky wrapped around the volume pot on the guitar, the pedal makes it much easier.

evilGuitar:


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## Mahogany Martin (Mar 2, 2006)

Lester B. Flat said:


> Think of it this way. When the volume pedal is on full, it's off. Pretend it is'nt there. Adjust your amp volume or volumes, your boost pedal volume and amount of distortion etc. so you can get all the sounds you need. Changing the volume on the guitar, amp or boost pedal is going to have an affect on tone. The volume pedal is neutral in this respect and only used to reduce volume without having any major affect on tone, and the full on position is like it was'nt even there. It's usually the first in line in your pedal board.
> 
> It can also be "played" by hitting a note or chord with it rolled back and then increasing the volume for a swell effect, removing the attack from each note. Some guitar players do this with the pinky wrapped around the volume pot on the guitar, the pedal makes it much easier.
> 
> evilGuitar:


I thought that a volume padal at "zero" was *allowing* the sound/volume of your set up to go through and as you pressed the pedal down, that "more" sound went through (as a booster sort of thing) but I get it now  

I've got a Boss Blues Driver pedal that I bought when I was playing on my small crummy amp. It never occured to me that I could set it up with my cybertwin. What do i need this for? If I want distortion, I can just select any of the appropriate patch. But I wanted to stick with the Twin Reverb sound (which is amazing clean with guiatr volume cranked) and "boost" that sound for leads (instead of switching to another patch). 

So tonight I hooked up the BD-2 to the cybertwin and experimented with that (using it as a booster). I don't have the hang of it just yet but I'll do some tweakin' and make it sound good. And I now understand where a volume pedal fits in and I'll probably end up getting one of them to experiment and develop *chops* playing with it (and probably a wah too).

Thanks very very much :food-smiley-004:


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## Lester B. Flat (Feb 21, 2006)

Sounds like your starting to get the hang of it. If you like the twin sound, work with that and get a nice clean or slightly crunchy rythym sound. Don't forget the tone controls on the guitar, a lot of people just have them on full, but some guitars have a sweet spot in the tone pots. After your happy with that, then you can adjust the distortion and boost on the Blues Driver.

You don't have to follow my advice to the letter, I'm just trying to help you understand how things work. Once you understand all the ramifications you can make your own decisions to suit your own needs. For example, what if you want a volume boost with a clean sound? With your present equiptment it would require a slightly different approach than what I've advised. I'll let you ponder that one.

:rockon:


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## Mahogany Martin (Mar 2, 2006)

evilGuitar:


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## PaulS (Feb 27, 2006)

you might want to check out a booster, using it in front of your BD or other overdrive/distortion can kick it up a notch. I have played with boosters and might suggest if you can find one using a Ge transistor like the rangemaster etc you'll find the sound of the boost more appealing. The thing with the germanium transistors is they have to be biased correctly and they don't like the cold.


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## SCREEM (Feb 2, 2006)

having a two volume pot guitar a la Les Paul also does the trick, example: have the bridge pup volume full and the neck pup rolled back, then just flip the toggle switch down for you lead a la Jimmy Page.

I also like the sound of a rolled back guitar volume when plugged in to the gain channel on my amp....just before a lead I turn up the volume and hear all the gain and harmonics come in....so cool, basic stuff.

Volume pedals are cool but you don't really need 'em.


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## ENDITOL (Feb 5, 2006)

You can set it up this way, with a low impedance volume pedal in the FX loop of your amp. Some are capable of setting the min and max volume. This would be a pure change in volume not tone, you would need another pedal or processor for that. 



ofender said:


> I thought that a volume padal at "zero" was *allowing* the sound/volume of your set up to go through and as you pressed the pedal down, that "more" sound went through (as a booster sort of thing) but I get it now
> 
> I've got a Boss Blues Driver pedal that I bought when I was playing on my small crummy amp. It never occured to me that I could set it up with my cybertwin. What do i need this for? If I want distortion, I can just select any of the appropriate patch. But I wanted to stick with the Twin Reverb sound (which is amazing clean with guiatr volume cranked) and "boost" that sound for leads (instead of switching to another patch).
> 
> ...


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