Both volume and expression pedals enable guitarists to pull more expressive power out of their instrument. The beauty of these pedals is that they can be used to shift the intensity or level of a specific parameter in real-time - so in the moment, without having to reach down to the pedalboard to twiddle any knobs.
Expression Pedals: Extra Control
There are a lot of guitar effect pedals that feature a jack port for hooking up an expression pedal (often marked 'EXP'). An external expression pedal works in a similar way to accelerator pedal of a car, so when you've got one plugged in, a specific effect parameter can be smoothly adjusted while you're playing and without having to lean down and adjust the stompbox settings. So, you can do stuff like push the intensity of a modulation effect like a chorus or phaser pedal. Or you could play with the time or feedback of your delay or reverb pedal, giving your playing an entirely fresh and dynamic dimension.
Volume Pedals
Volume pedals have the same accelerator-style design as an expression pedal but can only control one thing - the volume level. By smoothly toggling a volume pedal while playing, the sound of any electronic instrument can sound like it's swelling then dying off, giving it a violin-like sound.
If you're looking for a pedal for your
keyboard, organ, or digital piano,
then you'll find it in our
Sustain & Expression Pedal
section.
Frequently Asked Questions About Volume & Expression Pedals
How do you connect a volume pedal up?
A volume pedal is simply plugged into a standard 6.35mm mono (TS) jack port.
How do you connect an expression pedal up?
An expression pedal is simply plugged into a standard 6.35mm stereo (
TRS
) jack port.
What's an expression pedal?
An expression pedal can be used to control one or multiple parameters of an electronic instrument or equipment like a guitar effect pedal. Since you can tweak the pedal by tipping your foot back and forth, the parameter can be adjusted in real-time, while you're playing
