Leading With Guitar Pt. 3 - Guitar Effects
January 26th, 2006 by Travis Swan | Posted in Gear
Effects are additions that are placed between your guitar and amplifier to “color” the sound. You can put them in many configurations to customize your tone, and ultimately this configuration is up to your own personal taste – but I will suggest a few guidelines as you read on. Here’s a run-down of what I understand about effects, as well as links where applicable of mp3 files I’ve recorded with my Les Paul with specific effects added. Note that I’m always changing things, and within a few months everything might sound different . . . Distortion – we all know what this sounds like. Basically distortion is created when the gain, or volume of a signal is bumped too big, and the head and feet of the sound waveform are clipped, or squared off. There’s a ton of different options here though. Distortion, Overdrive, Fuzz, etc. Go to your local guitar shop and try them all out until you find a combination you like. A lot of “purists” insist that tube distortion is the only way to go, but I’ve heard a lot of great digital distortion pedals.
EQ – This is the foundation to your tone, and will have the most influence on your sound – I usually have this near the beginning of the effects chain. EQ “equals out” the tone of your sound – originally designed to make up for acoustic deficiencies in acoustic instruments to get a “flat” response in recording. There’s a bunch of different types, but basically an equalizer can boost or cut the “volume” of specific frequencies in your sound. I recommend cutting over boosting, as distortion, noise, and muddiness can result if you boost too much.
Some EQ tips that can really affect your tone:
- Roll everything off below 80hz
- 100hz can add low end, but can interfere with the bass guitar
- 200hz - 250hz adds punch and fullness
- 250hz - 800hz is the “mud” zone. Roll off here if your sound is muddy.
- 2.5kHz - 5kHz adds edge and bite
- 5kHz - 8kHz adds clarity
- 8kHz - 12kHz adds "shimmer"
Noise Gate – This will cut off the signal once it reaches a certain level, so your guitar doesn’t hum when you’re not playing. You can also use it to cut off a reverb effect, or the sweep of a flange when you’re not playing. I have this one running all the time. In the recording, note the noise that occurs, and how it just “cuts off” when the noise gate kicks in. You can also reverse this effect, and set a fade-in type of effect as you hit a note.
Compressor – One of the most important effects you can use. This will basically lower the volume of your harder hits, and increase the volume of the softer notes, so your playing sounds more even. I like to use compression for added sustain when playing lead. In this recording I compressed the clean signal first, then equalized it, ran it through distortion, subtle chorus, delay, and lots of reverb. Note the single note sustain, and how if I hold it too long, it begins to amplify more noise than tone.
Delay – Creates an echo of your guitar sound. For an example of this, listen to almost anything the Edge plays in U2. I use delay in a lot of songs for a cool doubling “ghost player” effect. Delay is also useful for legato lead playing, with the “feedback” knob turned up, it really fills out the sound, as you can hear in the “Compressor” recording. In the “Delay” recording, I have a stereo delay effect running at 0.365 seconds of delay, with feedback at only 10%. It’s the last thing in the chain before it hits the amp. Note that every note I play is doubled so it sounds like I’m playing twice as much as I actually am.
Reverb – Creates space – much like singing in a bathroom.
Chorus – this essentially duplicates your guitar sound, slightly detunes it, and plays it back, creating a thicker tone. Use it subtly unless you’ve got a specific application for it. I have three levels of chorus represented in this recording.
Flange – This creates an odd swirling sound – I sometimes mix it really low into my effect chain, but rarely use it.
Phaser – In the same family as flange – a thick modulating of the tone, created by running an oscillator across the frequency range of the input signal, then mixing the signal out of phase with the original. In this recording, I’ve got the phaser after distortion in the effects chain.
Tremolo – varies the depth and volume of the guitar signal. The speed can be adjusted to the rhythm of the song you’re playing – so if you use this, make sure to give your drummer a hint of the rhythm before he clicks off the song!
Wah – This adjusts the tone of your signal – the foot pedal can be moved up and down between bright and dark tone. It’s usually used by moving the pedal in time with the music. Auto-Wah does the same thing, but is preset with a specific time period, rather than using the foot to create the effect. This recorded example is auto-wah.
I also want to mention guitar pickup selection - most guitars are set with two pickups, one close to the neck and one close to the bridge. Controls for these typically have three positions. The neck pickup is going to give you a thicker sound, and the bridge pickup will give you a more treble sound. The third position is a blend of the two. I use the bridge pickup for distorted rhythm applications, the neck pickup or a combination of both for clean rhythm. I also use the bridge pickup for fast, crisp lead, and the neck for a really warm sustained lead sound.
This entry was posted on Thursday, January 26th, 2006 at 4:57 pm and is filed under Gear. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Thanks! This really helps tremendously..