The Bonehead's Guide to Effects (Guitar World Presents) [Paperback]

Dominic Hilton (Author)

Book Description

Series: Guitar World Presents | Publication Date: February 1, 2000

Like the special effects used in Speilberg movies, guitar effects can be equally as dramatic and baffling. The Bonehead's Guide to Effects gets right to the point with an illustrated description of every type of guitar effect, including their sound, application and the various formats available. From a simple "stompbox" to high-powered rack systems, all are clearly explained in terms of how they function and how they can be used to enhance your playing. The text includes a detailed buyer's guide to assembling your ideal effects system, alongside useful safety and maintenance tips. There is also vital info on "chaining" effects and recipes for basic tones and outrageous sounds. The bizarre technology of guitar effects uses everything from feet to floppy discs and this guide provides the necessary knowledge to choose and apply these weird devices according to your style and budget. If you feel the urge to wah, flange, uni-vibe or pitchshift, then this is the book to get you effected.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 079359801X
• ISBN-13: 978-0793598014
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,204,138 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars OK first-generation book, January 27, 2003

By 

Michael Hoffman (Egodeath.com) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bonehead's Guide to Effects (Guitar World Presents) (Paperback)

Mentions or shows effects including the SansAmp Classic, Yamaha DG-1000 rackmount amp simulator guitar preamp, Roland VG-8, Rocktron Hush, Tube Driver distortion pedal, Morley JD10 D.I. distortion box.

Mentions using a guitar amp's FX loop on p 56, and the challenge of combining a preamp/processor with an amp on page 57.

Page 61-64 has valuable wisdom about testing used gear (I bought two pieces of gear that turned out to be broken).

There are no real amp tone tricks here -- nothing about pre-dist EQ, phaser before distortion, EQ and distortion interaction, and no mention of power attenuators or dummy loads, essential non-amp items in many rig processing chains of the 90s through the present.

This book is good, but makes all these standard mistakes of omission -- pedestrian and conventional; a decent inventory of the obvious, it won't help you dial in a basic amp tone voicing. It isn't really helpful in integrating effects into a practical foundation of amp tone, such as examining the fundamental chain of amp tone: pickup EQ, preamp distortion, amp EQ, power-tube distortion, power attenuator, speaker/mic EQ.

The distortion section says nothing about combining stages of distortion, or the relation between preamp distortion and power-tube distortion. It doesn't mention shaping distortion voicing by pre-distortion EQ. The EQ section says nothing about pre-distortion EQ versus post-distortion EQ; it says nothing but the totally obvious. The Phaser section says nothing about where phasing can be placed, before or after a distortion stage. Same with the Volume Pedal section.

These effects sections don't integrate the effect within a rig chain, but that's one of the most important things guitarists should know. It's rather obvious, by demoing pedals in the store, what each effect does on its own -- we really don't need a book for that, so in this sense, the book is superfluous and doesn't add value. The issue of effects order is covered in a vague and helpless way on page 71 -- "different pedals behave very differently depending on their order". Do people buy this book just to be told what they already know? No, they need specific advice, but the book doesn't have any, just "try it" -- tellingly, page 72 starts with an implicit admission of the lack of content in the book's main sections regarding effects placement: "Instead of letting you leave empty-handed, it only seemed fair to offer some old family recipes for the road."

The book is basic in the wrong way; it could have presented 80 pages of insight and tricks for integrating various processors with a distorting tube power amp, comparing different sequences, and showing how to manage the loudness problem. Instead, it's an inventory of the obvious. Let's hope the next generation of guitar effects books studies the better, more professional-level books such as The Recording Guitarist.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bonehead's Guide to Effects, June 16, 2000

By 

Ben Kindberg - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bonehead's Guide to Effects (Guitar World Presents) (Paperback)

By far the most usefull tool in understanding and tuning up your multieffects. the only downfall, too short.