Effects & Pedals 543

Drive pedals add gain and saturation. Overdrive keeps the character of your instrument and pushes an amp into breakup, distortion gives a thicker, more compressed sound, and fuzz squares off the signal for a raw, buzzing tone. Boosts and preamps raise level without changing the sound much.

Delays repeat the signal: tape and analog delays sound warm and darker, digital delays clean and precise. Reverbs simulate rooms, halls, plates and springs, from a natural touch to huge ambient washes. Loopers record a phrase and play it back so you can build layers on stage or practise over your own parts.

Modulation effects move the signal over time. Chorus thickens and widens, flangers and phasers sweep through the frequency range, tremolo pulses the volume and vibrato bends the pitch. Rotary simulators recreate the spinning speaker of an organ.

Pitch pedals shift, double or harmonize what you play: octavers add notes above or below, harmonizers follow a key, and whammy-style pedals bend pitch with a treadle. Synth and filter-based pedals turn a guitar or bass into something closer to a synthesizer.

Compressors even out the level and add sustain, noise gates cut hum and hiss between notes, EQ pedals shape the tone, and wahs and envelope filters sweep a filter by foot or by playing dynamics. Volume and expression pedals control level and parameters on other pedals.

Multi-effects units combine dozens of effects with presets you recall by footswitch. Amp modellers and capture devices recreate amplifiers and speaker cabinets, so you can record or play live straight into a PA or audio interface without a real amp.

Everything that makes a board work: pedalboards and cases, power supplies, patch cables, switchers and loopers, buffers, DI boxes and expression pedals. Good power and short, reliable cables solve most noise problems.

Guitar amplifiers and cabinets, from compact practice amps to valve heads and combos. Many practice amps include effects and a headphone output.