The best way to emulate your guitar hero is through the use of Electric Guitar Effects Pedals. Five pedals which are most commonly used by guitarists are described briefly here.
1. Compressor Pedal
The Compressor pedal is an extremely useful effects pedal but is considered to be the hardest to use, and certainly the least understood. To put it simply, this pedal enables the guitarist to switch from lead solos to a softer more rhythmic performance, while maintaining a constant volume level from the guitar amplifier. So from the perspective of the audience, all styles of the guitarists performances are heard from loud to soft, and the overall balance of the band is maintained.
This pedal is also extensively used for long sustained notes, allowing the guitarist to show off a bit. However, incorrect use of this pedal can either produce a rather bland performance, or at the other extreme produce unwanted noise.
2. Tremolo Pedal
One pedal which is still used today, but was originally made popular in the 60's is the Tremolo Pedal. Using this pedal produces a vibrato effect to a chord, or single note, by changing the volume of the signal. This effect, determined by the use of the pedal control settings, vary both the signal depth and rate of speed.
The signal for the guitar is altered by feeding a separate sine wave through a Voltage Controlled Amplifier, within the pedal. By adjusting the gain of the VCA, plus the frequency of the sine wave, the resultant output rate and depth of the signal is modified, producing the Tremolo effect.
3. Overdrive and Distortion
This is a fairly simple pedal to use, which is also ideal for heavy metal etc. Its purpose is to radically alter the output gain of the guitar to produce anything from warm heavily clipped notes to dirty or gritty sounds. Generally, Overdrive and Distortion pedals are supplied with just a few simple controls such as Tone, Level and Drive. These are enough to produce a wide variation of tonal control. However, there are a few more complex models available which enable the user to experiment with wave shaping.
4. The Wah Wah Pedal
A great pedal which is brilliant at enhancing both your lead and rhythmic performances is the Wah Wah pedal. The effect is similar to a human voice saying the word Wah - no, honestly. Varying the degree of the Wah effect is achieved via a treadle action pedal on the effects unit.
For reference, the effect is created by passing the guitar signal through an electronic low pass filter; the depth of which is controlled by the treadle. Although a very popular pedal for many years, the effects is now used extensively in modern day trance and dance music. Whereas the guitarist rapidly varies the filter effect, in dance and trance the top frequencies are gradually filtered out to produce a muffled beat and slowly restored again - generally to a rapid repeating drum riff.
5. Phaser Pedal
The final pedal to be mentioned is the Phaser pedal. The effects of this pedal are extremely well known and are very popular. To produce the phasing effect, the signal for the guitar is duplicated to produce two identical signals. They are then mixed together again, but slightly out of phase. The phase effect is born.
Configuring the Pedals
Guitarists set up their range of effects in two ways; this is often determined by the budget available. The first is by buying a Multi-effects Unit which has different guitar effects built into one unit. Prices differ depending on the number of effects parameters that are available. However, as all are microprocessor controlled nowadays, the overall quality is very good on all of them.
If you are on a budget, you may prefer buying one effects pedal at a time and daisy chain them together as your pedal numbers increase. Some musicians actually prefer this method anyway, as some have well known and loved favourites. The order in which you connect them together is open to debate, as each musician has their own preferred method.
1. Compressor Pedal
The Compressor pedal is an extremely useful effects pedal but is considered to be the hardest to use, and certainly the least understood. To put it simply, this pedal enables the guitarist to switch from lead solos to a softer more rhythmic performance, while maintaining a constant volume level from the guitar amplifier. So from the perspective of the audience, all styles of the guitarists performances are heard from loud to soft, and the overall balance of the band is maintained.
This pedal is also extensively used for long sustained notes, allowing the guitarist to show off a bit. However, incorrect use of this pedal can either produce a rather bland performance, or at the other extreme produce unwanted noise.
2. Tremolo Pedal
One pedal which is still used today, but was originally made popular in the 60's is the Tremolo Pedal. Using this pedal produces a vibrato effect to a chord, or single note, by changing the volume of the signal. This effect, determined by the use of the pedal control settings, vary both the signal depth and rate of speed.
The signal for the guitar is altered by feeding a separate sine wave through a Voltage Controlled Amplifier, within the pedal. By adjusting the gain of the VCA, plus the frequency of the sine wave, the resultant output rate and depth of the signal is modified, producing the Tremolo effect.
3. Overdrive and Distortion
This is a fairly simple pedal to use, which is also ideal for heavy metal etc. Its purpose is to radically alter the output gain of the guitar to produce anything from warm heavily clipped notes to dirty or gritty sounds. Generally, Overdrive and Distortion pedals are supplied with just a few simple controls such as Tone, Level and Drive. These are enough to produce a wide variation of tonal control. However, there are a few more complex models available which enable the user to experiment with wave shaping.
4. The Wah Wah Pedal
A great pedal which is brilliant at enhancing both your lead and rhythmic performances is the Wah Wah pedal. The effect is similar to a human voice saying the word Wah - no, honestly. Varying the degree of the Wah effect is achieved via a treadle action pedal on the effects unit.
For reference, the effect is created by passing the guitar signal through an electronic low pass filter; the depth of which is controlled by the treadle. Although a very popular pedal for many years, the effects is now used extensively in modern day trance and dance music. Whereas the guitarist rapidly varies the filter effect, in dance and trance the top frequencies are gradually filtered out to produce a muffled beat and slowly restored again - generally to a rapid repeating drum riff.
5. Phaser Pedal
The final pedal to be mentioned is the Phaser pedal. The effects of this pedal are extremely well known and are very popular. To produce the phasing effect, the signal for the guitar is duplicated to produce two identical signals. They are then mixed together again, but slightly out of phase. The phase effect is born.
Configuring the Pedals
Guitarists set up their range of effects in two ways; this is often determined by the budget available. The first is by buying a Multi-effects Unit which has different guitar effects built into one unit. Prices differ depending on the number of effects parameters that are available. However, as all are microprocessor controlled nowadays, the overall quality is very good on all of them.
If you are on a budget, you may prefer buying one effects pedal at a time and daisy chain them together as your pedal numbers increase. Some musicians actually prefer this method anyway, as some have well known and loved favourites. The order in which you connect them together is open to debate, as each musician has their own preferred method.
About the Author:
Learn more about Electric Guitar Effects Pedals. Stop by at www.ElectricGuitarEffectsPedals.com where you can find Information, Specs and Videos all about Guitar Effects Pedals and what they can do for you.
>
comments
Post a Comment