Global lead volume control

Quad Cortex
1

Here’s a simple DIY project that some of you might find useful.

The problem: The amount of boost you need for your solos is completely dependent on your environment. Playing at lower volume and/or in a sparse mix requires much less of a volume boost for your leads to cut through than playing at high volume or in a dense mix. You get your lead levels dialed in at the rockin’ gig on Saturday. All is good. You set up your rig at home on Monday to play along with some backing tracks and all of a sudden that perfect lead preset sets your hair ablaze and sends your dog scrambling for cover. If you use multiple lead presets or scenes, you would have to go into each one, reset its level and store it, then do it all over again for band rehearsal or the next gig.

Here’s my solution: Build a global lead volume control, a small one-knob controller. Just plug it into one of the controller ports on you QC, assign it to a gain block (placed at the end of the grid) in each lead preset or scene. Next time you’re in the middle of sound-check in a noisy bar and you find that your solos are not cutting through or you plug in your headphones for some private practice and discover your solos are too loud, reach down, give that knob a tweak and voila, you’ve readjusted all of your lead volumes at once.

I built my controller for under $20 using parts available from Amazon and many electronics supply houses. I attached it to the side of my QC using a small sheet of plastic and Alien Tape (no sticky residue).

If anyone of you are interested in this, I’d be happy to post more information and answer questions.

Happy solos!

Controller parts
Controller parts1920×3413 1.08 MB

Controller complete
Controller complete1920×2560 617 KB

2 Likes
2

I applaud your ingenuity but who’s got time to twist knobs that aren’t on the guitar during a solo? I have an expression pedal setup as a volume boost (or attenuation) and that’s a lot easier to buy/use. Unless, I’m missing something about your solution. Which, is quite possible :slight_smile:

3

Thanks T.P. but not the way it was intended to be used. When we do soundcheck, I dial in the amount of boost I need for solos, depending on the room and how loud we’re playing. I sometimes bump it up a little later in the show if we and/or the crowd gets louder. I still use my expression pedal for global lead + rhythm volume.