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Effects pedals have been available since the 1960s, a time when the electric guitar was really making waves in the popular music scene. The original effects pedals were developed by Roger Mayer. These pedals are today known as overdrive or distortion. He also created the “wah-wah” pedal. The likes of Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck were fans of Mayer’s pedals and they are commonplace with musicians today.

Effects pedals give more tonal colours to the guitarist. These tonal colours can also be created by using the amplifier’s settings. However, the amplifier is limited in terms of the effects it can provide. Also, the settings of the amp can only be modified between songs which is not ideal for a guitarist who wouldn’t be allowed to change tone and colour during a song. Also, Effects pedals give the guitarist a diverse range of expressions at his disposal.

Effects pedals today are also used with acoustic and classical guitars. They aren’t used as widely of course and certainly, the volume and distortion pedals are not used with these instruments. Pedals that are more widely used with an acoustic guitar are rack mounted effects. Although they are popular, they are more suited for the advanced guitarist as they for one, are more costly and also require a high level of sophistication. They are triggered by pedals and as such are considered by many to be something of a luxury.

Guitar players, with the pedalboards right in front of them only have to stomp a box to switch on or off an effect. The wah-wah pedal works slightly different than others. One way in which it differs is that the distortion tone associated with metal guitar and hard rock players can be switched off instantly and the instrument’s “clean channel” is allowed to be played giving a different vibe to each section of the song. The distorted sound can be resumed with just a single stomp.

It can take a lot of effort to adjust the settings on a guitar and the amp and also configuration of effects pedals to get the sound just right.

Find out more about effects pedals.