Guitar effects and pedals
Effects give a guitar a whole new character, from subtle ambience to biting distortion. Choose from individual pedals, multi-effects units and accessories such as power supplies, patch cables and pedalboards for electric guitars, electro-acoustic instruments and bass guitars.
Guitar effects and pedals
Every pedal shapes the signal in its own way. Drive pedals such as overdrive, distortion or fuzz add punch and sustain, delay and reverb create space and echo, and modulation effects such as chorus, flanger or phaser make the sound swirl and thicken. Bass players can choose dedicated versions that keep the low end intact.
A foot-controlled wah pedal gives solos a distinctive colour, a looper lets you record a backing part and play over it, and a compressor evens out the volume of your picking. For beginners, a multi-effects unit is great value, offering dozens of sounds, a tuner and drum patterns in one box, often with a headphone or USB output.
Individual pedals are linked in a chain, usually in the order tuner, compressor, drive, modulation and finally delay and reverb. Reliable operation comes from a good power supply with isolated outputs, short patch cables and a pedalboard that keeps the whole rig together.