Acoustic guitar amplifiers are specifically designed to produce a clean, transparent, acoustic sound. They will usually have a relatively flat frequency response so as not to "colour" the sound too much.
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Acoustic Guitar Effects Pedals
Effects more common to the world of acoustic guitar playing. Although there are no hard and fast rules, distortion is not a common effect with acoustic guitar. The parametric E.Q. is a fantastic addition to your acoustic set up allowing you endless sculpting of your tone or removing feedback at a gig. Reverb and modulation lend themselves well to acoustic guitar and the more modern mult ieffect units allow you to model different classic acoustic guitars from the rich in low end and full sounding dreadnought to the even tone of a smaller body and everything in between.
A chorus pedal is a modulation effect. The original signal is split and run through a short delay and then combined with the original signal. The delayed part of the signal can then be modulated to create movement to create a thicker tone. A classic effect used on elctric, acoustic and bass guitars.
In its simplist explanation a compressor makes the quiet parts of the signal louder and the louder parts quieter delivering a more consistant loudness. Can have the most subtle of effect through to the very obvious "snap". A compressor can also increase sustain and provide extra gain to push the front of your amp.
From mild soft clipping overdrives, to germanium based fuzz circuits, to all out hard clipping high gain, these pedals give you the drive to suit your taste.
Drum machines are electronic musical instruments which imitate the sounds of drums and percussion instruments. Sounds are triggered by pressing trigger pads/buttons. They typically have a step-sequencer which allow you to program drum patterns. Most modern drum machines also allow you to load in your own samples.
Guitar amps are specifically voiced to make a guitar sound good, and Amp heads come in different power ranges and sizes. Some are very plain, some have bells and whistles, but they all must be paired with the correct 'Ohm-age' of cabinet.
The ultimate tool to sculpt your tone. From the more wide ranging graphic E.Q to allow control over bass,mid and treble to the parametric E.Q that allows you to boost or cut a specific frequency. An excellent tool for electric, acoustic and bass guitars.
A flanger pedal is a modulation effect. Essentially the same as chorus but with a shorter delay time and utilising delay feedback. The distinctive sound comes from modulating the delay time giving you the classic sweep sound.
If you're thinking of featuring a pedal in your set-up, or maybe even two or more, the chances are you're going to need some bits and pieces to help you get it all together…. We have connectors, extenders, fasteners, in fact pretty much everything you should need to get your sounds in order….
A looper pedal will record as you play and then at the press of the switch loop the part you have just played allowing you to play over the top of the loop.Build up layer after layer or use it to create a backing to solo over. An ideal tool for solo singer song writers who want to build a "live" backing track to sing and play over.
Multi effects units combine all the common effects and some uncommon ones into one box usually with a range of switches allowing you for example to create different patches allowing you to go from a clean sound with chorus straight into a high gain lead patch with delay with the press of a button. Infinite sounds in a compact package, the swiss army knife of guitar effects.
Some pedals are notorious for adding excess noise within your signal chain, especially high-gain overdrive pedals. Noise reduction pedals allow signals above a certain threshold level to pass through whilst reducing signals below that threshold level which will essentially cut out any unwanted noise in-between playing.
A phaser pedal is a modulation effect.Similar to a chorus but instead of delay it utilises all-pass filters. When mixed back with the original signal it creates comb filtering giving the swirling effect.
Hand held field recorders are incredibly useful and versatile units. Whether you want to record aircraft whooshing past for sound FX, or just tape the junior school choir going through it's paces, these nifty little fellas are just the job, and capable of some high quality results. Many have external microphone inputs, with some providing phantom power and the ability to record from both the built in and external mics at the same time to on different channels.
Reverb pedals modify the signal in such a way that you can replicate playing in different sonic spaces. Delay pedals allow you to repeat your sound at pre-determined intervals after you've played it. Both effects whether used independently or together can add warmth and depth to your tone. Reverb and delay pedals are collectively known as time-based effects and are typically positioned at the end of your signal chain.
The oldest guitar effect. The first stand alone effects unit outside of reverb was tremolo produced back in 1948. The effect creates a rapid variation in volume of the output of your guitar, "Gimme Shelter" is the perfect explanation.
The humble tuner pedal is the quickest and easiest way of tuning your instrument. The most basic function allows standard tuning of your guitar but many offer alternative tunings and are stable across the entire frequency range allowing you to drop tune guitar or bass. Polytuners allow tuning of all strings simultaneously and are ideal for tuning on the fly.
The volume pedal does exactly that, controls the volume of your guitar. A useful tool in any setup that can be used to great effect. Before the drive section of your setup the volume pedal acts like the guitars own volume control lowering output which in turn lowers the gain. Used after the drive section allows for smooth volume swells without altering the gain.
One of the classic guitar effects of all time. The pedal creates a vocal like sound by sweeping through the frequency range of your guitar. Most commonly controlled with the foot allowing you to work in real time and sequence the effect to what you are playing. Some pedals over an auto function allowing you to switch on and off a preset wah effect. Here you will also find envelope filters. This pedal reacts to how hard you play, play hard and you get a treble boost and as the signal drops the boost dies away, the ultimate funk tool.
Wireless instrument systems can be used to free your instrument from its wires onstage. Suitable for guitarists or any other performer with an audio line out, you can use these to move freely for a more expressive performance.
