Knowing Your Effects

Hi. Tim5150’s back; fortunately or unfortunately. I’ll be taking about the different classifications of effects.

Effects are used to change or enhance the sound an instrument produces. Effects may be categorized as two things: A single effect pedal (a.k.a Stomp Box) and a multi-effects processor.

Single Effect Pedal

A single effect pedal as the name suggests, produces only one type of effect. Though it only produces one effect, you have more control over the effect it produces, compared to a multi-effect. SFX pedals also tend to sound better because of its “true” bypass.

Multi-Effects Processor

A multi-effects processor is a lot like a full pedal board, digitalized, and rolled-up into one large “multi-stomp” box. You have less control over effects, but you can use multiple effects all at the same time - all on one patch. Another good thing about multi-effects is that the new ones have “amp-modeling” and or “cab-modeling”. Amp-modeling allows you to mimic the sound of a certain popular amplifier, while cab-modeling allows you to mimic the sound of a popular cabinet. I highly suggest buying a multi-effect processor for beginners. It’s cheaper than buying a load of SFX pedals, and it’ll give you something to work with while you’re still trying to figure out what kind of sound you want to produce.

P.S. not all multi-effects processors are large, have expression pedals, amp and cab modeling, and multiple foot switches.

Classifications

Effects may be classified into four different categories. Overdrive/ Distortion, Modulation, Dynamic, and Equalization.

Overdrive/ Distortion: these effects boost your instruments sound to produce a “distorted” or “driven” sound.

Suggested buys:

Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer

Pro Co Rat 2

Marshall Guv’nor

Fulltone Fulldrive II

Boss DS-1

MXR M-104 Distortion+

Boss MT-2 Metal Zone

Digitech Metal Master

Digitech DF-7 Distortion Factory

Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi

Roger Mayer Classic Fuzz

Fulltone OCD

Modulation: this effect modulates your signal. It may modulate your pitch and or time to produce a different sound. Phase, Chorus, Octave, Flange, Vibrato, Pitch shift all fall under this category.

Suggested buys:

Phase

MXR M-101 Phase 90

MXR EVH Phase 90

Electro Harmonix Small Stone

DOD FX20C Stereo Phaser

Chorus

MXR M-134 Stereo Chorus

Boss CH-1 Super Chorus

Electro Harmonix Small Clone

Boss CE-20 Chorus Ensemble

Octave

Roger Mayer Octavia

MXR M-103 Blue Box

Boss OC-2 Octave

JH3-S Jimi Hendrix Octave Fuzz

Flange

MXR M-117 Flanger

Boss BF-3 Stereo Flanger

DOD FX75C Stereo Flanger

Vibrato

Jim Dunlop Rotovibe

DOD FX22 VibroThang

Pitch Shift

Boss PS-5 Super Shifter

Digitech Whammy

Boss HR-2 Harmonist

Dynamic: this effect may enhance your sound or modulate your time. Volume, Tremolo, Reverb, Echo, and Delay fall under this category.

Delay

Boss DD-6 Stereo Delay

Digitech Digidelay

Boss DD-3 Digital Delay

Echo

Danelectro Reel Echo

Danelectro Dan Echo

Maestro Echoplex (no longer in production)

Reverb

Danelectro Spring King

Electro Harmonix Holy Grail

Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb

Tremolo

Guyatone VT-3 Vintage Tremolo

Boss TR-2 Tremolo

Volume

Morley Little Alligator

Jim Dunlop GCB-80 High Gain Volume Pedal

Equalization: these effects allow you to cut or boost equalization. Wah, Envelop Filter, Graphic EQ, and Contour Wah fall under this.

Wah

Jim Dunlop Classic Crybaby

Morley Classic Wah

Morley Bad Horsie

Vox V-847 Wah

Envelop Filter

DOD Envelop Filter

Dunlop Q-Zone

Boss AW-3 Dynamic Wah

Graphic EQ

MXR KFK-1 Ten Band EQ

Boss GE-7 Equalizer

MXR M-109 6 Band Graphic EQ

MXR M-10B 10 Band EQ

Contour Wah

Morley Bad Horsie 2 Contour Wah

I’m not sure whether these pedals are SFX pedals or multi-effects processors…so I’ll call em’ B42T4RI>2…

B42T4RI>2: a cross between a SFX pedal and a Multi-effects processor. These have true bypass.

Ex

Digitech DF-7 Distortion Factory

Digitech The Weapon

Digitech Crossroads

Boss OS-2 Overdrive/ Distortion

These pedals are pretty neat, and they have reasonable prices too! Here are some really neat pedals which most people neglect.

Acoustic simulator: this little box enables you to mimic an acoustic guitar using your electric guitar.

Try

Boss AC-2 Acoustic Simulator

Compressor: I’m sorry I didn’t put this up in the classifications part. I honestly don’t know what category this falls under. This effect compresses all your instruments’ signals and equalizes them, so that they all have the same volume. This also ads a little more crunch to your sound.

Try

Marshall EQ-1 The Compressor

Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer

Digitech Main Squeeze

MXR M-102 Dyna Comp

MXR M-132 Super Comp

Tuner: this is a godsend to people who can’t tune well. This is also quite handy on or off set in a gig.

Try

Fender PT-10 Tuner

Noise Gate/Reducer: this lessens or eliminates the noise from your long line of effects.

Try

MXR M-135 Smart Gate

DOD Gate/Loop

Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor

Talk Box: this is the Wah pedals little saliva covered brother.

Try

Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box

Jim Dunlop Heil Talk Box

Peter Frampton “Framptone” Talk Box

Well… that about concludes the article. But before that, let me teach you how to make your own Passive Tone Booster!

You will need

3- 500K Potentiometers

1- 250K Potentiometer

3- Stereo/ Mono output/input Jacks

3- 223K Resistors

1- Metal/ Plastic Box (for the chassis. Preferably rectangular)

Insulated Copper wire (lots)

Soldering Lead

Soldering Iron

4- knobs

cutter

long nose

a crap load of patience

Procedure:

01. Drill in four holes on the lid of the chassis for the potentiometers to go thru.
02. Drill in a hole on the right side for the input, and 2 on the left side for the output jacks.
03. Screw in the jacks and potentiometers (order:500K-250K-500K-500K)
04. Tone POTs: Solder the resistors to the POTs (order: 250K-500K-500K). One end to the third prong (hot) of the POT and one end to the back (ground) of the pot.
05. Volume POTs: Solder the third prong of the last (from the right. 500K) pot to its back (ground point)
06. (From the right) solder the tone POTs third prong to the (beside) tone POTs center prong. Do this to chain all the POTs together (series).
07. Solder the hot connection of the input jack to the tone POTs second prong, and the ground connection to the tone POTs ground point.
08. Solder the hot connections of the 2 output jacks to the volume POTs second prong, and the 2 ground connections to the volume POTs ground point.

Please email me if you want a wiring diagram or photo of the prototype ([e-mail]).

Well… I hope I’ve given you some useful information. Please use the sites below for more info on effects:

bossus.com

danelectro.com

digitech.com

dod.com

electroharmonix.com

fulltone.com

guyatone.com

ibanez.com

marshallamps.com

roger-mayer.com

morleypedals.com

jimdunlop.com

procosound.com

voxamps.com

Btw if you want to ask me for tips on how to chain up your stomp boxes just email me. I will be answering all questions personally, unless the answer is something important that I’ve missed in this article. I've also tried to change my writing style...i hope its better now...

POSTED: 06/27/2005 - 08:38 am

+ print this article

+ mail to a friend

Comments

[Freepower]

um, coulda explained what the chorus, phaser, etc, all actually do to the sound of your guitar...

[ledhed68]

very long but still a good article

[the_concierge]

Great article! You pretty much covered all the important stuff and I love how you suggested some pedals for each heading. Very helpful indeed. Keep it up buddy!

[the_concierge]

Now that i have notice it, i find it funny how Freepower complained that there wasnt enough in this article, while ledhed68 complains there is too much. The point of this article isnt an in depth thesis of the physics of every possible effect, but rather a guide that you can use to go off and do your own research. Let start using our brains eh?

[Hendrix4ever]

very informative article. 5 stars.

[twocenttip]

very good. i woulda put down a korg tuner and the Weeping Demon under the Wah section though...
but bravo good man

[vinniebeast]

Excellent for beginners.

[Danno13]

One star, YOU NEVER TOLD WHAT THE DAMN THINGS DO!!

[x_themetalfan_x]

^ Maybe he didn't want to do all that, perhaps just an overview of what effects go under what and how they work. Stop being a ***tard!

Good article, 4/5.

[imagonaeatu]

Good article. I think you should have gone into more depth over what pedals such as The Octave or Pitch Shifter do. Also does anybody have a Ds-2. If do are they good?

[franksciante]

as far as i know multi-effects only let you use one effect at a time. well at least the zoom707II and 505 do anyway.

[lost_it_again]

Awsome, you realy know your stuff, could i wire up a passive tone booster and maybe use it as a second eq?

[lacey_the_crazy]

This wasn't really helpful for those actually curious about what the pedals actually do...(As a lot of previous comments have already said).
Good list for intermediate players, but this justs leaves noobs in the dark. 2 stars.

[HamBoy10]

sounds like you know your stuff. just give more information about what each of them actually sound like if you make a new article.

[atm_sk8er]

good article, but some things wern't explained at all. for example, phase, chorus, octive, etc. try to explain stuff more for begginers sake 4*'s

[atm_sk8er]

could you make a second article explaining what everything does? (sry for double post)

[elcapitanloco]

Technically, all these effects should be considered "Modulation", not just the pitch effects.

Also, to you people who are complaining that they don't know what the effects actually do:
It's hard to explain what some these pedals actually do without having knowledge of physics and wave mechanics. Even then, describing what these effects sound like is very difficult, because there isn't any real comparison outside of the music world.

[Kartman]

VERY VERY GOOD ARTICLE. The recommendations are great for me, becuase I'm trying to make my own "dream" setup using not to many pedals, and this article really helped. 5 stars, no doubt.

[FlyingBeerman]

Good database of different pedals that you recommend. Question, it seems like a very long list, I'm just wondering how many different pedals you eliminated in order to get down to that group. Just how many pedals have you tried out personally anyway? And what is it you would recommend avoiding?

[onimacaroni]

Real good for beginners

[joyful womble]

that cannot be a tone booster. it contains nothing but resistors.

[Danny7]

I swear the Harmoniser HR-2 is now out of production?

[RedGibsonSG]

I didnt see the Vox Valvetronix TonelabSE

that thing is ridiculous. I was f**king amazed when I got it home.

[excalibur672]

What would be the advantages of a tone booster.

(I was lost when i saw it was only resistors)

[acdc101]

Good article. And for anyone saying that he didn't describe what the effects do, read these two posts:

the_concierge:
Now that i have notice it, i find it funny how Freepower complained that there wasnt enough in this article, while ledhed68 complains there is too much. The point of this article isnt an in depth thesis of the physics of every possible effect, but rather a guide that you can use to go off and do your own research. Let start using our brains eh

elcapitanloco:
Technically, all these effects should be considered "Modulation", not just the pitch effects.

Also, to you people who are complaining that they don't know what the effects actually do:
It's hard to explain what some these pedals actually do without having knowledge of physics and wave mechanics. Even then, describing what these effects sound like is very difficult, because there isn't any real comparison outside of the music world.

[tomobrien]

i hav a large dick on my head dude !! wat do i do??

[projectmin25]

now...how much would all of this cost compared to a multi-effect pedal

[420grover]

FlyingBeerman:
Good database of different pedals that you recommend. Question, it seems like a very long list, I'm just wondering how many different pedals you eliminated in order to get down to that group. Just how many pedals have you tried out personally anyway? And what is it you would recommend avoiding?

For anyone wanting to find out more information about specific pedals, I suggest you try harmony-central.com. They have a very large database of user reviews on just about anything you can think of. I have found it very useful in several purchases I have made. Here is a link ..http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/ Scroll down to Product review databases and pick what you want.

[poontastic]

i didnt see a cry baby up there, wah pedal i mean. sacrilege, they are the greatest.

[elcapitanloco]

For those wanting some explanation of what some of these effects do and sound like:
http://www.harmony-central.com/Effects/effects-explained.html
You can hear sound clips of guitars with the effects and read explanations of how the effects work (but, as I warned earlier, the explanations can get pretty technical)

[neocon58]

435434/10

[Dyaxe666]

great article!~ already knew most of this stuff, but its still really informative (5stars) i really enjoyed reading about how to make a tone booster, ill be emailing you son about the schematic diagram

[black_sabbath85]

long, but not that great article....didnt learn anything from it.

[JorisBlack]

Good article. I think you should have gone into more depth over what pedals such as The Octave or Pitch Shifter do. Also does anybody have a Ds-2. If do are they good?

I have a DS-2..and I like it! Don't buy it if you wanna play Metal with it..but it hits a Queens of the Stone Age-type of sound nice...and others too!

[the_cheat22]

Overdrive/ Distortion:
Suggested buys: Marshall Guv?nor

that thing is a piece of crap!

[cleadus_134]

That was a pretty good article, I don't see why a whole bunch of people were critizing you didn't explain them in depth enough. anyway Good article.

[Hypnot1st]

Good article generally, but it is "Boss DD6 DIGITAL Delay" not stereo, that is my one pester so far.

[Spydr]

You just listed a bunch of effects didn't say what they did or anything about them. Didn't get anything out of the article, I could just go to a guitar store and look at all the different pedals and I would probably learn more than what I did from your article.

[GNR's Fan]

Good Article The Digitech RP200 is guite good also posst liked the instructions in the end ! post another were you go into depth!

[Gumbi89]

I?m not sure whether these pedals are SFX pedals or multi-effects processors?so I?ll call em? B42T4RI>2?

that part made me laugh quite hard

[cranagia]

I've got a really small Roland MicroCube Amp and it has most of the effects above. Real cool. Thing is, I wanna get the METAL SOUND of Rammstein or Papa Roach! Have no idea what they use or how to set my amp to mimic that sound. Anyone any tips for me?

[Mace Mchullah]

that realy wasnt as good as it could have been it was mostly a list of good pedals

[Martyrion]

Some peterson tuners should be mentioned under tuners. good article though.

[Martyrion]

One star, YOU NEVER TOLD WHAT THE DAMN THINGS DO!

Umm... He did tell what they did... The category says so, doesen't it?

[Hosscat]

Good stuff.

I do not agree that the upper eschelon is a bunch of pedals. The top end of effects is a good multi-effects rack unit tied to a midi pedal. You can turn on and off several effects with one push of the petal live. How do you do that with pedals?

[Hosscat]

to clarify my earlier statement. There are lots of songs that have really clean parts with alot of sappy chorus, reverb etc. then the song kicks into the hard part and the guitars are mostly heavy and dry .... chorus sounds too heavy on distorted setting. So how do you swap from clean/sappy to distorted/dry immediately w/pedals?

[letsgetjewish]

Good article but im a bit insulted that he listed anything but MXR and Digitech, and especially offended that he included Boss in his list of suggested pedals instead of calling them the trash that they are. The only thing you need to know regarding pedals is buy MXR and if MXR doesn't carry that specific kind of pedal such as delay go with a Digitech.

[letsgetjewish]

The only thing I don't agree with is his promotion of Boss pedals as far as I'm concerned they are the biggest pieces of crap ever made. Between MXR and Digitech (mainly MXR) you have the best pedals ever made that blow Boss' out of the water. Also if you have the right pedals theres really no need for a multi effects processor.

[letsgetjewish]

sorry about the double post there I didn't see my first and thought that my internet screwed up. You can ignore the first one.

[Abyssal]

Dude, who cares if he likes Boss. they are waaay better than digitech trust me. Maybe he just had Boss down a couple of dozen times, because Boss is the most popular name of pedals,-they got almost everything-.

[Tim_5150]

if you guys have questions please email me and put "FXARTICLE" as the subject.... if i did not reply to your email please email me again.

[Vinura]

good stuff man

[walter weedman]

your artical suck

[Hosscat]

Boss way better than Digitech!!

Digitech sounds ... well .... digital.

[Tim_5150]

digitech is good for modelling.
for those who recieved an e-mail from me pls email me again...i need your adresses so i can send them... i accidentally deleted them yesterday...sorry!!!

[Punk as atticus]

what about like wah pedals and whammy and stuff? well ya i agree w/freepower you should actually posted for ALL of the effects for what they do not JUST distortion.

[Tim_5150]

they fall Equalization...more specifically under "envelope"

[Tim_5150]

technically the "tonerboner" is NOT supposed to work... but for some freak reason it DOES! it generally helps you "control" the tone of your axe. i was able to make my Wolfgang sound like a Vintage Les Paul just by turning the first knob full, second two-thirds and the third zero (also try one-fourth)! but hey! i got the sound in conjunction with my amp and SFX pedals... it currently has a bit of hum, but i'm currently working on eliminating that!

[rightfootfred]

i'm a drummer. does this count?

[Tim_5150]

lol....

[mcr_01_fan]

hey there, really, really good article here, I myself have been playing for four years now, but I'v never had a clue about which effects pedals etc are the best and which ones to buy so I'v never bothered, but thanks to this I know which ones to get now thanks! 5 stars by the way***..

[Falky]

You didnt mention ring mod

[Tim_5150]

a ring mod is very similar to a pitch shifter. i did not put it here sinced a ring mod is what you get after combining a couple of effects....so it kind like a "sub-race" (like the blood elves in WarCraftIII: The Frozen Throne).

[Falky]

ah ok

[local_hippy]

good article...and why dont ya right another article for beginners, suggesting what to have in multi-effect processor when buying their first multi-e proc. And please suggest one processor which is good at everything(and durable though).

[sexy-man]

i understood it but beginners to fx im sure will be confused

[Tim_5150]

some dude beat me to it...there's already an article made for uber noobs...sorry it that offended anyone...we've all gone thru that stage!

[rockergurl09]

it would have been nice if you told what the pedals sound like when used.

[Paul James]

Tim, TQ for sharing. Excellent column!

[Paul James]

I do need to find a way to know what the various FX equipment sounds like. there are so many boxes and so little time, and even less $$$ to spend. I know that EHX sells a dvd that is a demo for it's FX boxes. Does anybody know of another way to hear samples for other equipment?

[Paul James]

What can you recommend for long sustain with a clean sound, like Robin Trower has?

[Lee.J.C]

hmm a bit dissapointing i must say...

[the_random_hero]

Paul James wrote:

What can you recommend for long sustain with a clean sound, like Robin Trower has?

Go for some compression, it helps with your sustain. Also, make sure your guitar is set up properly for sustain.

joyful womble wrote:

that cannot be a tone booster. it contains nothing but resistors.

I second that. You can't get boosted tone without some kind of powered unit. So, its basically a really simple equaliser? I don't really know a super deal about electronics, but it seems that way.

[irlmetalbassist]

im considering buying a EH Big Muff and im wondering would it be cheaper to make own fuzz pedal and would you be able to help me with the what ill need and how to put it together.

[imapunkforlife]

didnt explain the effects well enough but w/e....i recommend the PODxt Live for anyone looking for a high class effects board...it has amp and cab modeling, all the effects he has mentioned and then some and an expression pedal, it also give u all the options of the stomp box the effect it has would have

[gigosai]

Okay, does anyone know what I need to buy to get the sound off of unconditional by the bravery? And I'm talking about the intro?

[gigosai]

Does anyone know how I could get the same effects as the intro and chorus to the bravery's unconditional?

[MuRph83]

good read for a beginner like myself to get a grasp on effects. thanks

[D$MONEY]

yah knowing your effects is a good thing...


but its most important to know when to use them. some people use too many effects and it just gets old somewhat. DONT GET LOST IN YOUR PEDALS!...it takes away from your sound too.


D$

[indrek13]

A feeble article, full of information that ranges from confusing to just plain wrong.

To give a few examples, the "B42T4RI>2" (in English, we say "bastard") pedals he mentioned are all just plain stompboxes. Distortion pedals, to be specific.
No BOSS pedal has true bypass, they're all electronically buffered. Ditto for Ibanez, Digitech, DOD and other companies.
Compressors and noise gates would fall under the Dynamics category, delays/reverbs/echos under Modulation, and the talkbox and acoustic simulator under Equalisation.

Further, if this article was aimed at beginners, why were there no suggestions for which multi-FX units to look into? The author him(her?)self explicitly stated that beginners should prefer multi-FX units, yet failed to elaborate further on the subject.

All in all, 1/10.

[indrek13]

Cursed emoticons. The round thingy in the above comment that vaguely resembles a winking human face is supposed to be a closing parentheses.

Also, another point which I forgot - "Passive Tone Booster" is in itself an axymoron, since "booster" implies active electronics.

[Jhachey22]

joyful womble wrote:

that cannot be a tone booster. it contains nothing but resistors.


I second that. You can't get boosted tone without some kind of powered unit. So, its basically a really simple equaliser? I don't really know a super deal about electronics, but it seems that way.

maybe it boosts when you turn it off. thats how i have my "boost" set up. my amp and effects sounded shit when i boosted them, so i lower my sound, and then disengage it for a boost.