Pedal help

OnTheRopes

Are there any decent guides or tutorials anywhere that gives an in depth look at what pedals actually do that would help somebody who knows nowt about them have a decent understanding?

Teetonetal

To be honest best bet is to go to youtube and listen to them it'' easier to hear an effect than read about it.

Or listen to songs.

Metallica enter sandman solo = pedal wah
RHCP sir psyho sexy is autowah.
Metallica nothing else matters is chorus
Pink Floyd Time solo is tape delay.
Bonjovi always solo is a Leslie

OnTheRopes

Good point and I have been doing, but sometimes the differences between say an overdrive and a distortion pedal, exactly what a compressor does, why use a noise gate ?

JezWynd

The Boss handbooks are quite helpful. There are online versions -

http://cms.rolandcorp.com.au/assets/media/pdf/BOSS_GuitarEffects_GuideBook_Vol17.pdf

http://cdn.roland.com/assets/media/pdf/guitar_effects_guidebook_vol_20.pdf

OnTheRopes

JezWynd said:

The Boss handbooks are quite helpful. There are online versions -

http://cms.rolandcorp.com.au/assets/media/pdf/BOSS_GuitarEffects_GuideBook_Vol17.pdf

http://cdn.roland.com/assets/media/pdf/guitar_effects_guidebook_vol_20.pdf

Thanks

TheMarlin

The one pedal that’ll likely confuse you the most is a compressor.  Took me some time to get my head around a pedal that ruins your pick dynamics. 

Teetonetal

OnTheRopes said:

Good point and I have been doing, but sometimes the differences between say an overdrive and a distortion pedal, exactly what a compressor does, why use a noise gate ?

Well, sometimes the lines between fuzz, od and distortion are quite blurred.

I tend to think fuzz - gnarly, sounds good into a dirty clean
Muff fuzz, thick and smooth
OD best used into a broken clean amp to send into amp into distortion. OR to tighten up a distorted sound
Distortion, trying to mimic an driven amp sound.

Some pedals like the rat, or moog drive are really cross overs between fuzz and od or fuzz and distortion.

Dirt is also really amp and guitar dependant, which is why sometimes you get a pedal and think it sucks, when the rest of the internet thinks it's awesome. Lots of trial and error required.

noise gate reduces hiss , unwanted noise in the signal, when you are not playing (say by having lots of distortion pedals on)

Compressor, the overdrive pedal for clean sounds, makes things more uniform, can make a clean sound pop, can be used to add grit to a clean sound.

UnclePsychosis

http://www.monkeyfx.co.uk/guides.html

OnTheRopes

Teetonetal said:

OnTheRopes said:

Good point and I have been doing, but sometimes the differences between say an overdrive and a distortion pedal, exactly what a compressor does, why use a noise gate ?

Well, sometimes the lines between fuzz, od and distortion are quite blurred.

I tend to think fuzz - gnarly, sounds good into a dirty clean
Muff fuzz, thick and smooth
OD best used into a broken clean amp to send into amp into distortion. OR to tighten up a distorted sound
Distortion, trying to mimic an driven amp sound.

Some pedals like the rat, or moog drive are really cross overs between fuzz and od or fuzz and distortion.

Dirt is also really amp and guitar dependant, which is why sometimes you get a pedal and think it sucks, when the rest of the internet thinks it's awesome. Lots of trial and error required.

noise gate reduces hiss , unwanted noise in the signal, when you are not playing (say by having lots of distortion pedals on)

Compressor, the overdrive pedal for clean sounds, makes things more uniform, can make a clean sound pop, can be used to add grit to a clean sound.

Cheers for that. I did have a compressor pedal many years ago but it was so subtle I couldnt really tell the difference through my practice amp.

OnTheRopes

UnclePsychosis said:

http://www.monkeyfx.co.uk/guides.html

Thanks