Guitar pedals have forged a way into the rock ‘n’ roll canon, after featuring their small metal backsides on multiple hit records since the 1960s. How should you go about modulating your fuzz?

 Possibilities Are Endless

 Right now with the invention of multi-effects units and stompboxes with more buttons than the BFG’s dress shirts, the humble traditional and steadfast guitar pedal has managed to survive. Their colourful aesthetics and sweet tones of effects pedals by Boss, Electro Harmonix and Ibanez to name a few legendary companies are still as relevant to young bands today as they were in the 1980s. 

 There is of course no right or wrong way to set up your fruity pebble clad arsenal when attending a battle, for the possibilities are endless. It is your taste that shall ultimately decide in which order to set up said arsenal. But that’s not to say that there isn’t technically a right way to set them up.  

 Dragon Breath

 As a player of gigs and recorder of music for over a decade (wow I am getting old) I have wrestled with many a pedal board set-up, often finding myself in a miserable trench of unsatisfactory sonic palettes that were initially deemed life-changing upon discovery. I often soon find out that I was living a lie! Okay well, it isn’t that dramatic so let me fill you in on what I have found out. 

 In a nutshell, I put my wah-wah first. Otherwise, it makes my fuzz sound like a noodle compared to the dragon breath that spits out of my amplifier these days. Then fuzz. Then modulation, namely the delay or reverb last. This ensures the delay or reverb will envelop your sound like a warm sonic hug. This is of course my own taste, but I find that even when I experiment with different pedals and effects boxes, I stick to this rule of thumb.   

 Sonic Palette 

 As much as I love guitar pedals, ultimately every gear nerd across the world must bow down to the amplifier and the guitar. Gain staging is key here, if you crank your amp up to a nice bite from the gain, you can use your guitar’s volume knob to go from clean to high gain clean in an instant. This way you will get the most out of your guitar and amplifier before you even switch on a guitar pedal. When you do ultimately implement those metal boxes of joy, you will have a greater control of sound at your devilish disposal.  

  Just remember to not rely on pedals too much, and don’t neglect the acoustic! It is easy to get overstimulated by the multitude of sonic palettes available, but getting the most out of the simplest of parameters such as gain or volume will give you the foundation to paint a picture with your pedals. We all love shoegazing and noise bands, but just learn to know when enough is enough. Because more often than not, if you ask yourself that, it probably is. 

Daragh Guest