There sure is nothing wrong with using effects pedals. One of the reasons to play electric guitar is to have a wider variety of sonic options, and believe me, I’ve been through my share of pedals, from the old Jordan Boss Tone that I had when I was 12 (Fig. 1); to my ProCo Rat, which I used for years; to compressors, wah-wahs, phasers, octave dividers and whatever else I’ve tried and forgotten about over the years. I still use my POD 2.0 that I’ve had since the late nineties, especially when I teach outside my own studio and I want a decent sound through a crappy practice amp (use the CD input if you can, or the effects return), and I used to use it all the time when I played with Club Foot Orchestra or Orchestra Nostalgico, when I needed good sounding amp-style distortion at sometimes very low volumes.

Fig. 1: Vintage Jordan Bosstone; where can I get one of these?

But the inescapable truth, as I’ve come to understand it, is this: nothing sounds better than a good guitar plugged into a good tube amp with no effects. Billy Zoom may have said this at one time, and I’ll say it now—the best effect is the guitar cable going into the amp.

Guitarists use pedals and buttons all the time, to boost their rhythm level to solo level without having to twist a knob, to switch from clean to distorted, to bounce from channel to channel. . . you name it. In some ways pedals can make your life easier, and in every other way they can dissipate the potential for having THE great guitar sound unencumbered by extra solder joints and circuitry. Without the use of pedals, your guitar is more likely to sound focused and present, and more responsive to player articulation and nuance.

This does require a strategy of sorts -- a technique that has been used long before the appearance of any in–between-guitar-amp sound modifying gizmo -- using the guitar volume knob, and the pick-up switch.

When I teach band workshops at Blue Bear School of Music, we have amps that have been donated to the school for guitarists to use during rehearsals. Most of them are either the Vox or Line 6 digital amp modeling style amps or Fender solid-state amps, but all the interface pedals are missing, so there is no convenient way to switch between sounds or settings. What I recommend to guitar players in this case is this: find your top volume solo sound, with a fair amount of overdrive but not unduly excessive, make sure your solo level is balancing properly with the rest of the musicians in the band, and then turn down your volume knob until you find a rhythm level that blends correctly when you are not soloing. Adjust your gain and master output level until you have the optimum balance for your taste or the musical requirements at hand.

Fig. 2: 65 Amps 'Lil Elvis mic'd up with a Royer R-121.

When you turn your volume knob down, a couple of things happen: you get a bit quieter and the amount of gain or overdrive your sound has will be reduced, so your sound cleans up and sits in the background a bit more. The rest of this balancing act can usually be fine-tuned by how hard or soft you play. Also, most guitar volume knobs roll off a little high end when they are not fully cranked, and this can help your rhythm sound not stick out too much. A good rule to follow is: if you can’t hear everyone else clearly (especially the vocalist), you’re too loud.

Fig. 3: Custom-made Robert Farwell GC1.

If you have a guitar like most Gibsons or Gretchs, you’ll have two pickups with a neck, bridge and middle position switch. In the middle position you can adjust the levels of either pickup to create a very wide variety of sounds. Try experimenting with that—a little more bridge pickup for more bite, a little more neck pickup for a mellower, sweeter tone. Most of your “chimey” type tones are to be found using different combinations of these middle-pickup-switch sounds. All three pickup positions can sound great for your solo sound as well- obviously with the volume knobs for either pickup closer to full out. If you’re lucky enough to have a good quality tube amp (I use a 65 Amps Lil’ Elvis; Fig. 2) it will add an element of honest-to-goodness tube compression, which keeps the clean sounds from sounding too quiet and the distorted sounds from being too loud or harsh.

Here's a sound sample using my GC1 guitar (custom made by Robert Farwell; Fig. 3), a tele-style semi hollow body with a reverse headstock maple neck and Gretch TV Jones pickups, and my Lil’ Elvis Amp. I recorded the guitar using a Royer 121 ribbon microphone into a Grace 101 mic preamp into a Black Lion Audio Signature modified ProTools 002 interface. The guitar cable I used was an Evidence Audio Lyric.

That's John Hanes playing the drums, by the way.

Notice that when the guitar volume is backed down a bit how much the instrument cleans up, to the point where complex jazz-chord voicings are not only possible, but sound great.

Just one thing- the Lil’ Elvis has a feature called the “bump”:

. . . A switch that essentially bypasses the tone circuit for a little less high end and a bit more gain. It’s kicked in using a foot switch but is not channel switching, so I’m not really cheating. You can hear the bump in its full glory during the last part of the audio sample I’ve supplied.

The amp settings used for this audio demonstration were never altered during the course of the recording, and no compression was used on the individual guitar tracks. A slight bit of EQ was used in the mixing to correct some of the characteristics of the room it was recorded in.

Part of the strategy involved with this style of playing often means having an amp that is not too loud. If you want your solo sound to have some natural sustain and gain to it, a Fender Twin is going to be too loud. The Lil’ Elvis is rated at 12 Watts (it’s a loud 12 Watts, almost as loud as my 40 Watt Fender Concert!) and at full volume balances well with a drummer who is playing moderately loud. Another great feature the Elvis has is a Master Voltage knob which effectively reduces the power tube output wattage of the amp for the quieter gigs. There are a lot of good tube amps out there between 18 and 25 watts that are perfect for this no-frills style of playing, from the more expensive boutique amps to the Fender Blues Juniors. So stop stomping around for a while, twist a knob here and there, and the world of pure electric guitar sound goodness will be at your fingertips.

Soon I’ll talk to you about my favorite new pedal.

Composer, guitarist and arranger Steve Kirk's music has been featured in film, video games and TV. This includes music for the Disney game version of "The Princess And The Frog", Microsoft Games "Voodoo Vince" , the FarmVille Theme for Zynga Games, and to be released in Spring 2011, Cantina music composed for the Star Wars MMOL game The Other Republic.

Steve teaches guitar, music theory and composition privately in Oakland, California, as well as Blue Bear School Of Music and Community Music Center- both located in San Francisco, California. He is also the guitarist for Club Foot Orchestra and Orchestra Nostalgico.