Effects Pedals: A beginners guide

Maybe you’re a new player, maybe you’re a seasoned pro or maybe, like me, you’re somewhere in between. Perhaps you’ve always held a strong belief of the purity of just plugging a guitar into an amp and working with what comes out. Many amplifiers have built in effects like reverb or tremolo. Some modern amps have a gamut of effects and models to get you different sounds with the twist of a knob.

But here’s the thing, you’re curious. You have a sneaking suspicion that having a pedal at your feet could give you more. Your amp sounds great clean as well as cranked but you cant switch between the two easily or quickly enough. Maybe your amp just doesn’t sound like the hammer of the gods come to smite all posers in its path. The amp has a reverb but you just don’t like it.

Effects pedals are electronic circuits that can either go between your guitar and amplifier, or in the effects loop of your amplifier and change the sound of what goes into them. The change can be subtle or extreme depending on what effects you choose to use and how you choose to use them.

For example, a simple boost can make your signal louder, which can help you either pop out when you take that solo, or drive your amp harder to get more distortion, or both. A Harmonizer can make it sound like you are actually three guitarists playing different harmonies of the same riff. How cool is that? Instant Iron Maiden!

Effects pedals are a wide and varied world and as technology gets better and better you can make your sonic dreams come true.