Whether you’re using a few pedals or an entire board, there is no doubt that adding the right effects can make a huge difference to your tone. There are a ton of different guitar pedals available out there, so it’s important to do your homework and pick out the ones that are going to work best for you.
One of the most popular types of pedals is a distortion pedal. This type of effect changes the fundamental tone by distorting it and can give your sound a whole lot more character. There are many different kinds of distortion pedals, ranging from subtle overdrive to full-on fuzz. One of the most famous is probably the Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, which Jimi Hendrix used on his classic song “Purple Haze” from the Are You Experienced album.
Another popular pedal is a chorus effect. This is an incredibly versatile pedal that can add some real depth to your tone, as well as making your lead sounds bigger and more full. It’s also great for creating a warbly bass sound. You can find a great example of this on Nirvana’s song “Come As You Are”.
An EQ pedal is another essential that can help you sculpt your overall tone before it goes through any other effects. There are a few different ways to use this type of pedal, but the most common is to simply set it up as an equalizer and then tweak it with your guitar’s knobs to get the desired sound. Some guitarists even prefer to put an EQ pedal at the beginning of their signal chain, in order to sculpt their tone before it goes through any other processing.
Lastly, there is a delay pedal. This is an extremely useful pedal that can give your guitar a really cool and unique sound. These pedals usually feature parameters like the length of the delay, its intensity and the amount of feedback it has. Delay pedals can also come in a wide variety of styles, from basic tape-style delays to reverse and modulated sounds.
There are also a few other effects that can be quite useful to have on hand. For instance, a phaser pedal can make your guitar sound really out of tune, and it’s something that Waylon Jennings is famous for using in his music. There are also a few chorus effects out there that can be very similar to a phaser, and they can provide the same kind of sweeping sound that a phaser does.
Some of the other pedals you may want to consider getting include a compressor, reverb, delay and even a wah. These are some of the most essential pedals that any serious guitarist should have in their arsenal, and they can really help you take your sound to the next level.