Patent Application
20230230566
The invention relates to foot-controlled volume pedals between a guitar, or other electronic instrument, and an amplifier.
Most guitar players, when playing for an audience, want to adjust their volume while playing. Since the player's hands are playing the instrument, the player usually uses a foot pedal to control the volume. A conventional foot pedal is described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,767,780, incorporated herein by reference. In such a conventional foot pedal, the pedal/volume is controlled by pressing either the toe down (for increased volume) or the heel down (for decreased volume) on a vertically pivoting foot pad, like a see-saw. The toe end of the pad is connected to the shaft of a rotary potentiometer in the pedal, and pivoting the pad turns the potentiometer shaft clockwise or counterclockwise. The guitar, or an effects circuit, plugs into an input of the potentiometer, and the output of the potentiometer is plugged into the input of an amplifier.
Such pedals work fine. However, since controlling the volume requires pressing vertically on the foot pad and the player is standing over the pedal, there is no visual way for the player to know how far the pad is pressed down. Further, there is only a small range of vertical distance between minimum and maximum volume, which makes it difficult to precisely control the volume without actually hearing the volume. Still further, the player must change his balance when controlling the pedal so as to not put too much weight on the controlling foot.
What is needed is a foot-controlled volume pedal that provides the player a visual indication of how loud the volume will be. Also what is needed is a volume pedal that has a wider range of movement so the player can better set a desired volume. In this way, the player may control the pedal to be at a precise position corresponding to the desired volume. Still further, what is needed is a volume pedal that allows the player to not shift his weight when controlling the volume.
Rather than a see-saw type of volume pedal for guitarists, a foot-controlled volume pedal has a foot pad that swivels generally horizontally in an arc around a pivot point. The foot pad has a pointer at its far end (away from the pivot point) that points to the volume numbers 0-10, which may be illuminated.
The player's heel will generally be over the pivot point, and the foot covers the pad or part of the pad. Thus, a generally horizontal pivoting around the player's heel controls the volume. The swivel may have an angular range of up to 90 degrees, and the span of the volume settings between 0-10 can extend up to 10 inches so a precise volume can be set between 0-10.
In one embodiment, the player's entire foot is on the pad. In another embodiment, the player's heel is on the floor, and the ball of the player's foot is on the pad. In either case, the player swivels the player's foot around the heel, so the player's weight can be still supported by the heel.
The pad is connected to a shaft at the pivot point and the shaft is coupled to the shaft of a potentiometer. The coupling may be by friction, gears, a belt, or other coupling. The pad shaft has a diameter much larger than the potentiometer shaft, so swiveling the pad less than 90 degrees rotates the potentiometer shaft over its full rotation of, for example, 300 degrees.
Other embodiments are envisioned.
Elements in the various figures that are the same or equivalent are labeled with the same numeral.
A foot-controlled volume pedal 10 for a guitar or other electronic instrument has a horizontally swiveling foot pad 12 (also referred to as a controller). The foot pad 12 may be metal or plastic.
A shaft at a pivot point 14 supports the pad 12 over the pedal's base 16. The pad 12 may also include extra support at its far end, such as a roller. In one embodiment, the length of the pedal 10 is about the size of an adult foot, such as 12 inches.
The pedal 10 may be shaped like a wedge and can be very shallow, since all movement is horizontal and the circuitry is a simple potentiometer with two jacks for the guitar and amplifier.
At the end of the pad 12 is an indicator 18, such as a line or arrow that points to a range of volumes, such as 0-10, with 10 being the maximum volume and 0 being zero volume. The numbers may be illuminated such as by an LED backlight.
In the example, the swiveling of the pad 12 has a range of about 45 degrees. The range of volumes 0-10 may extend about 8 inches across for a pedal 10 that is about 12 inches in length. This greatly exceeds the range of a conventional see-saw volume pedal, whose volume range extends about 2-3 inches.
A dashed outline of the player's foot 20 is shown. Ideally, the player's heel will be generally over the pivot point 14, which results in a very comfortable control position for swiveling the pad 12. The pad and the shaft can be robust and generally supports the player's weight, so the player does not have to shift his weight to the non-controlling foot. If the pad 12 bends downward due to excessive weight, it will only contact the pedal's base 16 so no damage is done.
The pedal 10 has a phono jack 26 for receiving a phono plug of a guitar wire (or effects box) input and a phono jack 28 for receiving a phono plug of a wire leading to the amplifier.
A power input 30 may be used to illuminate the volume indicators 0-10.
Since the full swivel arc of the pad 12 (e.g., 45 degrees for volumes 0-10) should equate to a full turning of the potentiometer shaft (e.g., 300 degrees for min to max volume), some gearing or other technique may be used.
Many other embodiments are envisioned where the foot pad swivels in a generally horizontal plane rather than the conventional vertical path, to give the guitarist a better visual indication of the position of the volume controller. The pedal 10 may be very flat, which makes it more transportable than the conventional pedal.
In another embodiment, such as shown in
The arm 64 connected to the shaft 66 may be flexible so the foot pressure cannot bend the shaft 66. A high foot pressure will simply press the pad 58 against the pedal surface without damage. The bottom of the pad 58 and the top surface of the pedal may have low friction so the pad 58 can slide along the surface of the pedal.
In the embodiments of
Importantly, the swiveling of the pad along an arc provides a clear indication, via the visible volume numbers 0-10, of the corresponding position of the potentiometer shaft and, thus, the volume into the amplifier. The volume may be precisely set due to a large range of movement of the pad. The pad's arc is similar to the arc of a player's foot swiveling about the heel so the player can still put all weight on the heel for support, unlike the conventional see-saw volume pedal.
Having described the invention in detail, those skilled in the art will appreciate that, given the present disclosure, modifications may be made to the invention without departing from the spirit of the inventive concept described herein. Therefore, it is not intended that the scope of the invention be limited to the specific embodiments illustrated and described.
