FX Guide

The Tg guide To video lessons online Visit bit.ly/tg294 video for riffs and pedal settings

Learn how They work PLay The riffs ThaT made Them famous

Learn how effects pedals work, and how to play the riffs that made them famous with this mega feature complete with online video lessons ToTal GuiTar july 2017

guide 1Tone

angus Young: fan of punchy overdrive, master of tone!

2 level

most overdrive pedals are fitted with a tone knob rather than an eQ section. turning it clockwise will give you a brighter sound

the level control governs the overall output of your overdrive pedal. turning this up will push the front end of your amp harder

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the drive control on your pedal works the same as the gain on your amp’s preamp – crank it up for more overdrive

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For drive at neighbour-friendly levels, use an overdrive pedal. Set up your amp with a small amount and your pedal will add colour and enough drive. Keep the pedal’s levels low and add bite with tone control. Set the volume on your pedal to ‘unity gain’ – so it stays at roughly the same level whether the effect is switched on or off.

or many guitarists, much of the joy of playing comes from letting rip with a dirty tone, and there are three flavours of true grit: overdrive, distortion and fuzz. Although the boundaries may blur between them, the way they produce their tones is quite different. On the whole, overdrive offers the lowest amount of gain of the three types, and aims to simulate the sound of a valve amp running at ear-splitting volumes – minus the tinnitus. It can also be used to boost an already cooking amp into further levels of saturation, or even other dirt pedals in a process known as ‘stacking’. What makes overdrives so versatile is their ‘soft clipping’, as opposed to a distortion pedal’s ‘hard clipping’.

Lisa Lake/Getty Images

1 Overdrive Clipping describes the way a circuit compresses your guitar signal, so a more gentle clip will retain more of your core guitar and amp tones than a hard clip, where the dynamic range is further compressed to achieve higher levels of gain. Many overdrive pedals also serve up a mid-frequency hump, as evidenced by the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, who used an Ibanez Tube Screamer to help his Fender combos cut through a band mix.

the riff AC/DC – You Shook Me All Night Long 6

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Learn it here! bit.ly/tg294video

much of the joy of playing comes from letting rip with a dirty tone july 2017 ToTal GuiTar

Cover feature

Kurt cobain’s stamp on his boss dS-1 on ...teen Spirit has become an iconic example of distortion

1Distortion

the distortion control works in exactly the same way as with overdrive, except there is much more gain available, resulting in a thicker sound with more harmonics

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the rat uses its own filter circuit, however, many distortions feature a tone control, or an eQ section to give you greater control over the midrange

the master volume control will give you the volume of your signal. Pushing this into an already driven amp will increase your total gain

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ToTal GuiTar july 2017

Satriani manipulate to great effect at loud volumes. It also makes for more noise, too, so you’ll sometimes see a noise suppressor on the pedalboards of extreme gain abusers. An increasing number of distortion units now feature three-band EQs (mid, treble, bass), offering increased control to shape your tone and essentially acting as an additional channel for your amp. These pedals are great for getting killer gained-up tones at low volumes, too, something you might struggle to do even with low-wattage valve amps.

the riff Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit 4 10

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these pedals are great for getting killer gained-up tones at low volume

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Start by dialing in a neutralsounding clean tone on your amp. if you have a dS-1, set the level and distortion knobs to 10 to give maximum dirt without boosting the volume. We’ve set the tone to four for the required bite – tweak your amp’s midrange and treble if the tone controls on your pedal aren’t versatile enough.

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his is the sound of hard rock and metal, the essential ingredient for roaring riffs, wailing solos and the entire metal genre. As opposed to overdrives, distortion pedals are more commonly used with clean amps, with all the gain coming from the stomper itself. Perhaps the most iconic example of a guitarist stepping on a distortion stompbox is when Kurt Cobain slams his foot down on his Boss DS-1 in the intro to Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, but you’ll be able to hear distortion – whether from a pedal or an amp – on most heavy music. Distortion’s hard clipping yields a more extreme sound with bigger gain ranges. That means the sound is more compressed, which results in increased sustain and feedback, something guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Joe

guide 1Volume

boosting this will give you a higher output. in the case of fuzz, the relationship between level and gain can make a big difference to the sound and responce

2 Tone

a tone control is a handy inclusion on fuzz pedals, which can sometimes sound too muddy

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the Smashing Pumpkins’ masterpiece, Siamese dream, is a fine example of fuzz in action

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this governs how much clipping is applied to your guitar sound. Some fuzz pedals feature only this control, while the big muff is labelled ‘Sustain’

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sounds lies in the transistors used: vintage fuzzes such as the Fuzz Face used germanium transistors, producing a warm, mid-gain sound. Raunchier fuzzes, like the Big Muff, tend to employ silicon transistors, which produce a harsher, more compressed tone. Because fuzz circuits are relatively simple, pedal builders will often employ a host of other tweaks, from multiple modes to noise gates and beyond – listen to Matt Bellamy’s use of a Z.Vex Fuzz Factory on Plug In Baby to hear how far it has come.

the riff The Smashing Pumpkins – Cherub Rock 6

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the launch of the maestro fuzz tone in 1962 was a game changer

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dial in a clean sound on your amp to play the opening clean riff, then kick in the distortion with your pedal. it’s quite mushy so set your pedal to give plenty of fuzz and don’t add too much bite with the tone control. aim for ‘unity gain’ so that your pedal doesn’t add masses of volume when you switch from clean to dirty.

he launch of the Maestro Fuzz Tone in 1962 was a gamechanger: it was one of the very first effects pedals that secured its place in history when Keith Richards plugged one in to record Stones classic (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction in 1965. Since then, fuzz has evolved to become one of the most varied effect types, spawning octave-fuzz effects like the Octavia (think Hendrix’s Purple Haze) and the high-gain, scooped grind of Electro-Harmonix’s snigger-inducing Big Muff, as heard on just about every distorted guitar track on The Smashing Pumpkins masterpiece Siamese Dream. What all fuzzes have in common is a lower clipping threshold than a distortion pedal, resulting in an almost totally square wave. That’s why some fuzzes sound almost like a synth at times. The key difference between

july 2017 ToTal GuiTar

Cover feature 1Sensitivity

compressors dominate in funk. check out the red hot chili Peppers’ under the bridge

With the dyna comp sensitivity changes the amount of compression applied to your tone. other pedals have more options to control attack, and blend between the effected/dry sound

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the output control determines the level of the signal leaving the pedal. experiment with different combinations of compression/output settings

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ToTal GuiTar february 2017

note we talked about earlier, while slower rates are better for letting notes ‘bloom’ and sustain, without influencing the front end of your playing. Some compressors also feature a blend control to balance your clean signal with the compressed sound, ideal for balancing individual notes within a chord.

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a compressor gives muted notes a distinctive rhythmic attack

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the all-important compressor pedal is designed to make loud notes softer and quiet notes louder, giving the impression of greater sustain. the level at which the compressor cuts in will depend on how powerful your guitar’s pickups are, so be prepared to adjust this setting.

ompression is among the most misunderstood of guitar effects: rather than transform your tone, it subtly enhances it. A compressor monitors your signal and evens out the dynamics – so low-volume signals get louder and high-volume signals get squashed. As a result, the effect tends to be used in genres where clean signals dominate, such as funk and fingerpickin’ country. Nile Rodgers won’t leave the house without a compressor, because it gives muted notes a distinctive rhythmic attack that adds to his syncopated grooves. And, of course, because compressors are boosting your signal, they can also increase your sustain – handy for Knopfler or Gilmour-ing up your solos. Pedals usually feature knobs for sustain, which tweaks the amount of compression, while an attack knob adjusts how quickly the compressor kicks in – faster rates give that pop to a

guide dan auerbach uses a pitch shifter to create a smooth dive bomb in the riff from lonely boy

1pedal

the classic expression pedal control of the Whammy allows you to glide between different pitches with ease

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Pitch shifters differ from octavers because they are able to offer intervals between the octaves

many modern pitch shifters can change the pitch of all of your notes at once, so you can use them to quickly change your tuning

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a similar fashion: choose the maximum bend range and step on the treadle to let rip. Tom Morello is the effect’s most notable proponent, creating one of rock’s most iconic solos in Killing In The Name via the siren squeal of a two-octave up setting.

the riff The Black Keys – Lonely Boy fUzz

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tom morello is the effect’s most notable proponent

Scott Gries/Getty Images

dial in a fuzz-style distortion into a clean amp channel. go easy on the drive. We used a gretsch hollow-body for its 50s style twang with spring reverb. Set your pedal to one octave down. Start the line with your heel down then move the pedal slowly for a gradual pitch shift on the last note of the riff.

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itch shifters take your guitar signal and bend it up or down - subtle uses can emulate your guitar’s whammy bar, but much greater ranges are available. DigiTech’s iconic Whammy pedal is the best known and most loved example, and it offers up everything from a bowel-troubling three octaves down (dive bomb) to an ear-piercing two octaves up. Smaller intervals, such as 2nds or 4ths, allow you to use a pitch shifter like a virtual capo, or a drop-tuner – DigiTech’s Drop is a good example of the latter. Most pitch pedals operate in


Cover feature 1 Key

to give your intelligent harmoniser its best chance of picking the correct notes, you need to select the right key

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thin lizzy’s Scott gorham needed brian robertson to help their harmonies sing – but you can cheat!

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likewise, you can tell your pedal as to whether you’re playing in a major or minor key

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3 intervals

of course, you’ll also need to know what interval harmony you’d like, so this is one of your most important controls

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with the relevant notes – cue instant Thin Lizzy twin-lead action. You’ll need to know your scales, mind: one note out of key can spell disaster for the intelligent harmoniser newcomer! That said, once you get your head around using them, harmonisers can be a lot of fun.

the riff Thin Lizzy – Bad Reputation DiSToRTioN 7

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once you get your head around harmonisers, they’re a lot of fun!

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our tone is fairly warm and dialed in a moderate distortion level. in verse 2 you’ll hear a repeat of the line in verse 1 but with a second guitar playing in harmony. it’s easily recreated with a harmoniser set to ‘3rds’ in the e natural minor scale (e F# g a b c d). Vigorous vibrato can confuse a harmoniser so try to play steadily.

hese effects also fall under the pitch shifter umbrella, but harmonisers blend the shifted sound with your clean guitar signal to produce two notes at once. So, you could set it to add notes a 5th up for instant one-fret powerchords – or do the reverse for the seven-string-esque tones Steve Vai wields on The Animal. Harmonisers can be extremely useful for lone guitarists who need to pull off some more complex guitar parts without the help of another axeman. Plus (spoiler alert), since chorus is your original signal doubled by a pitch-varied version, harmonisers can often produce this effect, too. For players with high IQs, intelligent harmonisers work within a specific scale and key, doubling your playing

guide 1 Placement

2 Octaves

Your octave pedal relies on getting a decent signal from your guitar to track the pitch, so put it early in your effects chain

many octave pedals will replicate your sound up to two octaves below, so with a bit of planning, you can create threeoctave unison parts!

Jack didn’t have a low-ender lying about so he made the most of his octaver pedal instead

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7 Octaver 3 Direct sound

Your octave pedal will most likely include volume controls for each octave, plus your direct sound. So you could remove your original signal entirely and ape a bass

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such as the Electro-Harmonix POG have been at the forefront of a massive rise in popularity and octaver pedals now rank among the most soughtafter stompers on many pedalboards. They have even given rise to entire bands – listen to Royal Blood’s bassist Mike Kerr who runs his bass into a variety of octave effects to generate a guitar-like tone, with the effect of making the two-piece outfit sound bigger than the sum of their parts.

the riff The white Stripes – Seven Nation Army oCTAveR

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mike kerr runs his bass into a variety of octave effects

Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

the studio recording is dual-amped, with a touch of rasping overdrive panned one side and dash of spring reverb on a cleaner tone biased to the other side. use a Fender twin amp or a similar digital model. dial in a little gain and set your octaver to one octave down. Set the mix so you don’t hear any un-effected sound.

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he clue for this pedal is in the name: octavers are pitch shifters, but they deal in octaves only, and usually offer the ability to blend your wet and dry signal. One octave up replicates the sound of a 12-string (see Radiohead’s My Iron Lung for a good example), while one octave down will give you a serviceable bass sound, which is handy for recording and looping when you don’t have a low-ender lying about – just ask Jack White, who used it to great effect on The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army. Back in the 1990s, octavers really weren’t much to write home about. However, since the advent of polyphonic tracking (which tracks more than one note at a time), pedals


Cover feature 1

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1 speed

a typical rotary speaker effect has controls for fast and slow settings

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mechanical leslies have a lag when jumping between speeds, which is replicated here with this control

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this blends between the drum and horn sounds and can change the tone of your sound

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othing to do with your auntie, Leslie refers to the early rotating speaker designs, which were intended for organ players, but quickly became adopted by guitarists looking for their signature swirl. No, the speakers don’t actually rotate. The classic Leslie 122 consists of two speakers: one treble and one woofer. In front of the treble speaker sits a ‘horn’, while you’ll find a ‘drum’ in front of the woofer. Those are what actually do the spinning. Two speeds were traditionally available: fast (as on Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun) and slow (Cream’s Badge), controlled via a brake circuit. As the drum and horn rotate, the direction of the sound relative to

your ears changes, seemingly causing fluctuations in pitch. This is known as the Doppler effect. The Leslie’s number one problem is that it’s a separate amplifier entirely, and one that’s heavy and can break down – you wouldn’t want to take one on tour. Thankfully, there are a host of guitar-friendly sims now available.

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Cream – Badge LeSLie SiMULAToR 5.5

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remolo and vibrato are two of the most misused terms in guitardom, thanks to Leo Fender. That whammy bar you’re waggling is attached to a vibrato system. And vibrato is also the name of a common guitar effect, and a fretting technique. In 1954 Fender went and dubbed the Strat’s vibrato the ‘Synchronized Tremolo’, giving birth to a misnomer. Tremolo is periodic variation in volume of your guitar signal. Besides rate and depth controls to adjust the speed and intensity of the trem, most tremolos also pack shape controls, which go from a gentle triangle throb to square-wave chop. You may find a perceived volume drop with more

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the rate knob controls the speed of your tremolo so that you can match it to the pulse of your tune

extreme tremolo settings, so watch out for tremolos with volume controls. Vibrato is a periodic variation in pitch; it’s mechanically the same as chorus, but with the dry guitar signal removed. It can emulate fret-hand vibrato at subtle settings, up to fast-rate Leslie wobbles and broken vinyl seasick warbles at more intense settings.

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2 Depth

Your depth setting will effect how extreme the volume fluctuations are. Set it low for subtle, high for full on choppiness!

3 Wave

You can alter the ‘shape’ of the tremolo by using the wave setting included on some pedals for a more interesting sound

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vibrato can emulate broken vinyl seasick warbles at intense settings ToTal GuiTar july 2017

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guide 1

Level

the level control on a chorus pedal controls the overall blend of the chorus effect against your guitar’s dry signal

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as with other modulation effects, the speed that your chorus warbles at is controlled by the rate knob

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andy Summers making the most of his chorus pedal on the Police’s message in a bottle

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increasing the depth level will intensify the width of the chorus’s modulation for almost vibrato-like effects

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The original choruses, such as Boss’s much-lauded CE-1 Chorus Ensemble, were based around analogue ‘bucketbrigade’ delay chips and are famed for their deep, syrupy tones. Modern digital units, such as TC Electronic’s Corona Chorus, offer increased clarity and versatility, including multiple choruses at once, as well as stereo outputs and increased EQ options.

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chorus was used on just about every guitar track during the 1980s

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Summers’ tone benefits from a little overdrive for bite. try your amp’s gain or opt for an overdrive pedal with drive set low. Place your chorus pedal after your overdrive, set the depth to around six or seven and the speed to about three. listen out for a ‘detuning’ effect - extreme chorus settings can be dissonant.

on’t bore us, get to the chorus! Well, okay, then. Often unfairly maligned as ‘the 80s effect’ owing to its use on just about every guitar track during that decade, chorus is designed to imitate the shimmer-y sound of a chorus of singers trying to pitch the same note. Essentially, it splits your guitar signal into a ‘dry’ half and a duplicate ‘wet’ signal, which adds a series of short delays and pitch variations. The wobbled signal is then blended back with the dry signal (if you remove the dry signal entirely, you get a vibrato effect instead). Without getting too tech-y, the differences between the two sounds produce a ‘comb filter’ effect, a series of harmonically-ordered notches in the frequency spectrum of your guitar tone. These differences can then be manipulated by rate and depth knobs, while many choruses also offer level and EQ settings, too.

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Cover feature 1 sPEED

Phasers are incredibly easy to use, particularly in the case of the Phase 90, which features a single speed control

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controlled via a rate knob. Slow rates give a sweet swirl and sense of movement (a la Eddie Van Halen on Eruption), while faster settings yield a Leslie-like warble. Although rate is the only knob on MXR’s widely used Phase 90, many contemporary phasers add depth and resonance dials for more or less extreme phase effects.

the riff van Halen – Atomic Punk DiSToRTioN 7

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when phasers first dropped they set guitarists’ faces to stunned

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We’ve opted for a distortion pedal to avoid having to crank a monster amp. eddie’s sound is rarely too biting so we kept the tone fairly low. mxr’s Phase 90 pedal has one knob that adjusts the phasing speed; we set ours at around two or three. use a delay with three or four repeats set to an eighth note pulse.

hen the first phasers dropped in the early 70s, they set guitarists’ faces to stunned. As a result, everyone from Jimmy Page to Keith Richards and Eddie Van Halen went through a phaser, erm, phase. To understand how they work, we’ll need to talk physics: soundwaves have regular peaks and troughs. In a phaser, two identical soundwaves are aligned so that when one is peaking, the other is in a trough: they’re ‘out of phase’ with each other. Get too out of phase and the signals will cancel each other out. Like other modulations, phasers split your signal into dry and wet halves, the latter of which passes through multiple filters, knocking the two signals out of alignment. When that’s mixed back with the dry signal, it creates cancelled-out gaps in your overall signal’s frequency range. The gaps are then moved by a lowfrequency oscillator (LFO), which is

guide 1 Manual

the manual control sets the centre point of your flange’s sweeping range

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2 Width

aka: depth or range, this controls how extreme the sweep is across your signal

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the speed controls how quickly the rise and fall of the flanger’s sweep occurs

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billy duffy used a flanger to bring richness and depth to the cult’s She Sells Sanctuary

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regen feeds some of the delayed signal back on itself to create a more intense effect

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f you’ve ever heard a guitar that sounded like an aeroplane taking off, there was probably a flanger in the signal chain. The humble flange swirls like a metallic phaser with extra whoosh, but its innards lie somewhere between phase and chorus. Flangers split your guitar signal into dry and wet halves, the latter of which features a hint of delay. These delay times are shorter than a chorus at just a few milliseconds. When the signals are blended back together again, the resultant phase interference causes harmonically ordered gaps or ‘notches’ to appear in the frequency spectrum. The position of the notches is then swept up and down by a low-frequency oscillator (LFO, controlled by the rate knob), which alters the delay time of the wet signal – just like a phaser. Flangers are often characterised as ‘cold’, but with careful adjustment of

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rate and depth controls, they can produce very similar effects to chorus, too. However, crank up the resonance dial and you’ll get super-resonant sweeps that are unmistakably flange-like. You can hear it most prominently on Heart’s Barracuda, but a stellar clean example of the effect is The Cult’s She Sells Sanctuary.

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the flanger’s intensity should be quite high; its time delay speed should also be high. manual and width controls are at moderate levels. Set your delay pedal to give five or six repeats at about 430ms – that means the repeats fall on the beat in time with the music. the repeats should be the same level as the direct sound.

John Burrows

the humble flange swirls like a metallic phaser with extra whoosh

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Cover feature 1Level

Your delay’s level control governs how loud each repeated note will be in relation to your guitar’s original signal

the edge plays around with rhythmic delays set to specific note divisions on Pride (in the name of love)

2Delay

Sometimes the delay control is also called ‘time’ or similar. it controls how long the gap between your note and the repeat will be

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3Modes

there are many different types of delay sounds, and pedals like this contain them all

4Feedback

Feedback controls how many times the note will repeat. From once to infinite, there are no rules!

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Guitarists have played around with rhythmic delays set to specific note divisions, the most famous example being U2’s The Edge on Pride (In The Name Of Love). Fully featured delays make getting these sounds easy through the use of tap tempo footswitches (where you literally tap) and subdivision switches, which divide that tempo up into specific note values.

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modern digital delays tend to have modes that emulate analogue sounds

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the delay sound in this u2 track is boosted with a little drive. try your amp’s tone or an overdrive pedal with drive set low. our pedal’s drive was set to zero, which colours the signal with minimal distortion. the delay time is set to about 400 ms (a dotted eighth note) with about five or six repeats before the sound tails off.

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ossibly the most versatile guitar effect, delay comes in a range of formats. Early units were used to record and play back sound. As the tape degraded, so did the sound of the repeats, something known as ‘wow’ and ‘flutter’ on modern-day recreations. Bucket brigade delay chips were used to create solid-state analogue delays in stompbox forms in the 70s, while Boss pioneered the first digital delay with the DD-2 in 1983. Analogue delays have a darker tonality; digital units feature repeats that are exact replicas of your dry sound. Modern digital delays tend to have modes that emulate analogue sounds, as well as tape and other old-school units. Delay pedals feature controls for feedback, effect level and delay time. Shorter delay times yield rockabilly slapback to big solo tones and with higher feedback levels the post-rock orchestration of Mogwai.

guide 1 Sensitivity

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this affects how responsive the wah is your picking strength. at higher settings, you’ll have to pick harder to ‘open’ the filter

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envelope filters use your guitar’s level to control the filter, whereas auto-wahs are controlled by an lFo (similar to the rate on a phaser). Some pedals contain both modes

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as well as envelope follower/lFo control, the boss aW-3 also has an input for an external controller

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f asked to name the funkiest of all effects, we’d plump for the filter sounds of an envelope filter/auto-wah. Rather than utilising a regular wah’s treadle to trigger the frequency shift, an envelope filter uses an envelope follower circuit, which is triggered by your playing dynamics. Set a sensitivity level for the effect, then once your picking reaches that level, the filter is triggered. You normally get control over the sweep’s direction (low to high, or high to low) and speed (how quickly it rises and how quickly it falls). Envelope filters and auto-wahs can be tweaked to sound like regular wahs, but many offer a wider, more vocallike sound that results in a very different effect (Guthrie Govan once said his Guyatone auto-wah makes him “sound like a duck”). Plus, the

sensitivity triggers allow you to pull off speedy wah-drenched runs that would be extremely difficult. While the resulting effect is similar, auto-wah pedals employ a low-frequency oscillator (LFO), which can be controlled by a rate knob in much the same way as many modulation effects, allowing you to get consistently smooth rhythmic wah sounds without having to rock your foot!

the riff Badly Drawn Boy – once Around The Block AUTo/ToUCH wAH 6

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guthrie govan once said his autowah made him sound like a duck

15 Wah

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acka-wacka! For guitarists seeking to express themselves during a solo, there is no more iconic pedal. Wahs create a bandpass filter, where the ‘centre frequency’ of the wah sound is changed using the rocker pedal. Bassier sounds are found at the heel-down setting, while treble-y tones are at the toe-down, and it’s this transition between the extremes that produces the vocal ‘wow’ that we know and love. Many players also enjoy a spot of ‘cocked’ wah, where the rocker is kept in one position, most commonly around the mid-frequency, to help solos cut through the mix. The mechanics of wahs have remained largely unchanged over the years, although recent years have seen the bulky, weighty enclosure trimmed

1 intervals down to produce a number of mini designs, most notably Dunlop’s Cry Baby Mini. In these classic designs, the rocker itself is attached to a mechanical control pot, but these can wear out and require replacing over time, prompting many companies to employ an optical pot, which uses sensors for longer life. And while basic wahs such as ElectroHarmonix’s Wailer Wah don’t have any settings to adjust, more upmarket offerings often feature adjustable frequency ranges and boosts to help tailor the tone to your liking.

Perhaps the most expressive and fun of all the effects, the wah is controlled by rocking the pedal back and forth

2 intervals

modern wah pedals offer additional features to extend the range and tonality of the effect

the riff

Jimi Hendrix – voodoo Child wAH wAH

no seTTings, JusT roCk your fooT!

amp settings 4

3

channel oVerdriVe 4

6

3


for guitarists seeking to express themselves this is the iconic pedal

gain

baSS

mid

treble

reVerb

PicKuP necK


59

guide 1 Blend

The blend control sets the balance between your original sound and the reverb-effected signal

1

2

4

3

4 Pre-delay

Some reverb pedals offer a pre-delay control, which controls how long it takes for the reverb effect to hit after you pick your notes

2 Reverb

increasing the reverb time will lengthen the decay of your reverb, meaning it will take longer to fade out

5 Modes

Just as with delay effects, there are many different flavours of reverb, from retro plates and springs to modern reverse effects

3 Tone

thick use of reverb can clutter your sound, so the tone control can remove frequencies to give you ambience, without the mess

60

16 reverb

W

here delays offer distinct repeats, reverb is a blend of the reflections that occur when sounds bounce off surfaces around you, decaying gradually as soundwaves are absorbed by the air and surrounding material. You’ll only tend to notice it in areas where it’s particularly obvious, though, such as a tunnel, a cathedral or – one for the potholers out there – a cave. Early effects involved placing microphones in actual physical spaces – these included chamber reverb, plate reverb (literally a ‘plate’ of sheet metal with a pickup attached to capture vibrations) and spring reverb (similar to plate reverb but cheaper and more compact owing to the coiled nature of

Jeff buckley: a fan of reverb

the spring). Spring reverbs proved especially popular, and quickly became the go-to onboard effect for guitar amps – 60s Fender ‘blackface’ amps are still considered among the most desirable sounds for guitarists, and most guitar amps feature a spring reverb of some description, whether physical or digitally emulated. Reverb pedals offer digital recreations of these spaces – some real (room, hall), and some imagined, such as the deepest depths of outer space. Controls usually consist of level, decay (length of reverb ‘trails’), tone (to emulate bright or dark spaces) and pre-delay (how long before the reverb kicks in). Like delay, you’ll often find these modulated by other effects, such as chorus, tremolo or pitch for shimmering, synth-like pad sounds.

Steve Eichner/Getty Images

reverb pedals offer digital recreations of these spaces – some real (room, hall), and some imagined... ToTal GuiTar july 2017

5

FX Guide

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