Using Guitar Effects and Pedals

You have probably been to live shows and seen Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Steve Morse, Joe Satriani and many other classic guitarists perform but have you really wondered where the distorted sound really comes from? Yes! It comes from using various 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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