Which First?

[deepblue]

Im working on something guys 'n gals...

 

Quick question.

What should come first, volume pedal or wah?

 

Thanks again.

[Blackie]

I say wah.....but I use niether

[jamman]

+1 with Blackie , Wah will be used more. maybe. I have one and never use it. lol !!!!!

[milod]

I've used a volume pedal off and on for probably 35 years.

 

To me the one weakness of the dual pickup design without an easily accessed master volume is that switching pickup configurations for whatever reason does not offer the opportunity to make up for potential volume loss or gain.

 

So... the volume pedal. It's no big deal for a solo gig, but in a lotta various sorts of bands it's darned handy.

 

m

[FirstMeasure]

Hmmm.... This topic makes me want to get a volume pedal and try it in both configurations. I've never actually used one.

[SHO]

Depends on what you want the volume pedal to do.

 

First off, for me the wah pedal ALWAYS go before any gain/distortion stages, meaning it is infront of the amp and any boost/OD/distortion/Fuzz pedals. Basically, if I use a wah, it is what my guitar is getting plugged into, so wah would be first and then volume pedal, but it probably works fine the other way also.

 

Now, for the volume pedal itself. The way I see it, you have two options here, depending on what you want the volume pedal to do.

 

1: Before the gain stages.

 

In front of the amp and any OD pedals. This will make the volume pedal work a lot like the volume pot on your guitar, so you can fiddle around with the pedal instead of using a hand to much about with the volume pot. The signal will clean up as the volume goes down.

 

 

2: After the gain stages.

 

This will make it work more like a proper volume control. Signals will stay the same, meaning if you have a high gain sound and lower the volume, the sound will still be as distorted only not as loud (of course, any power amp distortion and such will go away when the volume drops). Having any time based effects after the volume pedal will alow you to do those volume sweep effects (hit the strings with the volume fully off, bring it up, then cut the volume again leaving the delay repeats or what not ring out) and other stuff.

 

I use the 2 alternative myself, as I'm fine using the guitars volume pot to clean up sounds if needed.