[dpm]

So I've been lurking around various forums looking into some old rack gear and I've noticed these dudes with massive rigs, all kinds of rack effect units, 30 pedals, loops, controllers, etc... and I just can't relate

Now, I can understand pros using complex rigs like that to cover several
albums worth of material. And I can see a gigging covers player using a quality multi-fx or two. I guess I can accept that some people get off on playing with their rigs more than playing their guitars, and obviously some of them have endless cash.

What I'm wondering is - who here considers effects, as in delays, reverbs, phase, flange etc., to be vital to their playing? How much do effects mean to you?

Me, I like to play around with my tone, but really it's more like a quest to find one great tone that's mine rather than 16 trillian presets. I don't even have a wah plugged in anymore, and I use a boost sometimes to tighten things up. I love the Rocktron 300G I've just got, but it's a subtle thing, just to limit the peaks on the 7 and 8 strings and its gate is really good, and I'm screwing around with a couple of preamps. My main thing is my 'metal' sound which I tend to clean up with the volume control. I do love a good jazzy clean but mostly I don't bother plugging the footswitch in. I'm thinking I should work on a funk sound too sometime. Basically what I'm saying is I'm happiest playing for hours with one sound, manipulating it with the guitar and my fingers. I have enjoyed playing with delays and layering but it only keeps me interested for maybe 30 minutes.

[Toshiro]

I wouldn't say they're vital to me, but I like having them.

I love the way chorus sounds on guitars, clean or dirty.

I don't need delay and reverb for leads, but play better with them, as I don't spend as much time worrying about how fast I'm playing.

Outside those, anything else is purely for fun once in a great while.

[Naren]

I just use my GNX3000 and, of the effects on it, the ones I consider absolutely essential to my sound are: distortion (I use 3 different kinds of distortion depending on the song, one based off of a triple rectifier, one a combination of multiple amps and cabinets for a completely unique sound, and one that I got from TDW) and wah-wah. I use other effects (such as delay and reverb), but those are the only ones essential to my sound. I use my GNX3000 more for changing and sculpting my sound than for "effects." Hell, my main 5 banks are #1. Clean (with a bunch of effects like reverb, chorus, and delay to enhance the sound), #2. Distortion number 1, #3. Distortion number 2, #4. Distortion with heavy delay, #5. Distortion number 3 (triple rectifier).

I think effects can be used in a really cool way to make your music sound more interesting and I used to own about 15 different effects pedals, but I lost most of them (I had a phaser, flanger, delay, rotary, etc.) and it seems now I use mostly clean (with a bunch of effects to make the overall sound better) and distortion (with some wah-wah occasionally in the distorted tone for some solos and parts of the song that just sound better with wah) and OCCASIONALLY some other effects (such as delay).

[urklvt]

I'm not much of a "user". Even when I was just using the POD XTL the only "effects" I used with my rock tone were the tubescreamer, gate, and EQ, with maybe a slight bit of compression here and there. I occasionally like a slight bit of chorus and reverb or delay on my cleans, but only subtly. I'm playing the Mark IV 100% dry for now, clean or dirty, but I am eyeballing some TC stuff for those times when I need that little bit of something extra.

[dpm]

Originally Posted by Toshiro

I don't need delay and reverb for leads, but play better with them, as I don't spend as much time worrying about how fast I'm playing.

that makes sense, you focus more on the ambience and the tempo then I suppose

[dpm]

woops, just noticed this topic has come up in another thread...

Bring it over here and let that poor bastard get his rig sorted out

[Toshiro]

Originally Posted by dpm

that makes sense, you focus more on the ambience and the tempo then I suppose

Yup, instead of trying to fill in space with worthless notes. I actually turn off my noise gate a lot when playing lead stuff, as I like the controlled feedback. It's more like working with your gear, letting it have a life of it's own.

I've started referring to this whole "no effects thing" as "Message Board Syndrome". More notes with drier and drier signal, because effects are frowned upon by like 90% of the people online. These same people sit around all day improving their note-per-second count and little else. Then they go on and on about "insert pro guitarist here"s guitar tones, which are usually wet as hell.

Fuck, I was watching a Paul Gilbert vid on youtube the other day, and finally saw the point of a phaser.

I might suck, but I like what comes out of my amp when I play.

Edit: Though, this forum isn't anywhere near as bad as some others, where you're likely to get flamed for using any pedal at all, because it's "making it easier to play".

[metalfiend666]

I'm not much of an FX junkie, but I like a few bits. Pedal wise I've got a Crybaby from Hell, a Whammy and an NS2 all running into my GNX4 for now. Once I get a new head I'll be using the GNX4 as a quiet practice tool and getting a G Major for effects. Chorus on a clean sound is essential to me, plus I do like to play around with a flanger sound on distortion occasionally. I'll be working on a good lead tone then too, so probably a touch of reverb and delay will be used then. My main priority is a good dry metal rhythm sound though.

[Michael]

I usually use a bit of chorus on my cleans. Other than that I use no effects.

[SevenDeadly]

I've just ordered TC G-Major and a behriner bcb midi controller. Seems like all you'll need to add some fries with that.