As noted in my DC30 review, its presence negated the need for an attenuator pedal on my board. Said attenuator pedal is the Leech from a little UK company called Vein Tap
- Background
- Vein Tap Leech attenuator pedal: tech specs
- Construction
- Vein Tap Leech attenuator pedal: tones
- Vein Tap Leech attenuator pedal: demo
- Vein Tap Leech attenuator pedal: conclusion
Background
Given the grunge influence on my songwriting, the quiet/loud dynamic between verses and choruses is somewhat of a recurring theme. And back when I used to play live, doing that with a dramatic stomp on a pedal was the way to do that.
Some time in I believe the late noughties – that’s the 2000s to English-speakers outside the Ireland and UK – I owned a Vox Valvetronix AD100VT. It was a magnificent beast of a 2×12 combo, and had footswitchable channels. Obviously, one channel would be my quiet channel with a gently driven sound. The other would be my full overdrive sound.
However, I didn’t love the footswitching. There was a delay in going from one channel to the other, and a popping noise. So, I started to look at effects pedals as a work around.
Research
I don’t even remember how I found them, but I found a company called Vein Tap. They seemed to be a one-man-show, based in Derby in the UK. At the time, I think they only made three pedals: a couple of ABY switch things…and the Leech.
The Leech was pitched as emulating the sound of rolling off your guitar’s volume knob, but with the convenience of being able to just stop on a button instead of having to look down and find the knob when going from verse to chorus.
Sold.
I remember they offered part-endorsements to musicians: they’d give a discount and a mention on their website if we mentioned using their pedals on our website and socials. So, I reached out to Ben about it, got my discount, and got my Leech.
Vein Tap Leech attenuator pedal: tech specs
| Construction material | Metal enclosure, plastic chicken head knob, standard metal switche |
| Voltage | Your standard 9 |
| Power | No battery, only the standard “BOSS” connection from the mains |
| Controls | Volume |
| Any other cool stuff? | No – this is absolutely a one-trick-pony |
Construction
The knob feels a little flimsy, but I feel that about all chicken head knobs anyway. There’s also a little bit of give in the power connector – you can see the gap in the picture above. But, it’s never fallen out, or stopped working, which is probably why I never noticed in the 15+ years I’ve had the pedal.
Other than that, the input and output jacks, and footswitch have never given me any trouble.
Vein Tap Leech: tones
It’s a tricky thing to evaluate here. It’s supposed to have the same tone as the guitar and amp being used, just quieter to taste.
And that’s exactly what it does. There isn’t any further comment, but I will direct you to the demo video below where you can explicitly hear the lack of any difference between the knob opened fully, and the pedal switched off.
Vein Tap Leech attenuator pedal: demo
To demo the Vein Tap, I again used my old song, Ain’t No Shame. Likely it’s still fresh from showcasing the three stages of volume I might need, and as this is a volume-related pedal, there it still is.
Here’s the gear I used to put this demo together.
- Dell 3100 Chromebook
- TC Helicon GO SOLO audio interface
- Beyerdynamic DT-240 Pro headphones (discontinued)
- RF40 custom partscaster
- Pig Hog instrument cable
- Fender Ombre instrument cable
- Ernie Ball Regular Slinky guitar strings
- Dunlop Gator Grip 1.14mm picks
- Palmer BatPack 8000 (discontinued)
Vein Tap Leech attenuator pedal: conclusion
In summary, it’s an absurdly simple pedal. I can’t believe there aren’t more such pedal on the market.
| Pros | Cons |
| Tone! It sounds like my guitar and amp, but quieter! | Construction. While it’s never affected functionality, and look, I got it at a discount, between the knob and the power connector, I can’t pretend it’s the sturdiest pedal I’ve ever had. |
| Price. This is not an expensive pedal. | It really is too simple of a pedal to have any other cons. |
| Simplicity. This is absolutely a one-trick-pony. It does one thing, and it does it just fine. |
I don’t know if Vein Tap don’t sell on Reverb, or if they’re not showing to me because they don’t sell outside the UK, but I couldn’t find them.
So if you’re interested in buying a used Leech for yourself, buying mine is your only option! I’ve priced it to sell, being mindful of the jankiness when I turned it on full in the demo video, and the general scratched up nature of it living on my board for many years.
The closest alternative I found I Reverb was this Mosky Audio VOL attenuator pedal.
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