Thanks,

I have a GFI D10 with 9 pedals and 8 knee levers.

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1985 Emmons push-pull,S-10 Marlin,Evans SE200,Hilton pedal

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Fessy S-12U, Future MSA Millennium S-12U, Stereo Steel

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Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning.

Get the Hilton pedal. You will love it and you want need anything else. How can you top the best.

GOD bless!

Terry J. Wood

There are volume pedals, then there are volume pedals, and then there are SERIOUS volume pedals.

The ones to avoid if possible are the pedals made basically for lead guitarists. These would include any cheap-ass small plastic pedals like the Boss, your expensive Morley, and the Ernie Ball pedals with the jacks on the front face of the pedal.

Then there are the potentiometer pedals made specifically for steel guitar. These can be vintage or new, but all work on the same principle. The vintage pedals would be the aforementioned Fender, the Sho~Bud, the Bigsby, early Ernie Ball (jacks on side of pedal), the Don Edwards, the Dekley, early Goodrich, and others. The general consensus is that the best modern, new pot pedal is the Goodrich 120 for a free-standing pedal. This pedal is the current standard for this design. The Goodrich can also be equipped with a pedal rack bracket. The Emmons and Derby pedals, practically identical, are both designed to hang on to the pedal rack and are not free-standing.

All these pedals use potentiometers to change the signal going to the amp. This type of pedal now retails in the neighborhood of 175-200 bucks new. Used pedals go from 50 bucks up to 200-300, depending on their vintage status.

There were a few attempts at a light-beam pedal that never really caught on because of tone problems. There have also been pedals designed that had tone circuits in them that are good ideas, but the basic standard pedal is the potentiometer pedal.

The SERIOUS volume pedals are the Hilton and the Goodrich pedals that don't utilize pots. Though I don't know enough about electronics to comment on their design specifics, the new technology permits much higher quality performance from the pedals in terms of pureness and clarity of tone. These pedals cost from $240 to $300, and most users, and I am one, feel that the increased performance quality is worth the money.

I have two Hilton pedals. I also have two Goodrich 120 pot pedals. Both are excellent products.

One thing about the Ernie Ball pedal, any of the newer vintage models. It is a Royal Pain In The Ass, in my experience, to change out the pot on an Ernie Ball pedal. The Emmons/Derby design is the easiest, by far. And sooner or later, the pot will have to be replaced.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

[This message was edited by Herb Steiner on 17 May 2004 at 10:36 PM.]