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Using Guitar Effects and Pedals
Mastering guitar effects and using pedals
to bring out different sound tones is something that you can
achieve only after you have cleared the beginners and
intermediate guitar learning courses. Guitar effects can be
used once you graduate from the beginner level but pedals are
most commonly used when you are playing in the advanced level
and are on your way to becoming a pro!
Let’s study some of the most common guitar
effects that you can use in your forthcoming stint or maybe at
your friends birthday party or just to impress the
neighborhood girls. The most common guitar effects are called
the distortion and overdrive effects.
The Standard Distortion Effect
Made extremely popular by Jimmy Hendrix and
carried forward my most rock guitarists around the world, you
will get a distortion effect when you turn the sound of your
old valve amps louder than they have been designed to achieve.
At this point the sound breaks up and distortion is achieved.
Isn’t that easy? Well! It does sound easy but the tough part
is to not go out of tune.
The distortion sound gets created due to
the way the signals from the guitar acts on the valve amp
especially when there is a lot of signal going into the valve
and is combined with the blaring sound from the speakers on
full volume. At this juncture, there will be a creation of
multiple overtones, which will make the sound thicker and
metallic. The downside is that valves can become quite warm
and burn easily and hence you need to handle them more
carefully.
The Digital Distortion Effect
The digital distortion effect is also known
as the transistor distortion effect because it sounds more
synthetic than real. There are some modern amps, which use a
new type of emulation technology that will help them to sound
almost like that of a valve sound. In this type of an amp the
sound is quite consistent and there is no waiting time like in
valves, which needs some time to warm up. The other salient
point is that it is easier to control them and they are not as
fragile as the valves. Some amps like the Marshall Valve-State
amps have a mix of both and hence you can derive double the
distortion effect.
The Master Volume
The master volume is a popular feature
where you can distort the pre-amp and feed the sound into
another or your second amp, which needs to be set to a quieter
tone. If you set both the pre-amp and amp 2 at a med level
then it will give you a good, crunchy but clean sound. You can
get a higher degree of distortion by running the pre-amp high
and the second amp low.
Distortion and Drive Pedals
Distortion and drive
pedals can give out sound quite similar to the ones that you
can get in an amp or valve. There are various types of
distortion pedals available like the Mesa Boogie V-Twin pedal
(it will burn your pocket but it contains real valves), the
standard Boss OD1 overdrive unit, Boss BD-1 Blues Driver,
Ibanez Tube Screamer, and Rat Pro Co pedal.
If you use a blues
pedal then it will kick out some really dirty but great blues
sound like the ones churned out by Led Zep. If you are
thinking metal then a metal or distortion pedal will provide
you with the heavy distorted sound that you often hear at
Metallica or iron Maiden concerts. Most of the pedals normally
have 3 knobs: Gain or Distortion, Level and Tone.
Here’s a tip: You can use two distortion
pedals to bring out the perfect rhythm sound from one of the
pedals and use the other to provide the lead sound, which has
a high volume and distortion.
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