Alternative Rock Guitar Effects Combo
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Alternative Rock Guitar Effects Combo
Author: Roland UK Features Team
Frank Zappa famously said, “A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it’s not open.” If you like your alternative stuff, you’ll probably appreciate the ability to go from gentle acoustic tones with massive reverb to a gut-churning syncopated rhythm in an off-beat. We all love the acoustic guitar, but it’s remarkably difficult to wear one with your electric, a problem solved with the Acoustic Simulator. And why limit yourself to one gain pedal? The SD-1 has a beautifully creamy overdrive effect, but a brutally distorted clipping tone from a fuzz pedal at low volume can be awesome in ambient passages. The DD-20 delay offers a huge variety of effects with four memories to save you tweaking on the fly, and the rotary speaker simulator and Dynamic Wah can be used to add some extra textures to your sounds. Experiment with their position in the chain to discover some unique tones.
Need to Know…
Taking sound-making devices like stompbox pedals out of the equation, there’s an order to the way sounds naturally occur in physical space. For example, guitar amp distortion is made in physical space by turning an amp up enough to cause its circuits to overload, and any echo you might hear happens after the distorted sound hits walls or ceilings and bounces back to your ears. Therefore, logic says that your reverb and/or delay pedals should be last in the signal path, since that is how the sounds they produce actually occur in three-dimensional space.
Alternative Rock Pedals: RV-5, RT-20, DD-20
The Sound of Each Pedal…
RV-5 offers six digital reverb effects in stereo.
RT-20 reproduces classic rotary-speaker sounds with adjustable Rise Time, Horn Speed, Bass Speed, Overdrive and a graphical view of the virtual rotors.
DD-20 provides up to 23 seconds of delay time and 11 modes covering everything from analog and tape delay to reverse delay and more.
FZ-5 recreates the vintage fuzz-filled flavors of the 60s and 70s, such as the Maestro FZ-1A, Fuzz Face, and Octavia pedals.
SD-1 produces the warm, natural distortion of an overdriven tube amplifier while maintaining the subtle nuances of a player’s picking technique.
AW-3 gives guitarists a wide range of classic auto-wah and dynamic wah effects. It is also the first compact wah pedal to incorporate human voice-type sounds through the “Humanizer” Mode.
AC-3 transforms any electric guitar into a variety of acoustic guitars.
Alternative Rock Guitar Pedals: FZ-5, SD-1, AW-3, AC-3
More Pedals: Virtual Pedal Board
Listen to the Alternative Rock Guitar Effects Combo…
Listen to the chain results in PowerOn magazine. Download your copy for free from Apple Newsstand, Google Play and the Amazon Appstore. Stay tuned for more effect combos as detailed below. You can also subscribe to the blog updates!
- Classic Rock Guitar Effects Combo
- Blues Guitar Effects Combo
- Metal Guitar Effects Combo
- Alternative Guitar Effects Combo (this post)
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March 6, 2014 @ 3:11 pm
These are some good pedals if you’re looking for alternative rock tones. The Boss SD-1. Love its simplicity and price! An oldie, but goodie! The AC-3 is also an OK choice. Gives you tons of versatility in your tone, but not the best for acoustic simulation in my opinion. Dig this article. Keep it up!