DIY volume cut post-effect for high gain fuzz?

[dubkitty]

I have a devi ever Truly Beautiful Disaster Dark. it's a great device, but problematic in that the input level necessary to get good oscillation and gate response from the circuit increases the level of my guitar signal by ~200% or more at the device output. since i play a variety of stuff for which i switch between lots of effects and few/no effects, i need some way to match the output level of the TBDD when engaged to the level of the clean signal. rather than the kludgy alternative of patching a volume pedal into the chain with the attendant cable length and signal degradation, i was thinking that a more pedalboard-friendly alternative would be a little box with a single potentiometer simply wired like a guitar volume control with a stomp switch to turn it on/off. is this practical? would it suck tone, either in the ON or OFF position? would a passive box be sufficient? would there be any point to building anything else? or does anyone have a better suggestion? n.b. my wiring experience is limited to rewiring guitars, and i don't know anything about building effects. any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[nbabmf]

Signal degradation! Ha!

There's nothing wrong with using a volume pedal and one foot more cable. It's the same as wiring up a passive volume control as you described. If it was so bad, it wouldn't be in every other pedal, guitar, and amp! Hard to believe there isn't one in that TBDD.

If you are hard up for pedalboard space, a volume control will fit in a 1 inch wide pedal enclosure called a 1590A and cost about $25 to build if you have a drill and soldering iron.

[dubkitty]

that's what i was thinking, a 1590A box. i saw them on PPP when i was looking at enclosures for Rygot's project stuff.

[ohsojayadeva]

would it suck tone? only inasmuch as you'd be adding a resistor to your signal... IE not in any appreciable way.

[nbabmf]

It's as simple as this:

100k audio/log potentiometer
lug 1 goes to ground
lug 2 goes to output
lug 3 goes to input

[eatyourguitar]

nbabmf I have to ask since you probably know the answer. whats the deal with pedals putting 1M pots on the output with no ground on the pot? is that just another way to do it.

OP, I would build a loopswitcher aka true bypass switcher but put the pot on the return signal and leave the devi on all the time. then you just have to use one switch on stage. you can make the pot an internal trim pot with a hole in the case big enough for a screwdriver to operate the pot. that enclosure is prob ok to fit 4 jacks a switch and a internal trim pot if you use small jacks.

[dubkitty]

that was going to be my next question, the correct potentiometer value. thanks!

a loop box is another possibility. i still haven't decided what exactly to do. my board space is limited, but a small loop box wouldn't have to be much bigger than a switched volume control.

[nbabmf]

nbabmf I have to ask since you probably know the answer. whats the deal with pedals putting 1M pots on the output with no ground on the pot? is that just another way to do it.

A 1M pot wired as a variable resistor can totally squash the signal to an inaudible level, but the frequency response is affected so much. If you've ever played a Rat, you know how the Filter control affects the signal. I'd much rather use a smaller potentiometer referenced to ground to handle volume.