FV-500H (high-impedance) refers to electronic audio devices with an input or output impedance of more than 600 ohms, perfect for electric guitars & bass

This is an extremely good volume pedal. I have not had a lot of experience with volume pedals, but I will try to break down each set of criteria in order to convey the quality of the product. CONSTRUCTION: Very well built, very solid pedal. It is huge though, bigger than my full tone wah pedal in every dimension. The part that moves the pot inside is also a metal blade, unlike other pedals that use either a rubber band or string to apply tension to the interior pot. TONE: There is very minimal tone loss. With the volume pedal, my signal is going through the volume pedal and a couple true bypass pedals (compressor, wah, and OD) When I hooked my guitar up directly to the amp, there was very minimal high end reduction. It basically sounds like you added a tone knob and turned it down to 8-9 instead of 10. Now, this could be the pedal, or it could also be the lengths of cable going into the pedal and then into the amp being shortened by half when I disconnect the pedals. That's being said however.... It was not enough loss to have me change any of my settings besides maybe my tone knob on the guitar I cranked up a tiny bit. In other words... if you are a tone hound and small things will drive you nuts, maybe a volume pedal isn't for you (inherent in the design of a volume pedal there will almost always be tone loss as a volume pedal IS a potentiometer which has resistance, no matter what you do). FEEL/USAGE Others have commented that there is a cliff, this is true. BUT something to keep in mind about potentiometers again.... they usually work as AUDIO tapers, what this means, is that it tapers your signal on a LOGARITHMIC scale, not a linear scale. Using a logarithmic scale, a volume pot at roughly volume 5 wont be giving you 50% volume, but instead will give you 10% (logarithmic scaling is NOT 1:1). So again, inherent in the design of something that has an audio taper, is that is operates on a logarithmic scale, which means, that as you keep decreasing the volume, the effect becomes more drastic as you roll more off..... I.E once the volume starts dropping... it REALLY starts dropping. THE TAKE AWAY even with some minor problems, this pedal is very handy. I play a lot of musicals and frequently I am being used as a percussionist, which in todays world means using a great deal of electronics. A volume pedals lets me adjust my electronic signal without having to drop to the floor to hit the mixer knob when a sound is too loud or too quiet. This pedal is also handy on the guitar, and even if you never wanted volume, it can be used as an expression pedal for another effect of some type. Overall, this is a very versatile piece of equipment and can be JUST the thing you need if you find yourself having to adjust volumes of electronic equipment on the fly and need an easy way to swell, diminish, or just adjust the output level.

I am free the high impedance version of this pedal. Figured I’d leave a review on how this type of pedal interacts first in chain for controlling gain of dirt pedals. I use fuzz face type pedals extensively while playing electric guitar, and am used to adjusting the volume knob on my guitar to control the fuzzface tone. This has become more of an annoyance for performing, always having to fiddle with the volume knob to find a sweet spot, so if figured I’d try to use a volume pedal and set the minimum position of the sweep for the clean tone I was looking for. This volume pedal does exactly what I had hoped it would be able to do. At the absolute minimum position, after fiddling with the volume knob on the side, I’ve managed to find a great clean tone for the fuzzface I use. The pedal all the way down in the maximum volume position, its classic cranked fuzz tone. As for tone suck, there’s a moderately noticeable tone suck. I think this is primarily due to me setting the volume pot on the side at about 50%, so my full signal isn’t truly going through the volume pedal, no matter what position I set the volume pedal. I remedied this by adding a “boost” pedal as the last pedal in my chain to counteract the tone suck of the volume pedal. So far this solution works great for me. I’m sure there’s still some “tone suck” occuring, but the convenience of controlling my gain with a simple foot pedal far outweighs any minor tone suck issues. As for the pedal itself, it’s built like a Boss pedal. It’s massive, works great, and is built like an absolute tank. Also the action on this thing is sublime.

Update, June 2025: Eight years later... I've played a LOT of gigs and practice sessions with this pedal, and it has performed flawlessly every time. The jacks stayed tight, the pedal stayed smooth and consistent, and other than some dust, this beast still looks almost new. It's been in bars, performance halls, outside on stage trailers, and even in the dirt -- it's truly a tour-grade instrument. However, after eight years, I was forced to replace it -- the metal pin on which the pedal pivots broke. For maybe a couple of years before it broke catastrophically, moving the pedal would often produce a little crunchiness in the audio, but this is something that eventually happens with all potentiometers (as most guitarists will confirm). But there's no other pedal like this (dual balanced channels), so I was more than happy to buy a second one. And I can say that the new one, eight years later, is identical to the old one -- no corner-cutting or skimping. Original review, October 2017: Works exactly as I expected it to -- perfectly! I bought this one specifically for the dual I/O (my keyboard rig is stereo), and also for the minimum volume adjustment. It's heavy, solid and sturdy, and doesn't slide around at all (on the right flooring, of course). It feel so well-built and reliable that I expect to be using this for years!

HUGE and solid as a rock. Two good words to describe this product. The pedals got some heft and feels like good quality. I was looking for a passive volume pedal with minimum volume control and this one looked like the best available. I was not disappointed. I use it in the effects loop of my amp to boost volume for solos. Volume transition is fairly smooth throughout the range of the pedal. A screw underneath allows adjustment of the pedal tension, although I found it to be just fine out of the box. No significant tone loss. Again, the pedal is HUGE! which may not be suitable for all. My pedal board is already full so I was looking for something to put on the side. Since its so big (and wide), the pedal is very sturdy even on carpet. My only minor gripe is with the design of the front of the pedal. This has been brought up by others, and I knew about it before purchasing, but the taper of the front frame makes it easy for 90 degree plugs routed sideways at the outer edges to pop out of place. This is easily prevented with a zip tie, but still, not the smartest design. Overall, an excellent product that is sure to last.

I've seen this pedal touted as the #1 best choice in volume pedals, and it's easy to see why. Adjustable gain and tension, stereo ins and outs, passive operation, tuner out, and tank-like build quality that leaves little doubt that this thing will stay intact for centuries at least. The large size gives a luxurious feel without being unnecessarily huge like a Morley style pedal. I do have some complaints however. When I plug the tuner out into my TC Electronics Polytune, it causes an annoying squealing hi frequency noise right at the beginning of my signal chain, and by the time it reaches the end of my pedal chain the noise is unbearably loud. I disconnected the tuner from the pedal and plugged it iinto the tuner out of my Effect Gizmo pedal switcher instead. No more noise. My second issue is the pedal action. Although it is screwdriver adjustable, tightening it doesnt really result in the tight, precise, smooth action that I prefer. The light setting feels a bit weightless and sloppy, and in the heavy setting it still feels floppy but with extra friction that tends to causes jerky movements that mess up my volume swells. However, I'm in the minority since most people like their volume pedals loose, so I can't ding it too much for that. Overall definitely one of the better values in it's category, both as a volume pedal and expression pedal. it particularly stands out in the expression pedal market, especially considering most of the competition (Moog, Roland, etc) are constructing exp pedals out of flimsy plastic and selling them for nearly the same price.

(in the following review you can substitute any instrument with low-impedance active output such as an electronic keyboard, a guitar or bass or electronic drum kit) with a built-in pre-amp wherever I mention MalletKAT) My community band recently purchased a MalletKAT mallet percussion instrument since we can't afford the price nor the space of having multiple "real" mallet percussion instruments. However like most percussion instruments, the MalletKAT doesn't have volume adjustment for the output -- like "real" percussion instruments, you tap lightly to get a soft sound and harder to get a louder sound. However one challenge is that not all mallet percussion instruments (nor their samples inside the MalletKAT) produce the same loudness when struck with the same force. What that means (in real-world terms) is that my percussionist playing the MalletKAT has to constantly be adjusting the volume at the amplifier (bending over and thus not playing the music) to get the blend of sound that I as a conductor want to hear. This BOSS FV500L low-impedance Foot Volume Pedal solves that dilemma -- with this hooked up between the MalletKAT and the amplifier the percussionist can press the toe of the volume pedal all the way down (loudest) and then set the amp for the loudest sound we'll want from the MalletKAT, and then back that off when necessary for louder samples and step it up for the softer samples. And I can indicate louder/softer by hand to the percussionist and they can adjust the volume while still playing! One great feature for guitarists/bassists is there is a Tuner jack so you can plug a tuner into that jack and even if the volume is all the way down to zero (heel pressed all the way down) you can still check the tuning of the guitar or bass (or electric violin). One other great feature (BOSS usually thinks of everything!) is the "minimum volume knob" -- with that knob you can still have a little sound coming through even if the heel is all the way down (quiestest position) which is terrific for our MalletKAT so the percussionist can be certain they've got the correct sample chosen. The final great feature is that this single pedal can handle stereo sounds -- so if using a keyboard or other instrument which might have stereo output and running it through different amplifiers or different channels of a stereo PA system, you can plug one side into "Input 1" and the other side into "input 2" and then attach "output 1" and "output 2" to the appropriate channel or amp to give your audience true stereo output from your instrument! Last but not least -- this pedal does NOT require batteries NOR a plug-in power pack! So that's one less set of batteries to worry about for a gig!

There isnt a whole lot that can be said about the Roland FV-500H volume pedal other than it works. It does exactly what you need it to do. Whether you are cranking a Marshall amp and want more bedroom levels with full blown tube amp distortion, or you want to create a type of wah affect, this pedal will do it. The pedal may be large in size, being the absolute largest pedal on my board, but its a must have for my setup. It also quiets the hiss of the noisier effect pedals. Simple to master in seconds. Heel down reduces volume, toe forward raises volume, knob controls overall master volume. A great pedal to own.

Built like a tank. Big and heavy.