Pedal Steel Guitar Volume Pedals: Which is right for me?
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- čas přidán 27. 05. 2018
- In this video I discuss things to consider when picking out a volume pedal for the Pedal Steel Guitar. I cover vintage proprietary pedals, the Ernie Ball VP, the Goodrich 120, the Hilton Electronics VP and the Telonics FP-100. I also discuss the pros/cons of passive vs. active pedals.
www.texassteelguitars.com/
Ernie Ball
www.ernieball.com/guitar-acce...
Goodrich
goodrichsoundcompany.com/volu...
Hilton Electronics
hiltonelectronics.com/pedals
Telonics
www.telonics.com/products/pro...
I have one of each, a 46 year old original MSA "drop pin" pot pedal, it's a hoss. I have replaced the pot with the same value 2 or 3 times. These are rack and gear pedals, not strings. Long before the pots crap out, they get stiff and scratchy and static. Easy to work on and replace the pot.. I also have a first or second gen. Goodrich 120 bought new to use as a spare. It's still my spare.. they sound and feel great but use a string to operate the pot.. I haven't used it enough to test its reliability in all these years..mainly because it doesnt attach to my pedal bar ... I bought a Hilton at least 10 years ago or more... it sounds, feels, performs as good as anything.. absolutely ZERO mechanical issues. I sent it back because the power cable got damaged.. he replaced it, and added the new LED pilot light, readjusted it to the newest specs.. years later sent it back for a new power supply. excellent service.. yesterday for the first time I tool the tread off to see if a dust bunny was causing a volume dropout issue .. it was almost sterile inside.. no dust bunny.. problem was a bad ground on an effects loop cable. I bought the up pin attachment that connects it to pedal bar . ABSOLUTELY 100% reliable and if there is a tone difference between a pot pedal and the active light beam < i think its a laser> I don't hear it..
Thanks for great info on pedals. I’m using sho bud pedal with my 6139. Like the classic sound of 70’s :)
Thank you for this info! I’m new to steel guitar after being a fan for many years…definitely not liking any of my standard passive guitar volume pedals with the steel. Hilton sounds like a winner! I had not heard of those.
great video TSG !
Great channel! Thanks for the PSG vids.
Tommy Bohlen thanks for watching!!!
I have used Ernie Ball, Goodrich and is now using Lehle. For me the Lehle Mono 90 is great.
My 2c: I’d been using an active pedal since I started on PSG, but I just picked up an old Goodrich (guessing mid 70’s), and MAN does it sound better than what I was using. Something about the simplicity of pot pedal is making my Sho Bud sound like it’s supposed to. I can distinctly hear string separation on the low end a lot better. Plus, now I can leave my cables plugged into it at home and not worry about killing a battery.
You know I agree with you here. The active pedals are very transparent but there’s something about those old Goodrich, Sho~Bud & Emmons pot pedals that you lose out on when you go active. I first went to an active pedal because it was the only one I could find locally at that time that was a low profile. I couldn’t fit under the guitar with my older pedals. I keep a Goodrich Lo Pro Pot Pedal and a Hilton Lo Pro in my seat now and switch between them depending on the gig.
Lots of variables in pedals. The technology of pots have come a long way in the last couple years as well as the active pedals.Quality of cables is a tone factor. Length of cable is a factor. Pick up, speaker, wattage of amp. type of speaker cabinet, guitar neck (wood or metal) Hard to pick just one. Try them all lol.
Telonics volume pedal is by far the best. Because you get what you pay for.
My Goodrich pedal has a 9 volt battery hidden under the base plate. This should be known because it didn’t come with any instructions or acknowledge this.
I have a budget active volume/wah pedal from Joyo and the tone suck is very audible when volume is switched on. Fortunately it can be disabled and then it works as a true bypass wah, this is what I bought it for.
For volume I bought a vintage Ibanez VL10, passive, high impedance, and it's working great at the end of my pedal chain.
Been using Ernie Ball pedals for steel guitar for 50 years, done many thousands of gigs, and had very few problems, and I have been doing up t0 8 gigs a week more often than not.
I've used a Hilton pedal for years and years and I've never had a problem at all...great performance and reliable. The Telonics is $200+ more than the Hilton and not any better for my money.
Telonics is the best there is!
I've been using a George Dennis GD20 for about 12 years. They are an active optical pedal. I am a bass player and this pedal is fantastic. All steel, no tone suck and I power mine with a 9 volt lithium ion rechargeable battery. Unfortunately they are no longer being made. I paid $130 for mine, new.
New subscriber, really enjoy the videos!!! 😎
I'm "using what I have", an ancient DArmond volume/tone pedal... 😮
You are a wise person. Kayton Roberts (Hank Snow's SG player for 35 yrs) used the D'Armond vol pedal for his entire career. In a word he used the same pedal from the time he bought it and the day he passed away.
The only thing he ever did was to replace the pot when it wore out.
Sadly, Vol pedals are given more claim than they really produce. If you were an electronic technician, you would know that most of the rhetoric about pedals is simply NOT true. Most can not hear any difference between a passive and active vol pedal. Save your money. Keep that D'Armond. It does it just as well as most other pedals.
Thanks!
Thanks for the video. Hard to find videos on the differences between passive and active out there.
some say theres a diff... I cant hear it.. doesnt mean there isn't
Cool video
The Ernie Ball pedals work fine.
I've had 2 ernie balls jr both was broken.... They don't work for a long time... then I bought a Hilton Volume pedal... There are about 4 years that I'm using it for everything and it still works perfectly... it's like a war tank... very hard box, works very well and too better than Ernie Ball's volume pedals. HILTON IS THE BEST V. PEDAL IN THE WORLD
I use Hilton myself but have used Goodrich and Ernie Ball in the past, no problems with the Passive until the pot goes. Hilton you don't have that problem ,but I do carry a spare, just in case.
I do the same!
I just scored a Goodrich L120 at a thrift store for under 15 bucks! Now I need a pedal steel.
Brian, I'm a little envious! I've never seen anything that cool at a thrift store. I only wish you would have used your "super score" on the actual pedal steel. Good luck - you never know.
@@longhair-dontcare9983 Yes me too! That is on my to buy list. I am saving it for that day. I only tried it on guitar the day I got it and decided to keep using my Ernie Ball pedal as it suits it well. Thanks!
NICE!
Wow.Great vid.Good use of time and info. packed non stop!! Gotta figure pot and string replacement on passive pedals , annoying and costly too.Hilton may be worth it.Thinking out loud.
Thanks!
Active. Hilton
GREAT VIDEO! I HAVE A QUESTION!
I WANT TO KNOW HOW TO CONNECT THE HILTON VOLUME WIHT MY STRYMON OJAYS
not sure what the strymon ojays is.. but if its an OD or Fuzz put it first in line out of the steel .. and run modulation efx like delays and echos thru the loop ..
This may be an unusual question, but would these pedals designed for steel work well for a standing "Spanish" style electric guitar player? I play a strat through a Twin Reverb without distortion and I seek to emulate steel tones. Thank you in advance.
Sorry, you said your name so fast, I missed it :-) Any chance you could go into more detail about using a low profile volume pedal if you happen to be tall? I'd appreciate that - thanks for the presentation!
Basically a good rule of thumb is if you are over 6 foot tall you prolly wanna consider a low profile pedal. This also depends on your guitar but most often the 6 foot rule works.
I want to know were in cape town south afica can i buy a v pedel for c 6
how are we supposed to know?
What about the Gooodrich?
Pots should have a lube port. You can drill them if you are careful. Any powered component risks ground hum. Behringer make a solid, cheap passive pedal, whose design includes a mechanical clevis instead of a string. Poor quality control put the pivot in the wrong position. A Rock musician wouldn't notice. I fixed mine.
Would've been a much better review if you actually tried out the pedals to compare tone. Some pedals are reputed to be tone eaters.
Nobody wants to hear my tone lol!
When you started actually showing the pedals, it would have been nice to stop the background music.
Goodrich has a new pedal called OMNI. (active/passive) I ordered one today and looking forward to pick up the pedal at the post office soon. Then the old 120 pedal gonna be retired and a back up pedal.
I’ve heard that Omni is awesome!