Guitar Effects Pedals: A Buying Guide
Guitar effects pedals have been on the scene since the 1960's when guitar-based music became predominant. An engineer named Roger Mayer is credited with inventing the first guitar effects device, a "fuzz" box, that evolved into the modern distortion and overdrive pedal, and the wah pedal. Mayer's clients included such noted rock n' rollers as Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Jimi Hendriz. Supposedly, Mayer created the first effects pedal for his friend in the early 1960's. Now, countless effects pedals are used by guitar players every day.
Effects pedals are so popular with guitar players, especially electric guitarists, because they can easily expand the tonal range of the guitarists' sound. True, it's possible to use the guitar amplifier to change these sounds, but most amplifers do not have built-in effects and the settings would have to be changed from song-to-song. Usually, guitarists want to be able to affect their sounds during a song or in various sections as well, so it makes sense keeping the pedals in front of them so they can change it themselves.
Not unlike the electric guitar and amplifier itself, effects pedals contribute to guitarists having a broad range of tonal expression. Today, even classical and acoustic guitarists use these effects, though they tend to avoid the distortion, overdrive, and wah pedals used by electric guitarists.
Since the first pedals were created, rack-mounted guitar effects have become more common. These were more popular during the 1980's, thanks to companies like Yamaha and Eventide. Since rack gear requires a more sophisticated and time-consuming approach (not to mention considerably more money) than pedals, most guitar players prefer effects pedals for their simplicity and tweakability.
So, with their effects usually mounted on pedalboards (a way to transport and store effects pedals), electric guitar players have only to "stomp" on the pedal box (hence the name "stompbox") to instantly switch on or switch off an effect. The wah-wah pedal and volume pedal is a little different than the others in that the player "rocks" the pedal back and forth to adjust the sound.
Most pedals, though, have a simple on-off feature. For instance, the ubiquitous distortion tone of hard rock and metal guitar players can be instantly switched off and the guitar's "clean channel" allowed to be played, to give a different feel to different sections of a song. Another simple stomp, and the distorted tone comes roaring back.
Guitar players go through a great deal of effort to tweak the settings on their guitar, their amps, and their configuration of effects pedals to get their "just right" or signature sound. Popular effects devices include distortion, overdrive, chorus, flanger, echo, delay, vibrato, tremolo, flanging, and pitch-shifting, just to name a few. These effects can have drastic changes on a guitarist's sound.
If you are interested in broadening your sound or just trying something different, then you should give some of the above effects a try. Who knows? They may inspire your next killer solo! - 23815
Effects pedals are so popular with guitar players, especially electric guitarists, because they can easily expand the tonal range of the guitarists' sound. True, it's possible to use the guitar amplifier to change these sounds, but most amplifers do not have built-in effects and the settings would have to be changed from song-to-song. Usually, guitarists want to be able to affect their sounds during a song or in various sections as well, so it makes sense keeping the pedals in front of them so they can change it themselves.
Not unlike the electric guitar and amplifier itself, effects pedals contribute to guitarists having a broad range of tonal expression. Today, even classical and acoustic guitarists use these effects, though they tend to avoid the distortion, overdrive, and wah pedals used by electric guitarists.
Since the first pedals were created, rack-mounted guitar effects have become more common. These were more popular during the 1980's, thanks to companies like Yamaha and Eventide. Since rack gear requires a more sophisticated and time-consuming approach (not to mention considerably more money) than pedals, most guitar players prefer effects pedals for their simplicity and tweakability.
So, with their effects usually mounted on pedalboards (a way to transport and store effects pedals), electric guitar players have only to "stomp" on the pedal box (hence the name "stompbox") to instantly switch on or switch off an effect. The wah-wah pedal and volume pedal is a little different than the others in that the player "rocks" the pedal back and forth to adjust the sound.
Most pedals, though, have a simple on-off feature. For instance, the ubiquitous distortion tone of hard rock and metal guitar players can be instantly switched off and the guitar's "clean channel" allowed to be played, to give a different feel to different sections of a song. Another simple stomp, and the distorted tone comes roaring back.
Guitar players go through a great deal of effort to tweak the settings on their guitar, their amps, and their configuration of effects pedals to get their "just right" or signature sound. Popular effects devices include distortion, overdrive, chorus, flanger, echo, delay, vibrato, tremolo, flanging, and pitch-shifting, just to name a few. These effects can have drastic changes on a guitarist's sound.
If you are interested in broadening your sound or just trying something different, then you should give some of the above effects a try. Who knows? They may inspire your next killer solo! - 23815
About the Author:
About the author: R. S. Rasnick is the owner of JustEffectsPedals.com, where you can find all the effects pedals mentioned in this article and hundreds more!
posted by X - Men at
10:57 AM
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