Guide to getting and playing better gigs
Effects
Compression
This is an automatic level control often used in recording to make instruments and vocals louder or softer in order to emphasize or de-emphasize them. It's used with a guitar to increase sustain. More...Chorus
This isn't a spectacular or amazing trick - it's actually fairly simple. What happens when two people play instruments in unison? Well they're not always playing in precise synchronization, so there's some delay between the sounds they produce. In addition, the pitch of the two instruments can deviate somewhat, despite careful tuning. These are the functions that your chorus effect is reproducing. More...Gain & Volume
The difference between gain and volume can be confusing, because raising the volume or raising the gain will make things louder until the point of saturation. More...Overdrive & Distortion
Placing overdrive after the filters gives them a more natural sound, like placing your wah pedal before a heavily overdriven amp. Using the filter effects after overdrive gives them a much stronger, more synth-like sound. There can be merit in using light EQ before the overdrives (used only when the overdrive is on), this gives you the ability to change the character of overdrive. For example, boosting the highs before overdrive, but cutting highs after overdrive (with the overdrive's tone control), will balance the highs overall, but cause them to be more heavily overdriven than the lower strings. More...Reverb
Creates the effect of the multiple sound reflections that would naturally be produced in a playing environment. More...Tremolo
Modulates the signal, similarly to turning the volume rapidly up and down. More...Delay
Delay is an echo effect that samples a sound and then replays it one or more times. More...Wah-Wah
This pedal produces a wah-wah effect by moving a peak in the frequency response up and down. By placing it before distortion effects, it can vary the distortion intensity of the affected frequencies at the same time. More...Phasing
The notches needed for phase shifting (or simply called phasing) are most often implemented using a special group of filters called allpass filters. As the name implies, the allpass filter passes all frequencies - that is, it allows all frequencies to appear in the output with no attenuation or amplification. More...Flanging
Flanging is created by mixing a signal with a slightly delayed copy of itself, where the length of the delay is constantly changing. This isn't difficult to produce with standard audio equipment, and it is believed that flanging was actually "discovered" by accident. More...Vibrato
There are 4 different ways of creating vibrato - Vertically, Horizontally, Pivotally and Circularly. More...Equalisers and Speaker Simulators
These effects can be used on their own, to tailor solo or rhythm sounds, or with overdrives to give more control than you usually have with the overdrive tone control. For example, you could use heavy distortion, and use equalisation here to cut middle for a heavy sound, or tailor the highs for a creamy, yet "bitey" Santana sound, etc. These effects are designed to give more tone control than is possible with the basic amplifier bass, middle and treble controls and come in two common varieties; graphic and parametric.Graphic equalisers use sliders to control the level at fixed frequencies, called bands. These provide a graphic representation of the overall frequency response. The bands are usually logarithmically related, meaning that each frequency is always a fixed multiple of the next lowest frequency. This corresponds to the way our ears perceive frequencies, including notes in the scales we use. The total frequency range can be limited to suit particular instruments, such as bass or guitar, or it can cover the entire audible range from 20Hz to 20khz. Additional bands give you finer control, but require more adjustments to make broad changes.
Parametric equalisers generally provide a bass and treble control that work as normal tone controls to allow broad shaping. In addition the offer one or more middle controls, each offering: Frequency - the frequency where boost or cut is applied. Q (or resonance) - the higher the number the narrower the band of frequencies affected Level - the amount of boost or cut applied. Both equalisers often include a level control to allow you to compensate for any overall loudness changes made by the tone changes.
The graphic is probably the easiest and most intuitive to use, but if you need to fine tune problem frequencies for feedback, or acoustic guitars, a parametric is more useful.
Speaker Simulators:
A typical guitar speaker cab isn't designed to faithfully reproduce the sound presented by the amplifier. Unlike hi-fi systems and front of house systems that strive for a wide bandwidth and uncoloured sound, guitar speaker cabs are an important part of the sound creation process. Without a speaker simulator, you're likely to get the best guitar sound through front of house by using one or more microphones around your guitar amp. The quality of speaker simulators varies enormously. I've heard some which seem to strangle the sound, while others enhance the sound, even when used in conjunction with real guitar speakers. Common options are choice of cabinet type and speakers, closed or open back, microphone types and positions, and a mix of direct vs simulator.Speaker simulators are mostly preset, and highly tailored equalisers to emulate speaker cab resonances, and microphone techniques. Some include other subtle effects, such as short delays, as well. Placement is not as crucial as you might think. For example, most recorded sounds use a microphone in front of a speaker cab, then studio effects, such as equalisation, chorus, delay, etc applied afterwards.
On the other hand, when you play live, and are using a variety of effects through a stage power amp and speaker cab, you might want to use the simulator here only for the purpose of feeding the mixing desk (who apply their own delay and reverb for the front mix). You could bypass the simulator on stage, and apply just enough delay/reverb to give a natural on-stage sound.