Sonicake Passive Mini Volume Pedal

I bought the Sonicake Passive Volume Pedal Mini to solve a simple issue. I have a Taylor GS Mini, which I bought second-hand and it's the version that ships without the built-in pickup. Taylor make the retrofit Taylor ES Go Pickup to easily install after purchase. The guitar, despite it's diminutive stature, is a joy to play. I'm pretty sure the ES Go pickup doesn't sound as great as the built-in pickup that ships in the electro-acoustic models, but perhaps that's a story for another page...

The ES Go pickup doesn't have any volume or tone control, so I rely on the sound desk to mute or unmute the guitar. Most of the time this isn't a problem, but it can get tricky when needing to do a last minute tune up and the engineer has the guitar live.

There are some good volume pedals out there - notably ones like the Ernie Ball P06180 VP Jr 250K (just under £100) or the more expensive, but popular, Ernie Ball MVP Most Valuable Pedal (around £180) or you can even get one with a built-in tuner like the Ernie Ball VP Jr Tuner Pedal (around £220). Jim Dunlop make a credible High Gain Volume Pedal for around £130.

Ages back, I used to have a Behringer FVC100 (now around £30 - great buy!), which is a full-size pedal and did everything I needed it to do. When I moved to Line 6 POD 2.0, I got the pedal board for switching and moved the Behringer on.

...This time I was looking for something small, inexpensive, but reasonably good.

A quick browse yielded a result in the SONICAKE Passive Volume Pedal Mini Expression Guitar Effect Pedal 2 in 1 Vexpress. It's a pleasant looking device, though the choice of colour may not have broad appeal. People seemed to have positive experience with it, so I thought I'd give it a try.

The package arrived quickly and I was excited to open it up. As you might expect it shipped in a simple cardboard box, but one that was neatly designed and which felt stable and for use with a good quality product. The box contained just the pedal in recyclable plastic bag. Once I'd removed the pedal, it felt light, but solid and of good build quality.

I took it along to rehearsal for it's first use and easily plugged my guitar into the input, the output to the DI box and into the PA. It's a passive unit, so no power is required.

It took a moment to get used to such a small form factor pedal, but I became comfortable with it very quickly. I can see how this would be a great addition to a small pedal board - it's around the same size as most guitar pedals. It performs ideally for my needs as a volume control / mute for my guitar. If there was anything I could improve on it, it would be to make it slightly heavier. I didn't have any problems with the pedal moving - our stage is carpetted, and even on smooth flooring, I think the rubber feet would hold well - but just to have a bit more heft would make it feel a bit nicer.

• Sonicake Volume/Expression Pedal at Amazon for around £35