Effect pedal

Tremolo and Chorus effects

An effect pedal is an electronic device that can change the sound of an instrument or the voice of a person. Typical effects include echo, chorus, distortion, tremolo, reverb and flanger. A potentiometer is one of the electronic parts that effect pedals use to change the sound.^[1]

Effect pedals are commonly connected to electric guitars and bass guitars and to amplifiers using a cable, such as a phone connector. The pedal is then put on the floor and controlled using the player's foot. Depending on how the effect works, there are different ways to use the pedal:

The player may have to push and release the pedal to turn on the effect, and do it again to turn it off.
The player may have to push and hold the pedal down to turn the effect on, and release the pedal to turn it off.
Some effects, such as volume or wah-wah, use a pedal where the player presses with the ball to increase the effect or with the heel to decrease the effect.

Many guitarists like to use different effect pedals with each other. They stick them to a flat surface to make a pedalboard that they can take with them.

Examples of effects

Distorted sound
Tremolo sound
Reverberation effect

Effect Pedal Media

A pedalboard allows a performer to create a ready-to-use chain of multiple pedals to achieve certain types of sounds. Signal chain order: tuner, compressor, octave generator, wah-wah pedal, overdrive, distortion, fuzz, EQ and tremolo.
Various type of guitar and bass effect pedals.
Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9 overdrive pedal
An example of an effects chain. From the input [right] to the output [left]:
- Tuner [upper right] (tc electronic Polytune) ⇒
- Wah pedal [lower right] (Morley Bad Horsie Wah) ⇒
- Overdrives/distortion [lower row] (Rocktron Short Timer Delay → Danelectro CTO-1 Transparent Overdrive → Boss HM-2 → Boss MT-2) ⇒
- Modulations/delay [upper row] (Digitech Hyper Phase → Danelectro CV-1 Vibe → Danelectro CT Tremolo → Digitech Hyper Delay)
Rackmounted effects in road cases. These road cases have the front protective panels removed so the units can be operated. The protective panels are put back on and latched shut to protect the effects during transportation.
The Eventide HE3000 Ultra-Harmonizer pictured here displays the entire name of an effect or setting, which helps users to find their preferred settings and effects.
Boss ME-5 multi-effects from 1988 included several pedal effects in one unit, with the ability to write and recall presets.
A 1968 Fender Bandmaster amplifier. Note the four inputs, two for regular sound and two which are run through the onboard tremolo effect unit.
A Fender Vibrolux Reverb amp and a ROSS amp
The Fuzz Face effect pedal