Sunday, October 30, 2005
An Almost Comprehensive Guide to Electric Guitar Accessories.
I visited CITYMUSIC in Dhoby Ghuat yesterday to check out effect pedals. CITYMUSIC specialises in effect pedals and they offer the best prices.
My intention was to the purchase the the Zoom G2.1U, but they were out of stock. Darn.
I had Sharifah for company, and she was understandably confused by the technical jargons regarding guitars, amplifiers, pedals and such.
So today, yours truly will be talking about certain essential electric guitar accessories.
I do not possess the most in-depth comprehension of the topic, but I will try my utmost to impart my shamefully limited knowledge and hopefully shed some light on the wonders of electric guitars.
AMPLIFIERS.
To obtain the full sound of an electric guitar, you need an amplifier. An amplifier connects to the guitar through a cable. A speaker is required to hear the sound of the amplifier and of which the guitar produces. Most amplifiers have built-in speakers. The quality of the amplifier is paramount to the sound of the electric guitar. Amplifiers colour your sound.
There are two different kind of amplifiers, the tube amplifier or the solid-state amplifier. The tube amp uses the older, vacuum tube to produce sound while solid-state amps use microchips. The tube variety is relatively costly, older and difficult to maintain while the solid-state amps are more reliable and less expensive. Even so, many guitarist favour the tube for its supreme sound. 
This is the Roland Cube 15, a solid-state amp with built-in effects that includes distortion, overdrive, metal and metal stack.
I have this at home.
This one here on the right is the Marshall JCM800, a tube stack amp. It has a great treble plus a solid low end guarantee powerful sound.
EFFECTS.
The electric guitar is capable of producing many gnarly and unusual effects. Using effects is an awesome way to add vibrancy and character to the sound of your guitar playing.
Electric guitars produce a signal that is passed on to an amp and then turned into sound. This signal can be electronically manipulated in an assortment of ways to produce a myriad of crazy sound effects. Effect units, which perform these manipulations, come in the forms of effect pedals, multi-effects units, rack-mounted effects and effects built into amps. The Roland Cube 15 (above) is an example of effects being built into the amps.
Top-notch producers include Vox, Marshall, Zoom, Boss, Line 6 etc. Line 6 is my personal favourite, although I cannot afford them. Thrice and Metallica are among the users of Line 6 effects. I wish I have the Line 6 Pod-XT Live.
These are effect pedals, which you can purchase individually. They allow great versatility and flexibility as you can set up a personalised system of effects. Mix and match your arsenal for devastating results.
This is the Zoom G2.1U, a multi-effects unit. It is a 3rd generation pedal from Zoom, with the new 32-bit processing chip. 54 effects, 16 drive sounds, built-in drum machine and chromatic tuner, USB port for direct recording, expression pedal, 96kHz sampling frequency, loads of preset/empty patches etc. It is smashing, and I am going to get my hands on it soon, hopefully.
And lastly, the rack-mounted effects. They are programmable effects mounted in a rack cabinet due to their delicate nature. They are more expensive and specialised than effect pedals thus the better sound quality. Professional guitarist tend to prefer this effect format. 
TYPES OF EFFECTS.
There are six main types of effects; ambient, gain-based, tone-based, modulation, pitch and volume-based effects.
AMBIENT EFFECTS:
They help to make your sound richer, more natural and of course, add ambience to the music. We shall now look at the different ambient effects, these can be purchased individually as effect pedals. (above above above)
DELAY:
Also called echo, repeats the notes that you play to create an echo effect. These extra notes are delayed after the orginal note (you played) and can be heard distinctly on their own. You can adjust the number of times the note is repeated or the length of the delay between the original and repeated.
REVERB:
Short for reverberation, produces an echo-like effect that gives the music a more realistic sound. You can adjust the reverb to make it sound like you are playing in different sized spaces, such as in a jamming-studio or in the indoor stadium.
GAIN-BASED EFFECTS:
They produce distortion that can have a hard-edged or fuzzy effect which makes the guitar sound overdriven, broken up or distorted.
OVERDRIVE:
Produces a warm, natural, rounded tone. Blues musicians such as Clapton and the great Stevie Ray Vaughan use this sound.
DISTORTION:
A more drastic effect compared to overdrive, produces a harsher, yet brighter tone.
FUZZ:
Exceedingly edgy and hazy and is the most extreme gain-based effect. Users include Hendrix, Nirvana etc.
TONE-BASED EFFECTS:
They involve adjusting the treble(high), mid and bass(low) frequencies in the guitar's sound.
WAH-WAH:
The wah-wah, or wah, pedal serves as a frequency filter that allows the bass and treble frequencies to fluctuate in your sound. When you press down on a wah pedal while playing notes, you add vowel-like characters to the notes, almost like someone saying "wah", hence, its tag. You can heard this in 'Voodoo Chile' by Hendrix. Below is the Dunlop DB01 Dimebag Darrell Wah Pedal.
MODULATION EFFECTS:
CHORUS:
It makes one guitar sound like several. Chorus multiplies the notes you play and then plays the copies with original notes to produe a full, sparkling sound.
FLANGER:
Largely similar to chorus, but has a more metallic-sounding effect. Somewhat like a plane taking off, whirling and whooshing. Flanger multiplies the notes you play and then playes the copies slightly out of sync with the original notes. An example can be heard in 'And The Cradle Will Rock' by Van Halen. Eddie Van Halen is hardcore.
PITCH EFFECTS:
PITCH SHIFTER:
A.k.a, harmoniser, if I remembered correctly. It creates a note that is slightly higher or lower than the note played and then sounds both note simultaneously thus create a harmony.
OCTAVE DIVIDER:
A.k.a, octaver, this I am certain. It adds a note that is either one or two octaves above or below the note played. This effect is gnarly, producing a thick sound. Just like a guitar and bass playing in unison.
VOLUME-BASED EFFECTS:
TREMOLO:
The tremolo changes the volume of the sound quickly and repeatedly to produce a wavering or fluttering sound. It is like passing your sound through an electric fan. "WOOOO OH WOOOO OH WOOOO OH WOOOO OH WOOOO OH".
Please note that the infomation that I have provided are by no means utterly complete, but are fairly accurate.
I hope that you people have learnt something from this, especially my dearest Sharifah.
Now that you know more about the guitar and its boundless capabilities, are you convinced that it is time to convert or begin picking up the art of playing this magnificent musical instrument?
Does it not simply captures one's imagination? Well, at least I am aware the guitar wholly captured mine.
