The Steel Guitar Forum

I was curious to see which effects forum members find most annoying. Personally, I'm not a big fan of effects, and find myself buying and selling them to the point of being absurd.

Any effects in particular that drive you nuts?

Too much chorus, and that auto-wah.

Drums

Which instrument did you have in mind?

Personally, with the steel, distortion. It's not that I wouldn't like to hear it with the steel. I don't think most steel players take it seriously, and treat it more as a novelty or a toy. I haven't heard every steel player who uses distortion, but out of all of the ones that I have, the only one with a pleasing tone is Robert Randolph. However, I personally don't like his style and/or choice of notes. I like Joe Wright's playing and song choices, but the last time I heard him (probably 4-5 years ago) I wasn't fond of his tone/distortion. Most professional guitarists treat distortion, even a mild amount, a little more seriously because it's almost a part of the style of the instrument.

Now volume pedals, there's a subject. Steel players take them and the interfaces seriously because it's almost a required piece of gear. Compared to steel players, guitar players know NOTHING about volume pedals. Case in point: Guitar Player did a "shootout" a while back between several volume pedals. I don't remember if there was an active one in the bunch, but Hilton and Goodrich were nowhere to be found. Most guitar players are satisfied with and think an old ShoBud or Goodrich is the cats meow. If they're happy with what they've got then that's all that matters, but I think they're missing some useful information.

Sorry for the rant.

Keyboard players trying to sound like steels...

Phasers and flangers can be inappropriate, but the worst is chorus! Not only is it pretty cheesy (especially when digital) most of the time, it is the most overused as well!

The worst offence I can think of is on a 90's Shakti CD I have somewhere. There's all these beautiful Indian instruments: tabla and other percussion and bansuri (wood flute) plus violin. Then John McLaughlin comes stomping in with this horrible digital chorus all over his ACOUSTIC guitar. Double, no, TRIPLE yuck!!

ajm reminds me, yes, add to my post about anything with kazoo distortion. Not that I mind distortion in the right place with a good sound but I really can't stand kazoo tone, or that wide-open Big Muff sound.

Michael Douchette wrote:Keyboard players trying to sound like steels...

Or keyboard players trying to sound like rock guitar players. Yeesh.

guitar players trying to do steel licks, I think to much chorus gives everything an 80s sound. To much delay on steel muddies it. Its very rare that I hear a wah wah on a guitar that I like, more the player than the pedal. I guess I hate chorus the most. Lately I love phaser efx tho

My vote goes for ring modulator. But envelope filter is a close second.

Chorus is my pet peeve, but for a short term nerve killer try a Maestro fuzz tone with a real trebly guitar and amp. It'll destroy a normal man.

Good thing we're men of steel...

Keith I played with a guy who used that setup with an octavia just to make it more brain/soul piercing. I swear I have ptsd from it. I literally hunch up into a fetal position when I hear anything that reminds me of it. Of course he had a fender twin right at his calves so he was immune from his own venom.

One of my favorite bands in the 80's was the Minutemen. D. Boon was the guitar player. To develop a sonic contrast, he turned his amp all the way treble, and the bassist (Mike Watt) cranked up the bottom end on his. If you got on D's side of the stage, he could literally hurt you. Loved the band, but the live shows would leave us collectively deaf for a day or two.

Any effects in particular that drive you nuts?

Any that are over used.

I don't like the effects that mess with pitch: flange, chorus. They make me feel a bit queasy.

The volume knob on the guitar player's amp.

Those sticks drummers play with.

Chorus.

Ring modulator for sure. My second pet peeve is guys that use delay units where I can distinctly hear the second (delayed) note (no matter how quick the return). You hear guys say that it fattens up their sound, but when I can hear two notes, it's just irritating, not fatter. I realize there are times that the effect you are trying to achieve is a delayed note, but that should not be that often (at least not every song).

I can only listen to about 2 measures of an instument using a full tremelo. Duane Eddy is the only one who could make it sound desirable to me.

big Minutemen fan here too Keith. Sadly I never got to see em before D died. The movie that just came out about em was good..."Our band could be your life" i think it was called.

my least favorite effect is i think called a harmonizer?
whatever those modern metal dudes use to get their medieval arpeggios all squirrelly and wee-didley.
ungh...nails (with black polish) on a chalkboard

EFX are just tools same as guitars, amps, pickups and accessories....you gotta know something about them and what you want them to do. They can be friends or enemies.... depends on the user and their understanding of them.

Like Bob Knight, any that are overused.

Even a ring modulator can be used to good effect, although it can be very, very annoying in the wrong context. But I wish I still had my old 60s Maestro ring modulator.

Then there's wah-abuse, phaser abuse, tremelo abuse, compressor abuse - you name it.

On the delay thing - it depends on the style. In rockabilly, precisely timed slapback is part of the style. Used correctly, it makes it, to me.

I think distortion pedals are the most annoying to me. I have never been able to understand why anyone would want to use a distortion pedal when they could have a properly-sized and properly-cranked tube amp. But YMMV.

It would have to be the use of the wah and Leslie effect. I saw Rusty Young use it in the 60's and it was unbelievable. Recently I tried the same setup and it sounded worse than awful. Maybe it's not the effect, but the effector?

With these little electronic gremlins we are always one tweak away from obnoxious.

Bob

I think any effect can be overused and make almost any instrument sound terrible. Too much of any effect could be a very bad thing in my opinion. One example that comes to mind was with a steel player I heard playing "together again" with a band. His steel had so much chorus and reverb on, it really didnt even sound like a steel guitar anymore. He should be ashamed of himself for butchering a song that is one of the cornerstones of what makes the steel guitar great.

I Use Only My Steel VP And Amp Nothing Else. SONNY.

I think distortion pedals are the most annoying to me. I have never been able to understand why anyone would want to use a distortion pedal when they could have a properly-sized and properly-cranked tube amp. But YMMV.

If your amp doesn't have an effects loop and you are running a chain that includes delay and deep reverb, you'll probably be looking into pedal distortion as well.