Guitar Effects Pedals Vs. Rack Mount Processors

Pedals V Rack Mount

If you play electric guitar or even if you're just a fan, you've undoubtedly asked yourself how your favorite artist gets 'that sound' on one of your favorite tunes.

There is a dizzying array of guitar effects processors available these days and finding the right combination of guitar effects pedals and rackmount gear can be a daunting task that requires a certain amount of experimentation before finding the combination that works best for you.

Larger touring rock bands often have racks full of processors and a stage littered with pedals to switch between effects patches. Still, many musicians have found the old-style stompbox guitar pedals to offer the best bang for the buck. Although digital multi-effects processors offer some distinct convenient advantages, allowing guitar players to build combinations of effects -i.e. Chorus + Delay + Reverb + Distortion - into patches and banks for easy recall and switching later, there are some drawbacks to this approach as well. The combination of effects that's written to a patch ad the associated parameters (amount of delay, reverb decay etc.), generally can not be changed on the fly. In addition, when switching between effects in a live gig situation, oftentimes there is a slight sound dropout which makes it impractical to use while sustaining a long chord for instance.

The stompbox guitar effects pedal set up, however provides much greater flexibility, allowing the guitar player to switch on and off individual effects at will. In addition, many guitar players prefer the 'warmer' tone provided by some of the older analog effects pedals. For convenience, you can purchase a pedalboard style case that will allow you to keep standard sized stompboxes connected together, so you don't need to continuously reconnect everything each time you play. Many of these pedalboards also provide power supplies to connect all guitar effects pedals to, so that batteries don't need to be constantly changed.

In the end, the best way to find what works for you is to experiment. Individual guitar effects pedals, multi-effects pedals and rackmount processors, along with various midi switching devices can be bought fairly inexpensively on sites like Ebay, if you take the time to look around and do your homework. If you find something that doesn't work for you or your setup, you can always find someone who will be willing to buy it from you.

Richard Brodsky has been playing guitar since the 1970's. He knows the best place to buy guitar effects pedals is http://www.myguitareffects.com

Guitar Effects Pedals Vs. Rack Mount Processors

If you play electric guitar or even if you're just a fan, you've undoubtedly asked yourself how your favorite artist gets 'that sound' on one of your favorite tunes.
There is a dizzying array of guitar effects processors available these days and finding the right combination of guitar effects pedals and rackmount gear can be a daunting task that requires a certain amount of experimentation before finding the combination that works best for you.

Larger touring rock bands often have racks full of processors and a stage littered with pedals to switch between effects patches. Still, many musicians have found the old-style stompbox guitar pedals to offer the best bang for the buck. Although digital multi-effects processors offer some distinct convenient advantages, allowing guitar players to build combinations of effects -i.e. Chorus + Delay + Reverb + Distortion - into patches and banks for easy recall and switching later, there are some drawbacks to this approach as well. The combination of effects that's written to a patch ad the associated parameters (amount of delay, reverb decay etc.), generally can not be changed on the fly. In addition, when switching between effects in a live gig situation, oftentimes there is a slight sound dropout which makes it impractical to use while sustaining a long chord for instance.

The stompbox guitar effects pedal set up, however provides much greater flexibility, allowing the guitar player to switch on and off individual effects at will. In addition, many guitar players prefer the 'warmer' tone provided by some of the older analog effects pedals. For convenience, you can purchase a pedalboard style case that will allow you to keep standard sized stompboxes connected together, so you don't need to continuously reconnect everything each time you play. Many of these pedalboards also provide power supplies to connect all guitar effects pedals to, so that batteries don't need to be constantly changed.

In the end, the best way to find what works for you is to experiment. Individual guitar effects pedals, multi-effects pedals and rackmount processors, along with various midi switching devices can be bought fairly inexpensively on sites like Ebay, if you take the time to look around and do your homework. If you find something that doesn't work for you or your setup, you can always find someone who will be willing to buy it from you.

Richard Brodsky has been playing guitar since the 1970's. He knows the best place to buy guitar effects pedals is http://www.myguitareffects.com

Classic Effects - The RAT

To quote Proco the manufacturers:

“History

From the very beginning, the RAT was destined to define "The Sound of the Underground." It was, after all, born underground in the cavernous basement of the Pro Co Sound factory in downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan. From these humble origins, the RAT has evolved from a single, hand built prototype into a family of the most versatile and most recorded distortion pedals in the world.

Do you want to see how the RAT has evolved? The RAT Family Timeline details the expansion of the RAT product line throughout the years. Also, since there is no accurate way of dating a RAT pedal by its serial number alone, this timeline can help you determine the general age your pedal.”

If you like your distortion sleazy with maybe a nod towards a fuzz well this is for you.

As with all pedals it’s a matter of personal taste. I love it set with distortion at 3 o’clock, filter at 8 o’clock and volume….depends on the amp. There is nothing like it!

However don’t overlook the other possibilities I’ve used it as an overdrive with light distortion and it performs excellently. Personally it really comes in to it’s own through my Fender HOT ROD, but gets a tad heavy on the treble side through my Marshall…..but some will prefer that!

In short it’s a classic, like a lot of pedals and pedals/effects in general you love them or loathe them.

I will let you decide

George Putland

A Beginer's Guide To Guitar Effects Pedals

We're going to try to give a quick look at the major types of guitar effects pedals. Here in part 1 we'll cover the basics.

We know that there are a million web sites offering insight to this topic, but its been our experience that they're written by engineers, not musicians... they read like microwave manuals rather than a helpful resource... Anyway... off we go.

Boost

I can't really milk more than a few lines out of this topic. It's pretty cut and dry- a boost pedal will give your signal a volume boost - or cut, depending on how you've got it set. Most boost pedals act as a master volume control allowing you a pretty wide range of use.

Why do I need a boost pedal? To bring your guitar volume up over the rest of the band during a solo, to drive your amp harder by feeding it a hotter signal, to have a set volume change at the press of a button.

Overdrive

When most guitarists talk about overdrive, they are referring to the smooth 'distortion' produced by their tube amps when driven to the point of breaking up. Overdrive pedals are designed to either replicate this tone (with limited success) or drive a tube amp into overdrive, creating those screaming tubes beyond what they normally would be able to do without wall shaking volume.

Why do I need an overdrive pedal? Overdrive pedals can be used as a boost pedal- so you get those inherent benefits, you'll get some added girth to your tone from the distortion created by the pedal. Most overdrive pedals have tone control giving you wider tone shaping possibilities.

Distortion

Based on our above definition of overdrive, distortion is where overdrive leaves off. In the rock guitar world think Van Halen and beyond for a clear example of distorted guitar tone. Distortion pedals often emulate high gain amps that create thick walls of sound small tube amps are not capable of creating. If you're fortunate enough to have a large Marshall, Mesa Boogie, Diezel or other monster amplifier to create your distortion you might not need a distortion pedal. But for the rest of us mere mortals, distortion pedals are crucial to modern guitar tone.

Why do I need a distortion pedal? You want to be relevant don't you? Even with large amps, like those mentioned above, distortion pedals play a key role in modern music. They offer flexibility that boosts and overdrives can not rival.

Fuzz

God bless Ike Turner and the Kinks. Both acts achieved their landmark tones by using abused speaker cabinets. Ike dropped his on the street walking in to Sun Records to record Rocket 88, the Kinks cut their speakers with knives or so the legends have it. No matter how they got it, their tone changed the world. Some call it distortion, some call it fuzz, however, seeing the progression from these damaged speakers to the fuzz boxes built to emulate those tones, I think its safest to call what Turner and Davies created/stumbled upon was fuzz.

Why do I need a fuzz pedal? Ya like Hendrix, don't ya? In all honesty, the fuzz pedal is seeing resurgence in popular music these days. Bands like Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Muse and the White Stripes rely heavily on classic designs on recent releases.

Compressor

The job of a compressor is to deliver an even volume output. It makes the soft parts louder, and the loud parts softer. Current country music guitar tone is driven by the use of compression.

Why do you need a compressor? Improved sustain, increased clarity during low volume playing.

Modulation


Flanger

The earliest "flanger" effects were produced in the studio by playing 2 tape decks, both playing the same sounds, while an engineer would slow down or speed up the playback of one of the dupe signals. This is how you could produce wooshing jet streams. The edge of the old school tape reels is called the flange.

Why do I need a flanger? A flanger will offer a new color to your tonal palette. You can live with out one, but you'll never get some of the nuance coloring of the Van Halen's, Pink Floyd's, or Rush's of the world.

Phase shifter

The phase shifter bridges the gap between Flanger and Chorus. Early phasers were meant to recreate the spinning speaker of a Leslie. Phase shifting's over use can be heard all over the first few Van Halen albums.

Why do I need a phase shifter? See Flangers answer.

Chorus

Chorus pedals split your signal in 2, modulates one of them by slowing it down and detuning it, then mixes it back in with the original signal. The effect is supposed to sound like several guitarists playing the same thing at the same time, resulting in a wide swelling sound, but I don't hear it. You do get a thicker more lush tone, but it doesn't sound like a chorus of players to me.

Why do I need a chorus? Because Andy Summers uses one, and Paul Raven says so... that should be good enough.

Tremolo

As a kid, did you ever play with the volume knob on the TV or the radio manically turning it up and down? Yeah? Well you were a tremolo effect.

Why do I need a tremolo pedal? 6 words for ya: The Smiths 'How Soon Is Now'

Delay

A delay pedal creates a copy of an incoming signal and slightly time-delays its replay. You can use it to create a "slap back" (single repetition) or an echo (multiple repetitions) effect. Who amongst us can't appreciate The Edges use of digital and analog delay throughout U2s career?

Why do I need a delay pedal? See Flangers answer.

Wah

A variable band-pass frequency filter... Screw all that- you know what a wah wah is... its porn music! It's Hendrix! It's Hammett. It's Wylde. It's Slash.

Why do I need a wah wah pedal? Do you really have to ask at this point?
Dennis Mollan is the founder of Pro Tone Pedals. With 20 years experience as a practicing guitarist coupled with his formal education in music theory and audio engineering Dennis has become a noted resource in all things rock guitar related. Pro Tone Pedals was founded in 2004 to provide hand built high quality guitar effects to modern hard rock players. In the four years following, the Dallas Texas based company has had the opportunity to work with some of the biggest names in modern rock music. Pro Tone Pedals have been on tour and in the studio with Velvet Revolver, Alice In Chains, Camp Freddy, Flickerstick, Ministry, Prong, Warrant, Poison, Overkill, Fear Factory, and the Cult.
Website: http://www.ProTonePedals.com
Blog http://blog.ProTonePedals.com
Myspace: http://myspace.com/protonepedals

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Guitar Effects Pedals Essentials

If you're a beginning guitar player are you happy with your guitar and amp set up? Are you trying to imitate the sound of your favorite guitarist but having problems recreating that sound. It's because most professional guitarists don't just use a guitar and amp, there are few like Angus Young of AC/DC who plug directly into the amp with no extra effects, but that's a rarity. Most guitarists use a combination of at least three effects to get their sound, distortion, delay, and chorus. You can use multi effects pedals to get your sound or you can use dedicated guitar effects pedals. Let's take a look at what they do and why you should have them in your guitar effects pedal board.

Distortion

Distortion is the most popular effect added to an electric guitar, it's "the" sound people think about when they think of electric guitar. Different styles will call for different types and different levels of this effect. If you're playing metal you want a heavy "crunchy" sound, if you're playing blues or "guitar rock" you might want a warmer sound. Even country players use distortion, they'll add just a little bit to their clean guitar sound, not enough to be really evident as distortion, but just enough to give their sound some bite, so that it cuts through. The Boss distortion pedal, the DS-1 is probably one of the most used of all times. Kurt Cobain used it in his stage rig (although he'd switched to a DS-2 by '94), and someone as diverse as Joe Satriani has also used the DS-1 pedal.

Delay

Delay is another basic guitar effect, it's related to reverb. Think of delay as the sound of the room your in. If you're in a big room it sounds boomy, if you're in a small room it sounds brighter and more distinct. The sound of a room is related to the sounds reflected off the walls. In any size room you'll hear the original and then the sound that is reflected off the walls. That delayed sound is what lets your ears know how big the room is. Reverb is similar, it's just that the sounds bounced off the walls aren't as distinct. Most guitarists use delay pedals set to a short delay time, (slapback delay). It sort of sounds like being in a concrete stairwell, a good example is a country "chicken picken" sound. Other guitarist use delay times so long that their are distinct echos, The Edge in the band U2 being a good example. What delay does is make you perceive the sound as being "thicker" almost like there were two guitars playing. Some pedals can create a delay and reverb sound.

Chorus

The third bread and butter guitar effects pedal you should have is a chorus. What a chorus does is split your sound and slightly delay one one of the signals. Imagine two people were playing guitar together. They can never play perfectly together, one will always start a split second late or early. That's what a chorus does. You're probably thinking what's the difference between that and a delay? Well, if you set your delay times small enough you will hear a chorus type sound. A chorus will also detune one of the signals by a miniscule amount increasing the effect of their being two guitarists playing. The perceived effect is a thicker guitar sound. Both delay and chorus can be used with a clean sound or a distorted sound.

So, those three guitar pedals are the bedrock of an electric guitar sound, you can find at least one of them in most guitarists pedal board. It's hard to say what is the best guitar effects pedal, it really comes down to a personal preference. There are some effects used by famous guitarists, other people buy that pedal to copy that sound. After awhile that sound kind of becomes the "standard", that makes it popular, but what's the best guitar effects pedal is up to you.
David Verde plays guitar and sings a little, he likes to write about guitar playing and song writing. Here's some more information about guitar effects pedals, and what to look for in an acoustic guitar tuner.

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