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Chapter 15: Choosing Your Amp and Effects
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out of tune. This concept is similar to what happens when humans — and
instruments played by humans — try to sing or play in unison. It’s not perfectly
in time or in tune, but instead of the choir sounding bad or out of sync,
they sound rich and full (like a chorus of sound should).
As a guitar effect, the application of even just a slight bit of chorus increases
the perceived bigness of a sound and gives it a shimmering quality. Mild
chorus sounds good with distortion for a slow, simple rhythm part, because
it adds just a hint of vibrancy in the notes. For an even bigger sound, many
guitarists run their chorus effects in stereo.
Swooshing, like a jet plane:
Flangers and phase shifters
Flanging and phase shifting produce a whooshing, swirling sound that makes
the guitar sound like it’s under water or like a jet airplane taking off. Flanging
and phase shifting sound best used over a clean or only mildly distorted signal.
You can adjust the rate, depth, and regeneration (also called feedback) to
suit your tastes when you use these effects. The flanger and phaser usually
come right before (closer to the guitar) the delay in your effects order, but
you can put them after the delay for a slightly different effect. Usually, you
use either chorus (covered in the previous section) or flanging or phase shifting,
but not any two together; that just makes sonic mush.
Like a visit to the opera house:
Vibrato and tremolo
Vibrato is the rapid fluctuation of pitch and the expressive quality that
singers and string players apply to sustained notes to give the notes life. Amp
vibrato is an effect not often built into amps despite models such as the popular
Fender Vibrolux and Vibro-King that actually contain tremolo instead.
One of the few amps with true vibrato was the Magnatone from the early ’60s
favored by the great, but unsung, Lonnie Mack.
Tremolo is similar in effect to vibrato but is the rapid fluctuation of volume,
not pitch. Both vibrato and tremolo feature depth and rate controls. Depth is
the amplitude — or how pronounced the effect is — and rate is how fast the
oscillating pitch or volume difference occurs. But players who want more
versatility in their vibrato and tremolo (or who don’t have them built into
their amps) can use the outboard solution (as shown in Figure 15-17.)
TEAM LinG