The most over used(or badly used) guitar effect?

[Sylver]

Which do you think is most over used and is an injustice to the electric guitar?

 

Personally, I don't mind a little slap back, but when people pile delay on thier solos it drives me nuts and it sounds "so cliche"

[Tedster]

To me, Sylver, it's kind of a "bad effect of the moment"...

 

For example, when phasers first came out, they were way overused. Same thing with the funkified wah excursion of the 70s. Got really old. Need we recall the Walsh/Frampton talkbox excursions? Chorus has had quite a bit of overuse as well.

 

Fortunately, these fads seem to pass.

[Gabriel E.]

I'd say that the Wah Wah is a big problem. Nothing new can be done with it since the late 60s. Any time anyone steps on one, they either sound like they're playing the theme from "Shaft", poorly imitating Hendrix, or slow filtering to make up for the fact that they have nothing interesting to play (Kirk Hammet).

 

The Wah is the worst cliche around.

[Wickerman]

I must say pitch shift. All these jackasses with the Digi-Whammy dropping it three octaves then shoving it into the stratosphere... Most obnoxious thing on earth. I must agree, Wah gets annoying, delay can be great, but also frequently overused. Same with phaser, it's great but most people who use it just sound cheezy.

[whitefang]

We're all old enough to know how the "industry" works; 20 different band's guitarists come up with 30 different "new" sounding effects, but if band number 21 records a "hit" with a worn-out, cliche of a sound, producers immediately pressure

bands that wish to succeed to copy it!

 

Since the first Rock'n'Roller used his "reverb" switch, it's been this way!

 

Whitefang

[Steve LeBlanc]

You guys might be tired of the Wah sound or Flanger BUT a Chorus has never sounded good, ever, ever...why would anyone ever use a Chorus?

 

I don't agree with the digs on the Wah...it's still a very expressive pedal IMO...I don't think I sound like Shaft or a wannabe Hendrix but I really don't care either.

[Cowbell]

The wah really hasn't been used that great since the 60's (Cream-White Room). My biggest pain in the ass is overuse of distortion. Say if your using a Strat,you can't tell it's a Strat anymore by using so much distortion. A little overdrive from your amps works great,but when you go a little crazy with say,Boss Mega Distortion,you can't hear the attack anymore,plus it sounds like shit.

[Dak Lander]

I just gotta drop in on this.

Almost everything on the list has been mis/over used but DISTORTION is the one pedal/effect that should be shoved up most of the guy's asses who're trying to use it. Might tone it down a bit & make it something a guy could listen to. I'm not saying all distortion is bad but more bad than good. Like a lot of things, a little goes a long way.

 

Steve, I agree somewhat about the chorus. If it weren't useful when used with discretion on an acoustic guitar it would be in a tie with distortion. With an electric guitar it's a waste.

[Mr. Downchild]

When I started playing electric, I didn't even own an amp. I played while holding my ear to the upper-bout of the guitar and feeling the resonance of the wood. Since then, I've been mainly enticed by the 'acoustic' properties, if you will, of the electric guitar. I'm pretty much a guitar, cord, and amp kind of player, and effects don't do it for me. IMHO effects are kind of like condiments. However, in the right hands effects can be creative, distinctive, and imaginative tools for a guitarist:

Chorus? Andy Summers

Wah? Jimi

Phaser? Ernie Isley

Echo/delay? The Edge

To each his own. The important thing is to do what works for you .

[Meriphew_dup1]

Compression.

[Christopher]

Distortion. Wonderful way of covering up sloppy technique and a lack of ideas. Have someone play the same part without it and see how well they do.

[rog951]

Used judiciously, I love 'em all (well, almost). I guess they manage to mask my obvious lack of talent just enough! They make things more interesting to me, sonically. Yes, EVEN chorus!

[TurboDog]

I always get iritated when people start generalizing about distortion. Sometimes a ton of distortion is just plain fun. Now I'm not talking about power chords, but EVH type stuff.

 

It's not the easiest thing in the world to control all your strings constantly to avoid unwanted noise. Playing clean with a lot of distortion is a technique unto itself. Once again, not just simple rythyms, but leads/fills/solos/riffs/etc.

 

And feedback and pinch harmonics can add some zing when used sparingly.

 

All this talk about people covering mistakes with distortion is a blanket statement. I can go from full out gain on channel 1 of my Rivera in one song; then switch to channel 2 and neck/middle pups on the next song and play both just as clean.

 

The wah pedal still has some life in it, don't bury it yet. The Hendrix/Shaft comment was way off. Alice in Chains "Man in the Box"? Foghat's "I Just Want To Make Love To You"?

 

It's hard to say overall what effect gets overused. Certainly it was the chorus pedal after Nirvana.

[Rim]

Well, I voted for flange. I have it, tried it, still don't like it. Live's "Lightning Crashes" is bearable.

 

Chorus on a clean amp channel is cool, IMO.

 

Combination of chorus, delay and distortion is too 80's for me.

 

I like Wah. I don't use it for 70's effect but as a treble boost for solos. I also use it to "emulate" a keyboard on a song. I also use it just for something different on another song by slowly opening it up while strumming.

[Tedly Nightshade]

A wah is like a polygraph. When you hear Clapton playing one, you know he could look F. Lee Bailey right in the eye and tell him that he's his own grandmother, and pass the test.

 

A wah I love because very very few players can be slick while playing one. It brings out the amateur in everyone, almost.

Not overused by any means, but seldom used expressively. Makes a great tone control.

 

I vote for stomp box distortion as most overused and done poorly. That doesn't mean it can't be used well.

 

Chorus I always thought was for a rather saccharine taste that couldn't handle flanging.

Ted

[Sylver]

I'm pretty surprised that distortion is topping the list at the moment. I'dagree that it's often not used tastefully, but it's fun when you feel like going over the top. I have a big Muff that I love to bring out fromtime to time when I'm feeling metalish, but most time I go with just the cranked amp and maybe a little over drive(especially when I can't turn up)

 

I like wah for unique musical ideas and phrases, but I hate the way Metallica usess it.

 

I know that a lot of people are not likeing choruus right now, but I like to hear it on clean guitar from time to time. Don't care for it with distortion. I've really stripped down my sound since going to tubes and loosing the processor, but if I add any modulation, it will probably be chorus and maybe a Uni-vibe. Oh, and I do have a Wah, that's not working, but when I use it for more than just screwing around, it's usually for a "hook" type guitar part, rather than in a lead or solo.

[Wewus432]

Phaser or Phase shifter is the cheesiest sound ever invented. It sounds good for about 2 seconds and then suddenly begins to SUUUUUUUUUUCK!

 

I've heard a few good things with that sound, but I have no use for it myself.

 

My favorite effect is my ElectroHarmonix Deluxe Memory Man. I love the rhythmic things you can do with delay and the Memory Man has a smooth analog sound. For some really bizarre sounds you can tweak the knobs while a note or chord is sustained. I keep the unit at hand height to do this.

[Sylver]

Originally posted by TheWewus:

Phaser or Phase shifter is the cheesiest sound ever invented. It sounds good for about 2 seconds and then suddenly begins to SUUUUUUUUUUCK!

 

I've heard a few good things with that sound, but I have no use for it myself.

 

My favorite effect is my ElectroHarmonix Deluxe Memory Man. I love the rhythmic things you can do with delay and the Memory Man has a smooth analog sound. For some really bizarre sounds you can tweak the knobs while a note or chord is sustained. I keep the unit at hand height to do this.

I like the Uni-Vibe, the phase pedal's big brother. To bad they're so darn expensive!

[Tedly Nightshade]

Phase shifting is a very good thing, it's the monotonous cyclical pattern that gets so old on so many phasers, flangers, and choruses.

I like a phaser that warps out the low end but leaves the high end with all it's punch, like a Uni-Vibe, not like a Boss Super Phaser.

All these things are designed to emulate non-cyclical tape manipulation, and leslie sounds, which are a combination of phase shift, doppler effect, and tremelo. The real deals are better than the pedals.

 

I'm getting an incredibly cool UniVibe like sound by placing an amp with the tremelo set on 10, volume low, all the way on and off each time, on top of a non-tremelo'd amp. What happens is phase shifting in real space- you don't hear the two things separately, it sounds like one big amp with an uncanny phase shifted tremelo. I no longer have any use for a Uni-Vibe, this is much much cleaner and no noise added at all.

 

Since I "discovered" this I heard Bill Frisell doing this on a CD with Elvin Jones and Dave Holland. Sweet.

Ted

[Wewus432]

Hey Ted. I was talking about using two amps earlier in the thread. Just about any effect sounds better that way. I used to have a Boss Super Phaser, I guess that's what turned me against them. I'm sure a Uni-Vibe would be fun to play with. I've gotten where the only effects I like are The Memory Man and the distortion and reverb on my amp.

[alcohol]

Digital Reverb

Spring Reverb

Delay

Distortion

Tapping

 

Nothing new has been done with any of the above for years.

[Wickerman]

Originally posted by alcohol:

Digital Reverb

Spring Reverb

Delay

Distortion

Tapping

 

Nothing new has been done with any of the above for years.

Nothing new has been done with reverb but why mess with such a beautiful, sure-thing?

[alcohol]

I was being facetious. My point is that the qualification that something new has to be done with an effect or that something new has to be done anyway is a brake on creativity and a inhibitor to aesthetic appreciation.

 

If we make the qualification that some music is unworthy because it uses some well worn device or because it doesn't create some new sonic texture then we may be missing the point of the expression.

 

Since music exists within a fabric of prior references, the use of well established sounds or phrases can be well utilized by the savy musician.

 

The aesthetic problem is not that some musician has used a worn out sound, but that he/she has not used the worn out sound in an interesting manner.

[DC]

Originally posted by Retsdet:

To me, Sylver, it's kind of a "bad effect of the moment"...

 

This is the way I feel too. I remember in the 70's when all you really saw on stage locally were wa wa and distortion boxes. Then the physer came out and we all got one and left it on the whole gig to start with. Then you got to the point of just using it on slow songs. Sheesh.

 

Chorus was almost worse since it sounded better on lead sounds. Crazy man.