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Exp Pedal affecting the tone


SirRis
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Hi guys!

So far, I have no problems with my POD HD500X and I actually found my desired tone.. but I only noticed that as I lower the volume through my expression pedal, the gain seems to decrease too. Is that normal? I just don't find it hurting the tone especially when doing swells. Is there any way to fix it? I hope you could help, guys. TIA!

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It is if the VOLUME pedal is at the front of the chain before the amp.

 

Added:

 

Sorry I didn't answer your second question.  Assuming the VOLUME pedal is only controlling volume and is not assigned as a controller to adjust the DRIVE of the amp model, then you can simply place the VOLUME pedal after the amp to control overall volume level without effecting gain/drive into the amp.

Edited by edstar1960
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There are a lot of things that go into the perceived sound that you hear. Volume is one of them. The same thing should happen if you use the volume knob on your (external) amp. 

 

Another thing is - the placement of the pedal, as well as what the pedal is actually controlling. 

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Hi guys!

 

So far, I have no problems with my POD HD500X and I actually found my desired tone.. but I only noticed that as I lower the volume through my expression pedal, the gain seems to decrease too. Is that normal? I just don't find it hurting the tone especially when doing swells. Is there any way to fix it? I hope you could help, guys. TIA!

 

 

It is if the VOLUME pedal is at the front of the chain before the amp.

 

Exactly. Placing the VOL FX at the front of the signal chain is essentially the same as adjusting the Vol knob on the guitar. This can greatly affect the amount of gain in the tone.

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So far, I have no problems with my POD HD500X and I actually found my desired tone.. but I only noticed that as I lower the volume through my expression pedal, the gain seems to decrease too. Is that normal? I just don't find it hurting the tone especially when doing swells. Is there any way to fix it? I hope you could help, guys. TIA!

 

Put your volume pedal as the last thing in your chain.  That way it is not changing the signal level hitting any FX or amp block after it.  It will be a plain old volume pedal, gets louder or softer without affecting your tone at all.  It may still SEEM like it is changing it due to the physics of sound and the Fletcher-Munson efffect...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher%E2%80%93Munson_curves

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Exactly. Placing the VOL FX at the front of the signal chain is essentially the same as adjusting the Vol knob on the guitar. This can greatly affect the amount of gain in the tone.

Not to nitpick, but that's not really accurate. Many guitars' electronics also attenuate highs as the volume knob is decreased. It's more like turning down the input on the amp.

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It is if the VOLUME pedal is at the front of the chain before the amp.

 

Aaaaand you solved it. Thanks mate! Didn't know about that! Ha ha ha! Does it also work the same way when arranging analog effects in a pedalboard? Thanks again!

 

 

however in this case, my favorite volume pedal FX position would be just after the amp model, and not at the end of the chain, in order to not affect abruptly also the following ambience FX (delay and reverb) trails when I turn it down to zero..

 

I also do like trails for swells so I did the same thing. Thanks btw!

 

 

It may still SEEM like it is changing it due to the physics of sound and the Fletcher-Munson efffect...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher%E2%80%93Munson_curves

 

Thank you for a very informative answer. I wasn't into physics but that really enlightened my innocent mind. Lol! Cheers!!

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