ECHOPLEXES, PHASE SHIFTERS, FLANGERS . . . OH MY!    AND ALL ORIGINATED IN A PURPLE HAZE OF WAH-WAH PEDALS, OCTAVIAS AND DISTORTION UNITS,         AND BURNING YOUR GUITAR ON STAGE WITH RONSONOIL LIGHTER FLUID    JUST FOR THE EFFECT . . .
 
I APOLOGIZE UP FRONT FOR THE LENGTH OF THIS HEADLINE, BUT THIS ARTICLE IS APTLY TITLED:

GUITAR EFFECTS: YEAH, AND ALL THE IRREPPERABLE PSYCOLOGICAL HARM THEY'VE CAUSED ME . . . OR . . . BECAUSE OF MY ARCHTYPICAL DECISION TO PUT EFFECTS INTO USE, I REALIZED AT THAT PIONT, IT HAD FORCED ME TO SERIOUSLY CONSIDER THIS PROBLEM: HOW TO RETREIVE THE ADDITIONAL SOUND ENHANCEMENTS FROM MY INSTRUMENTS, THAT I WAS HEARING IN MY HEAD, SYNTHISIZED OUT TO YOU—MY AUDIENCE, IN A CORRECT, TRUE, PURE FORM. YOU CAN'T GET TO MARS ON A FLANGER.

You see? Us professional musicians must never underestimate the ears of an audience. We adjust our sound to not only fit our persona and musical objectives, but the experienced and seasoned musicians know you are right there with us, soundwise. If you are a "professional" music listener, you are considered a musician in my book too. You're as huge a part of the total experience as well as us up on the stage, the performers, even if you don't play an instrument.

The best way to use "effects" is by adjusting them to enhance the original tone or sound, not kill it. The listener shouldn't even realize an effect is on the instrument. If what your hands do on any song on any instrument ain't right in the first place, adding an echo loop with power tube distortion with a stereo chorus and a little flanging, will only make things sound like a domestic disturbance in an already over-crowded out house, being pushed over by the dog. Because he's sick of hearing it. But one must admit, used correctly, and in the right places, an "effect" can thicken out your instrument's sound, and make your guitar sound like it's 50 feet tall, and 500 feet thick, without losing the main objective in the message of the song.

Surf's up! By the 1960's a whole new industry was born that shaped the way we heard & played electric or for that matter, acoustic guitars. Little boxes that spun, folded & manipulated the guitar's voice in ways we never imagined were popping out everywhere.

My Pedalboard consists of — and in this friggin' order: — the following "stompboxes:"

    Homemade A/B box with mute switch, wired in to perform like this:

    B select goes to Sabine Pedal tuner.
    A select goes to:
    I — Fulltone Fulldrive 2
    II — Digitec digital reverb.
    III — Line6 delay
    IV — Voodoo Lab Pedal Power.

When I don't feel like dragging my pedalboard around . . . I make my wife do it for me. — HEY! I was just kidding! Let's put it this way—If there is a reason I don't have my pedalboard—any reason whatsoever, I'll use my Tech21 GT2.

The cool thing about the GT2 is, you can use it with an amp, or plug straight into a PA. I'm talking about the "PA" man, you know, THE PUBLIC ADDRESS SOUND REINFORCEMENT SYSTEM So, in a live situation, I can "double-mix" my sound . . . from the main speakers out front, to the "on-stage" sound as well. Pretty slick, eh? It's a superb recording pre-amp as well. I don't leave home without it!