Pedalboard real estate is at a premium these days, and when your ’board is chock-full of stompers of all possible sonic configurations, the last thing you want is for something, dare we say, utilitarian to take up valuable space.
Enter DOD’s Mini Volume and Expression pedals, which echo the company’s long-since-departed FX-17 Wah-Volume of yore, but shrunk down to regular Boss compact proportions.
Both pedals are passive designs, which means no power supply or batteries are required. The Mini Volume packs just a barebones input and output, but inside is a treble-bleed circuit to prevent loss of high-end at lower volumes, while the Mini Expression adds a handy TRS/TS/RTS resistance slider, ensuring that you’ll have no problems when hooking it up to your pedals.
Rock-solid, all-steel construction and skid-free treadle pads recall Ernie Ball’s industry- standard VP Jr, and a 0.5kg weight and rubber feet mean these two aren’t going anywhere when they hit the floor. The smooth gear drive tapers echo classic, full-sized designs, with a satisfyingly precise rise to volume or full expression, although prolonged uses will give your calves a workout. We also found the Expression’s three-way switch seriously handy on certain pedals that specified TRS, but in actuality functioned better as RTS.
There’s little to complain about with these robust offerings - some may bemoan the lack of a tuner output, but on passive designs that can actually suck tone, so it’s a wise omission here. All things considered, these Mini marvels represent yet another well-considered act of DOD.
