Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange
Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [effects-pedal]

Effects pedals are electronic devices that alter how a musical instrument or other audio source sounds. Some effects subtly "color" a sound, while others transform it dramatically.

Effects are used during live performances or in the studio, typically with electric guitar, keyboard and bass. While most frequently used with electric or electronic instruments, effects can also be used with acoustic instruments, drums and vocals. Examples of common effects units include wah-wah pedals, fuzzboxes and reverb units.

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What is the difference between Overdrive and Distortion?

What's the difference? They sound vaguely similar to me and I can't tell a distinct difference sound wise. What is the difference in tone, harmonics, etc.? Are they the same? Which one is better and for what?
Geroy290
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How do guitarists switch on/off multiple effects via pedalboards?

An example would be a guitarists on stage with various sounds for his setlist, and he has around 10 pedals. For solo, he needs to turn on boost, change the channel, a bit of reverb, turn off chorus that was intended the clean channel, and use the…
Glorious Kale
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What's the difference between a Flanger and a Phaser?

Every Multi-effects pedal comes with a bunch of different Phasers and Flangers. While I can hear the difference between them when comparing directly, I could never point out what it is that makes them different. What is it that they do differently…
Gabe
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Basic effects for bass

I’m an amateur bassist looking to get started with effects pedals. Most bassists use effects a lot more sparingly than guitarists, so I’m not sure which ones are common or important. I have AmpKit, so I can experiment to see what I like to use…
Bradd Szonye
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Why does pedal order matter?

Why does the order in which I put my guitar/bass pedals matter? For example, why does the compressor needs to be the first one in the order?
Shevliaskovic
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How to use delay with distortion/overdrive and/or a crunchy amp?

I'm pretty new to electric guitar (but an experienced acoustic player). It seems delay is used virtually everywhere both in clean setups and distorted rigs, but when I try to combine delay with something like an Orange amp sound, it tends to go…
Mr. Boy
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How can I get a violin sound from my electric guitar?

I have composed a modern classical piece of music which has sections for violins, cellos, some horns and percussion. The problem is that I did all of that using an electric guitar, so I actually don't know how it really sounds played by instruments…
Chis Galves
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How to play this kind of "growly" sound in the guitar?

This is a snippet from "Ride across the river", from Dire Straits. Notice the distorted guitar sound at the beginning; is that sound a result of two close notes (e.g. a semi-tone or tone apart) played together, just a distortion pedal or…
Alexandre
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What does a preamplifier pedal do?

I've seen a lot of people using a preamplifier pedal. What does that pedal do? Do I need one on my pedalboard?
Shevliaskovic
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Is True Bypass better than Buffered Bypass? Is it possible to be neither?

Is True Bypass better than Buffered Bypass? Which one is better? I have heard mixed opinions about this topic, and am not sure which side is correct? I have one true bypass pedal and it sounds just as good as all of the rest. So why would it be…
Geroy290
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How do I find a guitar pedal that shuts off output below a set volume?

I'm looking to buy or build an effect pedal that would cut off all sound passing through it to the amp if the volume from the guitar is too low. Functionally this would make it so that you could pluck a string repeatedly, starting out softly and…
Codacimo
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Different pedals/effects for low strings/notes than high

I'd like to put different effects on my low strings and high strings (or low notes and high notes), e.g. an octavizer and delay on the bass notes and vibrato and reverb on the treble. Is there a simple way to achieve this? Could a low/high pass…
Anna
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Using a looper with the 4-cable-method (4CM)

My Equipment: Engl Powerball 2 Boss GT-100 Effektboard Boss RC-300 Looper What works: 4-Cable-Method with Engl and GT-100. it's great! Short explanation of the 4-Cable-Method: The 4 cable method is a way to hook up a pedalboard to an amp in a…
Jobacca
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Should I connect my multi-effects pedal to PA or Amp?

I bought the Line 6 Firehawk FX, it's a multi-effects pedal which also has amp-modelling in it. So it can process the signal as if it runs through many pedals and then some well-known amp. Then, in the output, there are 2 modes I can choose. One…
Duke
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Achieve samplepad/keyboard synth sound with a bass guitar for playing live?

I play bass in a pop band and for a new song we want to add a synth bass similar to the one in this song: The estudio recording part is easy, so the question is if it's posible to achieve that kind of sound playing live with a bass, using a…
Wesker
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