Establishing the ideal guitar sound takes practice, patience and time. However, adding effects pedals can provide an easy and straightforward way to add new dimensions to your sound.
Modulation pedals allow your guitar signal to change its pitch and add variance and choral effects in an array of ways, while other pedals create frequency range peaks for added effect.
Modulation Effects Pedals
Modulation pedals add depth and layers to your sound with techniques such as duplicating, delaying and altering pitch. Chorus effects have become popular due to Kurt Cobain from Nirvana’s use of his EHX Small Stone chorus pedal – now common on many pedalboards worldwide.
Other examples of modulation effects include flangers, tremolos and phasers. The iconic DeArmond 601 Tremolo Control pedal first introduced ampltude modulation tremolo to the world; this effect adds a pulsing feel to your guitar signal for an eerie, watery sounding tremolo effect. Other pedals like BOSS CE-2 offer subtler versions; it doubles and blends your signal before merging both versions into an almost shimmering liquid effect.
Phasers work differently, by splitting your guitar’s signal into two separate waveforms before rejoining them together again to create an shifting, pulsing sound, as made famous by artists like Jimi Hendrix and David Gilmour.
Modulation pedals offer multiple effects, including ring modulation and bit-crush. While the mechanics behind these effects can be complex, they’re still an excellent way to add extra flavor and variety to your guitar sound.
Gain Stage Type Pedals
Gain stacking refers to chaining multiple pedals that affect the gain (amplification) of your guitar signal for maximum control over resulting distortion tone. This technique allows guitarists to create their own signature pedal sound and make use of this popular technique to do it.
Unless you take great care when placing or setting the amount of gain into each pedal in the chain, an unfocused and unfocused mess of sounds could emerge. By increasing treble while decreasing bass in your pedal chain, it will give distorted pedals a clearer focus.
Gain stage pedals come in all kinds of varieties. While some operate like preamps in an amplifier and boost output level without adding distortion, others act to ‘colour’ your sound by amplifying specific frequencies more than others.
Many guitarists like to use two overdrive pedals in tandem: transparent overdrive followed by mid-hump overdrive pedal. This helps the sound of their distorted amps cut through more easily while not getting lost amongst other instruments, helping their sound stand out more clearly in a mix. Some popular transparent overdrive pedals include Wampler Tumnus, J Rockett Archer and Electro-Harmonix Soul Food as examples of such transparent overdrives.
Other pedals such as the Mooer Blues Crab and EQ Pedal by Xotic are popular mid-hump overdrive pedals used by guitarists, while some opt for transparent pedals when using high output overdrives like Marshall Bluesbreaker or Vox Tone Benders.
Time-Based Effects Pedals
Pedals that manipulate the timing of your guitar signal create various effects, such as delay, reverb, chorus pedals and looping pedals. Delay, reverb and chorus effects can add dimension and depth to a sound as well as creating an immersive space experience. Looping pedals also serve to repeat sections of music for rhythm guitar soloists; looping effects like Boss RC-2 and Digitech JamMan pedals are great examples of such effects.
Delay pedals take your signal and duplicate it over a measured period of time – typically milliseconds – then play it back to you in real-time or back at an instantaneous repeat rate, or with multiple echos similar to what can be found in Radiohead’s “Karma Police”.
Reverb pedals offer an ambient sound, making them popular among guitarists. Reverbs can add ambience, depth, and resonance to your tone; many pedals even allow users to choose from various reverb styles so they can tailor it specifically to their needs.
Chorus pedals create an immersive, choral tone when used correctly, making for an exceptional guitar tone and pitch. They work by duplicating your tone before slightly altering its pitch up or down; some pedals may offer wide pitch range options while others provide depth/rate controls to allow for precise control over how often that variation takes place between lower pitched sounds and higher pitched ones.
Time-based effects should typically come near the start of a guitar’s effect chain. Dynamics (compressors), filters (wah), and gain-based effects (overdrive, distortion) tend to perform best when run in advance of such pedals.
Frequency Effects Pedals
Effects pedals that modulate specific frequency ranges of audio signal are known as frequency modulators or frequency modifiers, and may include equalizers and sustainers. Equalizer pedals typically provide controls such as gain, frequency bands and level; Boss GE-7 provides seven frequency bands from 100Hz to 6.4kHz for easy guitar tone shaping. On the other hand, sustain pedals increase or extend note/sound duration after being played.
Phaser pedals re-encode an audio signal’s phase to produce a swirling and sweeping sound, giving your guitar sound some added movement and texture. Another popular type of reverb effect is plate reverb – simulating audio waves reverberating off of a large metal plate to produce lush ambient tones.
Ring modulation is another reverb-esque effect pedal. This pedal changes the phase of an audio signal by adding low-frequency oscillation, filtering out carrier waves, and leaving only sidebands behind; creating a chime-like tone often associated with specific notes.
Stompboxes are small effects pedals activated by stomping on a footswitch that provide audio effects. While some pedals include an internal amplifier to amplify their output of effects, others require external power amps or mixers for this task. Many stompboxes also include USB ports for firmware updates and customisation through computers; others feature separate switches enabling the connection of separate Y cables for dual outputs; also common features include bypass switches, LED indicator lights, jack plug connectors or jumpers – as well as many features found on most pedals!
Wah Pedal
The wah pedal is perhaps one of the most well-known guitar effects. Its distinct sound has become iconic through the work of Jimi Hendrix and other great artists alike; providing your instrument with an expressive tone that adds extra emotion and can further heighten its emotional depth.
An interesting fact about the creation of the wah-wah is its accidental origins during the development of the Vox Super Beatle amplifier in 1966. Production workers discovered that using mid resonant boost circuit to produce sound reminiscent of trumpet mutes was possible through using mid resonant boost circuit’s mid resonant boost circuit; guitarist Del Casher came up with the solution of using a foot-controlled pedal to manage this effect.
The initial pedal design was known as the Clyde McCoy after its namesake jazz trumpet player used rubber mutes to emulate similar sounds. Following an employee noticing it resembled crying babies’ crying noises, its name quickly changed into Cry Baby and quickly became popular among musicians such as Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.
More recently, wah pedals enjoyed something of a revival during the grunge movement in the 1990s, becoming an essential element in many guitarists’ pedalboards today. One such wah pedal is Dunlop Crybaby Q Zone; its improved features such as better switching and sound loss buffering make this unit worth considering.
This versatile live recording machine comes complete with an indicator LED and three-way voicing control to offer additional sonic options. Built for live use, its rugged case is powered by either batteries or AC adapters – offering maximum convenience!