If you were to head into a music store and tell the salesman that you play the guitar, 9 times out of 10 he's going to introduce you to "the best guitar distortion pedal" that money can buy. He's also going to guarantee that this distortion pedal for your guitar will solve ALL of your problems!Wow, that really sounds like a deal to me. Of course, it's all baloney.
Yea, sorry to break it to you, but even owning the best guitar distortion pedal in existence can't do everything for you. Owning one DOES have great positive attributes however, so you shouldn't rule them out.
Just be aware that using guitar distortion pedals for your guitar tone will really determine how your fans will react to your guitar tunes. Here are a few positive and negative attributes to owning a guitar distortion pedal, even if it's the best one ever.
Let's talk about the good things!
* You have access to easy distortion emulation.
The shiniest aspect of owning a guitar distortion pedal is the vast variety of guitar tones that you can now achieve with a couple new hook-ups and the press of a button. And with hundreds of distortion pedals out there, it's not unrealistic to own a few different ones and switch your tone every now and then.
* This sound can follow you with future guitar amplifiers.
So let's say that your guitar amplifier bites the dust and you're forced to buy a new one. Your present guitar distortion pedal can pass on the very same sound that you've known and loved through the existence of your previous guitar amp to your new one.
Isn't that the best? You can count on a very similar sound to what you had before with your previous amplifier, but not exactly the same. But don't worry. You're guitar tunes may not be affected by the change at all.
* You can slightly prolong the life of your amplifier and its channels.
If most of your distortion and grind is going through your tiny little pedal on the floor, that means that your amplifier isn't doing as much work. You'll still be heating up the transistors and tubes inside your amp, but you'll be saving a tiny bit of wear and tear for your guitar distortion pedal.
Now let's poke some holes in this idea.
* There's more equipment to carry and keep track of.
I know. As pathetic as it sounds to forget a tiny little guitar distortion pedal, it happens. Even as annoying, you can forget the cable to plug into it or your ac adapter to give it power. Just make sure that you write it on your list of things to bring or always keep it in the vicinity of your equipment.
* It can die at the worst moments.
You may never know when the pedal, the batteries, or the adapter is going to quit on you. The only thing you can do is be prepared. Have extra batteries ready to slide in. Purchase a second adapter for when someone trips on the cord and rips it. As for when the whole pedal just dies, you could have a second one ready, but I know we're not all made of money.
* More chances of electronic failure between you and your output sound.
This really bothers me the most. I used to be a keyboard player in a band and the most frustrating thing was when some piece of electronic equipment decided to fail on me.
I played with two keyboards and a pedal and chances are that in one month's
worth of shows, something decided to act up and not perform properly. It's just Murphy's Law man. And it sucks.Even though you're only adding a pedal and one more guitar cable between you and your sound output, that's more chances for something to go wrong. Back up anything you can with another in order to avoid catastrophe when you're on stage.
I know there are other reasons to purchase and to not purchase a guitar distortion pedal, whether it's the best or not, but I would like you to realize that these matters aren't always black and white.
Decide whether you want a pure sound from a good amplifier, or you rather want to play god with your tone. Either way, have fun and rock.
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