anyone else hate pedals?

[CyanJaguar]

I love the distorted guitar sound. I think it is the most emotional, communicative sound in existence.

In that regards, I compare it to a mastercrafted Grand Piano. It does not need any effects to sound mindblowing, only the right maestro. In fact, effects would probably ruin the sound.

 

[greenbaysucks]

...

IMO, volume and tuner pedals are absolutely a necessity to put on a good, clean, "let's get to the music" live show; noisy tuning is never good for the audience, and muting your entire signal path can be a lifesaver if you're like me and play bass at a church praise service from time to time.

as for effects, the band i'm currently drumming for wouldn't be in existence without them. http://xyuband.atspace.com/equipment.html for the singer's stuff (look at those tunings too; i have a feeling he'll take my guitar at some point and make up some crazy tuning); Donny, the other guitarist, also has a delay, a Big Muff, and a couple other pedals, and they're ALL used EXTENSIVELY.

Yogi Berra once said: "effects are only useful when put to use." or maybe i was soaring on cough medicine while watching ESPN Classic.....either way, they're called "effects" for a reason; not "tone stompers" or "hum-inducers," but "effects." yes, they're fun to play with, but using effects is a whole other art that must be managed to make them work. i believe many inexperienced purists who think "effects are overused, they kill your signal path" are just too lazy to master the art.

 

[patlang12]

I also used to be more into pedels. I like the sound of my tube amp so I use that. I still use a wah pedal because.... well they rule! I also use a digitech whammy pedel becuase I like to go up or down an octave sometimes. Also the harmony part can be cool. If you want to play fast power chord riffs that you cant play that fast you can use the 5th harmony and play single note riffs that sound like a power chord. Also it is cool to use the octave down harmony to make it sound like you are playing with a bass. This has come in handy a lot for me because the bass player in my band never shows up to practice!

 

[Sanjanjoseph]

beginners dont need petals, and normally beginers are in bands and play live shows...i waited to get my first petal. thease kids who cant play need to learn how to play first. i NEEDED that distortion petal...i was sick of having my bassists little brother run up and push the boost button on my amp so i could do a chorous dist. if you dont have a need for them, hey, there are others who do so dont reek on 'em for serving a purpose to others not including you.
-sjj

 

[greenbaysucks]

...

i also don't think it's fair to judge the necessity of pedals based on experience or playing ability. beginners, while obviously needing some form of know-how to play the thing (otherwise why would they buy pedals?), can develop their own style by merely including some form of effects from the beginning. they acquire knowledge of pedals from the get-go, and can therefore apply it much earlier and possibly more effectively than someone who spent 1-2 years with nothing more than a Squier beginners' pack.

 

[Rokket]

I have just done that for you

No joking now I totally agree with what you say [ but who cares what Timmerman says? ]

Another post which did put it all into perspective was Bongolation one's.

Okay CyanJaguar,

So you felt you could not get a good sound out of your amp with the volumepedal right in front of it? Well what did you do with the volume pedal? Do you know what they are designed for? Okay, just kidding here eh? But really you need to look at effects, that is ANY of them, as being designed for a PURPOSE, they are not a substite for playing chords or whatever you can think of ...............

Before you start using a pedal [or buying one] it may be easier at first to ask yourself what you would like this pedal to do. Once you know what you want from it, it is a lot easier to get these sounds out of the babies.

Another thing is: You need to understand your gear and know what it can do.

Me myself I had many years of playing an electric like it was an acoustic: Did not make it howl, did not get it to sustain or whatever. Why? Because I just treated it as an acoustic, did not know, or yes..............I knew about Rock n Roll but was more interested in learning, how it all works and......

Well fortunately the learning never stops, but in the meantime you may want to make some dirty sounds as well, and pedals could help you with this

I see many of my students who also treat their electric as an acoustic, they do not dig in to get the sound, they forget about sustain, but heh, that is why they come to me: To learn and to get inspired and yes I can understand that in the beginning the notes and chords may be your first priority instead of sound, but you do need to learn about sound, and there are many many ways....................

Okay okay back to topic, pedals eh? Do I hate them? I absolutely loath them eh as you can tell from what I mentioned before

No I like it all, and perhaps you should just use them sometimes, but make sure you can get a good sound on a clean amp, then try using some pedals, and it is true man: When you try a Chorus, you will love it, ..........play with it every day, and you will.....................want to throw the thing away. Just use them some time.

Now a general remark to ALL of us here: I thought this was a recording site, right? So people into making their own albums and sounds and..............so what about soundvariety in your songs? Use any pedals or is it all fingers and hands and, you know, just hard work man

Oh well, I cannot believe that, some of you must be using some of those funky old flangers, phasers, ringmodulators and...............yes all of them really, but now and then eh? Just like those great herbs we use for our cooking

I thought I will keep it short for today, and look what I have done Ah well, tomorrow another day eh

Enjoy the "love-sounds" of the season,

Eddie

I use effects, don't misunderstand me there. I just put them on after I have tracked. I don't track with effects because if I change my mind about it, or want to change the parameters of the effect, I have to retrack to get it. Thus I don't use pedals anymore. Doesn't mean I won't ever use them again (I don't gig anymore, so I don't know if I will ever use them again). I just don't have a need for them right now.

 

[captain fuzz]

bah, pedals.

wah wah is cool

amp fuzz is where its at, you find with a tube amp if yu pick lightly thats clean, if you pick hard thats fuzz!

don't need phaser/flanger/chorus cause i can do that post prod. with a tape deck. and it sounds better anyways.

i use a ring modulator
and a tremolo box

thats it.

 

[timmerman]

Tremolo and Oooops, Sorry Man...............

Ahha tremolo, yes great effect.

Rokket heh man I know you use pedal, I did see that in your earlier posting, it is me generalising to much, or rather the "lack of being to precise with my words and phrases" it is all the speed [or lack of time we have these days] so post things without really having the time to be accurate with your words, and then before you know it you can create war. Ah well I am sure you did not take it the wrong end, so let us enjoy and keep debating about PEDALS................ Well for today I think I will stick to the nylon string if you do not mind, no time man to plug in all these pedals, adaptors and..............let me not even start about replacing dead batteries, finding the right screwdriver to open these boxes up and............................ get the picture

Cheers,

Eddie

 

[sile2001]

Well for today I think I will stick to the nylon string if you do not mind, no time man to plug in all these pedals, adaptors and..............let me not even start about replacing dead batteries, finding the right screwdriver to open these boxes up and............................ get the picture

Cheers,

Eddie

But it's so simple to take care of with a pedal board! All my stuff is already wired up and powered up on the board. All I have to do is plug my guitar input into the right side of the board, hook up my custom 4 channel snake between my amp and the left side of the board (for preamp input, effects send, effects return, and amp footswitch), and then plug a single power cable in on the pedalboard, and I'm ready to go!

 

[happyguy]

The more crayons in your box.. the prettier your picture will be

I have a bunch of old 80's favorites.. from my old 2 knob DoD FX-70 Flanger and FX-55 Distortion petals to my Boss CH-1 Super Chorus and NF-1 Noise Gate petals.

Whatever the song calls for when i'm composing..

Be Happy.

 

[taintedeity]

One piece of advise, you can use so many effects that you can't even tell what note you are playing. I have heard that so many times and it sounds like crap to me. If you do use a lot of effect, run them through the effects loop of you amp rather than before the amp. You can then use your amps sound and mix a little effect in. You will get a better sound and still be able to tell what you are playing.

Yeah, this is my only complaint about peddles. I can never get the distortion right where the notes sound nice and crisp but heavy. It always kinda melts together to have the same fuzzy noise where u cant hear any of the notes. This used to drive me nuts, the distortion on my amp is crap and the peddle distortion has undergone years of tweeking to get it to sound just right.

A lot of this has to do with the guitar your playing too. I was using a Strat for a few years which was terrible for the distortion I was using... I really couldnt distinguish any of the notes. I have since gotten a Schecter which is a fine guitar, much better than the Strat but somewhat of the same problem, definatley more tolerable. I just bought an Ibanez which seems to fix the problem but has no low end to it and the sustain isnt as good as the Schecter. The sound of the Ibanez is nothing like the Schecter, Im still undecided as to which one I like the sound of better. Moral of the story- the Strat sucked for using peddle distortion, I havent touched it since I got the Schecter.

A common misconception among beginners is that in order for a song to be "heavy" you have to have the distortion cranked up as high as it will go. Most of the time less is more. Turn the distortion down a little and suddenly youll be able to recognize the notes, theyll be more crisp without taking away from the heaviness of the sound.

 

[ibanezrocks]

I have two pedals, I usually just use the one though. I have a doubleshot distortion which is awesome, and a normal crybaby which isnt that great, but can get some classic sounds. I hardly ever use the crybaby, but even when I do it takes no time to set up, and the batteries NEVER die. So I like pedals because it gives you versatility in front of a simple amp, and it also lets you get back to the basics because you can easily remove them. However I know a guy who has 8 pedals and I think he's insane. 2 or 3 pedals is good, much more and I'd be skeptical, but then again it also depends on the type of music.

 

[capnkid]

I have a marshall 18 watt clone, and it sounds the best alone.
Peddles make it sound thin.
I also have a behringer V-amp 2 I am fiddling with. I will never hook it to my clone though.

 

[timmerman]

But it's so simple to take care of with a pedal board! All my stuff is already wired up and powered up on the board. All I have to do is plug my guitar input into the right side of the board, hook up my custom 4 channel snake between my amp and the left side of the board (for preamp input, effects send, effects return, and amp footswitch), and then plug a single power cable in on the pedalboard, and I'm ready to go!

So true, but you know what? All these single pedals give me sooo many options and I am the sort of guy who will explore all of those, and yes, it takes forever, so I am still in the "single-pedal" mode. I did try one of the first Zoom multipedals, it was that small one, now this must have been early 1990, and I did like all the weird sounds ect. but however, the single pedals still will do it for me, just as 4-track machines with cassettes, but I know, that is another story................and another forum as well so...............

Eddie

 

[timmerman]

I have two pedals, I usually just use the one though. I have a doubleshot distortion and a normal crybaby. I hardly ever use the crybaby, but even when I do it takes no time to set up, and the batteries NEVER die

True true, and you know what...........distortion pedals and wahs use very little current, so their batteries will last a very long time [as long as you do not forget the take the plugs out when you do not use them ]

My Crybaby is on its second battery and I have had the pedal since 1991, but true, I also do not use it that much, just once in a while.

Eddie

 

[gibsonguy09]

pedals are great in my opinion. with them you can do stuff you can't do without them. the wah pedal for instance. i hav a Zoom GFX-707 and it rocks. i'd advise that if you are lookin for another one.

 

[bongolation]

i also don't think it's fair to judge the necessity of pedals based on experience or playing ability. beginners, while obviously needing some form of know-how to play the thing (otherwise why would they buy pedals?), can develop their own style by merely including some form of effects from the beginning. they acquire knowledge of pedals from the get-go, and can therefore apply it much earlier and possibly more effectively than someone who spent 1-2 years with nothing more than a Squier beginners' pack.

Here's an example of why experienced guitar teachers say you're wrong:

Distortion/overdrive/compression conceals both right and left hand playing errors.

I was in Guitar Center one day and the usual wad of kids were in there screwing around. One bedroom warrior kid was trying to show off his shredding with mega-distortion and I'm noticing that he's missing about 10% of his notes with this pick, but he has enough mega-gain going that by merely fretting, he's getting just enough hammer effect to sound like he's actually picking the note successfully. It's also concealing his fretting errors.

I've seen such displays there so many times I can't begin to count them. Some kid grabs a guitar and starts fumbling around with an amp and obviously can't play, but when he gets enough overdrive going he can fake it. The weird part is that these kids obviously don't get that it's THEM that sound so bad. I've actually heard them complain among themselves blaming the AMP for this and they actually seem to believe it. On a clean amp their playing errors are obvious and they honestly seem to believe it's the amp causing the errors.

 

[Outlaws]

Here's an example of why experienced guitar teachers say you're wrong:

Distortion/overdrive/compression conceals both right and left hand playing errors.

I was in Guitar Center one day and the usual wad of kids were in there screwing around. One bedroom warrior kid was trying to show off his shredding with mega-distortion and I'm noticing that he's missing about 10% of his notes with this pick, but he has enough mega-gain going that by merely fretting, he's getting just enough hammer effect to sound like he's actually picking the note successfully. It's also concealing his fretting errors.

I've seen such displays there so many times I can't begin to count them. Some kid grabs a guitar and starts fumbling around with an amp and obviously can't play, but when he gets enough overdrive going he can fake it. The weird part is that these kids obviously don't get that it's THEM that sound so bad. I've actually heard them complain among themselves blaming the AMP for this and they actually seem to believe it. On a clean amp their playing errors are obvious and they honestly seem to believe it's the amp causing the errors.

Thats why everyone should learn on a Telecaster with a maple neck. All the distortion in the world can't hide from a Tele.

 

[Rokket]

Ahha tremolo, yes great effect.

Rokket heh man I know you use pedal, I did see that in your earlier posting, it is me generalising to much, or rather the "lack of being to precise with my words and phrases" it is all the speed [or lack of time we have these days] so post things without really having the time to be accurate with your words, and then before you know it you can create war. Ah well I am sure you did not take it the wrong end, so let us enjoy and keep debating about PEDALS................ Well for today I think I will stick to the nylon string if you do not mind, no time man to plug in all these pedals, adaptors and..............let me not even start about replacing dead batteries, finding the right screwdriver to open these boxes up and............................ get the picture

Cheers,

Eddie

Eddie (we have the same first name, btw),
I use the plugins in my software more now. I got rid of all my pedals when I bought a digitech processor, then got rid of that because I was only using about 10% of its capabilities. I like things simple, so I don't use a lot of outboard effects now. Mostly just the amp's distortion. Reverb, wah, chorus, anything else I feel it needs are added in during mixing, and it's all software now. I won't down pedals, because I'm sure I would go back to them in a hearbeat if I was gigging again, and the all-in-one processors are too much to fiddle with to set up for a live gig, for me. Just right now, I am just doing home recording, and I don't have any use for pedals.

But I still love them for what they can do. I am of the same frame of mind as my last guitar hero, Randy Rhodes. He hated wireless systems and didn't like processors, so he had a specially made 50 foot guitar cable and his board right on stage with him. There was no guitar tech in the background stomping on his pedals, and no wireless system. He employed a noise gate and his pedal boards. That's the way I'd do it. But then again, if I gig, I prefer to play bass, and I don't use effects at all on my bass...

 

[ibanezrocks]

Thats why everyone should learn on a Telecaster with a maple neck. All the distortion in the world can't hide from a Tele.

or they could just learn on an acoustic