All too often, traditionalists are extremely put off by all these “new-fangled” effects. “You’re wasting your time,” they might say. “Name me one song that uses that weird thing,” another might moan. As we all know, players have been using effects since The Ventures and fuzz, distortion, overdrive, modulation and delay pedals have become canonical in popular music. However, since Tom Oberheim built the first guitar-oriented ring modulator in the late ‘60s, traditionalists have been telling its users to get off their respective lawns. Yet here we are, 50 years later, and companies are still making them. Who uses these unusable things? Come with me as I take you on a journey of strange effects amongst traditional guitar heroes.
Ring modulator
Notable users: Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo), Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Frank Black (Pixies), Kurt Vile
Ring modulation is one of those effects that crashes a tone party like little else in the effects world; it’s unmistakable bell tone cuts through any mix like a santoku knife. Many traditionalists scoff at the ring modulator because of its propensity to absolutely wreck any signal fed into it. Part of the reasoning lies within how a ring modulator works: in the interest of space, a ring modulator combines an internal frequency (“carrier”) with the incoming signal and the resulting mishmash ensues. Typically, the carrier frequency is “tuned” to Bb, which always sounds like a gargling robot unless you’re playing the right notes. However, several guitar players have made use of this controversial effect. Mark Mothersbaugh famously duct taped an Electro-Harmonix Frequency Analyzer to the bridge of his Telecaster, this can be seen in Devo’s video for “Satisfaction.” One of Billy Gibbons’s go-to effects is the Bizzarktone ring modulator, which is a one-off built for him by a friend. Frank Black of the Pixies and current-day guitar hero Kurt Vile both employ the use of a Moogerfooger ring modulator as well.
Bitcrusher
Notable users: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Juan Alderete (Mars Volta), David Bryant (Godspeed You! Black Emperor)
Of all effects on this list, this may be the newest type. A bitcrusher (or bit reducer) is a very unique effect, in that it cannot be done by analog means. The effect samples an input waveform in at a certain amount of bits, then this amount is reduced, resulting in splatty noises associated with signal quantization. It’s a complicated and rarely-attempted effect, in fact, beyond the WMD Geiger Counter, a more obtainable offering doesn’t exist. Of course, this isn’t helped by the fact that most pedals that claim to offer bitcrushing instead only offer sample-rate reduction, which is a completely different effect that can be accomplished by analog means. If you’ve listened to a Mars Volta or Vato-Negro record, you’ve heard the Geiger Counter. In fact, Mars Volta’s pedal setup used to be unwieldy, to put it kindly. The boards were pared down, and the Geiger Counter still made the cut. David Bryant of GY!BE uses two bitcrushers on his board; the Sonic Crayon Moth and the Montreal Assembly Wrong Side of Uranus—two pedals by two different Montreal-based companies.
Oscillating Filter
Notable users: The Edge (U2)
One of the more intriguing effects on this list is the oscillating filter. Typically not a dedicated effects unit, the oscillating filter is created by juicing the resonance controls on any filter. Most players that have heard this sound have done so by accidentally getting too cute with filter controls on an analog synthesizer. Though effects like this are in full usage by noise stalwarts like Wolf Eyes and Theologian, they generally stay in this realm and rarely venture out into the world of rock music. However, once in a while, one crosses over to the mainstream. In 2009, a shot of The Edge’s studio pedalboard leaked onto the Internet, with some seriously robust-looking adhesion. Each pedal was tied down to the board with an oversized zip-tie, which suggests permanence. One of the pedals stuck to Edge’s board is the Lastgasp Art Laboratories Cyber Psychic, self-described as a “Parametric Oscillo Filter.” Because this shot was taken in 2009, traces of the Cyber Psychic may be heard in live recordings made post-2009, like the ones on the band’s Wide Awake in Europe EP that was released late 2010.
Oscillating Fuzz (Fuzz Factory)
Notable users: Matt Bellamy (Muse), Nels Cline (Wilco), Jason Caddell (Dismemberment Plan)
The oscillating fuzz, mostly the Fuzz Factory, may be the most polarizing effect in music today, likely because it’s a new take on an old classic—many purists take great care to order offending players off their collective lawns. The circuit (at least the Fuzz Factory) is designed around a Fuzz Face core with a few bells and whistles added in—one of its most distinctive features is that the transistors are flipped to compensate for the pedal’s negative-ground design. While some pedal gurus advise against such blasphemy, these types of innovations have catapulted the Fuzz Factory and its brethren into “modern classic “status. And perhaps not one player has helped further the proliferation of the oscillating fuzz than Matt Bellamy of Muse, who likes the pedal so much that he has it built into to his guitar cavities. Nels Cline of Wilco has also made great use of the effect, declaring it one of his “must-have” effects that winds up on his pedalboard no matter where he plays or who he plays with. Jason Caddell of Dismemberment Plan used only a Fuzz Factory and a Tube Screamer for his dirt sound, decided upon after auditioning hundreds of dirt boxes.
Stutter
Notable users: Oz Noy, Jean Baudin
Like the bitcrusher, this effect has only recently been available in pedal form as a dedicated unit for a short time. Avid computer musicians have had access to this effect for a long time, as have users of the Vox Repeat Percussion tremolo and its ilk. However, this effect has actually been available to guitarists for almost 20 years, via the woefully underused and misunderstood Hold mode on the Boss DD-5, which has carried over to the DD-6 and DD-7. Virtuoso guitarist Oz Noy knows this, and his various boards utilize no less than SEVEN DD-7s. His fourth pedalboard uses four of them in series. Live clips of Oz Noy show him using the Hold stutter extensively throughout his solos to dramatic effect. Jean Baudin, formerly of Nuclear Rabbit and now a world-renowned “extended range” bassist uses the Hexe Revolver II to achieve his stutter effects. The implementation of pedal stutter units is still in infancy stages, as only three dedicated units exist to my knowledge: the Hexe Revolver II, Dwarfcraft Memento and MWFX Judder. However, with more experimental musicians heavily using them, they may soon trickle down to the mainstream sooner than later.
Foldover Distortion
Notable users: Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Mark Ibold (Sonic Youth), Jake Duzsik (HEALTH)
Another instantly recognizable sound, foldover distortion occurs as a result of signal aliasing. Without boring anyone with the details, the sound can be described as some sort of distortion-envelope hybrid. The sound is very wet, yet harmonically fragile, and if you’ve heard it, you know. Some foldover distortion can be found deep within the bowels of the WMD Geiger Counter, and Source Audio makes a few pedals with modes dedicated to the sound. Subdecay just discontinued the Noise Box, which has several foldover settings. However, perhaps the best-known usage of this effect is from Jeff Tweedy, who typically uses a Crowther Prunes & Custard on his pedalboard. Crowther describes the P&C as a “Harmonic Generator-Intermodulator,” whatever that means, but to most of us, it means foldover distortion. Mark Ibold and Jake Duzsik also use the P&C to great effect. Mark used it on the 2006 tour for Rather Ripped on both guitar and bass. Duzsik, from modern rock band HEALTH uses the P&C heavily amongst other, more pedestrian pedals.
Theremin
Notable users: Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Coco (Man or Astro-man?), Phillip Cope (Kylesa)
Until people not named Clara Rockmore start cutting entire records of Theremin music, I’m going to go ahead and classify it as an effect for the time being. For the uninitiated, the Theremin (named for inventor Leon Theremin) is a device that generates sounds via proximity from an antenna (or series of antennae). Science-fiction flicks of the ‘50s and ‘60s owed a lot to the device, as its eerie tones characterized an alien presence in those films. Despite being invented back in the ‘20s, the Theremin likely got the relevance defibrillation treatment via Jimmy Page, who famously worked the magic box on “Whole Lotta Love” and “No Quarter.” Man or Astro-man? has been going strong since 1993 (with a brief hiatus) and it’s genuinely puzzling to think about what that band would sound like without a Theremin. On the other end of the spectrum, guitarist Phillip Cope of metal band Kylesa has been using a Theremin during Kylesa’s frenetic live shows for quite some time.