'Always off' effects

JohnPerry

What are your worst ever?

ICBM

Any compressor. I actually quite like the sound of them when other people use them - including some of my favourite players - and I have occasionally used one successfully when recording, but live... I end up constantly fiddling with the damn thing, trying to get happy with it, until finally after great frustration I revert to my go-to setting.

OFF


Enhancers and acoustic simulators are up there too.

Bidley

Octave and ring mod pedals. Love what other people do with them, they sound like shit when I use them.

JohnPerry

Yep, ring mods for sure. I have a Micro Pog I love though. 

Sorry to say I have never owned a Fuzz I liked either. Sorry, fuzz fans. I know I must just be wrong

thecolourbox

Noise gates! Haha after my noise issues were resolved recently by abandoning noise suppressors i have to say how useless I found them for anything other than cutting notes off. I presume musicians who play brutalz gain may have more use, but for me, always off

steamabacus

Chorus. Any chorus.  :-S

ROOG

+1 for noise gates, but also distortion pedals, ( shock horror) I've got a growing collection but I just can't get on with em

Lixarto

Flangers. All I can do with them is "Silver Machine".

ICBM

thecolourbox said:

Noise gates! Haha after my noise issues were resolved recently by abandoning noise suppressors i have to say how useless I found them for anything other than cutting notes off. I presume musicians who play brutalz gain may have more use, but for me, always off

Yes, I hate noise gates too.

Heresy alert ... I've never got on with clean boosts either.

digitalscream

Flanger.

There's no good use of it, ever.

Just stop it.

Yes, you.

Cirrus

ICBM said:

Any compressor.

The difficulty I have with compressors is that they compress the dynamic range to a set point. Sounds obvious I know! But if you're playing quietly and turn it on you get too loud, if you're playing loudly and turn it on you get a volume drop and it sounds weak. So in a typical gig I find I can only have it set to sound good for certain passages, but not others because you can't get the "compressor sound" without tweaking the volume to sit right at that part of the mix.

mike_l

Flangers are great in the right situation.

 

Compressor for me, no need with a heavily driven valve amp.

littlethoughts

Volume pedals. Although I suppose if you had it always off that would make no sound... If I want silence I'll turn the tuner on, if I want to change volume I'll do it on the guitar. Also to add insult to injury, they are usually pretty big.

Flanging_Fred

digitalscream;52652" said:

Flanger.

There's no good use of it, ever.

Just stop it.

Yes, you.

Who? Me?

In fairness I would have said the same until I got my old Ibanez FL9. That thing is really sweet sounding.

I've never got on with compressors but that's more to do with my playing than anything bad with compressors*.

Noise suppressors aren't much use to me. Surely it's better to sort out whatever is causing the noise rather than slapping an audio sticky plaster over it?

* apart from the rocktek compressor. Worst. Pedal. Evarrrr!

JohnPerry

i hated compressors too till i read Johnny Marr saying he always had his Diamond on, set fairly low (like 8 or 9 o'clock). Said it was indispensable. I snorted with derision. Then I bought one, did the same thing and, bugger me, I can't turn it off either. Wonderful clean-tone enhancer which also makes every dirt pedal I have sound better.

as for noise gates, they are almost always crap IMHO. But then I found the ISP G-string decimator and that was that.

Bidley

Flanging_Fred said:

Surely it's better to sort out whatever is causing the noise rather than slapping an audio sticky plaster over it?

In my case, 'sorting out the noise' would be using less gain, i.e. playing a different kind of music, which isn't an option!

Bidley

digitalscream said:

Flanger.

There's no good use of it, ever.

Just stop it.

Yes, you.

Wash your mouth out! I've got two on my board!

monquixote

ICBM said:

Any compressor. I actually quite like the sound of them when other people use them - including some of my favourite players - and I have occasionally used one successfully when recording, but live... I end up constantly fiddling with the damn thing, trying to get happy with it, until finally after great frustration I revert to my go-to setting.

OFF

Have you tried one with a clean blend? 

I feel that way about most comps, but things like the Tone Press and SP Comp with blend 50/50 make your sound really fat and sustaining without robbing you of dynamics. 

RocknRollDave

Chorus. What an utterly detestable sound. Everything I hate about 80's guitar can be found in these vile little blue bastards.

EricTheWeary

RocknRollDave;52911" said:

Chorus. What an utterly detestable sound. Everything I hate about 80's guitar can be found in these vile little blue bastards.

although it does mean if you do any 80's covers it is instant musical shoulder pads.

mike_l

RocknRollDave said:

Chorus. What an utterly detestable sound. Everything I hate about 80's guitar can be found in these vile little blue bastards.

NNNOOO!!!!! chorus is great, unless it's overused, much like anything