Baxter and Jonathan give you the 5 useless guitar effects that you might have on your pedal board... or maybe you are like Baxter and don't even have a pedal board.
@@adrianfripp404 yeah, but I'm not sure I'd go *that* far. Plenty of musicians past and present that have done or do amazing things with few or no effects. It's more the "purity" attitude, the snobs that look down on "useless" effects pedals because they can't imagine music sounding like anything other than what they think it should. Ok sure I'm probably going to leave spring reverb at home if I'm going to a blues jam session... even if I am weird enough to show up with a stupid looking neon Ibanez super strat, but that doesn't mean that the effects that aren't appropriate for blues doesn't have their place.
@@michaelw6277 I'm with you, no worries. Not saying all guitarists are useless, or that all guitarists that don't use effects are useless. Just following parallel logic. If one may say some effects are useless (which is, of course, allowed) then one may also say perhaps it is rather that some guitarists are useless (which is, of course, quite plausible). Of course, the insinuation is that guitarists that so glibly label effects that they don't use as "useless" might want to look in the mirror. ... but I didn't actually say that. lol I don't have a problem with either side. I've played gigs with aircraft carrier size pedal boards, and I also like just grabbing a guitar and chancing it with whatever the house amp happens to be. Don't even bring a tuner. haha It just depends on the gig. ... It actually also depends on who the other players are, but that's a different topic. btw, I would most definitely bring a ring modulator to a blues jam...
Flanger is misunderstood and underrated. It’s literally a chorus, phaser, filter, and vibrato pedal in one. The ultimate modulator. Does way more than the airplane swoosh.
Totally agree, and I love mine. Like Floyd Roses and dive bombs, people often identify flangers as the one trick airplane swoosh sound like on VH's Unchained, but it does so much more. People would be surprised how much it's actually used as a subtle effect on countless songs they listen to regularly. Anyone that likes Gilmour has heard it more than they know. A lot of the "chorus" people think they're hearing on Police tunes is actually an Electric Mistress.
Exactly! I initially was messing around with mine to do some psych rock crap, but in the end I ended up using settings more akin to EVH to just beef up my guitar sound. I honestly use mine a lot as a boost.
The first pedal I bought was a flanger because it also did phasing and chorus, as well as flanging. Then I got a Roland Jazz Chorus amp, and a phaser and rarely used the flanger. I also later got a couple of chorus pedals, and I love it for a variety of styles, but especially on fretless bass, but I tend to use a subtle chorus. So I can see maybe including flangers on this list, but a chorus would be nowhere near the list. But one thing that makes music fun & interesting is the different things we do & different gear we use.
The chorus pedal used in the right way can be used to 'thicken' up a guitar tone really nicely. Widen the depth and turn down the rate. Sounds pretty darn good
That's how I use it. It can work like a micro-pitch. A lot of 80's metal had chorus running constantly. ( Iron Maiden "Somewhere In Time" album, the GK 250ML )
Learn your gear.. To what extent are you willing to find your sound? There no useless effects.. that is why you two jabronies yaked for so long!!!!! Not upset. Don't need your free gifts.. later 🤣
As a Bass player...Flange lite, tight and slight. Phase slow and low and a digital delay to taste. Synth is Synth with a Sub-Octave when required. That's five (5) must have pedals for Bass guitar. ✌️
@@tymurdock1790 I have a chorus, a phaser, a envelope filter, and an octave pedal, they all work well together. I do need a switcher and synth pedal and i'll be done.
I bought a heavily discounted floor model “dinged and damaged” Dean Rhapsody 8-string bass, had the frets removed, and haven’t thought about an FX pedal since.
Chorus and flanger are totally cool. You can't play the Cure without those! And I always want to hate talkboxes until I remember "Living on a Prayer" 😂 and "Kick-Start my Heart".
My second pedal ever was a chorus. I have a chorus on every pedalboard I own, bass or guitar. I find them indispensable. I've always been the only reliably present guitarist in the group, and have often played in trios. The chorus can be dialed in very subtly to broaden the sound when you are short on other players. If you cannot find a reason to use it other than in your hypothetical Police cover band, you probably aren't qualified to speak about it. It means you don't notice it as a constant part of the sound of many of the biggest names.
Chorus is a touchy one. If you have one amp? It's basically best used in chiming cleans and to make a solo sound a lil cooler. But where a chorus shines overall? STEREO! Using two amps, you get that slightly delayed response between the amps and it sounds massive. That makes it one of my top 3 effects
Saw this guy in a Mexican restaurant once… he was doing a solo acoustic set with a vocal harmonizer a looper and a drum machine. Sounded like a whole band……kinda
Imma say, spot on for gigging guitarists and for certain styles of music. Not so much for studios, ambient guitar, or the vast, vast majority of people buying guitar gear: hobbyists just lookin’ to have a good time and escape for an hour or so each day. If a flanger is a distraction from a bad day or whatever flavor of genuine nightmare so many of us struggle with, flange away. You’re just trying to make it thru another day. ✌️😌🎸
Random flanger tip. Because of what it does with the frequencies, you can use it to fine tune a muddy fuzz tone. My fuzz pedal was really flubby on the neck pick up of my gretsch. I set the flanger to be really subtle and placed it at the end of my chain. All the flub went away when clicked on together and it left me with something that was aggressive but cut through the mix. Not at all what I expected for flanger for but that's the beauty of pedals and swapping things around. You can also place it before a transparent overdrive to give a little bit of movement to some chords and solos.
Danelectro Cool Cat Fuzz and similar Fuzzes are superior at controlling fuzz flubb. I keep trying fuzzes and get disappointed. I think it is a clone of an old muff/ Frantone Cream Puff. To my ears it is like high def fuzz. Blankety yet clear.
We really don’t need pedals…I tune with my phone and plug and done. It helps that I have some really great amps (Cox Amps tweed Deluxe, tweed champ, ‘74 Pro Reverb, Dr Z Carman Ghia…). BTW…a chorus pedal set real low does thicken up your tone. I think Madison Cunningham does that.
She uses a vibrato. For a while, she was using a JHS Emperor set to the vibrato setting until JHS came out with the Artificial Blonde which is their Madison Cunningham signature vibrato.
Chorus used in the right way can be used for anything. High depth and low speed with gain makes for some of the beefiest tones. My Neo Clone is one of the most versatile pedals I own
Regarding vocal harmonizers... They can be used well. Don't leave them on the entire song, just just during the chorus, or perhaps just during the "hit" within the chorus.
@@gunkanjima3408 chorus is literally doubling a signal or copying a signal with subtle pitch modulation. I don't set my chorus sound with a lot of warble.
I do so enjoy your channel. For so many years I only had a T9, a Strat, and a Blues Jr. Added a Wah (used once or twice per show) and a chorus much later. During gigs I would put them right on the floor (no pedal board) and got all sorts of crap, until the gig was over and people couldn't believe I got the tone I got with my minimalist approach.
A very personal list of course. I concur with the Ring Modulator and the Talk Box because I don’t have a need. Cannot comment on the vocal harmonized because I don’t sing. Chorus and Flanger are always on a board but not overdone. Both with the rate down low offer some widening capability but in different ways. To each his or her own.
Chorus in hardcore is very underrated. The turnstile name drop was appreciated, and title fight used it to the greatest extent. Thursday had some cool chorus stuff as well and (not really hardcore but adjacent) early my chemical romance had some great chorus stuff too. Love the video.
Regarding the chorus pedal, you are absolutely right in that it is genre/sub-genre specific. I’m a grunge/alt rock/punk guy. It definitely comes in handy often with the grunge. Fun list!
Vocal harmonizers are very useful for the many solo acts that are out there gigging regularly. They can add another dimension to a performance where there’s just one person up there for 3 hours or so. It’s the one pedal of your 5 that requires some actual talent to properly operate. Key is to… 1. Sing in tune 2. Sing correct melodies 3. Plug your guitar in and play the correct changes to include the correct root note. Do these 3 things and most of these pedals will sound great
The guys are completely wrong about the chorus pedal. For many styles of music it is an essential pedal and as long as it is used subtly can even be left on all the time.
I love this new project of you guys. After getting hooked with your podcast, Stuff you Should Know, I had to look for more content from you guys. Keep it going josh and Clark 💪
I use chorus all the time for clean tones… It’s why I got a Jazz Chorus amp (not sure if that counts since we’re talking about pedals). Glad everyone can agree about ring mods though haha
On both a ring modulator I made from Craig Anderton's "Electronic Projects for Musicians" and the ring modulator setting on a multi modulation effects I have, I found that the sound sounds stuck on a single harmonic, because it basically is. Ring modulators mix a set harmonic with the tone of the instrument. When I listened to a range of notes on either of those effects some of the same notes in different octaves actually sounded pretty good. EPFM (the book) had a modification for the ring modulator where one the pots (in rheostat configuration) could be replaced with the envelope follower project which basically changed resistance according to the dynamics of the input. Using a my Korg M1, I would take a sequenced track and send it completely to one stereo side and duplicate that track and send that to the other stereo side fed through the envelope filter. With my sequencing software I would change the velocity of each note (except the ones that already sounded alight) which would change the fundamental frequency of the ring modulator until I got something I thought sounded decent. The point of all this is that if a ring modulator changed the fundamental harmonic the right way with each note, it would sound pretty cool. But it would probably fall apart on bent notes.
loved this!! in another universe, i'm a band leader for the fab flange band: Thirteen Flangers. and however weird you think thirteen flangers in the same band might sound, i can assure you it's FAR weirder than that. thanks for the fun, Casino. this channel is must-watch for me.
As someone who is a recording hobbyist guitarist instead of a gigging musician, I’ve found the weird pedals have opened up a whole world of different sounds to keep my songwriting fresh. Flanger (especially coupled with fuzz) gives a great thick horn like sound, where my Boss VO-1 (basically a talk box only using a microphone instead of a tube) can add a lot more percussive sounds to the guitar. Pedals are a great inspirational tool, if not essential to play any song. They’re just like giving a kid more colours of crayons to draw pictures with.
Couldn't agree with you more- so how do you like the VO-1? I just picked up the Boss PS-6 Harmonizer, it's amazing- I love it. But I was considering the VO-1 - the thing that always kept me from using a talk box was that nasty "mic tube"- when any human being puts anything in their mouth it triggers the saliva reflex- your mouth starts making slobber. It's perfectly natural and it developed this way to help us digest food- but it sure can screw up a solo. I watched a guy once play an amazing solo to "Brick House" by the Commodores- using a talk box- but when he took the tube out of his mouth a big ole wad of slobber strung from the tube to his lips- he tries to wipe it off- now it's strung from the tube to his hand, and it continued like this for several seconds- him wiping it away from one thing to only have it now stuck to another- until he finally just wiped both hands and the tube on his overalls- ppl in the audience were visibly getting sick. It was the most fascinating, disgusting, perfect, train wreck I've ever seen on stage. And I walked away form that show with two things in my head- 1. That Will and the Bushmen had an amazing version of Brick House in their back pocket. And 2. That I would never use a talk box in front of ppl. Plus- now that I'm an old man, I have no chompers left, I can't hold the tube in my mouth anymore.
@@stoneysdead689 The VO-1 is a really nice budget, no hassle entry level talk box/vocoder. I plug a SM57 mic into it. You have to learn to over enunciate your T’s, D’s, B’s or Wuh’s to get a good sound, and it also works to say words. It works better with little or no distortion. I’ve used it in 3 songs, including a cover version of Peter Frampton’s show me the way. It isn’t a perfect recreation of the original analogue sound, but good enough for a different sound and some fun tricks.
@@alangreenway6695 Thanks- tbh it doesn't sound like what I'm looking for. If you've ever heard Adam Jones use the talk box while play with Tool- that's what I'm after. He combines it with a wah pedal and gets some crazy wicked distorted lead tones. He's running a stereo amp setup- a Deisel and a Marshal head- not sure what kind of cab he uses- but he sounds amazing.
I will have to say that when the talk box is used at my shows, the crowd goes NUTS! The Joe Walsh and Frampton covers are obvious. The embellishments on outro solo's are especially effective if member's names from the audience are called out - notable for birthdays, anniversaries and weddings. Yes, I play in a cover/event band.
Flangers are fun and cool, I've used them for depth and to take a fairly simple passage sound more complex. All about the usage. Typically I have an overdrive, a distortion, delay/reverb, and that Flanger if I am using pedals.
Eric Johnson and Alex Lifeson could not play a live gig with out their TC chorus …..and You would have to admit they are 2 of the greatest guitar players of all time !!!!
Chorus is a top 5 effect only behind drive pedals, reverb, and delay imo. I get what you're say as far as live jams and what not, but chorus sounds glorious in the studio. It's more associated with new wave music from the late 70's and early 80's, but it was also heavily used in drop tuned metal band like Korn, Limp Bizkit, Head PE etc in the 90's and 2000's
I have a lot of pedals that I probably only use for one or two songs in a 3 hour jam (wah, flanger, univibe, phaser, freqout, octave, etc.). I love them all, but I just rotate them on to the pedalboard every once in a while. The pedals that see action on almost every song are overdrive, distortion, reverb, and delay. Fuzz and tuner are always on the board, but used less often.
Just watched a Jeff Beck concert from last summer. His first song was Me and the Devil Blues with a talk box. Useless is a horrible word for this title. Flanger...really?!?!? Every effect listed here is very useful. Charmicarmicat is my favorite ring modulator use.
My CH-1 is a staple on my board 😂 I turn the rate very low and adjust the depth and EQ to taste and it just adds something to solos. It's very subtle but a great texture to have.
Bass player here. I got a chorus pedal because of Pete Steele of Type-O. Loved his sound. R.i.p. and I love using it and flanger for tapping. Never used them in a band situation though so you guys aren't wrong!
After decades I got a new amp with models, presets etc. and everything I now need is in the box. Great tuner too. I love it. Just plug in the guitar. My old 2-channel main rig has an onboard stereo chorus and reverb and I put a Tube Works Tube Driver preamp pedal (almost always on) right in front of it, with maybe a DOD analog delay as my only other pedal. These pedals sound good on my little 10W Vox too.
Lot of good comments on this thread. Here's my take on a couple of the "Useless" effects. Chorus - I play with an acoustic mostly, but don't always have a 12-string with me. I use my chorus pedal to thicken up the over-all tone of my 6 to get a "sort of" 12 sound. I don't always use it, but it will stay on my board "Just in Case". I think the key here is to NOT over use it... Vocal Harmonizer - I have never claimed to be a singer, or good, or strong. My harmonizer helps a bit with this, the pre-amp helps a LOT. I can have a higher gain, de-essed, and reverbed, before it even hits the mixing board. The "effect" at a subtle setting helps with the tuning and strengthens my voice. Yes, some of the range settings are weird, I try to avoid them.
I have huge pedal board and love it do you like to color with the 8 crayon box or the 120 coloring box ez as that one trick ponies are fine just not for me
My normal pedal setup is a volume pedal, compressor, and a clean boost pedal. I like my gain and reverb from my amp. So I agree with all of them for the most part, but the chorus is a touchy subject. Having it in your signal along with a nice spring reverb is great for a lot of 50's music and rockabilly.
I'm a solo performer, doing old Scots/English folk songs (the Child Ballads) -- my rig is a Tele or Strat through a Princeton, with Mxr Chorus, Phase 90, Micro Flange, Delay, Univibe, and just a little grit from a Distortion+. I love all the swirlies. Yes, not the thing for the blues jam, but great for Folkgaze.
Vocal harmonizer must be subtle and humanized so the harmony is not perfect or overwhelming. I’ve used a TC Helicon voice live 2 for several years and I get both compliments and where the hell are those harmonies coming from positive comments from musicians and patrons at the gig. Ya just gotta dial it in 😊😊😊. Love you guys! Keep up the good work.
I agree with y’all on most but I gotta say… i love using Chorus Pedals to kinda mimic a Leslie Speaker sound! But I wanna get a rotary emulator one day!
Love you guys. Serious question. For the record, I only play at home. I’m not in a band so when I play, I don’t use pedals. Do most people play with pedals or get their effects through their amps? I have some pedals but I rarely use them. Thoughts and thanks.
The key word you said is "Genre Specific." If you are a solo Jazz guitarist in the tradition of Joe Pass, Tuck Andress or Martin Taylor, all pedals are useless. You are going with an archtop guitar into a clean amp, usually a Fender. If you play Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Experimental Rock, then there are going to be all sorts of delays, modulation, overdrive and just plain weird pedals in general in your arsenal. Someone who plays folk rock, probably will not need distortion or fuzz pedals. I would point out as a number already have in the comment section, the flanger is a very versatile pedal. Andy Summers used the flanger in such a subtle way that many assumed it was a chorus pedal. Plini uses flanger just to get a slight movement and depth in his leads. Obviously, David Gilmour, EVH and Alex Lifeson famously use the flanger pedal.
I used a Flanger early on almost as a “Signature Sound” thing, but I never had a real music career, so it never panned out. However, one song we still play from 30 years ago that utilizes a Flanger on an otherwise clean Strat though a Roland Jazz Chorus. The warble of the Flanger gives the arpeggios a bit more character and compliments it well. I used a Chorus pedal once in a blue moon, but on very mild settings. It’s usually a boon for me when I’m using a slide on a Strat as just a little push. The Flanger supplants the Chorus in 99% of the cases.
While l agree with the Ringmaster and Talk Box l love modulation devices and use them often. My acoustic amp is stuck on the chorus/ reverb effect and l love it❗
A lot of the stuff you guys think is useless is only useless for guitar. Flangers have a lot of uses in synth work, and choruses are virtually required on certain kinds of synths.
I bought a cheap guitar multi effect headphone amp that sounds great ( distortion, OD, delay, flange, tremolo) - makes my older nearly entry level Yamaha keyboard sound amazing
We're going to need a video of the contest hijinks. 😄 my first effect pedal was a fuzz/wah that I didn't use the wah very much. The second pedal was a flanger.
In the early days of my guitar playing I had an EHX Electric Mistress flanger, I loved it for the Robin Trower sound and I wish I'd kept it for what they go for now. I've never owned any other effects on this list, I went from no effects to two pedals (distortion & flanger) to all of the pedals with the Line 6 HX Stomp. For my budget and playing style, the multi-effects is the best way to go, easy to use, buy it one time and no more searching for this or that pedal and spending buckets of money on them. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it works for me.
I have 3 of these. I bought a flanger specifically for the bridge in Are You Gonna Go My Way. That’s my only use for it. Same with chorus. There’s one Bryan Adams song we do and that’s all the chorus is for. I have the TC Helicon GTX voice but it does a lot more for me than harmonies. I do sing a lot of backups and I use the harmony thing very quiet and sparingly to help fill out my backup vocals. Of the three I’d probably keep the vocal pedal.
I love drive pedals, but thank God I got a Micro Cube and was able to mess around with effects and realize how useless and ridiculous they are. Saved me a small fortune.
only agree with you guys on a couple of those choices..depends on music styles, placing in your chain, and settings...like some of the greatest guitar tones, sometimes just a slight effect hint makes all the difference...keep up the good work though guys!
I use flanger on my leads (more like melody lines, actually) instead of delay. That’s my thang! Flanger and phaser, I love it! I had the Boss Chorus from 1979, long dash, silver screw. Sounded great, but didn’t know what to use it for.
Awesome! You guys are onto something here! My coolest pedal is an Ibanez AF-2 Paul Gilbert Airplane Flanger! It makes me smile and i believe that is the whole point. My ZVEX instant lo-fi junky is also nice. Have at'er HOSS!!!
Thank you for adding in the vocal harmonizer. I can speak for most sound guys when we say "Please shut that thing off". There is no way a musician can judge, from the stage, what their FOH sound is like. Even if they sample while playing wireless, the use of some effects needs to be controlled real time. That said, pre-consol compression, reverb and harmonisers tend to sound like ***! If you want to have FX on your vocals, let the sound guy do it for you. Another way to look at it is, learn to sing well, use good mic technique and you probably would need very little "help" from the electronics. You did touch on the fact that a few of these fx were judgment calls (Chorus? Roland makes a whole amp modeled around this effect (of course you know of the famour "Roland Jazz Chorus")). I'm going to steal a quote from Myth busters "I reject your reality and insert my own" :). Great video guys.
I got a 10 watt amp from the side of the road. It worked perfectly. So I put a switch on the speaker wires and installed a bullhorn drive in the cabinet along with some plumbing fittings. Instant practice amp/talk box for next to nothing.
I appreciate when I hear an effect being used in new ways. Zappa's use of wah's is a nice example. then there was the EVH's Cradle and ... yeah. it was great, then it was Mogwai and Gremlins.
Chorus had always been on my, "I should get one" list, but I never got around to it. Seems pretty essential, however, when you realize it's the one of the first optional effects you get when you level up in Um Lammy Jammer. (It's the second one? after the daycare level?)
I'm not to 70s to 80s chorus/modulation/flanger are not my thingy some like it but I want is if it can strum that's OK in worship as electric guitar I alternate to heavy and strumming and high delay strums
