Ernie Ball Volume Pedal (6166 Mono)

Morbid · #1 01-29-2009, 05:11 PM

Alright guys. So some of you may remember I was having difficulties with my Volume Pedal in the Effects Loop of my Mesa Boogie Mark IV. Just to refresh the memory, when I pulled all the way back on the volume pedal, my volume wouldn't go away entirely. It would still be there, but it would sound fuzzy.
I sent my pedal back to Ernie Ball for a rebuild and just got it back today. Same issue...now I'm confused.

Is there some reason that my 6166 Mono Volume Pedal SHOULDN'T work in the Effects Loop of my Mark IV?? Am I missing something here?

YaYoGakk · #2 02-01-2009, 12:28 AM

Mine does the same thing. I have the same pedal and same amp. I never bothered to find out what the problem was/is.

Morbid · #3 02-01-2009, 05:38 PM

Now that makes me paranoid. I wonder what it could be. Unfortunately, I suppose that means it's not an issue on Ernie Ball's side, but I don't know what to do then.

Damn.

I'm still sending the pedal back to Ernie Ball to be redone. Regardless of how it works in the FX loop, even in front of the amp it's not working like it should.

ColinMmmmm · #4 02-01-2009, 11:30 PM

Kind of a dumb question - but does the volume go all the way down with your guitars volume knob?

speedy mcfeely · #5 02-02-2009, 12:00 AM

Mark IVs have a parallel effects loop. If you want it to go totally quiet, put the vol before the preamp.

Morbid · #6 02-02-2009, 02:14 AM

Colin, yes it does.

Speedy, if that's the case, how come John Petrucci (And other guitar players, I'm sure)are able to use their Volume Pedal in the effects loop with no problem?

Also, based on a link that YaYoGakk sent me, the Mark IV is apparently not the only mesa with this issue.

Morbid · #7 02-19-2009, 01:24 AM

So I spoke to the boys at Mesa Boogie recently.
Mcfeely, I'm afraid you're mistake. According to Mesa Boogie, the Mark IV is a serial loop, not parallel.
However, they did say that there is no way to get the volume to disappear entirely when in the FX Loop. However, my volume pedal is still not working properly, so back to the shop it goes.

stratoskier · #8 02-19-2009, 08:47 AM

If I recall correctly from stuff I've read -- those EB pedals come in two different impedances. I believe one is 25K and the other is 250K or something. In front of effects or before the preamp, you want to use the high impedance version. In SOME (maybe most) effects loops, you want to use the 25K (=line level) volume pedal. You need to investigate or ask Mesa which one you should be using in the Mark IV loop.

Bert

Morbid · #9 02-19-2009, 04:19 PM

I was told by both Ernie Ball and Mesa it wouldn't matter, and one of the other users here directed me to a thread on the petrucci forum where other members were having similar issues with the Volume Pedal in the FX Loop of a Mesa. Even guys with the 250k or 25k, they all seem to experience the same problem.
Personally, I'd like to know what John Petrucci does to stop this problem. As many times as I've seen them live, when he pulls back on the volume pedal I don't hear a peep out of his amps.
With any luck he'll do a clinic again this year and I'll get to ask.

jb4674 · #10 02-19-2009, 06:00 PM

Doesn't Petrucci have a Bradshaw system?

Jimmy

Morbid · #11 02-20-2009, 02:25 AM

No, I'm pretty sure he doesn't =/

speedy mcfeely · #12 02-20-2009, 12:41 PM

Mark IVa has a parallel loop. Perhaps Mark IVb has serial. Sorry to misinform you. I run an ernie ball vol and have no issues when in front of amp. I can't silence my Mark IV through the loop, but in front it works. The Lonestar Special works both ways and has a serial loop.

Morbid · #13 02-20-2009, 05:18 PM

Unfortunately, I'm able to silence mine in front of the amp now too, but the Ernie Ball pedal came back with a different issue, which is why I'm still sending it back.
When I received the volume pedal back, on the one swell setting, it's like turning on a switch. From no volume, to almost full blast. On the other swell rate, it swells much nicer, but it's almost as if the volume of my guitar is rolled 3/4 of the way off. Even with the volume pedal all the way forward, I get hardly any gain at all, which would be great if I played blues, but I really don't, haha.
So somethings not right.

And as far as Serial or Parallel, I told the boys at Mesa I had a Mark IVa from the early 90's, and they told me the same thing =(
Maybe I should call them and ask if there's a difference between the A & B. That would explain why John is running B's instead of the A's he had before.

jb4674 · #14 02-20-2009, 08:21 PM

Keep in mind that John also has a tuner wired to that rig, which would make sense why it would go totally silent when the pedal was in the back position (tuner engaged, thus, silent).

Jimmy

Morbid · #15 02-21-2009, 07:27 PM

I could be wrong, but I think John's tuner isn't in line like that. Of all his rig demo's Ive seen, I'm pretty sure his tuner is always engaged. I could be wrong, but even still, when I saw Dream Theater in Texas last year, John pulled back on the volume pedal before playing the solo to Lines in the Sand. Unfortunately, he forgot to put the pedal forward again, and noticed it while playing. There was no guitar noise to speak of until he noticed his error. Not to say that the background noise of the other instruments or people in the crowd wouldn't make that difficult to hear, but as loud as his amps are (considerably louder than I can stand mine in my little room), if his amps react anything like mine, the noise would SURELY be audible through the PA, especially as close to the stage as I was.

Here's the video, btw. Short of the 'whoops' still a great performance if you ask me. Of course, maybe it holds a special place in my heart because I was there, haha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWujP23voE8