Wondering if anyone else has built a volume box.

[adam32790]

I just finished building a 10 dollar volume control for my fender hrdv 212. I read up on the site and went and got the stuff and built it in an hour. Once I put it in the efects loop and cranked it, I was amazed. I am playing a different amp. It sounds so smooth and it has nice tube sag now. I was just wondering if anyone else has done this amazing mod.

[Enzo]

I have one here in my shop. I made it years ago. To me it is a useful gadget whenever I want to knock down the level of some signal.

In the effects loop, it is nothing more than a master volume control. If you enjoy the effect, then it was $10 well spent.

One thing it is NOT doing, contrary to claims made on th internet, is allowing power tube distortion at low levels - it is not a power attenuator.

[loudthud]

I always wanted to make one that could be remotely controlled by a box at the other end of a mic cable so I could turn down the guitar player from the mixing board

[Enzo]

Well, you do know how to get a guitar player to turn down, don't you?


Put sheet music in front of him.

[adam32790]

haha

[mr.jetski]

yeah, I built 1 for my hrdx. unfortunately TRS audio pots ain't what they used to be.
mine pops a bit but it does what I want.

[Steve A.]

I always wanted to make one that could be remotely controlled by a box at the other end of a mic cable so I could turn down the guitar player from the mixing board

A Smith & Wesson should handle that problem just fine...

[R.G.]

A Smith & Wesson should handle that problem just fine...

Technically speaking, that is a switch, as it is more of a binary condition, not a smooth gradation of level.

[Enzo]

The latest in quantum control systems.

[Mark Black]

I always thought a feedback destroyer jacked into the effects loop on a lead player's guitar amp would be a fun dirty trick.

Yes - I built a little volume control box years ago for use with my Blues DeVille and still use it to this day. Simple & effective. I think it was all Radio Shack parts too...

[hasserl]

Get a little creative and use a relay in the box to bypass the pot, powered by a 9v battery, add a footswitch to trigger the relay and you'll have an adjustable lead boost.

[Gtr_tech]

Well, you do know how to get a guitar player to turn down, don't you?


Put sheet music in front of him.

THis is my favorite....from the AMPAGE "bench humor" page.....

At any rate, for years I had heard John threaten bands with the “suck button.” Bands who were taking too long to set up, or whose members repeatedly refused to follow reasonable directions (please keep that vocal mic away from the monitors!), would be threatened. “Pull that shit again, and I’m gonna hit the suck button on you guys!” I took it to mean that he would intentionally make them sound bad, but he never followed through on the threat, so I took it as a vague general warning.


So anyway, a little while back he’s running sound on a four band show. The second band, a Matchbox 20/Train kind of band, has him running 20 minutes behind before they even play a note because their lead guitarist was late. Their allotted set time is 40 minutes, but their last song runs over and by the time it’s done, they’ve played for almost 45 minutes. John says quietly over the talkback mic, “Hey guys, you’re done.” The lead singer says loudly over the vocal mic “Sound man says we gotta get off the stage. We got one more song for you!” as they kick into another soupy jangle-rock tune. John shakes his head at me. Then, the most amazing thing happened. After their “encore,” this band kicks straight into ANOTHER song without announcing it, apparently in the hope that John wouldn’t notice it was a different song.


John leans over to me to be heard over the PA and asks, “Hey, wanna see the suck button?”


“Sure,” I replied. I figured he was going to muck with the levels or just turn them off or something. Instead, he reaches to one of his racks and starts scrolling through patches on his trusty DigiTech unit. Sure enough, he gets to a patch titled SUCK BUTTON. He engages it, and all hell breaks loose onstage. The lead singer and the lead guitarist (who was singing backup), immediately start to sing WAY off key. They try to get back in tune, fail, trail off in mid-line, try again, and start glaring at each other. The guitarist is so distracted by this that he starts muffing the chord progression. If not for the drummer, I think the whole song would have derailed. For the entire four minute duration of the song, I was treated to this asshole band sounding like crap and getting madder and madder at each other. John explained the patch to me; basically it pitch shifts all tracks from the vocal submix up one step, BUT ONLY IN THE MONITORS. So the audience, out in front of the mains, was treated to the sound of two guys trying to sing in tune, only to be utterly confused. If they got it sounding right in the monitors, they could tell that something was grossly wrong in the mains. And each of the singers thought it was the other guy who was singing out of tune. I just about died laughing.

[Enzo]

That's great.

Not as funny but... I used to get even with my lead singer by running his mic signal through a delay unit and feeding it to his monitor a half second late while he tried to talk to the audience.

[Chuck H]

There's no end to the trouble rock guitarists face because they can't read music. I learned to read music in junior high school in band...for french horn . I never learned to transpose for guitar and it really bit me in the a$$. A big cootie heard me play at a show and asked if I would be interested in doing a San Francisco production of Godspell. Then he asked if I could read music . Could have been an incredible stepping stone for a career. Oh well, Not the only time something like that happened.

How do you get two guitar players to work together?.. Shoot one.

What do call a guy who hangs around with musicians?.. A drummer. (substitute "singer" depending on who you want to offend)

Chuck