Electric guitarists seldom just plug into an amp and start
playing. Well, they may start out that way, but if you listen to the
radio - or any recorded guitar music, for that matter - you quickly
notice a lot more going on than just a "straight" AB-Selectors Effect pedals. At the
very least, you hear some ambient treatment in the form of artificially
created echo, or reverb, as the effect is known in guitar lingo. You may
hear some (intended) distortion, especially in rock and blues music,
and you may hear additional effects, such as wah-wah, vibrato, and other
electronic manipulations. Welcome to the wonderful, wacky world of
guitar accessories known as effects.
Effects are devices that plug in between your guitar and amplifier and enable you to alter your signal in all sorts of creative and unusual ways. Scores and scores of these guitar accessories are available from all different manufacturers and in all price ranges. You can buy them as individual units or as an all-in-one box, called a multieffects processor. But whether you go for the package deal or à la carte, effects can spice up the basic sound of your guitar in all sorts of exciting ways.
Most effects come in the form of foot-accessed pedals, also known as stomp boxes because they reside on the floor and you activate them by stepping on a footswitch. This setup enables you to selectively turn effects on and off while playing the guitar without interruption.
If you plug, say, a reverb device inline (that is, between the amp and guitar), you can make your guitar sound as if you're playing in a cathedral. A distortion unit can make your tones sound like those of Jimi Hendrix, even at low volumes and with your amp set to a clean sound. Dozens of different types of effects are available - more than you could possibly own, not to mention use all at once. The price of these individual units varies, too, with distortion boxes as cheap as $45 and digital reverbs and delays as much as $175 (or more).
Individual pedals are a great convenience because they enable you to buy effects one at a time and use them in a modular fashion - you can choose to include them in your chain or not, and you can rearrange their order to create different effects. But many guitarists opt for a multi-effects unit, which puts all the individual effects into one housing. Multi-effects units are programmable, meaning that you can store different settings in the effects and recall them with the tap of a foot. Multi-effects guitar accessories, like individual pedals, also offer a modular approach to effect ordering, although they accomplish this electronically rather than physically.
Effects are devices that plug in between your guitar and amplifier and enable you to alter your signal in all sorts of creative and unusual ways. Scores and scores of these guitar accessories are available from all different manufacturers and in all price ranges. You can buy them as individual units or as an all-in-one box, called a multieffects processor. But whether you go for the package deal or à la carte, effects can spice up the basic sound of your guitar in all sorts of exciting ways.
Most effects come in the form of foot-accessed pedals, also known as stomp boxes because they reside on the floor and you activate them by stepping on a footswitch. This setup enables you to selectively turn effects on and off while playing the guitar without interruption.
If you plug, say, a reverb device inline (that is, between the amp and guitar), you can make your guitar sound as if you're playing in a cathedral. A distortion unit can make your tones sound like those of Jimi Hendrix, even at low volumes and with your amp set to a clean sound. Dozens of different types of effects are available - more than you could possibly own, not to mention use all at once. The price of these individual units varies, too, with distortion boxes as cheap as $45 and digital reverbs and delays as much as $175 (or more).
Individual pedals are a great convenience because they enable you to buy effects one at a time and use them in a modular fashion - you can choose to include them in your chain or not, and you can rearrange their order to create different effects. But many guitarists opt for a multi-effects unit, which puts all the individual effects into one housing. Multi-effects units are programmable, meaning that you can store different settings in the effects and recall them with the tap of a foot. Multi-effects guitar accessories, like individual pedals, also offer a modular approach to effect ordering, although they accomplish this electronically rather than physically.
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