Types of Electric Guitar Pedals
With the thousands of guitar accessories on the market, let alone guitar pedals, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you go to a music shop. What do they all do? Do you need one? How many varieties are there?
There are many types of guitar pedals available to purchase, such as reverb and overdrive, then there’s distortion, overdrive, fuzz, reverb, delay, and more.
To use a guitar pedal, you’ll need some ¼-inch guitar leads. First, plug a lead into the pedal. Then, plug another lead from the pedal into your amp. If you are using multiple pedals, link them up with shorter patch cables - longer cables start to weaken the signal. Plus, changing the order of your pedals affects your sound too.
Lastly, you’ll need to give your guitar pedals power. A power supply with isolated outputs will provide multiple pedals with an even flow of electricity and protection from power surges. However, you can also use a standard mains plug. This method is called daisy chaining. Daisy chaining is convenient and inexpensive, but this method gives a lacklustre sound and is less reliable.
Either way, you’re ready to go!
What is a Guitar Pedal
A guitar pedal, sometimes referred to as a stompbox, effects pedal, or effects unit, is a small electronic device that is used to change a guitar’s sound. Just like using different guitars, different guitar pedals change the sound of the instrument connected to it in a certain way.
Electric guitar players mainly use guitar pedals, but other instrumentalists, including vocalists and acoustic guitar players, use guitar pedals to create cool sound effects, too. You can even combine different guitar pedals working in harmony on a guitar pedal board.
Types of Guitar Pedals
From mellow to screeching sounds, echoing to gentle, there are all sorts of exciting guitar pedals for you to explore. Guitar pedals are mostly for electric guitars, but they can work with an acoustic too.
There are many different guitar pedal brands which do different things and create different sounds. On top of this, you can even combine one pedal with another to create a truly unique sound.
Let’s take a look at some of the popular types of guitar effects pedals.
Distortion Pedal
A distortion guitar pedal adds some grit to your guitar’s sound. These guitar pedals do this by saturating the notes you play, pushing them to their maximum intensity. This effect produces harmonic overtones that mesh with your primary note. This harmony then starts to sound distorted and grainy. You’ll have heard the distortion pedal used brilliantly in rock music from the 60s - especially in combination with our next pedal.
Popular distortion guitar pedals include the Boss DS-1 and ProCo Rat.
Overdrive Pedal
Overdrive guitar pedals are similar to the distortion pedal in that they sound “gritty”. However, this gritty effect is much less intense than what you would get with a distortion pedal. Where a distortion pedal completely changes your sound, an overdrive pedal is more “clean” and “pushed” sounding, depending on how you’ve set it up and how hard you pluck.
Today, the Ibanex Tube Screamer and Klon Centaur are two classic overdrive guitar pedals.
Fuzz Pedal
If you want to achieve a big sustain sound, look no further than a fuzz pedal. This pedal clips audio signals, creating a sound that’s not even remotely acoustic. Unfortunately, fuzz guitar pedals do not work great for guitar solos, due to their penchant for removing mid-range frequencies. However, fuzz pedals are excellent for chords.
One iconic fuzz pedal is the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi. Another is the Dunlop Fuzz Face.
Reverb Pedal
As the name suggests, reverb guitar pedals attempt to emulate reverberation. Typically digital reverb guitar pedals create parameters like decay and pre-delay on the incoming guitar signal, resulting in a sound much like true acoustic reverb. This affected signal then gets combined with the direct signal at the output.
Popular reverb guitar pedal users include Muse and U2, while some well-liked pedal options are the Strymon Big Sky and the Electro-Harmonix Oceans 11 Reverb.
Delay Pedal
These guitar pedals record the note you play before replaying them at time intervals you specify on the pedal. There’s a wide variety of delay guitar pedals out there - you can have the JHS Lucky Cat’s simulated tape echo or the electro-Harmonix Memory Man’s digital delay.
These delay effects are similar to what reverb guitar pedals do and most delay guitar pedals sound similar to the echo you’d hear in a big room or vast hall.
Looper Pedal
Ed Sheeran’s favourite, looper guitar pedals simply create an instant recording of what you just played. Then, they play that recording back. Finally, after a few loops, the room is filled with a (hopefully) polyphonic and intricate melody.
Ed himself started off on the Boss RC-20 XL Phrase Looper. Other good looper guitar pedals include the TC Electronic Ditto X2 and the Pigtronix Infinity Looper Pedal.
Chorus Pedal
Want a quick way to make it seem like multiple guitars are playing simultaneously? Look no further than a chorus pedal.
Chorus guitar pedals create their chorus effect by doubling your audio signal. Chorus guitar pedals were quite popular in 80s pop, but you may use one if you want to emulate grunge or jazz artists. Kurt Cobain used an Electro-Harmonix Small Clone, while the Boss CE-2W is another popular modern chorus pedal.
Tremolo Pedal
Tremolo guitar pedals create a volume-based modulation. The tremolo effect is rapidly raising and lowering your audio signal’s volume with the effect said to replicate a feeling of motion or being underwater. These pedals were among the earliest guitar pedals - technically the first!
You’ll have heard tremolo guitar pedals in action on Radiohead’s Bones, Otis Redding’s A Change is Gonna Come, and Rage Against the Machine’s Guerilla Radio. Source Audio Vertigo and JAM Pedals Harmonious Monk have been popular options in recent years.
Multi-Effects Pedal
You can’t stand on all your pedals at once. So, a multi-effects pedal is your best bet if you need to cover all bases. With different types of the same effect, multi-effects guitar pedals make it easier to experiment with sounds you wouldn’t usually get the opportunity to try. These guitar pedals typically focus on effects emulation but can also cover amp and cabinet simulations. This is often the best option for beginners to start exploring a variety of sounds without spending too much money.
Popular options include the Line 6 Helix LT and Neural DSP Quad Cortex guitar pedals.
Tuner Pedal
Okay, so these guitar pedals don’t technically alter the sound of your guitar. But, like tuning your guitar the traditional way, tuner guitar pedals can still help your guitar sound brilliant!
Tuner guitar pedals work by identifying the note of your guitar’s signal coming through the cable. The tuner pedal then displays the name of that pitch. Tuner guitar pedals are a great way to quickly create your desired guitar tuning in a noisy environment, like when you’re playing at a gig.
Some of the latest tuner guitar pedals include the Korg Pitchblack Advance and the TC Electronic PolyTune 3 Mini.
Will Guitar Pedals Make Me a Better Player?
Guitar pedals are a valuable tool for your playing and enable you to explore a world of new sounds. However, guitar pedals alone will not make you a better guitar player.
Want lessons that allow you to explore your favourite genres alongside the basics? Get in contact today.
