Guitar reviews 4U - Dearmond 610 & Fender 725 Volume & Tone Pedals review
Today's review covers the vintage Dearmond 610 and the Fender 725 pedals that allow you to control the volume and tone of your guitar or instrument signal.
Dearmond 610 & Fender 725 Pedals
Dearmond (Rowe Industries) and Fender have figured historically in the American musical instrumentation industry since the 1940's. Dearmond like Fender, is famous for guitars, pickups and foot pedals.
Close up of the Crinkle finish used on the Dearmond -
this finish was popular in WW2 on Motorola Handie Talkie, Jeep regulator covers etc.
Both of these pedals reviewed are mono in and mono out using standard 1/4 jacks and standard wiring configuration guitar leads. They are passive, non-powered pedals.
Early 1950's 602 Volume Pedal Mk1 type - The foot grip pattern is cast onto the top plate, the Mk2 had rubber ridged pads
the 1/4 jack wire on the left to the Amplifier was hard wired on the Mk1 model
Dearmond 610
The 610 is the follow on development from their successful 602 Volume only Pedal, introduced in the early 1950's, hence the retro look of the design. However the one featured here is the Mk2 type produced until at least 1978.
The 602 Volume only Pedal, this is the slimmer width Mk2 version.
It utilises 1/4 input and output jacks, taking standard guitar leads
Both the Mk2 602 and 610 look identical from above at a distance.
The 602 Volume Pedal found favour with the Pedal Steel and early electric guitar players from around 1950. The original slightly fuller 'jelly mould' shape of the original 502 was 'streamlined' down into the MK2 version shape of the pedal which was also adopted for the 610 as well.
Dearmond 610 Volume and Tone Pedal inside -
The upper, horizontal rack actuates the Tone pot via a gear on the pot shaftThe vertical lower rack actuates the Volume pot gear via a gear on that pot shaft
The construction on both the MK2 pedals is very similar, with the difference on the 610 of the additional horizontal toothed rack and pinion gear arrangement, the swivel top pedal plate and the extra Tone pot and wiring. The 602 pedal is restricted to up/down movement only. Only the 610 has the additional left to right sweep movement capability.
The 610 pedal top 'swivel' -
towards the Treble bias position and pedal down for full volume
Showing the 610 pedal top 'swivel' - with pedal in the up position, volume fully off
The 602 had a 'straight' up and down volume pedal control, with flat 'down' being full volume and with the pedal plate raised 'up', being volume off. Again, the volume control on the 610 like the 602 is actuated by a vertical mounted toothed rack and pinion gear mechanism.
Fawn Brown Crinkle finish was used on this 1961 610 Pedal
Common to the later Mk2 Pedals are the pedal top rubbers, the top one with vertical ridges and the lower with horizontal ridges, these rubbers were applied to both the later 602 and 610 pedals to keep costs down, even though the vertical ribbed pattern was superfluous on the 602 which was an up/down pedal and not an up/down/side to side function as on the 610. (On the Mk1 the top plate had a 'grip' pattern cast into the top of the plate.)
On the 610, the vertical ridge patten helped the sole of your shoe grip the plate and move the plate as required from left, to centre and to the right depending on what tone was required. Centre was a neutral tone position - neither bass or treble accentuated.
A 1968 example in an olive green Crinkle finish
Colour finishes varied on the Dearmond pedals used a 'Crinkle' pattern paint effect finish. Early Dearmond pedal paint finish examples are a dark slate grey on the Mk1, Mk2 pedals used a Dark Grey, some were an Olive Green and some 60's examples were in a rarer Fawn Brown finish - all using the 'crinkle' pattern paint finish. I have seen both 602 and 610 in the Fawn Brown Crinkle which seems to be rarer and less used than the dark grey or Olive green paints.
Baseplate of a 1968 610 showing the Ink Stamp date
Crinkle finish paint was often seen used in WW2 on items such as the Motorola Handie Talkie walk-talky personal radios, on other electrical items like the Willys MB/Ford GPW Jeep Autolite Voltage Regulator boxes and the finish was also used on Radio Set sheet metal work.
In use
The genius of the 610 combined Volume and Tone is immediately apparent in use, a Lead guitar player can keep the pedal top flat down at the '12 O'Clock' position for rhythm playing, but slide the pedal top to the right and the treble gives you a treble biased level for lead note playing.
Whether by accident or design, this function was soon exploited by many players looking to overcome that old problem of needing volume to cut through for lead single note playing work on soloing and not having to mess around with volume pedal height.
Pedal Steel Players likely first found this function very useful and later guitarists discovered this feature too. In the UK Shadows guitarist Hank B. Marvin in the 1960's discovered this unique feature of the Dearmond 610, later Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd (an admirer of Hank Marvin's style also adopted the 610 and both players also used the Binson Echo machine).
One drawback some say of the Dearmond pedal is that the inputs are less conveniently handed on the base unit, than on the Fender version.
Fender 725 Volume and Tone Pedal
The Fender 725 Volume and Tone Pedal -
a reissue of a 1960's model
Fender Musical Instruments in California were not slow to get their own pedal to the market, as they also made Lap Steel guitars, popular in Hawaiian and Western Swing and Country music styles, in addition to their guitars, bass guitars and amplifiers.
Players soon developed the use of the volume pedal to allow them to play the start of the plucked note with the pedal in the up 'off' position and then dip the pedal down to the full 'on' volume position to achieve a 'sweeping volume' playing of a note. Some call this playing style 'violining'
This technique can be done on both the Dearmond and Fender pedals. Guitarists and Pedal Steel players found this technique added an extra dimension to their playing. Think Santo and Johnny on 'Sleepwalk.'
The side plate view of the Fender 725 - one of the inputs here is for a guitar tuner
This view shows off the folded metal construction and top pedal plate
Fender brought out their own rival to the Dearmond pedals in the 1960's. The Fender version was more 'boxy' shaped, being made from pressed and folded sheet metal construction, rather than Dearmond's cast metal construction. However, operation of the Fender Volume / Tone is the same as on the Dearmond equivalent.
Inside the Fender 725 - Nylon cord is used rather than plastic gearing to enable movement actuation of the Volume and Tone pots
The Fender 725 uses an equally ingenious method of actuating the volume and tone controls, as the above picture shows. The nylon cord is easier to replace on the Fender rather than having to try and find a spare rack and gear for a Dearmond, however with 3D printing common now, that available process does help fix any replacement problems on a Dearmond.
In operation
As with any vintage equipment, wear and tear inevitability takes its toll, however, I have found the Dearmond 610's quite robust and if treated with care can last, I believe the 610 in this Mk2 shape was made until at least 1978.
A 1978 advert for the Dearmond pedal range -
the old 610 Mk2 is still in the lineup!
Both units are easy to use and do the job without any problems, as you would expect from these premier corporations. Some players might prefer one brand over another, say if you have a vintage Fender Pedal Steel, you might go for the Fender pedal for completeness reasons.
Both pedals are the passive type and any slight volume loss of pedal versus direct to amplifier via a guitar lead sound level, should be minimal. Pots can with age be a bit scratchy, switch cleaner like Servisol works nicely. However, the Tone Pot on the 610 is virtually impossible to find as an OEM Dearmond part so you might have to find an alternative if that pot is non functional on a 610.
One facet of the 610 and of the Fender equivalent is that by moving the pedal plate from side to side does give a wah-wah type of effect. Hence, this type of pedal was likely developed on into an up/down motion pedal in its own right for that purpose after discovering that sound, one which was easier to operate in an up/down operation, rather than having a side to side actuation style.
I have used a Dearmond 610 with a 1955 date (the date was ink stamped on the baseplate) which was the later Mk2 shape one for live work in the 1980's and it was great. I have three 610's at present.
Value wise, 602 and 610 pedals can be picked up cheaply if people don't appreciate what they have got! From less than the £100 / $100 mark upwards.
