Reducing a Pedal's Volume/Output

[sunken.anchor]

Let's say there is a fuzz pedal (or pedals) that is really cool but really loud. Like so loud that I never ever ever turn the volume knob past 9 or 10 o'clock. I have to be really careful because a tiny nudge of the pot means a large change in volume. Seems like kind of a waste having all the range of the volume pot when only a quarter of it ever gets used.

Is there anything that can be done to "fix" this? I was thinking either swap out the volume pot for a different type, or maybe try and reduce the pedal's overall output so that the volume pot has a more useful range. But I don't know anything at all about this DIY stuff.

What say you DIY pros? Possible? Impossible? Just suck it up?

[metalmariachi]

There are a couple of things you can do.

Easiest.. run it into a volume pedal.

You could lower the value of the volume pot, drop from 500k to 300k or 250k.

Or you could put a limiter resister from the output jack to ground.

So if the vol pot is 500k put a 250k resister between the tip and sleeve of the output jack.
that way you have the full range of the volume pot, but the output is limited to half what it was before.

MM

[Gunner Recall]

I use my hugger for this application sometimes...not exactly DIY but I've found it to be incredibly useful

If ya put a pedal in the loop of a hugger the left side can be used to correct volume (increase/decrease). Useful when ya dig the sound of a dimed volume knob on a pedal but want the output to be pulled back a tad.

Especially useful for devi stuff when ya want to make ears bleed but not make heads explode

The hugger can be used for a number of other boost applications...i'm finding more uses for it every day. May just have to spring for a second one with the fancy 3 stomp switches.

[sunken.anchor]

Well... pedalboard real estate is limited. Otherwise I'd look into the hugger a little more.

I'm currently doing the volume pedal thing, except by turning up the already loud pedal, I have the same issue with the volume pedal... I have to keep it so low in the sweep that it's almost not worth it.

Then again, I'm not too keen on doing surgery on a pedal unless the fix is relatively easy.

Here are some more beginner questions... changing the pot value would have little to not effect on the sound of the pedal, right? But how about putting the resistor on the output jack. Would that change the sound at all?

[aen]

Well... pedalboard real estate is limited. Otherwise I'd look into the hugger a little more.

I'm currently doing the volume pedal thing, except by turning up the already loud pedal, I have the same issue with the volume pedal... I have to keep it so low in the sweep that it's almost not worth it.

Then again, I'm not too keen on doing surgery on a pedal unless the fix is relatively easy.

Here are some more beginner questions... changing the pot value would have little to not effect on the sound of the pedal, right? But how about putting the resistor on the output jack. Would that change the sound at all?

Well, I can say for sure that changng the volume pot can change the sound of a pedal. for example, I've experimented with 100k audio and linear, 250k audio and linear, adn one meg linear pots for the volume on The great Destroyer. 1 meg is right out, very quiet and then INSANEO LOUD! 250k and 100k are pretty close, except for rate changes in the "idling" oscillation. I actually switched to liner pots for master volume, otherwise unity is at noon or higher. With linear, unity is at aorund 9, I think.

Also, in an early version of a bass fuzz i was working on, I put a 250k in without testing it. I got it to the amp and found that most of my low end was gone.

[sunken.anchor]

That's interesting Aen... I hadn't really counted on that much of a difference in swapping the vol. pot.

I really should put together some cheapo booster or something so I can get the hang of how this stuff all works. I'm so afraid to try anything on the gear I've got in case something goes wrong.