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All About Gain Pedals 101
I get a lot of questions about what gain pedals I use, and how I set them. So here's
a multi-part tutorial/post about what all gain is, kinds of gain pedals, and how I
recommend setting them up.
I'll start with describing the kinds of gain. I'll follow up with how to dial them in, in
different band and genre scenarios. Keep in mind, this is all very subjective!
What works for me might not work for you. My settings are how I set my pedals, for my
amps, for my guitars, and how they work with other pedals on my board. And of course,
I set mine for use playing the songs I play. Also, there's a huge difference in how each
pedal responds to single coil, humbucker and active pick ups, and to tube amps compared
to solid state amps. Or hybrid amps with tubes in the pre-amp.
Also, one tip before we get started: Take pix of your pedal settings as you go. When
one is set to where you love it, take a picture of it. And save it. Then later put all
the pix into a folder. When you’re setting up at a gig, if something isn’t sounding right
while setting up, check your pix. See if the settings got changed. My cat likes to lay
on my pedal board. Why? Beats me! But she does! Same with my mixer before I went
digital. And knobs and sliders are aways getting changed! In time you’ll remember your
settings. Plus you’re going to tweak some pedals at each gig to match the room. You
can easily go back to the original settings as your starting, baseline settings.
Over Drive: Used to give you the sound of a tube amp pushed to the point of break up.
Most OD pedals will boost the mid range a bit. Some have a tone control which is really
important, IMO. You might set it up to give you a really sweet, mellow, warm sound you
love. But when you play with other instruments, in a band setting, your guitar can get
totally lost in the mix. So brighten it up a bit with the tone control, and it'll help
you cut through the mix. Boosting the mids puts you in a good place. Between the bass
guitar and the kick drum, and the snare and cymbals. Note: Even at unity, when you kick
it on it can be a bit extreme. If you have the tone set right, you might even want the
volume to be slightly lower than when the pedal is off. This can be perfect for solos.
With brown amps like Marshall or Vox, the OD really pushes through the mix because of
the mid boost. This would be more for ZZ Top or AC/DC rather than being for Metal.
Distortion: If you're going for a heavier sound, like maybe Metallica, especially in
Drop D or lower tunings, or with a baritone, and again, especially if you're using
compression, distortion is what you most likely want. As with OD pedals, if you have
a tone control, you'll have an easier time getting the sound you want. Keep in mind
this can be a really heavy sound. And it's very easy for your guitar to sound muddy,
and get lost in the mix. And also as with OD pedals, how it sounds while in your music
studio, or bedroom will be very different to how it sounds in a live band setting! So
work with the tone control. Brighten it up a bit so you cut through!
Fuzz: Fuzz is a totally different kind of gain, and can take some time to get a
handle on it. What does fuzz sound like? Well, it sounds . . . FUZZY! Ha! A really
cool fuzz pedal is the TC Electronics Rusty Fuzz. So is the EHX Ripped Speaker Fuzz.
Some of you might remember the original Fuzz Face pedal. Fuzz is like the sound you'd
get if you had a hole or cut in your speaker, or faulty electrical components in your
amp or pedal. Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones, Psychotic Reaction by Count Five,
Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix . . . all fuzz! Like the other pedals mentioned above,
fuzz can get totally lost in your mix. So you might need to crank up the volume a bit.
Adjusting your tone can also help you cut through the mix.
But that causes other issues. Because of how it works, you have to be really careful
not to accidentally hit open strings! They will ring out loud and clear! You can
also get other "noise" while playing. If you don't articulate clearly with your pick,
or if you scrape the pick on strings while playing, you're going to get noise! So
fuzz is not for the faint of heart! Or the novice. If you're just getting into
gain pedals, fuzz probably isn't the one to buy first. But . . . It's one of the coolest
pedals you can use! I personally use it a lot more for single note soloing as opposed
to using it for power chords, full chords or even double/triple stops.
It takes time to dial them in. We’ll discuss that in Part 2. Just know it can take many
hours to get each one working, especially if you stack them together! More on that
in Part 2: How to dial in your gain pedals 101
Wayne
Play The Darn Thing Directory
Wayne (Reed) Knazek ~ Email Me Here! ~ My personal Web site
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