Foot-switchable volume levels ... with a twist.

[Boy Howdy]

Boy, I hope I can make this make sense....

I keep coming to think in my various projects that having two different foot switchable volumes would be a really cool option. You could have one set for rhythm and one louder, for lead, for example.

No problem, right?

But....

It would be so much cooler if you could have one volume that would be the one you would adjust and then another volume that would be preset to maintain a constant relationship with the first. In other words, no matter how loud or soft you adjust volume 1, volume 2 when kicked in via a foot switch would always be say 2 db louder, depending one how you set it up in advance.

This would mean you'd never have to guess about how loud the second volume is, it would always be "one louder" (or whatever ratio suits you).

Does that make sense?

The only problem is that I can't figure how to do this. Can you guys help?

[Enzo]

Put an EQ pedal in the FX loop. Set the EQ to flat, but boost the level 2db. Now whenever you turn it on, whatever was coming through would be 2db louder. SO it doesn;t care whether you turn the gain or volume up or down, it will add its thing when you stomp it.

I know it was just an example, but 2db is not much, barely audible.


Now all that is well and good, but remember too that your ears are not linear things. SO that doing this at practice room levels and at stage levels won;t necesarily sound like the same boost.

[Boy Howdy]

2 db - bad example. Let's say, not "one louder" (Eleven Is One Louder - Spinal Tap [1080p] - YouTube), but two louder.

Thanks, Enzo. I was thinking more in terms of adding a second pot and/or some resistors, or something similar, to let's say an overdrive pedal (though it would be applicable in other areas, I'm sure). Any ideas there?

[g1]

You can use a dual-ganged (stacked) pot, wire up one to an L-pad or attenuator of your choice, switch between the two pots.
More of a "reverse boost" or cut but I don't think you are looking for extra gain, just a volume difference.

[Boy Howdy]

Or maybe two volumes and one master: preset the volumes and then just adjust the master. Hmm....

[drewl]

I've built several different amps that can switch between two master volumes.
One of mine is a Marshall style 1987 that you can switch in the extra gain stage to make it a 2204, and on this model it also swiches in the standard master volume after the tone stack and it has a post phase inverter master active all the time so it does what you were asking about.

[J M Fahey]

Simplest is just one single volume pot in your switchable Loop.
You'll go from whatever volume you are using to 1/2 that or whatever attenuation you set on the added pot.
If not switchable by itself, add a small relay.
And if you insist on getting a boost instead of attenuation, use a clean booster in the loop.

[R.G.]

You can use a dual-ganged (stacked) pot, wire up one to an L-pad or attenuator of your choice, switch between the two pots.
More of a "reverse boost" or cut but I don't think you are looking for extra gain, just a volume difference.

This is by far the simplest. I would use a dual gang pot, just like you say, and put another resistance on the top/hot side of the lower output one. This would let both volumes track, but the ratio of the added resistance to the second/lower volume pot would set the amount lower that the second volume worked. This could be either a fixed resistor or a back/inside pot to set how much attenuation you got.

So, net, what's needed here is swapping a dual pot for a single, adding a resistor (or trimpot) to one of them, and the switching arrangement to switch between them.

[Mark Hammer]

When J. Everman released a pedal to do what the OP alludes to, several years back, many folks responded to it negatively, declaring it was "just a pot in a box" (which it was). J simply noted that it was something his customers had asked for, and that he wasn't trying to deceive or soak people. More recently, EHX released their own version of the same thing, which they called the "Signal Pad" ( EHX.com | Signal Pad - Passive Attenuator | Electro-Harmonix ): a box with a volume pot, a footswitch, and an LED so you could tell whether it was out of circuit or not. You can pretty much bet that if Mike Matthews puts out a product, he is fairly certain there is or will be a market for it.

I'll simply add that sometimes people want an identifiable boost to their signal, and sometimes they want an identifiable attenuation. Many so-called clean boosters will do either of those, but that doesn't stop people from using them specifically to introduce overdrive.

[tedmich]

another way would be a switched active tone stack, with +/-15db you can get a different tone AND a vol boost on switching

[Steve Conner]

Some Mesa amps had a "solo boost" feature to do exactly this. If you use a "pot in a box", you'll get different results depending if you put it before or after your distortion effects.

If your amp has an effects loop, maybe it's a series one with a return level control, and maybe it's footswitchable, so just patch the send to the return, and the return level control is your extra volume control activated by the footswitch.

I tried lots of things, but I keep coming back to the coil tap switch on my guitar. Single coil for rhythm playing, humbucker for solos!

[J M Fahey]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Hi Muhamed !!!
How's the spamming job going like lately?

[Enzo]

And just something else to consider, most amps have more than enough loudness.

So instead of thinking only of boost, consider cut. Arrange something to cut levels by some number of decibels. Leave it usually on, then turn it OFF to gain those dbs of level. SO instead of trying to find some sort of boost, make it a pad. Turning off the pad creates the "boost."

[R.G.]

I've been biting my tongue, and given up. This particular problem could be attacked another way.

The issue of switchable loudnesses is simple if you only want two. The more general issue is how to change between levels and go to/come back to the desired one. How about a volume pedal with maybe ten LEDs that light up for each 10% of pedal travel? That way you could tell when you were at X level, go away to Y level, and get back to X. Or X+1. Or whatever. True, it's not as simple as a step up/back, but it's more flexible on stage, and maybe with color-coded LEDs you could have quick visual feedback.

If you wanted only attenuation, you could use it as just a volume adjuster. But maybe you could put an adjustable gain into it too. So that if you wanted volume of 0-1, you get that. Or 0-4, or 0-10x.

A neat thing might be to make it have a tuner out that was unaffected by the volume level, so you could mute the stage sound, tune by looking at the tuner, then go right back to stage/playing level.

I guess a switch between active electronics and just passive volume control would be useful. Maybe for fun, make it dual-channel, too.

Just some thoughts.

[Mark Hammer]

Didn't somebody we both know make something like that?