| I have taught guitar and one of the things new student want to do is always set the extremes. They will crank the settings on the EQ and set the gain too high and put too much effects such as delay in the signal. Yeah, it may sound cool for the moment but a would-be listener can only handle about thirty seconds of that noise before they are turning their attention elsewhere. Remember that in the arena of guitar playing modesty is the best practice. OK, lets look at some famous guitar players and peek at what they do, shall we? If you have not heard of any of these guitar players I suggest you find some sound clips or look up their websites as you will most likely hear some samples of their work. Jimmy Page: One thing about Mr Page is that if he is not playing electric but acoustic he is just as phenomenal as when he is cranked to the sky. Jimmy Page uses light distortion mostly with a taste of effects. On some songs you will hear him use what I refer to as base effects such as reverb,fuzz, phase, and then you will hear some effects like flange or wah. Jimmy Page has always had a grip on the proper time and place to use his effects. Edward Van Halen: Eddie Van Halen refers to himself as a 'Tone Chaser' and he is justified in that self claimed title. Although the sounds he produces today are very dissimilar from the early albums you can still tell its Eddie playing just from listening to a short piece of the music. Eddie also favors a type of sound that he refers to as 'brown' sound. There is a warmth about the sound of the guitar. In the earlier albums you will here some a lot of hi end but that is not what he preferred as he was at the mercy basically of the producers and engineers making the album. In the earlier albums there was the uses of a phase shifter, a flanger, a harmonizer, delay and the distortion itself came from the Marshall amps that he would turn way up to get the natural distortion from the amplifier itself. What a cool sound. Guitar effects come in a few ways. There are what are referred to as stomp boxes or pedals. These are small devices that sit on the floor and your plug them in with your guitar on one side and the amp on the other. There are controls on these boxes so you can adjust the sound to your needs. There are also guitar processors. These are also pedals that set on the floor but these have multiple switches that can be activated to produce various sounds. Generally these devices are a virtual clearing house of sounds and goodies. With these items you really do not need to worry to much with the info I have laid out here. It is all done for you. But if you use these items with other devices you must be careful about placement. There are also rack mounted devices. These look more like items you would see in NASA's mission control that include manuals that take grads from MIT to figure out. If you have one of these chances are I am talking way underneath you anyway so you can go on and do other stuff. Lets look at the effects available and see what they do. Compression- What compression does is kind of what the name implies. It squishes all of the peaks in the signal down, levels them, so that the sound from the guitar rings out longer. This prolonged extension of sound is called sustain. If you strike a string on the guitar and let it ring until you can not hear it anymore, that time period of sound is the sustaining of the note. Generally the greater the sustain the better the sound. Distortion- Here you are taking the signal and amplifying it until it 'clips' or maxes out. The signal gets all fuzzy-like. Equalization- This is what you all are familiar with on your stereos. This is your bass, mid-tone and treble settings. Noise Gate- A noise gate kills all of the sound that is in the background when there is no signal being produced from the guitar. Anyone who has ever played a single coil pickup guitar like a Fender Telecaster, Stratocaster, or a Danelectro knows what I am talking about. When you are not playing these older guitars especially like to hum. A noise gate stops that. Chorus- One of my personal favorites, a chorus produces a 'shimmering' effect. It is simply to produce a type of twelve string guitar sound as you are delaying a portion of the signal and modulating it. Flanger- Very similar to the chorus, produced much the same way, but produces as swoosh jet sound. Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo Eruption is a perfect example of flange. Listen to the very end of the solo. Phaser- A phaser does not allow you to shoot unruly hecklers, sorry. What it does do is splits the signal and changes the phase. If you are not familiar with electronics and sine waves this will mean absolutely nothing to you. Basically it plays Dr Jekel and Mr Hyde with the signal only it does both characters simultaneously. Tremolo- This is an effect that causes the volume to go up and down automatically repeatedly/ This was a very popular effect in the 1960's. Listen to the song Crimson and Clover. Ring Modulator- Signal Sum and Difference mixed with the original signal- um yeah, hard to explain that one. Pixellator- This is when the signal is under sampled and then mixed back wit the original signal. Pitch Shifter- This cause a signal to be produced that harmonizes with the original signal. Bands like Metallica use this sound quite a bit. Detune- This duplicates the original signal then delays it and detunes it and then mixes it back with the original signal. Wah- A wah is a filter that is swept through the signal. Auto Wah- This sweeps the filter through the signal based upon the 'attack' of the signal. In other words the harder you play the strings the more intensified the effect. Enveloped Flange / Phase- This is a filter that sweeps the signal but is triggers by the picking. As you pick the strings the intensity and frequency will alter the signal. Delay- This effect takes the original signal then duplicates it and repeats it for a set number of times. Reverb- Similar to the delay this effect causes the sound to have the characteristics of being in a large room or a hall. Now That You Know... OK, so now you know what the effects are and what they do. How do you effectively use them? This is very important and not following these principles that I am going to lay out here can kill your sound. Ultimately though you set the sound effects the way you want, after all it's your sound, but just like you don't have to brush your teeth- if you don't the affects can be disastrous to your relationships- same principle applies here. It's just good advice coming from years of experience. Let's break these effects down into categories and create a sort-of formula. Filter Effects- These include effects like Phaser and Wah Since these effects alter the signal they way the do it is best to put them where the effect a pure signal. If you place these effects before the distortion effects the signal that gets distorted will be the one with the altered pure signal. In other words you do not want to put this after the distortion because the filter effects will have a dickens of a time processing a whacked out distorted and mangled signal. It will truly not sound so good. Compressor- All compression needs to be done before the distortion but after the filter effects. Why? Some filter effects can cause the signals intensity to fluctuate to extremes. Putting a compressor after the filter effects allows the signal to become more uniform. This uniform signal can then be sent out to the distortion effects. EQ- It is best at this point to set your equalization to your taste at this point. Pay special attention to this setting. If I were you I would set this setting while the signal is clear, that is before sending it to the distortion. That way if you switch off to the clear setting during a song there won't be such a tremendous jolt in sound. If you do it this way you will see that you have a better control on how your distorted sound will be and it will be easier for to produce your 'signature' sound. Distortion- Placing the devices that overdrive the signal and produce distortion should be last in the string. This will take the modified pure signal and put it in the blender and make it all fuzzy. This cause the sound to be even and warm. If you put the distortion before all other effects that out put sounds well, it sounds plastic- not real. A word of advice though if you are already heavily compressing the signal you need to go light on the distortion. If you go heavy here then you can really muddy the sound. Pitch Effects- These effects include Harmonizers, Vibrato, Pitch benders and they need to be place after the distortion effects. Otherwise the signal will sound noisy. Modulation- These effects include Chorus and Flanger. The new signal from the distortion effect now can be altered by adding a flanger or chorus effect. This keeps the sound warm and smooth. Levelers- Levelers include effects such as noise gates, limiters, tremolo, panning and volume pedals. Echo- This effect needs to be last. What you are trying to achieve here is to produce the effect that you are in a large room. You are essentially taking your finished product and sending it out. It is that finished product that you want to sound like your are in a cavern or auditorium, etc. To summarize guitar effects are neat but if used improperly can do you in as a performer. Remember that the order that you put your effects is crucial. Each effect deals with the signal from the source before it. Just like you do not put the caboose in front of the train engine putting the effects in the wrong position can produce some ill effects. Also remember that modesty is the best policy when using effects. Overuse can cause the listener to become bored real quick. Using the effects lightly can help you achieve the signature sound that is all 'you'. Here is the rule of thumb for effect order once again: 1. Filter Effects 2. Compression 3. Equalization 4. Distortion 5. Pitch 6. Modulation 7. Volume and levelers 8. Echo then to your amplifier For my personal setup I use a DOD Tec4x processor and a DOD stereo chorus. The way I have it set up is that the guitar plugs into the processor. From the processor to the chorus and from the chorus to the volume pedal. With this configuration I have absolute control over any song thrown at me. Each of the presets in the processor I have set for my signature sound plus what ever affect I want. When I want extra clean full sound with no echo I bypass the processor and go directly through the chorus pedal. Want to try something cool? If you are a person who plays another type of electric instrument like a keyboard or a violin etc, try using these effects on those instruments. Talk about interesting sounds! I sometimes will use effects with a microphone so I can record my tin whistle. |
| So, you have an electric guitar... |
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Did you know that your wah wah bar on your Strat or Squier Strat guitar is supposed to allow you to pull up as
well as push down? Chances are if you purchased your guitar from a store that does not also set them up or
repair them your bar is not set up correctly. In this article I am going to discuss the proper set up , modification
and maintenance of your standard Fender wah bar. These steps may also work with non Fender units as well.
Before you begin make sure you have the following items on hand:
1. New guitar strings.
2. A block of would between 4mm and 5mm thick. I have found that a domino works well.
3. A phillips head screw driver.
4. A pair on needle-nosed pliers.
5. A pair of safety glasses.
*Put the new strings on the guitar, tune it up a jam on it for a while. This will get the excessive stretchiness out
of the way.
Remove the back cover of the guitar so that you see the springs that supply the tension to the bar. Make sure
you wear safety glasses as you will be working with springs and guitar strings which will be under tension. A
flailing guitar string piercing an eyeball is not a pretty site.
Push the wah wah bar down to the body of the guitar. You will see the edge of the bridge raise. Put the wood
block or the domino under the edge of the bridge to hold it up and relax the bar. The edge of the bridge should
be from 4mm to 5mm from the face of the body of the guitar. you may need to use a piece of masking tape to
hold the block in place as the tension on it may not be enough.
Gently turn the guitar over and you should see at least three but maybe 4 springs. If you do not have at least
three springs this procedure will not work. Our objective here is to increase the tension of the bridge down on
the block. You should see two screws holding the piece that the springs attach to. Tightening these springs will
increase the tension and of course loosening them will, you guessed it- loosen them. begin by turning one screw
a full revolution or two and then do the same for the other screw. after each turning of the screw check the
bridge to see if it is firmly, but not too tight, pressing down on the block.
Tune the guitar. At this point you need to adjust the height and the intonation of the bridge. This may be
difficult if you do not understand what this means. Basically what this means is that when play the open string
and then you play the twelfth fret there should be the exact same note one octave apart. Also the relation of one
string to its neighboring string. Chances are you won't have to do any adjustments here though. Once tuned
then you will remove the wood block and the guitar will rise in pitch.
We now need to re-tune the guitar. However, you will not be using the tuning heads. This may be a bit tedious
but it has to be done this way. You need to attach the guitar to a tuner. The screws that you tightened in the
cavity you will now begin to loosen. You will loosen the screws slowly and evenly. Loosen these screws until
both 'E' strings are in tune.
Now, after all of that there is something else that needs to be done. You see you now have the ability to move
the bar both ways. but chances are the guitar will not remain in tune now that you discovered how cool this
setup is. You will need to use some graphite oil on the nut so that the strings may move freely. Also you need to
loosen the 'trees' that help guide the strings to the tuning heads. The best thing to do is to replace them with the
kind that are rollers. But if you can't do that then at least loosen them so the float loosely. Also use the graphite
oil of the trees. You will need to eliminate as much friction as you can.
While we are here there are a couple other things that you should be aware of. One is that usually there is a
spring that goes in the hole where the bar screws in. The purpose of this spring is to hold the bar in place
without tightening it down to hold it in place. Next, you need to keep the threads of the bar in good shape by
using some graphite powder with a base of grease. Without proper maintenance the thread will wear out very
quickly.
Ok, now that I have said all of that let me tell you about a great modification that if you can purchase this mod it
will allow your guitar to stay in tune no matter how hard you yank on the bar. This mod is called a locking nut.
Essentially what this does is replace the current nut on your guitar with one that locks the strings down. You
can go bonkers on the wah wah bar and the guitar will pretty much stay in tune. All of the high tech bars made
by Floyd Rose, Fender, etc. will have one of these. But you can get one without having to buy the expensive bar.
If you can afford it and if you think it is worth it for the guitar , this is a wise investment.
*If you use a gauge of strings larger than 11 you will have to add another spring in the cavity.
| Guitar Sounds and Effects |
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| Stratocaster Wah Wah Bar Setup |
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