If you take a look at some of the other posts here, you can tell that I am quite a fan of effects. I have more posts about guitar effects pedals than anything else. That might not be your bag, in fact there are many people who don't share my passion for these little boxes of joy. Ok, that's fine, but why not? Let's look at why effects aren't the end-all be-all that I feel deep down inside they are...if I have to.
1. They don't help
Yes, they do, but not the way you think. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If you have a pedal in your chain, then you may be adding something you didn't intend on adding. First, the pedal you are adding may have a buffer that your signal passes through even when the pedal is off. These buffers are added to increase your signal strength so you won't have signal loss over long stretches of cable. Sounds great, right? Well, not all buffers are equal. Some can change your sound. Most are minimally intrusive, but others can really color your sound. What if your chain is all true-bypass? Running a total of thirty feet of cable is enough to take a toll on your sound. Most rigs will run close to thirty even if there aren't many pedals on your board. Now add all those patch cables and you're probably at or over 30 feet.
2. They change your tone
You might be thinking that the point of a pedal is to change your tone, but not in all cases. Volume, boost, comp, noise gate shouldn't change the overall tone of your sound. In many cases this is true to some extent. Think about it. What kind of electronic wizardry do you have to employ to change your sound without actually changing the tone? When you run your signal through a chain, you always effect your tone. Whether it is true-bypass or buffered, there is always an unwanted effect even when the pedal is off. When the effect is on, that's another matter. Many noise gates will clip even some of the wanted signal. Comps and boosts can add noise. Volume pedals can be scratchy. There is always a give and take when running pedals.
3. They over promise
I'm looking at you Digital Effects. My very first guitar effect was a Digitech RP100 Multi-effects unit. I used that thing all the time. It made lots of different sounds. Many effects I didn't use, but I learned how to use overdrives and delays. I also learned how to turn knobs and push buttons till it wasn't fun anymore. The idea was that these were the answer to all of your problems. Every type of effect could be dialed in and stored in a huge bank of presets. It was a great idea. However, the sounds that actually came out of the unit were not the best. Actually, my little Crate practice amp made so much better sounds that even a novice, like I was, could tell right away. I know that not every Digital Effect is like this, but if it seems to good to be true, it probably is.
4. ... and under deliver
In the same way that some effects can promise the world and end up underwhelming, some effects make claims that seem reasonable, but still seem to be lacking. In the case of the Joyo green fuzz box (I forget what its really called), it combines fuzz and octave. This sounds like a great combination, but in practice the effect was not as well conceived as one would like. For one, the octave was only available when the fuzz was on. There was no way to control how present the octave was. Another pedal that tried to do a little too much was the Rout 66 from Visual Sound. The OD and Compressor were both available independently, but the controls seemed to be a little lacking. Given the price of these pedals, it might have served better to buy two separate pedals.
5. They're expensive
If you are anything like me, you've taken a look at your gear and added up the cost of all the things you've collected over your career. I've had thousands of dollars of gear just on my board. While its easy to point to guitars as being the real expense, pedals and other gear can easily cost just as much, if not more than the guitar you use. I've purchased more than one pedal in the last month, but I haven't bought a guitar in years. I'm a little hesitant to add up all the money that I've spent on pedals, partly because it might take awhile and partly because my wife reads my blogs. (I love you, wifey!)
There are many reasons to use pedals. Some sounds are impossible to get without them. I've made my position clear on how I feel about them, but they aren't completely great. There are intended and unintended effects with these pedals. Just be aware of these things when the thought that adding that one pedal will make everything better.
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