Hi, I'm new here. I'm looking for a volume pedal that is smooth and doesnt color my tone. Do you think VL should make one? Is there one that you like. I've tried a Jim Dunlop and a Earnie Ball and I dont like either one. Both color my tone arent very smooth. I'm a bit shy about dropping another $100 on another one until I find one I like.

They both seemed fine in the store when I demo'd them but upon getting them home and hooked up to my rig and playing with them for hours, weeks, and months, I grew to dislike them both quite a bit.

Hey there,

Which Ernie Ball VP did you try? I found that the Big one colored my tone quite a bit but the VP Jr. was really transparent. Thats just my experience.

DJ

I dont remember which model it was, but I;m pretty sure it wasnt the Jr. The Dunlop was the High Gain GCB-80

It is important that you match the pot value of the volume pedal to where you are placing the volume pedal in your signal chain.

A Low Impedance volume pedal (usually around 25K) should be used after...
-A guitar with active pickups.
-Any low impedance buffer.
-A Preamp section (a.k.a. most amplifier effects loops!)

A High Impedance volume pedal (usually 250K or higher) should be used pretty much directly after a guitar with passive pickups, likely before any effects.

But there is a catch here...

If you are looking to use the volume pedal as a sort of master volume for doing volume swells, then you pretty much want to be sure the volume pedal is after your preamp section... particularly with the touch responsiveness common to just about any tube preamp section.
A volume pedal in front of an amplifier will certainly change between full volume and "silence", but along it's sweep it will affect how hard you are pushing the front of the amp which really acts more like a sort of gain control, not too unlike the volume knob on your guitar.

I looked up my Dunlop HIgh Gain pedal and it's passive, so does that mean I can plug it in the Insert on my Pedal Switcher? Or would it be better to run it after the Pedal Switcher (but before my modulation effects?) I dont have it with me or I would just try it out now.

Thanks,
Louis

The Insert on a Pedal Switcher is simply a break between Loops 3 and 4. Any volume pedal can be connected here regardless of if the volume pedal is active or passive itself. What makes the difference in how a volume pedal works for a specific rig is where in the signal path it is placed.

All the same "rules" from my post above still apply and can be translated now to...
-Are you running your Pedal Switcher in front of your amp or in the effects loop?
-If in front of your amp, are you using the Buffer input or the non-buffered Input?
-What is the value of the potentiometer in your volume pedal?
-Are the pickups in your guitar Active or Passive?

I'm running my Pedal Switcher in front of my amp
I'm pretty sure I have passive pickups, its a Gibson Sg Standard, no modifications
and the potentiometer is One-million cycle on the pedal
And I've been using the Buffer input on the Switcher, it seems to sound better that way