Best Volume Pedal For Electric Guitar (2024 Update)

Overall: It’s huge but it’s also surprisingly light weight. Because it’s so big it feels good under your foot. The resistance (which is adjustable) is, to me, just right because instead of fighting against you, it’s follows you like a shadow. The volume taper is pretty steep. Once you get the pedal to about 40% open, you’ve got 90% volume. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just something to get used to. What would be great is if you could adjust the taper of the volume. Maybe there’s a mod floating around on the interwebs? You can set the minimum volume which could be useful for using it as a boost right before an overdrive pedal whereby you set the minimum volume and put the pedal all the way down and when you want to melt some faces, you can open up the pedal all the way to slam the overdrive into…overdrive. I put the volume pedal after distortion and before modulation. That way I can swell into the modulation, delay, and reverb while preserving the trails of the effects that come after the volume once the volume is all the way down. My biggest gripe would be that the jacks are recessed into the enclosure. You can use a 90 degree connector for the top of the pedal, but it’s a juggling act. The side jack for the tuner can only be used with a straight connector. As it would happen, because the pedal is so big, it takes its own entire section of my pedalboard, so space at the top of the pedal wasn’t an issue. I did opt to use straight jack connectors from the top because I had the space and I didn’t want to stress the connectors on a 90 degree jack. Overall it’s a good volume pedal. I dinged it one star because of the volume tapering and recessed jacks. I still think it’s a better volume pedal than the others in its price range, but there are better volume pedals out there.

In need of a new Volume Pedal I had purchased Dunlop's DVP-1 about 1 year ago, but while I loved the top-knotch build quality, adjustable tension, Steel-Band Drive (compared to other Volume Pedal usage of STRING and other non-hardened material) and Aluminium Casing… it's overall size (and to a lesser degree, weight) was too large for my Pedalboard no matter how I shifted effects around to try and make room for it. And so it sat in its box while I continued to use my old-school Dunlop GCB-80 Volume Pedal that over the gigging years had done well but was showing its age… Until I received notice that Dunlop had released the DVP3(X), a new, smaller footprint & lighter weight version of the DVP-1 while adding the ability to function as an Expression Pedal for so-equipped Effects and gear. Trying one out it person, it had the same Steel-Band Drive and heavy duty casing, Adjustable Tension and overall "feel" underfoot that had drawn me to its "Bigger Brother". As I hadn't used my original DVP-1 for even practices Musician's Friend was kind enough to take it as a return/exchange for the DVP3(X), which made the "upgrade" to the DVP3 an extremely minimal amount. The only "negative" issue I could find is that the DVP3 comes in an all-black finish, while the DVP-1 has a "Natural Aluminium Silver" – it would be nice to offer either pedal in both colors. But that's an extremely minor issue. I imagine it will be a long time until I need to upgrade my Volume Pedal again, but I *am* considering another DVP3(X) set up in its "Expression Pedal" mode to use with my SWR Mini Mo' Preamp for manual control of the Filter Sweep setting on its Envelope Filter. A fantastic pedal at a killer price considering all of its features.

The Stomplab has some very good patches right out of the box better than most MultiFX units. I rarely get to say that. Since I like to try them all, I think it excels in areas that can outdo expensive pedals. The amps sound really realistic and have beefy snappy mids right in your face with great projection and pop. The tones are designed to sound good as you play with EQ settings the amps seem to stay in the zone of what you would expect an actual amp would do. The best way to really experience this is to plug into a Hi Fidelity home stereo etc. and listen to how detailed the mix is. There is a Tube Screamer that seems to actually enhance just about every amp you try it with when trying to get some edge. The clean amps are some of the best out of the box tube gain style sparkling U2 like rhythms with clearly defined picking separation. This is probably about as good as it gets for these type sounds. Very metal like ballading with chorus and delay. Def Leppard Bringing on the Heartache or Photagraph come off terrific. The crunch sounds are very realistic and the US Hi Gain is about as good as it gets for 80s Metal. I can compare this to the VT Plus series because I have it. This pedal sounds good and really excels with a Tube amp. The VT Plus is a tube hybrid and the 12ax7 single tube does add a touch of edge as it is cranked but the pedal is the same Engine and the edge is subtle and the Tube Screamer SIM sounds close. Any sound can be had and it records from the line out with very good definition. Most of the amp sims are very good with little tweaking and I think it has the most good amp Sims of any other multi fx unit. Has way more variables than the VT Plus amp series and it is one of my favorites for downright realistic amp sounds. Hard to believe it but, it stacks up well against the bigger floorboards in respect to tone alone. More controls on the bigger units sometimes can take you too far off base. It really is well designed and keeps you sounding good.

Het pedaal kleurt het geluid -ook bij minimaal volume- niet. Je kan dus ook (clean) spelen met je 100W buizen versterker op slaapkamer niveau! Met de Boost kan je je versterker op maat vervormen. Door de minimale volume instelling kan je de precisie vergroten als je het pedaal alleen als volume fijn-afstemming gebruikt (en de 0 dus niet nodig hebt). De kleur is verschrikkelijk! 🙂

Ottimo il rapporto qualità-prezzo. Bisogna abituarsi però all'idea che, non avendo una base fissa, tende a muoversi un poco sotto il piede, pur avendo una base ruvida. Esiste in commercio un accessorio che funziona da base, non so quanto sia funzionale. Usare una scarpa con suola tipo trekking risolve il problema mi pare.

Initially intended to buy an Xotic EP Booster because I wanted to try the Echoplex thing out, but saw this little guy and figured…why not? I like it so much, I don't see the point in ordering the EP Booster anymore! Hits the front end of my Soldano in a way no overdrive has yet, and with no noise. Works equally well in front of my OCD pedal for a lead boost. And to all the people whining about the switch not clicking…whatever. I like that about the TC stuff and wish all pedal companies would make their switches "clickless". Great value, just buy it already! Thanks TC and Sweetwater!

At a point several years back I only owned Active Basses, but in the space of two months proceeded to acquire several High-End Basses with Passive Electronics, I was in need for something in my signal chain to raise the output of the Passives to the level of my Active Basses. I took the advice of a close friend who's a true "Professional Bassist" who also knows a great deal about the technical issues of Pedalboards, Large-Scale Amplification and such and picked up the Xotic Bass RC Booster which was the highest-quality he could recommend (I'd rather spend the money once rather than upgrade from a "Beginner's Pedal" to a "Midrange Model" and so on…) That was once of the best pieces of advice I've been given in terms of gear, as to this day the Bass RC Booster is a main piece of equipment on my Pedalboard. Between the 2-Band EQ, Gain & Volume controls I'm able to raise the level of my own Passive Basses or a Bass that I'm using at a Jam or Open Mic to the levels of my Active Bass, which I have all adjusted to Unity Gain as to cause as little issues as possible. Two surprising use of note: with a minimal increase in Volume the Pedal becomes just as useful as a Volume Boost to both Passive & Active Basses for solos, drum 'n bass breakdowns and other times where it's necessary to step out into the spotlight a bit more. Secondly, when the Gain is pushed towards the higher registers you can even can a quite useable "SVT"-type Overdrive. Even players who play with a clean tone will certainly find this added bonus helpful in both live and studio situations. To sum up the Xotic RC Bass Booster, it's an extremely high build-and sonic quality, low noise & versatile Boost effect. Its additional use as a light Overdrive effects is just as effective in its field. I use this often on my Pedalboard, and would replace it immediately if it were lost or stolen. A bit pricey when initially purchasing, it makes up for that as you're buying a Professional Quality effect, and would not have any need to replace with a "better one" a year or so down the road. This is all one would need to cover this area of effects!