Calling On Pros and Semi-Pros Who Use No Effects

I did this in the 90's. Our band played originals and hard rock covers. Les Paul straight into a Marshall half stack, sometimes into a Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp, DI to board. Ran the Marshall with gain and volume both at 5.

 

Whenever I see a band on TV (Austin City Limits, Later with Jools Holland, etc), the guitar player invariably has a gigantic pedal board. Even if he's just strumming along to some country tune. Which is NOT to say you need pedals. It's more to say - pros use pedals too, not just insecure amateurs. Yes, guitar, amp, turn the volume up, nothing is better. You don;t NEED pedals. But there is a place for them, to craft the exact sound you're looking for. No right or wrong answer.

 

I use a Wah pedal but other than that it's straight into the amp.
To me that's the best tone, and there's nothing that beats awesome unfathomable tone
I play Pedal Steel and Lead Guitar in a classic country/classic rock/blues band that plays to a mostly dancing audience
For guitar, I've mostly played tele's, but at the moment am playing a goldtop w/P90's through a Fender concert amp
For me it's all about the tone
When the tone is really happening, the Music plays itself
Those are the moments I live and play for........

 

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Here are the hints I came across a while back.
Use the guitar knobs, pick in different locations from the bridge to the fretboard, a few pros showing how -- and doesn't really matter which guitar chassis you have (Kirchen plays a hundred different guitarists and gear in there).





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Yup, this is major sad truth. All these pedals feeding tiny amps at low volume, or worse, modelers plugged directly to the PA, is about as un rock and roll as you can get.

 

Sorry but I definitely do need them.
I can't play MY music without them

Not to mention that for ME there is nothing more boring than a guy plugged straight into an amp and playing DA BLUES and not only playing this music but also playing it with ONE sound the whole night through

 

its like building a house with hand tools. yeah you can do it, but why would you?

 

Mostly just play traditional Chicago Blues & Delta Blues these days. To me, my guitar sounds better without effects. Certainly could be operator error.

 

If you look at PG’s or anybody’s rig rundowns you’ll see some that use a ton and some that don’t. I am always surprised by the ones that don’t and what their pedals are. In a world full of smaller ”boutique” pedal makers I still see the tone giants using mainly Boss, Dunlop and MXR. Always blows me away and keeps me grounded.

 

the death of rock n roll has little to do with fx, much more to do with the assimilation of it into general society. Music of rebellion becomes the music your parents got married to, the music that sells you a car or a hamburger. it dilutes the effect of the music and any "coolness or otherness" about it.

Rock n roll has been stripmined and corporatized, its no longer the music of rebellion or the outsider, its as mainstream as Mcdonalds and just about as palatable..

 

Rock and roll isn't mainstream at all though. Unless Beyonce drops a rock and roll track, you won't find any rock and roll "on the charts". And while rock and roll faded away from the mainstream over the past 20 years, amps have gotten smaller, pedalboards have gotten larger, stages have gotten quieter, and bands are paying to play. Laziness and indifference from guitar players killed rock and roll.

 

I used to have a big board with a ton of options but gradually whittled it down to boost-OD-delay-verb. I could ditch the verb if my amp had one built in. I love the idea of plugging straight in, just haven't quite gotten there yet.

 

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These discussions are always hilarious. (I am no pro though) Especially if "Reverb and Tremolo in the amp don't count even if you use them both".

If Reverb and Tremolo in the amp don't count then you pretty much gotta give anyone playing an amp without those 2 effects built in 2 pedals to cover those effects.

Meanwhile you have your Fender amp and it has Reverb and Tremolo but you can't get overdrive at an allowed volume where you're playing. I have an Orange and while I don't have Reverb or Tremolo I can get any level of gain/overdrive or clean at any volume the amp is capable of because I have a Master Volume + Attenuator. Does Master Volume + Attenuator count as 2 effects so the guy without that gets to have an Overdrive and that doesn't count?

Just cause you have a pedal board doesn't mean you have to use it or you're dependent on it.

But if you sometimes really have a need to play a Smashing Pumpkins or Radiohead or U2 song you are really going to appreciate having a Fuzz/Muff and/or a nice Delay.

Mostly what I seem to notice with pros when I watch a show is they have a moderately sized setup... the pedals on it are carefully selected, and they've selected it and laid it out in a way they can turn stuff on and off without it being distracted during the song. And you don't see them having to turn knobs during the show.

 

When you play in a band, you quickly realize YOU GET PAID TO CARRY AROUND AND SET UP THE EQUIPMENT. The playing is the easy part. I play in a bar band with a strat or tele plugged directly into a Mesa boogie Fillmore 25. It has Reverb and a dirt channel. I left my tweed clones and pedal board behind for the simple setup, and less gear to carry around. I don’t miss the pedals, neither does our audience. Many venues have numerous televisions, fluorescent lighting, dimmer switches, etc all weaseling their way into your signal chain. I’ve found that less connections improves the hums and buzzes. A lot of ground can be covered with this setup.

 

bad writing has certainly helped. Very few good rock n roll guitar tunes written this century.

Guitar playing takes work and talent (which can be learned) so basically a lot of effort is required to get up to a mediocre level of playing. Whereas the rise of the computer and sampling has made any dolt with a keyboard able to compose a basic melody and layer it with as many effects and samples and electronic drums as can be pushed through a speaker.

people are using the easiest tools to create music and the guitar is not an easy tool for a novice. Despite the advent of the computer as a musical instrument, no rock music with the power and magic of "light my fire" or "whiter shade of pale" has been written with the demon computer and all its majestic samples.

I think that says a lot about who is writing and why, they all want to write a commercial hit, they really don't care about the music, and very little experimentation is done, 90% of EDM can be swapped for any other song and no one would notice.

 

Haha I love this guy!

But back to the pedals...I'm reading the replies and I'm noticing that pedal people like their pedals and they always cite sounding like some song to justify it. "If you wanna play XXXX you need this pedal". So cover band guys need to sound just like, or close to, the original song. They need their pedals. Fair enough, and totally understandable.

So then I have to ask, does anyone write and play their own ****ing music anymore?

 

I played once a Tele through a Vox AC 15 without pedals and needed nothing more. The amp has OD, Trem and Rev

 

I normally don't use pedals unless I'm gigging without a Fender amp. In that case I will bring a Tremolo pedal for the ONE song my pedal steel guy sings. But, I have a couple of very good pro guitar playing friends who do use a lot of pedals. They are very useful tools for these guys and they know how to use them without making their music sound like a cluster-you-know-what. I'm in total amazement watching these guys play and doing what they do with their guitars, amps and pedals together. In the right hands (or feet), I can see first-hand how these can be very useful tools of the trade, even though I don't use them and certainly don't hate pedals or have any disdain for anyone who uses them.

 

^^^ This.