There’s nothing flashy or complicated here. Compression can be a subtle tool or an essential part of your sound. It evens out your playing, adds sustain, and helps every note sit where it should.

 

Darlene keeps that simple. No added color, no extra noise - just clean, consistent response that stays out of the way and makes your setup feel more dialed-in.

BLEND – Controls how much of your dry (uncompressed) signal is mixed with your compressed signal. Turn left for more dry clarity and attack, right for more smooth sustain and squash.

SUSTAIN – Sets the amount of compression. Low settings keep things subtle and dynamic, higher settings tighten your range and extend sustain.

VOLUME – Controls the overall output level. Unity is around noon; above that gives you a slight, clean boost.

 

THE FOOT SWITCH AND BYPASS MODES:
Here we've got soft-touch switching with selectable true or buffered bypass, so you can choose what best fits your rig.

STARTUP (DEFAULT) 
LED pulses three times - that means you’re in buffered bypass (stock mode).

SWITCHING MODES
Hold the footswitch for about three seconds. The LED will flash quickly, indicating true bypass.

RECALL STATE
Darlene remembers the last mode and power state. If you unplug or lose power, she’ll boot back up exactly as you left her — buffer or true, on or off.

 

 

THE POWER
Darlene runs on standard +9V DC for standard use. Feed her +18V if you want a little more headroom and slightly tighter compression.

 

 

SOME SUGGESTIONS USES...

AS AN ALWAYS-ON FOUNDATION - leave her on all the time to give your tone consistency and polish. Light compression with a touch of blend keeps your dynamics natural while adding smooth sustain that feels alive under your fingers.

AS A CLEAN BOOST - crank the volume just past unity and dial back sustain for a transparent lift that evens out peaks and pushes your amp or preamp sweetly.

AS A TEXTURE TOOL - higher sustain with more wet blend can give your tone that elastic, blooming quality - perfect for slide, lead lines, or shimmering rhythm parts.

AFTER YOUR DRIVES OR DISTORTIONS - put Darlene after your gain pedals to tighten up your overall response. It evens everything out, smooths the peaks, thickens the sustain, and keeps your riffs punchy without getting muddy.

 

This is a preamp, not an overdrive. Any breakup you hear is from pushing the first stage FETs (channel I or II knob) or pushing your amp into breakup with loud volume (master volume). There are a lot of ways you can use a FET-based preamp, but the Volga has mainly been voiced to run at the front end of a tube amp.

 

By running the Volga in front of your amp as an added preamp in your signal chain — you can use her in a couple of ways. Sometimes, I find it helpful to think of her more as a tool than an effect.

 

AS AN ‘ALWAYS ON’  Sculpt your amp’s inherent sound by using the EQ to tighten up low end or add sparkle and rich harmonics to a dark amp. The FET stages make for a responsive, tube-like feel and dynamic compression that reacts to how you play. Use channel knobs, l and ll, to dial in where you want the breakup point, if any at all.

AS AN ‘UNDERDRIVE’ (After your overdrive or distortion pedals) Stacking Gain: The Volga will push and shape that distorted signal even further, adding its own depth for an even bigger, more complex overdrive. Bringing more body, warmth, or definition to an already overdriven sound. The Volga’s unique voicing can really fine-tune and beef up your overall gain structure, giving your drive or distortion more punch and clarity. Use her tastefully though, I wouldn't go past noon on the channels in this application.

AS A ‘BOOST’   Keep the channels low and dial in your output using the master volume. Keep the EQ flat, add subtle warmth, or use the treble or presence knob to cut through while keeping that natural, amp-like feel.

AS A ‘LAVA LAMP’  Heat things up …Max out the channels for a rough breakup sound with hardly any sustain. It sort of reminds me of older Led Zeppelin tracks – like an ‘all amp no drive’ sound. 

 

The Presence control adjusts your higher frequency range (high mids and treble) – making them seem more present. Increasing it adds "presence" and perceived volume since you’re boosting those frequencies. When you crank them, it can sometimes make your low mids seem a little less prominent, shifting your overall tone.

 

The ‘input bleed’ is how the channels interact with each other, just like on the original amp. They share a cathode so we mimicked that with the FETs. This means even though you only have one channel selected, the other channel will affect the tone in unique ways. So keep that in mind.

 

STILL WORKING ON IT!

STILL WORKING ON IT!

STILL WORKING ON IT!