Do you have an effect that escapes you?

[lordgalvar]

You can't have all positive without the negative.

[tremolo3]

Wah for me too. Can't make that blues face no matter what.

Watch and try to emulate.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miO8_afSFk0[/youtube]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miO8_afSFk0

For me it's phaser... like the sound, but feel wrong when I try one.

BAHAHAHA

I
just
can't

[Iommic Pope]

^
The trick for RATs is they, too sound best at stage volume, within a band. Or with a rippin' amp in a good studio's biggest room

Yeah even then there's just something not quite 100% for me.

I want to love Rats.
Everyone else makes them sound like hot shit.
I get one and it sounds weak and lame.
Like "me-e-e-eeh".

This me with Tube Screamers. Other people can make them sound good but I can't stand the fucking things.
Rats I'm good with. I sound awesome with a Rat.

Tubescreamers need a gritty amp getting loud as fuck.
Or stack em. That works too.
But they can be underwhelming.

I think I've had the most trouble with reverb pedals, mostly spring but also with others. Maybe it's just because I harshly judge them against my Twin's tank.

Weird, cavernous reverbs like the RM1N and the Dispatch master: no problem there. It's more the subtle ones. On certain days I'll plug one in and love it, then a week later I can't get a good sound out of it. I'd be less inclined to blame it on the pedal and more on user issues.

If it's not cavernous and huge I don't get the point of reverb.
Subtle?
What is that?
No I'll just take the sound of playing in the ruins of a medieval cathedral, thank you.

[Hyphen Nation]

This thread is my life right now. I tore my board apart last week, and keep trying to put it back together again. There is some kind of vibe/modulation sound I am looking for and cannot find. There's a bunch of pedals that I love and can be inspired by, but they don't live on my board:

MoogerFooger ring mod that lets you dial in a more of a trem. It just never sounds musical in what I am doing.
Octaver: I have wanted one from the time my first guitar teacher had one. I have an Octron. It's lovely. I can't use it.
Novelty: Count To Five/Rainbow Machine/Filter-Sample-Hold/Raptio These are all fun and inspiring, but do not live on my board. They are more like song writing stimulators.
Mooger Fooger Envelope Filter: I actually really like it, but I hate that I need to have the drive on it turned up to get the envelope to trigger cleanly, and that it's always boosting the signal as it totally fucks with the chain. It's also fucking huge. I need to find a solid, small box analog envelope filter. In small doses it's handy.

Right now, I have settled down with boost > fuzz > delays > tremolo > reverb. I am thinking I may need to try a warped vinyl and a compressor to get something that sounds a little like the Lo-Fi-loop Junky. I love the LFLJ, but barely use because of Zvex's annoying battery only biz. I always leave it plugged in and kill the battery.

Wow, I totally sound like grumpy old man over here...

[lost in music]

I used to gas for reverb and then order one up and get it home and remember that reverb really doesn't fit with my playing much at all.

[Jwar]

Ring mod is literally the only effect I have trouble with. I can even jam out on a wah. So ring mod. It escapes me on how to use it musically with bass and how to make it sound good in general.

[baremountain]

I think I've had the most trouble with reverb pedals, mostly spring but also with others. Maybe it's just because I harshly judge them against my Twin's tank.

Weird, cavernous reverbs like the RM1N and the Dispatch master: no problem there. It's more the subtle ones. On certain days I'll plug one in and love it, then a week later I can't get a good sound out of it. I'd be less inclined to blame it on the pedal and more on user issues.

I'm on the same page, at least on the first part. I've never gotten to try out one of those huge otherworldly reverbs, so I can't say for sure bout the second. I used to love reverb, but ever since I got my ss/bs No Memory, I have definitely become more of a murky slapback delay kind of person. I still have a Mantic Proverb, which I bought earlier this year because it sounded great in the store, but I have trouble dialing in a tone I'm crazy about now. When my roommate uses my board he has no trouble dialing it in to something incredible though, so it might be just my playing style or something.

I've also never really gotten around to messing with filters besides the Line 6 FM4, but I sold that a few years ago. I'm getting back into that game later this month though with the Dwarfcraft Happiness. Hopefully this attempt is more successful.

[popvulture]

For weirdo, slapback-y type delay, the Keeley Memphis Sun is surprisingly more fun than I'd have ever imagined.

And Hyphen—I'm with you on the octave pedals. Something like an Octavia is fine, but the more straightforward splitters or just octave down I can't do. To me they just always sound corny no matter what I do.

[frigid midget]

I love the way tremolo sounds in songs. I've had probably 10 tremolo pedals over the years. I can never get one to sound cool. I buy a tremolo pedal, experiment with it for a while and then wind up selling it. Simple effect. Can never get it to work for me.


Is there a type of effect that you really like but its use escapes you?

Dame here. Tremelo sounds great in everyone else's songs, but I can't seem to make good use of it.

Other stuff that I love but can't seem to get the hang of:

wah, pitch shifters, glitch/noise/synth effects, sequencers and analog synths, filters, stutter type effects, swell effects, slapback echo, cooking, mountainbiking, arthouse movies, jazz, finger tapping,...

[CyaNitrate]

I want to love Rats.
Everyone else makes them sound like hot shit.
I get one and it sounds weak and lame.
Like "me-e-e-eeh".

In my very limited experience with RATS, I think that not all of them are created equal.

The first one I played was a Dunn Deceiver that I got for my secret Santa, and it sounded amazing. I wanted one for myself. I ended up picking up a slightly modded ProCo Rat, don't remember what was done, but it was no where near what I wanted it to be.

[Chankgeez]

Other stuff that I love but can't seem to get the hang of:

wah, pitch shifters, glitch/noise/synth effects, sequencers and analog synths, filters, stutter type effects, swell effects, slapback echo, cooking, mountainbiking, arthouse movies, jazz, finger tapping,...

Feathering my hair. That's an effect, right?

[friendship]

Ring mod: I'm a huge fan but almost never use it. When I do it's usually on non-tonal instruments like drums, or to make atonal noise pads. I can't really do a good robo-funk sound with it, unfortunately.

Big Muff: lots of artists I love use BMP's liberally, but I can't stand to use them.

[01010111]

Big Muff: lots of artists I love use BMP's liberally, but I can't stand to use them.

This.

I've a lot of big muffs/big muff variants, and none of them sound good when I use them. Realizing that what I wanted was a nice, broad-range dist/overdrive ended all my big muff lust.

[jrfox92]

Anything with rhythmic patterns tend to trip me up after enough time.
Rhythmic delays, tremolos, phasers, etc.
At some point I suddenly forget how to play guitar and everything starts to come crashing down.

[MechaGodzilla]

Wah for me too. I can do the Voodoo Chile/Tales of Brave Ulysses stuff but, I'd rather do something more interesting. I've heard various people use wah in the same way as when you switch to bridge pickup for a treble boost, only another order of magnitude. I think I need to find *my* wah, as your vox/dunlops seem to only be good for Hendrix impressions and funky porn music. I want something a bit more synthy/tweakable.

Big Muff: lots of artists I love use BMP's liberally, but I can't stand to use them.

Muffs frustrate me because I can't seem to get them to work for me without another pedal either before or after it (or both), and it usually ends up not sounding very muffy. My Fuzz War has pretty permanently dethroned any muffs from my board but, even though they get little use these days, I still like the sounds I get from them so I can't bring myself to be Muffless.