The Impact Of Guitar Effects Pedals On The Music Industry Back In The Day

To discuss the impact of guitar effects pedals on the music industry, we should first define what they are and what they do. A guitar effects pedal, also known as a stomp box, is an electronic unit that alters the sound of electric guitars. It is placed on the floor in front of the performer allowing him to control it with his feet, without interfering with his hand work.
To use a stomp box, it must be plugged into the electrical signal path of the guitar. For instance, it could be a go between of the guitar and the amplifier.
Some stomp boxes have knobs and dials that allow the guitarist to extend the effects, but once the effects are set, the musician usually just uses the on/off switch to get the effects he is looking for. He may alter the settings between songs, but usually not during a song. A fuzz box is an example of this type of effects pedal.
There are other stomp boxes, including the wah wah pedal, which the guitarist uses in a similar fashion as a car's gas pedal. The effects produced are more pronounced by pressing down on it further. The wah wah pedal, as well as the fuzz box and octavia octave up pedal, are not only among the very first stomp boxes ever to be manufactured, but they are among the two most influential pedals in music. They got their names from the actual sounds they produce.
It is all but impossible to accurately assess the impact of guitar effects pedals on the music industry because the influence goes so far beyond guitars. In the 1960's when they were introduced for guitars, musicians did not take long to hook them up to the other instruments as well.
This enticed the engineers who made the devices to follow suit, and create effects units, not floor based, but on racks, that worked easily with any instrument or vocal feed the musicians wanted to work with. They designed them to patch into mixing boards and to be used in recording studios, so that even if the effects were not produced during the actual performance, they cold be added in post production. What this means is, the impact of guitar effects pedals on the music industry extends to almost all the music you hear on the radio today.