5 essential guitar pedals all project studio owners should own

Almost all guitar tones comprise a combination of ..

- guitarist technique
- guitar
- effect pedals
- amp / cabinet
- mic and positioning

If you are a project or home studio owner who either plays electric guitar, or records guitar players, you may want to have some pedals effects on hand.

Unlike other instruments, pedal effects are usually an integral part of a guitar tone and therefore recorded live as part of the signal. A guitarist's performance often relies on the way these pedals respond to their playing technique so adding them afterwards isn't always desirable or effective.

Here are 5 pedals you should consider owning ..

1. Compressor. Essential for transient and tone shaping, adding sustain, and smoothing out the dynamics of tight funky rhythm parts. Think Nile Rodgers. Celebrated models include the MXR DynaComp and the Xotic SP.

2. Overdrive / boost pedal. These pedals are used to drive an amp's clean channel into distortion by boosting the signal from the guitar. The amount of amp distortion depends on a guitarist playing technique. Hit the strings harder for more break-up. They differ from a distortion channel on an amp in which distortion is usually always present. Some of these pedals have additional distortion circuits controlled by a Gain or Drive control. Essential for those Stevie Ray Vaughn tones. Celebrated models include the Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer.

3. Fuzz pedal. Essential ingredient in adding a synth-like sustained distortion to lead sounds. Fuzz pedals add a fizzy sustained distortion to a signal that can be toned down with a treble cut control. Think Ernie Isley and Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Celebrated models include ProCo RAT, Fuzz Face, and Electro Harmonix Big Muff.

4. Phaser pedal. For some reason the rich effect of pedal phasing has yet to be fully replicated in plug-ins. Celebrated models include the MXR Phase 90 and Electro Harmonix Small Stone.

5. Wah-wah. Essentially a foot controllable band pass sweep filter with resonance, this effect should be placed firmly under the control of the performer. Where would the Theme From Shaft be without it!. Celebrated models include the Dunlop Cry Baby.

Providing you have a re-amping box, all of these effects can also be used on keyboards, drum machines and any other line level signal you have recorded to your DAW.

There are of course, many other types of pedal but some, such as delay and reverb, are best added with outboard or plug-ins after recording.

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