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An effects unit or effectspedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source.
A wah-wah pedal is a type of electric guitar effects pedal that alters the tone and frequencies of the guitar signal to create a distinctive sound, mimicking the human voice saying the onomatopoeic name "wah-wah". The pedal sweeps the peak response of a frequency filter up and down in frequency to create the sound, a spectral glide, also known as "the wah effect". The wah-wah effect originated in the 1920s, with trumpet or trombone players finding they could produce an expressive crying tone by moving a mute in and out of the instrument's bell. This was later simulated with electronic circuitry for the electric guitar when the wah-wah pedal was invented. It is controlled by movement of the player's foot on a rocking pedal connected to a potentiometer. Wah-wah effects are used when a guitarist is soloing, or creating a "wacka-wacka" funk-styled rhythm for rhythm guitar playing.
Boss is a manufacturer of effects pedals for electric guitar and bass guitar. It is a division of the Roland Corporation, a Japanese manufacturer that specializes in musical equipment and accessories. For many years Boss has manufactured a wide range of products related to effects processing for guitars, including "compact" and "twin" effects pedals, multi-effect pedals, electronic tuners and pedal boards. In more recent times, Boss expanded their product range by including digital studios, rhythm machines, samplers and other electronic music equipment.
Peavey Electronics Corporation is an American company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets professional audio equipment. One of the largest audio equipment manufacturers in the world, it is headquartered in Meridian, Mississippi.
Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc. is a manufacturer of musical accessories, especially effects units, based in Benicia, California, United States. Founded in 1965 by Jim Dunlop Sr., the company grew from a small home operation to a large manufacturer of music gear. Dunlop has acquired several well-known effects pedal brands, including Cry Baby, MXR and Way Huge.
Scholz Research & Development, Inc. or SR&D is the name of the company founded by musician and engineer Tom Scholz to design and manufacture music technology products. Scholz was an MIT-trained engineer who developed many of his skills working on audio-production equipment as a product design engineer at Polaroid in the early 1970s. A musician in his off-time, he developed a recording studio in the basement of the apartment building where he lived, utilizing many home-built devices. Recordings made in his home studio later became the debut album of the band Boston, while the Scholz's proceeds from the success of his band were used to found the company to further develop and sell market versions of his inventions. Many of the devices were marketed under the Rockman brand.
Morley Pedals is the name of a guitar effects pedal company, famous for manufacturing wah-wah pedals and other treadle type effects for guitar. Morley pedals use electro-optical circuitry rather than a potentiometer to control the effect. The foot treadle controls a shutter inside the pedal that in turn controls the amount of light reaching a photoresistor. The advantage to this system is that there are no potentiometers in the signal path to wear out and become "scratchy sounding" over time. Electro-optical circuitry is used throughout the classic Morley pedal line, which includes or has included volume pedals, delay pedals, chorus and phaser pedals, and many others.
A phaser is an electronic sound processor used to filter a signal by creating a series of peaks and troughs in the frequency spectrum. The position of the peaks and troughs of the waveform being affected is typically modulated so that they vary over time, creating a sweeping effect. For this purpose, phasers usually include a low-frequency oscillator.
Electro-Harmonix is a New York-based company that makes high-end electronic audio processors and sells rebranded vacuum tubes. The company was founded by Mike Matthews in 1968. It is best known for a series of popular guitar effects pedals introduced in the 1970s and 1990s. Unknown to most people, EH also made a line of guitars in the 70's.
Soldano Custom Amplification is a custom guitar amplifier manufacturing company, founded in 1986 by Michael Soldano in Los Angeles, California and later relocated to Seattle, Washington. It is mostly known for its high gain amps such as its flagship model, the Soldano SLO-100, but the product lineup also includes effect units, pedals and cabinets. All Soldano products are tube-based and are class A/B.
MXR is a Rochester, New York-based manufacturer of effects pedals, co-founded in 1972 by Keith Barr and Terry Sherwood and incorporated as MXR Innovations, Inc. in 1974. The MXR trademark is now owned by Jim Dunlop, which continues to produce the original effects units along with new additions to the line.
Distortion and overdrive are forms of audio signal processing used to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, usually by increasing their gain, producing a "fuzzy", "growling", or "gritty" tone. Distortion is most commonly used with the electric guitar, but may also be used with other electric instruments such as bass guitar, electric piano, and Hammond organ. Guitarists playing electric blues originally obtained an overdriven sound by turning up their vacuum tube-powered guitar amplifiers to high volumes, which caused the signal to distort. While overdriven tube amps are still used to obtain overdrive, especially in genres like blues and rockabilly, a number of other ways to produce distortion have been developed since the 1960s, such as distortion effect pedals. The growling tone of a distorted electric guitar is a key part of many genres, including blues and many rock music genres, notably hard rock, punk rock, hardcore punk, acid rock, and heavy metal music, while the use of distorted bass has been essential in a genre of hip hop music and alternative hip hop known as "SoundCloud rap".
Tech 21 is a New York based manufacturer of guitar and bass effect pedals, amps, and DI boxes which allow the user to emulate the tone of many popular guitar amps and record those sounds directly into a mixer.
Maxon is the brand name used by the Nisshin Onpa company of Japan for its line of effects pedals designed for guitar and bass.
TC Electronic is a Danish audio equipment company that designs and imports guitar effects, bass amplification, computer audio interfaces, audio plug-in software, live sound equalisers, studio and post production equipment, studio effect processors, and broadcast loudness processors and meters.
Howard M. Leese is an American guitarist, record producer, and musical director who played with Heart as guitarist and keyboardist for 23 years. He continues to record and tour as a solo artist, and as guitarist with The Paul Rodgers Band and Bad Company. He is currently performing in the Las Vegas production of Raiding the Rock Vault.
Fryette Amplification of North Hollywood, California is a manufacturer of high-quality hand built electric guitar amplifiers, speaker cabinets, power amplifiers, sound effects pedals and pedalboard accessories. The company was founded as VHT Amplification in Studio City, Los Angeles, California by Steven Fryette in January 1989 and was the first to produce a true three-channel vacuum tube amplifier.
Source Audio is a guitar effects pedal company based near Boston, Massachusetts. They are the creators of the Hot Hand Motion Controlled Wah Filter as well as Soundblox and Soundblox Pro effect pedals. They design their products in the United States, and import them from China.
Strymon is a brand of music electronics by Damage Control Engineering. They are best known for their line of high end guitar effects pedals which use a mixture of analog circuitry and digital signal processing. The company is based in Westlake Village, California, and manufactures their products in the United States.
Lovetone is the name of a manufacturer of analog effect pedals in England in the 1990s and 2000s. The effects were created by Vlad Naslas and Daniel Coggins, and their pedals were noted for their tongue-in-cheek names like the "Big Cheese" and the "Ring Stinger".
References
- ↑ Rick, Erickson (Nov 13, 2008), Toadworks - Barracuda Flanger , TheGearPage.net
- ↑ Toadworks Australian Dealer List