The 9 Best Volume Pedals
Updated by · How we research
Passive, active and mini volume pedals for guitar, bass and keys, compared on drive, jacks and size. The Ernie Ball VP Jr 250K leads for value. When users buy our independently chosen editorial recommendations, we may earn commissions to help fund the Wiki.
Volume pedals come in two electrical types, and mixing them up costs tone. A 250K pedal suits passive pickups, while a 25K pedal suits active pickups or a spot after a buffer. Put a 25K pedal straight after a passive guitar and the treble fades. This list covers both, plus minis for crowded boards, for anyone chasing swells.
Editor's Notes
November 1, 2026, by Ezvid Wiki Admin:
The Ernie Ball VP Jr 250K now leads this list. It's compact, passive and widely stocked, and its taper switch gives two swell speeds at a fair price. Five of the old picks are gone or no longer worth it: the Morley PLA Steve Vai Little Alligator, Mission Engineering VM-Pro and MeloAudio EXP-001 are unavailable, the Signstek Daphon has disappeared from sale, and the Goodrich 120 costs far more than its owner feedback supports. Readers looking for the Signstek will find the same mini design in the Valeton Surge EP-2 and the Sonicake Vexpress.
Nobody publishes lab measurements of volume pedals, so this ranking leans on Dunlop's manuals and product pages for its band-drive pedals, the specs Boss, Ernie Ball and Hotone publish for theirs, a guitarist's roundup of swell pedals, and owner reports about frayed cords, squeaks and creeping treadles. Morley's optical 20/20 Volume Plus earns a special mention for players tired of worn parts.
June 24, 2020:
This was a very tricky update, primarily because many of the pedals in the list were very good already, and I found myself struggling to identify even better models to replace them with. Ultimately, I decided to only replace one pedal and leave the others alone, though I have moved some models around a bit.
I nearly added the QuickLok VP to this list, but upon further inspection, I didn’t feel that it added anything above and beyond what the current models in the list already had to offer. I had a similar dilemma with Fender FVP-1. Again though, including it would have meant that it would have had to replace one of the other excellent pedals here, and I didn’t think it was worth doing that just for the sake of making an update.
To clarify, volume pedals aren’t the same as boost pedals, though they do have very similar functions. A boost pedal is basically a button that you can push to achieve a pre-set volume gain, in effect working like a switch between two discrete volume levels. With a volume pedal however, you get a graduated increase between the two predefined volumes, exactly like turning the volume knob on your electric guitar or keyboard, but with your foot.
They both have their advantages and disadvantages, and volume pedals definitely give you a lot more to play around with, and tend not to ‘color’ your signal as much- i.e. amplify certain frequencies more than others- though high-quality boost pedals don’t have that issue either. If you want to amplify and play around with certain frequency bands, then an equalizer is what you’re looking for.
I’ve taken out the Dunlop GCB-80, which is a Cry Baby, but it produces too much distortion for a volume pedal, though this could have been an intentional part of the design, since Cry Baby makes many of the best effects pedals on the market, like wah-wah pedals, and they may have been trying to add their own flavor to the model by filtering the signal. However, I personally think that volume pedals should have a clean gain, and if you want an effects pedal combined with gain, you can always hook it up before the volume pedal in your circuit. Plus, many volume pedals come with ‘EXP’ ports and can double as expression pedals too, but the volume gain function of the pedal should provide a clean boost.
In place of the GCB-80, I've added a nice little budget option, the MeloAudio EXP-001, which, as its name suggests, can also double as an expression pedal. Like the EXP-001, the Dunlop DVP4 is another neat compact option which has taken the DVP3 and shrunken it by combing the ‘EXP’ and ‘Tuner’ ports into an ‘AUX’ port.
I’ve also moved the Mission Engineering VM-Pro down a couple of places as I found its sweep to be a little narrow – not ideal for such a high-end pedal, but it does provide a very clean gain, along with other features that make it worth its purchase price.
Special Honors
Morley 20/20 Volume Plus Morley's 20/20 Volume Plus replaces the usual pot and cord with an optical sensor, so there's nothing inside to turn scratchy or snap. It has a smooth audio taper aimed at violin-style and lap steel swells, a switchable minimum-volume control with an LED, and a cold-rolled steel housing. It runs on a 9-volt battery or adapter. Morley gives a one-year warranty, extended to lifetime when you register it, and sells it through music dealers. morleyproducts.com
250K Or 25K: Match The Pedal To Your Pickups
Passive pickups, which covers most single coils and ordinary humbuckers, want a high-impedance pedal, usually 250K.
A traditional volume pedal is a potentiometer, the same part as the volume knob on a guitar, linked to a rocking treadle (Wikipedia). Its resistance decides what it should sit behind. Passive pickups, which covers most single coils and ordinary humbuckers, want a high-impedance pedal, usually 250K. A 25K pedal loads those pickups and quietly shaves off treble.
Active pickups, keyboards and anything after a buffered pedal are the opposite case: they drive a 25K pedal without trouble, and a low-impedance pedal there gives a more even taper. That's why makers sell pairs. Ernie Ball offers the VP Jr in 250K and 25K, and Boss sells H (high) and L (low) versions of its pedals. Guitarstrive's swell roundup also notes that 500K pedals pair well with humbuckers (guitarstrive).
If you aren't sure, check whether your guitar has a battery. A battery means active pickups and a 25K pedal. No battery means passive pickups and a 250K pedal, unless the pedal sits after a tuner or other buffered effect.
Where It Goes, And Why A Tuner Jack Helps
Placement changes what the pedal does. First in the chain, before any overdrive, it behaves like the guitar's own knob: rolling back cleans up the distortion rather than lowering the overall level. After the drive pedals and before delay and reverb, it fades the whole sound evenly and lets echoes ring out after the guitar goes quiet, which is the usual spot for violin-style swells (guitarstrive).
A tuner output sends the signal to a tuner even when the treadle is all the way back, so you can mute the amp and tune in silence. The Dunlop Volume (X) has a dedicated tuner jack, the Volume (X) Mini shares one jack between tuner and expression duty, and the Boss FV-30H and Ernie Ball VP Jr 25K include one. Without it, the tuner has to go before the volume pedal.
A minimum-volume setting keeps heel-down from going fully silent. That helps when the pedal is used for swells and you want a quiet floor rather than dead air.
Cords, Bands And Light: What Wears Out
Every pedal with a potentiometer has a moving link between the treadle and the control, and that link is where most failures start. Ernie Ball uses a Kevlar cord held by springs; it feels smooth, but the cord can fray and need replacing. Dunlop uses a flat band and says its drive is tested past a million cycles (Dunlop). Any potentiometer can also turn scratchy with dust and age.
Optical pedals skip the moving contact. Morley's 20/20 Volume Plus reads the treadle with light, so there's no pot to scratch or cord to snap, but it needs a 9-volt battery or adapter.
Mini 2-in-1 pedals, the class the old Signstek Daphon belonged to, are cheap and small, but their short throw gives less control over slow swells. They work well as expression pedals for a modeler. Use a TRS cable when the maker calls for one, and keep cables taped down on stage, since a rocking metal treadle and loose cables make a trip hazard.
How we researched this
We compared 21 volume and volume-expression pedals, including every pedal from the earlier version of this list, read Dunlop's product pages and manuals and the specs Boss, Ernie Ball, Hotone, Valeton and Sonicake publish, used a guitarist's roundup of swell pedals and owner feedback to find common wear points, and checked every brand for recalls with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Nobody publishes lab tests of volume pedals, and we found no recalls.
Frequently asked questions
How does a volume pedal work?
Most have a potentiometer, like a guitar's volume knob, turned by a cord, band or gear as the treadle rocks. Optical models such as Morley's read the treadle position with light instead.
Do I need a 250K or a 25K volume pedal?
Use 250K for passive pickups plugged straight in. Use 25K for active pickups, keyboards or a spot after a buffered pedal. Using 25K with passive pickups dulls the treble.
Can a volume pedal work as an expression pedal?
Many can. The Boss FV-500H, both Dunlop Volume (X) pedals, the Hotone Ampero Press SP-30 and the Valeton and Sonicake minis have an expression output or mode. Check that the pot value matches what your effect or modeler expects.
Where should a volume pedal go in my chain?
Before overdrive it acts like the guitar's knob and cleans up the drive. After drive and before delay and reverb it gives even fades and swells with trailing echoes.
Is the Signstek Daphon volume pedal still sold?
We couldn't find it on sale. The Valeton Surge EP-2 and Sonicake Vexpress are passive mini pedals of the same type.
Can I use a guitar volume pedal for a microphone?
Not directly. These pedals expect instrument-level signals through quarter-inch jacks. A microphone needs a mixer or an inline mic-level fader.
