Lehle Mono 90 Volume Pedal Review

[Greg Cutshaw]

I just got this pedal a few days ago and it's a nice offering from Lehle. My review includes lots of pictures, sound files, a complete song and some useful links as well as my personal opinion of this product.


Click here to read the review!

[Brad Sarno]

I'm hearing good things about the Lehle. BUT - its critical flaw for pedal steelers is that the input impedance is really high, like 2Meg Ohms. That's 4 times higher than the 500kOhms that our pickups are designed to see. The result of this super high impedance is a painfully bright and unpleasantly crisp, harsh pickup tone.

Fortunately, the fix or "hack" is simple. If you build yourself a cord that goes from pickup to Lehle and at one plug end put a tiny 500k (or so) resistor there from hot to ground, that will load your pickup down to "normal" and will give you a proper tonal response from the pickup. OR if you have a buffer in front of the Lehle that has a proper load impedance, or adjustable load impedance, then that issue can be addressed before the Lehle. But just going straight into the Lehle is a no go, tonally speaking.

B

[Greg Cutshaw]

To my ears the Lehle, Hilton and Telonics all have the same tonality. They are really high impedance inputs compared to the pickup's internal impedance. I have extensively used the Hilton and Telonics and the Goodrich LDR pedals. While I understand on paper they do have different input impedances, they all sound about the same same as the Lehle. The Lehle is absolutely no more more harsh than any of the other pedals in actual use! I do use a reverb stomp box between the volume pedal and amp. That does affect the sound a lot and it restores some of the sound I like.

Other than that, yes I like the pot pedal sound a bit more than the buffered pedal sound. Our pickups were designed to work with a variable 500K pot in the circuit between the amp and the guitar and no active components in the volume pedal.

[John Goux]

Thanks for the review Greg, and the comments Brad.
How is the Excel working out for you?
John

[Greg Cutshaw]

John, the Excel is still impressing me every time I play it!.

[Larry Dering]

Greg, excellent review and photos. I still have and use the Goodrich pedals and I'm happy with them. Never know when I may make the switch.

[George Kimery]

Greg, thanks for taking all the time to do this review. Very well done.I love my Lehle 90, but I did have an issue with the highs with my Evans amp and George L cords. The highs are not a problem with my Stereo Steel, Katana,or a friend's Nashville 112. You just back off the treble on the amps. After consulting with Brad, I decided to go the Black Box route, which solved the problem with the Evans,and also helps out my Stereo Steel and Katana. Also, after 20 years, I moved my George L cords to back-up and made up some really heavy duty Pro-Co cords with soldered Switchcraft plugs which, I am extremely happy with.


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[Wayne Garrett]

I'm hearing good things about the Lehle. BUT - its critical flaw for pedal steelers is that the input impedance is really high, like 2Meg Ohms. That's 4 times higher than the 500kOhms that our pickups are designed to see. The result of this super high impedance is a painfully bright and unpleasantly crisp, harsh pickup tone.

Fortunately, the fix or "hack" is simple. If you build yourself a cord that goes from pickup to Lehle and at one plug end put a tiny 500k (or so) resistor there from hot to ground, that will load your pickup down to "normal" and will give you a proper tonal response from the pickup. OR if you have a buffer in front of the Lehle that has a proper load impedance, or adjustable load impedance, then that issue can be addressed before the Lehle. But just going straight into the Lehle is a no go, tonally speaking.

B

Thank you Brad!!!

Just writing to say thanks for this great tip. Just made myself a 500k load cable as you described and the results with my new lehle are terrific!

I also own a freeloader and am wondering if the 500k resistor hot to ground cable is effectively the same as using the freeloader with the knob in a fixed position?

I should also say (for others who may be reading this 7 year old thread)that I am very impressed with the Lehle mono 90 volume pedal. Very comfortable, great fit and finish, great feel, and with the 500kohm resistor cable the tone is wonderful! Had to make a couple EQ tweaks with my eq pedal to match it to the tone I had previously settled on with my Goodrich. Standard 9v pedal power and no mechanical components to wear out is very nice!Very satisfied customer!

[Sean McDonald]

Thanks Wayne for resurrecting this thread! I’m new to PSG and have the Lehle Mono volume pedal first in line from the guitar. So far, the tone hasn’t bothered me - at least not through a Fender Rumble 100 playing at low volume at home. My “regular” guitar amp is a Tone King Falcon 1x10 and the PSG sounds quite shrill through that amp unless I turn the tone knob almost all the way down. I assumed it was just a function of the amp (it not being intended for use with PSG and also being bright-sounding to begin with) but now I’m wondering if it is made worse by the Lehle impedance thing. Instead of making a 500k load cable or buying a Steel Guitar Black Box, am I understanding correctly that another way of dealing with this is to put a buffered pedal between the guitar and the Lehle? If so, that would give me a chance to experiment. Would the buffered pedal have to be turned on to impart the desired effect on impedance, or is it enough for it just to be in line but turned off? Thanks!

[Rich Ertelt]

Thanks Wayne for resurrecting this thread! I’m new to PSG and have the Lehle Mono volume pedal first in line from the guitar. So far, the tone hasn’t bothered me - at least not through a Fender Rumble 100 playing at low volume at home. My “regular” guitar amp is a Tone King Falcon 1x10 and the PSG sounds quite shrill through that amp unless I turn the tone knob almost all the way down. I assumed it was just a function of the amp (it not being intended for use with PSG and also being bright-sounding to begin with) but now I’m wondering if it is made worse by the Lehle impedance thing. Instead of making a 500k load cable or buying a Steel Guitar Black Box, am I understanding correctly that another way of dealing with this is to put a buffered pedal between the guitar and the Lehle? If so, that would give me a chance to experiment. Would the buffered pedal have to be turned on to impart the desired effect on impedance, or is it enough for it just to be in line but turned off? Thanks!

I have a black box. Expensive. Worth it.

If you have any Boss pedals, they all have buffers in them, and they are on all the time, I believe. I used a GE7 for a while, between the steel and volume pedal, as a buffer as well as EQ, and yes, even off, it buffered. Not the greatest buffer for a steel for me, but it did work.