Electric Guitar Effects Pedals and the Use of a Noise Gate

In your electric guitar effects pedals chain, if you have an amp that is working properly, you have good cables, good tubes in your amplifier (that are in decent working order), a serviceable guitar and you are still experiencing hums and hisses then the device you need will be some sort of noise gate. This relatively simple device is actually rather simple as this short article will illustrate:
Firstly you will need to understand what the main differences are from the available popular noise gate products. When I was looking around for this information I managed to collate a fair bit about these products which I hope you will find useful should you wish to explore this method of reducing or eliminating unwanted noise:
The first thing I discovered was that a noise gate is effectively something that is set up and then left. Easy enough, even for me, but there are some other important factors to understand that are relevant such as how and why the hisses and hums are made in the first place.
Hisses and hums often come from poorly made or put together components on your guitar, such as badly soldered joints, poorly wound or badly shielded pickups, or just the fact that single coils are used. To make the whole set up quieter start with these points. Then make sure that there is an adequate grounding on all the electrical connections and that the solder joints are smooth and shiny. It is likely that one of these things will be affecting the sound.
The next point would be the electric guitar effects pedal chain itself which will bring together circuits built by numerous different manufacturers. Each effect will have its own traits, but the creators should have ensured that their pedal is as good as it can be in terms of circuitry and build quality. However, remember that using boosting devices or anything designed to increase volume in the effects chain will amplify any sound being made - good or bad. This is the reason any compressor pedal should be placed at the beginning of the chain as the pure nature of this effect amplifies any noise from any other sources (like your guitar). It stands to reason that if you minimise the sources in front then you are guaranteed to have less hiss and hum.

It is highly likely that your amplifier was not built to perfection. This is particularly the case if you use a tube amplifier as they tend to introduce hum and hiss into the mix from things like microphone noise or just general wear. Apparently, not many guitar players look at the connections from the amplifier to the speaker terminals in their cabinets and there can be a poor connection in the vast majority of cases commonly caused by the spade connector. Nowadays, those in the 'know' solder their speaker terminals to make sure they get a stable connection and thus reducing the hum and hiss of the amplifier.
All the connecting cables really matter. That means all the cables, not just the lead from the guitar. All should be as high a quality as you can possibly get. Much of the time if the cables are substandard it will also be tone that suffers along with the hum and hiss problems.
Reduction of hiss and hum using a noise gate begs the question of where the device should go in the electric guitar effects pedals chain. I suppose the obvious place is as the last link so it can deal with everything that has gone before, but has the sound degraded so badly by that point? There are arguments that it should be at the first link to deal with the prime 'noisemaker', the guitar. The truth is that the position of the noise gate in the chain depends on what equipment is being used and an understanding of all the issues outlined above, and like everything in music your own personal preference.

Effects Pedals and Processors - Using the Effects Loop

When I first discovered the coolness of stomp box guitar effects, I think I was 11. I would venture down to the local music store where the gentleman that owned the place, Bill, would greet my friend Jimmy and I at the door with the resounding "How's it going there gold dust?" Bill was a great guy and we would literally visit his shop every Saturday without exception. He was great about letting us pull guitars off the rack and cranking up the noise, as a matter of fact he encouraged it! It was there that Bill showed me a Harmonix Bad Stone Phase Shifter, the first guitar effect I had ever seen. He showed me how to hook it up, and from the first note I hit with that bad boy on, I knew I had to have this thing. It's what started my endless obsession with tone, and overwhelming desire to match it up correctly with the piece being played. I'm not the only one though. This is pretty much what comes with the territory when you decide to play guitar seriously. Now days of course there are so many choices and different directions you can go to carve out that perfect sound, that sometimes it can get overwhelming. Over the years there been a few consistent discoveries that I have found to narrow down what my preferences are. These of course are my thoughts presented in an editorial context and may or may not reflect your own feelings.
To start with, the style or genre of music is important when deciding what effects will be needed. The second decision is whether to use an all in one processor or to use separate effects chained together. There are some pros and cons to both, and I will go over some of those. My own experience with guitar processors starts with the first time I bought one. It was the Line 6 "kidney bean" POD. This was the stuff when it came out. It acted as a direct box and guitar amp modeler. I could make my amp sound like a number of different top-notch set-ups. It also had some effects built-in, chorus, delay, and reverb. After a while I graduated to the POD XT Live, a stage version that had more bells and whistles. It had a wah pedal, more amp models, effects and options, all in a unit that could be set in front of you while on stage. I used that for 5 years playing gigs, and it worked great until I broke the wah pedal in the middle of a show. I had it repaired, but it was never the same. I wanted to go a different direction anyway with my sound so I started experimenting with single effects pedals. There are a lot of individuals that will just string together the effects with chords, plug the last output into the input on their amp, and their guitar into the input of the first effect in the chain. That will work for some effects, like distortion, compression, and wah pedals, but they don't work so good for ambient effects like chorus, delay, phase shifters, signal boosters, and flangers. For those, you need to run them through the effects loop, usually on the back of the amplifier. You simply connect the effects together as you normally would, with the outputs connected to the inputs, and run a chord from your "effects send" jack to the input on your first effect. The "effects return" jack should be connected to the output jack of the last effect in the chain. There is usually a control knob for the effects loop that controls how much effect from the effects loop gets put into your sound. This set up will give you the distortion, wah and such before the signal is amplified, by running them in the front of the amp, and the ambient effects for the signal after it has passed through the amp on its way to the speaker. As an example of why this is the way to do it,, try running a power boost, like for instance a Boss GE7 EQ in front of the amp. When you step on the effect, which has a 15db boost (or cut) it won't do anything but muddy up the signal. Put it in the effects loop, and viola, you get a killer boost that will help you cut through the mix during solos. This is important stuff to know and something all teachers should add into the online guitar classes.

So in conclusion, the pros with a processor, they are all-inclusive in one unit and generally cheaper than a properly set up effects array, and they generally have a lot of options for amp models and tone. The cons? You can't run the ambient effects through the effects loop, nor can you control the order they are set up in, and that can make a big difference. The pros with an a la carte effects set up, are complete control, reliability, and versatility. The cons? They are much more expensive to set up. To do it right you'll need to mount all of your effects on a powered pedal board, so that you can just open it up, lay it in front of you, and plug the chords in. My personal set up was over $1100, and I have just 6 effects. They can also hum, although you can eliminate that with a simple filter. Again to avoid learning by trial and error, make sure you ask your instructor during your online guitar classes or in-person lessons about this important aspect of tone creation.

Should You Learn Acoustic Guitar Before Electric Guitar?

Traditionally most people do start their journey to learn guitar on an acoustic model. There are many reasons for this however it's usually due to the fact that acoustic or nylon string guitars are a cheaper investment to make in the early stages. This exposes the student to a lesser risk in that they can find out for sure if they have some talent for playing before spending a lot of money buying a decent electric guitar and all of the other accessories which go with it such as amplifiers and effects pedals.
There are students who start immediately on electric guitar and there's nothing actually wrong with that. Although acoustic and electric models are both obviously guitars there's a world of difference between how they actually feel to play. Just because someone is good on electric does not automatically mean they'll be as equally good on acoustic, in fact, the opposite is more often true. All confident electric guitar players should be able to play acoustic reasonably well however. For many, an acoustic type of guitar is seen as very earthy and real. It's the most authentic kind of guitar player you can be.

Most instructors would advise you to spend around six months to one year on acoustic before making the move to electric guitar. The advantage is that you'll learn your basic chords and strumming without there being any distractions from the various things associated with playing on electric guitars. Everything you learn on acoustic will transpose over to electric without problems and you'll have a much better foundation upon which to continue learning.

Improve Your Guitar Solos Using a Looper Pedal

If you want to be an excellent guitarist, practicing with a looper pedal is essential. And few pastimes are more fun than creating a whole song yourself by layering chord progressions, bass lines, rhythms and drum beats. Looper pedals allow you to create full performances with only your guitar and a looper pedal.
Looper pedals allow you to record a loop, which is then repeated for you to jam over. Over time, you can build up your own backing track by adding to the existing loop. In loop terminology, this is known as "overdubbing." Most of the time, looping, overdubbing and soloing will just leave you rocking out in your bedroom, kicking over anything that stands in your way. Looping also gives you the option of gigging alone, however, and it's always impressive to watch onee musician construct an entire song piece by piece.
So where did the idea of looping come from? Repeating phrases are present in almost all forms of music, and loopers just take it to another level. Loop-based music was initially made popular by Robert Fripp, the musician who benefitted from a stream of experiments involving tape loops. Brain Eno essentially took Terry Riley's 'Time Lag Accumulator' and let Fripp play with it. In the end, Fripp ended up on his 'Frippertronics' tour, bringing delay and looping effects a step further into the mainstream.

To create your own Frippertronics experience, get a decent looper pedal. Different pedals are suited for different uses, so don't just go buy the one with the most exotic features. Think about your uses first, then do some research. Too many guitarists end up with a collection of doorstops instead of an effective pedal board to highlight their playing.
Most looper pedals have similar functionality. One pedal is commonly reserved for recording, playing, and overdubbing. On the first tap, it records you playing, the second tap stops the recording and starts the looping, and a third tap allows you to overdub. You then build up your backing track, and stop whenever you've got enough going on to have a good time adding notes, chords, or solos over the top of it. Most loopers also allow you to undo your last recording, switch between different loops, reverse loops, play along to a drum track and change the tempo of your recordings.
Unless you have a couple friends willing to lay down a backing track for you all day, there is no better way to improve your soloing than using a looper pedal. You can create a backing track for yourself, then solo for hours, practicing over several different tracks and improving your skills. By the time you link up with your friends for a band practice, they'll be blown away!

Donner® Yellow Fall Delay Guitar Effect Pedal True Bypass

Yellow Fall
I would say the yellow fall is small, compact and smart. The side-mounted jacks are solid, and protrude very little, allowing for a tight pedal board pack.
There are three function knobs, namely Echo, F.back, and Time. Time is used to set Delay time, turning to the left to make delay speed fast and to the right is to slow the speed. Echo is used to set the delay volume. F.back is to set the repeated notes. When F.back is the smallest, the delay note repeats only once and while F.back is at the largest, it repeats infinitely.

The clear tone of it can be well applied to all kinds of music, and the tone can compete with same expensive similar products.
This delay pedal is also a pure analog circuit delay pedal. And maybe it’s the smallest analog delay effect ever. Usually analog delay has the warm and natural tone, similar to old-tape effect of adjusting delay effect. So it can be better to embellish the tone, and create the atmosphere of space nature.
Within minutes of plugging in, I’d going from programming my pedal to actually playing again. Inspiration, instinct, interaction, immediacy - all of the things I look for in a good piece of gear. And this certainly falls into that category

In the practical performance, the tone of Yellow Fall sounds warm and clean, that is the delay effect we often can hear in famous band performance, the mild transposition of the delay make the sound more full and natural.
It is worth mentioning that delay is always very clear sound, but the old analog delay will timbre to turbidity and fuzzy, so that for those guitarists of pursuing clean sound，they prefer digital delay(Comparison with the turbidity of traditional analog delay, digital delay is of absolute articulation and brightness)
What’s more, when I open the case, the Circuit board of yellow fall is using CD2399GP (PT2399), professional echo chip.

On the whole, I think the clear sound of Yellow fall can be well applied to nowadays all kinds of music, not just in the traditional style, for analog delay, 25ms-600ms delay time is sufficient to meet the normal needs.
I was looking for an inexpensive option for an analog delay. This little number does the job for me. Great old school, smeary , ambiance. Another plus is its size. I have owned a few delay pedals in my many years of playing, I can say that I
would recommend the Donner "Yellow Fall Delay " without hesitation to anyone. I have ordered another one for my backup pedal board. Great , sturdy construction, beefy switch, smooth potentiometers, tough metal housing.

It’s less than a cost of a movie, and likely more fun. Haven't had it as long as some of my other pieces of gear, but it looks, sounds, and feels well build. No loose parts or connections. Surprisingly nice packaging for such a low dollar item.

Electric Guitar Furnishings Pedals - 5 Accepted Furnishings Pedals For Guitar

1. Compression
This is an acutely donner yellow fall , which is apparently the hardest to use, and the atomic understood. Effectively the Compressor enables the aerialist to play over a advanced activating ambit - from bendable adroit chords to baking solos - while advancement the aforementioned achievement aggregate of the Amplifier. This way the admirers can not alone apprehend those softer passages, but aswell the added activating advance plan after drowning out the added musicians (and authoritative your 'ears bleed').
Another aftereffect put to acceptable use, is the adeptness of the Compressor to accredit continued abiding notes, far above the accustomed adeptness of the instrument. Ideal for all those eyes closed, assuming moments while addition that agenda for as continued as possible.
Care accept to be taken if application a Compressor, as abnormal use can advance to the addition of noise,or advance to a rather banal activating performance.
2. Tremolo
A actual accepted Pedal acclimated in the 60's and is still acclimated today. The Tremolo Pedal produces a vibrato aftereffect to the alone agenda or ambit by alteration the amplitude (volume) of the signal, by a aberration bent by the user. The Pedal allows ascendancy of both the arresting abyss and amount of the acceleration variation. On a abstruse note, a sine beachcomber is activated to a Voltage-Controlled Amplifier, which affects the arresting from the Guitar. It's the Abundance and Amplitude of the sine beachcomber - which the controls adapt - that furnishings both the amount and depth.
3. Overdrive and Distortion
These Pedals amplify the guitar arresting to the point area the complete produced is annihilation amid a balmy affluent 'clipped' complete to a bedraggled or abrasive tone. The amount of controls, and appropriately the accessible accent variations, alter from pedal to pedal from just a few simple pots and a footswitch, to added circuitous versions accumulation Accent Shaping facilities.
4. Wah Wah
Another acutely able-bodied accepted Pedal. This produces an effect, which sounds agnate to a animal articulation adage - yep you've estimated it 'wah'. The aftereffect is produced by a bottom pedal in the anatomy of a agitation treadle, and is abundant for acceptable your advance or adroit playing.
Getting a bit abstruse again, the Wah aftereffect is produced by a low-pass clarify whose absolute abundance is ascendancy by the bottom pedal. Interestingly, this blazon of low-pass clarify is acclimated generally in avant-garde Dance or Trance blazon music area the top frequencies of the song are gradually filtered out until alone a affectionate of deadened exhausted is left. The aftereffect is afresh gradually antipodal until all frequencies are adequate again.
5. Phaser
Finally the fifth pedal for this commodity is the Phaser, and is apparently the best known. Basically, two signals are produced from the Guitar arresting traveling in, and afresh they are alloyed calm but hardly out of phase. This is what produces the Phasing effect.
Conclusion
Guitarist set up their aftereffect pedals in two ways. By use of mutli-effects Units that accept assorted types of Guitar Furnishings in one 'box' - which ambit in amount depending on the accessories available. However, as a lot of are now chip controlled, huge variations of ambit of accent and constant are at the guitarist's disposal.
The additional adjustment is area alone pedals are 'daisy chained' calm by abbreviate cables. Many guitarists accept favourite alone pedals, which they accept and apperceive actual well, accordingly they accept this method. Also, if you are on a low budget, pedals can be bought alone as time goes by, and added to the chain. The abatement is that the start-up time takes best and added cables are complex (which consistently assume to go amiss at the gig).
There are actually hundreds of types of anniversary pedal mentioned, which can be a logistical daydream for the Guitarist searching to buy. If you would like added advice on what's accessible on the bazaar today, afresh YouTube is a abundant online abode to appointment to accretion advice on just about every pedal on the market, additional you will be able to watch and apprehend anniversary pedal in action.

Bass Guitar Effects Pedals - 5 Effect Pedals For the Bass Guitarist

Overview
The effects that are described for each Effects Pedal are the same for both electric and Bass Guitars. However, for the Bass Guitar, the effect is often modified to suit the lower frequency range of the instrument.
Bass Wah Wah Pedal
As with the Electric Guitar Wah pedal, the Bass Wah effect is produced by the use of a rocking treadle type foot pedal. However, with this type of unit, the use of custom EQ circuitry is incorporated specifically for Bass frequencies and the result is a full fat bass tone with a smooth response. This is ideal for enhancing your rhythmic playing, from warm and subtle, to punchy.
Octaver Pedal
The use of the Octaver is to produce a note that is one full octave below the original note played - quite a useful pedal for Funk and R&B - and many are able to cope with two or three note chords. Due to its need to create the altered pitch 'live', the pedal needs to have a fast response or tracking capability suitable for use with rapid playing techniques.
Overdrive and Distortion Pedal
If you want gutsy sounds for playing Rock/Metal etc, then the distortion pedal is for you. These pedals enhance the signal to the point where the resulting sounds are anything between rich and warm 'clipped', to something which is a lot more aggressive. Pedals vary in complexity from a few simple controls to more complex versions incorporating control over harmonic content and tone shaping facilities. Often these pedals are criticised for introducing high levels of noise, and are quite difficult to use for studio recording. Considering the way the signal is being boosted and enhanced, it's not surprising.

Bass Chorus Pedal
Again this pedal is specifically designed for the Bass frequency range. These pedals emulate the effect of having multiple bass notes playing in unison where slight variations create the chorus effect. It is possible to emulate up to sixteen voices depending on the make, and voice randomisation produces a thickening of the sound.
Bass Compressor/Limiter Pedal
The Bass Compressor enables the Bassist to play over a wide range of playing styles - from normal rhythmic playing to greater dynamic styles such as 'slap' - while maintaining the same output or volume from the Amplifier. This enables the audience to hear all your playing, while maintaining a balance within the band. The Compressor is probably the most commonly used pedal, but is the most difficult to use. If not set up correctly, the pedal can produce a rather bland performance.
Conclusion
If you want to use a number of Bass effects, you may want to choose using multi-effect units which incorporates all or any of the above. However, many criticise these saying that having all effects in one unit compromises the quality and functionality of each individual effect. Although, with the advent of microprocessor electronics, a large range of control over the parameters and sound shaping facilities are available to the user, so whether these criticisms are valid or not is difficult to confirm. It is probably down to the opinion of the individual which will decide the method to adopt, and there is certainly an appeal to the ease of setting up at a gig - with fewer cables to worry about going wrong at the most inopportune time.

There are a number of these types of pedals on the market today, which can make deciding the type or make of pedal to buy a bit daunting. If you would like more information on what's available on the market today, then YouTube is a great online place to visit to gain information on just about every pedal on the market, plus you will be able to watch and hear each pedal in action.