How Important Is a Volume Pedal?

How Important Is a Volume Pedal?

Guitar players have a lot of options when it comes to finding the right guitar pedals for their needs. One such pedal is the volume pedal, which can be used to control how loud or soft you want your sound outputted.

So how important is a volume pedal? Simply put, a volume pedal is important if you are wanting to control the volume of your guitar with your foot at a moment’s notice without having to adjust a knob in the middle of playing. 

You might be wondering what benefits exist in getting a separate volume pedal versus just using the regular volume knobs on your guitar and amp.

In this article, we will discuss why you may or may not want a volume pedal, how a volume pedal affects your tone, and also where in your effects chain a volume pedal should be placed in. 

Whether or not you actually need a volume pedal will really depend upon your personal needs and what you intend to use it for. In my opinion, if you play guitar as a personal hobby or you’re newer to the instrument, then you don’t really need a volume pedal. 

If simply controlling the overall volume of your sound is the goal, then there’s no need in overloading your pedalboard with a bulky volume pedal. Just use the knob on your amp or the volume knobs on your guitar. They pretty much do the same thing as far as overall volume.

Now let’s discuss a good reason why you might need a volume pedal. One very popular way to use a volume pedal is to create what are called volume swells. A volume swell allows you to make a musical crescendo with your notes. 

Do Volume Pedals Affect Tone?

One caveat about volume guitar pedals is that they do affect your overall tone somewhat. They can make your tone sound dull and uninteresting, particularly when you are playing on lower volumes. 

However, one way to combat tone suck is to hook up a buffer circuit before your volume pedal on the effects chain. You could either buy a separate device that does the buffering or if you have a pedal with a buffer that is always turned on, that should work as well.

Just be sure that whatever you use as a buffer, it needs to be placed before the volume pedal, otherwise it will do you no good as far as saving your tone goes.

Where Should I Put a Volume Pedal?

Where you place your volume pedal within the effects chain is extremely important to obtain optimum tone. As mentioned above, volume pedals have the tendency to dull your tone a bit, so this part is important. 

More often than not, your volume pedal will be better off at the beginning of the effects chain. The reason for this is because a volume pedal is much like the other dynamic pedals like wahs, pitch shifters, and other types of pedals that affect the sound waves dynamically.

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