{GUEST POST} Using the Volume Pedal Before or After the Compressor

Today’s guest blogger emailed Zechiel Music Transcription and asked to submit a guest post for us. Lisa Vincent is a professional musician and a blogger who regularly writes on international blogging sites. She has over ten years of experience teaching guitar online, along with other musical instruments. To learn more about her or to read her blogs, visit www.musicianintro.com or send her an email to lisavincent005@gmail.com.

We feel that It is necessary to make a guide on the volume/expression pedal. That is why, we are going to review the formats and their (in) compatibility, some characteristics that should be known and evaluated, and finally, a sample of models and, most importantly use of volume pedal before or after compressor.

What is the volume pedal?

In the same way that a potentiometer or fader allows us to regulate the volume with the hands or some other useful parameter from a controller, an 'expression pedal' or a 'volume pedal' (as we will see, different things) includes a potentiometer that it is operated with the foot, being incorporated in a pedal format.

We can use that pedal potentiometer to control any parameter that interests us, leaving our hands free for other tasks, such as playing.Before getting into the use of volume pedal, let's discuss the confusion between Volume Pedals and expression pedals.

Volume Pedals vs. expression pedals

It is necessary to distinguish from the first moment the volume pedals against the expression or control pedals. However, sometimes the terms are used too interchangeably, and there are even manufacturers that sell models that simultaneously have both functions to finish rounding out the mess.

A volume pedal has audio input and audio output, and they manage to modify the level of the input signal, reducing it until it disappears. But its characteristic is that it is an element that deals with audio.

An expression pedal is a 'silly' pedal, a strict controller, that we can connect to the appropriate input of some 'intelligent' system (e.g., a keyboard) to govern some parameter, be it the volume or any other that that Intelligent system supports control in that way.

But there is much more to tell about each of both types.

Volume pedals: assets and liabilities

A volume pedal is designed to receive an audio signal and deliver that same signal but modified in volume depending on the position of the lever. They can be of two types: assets and liabilities.

The assets require power, although it may be in the form of battery / s because they incorporate a small amplifier controlled in their gain by the action of the pedal. In short, it is a VCA (voltage controlled amplifier) ​​in which the gain control voltage comes from the pedal-operated potentiometer and can go from 0 (null output) to usually unity gain output (same level as of the input). However, there may be more than unity gain. 

Liabilities are much more straightforward. Without power, they are simply a potentiometer in which the audio input is applied directly between the ends of the potentiometer resistance. And the output is taken from the moving end of the potentiometer, so, again, it can vary between zero or silent level, and maximum level that would correspond to unity gain, that is, letting the input signal go out without altering its level. 

Use of volume pedal before or after compressor: at the beginning or end?

It makes sense. The volume pedals can be used basically for two purposes: to control the amount of guitar that is input to the signal (or to make swells, for example), or to lower the volume of our signal (if we put it at the end). In the first case, if we reduce the volume through the pedal, delays, loops, or any effect that we are using at that time will continue to sound, all we do is lower the volume of the sound input. If we put it in the end, when using the pedal, we will cut the signal and, with it, any sound that our amplifier emits. We like to put the volume pedal in front more.

Final Words

To sum up, a volume pedal before or after compressor changes the total taste of the music. Therefore, it is widespread, and musicians nowadays use it as a helping tool during their musical performance.