Description
Passive Volume Guitar Attenuator with LED Indicator
The recent explosion of lunchbox style tube amps has been good news for the working guitarist. They’re getting more and more affordable, they’re light, the gigging world has accepted the fact that you can handle a small gig with them, and they sound incredible. The fact you can also use them at bedroom level and still get a good valve tone is cool. Randy Rhoads’ tone was legendary, but his 100 watt amps needed no guitar attenuator – he simply played it loud, all the time. We at Vein-Tap.com would gladly lick our walls if Randy was playing next door to us, even at 4 a.m. on a school night. Your neighbours may very well be philistines though, and these small valve amps save you the bother of an ASBO.
However, some of these tube amps only have one channel. If you want to get both clean and dirty tones, shy of walking over and cranking the Gain control on the amp every time you want to change (seriously?) you’ll need to pull off the classic “volume pot” trick. Basically, you get your clean channel by backing off your volume control on your guitar to take away most of the filth and leave a shimmering, glassy, sweet clean tone. Sounds retro, and it is, but give it a go. Your clean tone will sing.
So you’ve found your sweet spot; your volume pot is at the exact 26.748% position it needs to be to make your clean tone perfect. Then you have to twist it to full for your dirty tone. And then guess where your sweet spot is as you back your volume off – not easy to do, and requires concentration that should be spent on your playing. If only there was another way…
Enter Vein-Tap.com.
This little beauty is the Vein-Tap.com Leech Volume Attenuator, another of our magnificent, sexy pedals. It’s basically an external volume control for your guitar – switch it on and it automatically gets down to the level you’ve carefully selected. Click it off, and you’re back with the filth. It’s simple, effective, and practically gives your amp another channel! This is the beauty of a guitar attenuator.
Of course, it’s not just lunchbox valve amps the Volume Leech works with. If you’re lucky enough to own a full-size valve amp, you’ll be amazed how well the Volume Leech will work with it, especially on those Plexi re-issues which have been grabbing guitarists by the cojones recently. Even if you’re using a valvestate or even solid state amp, the Volume Leech guitar attenuator pedal can give you an extra tonal versatility that just your clean channel by itself will struggle to match.
Order one now and see how clean your dirty amp can become, safe in the knowledge that your sweet spot is saved forever. It makes more sense than going home after work!
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John Wooster (verified owner) –
It has a good, smooth volume control pot. I use it in the effects loop of a one channel valve amp to drop the volume for rhythm playing, then turn it off to get the full volume for guitar lead solo time. Well made, compact, and works well for my purpose.
pauldbruce (verified owner) –
Simply Awesome!
The Leech is a simple, useful, well put together tool. Nothing clever here, it just does what it is supposed to do. I’m using it to tame an extremely hot harmonica mic signal going into a battery powered acoustic instrument preamp pedal. Works perfectly. No more clipping ; ) No batteries required (unless you want to see on off status) and looks cool, too.
adriandoyle1972 (verified owner) –
Very well made pedal, first class. This pedal is a game changer for me. Switched on, with he volume set at 2pm I have a wonderful, warm rhythm tone. Switched off I have that incredible lead tone. Makes playing and singing much easier, as no need to fiddle with my guitar volume knob, and I just love the simplicity of this setup. Guitar to Leech to Overdrive to Amp. Heaven.
1972pad (verified owner) –
Thanks for The Leech pedal, it’s amazing. I love my Silver Jubilee, but as a ‘usable’ 2 channel amp, it’s not happening; I just couldn’t get it sounding right for what I need. Cleaning up using my volume knob works, but doing that accurately mid song whilst jumping about – or at least the closest a 50 year old punk rock guitarist can manage! So, I’ve tried a MP Orange Underdrive / Homebrew Detox / Boss EQ which nearly did the trick but had far too many variables (knobs) for my liking, and needed tweaking, depending on the venue – I’m a simple being, and hate faffing about…now as if by magic, The Leech pedal came on my radar, simple, great sounding, well built, and it’s absolutely perfect for what I need. Thank you again, I absolutely love it.
METALFURY (verified owner) –
Perfect for my requirements and looks great.
I’ve placed this pedal in my effects loop so that I can use my amp at home without upsetting the neighbours!
dan-8488 (verified owner) –
Brilliant little pedal! I’m using mine on my EVH amps to give me a semi clean on one channel as I’m an old school ride the volume player.
It saves having a massive foot-switch.
And thanks for making mine white with a blue LED.
Highly recommended 👍👌🤘
gunnar.jahr (verified owner) –
Feels like the pedal added an extra channel to my amp. Playing jazz guitar alternating between rhythm and lead on a clean channel, the pedal is very useful; playing solos with proper volum and gain with the pedal “off”, then engaging the pedal dialled for more modest gain/volume for the rhythm parts. Easy, and just what I was looking for. Highly recommendable!
rngyoung (verified owner) –
I’m using this to reduce the volume at the end of my pedalchain to have a lower input into my amp. It’s working great as I can now turn the input stage up higher and get finer control over the volume at “bedroom” levels.
With the treble bleed circuit I’m not noticing any loss of tone.
Great build quality and customer service as well!
Cheers
turnerblacks (verified owner) –
I used to use an original Keeley Katana clean boost pedal to get a pure clean boost. When that pedal eventually bit the dust, I found it difficult to replace. The newer version simply changed the tone too much. So then I tried the Leech. It works perfectly for just a small difference in volume where needed without changing tone. And at a great price, and a small footprint on my board. Excellent. Thanks!
marcandrea71 (verified owner) –
Being a passive volume attenuator, one starts to lose treble content as the volume is turned down on the Leech. So I honestly did not use this pedal very much until I found a way to preserve the high-end, and that is to pair the Leech up with a spectrum-based compressor (like TC’s HyperGravity Compressor). It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s a reasonably good one, to my ears at least. So the Leech has a permanent place on my pedalboard now. Plus I dig its small footprint.
Guitar Teacher
Yamaha Contempo Music School, Sg
Ben from Vein-Tap.com –
I’ll start adding treble bleed caps, thanks for your feedback!
graeme1878 (verified owner) –
GRAEME H
The leech has many uses. Excellent for setting a cleaner rhythm tone so no need to mess with your volume pot. Just step on for your lead tone. I use it in between the Saint Doom fuzz and another fuzz to create a heavy dense fuzz tone with none of the hiss. A simple pedal that is a welcome addition to any pedalboard.
Mike (verified owner) –
Does what it says on the tin. To use it I preset a high volume level, then I push the button which reduces the volume to a ‘normal’ level – then for the solo I push the button again for the power!
Also – the LED normally lights up (if connected to DC power) when the Leech is ON (ie low volume). I asked Ben to rewire this one so the light comes ON when the Leech is OFF (ie red light now means high volume). He readily agreed – no extra charge and no extra waiting time. Brilliant!
Kris Reilly (verified owner) –
Does exactly what it purports to do. I really like how it works passively and I don’t have to worry about a battery or power adapter, though I may hook it up to one because it’s helpful to have the LED indicator. Overseas shipping was relatively fast and affordable.
od30 (verified owner) –
Perfect little pedal… well made, has a nice feeling vol. pot, does just what I want!
moo_stone –
Great little pedal. Use it in two ways. One to drop the volume for a couple of quieter songs in one band and to level out the volume when swapping between guitars in my other band.
dnljohnston –
I just received my Vein-Tap Leech in the mail a couple of days ago. It arrived pretty quickly for having to come across the pond… Anyway, I have one of the original Fender Cybertwins, which b.t.w., is an amazing and sadly misunderstood amp. I bought the Leech for use with this amp in mind as the digital input doesn’t like pedals very much in front of the amp.. Even though I could get great onboard tones out of the Cybertwin, getting a volume boost for solos was a problem unless I bough the midi foot controller, which I really had no use for. I just wanted to be able to boost the 4 sounds that I use, but regular booster pedals are meant for the front end of the amp and sound horrible and noisy in the EFX loop.. Volume pedals sound fine in the loop, but they’re so sensitive that you just touch it and there is a HUGE increase or decrease in volume, making it impossible to do any kind of a quick and precise adjustment for a boost and then back again – especially if you have to hit another pedal around the same time… Enter the “Leech”. I put it in the loop of the Cybertwin, which can be a bit fussy about effects, and it sounded and responded exactly like the best, most transparent volume pedal that you’ve heard, and completely silent.. It did not change the tone of the amp at all! And it has a tiny footprint as well. The pedal is totally passive just like any kind of high quality volume potentiometer, so no need for power unless you want to light up the LED (no room inside for a battery) which if you do, is on when the pedal is engaged in attenuation mode. Anyway, it’s perfect for what I needed, and at an extremely affordable price. It also looks very well built and roadworthy, and pretty damn cool looking to boot.. Well done Vain-Tap.
Dave (verified owner) –
Very well put together and does exactly what it says, clean to dirty or anything in between, nice.
mark.philcox (verified owner) –
This pedal is perfect for my AC30. Having read Vein-tap’s description of it, it was exactly what I was looking for, and it now means no more fiddling with the volume pot. So I can get the great natural crunch out of my AC30, using the Leech for clean, rather than having to use the amp on clean alongside an OD pedal.
Rob A (verified owner) –
Excellent utility pedal, great for adding a bit of variety to a one channel set up, already one of my most used pedals, low cost and compact, what’s not to like?
Armin H (verified owner) –
I run the unit inside my amp’s FX loop to have a second master volume available – works like a charm. Oh, yeah, it also looks pretty cool.
Giorgio C (verified owner) –
Great pedal,very useful, it allows me to go from dirty to clean Just by pushing a button!It’s good for anyone who plays a single channel amp,like my vox nightrain.It lowers the volume and gain just like the volume knob of the guitar, and It’s true bypass,so it doesn’t color the sound when it’s off.the only strange thing I noticed is that it start affecting the gain just when the knob is between 12 and 6,but maybe it’s because of the amp and guitar setting.anyway It does it Job and It’s also cheap ,so buy one!
Adrian D (verified owner) –
A handle little pedal with a number of potential uses, depending where you put it in your pedal chain. Very tidy, small, compact size. Does exactly what it claims to do, with absolutely no tonal colouring, just a volume drop, when placed after distortion pedals. Extremely handy for dialling in clean tones without fumbling with the volume pot on your guitar (especially when using humbuckers and higher powered pickups.
Paul S (verified owner) –
I use it in the fx loop of my prs 2 channel head as an attenuator to allow a volume increase when I solo as I find boosting the amp can compress the sound too much and this little beauty does the job perfectly. Great job guys.
Peter B. (verified owner) –
It may be small and simple looking but this pedal has now opened up so many possibilities with my amp (single channel Jet City 20). I love the tone of my amp for both drive and rolled off clean but the processes of rolling off the volume knob quickly to the right place can be difficult if playing live, but this just sorts that problem out. If it was stolen I’d get a new one in a blink of an eye. There was a problem with the delivery at first, I believe it was lost in post, but a quick email to Ben to say it hadn’t arrived and he sent another one out and it arrived the next day, great service!
Tim J. (verified owner) –
The Leech really is testament to the adage that the simplest ideas are the best. It is basically an external volume pot with a footswitch leaving your hands free and it has my one channel valve amp singing. Excellent quality and value delivered on time. Brilliant.
Mike L. –
I wanted something to give me a volume control for several different acoustic guitars – the Leech does exactly this. It works with active and passive pickups – and the power light works from a USB lead from my computer. Built like a tank and does what it says on the tin.
Rory K. (verified owner) –
What can I say, it does what it says on the tin. Perfect for when your volume change is quicker than you can reach for the knob on your guitar! Take this and a boost pedal and your single channel amp becomes a three channel amp for not much money!
charles h. (verified owner) –
Does what it says and looks cool too!