silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted January 24, 2005 Report Share Posted January 24, 2005 Hi I was thinking about buying a volume pedal but I got to thinking. Could a volume pedal be just a box with a lever on it that when you turned the lever it just turns a potentiometer? Would it really be that simple? Could I just have an input jack thats wired to a pot, then the pot wired to an output jack and have the lever connect to the pot thus turning it? That seams really simple, would it work properly if this was all I would do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted January 24, 2005 Report Share Posted January 24, 2005 Yep, that's all there is to a passive volume pedal. The hard part is the mechanics of making something you step on turn the shaft on a pot... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted January 24, 2005 Report Share Posted January 24, 2005 Hey, Paul was it you that made a volume pedal out of a sewing machine speed pedal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted January 24, 2005 Report Share Posted January 24, 2005 Nah, it was a A/B switch box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted January 24, 2005 Report Share Posted January 24, 2005 That's right - my bad! It's Hell gettin' old, I tell ya. I guess it beats the alternative. Here's an interesting volume pedal buld: Volume Pedal I've seen the same concept implemented with a rotary pot, a tiny spring-loaded roller chain and a sprocket mounted on the pot shaft, although I shudder to think about lubrication issues. Guess there's always at least one more way to skin that unfortunate proverbial cat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted January 24, 2005 Report Share Posted January 24, 2005 Gee, that actually doesn't look half bad. I have seen some very primitive looking things in that category! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted January 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2005 I actually thought about doing the chain idea, and I never thought about that slide idea. Thanks LK. But one thing I'm thinking about, wouldn't the values of the pots clash between active and passive pickups? A thing to avoid that I thought about, was having a "passive in", "passive out", "active in", and "active out." And have 2 different circuits for each. But that site you gave said the guy used a 10k pot, so I guess it doesn't matter after it goes through the output jack? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted January 25, 2005 Report Share Posted January 25, 2005 (edited) I wouldn't ever, ever use a 10K pot on a passive volume pedal! That will just kill your guitar's output! If you use a 1M pot, I don't think it matters too much if you use active or passive pickups with it. You might want to add a treble bleed cap if you feel it sucks your tone too much. EDIT: oh, and I would be leary of using a slider rather than a pot, I don't think the action would be very smooth. Edited January 25, 2005 by Paul Marossy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted January 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2005 hey in that link, the schematic has a bunch of stuff grounded, where would it be grounded to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted January 25, 2005 Report Share Posted January 25, 2005 Connect all the grounds to the sleeve of the input/output jack(s). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted February 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 I've got a few pots out of a bass, I think they are 3500k (thats what they say on the bottom so im pretrty sure) would this work for passive and active pickups. Also, how does a pot's value have an effect on output, I'm curious. Like, does higher value have a higher output, etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyG Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 choosing pot vlaues for volume control is a little trickier than youd think (at least than i origionally thought) you need to look at it as if it were input and output impedances. so lets say you havea 100k pot and a 1Meg pot. at full volume the effective inut and output impedance to the guitar signal is zero (assuming slider at top, proper pots etc etc) since there will be nothing in the way of the signal. now lets turn the pot down to 50% resistance (if using audio taper pots it wouldnt be half way along the travel distance but we dont need to worry aboutthat atm) this means that the guitar signal sees either a 50k resisistor in the signal path followed by a 50 k resistor to ground or a 500k resistor in the signal path then a 500k resistor to ground. looking at this as input impedances, the 1Meg pot will have a higher input impedance. and as we all know from our pedals, higher input impedance means more highend sparkle on our pedals. so effectivlly the 1Meg pot will cut down on the highs less than the 100k pot. however, you also have to look at it like an output impedance. the 100k pot will have a much lower output impedance than the 1Meg pot. the lower the output impedance of a pedal the more current it can source and so the harder it will be able to drive any resultant stages. so the 1Meg pot at 50% will mean that resulting stages after the volume control will not be driven as hard as they could be. this could be a problem it could not, depends on your rig. im fairlly sure it works like that. LK and Paul feel free to slap me upside the head if i got things wrong. i think thatto give you some idea of values, guitar volume pots are normally 250k for single coils and 500k for humbuckers. also the pot in my marshall high gain passive volume pedal is 250k hope thats all helpful JG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 If you meant either 500K or 350K, you will probably be happy - if you find it's rolling off too much high end, strap a 150pF cap from the pot wiper (center terminal) to the hot lead. 3.5Meg (3500K) will work too, but i don't remember ever seeing one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted February 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 your right, I did mean 500k, i have the wiring harness hear and I was looking at each pot and the first one I picked up was B500, which was engraved in the metal and the bass is old, so it was faded, and it looked a lot like 3500. My bad. I'm guessing that the B is to signify its a tone pot because they 2 say B500, and 2 say A500. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 B means linear taper - for smoother response, try the A500K (audio taper). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted February 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 oh, ok, thanks a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted February 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2005 hey guys, I was wondeirng if this mod would work to where if both switches were flipped, instead of being a wah, it would be a volume. heres a link to the original picture http://www.geocities.com/j4_student/crybaby.gif and the site its from...http://www.geocities.com/j4_student/schematics.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted February 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2005 Also, does anyone know how I could get it to be just one switch instead of 2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted February 13, 2005 Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 Use a DPDT switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted February 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 (edited) Wow, DPDT's are handy little buggers arent they? So, would this be the correct way to wire that DPDT switch for a volume pedal? BTW thanks. Edited February 13, 2005 by silvertonessuckbutigotone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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