Electro-Harmonix Next Step Volume Pedal

The Electro-Harmonix Next Step Volume Pedal is a volume pedal from Electro-Harmonix, part of the company's Next Step Effects series. What set it apart from most volume pedals is that it has no moving parts: no potentiometer, no gears, no footswitch. You rock the chassis back and forth with your foot and it delivers, in the maker's words, "accurate and very expressive control over your volume"¹.

The pedal was discontinued in 2020, so it is no longer made, but it remains an interesting design for players comparing volume pedals, because its approach to the job is different from almost everything else on a pedalboard¹.

A volume pedal with no moving parts

Most volume pedals, from an Ernie Ball VPJR to a Dunlop DVP1, sweep a potentiometer with a string, cable or gear mechanism. Those parts wear out, and the potentiometer itself can get scratchy over time. The Next Step Volume Pedal took a different route. Electro-Harmonix states plainly that "it does not use a potentiometer, optics or magnetism to sweep the volume control"¹. Instead, the whole pedal is a smooth rocking chassis, and the volume sweep happens inside with nothing mechanical to break.

That design was the point of the whole Next Step Effects series. When the Volume, Expression and Pan pedals were announced in September 2012, Premier Guitar reported that the three new pedals "have no moving parts and feature the same, smooth, rocking chassis" as the ground-breaking Crying Tone Wah, along with completely silent bypass switching⁴. MusicRadar's coverage the same month described the series as a range of pedals with "no moving parts" and a rocking chassis for control, plus bypass switching that is completely silent².

For a player, the practical differences are:

• Nothing to wear out: no footswitches, gears or racks to break, as the maker puts it for the series⁵
• Silent switching: bypass is instantaneous and completely silent, so kicking it in or out makes no click or pop¹
• Expressive sweep: the rocking chassis gives continuous foot control over volume, which the maker describes as accurate and very expressive¹

Premier Guitar's expression pedal buying guide later summed up the appeal of the Next Step design for players who use expression control: because the pedal does not use a potentiometer, optics or magnetism, "control comes without worry about footswitches or gears breaking down"⁶.

Outputs and bypass

The Next Step Volume Pedal has direct and effect outputs with a bypass level control¹. That gives you two output paths, and the bypass level control lets you set the level of the direct signal independently, so a bypassed signal does not have to be full volume.

MusicRadar reported at launch that the pedal "features a buffered bypass output and can be powered by a 9Volt battery or an optional 9.6 Volt AC Adaptor"². The buffered bypass means the pedal is not true bypass: when it is switched out, your signal still passes through its buffer rather than a straight wire. Some players prefer that, since a buffer keeps long cable runs from dulling the top end; others want true bypass. The maker's own page confirms the battery is included and the 9 Volt power supply is optional¹.

The Next Step Effects series

The Volume Pedal was one of several pedals Electro-Harmonix built on the same proprietary no-moving-parts design. The series included¹⁷:

The Expression Pedal is the closest sibling for players who want the same rocking chassis to control other gear: Electro-Harmonix describes it as a responsive pedal providing precise control over expression or control-voltage capable effects and instruments, with a Range dial to widen or narrow the sweep⁸. The Pan Pedal covers stereo work, panning and blending duties⁹. The Talking Pedal used the same proprietary design for a vocal formant effect, which Premier Guitar's reviewer framed as EHX's attempt to reshape expression pedal effects with the new formant filter and the other pedals in the line¹¹.

Electro-Harmonix later returned to the volume pedal format with a different product, the Electro-Harmonix Volume Pedal.

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