Useful Guitar Effects Pedal Cases

A guitar case is often the first case you think about getting when you play guitar, but if you have several effects pedals how do you transport them around in an easy and tidy manor? Save yourself the trouble of stuffing all of your effects pedals and cables into a rucksack and everything getting tangled together in the process, and save the time it takes you to fix it all when you get to practice or a gig.

Have you ever set out to go to a gig with everything in your backpack as neatly and organised as you possible could, then finding out that everything has still managed to get into a heck of a mess when you arrive at the venue. You might have only walked 10 minutes or put your bag into the car, but its somehow still in a mess.

A pedal board and case will go some way to helping to solve the problems. The good thing about a pedal case is that once you have it at home you can Velcro or screw all of your effects pedals into place on the board, they won't move from their allocated position no matter what. Your pedals will all be set out and connected up with patch cables, then all you need to do is connect one side to your guitar and the other into your amplifier. It saves you about half an hour of untangling the ball of mess that has been created in your bag in the trip from home to the practice room or show. Connect two leads and you are ready to go.

Not only do these cases save you from untangling everything they are really handy for moving everything from place to place. Zip up the cover or attach the lid and you are set to go in a few seconds. There are many models available at most good music stores, they can come with a comfortable handle or a strap that will go over your shoulder, leaving your hands free to carry your other gear. Normally they do come with both handle and shoulder strap.

Effects pedal boards and cases come in all sizes from small to massive. If you only need to take a few pedals with you there will be a small case just for you. They can of course only go to a certain size before it becomes silly, so if you have every pedal ever made then you will need to buy more than one case for all of your stuff.

Pedal cases come in hard and soft cases and as flight cases just like those your guitar. Hard cases are great if you have expensive boutique pedals, or just don't want your gear to get damaged by things falling onto them or being struck by something unexpected. Or go for a soft case if you want some a little bit lighter to carry around.

If you move your gear around a lot and normally do it with a backpack then you should should look into getting a proper purpose made effects pedal case. For saving time, protecting your gear and for how easy it makes moving from place to place they really are worth the money.

Beginners Guide to Guitar Effect Pedals

Almost since the invention of the Electric Guitar, musicians have been using electronic devices to modify the sounds created by their instruments. These days there is a vast range of effects units available, both hardware and software based, which can create a dazzling array of sounds. Despite this, there are still a few core effects which continue to provide the staple diet of most guitar players.
Distortion
This effect relies on overloading the signal, so that the waveforms become distorted, or "clipped". This means that smooth sound waves become squarer, making the original clean guitar tone more "gritty" or "dirty". The effect was originally achieved by literally overloading guitar amplifier inputs, to an extent that the electronic components, usually valves, were unable to process the signal properly.
Delay
There are different types of delay pedal, ranging from the short "slap-back" delay popular in Rock & Roll and Rockabilly styles, to the longer "echo" delay favored by U2's guitarist "The Edge" (Dave Evans to his mates). The classic method of getting these results is to use a vintage Roland Space Echo.
Chorus
This effect is interesting because most non-musicians aren't even aware it exists, but in the 1980s it was all over just about everything! For one of the most famous examples, listen to anything by The Police from the late 70s/early 80s. Andy Summers used the effect on just about every track, and along with Sting's vocals and Stuart Copeland's idiosyncratic drumming, it formed part of The Police's trademark sound.

Wah-wah
This is one of the most recognisable guitar effects - just listen to the opening riff of "Voodoo Chile" by Jimi Hendrix for one of the best examples of the wah-wah sound. It gets it's name simply because it sounds like a person saying "Wah wah wah"! It was invented by Vox while creating an electronic filter, and basically works by filtering out particular frequencies in the guitar signal, based on the position of a foot pedal. The guitarist plays the guitar normally, and rocks the pedal to move the filtered frequency around, creating that distinctive sound.
That should give you an idea of what's available, and what it does. But don't forget, no amount of effects will cover up bad playing! You need to get stuck in and practice. And if you're serious about your playing, you really want to look into some proper tuition.

There are some superb Online Guitar Courses available these days, which represent superb value for money when compared with private tuition. They're probably cheaper than all the books and DVDs you could end up buying,too! If you want to improve your guitar technique, and are serious about your playing, you owe it to yourself to look at them.