Forum rss-feed

Forum

Alpha: Pedal impedance

Most Recent

written by: john

It shouldn't matter, the basestation sends an ac signal (as audio) out to the pedal then samples the return signal and works out the amount of pedal depression from that, so anything that does audio should be fine. In theory you could use a mixing desk or any inline volume control instead of a pedal.

Thus is done so that the system will not degrade carbon potentiometers sometimes used in old fashioned or cheaper pedals (conductive plastic or cermet is more common these days but you do still see carbon used) which reacts badly to a DC signal over time.

Low impedance is usually better as it's less susceptible to noise as well as being simpler circuitry (usually passive, so no power needed in the pedal). High impedance is really meant for guitarists who want to use the pedal pre other pedals and don't want to alter the sound of their pickups with a resistive load. Both should work fine though.

John

written by: 0beron

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:30:36 +0100 BST

Quick question - if buying a pedal the likes of the boss FV500, do I want the low or high impedance version? Does the calibration stage of EigenD mean that both will work?


written by: alistair

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:25:29 +0100 BST

Hi Robin, I think the answer you are looking may be in this thread

pedal thread

Alistair


written by: john

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:26:14 +0100 BST

It shouldn't matter, the basestation sends an ac signal (as audio) out to the pedal then samples the return signal and works out the amount of pedal depression from that, so anything that does audio should be fine. In theory you could use a mixing desk or any inline volume control instead of a pedal.

Thus is done so that the system will not degrade carbon potentiometers sometimes used in old fashioned or cheaper pedals (conductive plastic or cermet is more common these days but you do still see carbon used) which reacts badly to a DC signal over time.

Low impedance is usually better as it's less susceptible to noise as well as being simpler circuitry (usually passive, so no power needed in the pedal). High impedance is really meant for guitarists who want to use the pedal pre other pedals and don't want to alter the sound of their pickups with a resistive load. Both should work fine though.

John



Please log in to join the discussions