Lately, I’ve been thinking about adding a volume pedal to my setup, but I’m not familiar with the brands that are around. Today I watched a YouTube video (on pedal steel playing) where the Hilton volume pedal was mentioned. It’s quite costly and I couldn’t find any nearby dealer who has it in stock. I don’t have any specific budget in mind as this would not be an immediate purchase, I would just like to gather some recommendations.
Thanks in advance 
Bumping this thread in case anyone has something to recommend
Have to admit hadn’t come across Pedal Steel Guitar before but did a google and it looks like volume pedals are used quite uniquely in that environment. For normal guitar playing I would imagine many only use it occasionally (you can also use the volume knob on the guitar) if you are “boosting” for a particular part of a song. I’ve got an expression pedal built into my MFX that operates as a Volume pedal but to be honest it rarely gets any use.
Actually, what I have in mind is to use the pedal for swells (mostly) on individual notes / slide playing and it seems to me more comfortable and “ready-to-use” than the volume knobs of the guitar, especially that the volume knobs also affect the level of distortion.
A volume pedal and a volume guitar knob will do the same. All they do is increase or decrease the signal being fed to the amp. It’s a normal thing for an amp to be setup to provide a little distortion/breakup (by adjusting the gain knob on the amp) and then use the volume knob or pedal to reduce the signal and “clean up” the final sound (common if you want to play chords CLEAN and then switch to something Dirtier/Distorted for a solo).
So to get swell effects etc. in general relies on other FX pedals and your amp. I would google ambient guitar playing, reverb/swell pedals. That’ll give you some input on the sort of things you need. Generally though you need something to sustain the picked note (a compressor usually) and then probably a reverb style effect (take a look at Strymon and Eventide pedals…although you can get much cheaper that do something similar).
If all you are doing is looking to sustain while sliding between notes then a decent compressor and the right gain on your amp will do the job. You could use a volume pedal as well but I don’t think it’ll give you want you want on it’s own.
Thanks for these details. I didn’t think there would be so many options to take into consideration.
These two songs have the kind of effect I have in mind, one on guitar and the other one on a Fender Rhodes:
Ernie Ball Jr
Great an inexpensive volume pedal
I’m really not sure your going to get a sound on the guitar like the Fender Rhodes electric piano. It does almost sound like it’s got a phaser or flanger effect being applied which of course you can get in stomp pedal form for the guitar.
In terms of Wait I found this in a Wiki which may help you get something similar.
… and whaddya know?
Our guru has done an interview covering this exact technique.
The explanation starts at 6.30 in.
I’ve even had a go at this myself 
It came a lot longer ago than you might think!
Geoff Lynne was one of the first I heard playing it in the late 60’s; this is the album it’s on, it starts being used at around 3 mins in!
Wow, thanks for all your replies so far! It’s indeed the volume swell I’m after. I watched Justin’s interview and it’s sort of the same thing I have in mind but no necessarily with delay. I figured it would be easier to use a pedal than fiddling with the volume knob for each and every note.
As for the Fender Rhodes, I linked the song because of how Chick Corea played with the volume changes to have that sort of rippling effect. But that may have to do with a sustain pedal rather than a volume pedal.
This is the one I have, it can also be used as an expression pedal!
