THE ANSWERS
Rob, I can only imagine the looks of the other players as you started to do your thing at the local jam night. That being said, think how Pink Floyd sounded against the tried-and-tested sounds of the time. If it can work for them…
01 For ethereal soundscapes, you’ll want a plethora of endless notes sustaining into delay, reverb and modulation pedals. Add some fuzz into the mix for some angry atmospherics. Choose reverb pedals with different options, such as the Dr Scientist Atmosphere or the Boss RV-500. A multi-pedal like Eventide’s H9 has loads of options built in, while a delay such as the Chase Bliss Audio Thermae is a lot of fun to craft sounds with. From a modulation perspective, single pedals are my preference, but a multi pedal like the Strymon Mobius could be just the ticket for you. Finally, a granular looper like the Chase Bliss Audio Mood can really do some inspirational things to your signal.
02 Noise-based music is a little easier to achieve. Start with different flavours of fuzz, thick, glitchy square wave and more classical, too – think Death By Audio, Z.Vex Fuzz Factory, Dunlop Fuzz Face, Zonk Machine-style fuzz or our ThorpyFX Fallout Cloud. I’d recommend overdrives with really powerful EQ options to fill in the gaps where the fuzzes are scooped – a Way Huge Green Rhino would be perfect. Add a super-choppy tremolo and a bitcrusher pedal such as EarthQuaker Devices’ Data Corrupter and you have the makings of some very nice ‘noise’. For the ultimate noise-making and synth simulation (with pedals), look to Boss’s SY-1 or the Empress Effects’ Zoia.
03 Will these things damage your amp? Feedback and excessive volume can cause issues with your speakers if allowed to get out of control, but your amp is usually built of sturdier stuff and more able to handle higher volumes. On top of this, distortion is often a limiter with regards to overall output, especially when stacked. The pedals just become more congested.
04 Other things to try on your hunt for out-of-this-world sounds? Look to a record/looper pedal for layers of sounds, and an EBow for cool violin-type manipulation of the strings. For ultimate stacking, use a switching looper to move pedals around in patches for different sounds. Finally, don’t forget a blend pedal such as The GigRig Wetter Box for mixing signals together in parallel. Keep us posted on the response to your new armoury!