Effects

  4 Responses to “Effects”

1. Kevin says:

   February 23, 2010 at 4:19 am

   Hi Romain,

   Since there’s just soooo many pedals around, my choice was to try for an all-in-one effects unit (Digitech Genesis 3) which seems to meet my needs pretty well (I’m a learner) and I quite like fiddling with the settings.

   Do you think most pedals suit one guitar model (or pickup type) or do you think the good ones will suit anything? BTW, the Genesis has a parameter to match its settings for single pole or humbucker pickups. I’ve played with it (both my guitars have humbuckers) and there is a noticeable difference but frankly I couldn’t say which setting I thought sounded best, so wouldn’t say that it’s a must-have feature.

   Cheers………..Kevin.
2. romain says:

   February 23, 2010 at 8:37 am

   Hi Kevin,

   Multi-effect units are usually suited to either type of pickups.

   As to individual effect pedals, there can be differences especially when it comes to overdrive/distortion/fuzz pedals (not so much for chorus, flangers, delays, reverbs, etc.). I find some overdrive/distortion pedals to be more suitable to either single coil pickups or humbuckers. This does not mean these pedals are bad, just that they are more geared towards a certain a type of tone. It is really a matter of trying it out. For instance, there is an ongoing belief that the Ibanez Tubescreamer (THE classic green overdrive pedal) is better suited to single coil pickups. It is true if you want that Stevie Ray Vaughan sound but it does not mean it won’t yield interesting results with a humbucker based guitar. It is the same with amps actually, a humbucker will drive an amp harder (usually) than a single coil and will give you more natural amp distortion.

   In conclusion, It really matters for the type of overdrive/distortion/amps you are using associated with the type of overdrive/distortion sound you are after (to take an extreme example, it will be difficult to get a death metal tone out of single coil pickups).
3. Johnathan says:

   December 28, 2010 at 3:28 pm

   Hi Romain,

   I tend to go overdrive crazy at times. This time last year I owned about 5 overdrives and set them all to different levels for different sounds. Now I realized I wasn’t using most of them properly and just had an OD addiction haha.

   Now, I have trimmed my OD obsession down to 1 pedal…the Fulltone OCD. I think that it has the best sound by far to my ears for how I play. I can now use my guitar’s volume knob to adjust the gain. But, I know it is a hard clipped overdrive pedal and I’d like to complement it with a soft clipped pedal just for varieties sake, and I agree that the soft clipped pedals sometimes give a smoother tone with more mids that cut through.

   I am looking at the Keely Bluesdriver, Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Fulltone Plimsoul, and the SD-1. I like the thoughts of the SD-1 simply for the price, and I have never liked the TS-9 because I personally don’t like the lack of bass.

   Which soft-clipped OD do you recommend?
4. romain says:

   December 28, 2010 at 6:23 pm

   Hi Johnathan,

   if you don’t like the TS9, chances are you won’t like the SD-1 as they are quite similar and present the same type of “bass sucking” tone. The SD-1 is a bit grittier than the TS9 but apart from that very similar sounding.

   The Keeley BD-2 is a good choice for a different, grainier tone (I have done some demos). I would suggest you try a Xotic BB Preamp as well (with the gain set low) but if you find it too close to the OCD, the AC Booster from Xotic is another good choice. It is smooth and has a 2-band EQ. Xotic pedals are not cheap but are very cool. Let me know what you go for!