Choosing Guitar Effects
By Dennis David
Choosing a guitar pedal can vary for each musician; many have an idea of the sound they seek but are not completely sure which
guitar effects pedal will achieve the desired sound. And this is where understanding what the diverse types of effects are and
what they can do for or against your sound.
An electric guitar is powered by a cable or a radio transceiver-receiver that connects the guitar to an amplifier. Any effects
that you add between your guitar and amplifier will affect the signal that reaches your amplifier from your guitar, and the
arrangement of pedals, if you have more than one pedal will change according to which pedal your guitar's signal passes through
first and will continue to change for each time an additional effect pedal changes the signal.
If you have only one pedal the signal will change according to the type of pedal, and the settings on the pedal, when you add
another pedal in the signal line, it changes the modified signal from the first pedal, and so fourth down the line. Only the
first pedal receives the unaltered signal, and after the first effects pedal, each additional effect changes the previous altered
signal according to the type of effect and the settings dialed in on the effects pedal.
And even though the arrangement of the pedals is a personal choice, the arrangement is often as important as the type of effects
pedal you choose to use; however, the typical arrangement or lineup of effects pedals is guitar, gain stage, frequency,
modulation, time, and amplifier.
The typical signal chain starts with the gain stage which can be a clean, mild gain to a fuzz pedal, a compression pedal, a
volume control pedal, an overdrive pedal, or a distortion effects pedal, being that this is usually the first pedal in the
lineup, if you have more than one effects pedal and are using a gain stage pedal, that it is the signal foundation for the rest
of the tonal chain. A small effort goes a long way if you have an extended chain.
The next effects pedal category used in the lineup are the frequency effects pedal types which are filtering effects like
equalizers (EQ), wah-wah effects, envelope filter effects, pitch shifters/harmony effects, modulation effects, tremolo and
vibrato effects, chorus and flanger effects, and phaser effects. Frequency effects follow the gain stage because frequency
effects can negate or destroy the signal they receive.
Modulation effects usually follow frequency effects, even though they are a combination of gain, frequency, and time effects.
Modulation changes the signal over time.
Time effects typically follow, delivering time-based subtle to deep tones ranging from artificial to realistic sounds which are
great for Surf Guitar but less desirable for heavy metal sounds. Delays repeat the signal multiple times, ranging from short
delays in rockabilly and surf music to longer delays in rock and blues.
Another time effect is the reverb effect which is used on guitars as well as vocals to create a fuller sound, or a space around
the sound; often creating a sound of playing in a large room or music hall. The controls usually change the decay, how quickly
they fade out and the amount of reverb they supply to the signal.
There are a number of other effects, which we will quickly cover here, including but not limited to, loop pedals that allow you
to record a sound and then play it back in an indefinite loop which allow you to create indefinite background rhythms, loop
switches, not to be confused with loop pedals, allow you to engage or disengage all your pedals with a single switch; instrument
modelers can change an electric guitar's sound to an acoustic sound, or change your guitar to the sound of an electric organ, and
amplifier-emulators which can give your solid state amplifier the tone of a vacuum tube amp, or even a Marshall, and multi-effects
pedals can offer you many effect pedals in a single unit which can save you money.
And whether to choose AC power over batteries is a matter of preference, one is not inherently better than the other, AC power
does not necessarily add noise to your sound if you do not buy cheaper power supplies. If you do have a bad power supplier, you
will be able to avoid it by using a battery power conditioner and running your amplifier and pedals through the better power
supplier and avoid the need to switch the batteries out or having the batteries die at the most inconvenient time.
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