Customer Reviews

Guitar Effects Pedals the Practical Handbook Book/CD (Softcover)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Not only is this one amazingly info-packed book, I found it a fascinating and very enjoyable read on many levels, and I wouldn't normally categorize myself as a "gear head" (although I think this book has converted me...). Although the chapter on Vintage Pedals is fascinating, I really appreciated the author's inclusion of an extensive chapter covering Current Pedals too. I agree with his view that "better pedals are being made now than ever before," and the newer effects often don't get their due. If you don't have $500 to spend on a rare, noisy, expensive but occasionally cool sounding box from the late `60s, Guitar Effects Pedals will point you to some alternatives, and will explain why the new options might even be more satisfying. On top of all this, the History, Tech, and Interview chapters are really useful and very entertaining. I have to say, I was a little puzzled - even stunned - by another reviewer's claim that this book "wasn't well written..." Huh? It flows beautifully, tells you what you need to know, and keeps you gripped along the way (then again, I believe that reviewer admits to being a writing teacher - kind of says it all). On top of that, the reviewer makes odd claims that seem to indicate he didn't really read (or understand) the book: he says that the JRC4558 chip isn't covered, but I found tons of info on it in here, and he also seems dismayed that the book didn't teach him how to build effects or something, where I don't find that angle promoted anywhere on the cover or inside, and that's not the stated intention of this book. Overall, I can't imagine packing more information - or a better read - into the pages allotted here, and we all know that no publisher is going to attempt to even print a 1,000-page to-it-all effects book. Ultimately, this is a book that every guitar player, pedalhead or not, would love to have on his or her shelf.

Musician-turned-journalist Dave Hunter describes the current market for guitar pedal effects as "booming." His book, which covers everything from the history of pedals to tips on expanding your arsenal of effects, is an indispensable bible for guitarists who are trying to make sense of today's flood of available options.

My favorite part of the book is Chapter Six. Entitled "Meet the Makers," this section includes extended interviews with legendary effects inventors such as Roger Mayer, Mike Matthews, Mike Fuller, Pete Cornish, Josh Fiden and Dan Coggins. These interviews give a behind-the-scenes peak at what inspired many of the innovations that have shaped the effects industry.

Beyond the text, "Guitar Effects and Pedals" comes with a 92-track CD which demos many of the sounds described in the book. In other words, when you read about a certain effect in the book, you can hear how it sounds by switching on the CD. Chapter Seven of the book provides a thorough index of the CD, so you won't have any trouble finding the track that you are looking for.

Overall, the no-bull approach of this book is probably what is most appealing: it doesn't try to tell you what to buy, or what pedals you need to play "to be cool," but lays the big, wide wonderful world of effects out in front of you so you can make your own sound-based decisions. No plugged-in guitarist should be without it.

The book attempts to cover a lot of ground: a history of effects, an explanation of how they work (including some schematics, though be forewarned - these are frequently inaccurate or incomplete), a stroll through the history and most prominent models of a large number of manufacturers (including boutique types), some tips on using them effectively, 58 pages of interviews with notable designers/makers (Matthews, Cornish, Fuller, Vex, Voodoo Labs, Frantone, Visual Sound), and a CD with 92 nicely documented sample tracks of a wide assortment of contemporary and vintage pedals, both boutique and major maker.

All in all, a pretty reasonable yield for the money.

The writer clearly has a bias towards analog and seems to be the sort that finds images of sloppy overburdened pedal-boards with a dog's breakfast of devices crammed in with patch cords running everywhere just the sort of thing he wants on his wall calendar in the garage/basement (GET A LOAD OF THE KNOBS ON THAT ONE!). Perhaps because of the language barrier or just because you can meet a lot of folks justy hanging around New York, there is a decidedly American/British slant to the coverage. Not to say he shuns Boss, Ibanez, Guyatone, et al, but that he doesn't really have a lot of juicy insider stuff to offer about them the way he does with English-speaking makers. There is, as you'd expect of a 2004 book, a keen awareness of the emergence of the vintage market, and the challenge of knowing when stuff from the old days was good, when it has been surpassed by more contemporary stuff, and what constitutes a bargain vs a ripoff.

Chapter 2 has schematics to more precisely explain the inner workings of different kinds of pedals, but it's not clear what he's getting at. The circuits shown do not have accompanying "walkthroughs" such as you'd see in a project article in ETI. They show component values, but in most instances there are a few seemingly randomly selected components where values are not shown, and in other instances the diagram leaves you just scratching your head. For instance, the schematic intended to explain analog delay shows a chip labelled as "NE577 BBD IC" doing all the work. Um, yeah.......that's the chip you see in just about every commercial delay line since the first Memory Man. I'm not sure if he was simply trying to delicately skirt around patent/copyright law or if he and his editor just don't understand enough to know how off they are. DO NOT plan on building anything based on those diagrams.....but it's nice to at least see someone try to provide more technical detail. There is, of course, the requisite discussion/mention of the JRC4558 and germanium.

The alphabetical maker-by-maker listing of effects could have benefitted by colour pictures (it's B&W throughout) but then I guess I would have paid a lot more than I did), however there are decent shots of lots of items, some fairly recent, some quite old, with production years and controls listed for each pedal, as well as a brief description of its general sonic properties. Some nice old ads thrown in for good measure.

The interviews are interesting. So far I've read the one with Mike Matthews and forum regular Zachary Vex. Those folks dreaming about a career in the "glamourous" life of boutique pedal-making would do well to read the interviews of folks like Zach. I am reminded of the requirement Jewish rabbis have to "turn away" those seeking religious conversion three times, so as to spare them from lightly undertaking a change which they know will be hard and unforgiving in its demands. The interviews with the "old farts" like Matthews certainly give a better understanding of how things evolved. Mike Matthews' interview is fascinating in that regard, although I question the veracity of his memory sometimes. There are occasions when the physical reality of the pedals themselves contradicts a memory that is heavily influenced by 3 decades of immersion in marketing blurb (e.g., if he is so besotted with having control over everything and allowing players to produce sounds on the edge without constraints, how come E-H has such a long tradition of "one-knob wonders"?). Still, interesting to know that apparently Hendrix DID own an early Big Muff, what the hazy relationship was between Guild and E-H, where the LPB-1 came from, and that the Sovtek thing essentially grew out of Matthews having a Russian girlfriend with military connections.

One interesting tidbit. As of the printing of the book, Bill Finnegan of Klon Centaur fame was able to brag about having sold some 5,000 units. That sounds like a lot (actually it is), and yes the Klon costs a pretty penny, but do the math and figure out how much Bill makes from each pedal after factoring in overhead. Then spread that out for 5000 units over the number of years he has been making it, and tell me it's making him rich. Thanks, but I'll keep my government job and build on weekends.

Haven't heard any of the sound samples yet (that'll be today's cleanup music later on), but I'm looking forward to it. Many are pedals I've heard OF, but never heard. To his credit, Hunter includes a sort of reference sample of a tweed Tremolux to compare against pedal tremolos and pedal overdrives. There are also 4 samples of *bypass* using different bypass circuits to give a sense of tone-sucking potential. Now THAT'S hip.

Review by Mark Hammer of diystompboxes.com

I am an experienced acoustic and classical quitar player who has always owned an electric guitar (tele) and a nice amp (Rivera R11255) but never really figured out how to get the kind of tone I like out of the instruments. (I need lessons and more practice time as well, but that's another story.) I was looking for a book + CD that would help me figure out what pedals to buy and why (I was always told that you had to have some pedals if you are going to play electric.)

This book + CD delivers the goods. Hunter gives tons of information on how and why guitar effects are used, their history, loads of data on classic, popular, and even obscure specific boxes. He tells you what some of your heros actually use to get their tone.

Best of all, you can hear the sound on the CD -- this is absolutely key. There is no universally understood way to describe sounds in words: you have to hear them. Hunter provides nice sequences of licks, appropriate for each kind of box, and plays the same sequence for each box in a category of box (say, tube screamers, or chorus -- he plays the exact same sequence for each chorus box). That way, you get an apples-to-apples comparison of the sounds of different choices. It's great. The sound clips run from about 0:30 to around 1:20, plenty of time and licks to get the sound in your head. He doesn't demo every box on the CD (92 tracks) but very many and pretty much all the ones you're going to be wondering about.

I can't imagine a better tool for the beginner or intermediate player, looking to spend their money wisely on stomp boxes.

My eventual choices:
Visual Sound Route 66 American Overdrive
Proco Rat
Fuzz Face
Boss Digital Delay DD-6
Boss Chorus

While other books introduce you to various effects or briefly expose you to the type of sounds they make, none of them that I have read give you as much in-depth information as this book. If you are a novice to effects pedals like myself, or even an experienced player, you should read this book before buying any effects pedals.

The theme of the book is that guitarists played on what was available at the time, and most of them changed their gear over time in trying to attain better or new sound, so don't get stuck on who played what, hung-up on what parts were used in vintage vs. modern, or even by claims from pedal modifiers that their modifications to existing pedals are somehow superior to the pedals original manufacture. Decide for yourself what sounds good to you by testing various brands and even various models from the same maker or you could end up paying hundreds of dollars for something you thought was going to sound magical with your combination of guitar, amp, and playing style and be totally disappointed.

The book progresses from a look at each type of effect presenting the reader with definitions of each, how they work and alter the sound, what makes them special, and sample schematic for those that may be technically inclined to do additional research and build their own effects or for readers like me who have a curious nature. "Getting Great Guitar Sounds" by Michael Ross is a good companion to this book, as one or two definitions seemed to be a little deficient. The book then gives some history limited to items of historic, influential, or other significance i.e., things that have made a major impact or contribution to music and or effects themselves (additional history and side notes along with more photos can be found in "The Stompbox" by Art Thompson and I've seen, but not read Analogue Man's book about vintage pedals). Next, a chapter on the original effects makers followed by a chapter about the modern manufacturers. Following the makers is a chapter on tips and tricks, which I found to be the weakest chapter, but still rather good. Again, I would recommend "Getting Great Guitar Sounds" as a supplement. The book ends with a chapter of interviews with some of the makers, and is one of the best chapters as Mr. Hunter asks the makers most, if not all the questions a lot of players would ask and gets some pretty candid answers. I've read some of the authors other books on amps and such, and he has the ability to get those he interviews to really open up.

The CD that accompanies the book is packed with samples covering the various categories of effects. Each sample is long and varied enough and gives a good introduction to each type of effect. The author goes even further by providing, as best as he can, side-by-side comparisons of pedals by various makers for effects like overdrive and distortion and to a lesser degree the rest. The book provides all the pedal/guitar/amp settings used to make each sample. I found myself listening to the CD over and over again. First, straight through, then more focused when comparing pedals within the same category. After getting caught up in listening for which sample sounded best in it's category, I had to remind myself that the purpose of these comparisons is to broaden the listener's exposure to these effects and to reinforce the ideas expressed in the text. While one pedal may sound better than another on the CD, based on a single application and setup, it may not sound as good in another application with your own rig.

The author has limited this book strictly about effects pedals themselves with a word or two in passing about pedal related items. I would like to have seen a chapter or appendix about effects pedal related items, e.g., a short discussion about using batteries vs. power supplies designed especially for effects pedals, commercially available pedal boards with/without built in power supplies, and tips on how to travel with your pedals. The chapter might also include advice on the care and maintenance if any is required. I would like to have seen a small discussion about double pedals and multi-effect pedals which are more closely related to a stompbox than a rack effect. It would be nice if there were an appendix or a listing of each effect along with some songs and artist that demonstrate the effect. I felt like I was back in school as I was taking notes on each chapter writing down the effect including brand if noted, the artist and song if also noted, so that I could see if I had it in my record collection or if I needed to get a copy from the library or music store. Finally, I would love to have seen more photos in color. Part of the fun with effects pedals is all the colors they come in.

The only bad thing about this book is now I'm scouring eBay and music stores to add to my pedal collection! The CD was super helpful too. Analogman's book is a little more complete but a lot more expensive.

You're better off getting this book at your local library reading it and returning it. It's a bit dated and lacking in detail. After your finished with it it's not one of those books you wish you had on your bookshelf. It's a good read. Has some valuable tips. But, it is what it is.

A far better choice would be: "Analog Man's Guide to Vintage Effects." Fascinating book. Well-written. Tons of photos and other illustrations. And "Analog Mike" who has written it is The Man when it comes to all things stomp box.

YMMV.

Having little to no experience with guitar effects and which pedal does what and, more importantly, what certain effects sound like, I found this book to be an excellent resource. It's also nice that the author doesn't make an attempt to steer the reader to a specific product, model or manufacturer. I found the historical approach to be very interesting and the organization of the book was well thought out. And I also enjoyed the interviews with some selected guitar effects "wizards."

My only complaint is the lack of a sound sample of all of the pedals/effects that were listed in the compendium in both chapters dealing with the effects themselves.

There is a chapter on how best to set up effects for different types of amplifier set ups. But again, the best part of the book is the suggestion throughout that the decision on what effect to buy or how to hook it up is entirely up to the individual and what sound the individual hopes to achieve.

If you're looking for a tutorial on how to wire your own effects, this isn't the book for you.

If you've been playing guitar for years, or are a beginner for that matter, and are looking for ways to create a new sound, then I would highly recommend this book.

It wasn't a bad read, but it spent too much time on technical jargon, and seemed to favor certain brands rather than getting into the uses, and adjustments as I would have liked.

I bought this hoping that it would explain the difference in how certain effects pedals achieve their sounds. Although there is a chapter in the book which outlines the basics of the different catagories of effects, it does not elaborate on the details of how they alter the signal. The majority of the book is a history of effects pedals, listing the popular products from various manufacturers as well as a list of famous pedal designers.

I wanted to read about components on the inside of pedals and what each one does in depth. This book does not give you that.