How Subtle are You?

[Silence Kid]

Are you one of those guitarists who likes to put modulation/time based effects/compression on at an almost imperceptible level? I must admit I never really understood the purpose of doing so. It always makes me raise a bit of an eyebrow when I see a guitarist playing with about fifteen effects on, all set way down and basically giving a dry sound.

My own tone doesn't usually include any reverb/delay/compression anyway- but it's always made even less sense to me that when people use those things, you can (usually) barely tell. People spend a lot of money on a pedal to keep it basically on one. Then again- maybe I focus more on obtaining a dry sound from my rig good enough that I don't need to use those effects to 'mask' it or make subtle changes anyway (to my ears.)

*The exception is an old solid state amp of mine that has amazing tremolo; when I use it, I prefer it -not- subtle.

 

[Demanic]

Re: How Subtle are You?

I have quite a few clips in the "Tips and Clips" page.
You can be the judge.
Though I will say that I tend to be an all or nothing sort.

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[Diego]

Re: How Subtle are You?

When my Boss CE-2 was my only modulation pedal available, I liked it best as a "is this thing on?" setting, for a bit of texture and pop.
Turns out I didn't really like chorus that much.

Now that I use my M13, I abuse the **** out of the Leslie cab simulators, tremolo and sometimes a very slow phaser with tiny range.
I also like modulated delay. Chorus and flanger, I can't stand.

I like flanger on bass though, as Doug Pinnick uses sometimes, or Jason Newsted in Metallica's "The Outlaw Torn".

 

[Securb]

Re: How Subtle are You?

All of the above. I use effects to simply thicken the tone or add dynamics. Sometimes I use effects to the point it is no longer recognizable I am playing the guitar.

 

[BlueSnMettle]

Re: How Subtle are You?

You can tell mine are on.
I don't over do it.
They are tastefully set.

 

[Mincer]

Re: How Subtle are You?

Oh, I dig effects. From slapback to 20 seconds of pitch-transposed reverb, I'm game.

 

[Aceman]

Re: How Subtle are You?

Depends on what I'm going for, subtle to sledgehammer....

That little extra thickener or spacer, or a delay assisted triplets and syrupy swirl. It's all good.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: How Subtle are You?

Basically all I use in terms of non-distortion effects are an EHX Pitchfork, a subtle phase, and a little bit of reverb. That's about it and that's only when I want a clean passage to fill up a whole lotta tonal space, think Jeff Buckley's take on Hallelujah.

 

[Demanic]

Re: How Subtle are You?

You guys are going to force me to post a clip.

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[Aceman]

Re: How Subtle are You?

You guys are going to force me to post a clip.

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I double dog dare you to post a clip

 

[Demanic]

Re: How Subtle are You?

You might want to go check "Tips and Clips".

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[Demanic]

Re: How Subtle are You?

Ok, just figured out how to put them here.
https://soundcloud.com/demanic-1/dread-advent-plays-sepultura-in-the-small-room

 

[Demanic]

Re: How Subtle are You?

or maybe this
https://soundcloud.com/demanic-1/for-whom-the-what-tolls

 

[Demanic]

Re: How Subtle are You?

There's two Ace.
Well?

 

[Demanic]

Re: How Subtle are You?

Speechless it would appear.

 

[Jacew]

Re: How Subtle are You?

It completely depends on effect. Chorus on clean I keep very subtle to just add slight texture, otherwise it sounds overdone. With distortion less subtle works better.

Delay is another effect I like to keep very subtle, just to thicken and add slight sense of space. There's annoyingly tiny sweet spot on delay volume between unnoticeable and too much where I keep it.

 

[Sirion]

Re: How Subtle are You?

In-your-face enough to annoy tone purists, subtle enough not to degrade the sound.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: How Subtle are You?

I like to hear 'em when they're on. If I can't tell without looking whether an effect is on, IMO it's not likely to make much difference in a band mix.

Might take a different approach if it weren't in a band context, or if the music weren't rock. Or even if I were the only guitarist- I could see wanting to broaden my sound some and fill more space.

Of course there's something to be said for tone that inspires- even if nobody else would notice, it can still inspire you to play better. But for me personally that's more about guitar/amp interaction and basic core tone, not so much a matter of subtle effects.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: How Subtle are You?

Usually I like to keep the effect subtle enough that I could forget it's on, but there are some songs where I like to have one effect where even a non guitar aficionado could tell what it was.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: How Subtle are You?

The interesting thing is that what sounds awesome practicing at home gets lost in the band mix, and what sounds good in the band mix sounds ridiculous at home. Even then, sometimes chorus or flanger after distortion can be just too much no matter what. I keep a lot of my modulation before distortion for this reason.

Delay is all over the place. It can sound good from subtle to in your face depending on what’s needed.