Wah Pedal

The wah pedal is a total classic. It has been used by most major guitar players since the 60's. For example, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Steve Vai, and Slash have all used this effect. Many players even have their own signature pedals.

The pedal functions by changing the peak frequency of the signal as you rock the pedal. This creates the same type of sound you make when you say "wah". It's simple, but very fun. It gives your playing a lot of feeling too, because it is so natural to control.

Popular wah pedals have always been made by Dunlop. The Cry Baby line is popular. Also, Vox and Morley have very popular wahs, but be aware that all of these companies voice their pedals differently so you should see which one you prefer before you get one. Some pedals are more vocal, some have a more nasal sound. Some are very transparent, while others put a lot of gain in the signal. It's all about personal taste.

Satchurator

The Satchurator is a brand new multi- funtional pedal from Vox and Joe Satriani. It is designed, of course, to deliver Satriani's signature sound, but with enough control to dial in a range of tones. It's in a shiny red box with cream- colored chickenhead knobs, and it looks great.

Satriani has a very distinct sound, and one which is not easy to copy with most gear. For the past few years, the easiest way to do it was to get the JSX amps made by Peavy, but they are expensive, and a huge change in any setup. This new pedal is convinient for anyone who wants to be able to get his tones without switching out their amp, and for anyone looking for a very versatile and unique distortion pedal.

The Saturator has all of the standards of a distortion. Gain, tone, and volume knobs with a metal footswitch. Added, however, are a "more" footswitch, and a "pad" toggle. The "more" option kicks in a boost of extra gain, for a thicker sound that will probably be usefull for soloing or just getting a more aggressive sound for the next song. The "pad" switch will decrease the effect of the distortion, but will allow high- gain pedals like wahs to be used before it in the signal chain.

If you know Joe's tone, you already know how great this pedal sounds. If you want your distortion a little heavier, the boost function can usually satisfy. A big plus with this pedal is how much it cleans up if you turn your volume back. This makes the amount of tones you can get out of the Saturator much bigger, and you can slowly swell into a solo sound.

This is a great pedal and is definitely worth checking out. Also, this pedal is supposed to be the first of a new line from Vox that is being developed with Joe Satriani. Hopefully the rest will be as awesome as this one, but the bar is set pretty high with the Satchurator.

Phaser Pedal

The Phaser Pedal. It's one of the most used guitar effects in countless hit songs. ELO and Van Halen are good bands to look to for examples of this. Phasing is a modulation effect that performs a filter sweep on the signal, giving it a swirling texture that can be intense, subtle, or quite vocal.

The way a phaser pedal works is by rhythmically altering the signal of the guitar based on either pre set frequencies, or by controls on the pedal.This effect is commonly mistaken for a flanger, and vice versa, but they manipulate the sound in different ways. Flanging gives a dirtier sound in most cases, so that's one way to tell the difference. Ultimately, it doesn't really matter, as long as it sounds good. Most pedals use a simple rate knob, and possibly a depth knob for this effect.

The MXR Phase 90 is an example of a basic unit. Just a rate knob. Simple, and easy to use. This is what Eddie Van Halen uses set on the lowest setting for a lot of his stuff. If you listen to "Eruption," you'll hear it loud and clear. If you want to try one out, this is probably a good place to start, along with maybe a Boss or Electro Harmonix pedal.

Chorus Effect

Chorus is a standard guitar effect. It is meant to simulate the effect of a chorus, which is a shimmering sound that occurs due to slight variations in pitch among multiple voices. However, this effect can be taken much further.

On older records, some of the guitar chorus sounds you hear may not have been made with a pedal at all. They used to use a Leslie organ cabinet to play through, and the rotating speakers inside generated the effect. As you can imagine, this approach is cumbersome, expensive, and just not practical. This is why it was turned into a guitar effects pedal.

The shimmering sound generated can be manipulated by controls for depth and rate on most units, similar to a flanger. However, some units have extra features, such as stereo outputs. With stereo outputs, two signals can be sent from the pedal to two different amps or speaker cabinets. This is a method of enhancing the chorus effect, and can also be used in some pedals to make the sound seem to move from one speaker to the other.

The chorus effect is one of the most popular effects for many players, because it can make the guitar sound bigger, like there are many of them. Also, this effect, like others, can be taken to extremes and achieve some really weird sounds. Popular brands for choruses are Electro Harmonix and Boss, so you may want to start your search there if you are interested.

Flanger

The flanger is a strange effect, but can be fun to play with. If you get a basic pedal, you can make sounds that recall a lot of classic rock tunes. You could also get one with lots of features and controllable parameters that lets you make fun and unique sounds.

A flanger is related to a chorus effect. It originates from two signals being played simultaneously, with one being distorted a bit. This was originally done by touching the edge, or "flange", of recording tape. Now, this effect is generally digital, and only emulates this phenomenon.

A low can create a large swooshing feel to your sound. It sounds a bit like an airplane, actually. This makes the guitar sound really huge and dominant in a recording, and is a crowd pleaser as well.

Setting flangers high will get a little crazy. It increases the rate of that swooshing effect, and can sound almost dizzying.

Generally, flangers have only a few controls. Some, however have lots of extra bells and whistles that let you dial in more specific sounds. At the basic level though, most of them have a rate knob. This is what controls the speed of the effect. The next most common controllable factor is the depth of the flange itself. This will make a longer or shorter swooshing sound.

An example of an extra control that some pedals may have is a wave shape control. This would change the shape of the effect from a more rounded shape to an angular one. What this means in practice is how abrupt the change from rising to falling on the effect is, and how smooth the flange sounds. Angular waves are choppy, rounded waves are smooth.

There are a lot of great flangers out there, whether you want the basic effect or something with a lot more unpredictability to it. Like all pedals, the best way to find one you like is to listen to them and try them out. They are very standard pedals, and a must for Van Halen covers.

Guitar Effects

Guitar effects come in many, many varieties, so it's good to know each of the basic types of effects that are available, to make it all less confusing. Later pages will go into detail about each type of pedal.

Distortion- This makes the sound dirtier and is used by most guitarists. Rock musicians especially use this pedal to give their guitar a big sound. Within this category are overdrive and fuzz effects. Overdrive is an effect that boosts the signal, making it louder and giving it some color. Generally these are used to push tube amps at low volumes. Fuzz effects are circuits that just make the sound different. It won't emulate natural distortion, it just makes it fuzzy, hence the name.

Chorus- This effect will make the guitar sound bigger in many cases, especially if a stereo effect is used. It can give the guitar a "wobbly" or "watery" sound when used heavily, or just a gentle swirling effect. Think of "Come as You Are" by Nirvana.

Flangers- This is related to chorus, but gives a different sound. It makes a swooshing time based effect that can give a guitar a really big sound when used on low levels, and give is a sort of psychedelic effect when used on high levels. The most famous example is Eddie Van Halen using a low setting on songs such as "Unchained."

Phaser- Phasers can be confused for flangers sometimes, but they are a different effect. They sweep through different frequency settings so that the guitar has a constantly changing sound. It has similar uses as the flanger, but gives a smoother sound. It is another Van Halen favorite, and has many variations.

Tremolo- This is basically time based volume control. It can be set to extremes to make special effects, or it can give a gentle pulse to your sound. Basically it sweeps between a set low and high volume, at a speed set by the player. The volume levels may or may not be adjustable.

Reverb- This is basically an emulation of the echoe or reverberation of playing in a hall. It generally makes anything sound better, so it is often used by sloppy guitarists to make it seem like they are a little better. It makes the sound more lively, but used in an echoey hall it can turn into a mess.

Delay- Basically this is just what it says. It delays the sound. When you strike the guitar strings, it takes a certain amount of time (which you usually control) before it sounds. Sometimes you hear yourself play right away, then the delayed effect plays, usually quieter. This creates a call and response mechanic.

Wah- A very popular effect for rockers. It does what a phaser does, which is to sweep through different frequencies. However, this is controlled by a rocking pedal, so it can make the guitar make a vocal like "wah" sound.

There is a lot more to all of these categories, but these are the basics. There are also a lot that don't fit into these categories, which you can check for later. You should check out what each of them sound like, and compare some of the similar ones. And check back for detailed posts of each.

Distortion Pedal

Distortion is the most common guitar effect. Most electric guitar players use some level of distortion in their sound, in every style of music. Distortion can range from a very subtle coloration of the sound, to a total transformation into a loud, sustaining, and dirty sound.

When old tube amps were pumped up in volume, guitarists used to notice that the sound would start to get distorted. This lead to the creation of more powerful amps that could be turned up extremely loud and "overdriven" so that the sound is distorted. This was a little inconvenient, however, because it could only be achieved by turning the amp to their loudest settings. This is what the modern distortion pedal tries to emulate, only without the need of tube amps or huge volume levels.

The most popular distortion pedals are fairly easy to afford, such as the Boss DS-1. They let you get a great rock sound, without having to buy an expensive amp.

When using distortion pedals, most people fall into one of two categories: the people who like to set it to a particular setting that they use all the time (often with every knob cranked), and the people who like to use different colorations. Either way is fine, and using the "set it and forget it" method is really helpful in a live show. But using the knobs to get lots of different tones can be very rewarding with a good distortion.

Generally, there will be one to three knobs on a distortion pedal: distortion or gain, volume, and tone. Any combination of these may be on the pedal. Some pedals may have an individual control for high, mid and low frequencies as well, but they are not as common as the other three.

Distortion or gain will control how much distortion the signal gets. The more you crank this control, the dirtier the sound gets.

Tone will control the general shape of the frequency signal. This is hard to understand without hearing it, but play around with it and you'll get it. Basically, it boosts or cuts certain frequencies in the signal, emphasizing maybe the mids or the bass.

The volume, or output, is how loud the signal is with the pedal on.

Distortion is a great way to get into pedals. They are essential in any players setup and you can always find one that is right for you. If you play rock or metal, this won't be hard to find, but even if you are someone who wants a specific subtle distortion, chances are there is a great pedal for you.

Guitar Effects Pedals

Guitars are, in my opinion, the most versatile instruments on the planet. There are so many different ways to play them, and so many different kinds to choose from. Electric guitars in particular are extra versatile because you can match different guitars to different amps, and then add effects pedals.

Effects pedals are pedals that a guitarist can put between his amp and guitar using instrument cables. Generally, the pedals will have switches on them to either activate effects, or switch between different settings. Sometimes they will have a different mechanism to control the effect in real time. These effects alter the electric signal of the guitar, which alters the sound coming out of the amp.

These effects include distortion, delay, reverb, chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo... the list goes on. Now at first, this may be confusing, but they can be organized based on what they do to the guitar sound. Later on, I will discuss each type of effect.

Guitarists use these effects to give their sound a certain character. With enough experience, you start to predict what the sound of a pedal will generally be before playing through it. For example, if you know a company is coming out with a new chorus pedal, and you know what type of sound that company generally goes for, and what a chorus pedal does, you can get an idea of what it may be like and if you want to try that pedal.

Pedals are often mass produced by companies like Boss, Electro- Harmonix, and Digitech. These are some of the biggest, but there are many more. Other smaller makers make each pedal by hand and try for very specific effects. These, of course do end up being more expensive. Examples of this type of pedal maker include Z.Vex and Analogman. These are called boutique pedals.

There are many options with these pedals, and there is a lot of fun to be had by using them. If you play electric guitar you really owe it to yourself to at least try a few. You may end up finding one you really like. You may end up finding lots that you really like. No matter what style of music you play, there are pedals out there suited to you.