Effects Pedals With the ‘Ukulele

The MXR Carbon Copy delay is a good example of a stompbox sized effect

Effect pedals come in many varieties from little stomp boxes to rack mounted studio effects. Only some effects are practical for ‘ukulele players. These are usually guitar specific pedals, but most of the time they work great for ‘ukulele. An effect changes the sound the of incoming signal, by adding to it or changing it.

First off, there are a few different effect formats:

Stompbox – This is by far the most popular type of effect housing. A stompbox is a small box with usually only one effect available. People like stompboxes because you can pick and choose which sounds you like best. You don’t have to have just one brand of pedals. You could have a Boss chorus and an MXR delay and a Keeley compressor, etc… Stompboxes can get expensive though if you want a lot of different sounds.

Multi-effects – Just like it sounds, a multi-effects unit houses multiple sound changing options. Usually these units are a good deal bigger than stompboxes because they have several sets of foot-switches and parameter knobs. A multi-effects can give you way more options for your buck (and floor space), but a drawback is that you are stuck with only one brand’s effects. Maybe you like Boss’ delay, but not their chorus – well, too bad. That’s what you get with a multi-effects. Each has a unique layout. Some are more what-you-see-is-what-you-get with knobs for each parameter and some are menu based where you have to scroll around to dial in sounds. Some of the main multi-effects are the Boss ME/GT series, Line6 M series, and the Digitech RP series.

Rack-Mounted effects – Are far less common than the previous two. A rack mounted effect is usually top-of-the-line, big bucks, and usually used in a studio. These effects sit up off the floor in a rack and are not foot-switchable unless you have an external controller. Some players will tote a rack of effects to a gig, but it’s high-end equipment and therefore a bigger bummer to break.

Common ‘Ukulele Effects:

Delay:

Is the first ‘ukulele effect that comes to mind. Many pros use at least a little bit of delay when they perform or record. A delay effect records the notes you play and then repeats them back after a specified amount of time (kind of like yelling into a canyon). The typical controls for a delay pedal are:

• Level/mix adjusts the volume of the delayed signal.
• Time controls the time between the first note you play and the delayed note(s).
• Feedback/regeneration is the number of times the delayed note is played back. Some pedals have the ability to self-oscillate which means the feedback can turn back on itself and get louder and louder. Just be cautious of this because if you aren’t paying attention, your delay pedal can become a very loud beast quickly.

There are a few different types of delay – or modes that try and emulate the different types. Digital delay is probably the most common

The legendary EHX Memory Man

with a bright clear repeat that doesn’t change as the delay fades out. Analog delay usually has less time available and the repeats lose their treble frequencies and get “muddy” as they fade out. A lot of times the analog delays have a modulation feature which adds depth and a “warble” to the repeat (the Electro-Harmonix Memory Man is the gold standard for analog delays). Tape delay is on its way out and only used by die hard fans due to maintenance and reliability issues. A loop of tape is run through a “write” head and then a movable “read” head plays back the delayed notes. You move the read head to change the delay time (old school!). It’s safe to say that the Maestro Echoplex EP-3 is probably the most famous tape delay.

A great article about delay times (specifically about U2′s Edge) can be found here: http://www.amnesta.net/edge_delay/

The Boss digital delay pedals like this DD-7 are the industry standard.

Reverb:

Is another echo type of ‘ukulele effect. Instead of repeating back clear individual notes like the delay pedal, a reverb unit creates a wash that sounds like the note(s) are held out longer on a wave (like a basketball bouncing in a gym). This is a good option if you would

rather just have a little extra space filler, but not individual notes.

• Level/Mix changes how loud the reverb sound is compared to the dry (uneffected) signal.
• Time/Decay dictates the length of the reverb.
• Pre Delay controls how long it is before the reverb starts after a note. This is usually a very short time, but can lead to the reverb having a more delay-like sound.
• Tone turns the treble content of the reverb up or down. The more treble, the more the reverb stands out.

There are several different reverbs types you might hear about. A room reverb has a small sound, hall is a bigger sound, church or cave is even bigger, spring reverb is created by actual springs that are in some electric guitar amps, and modulate detunes the reverb for a deeper, more extreme effect.

EQ:

An equalization pedal is less of an effect and more of a sound shaping tool. It allows you to raise or lower the level of individual frequencies. EQ is nice to have control over because the average ‘ukulele needs some tone doctoring when you plug it in. An EQ pedal can help reduce harsh treble frequencies or a muddy low-end. You can use equalization to create a sound that is unique and more interesting than un-EQed ‘ukulele. Graphic EQ pedals are controlled with “frequency bands”. Each band is centered on a certain frequency and is controlled by a slider. With the slider, you can control how much you cut or boost each frequency. A parametric EQ revolves around the same idea, but has an additional control to change where the frequency band is centered. This can be useful for cutting out a very specific frequency that is feeding back.

I have an MXR EQ pedal that I use to touch up my sound.

Volume:

Is usually a rocker pedal to control the level (volume) of the incoming signal. The rocker allows you to use your foot to adjust the output. If you put the pedal in the “toe up” position, no signal (or a pre-set, minimum level) is heard, so you can use it as a mute when you are tuning. By starting with the toe up, picking a note, and then rolling the pedal to toe down, you can achieve violin-like volume swells (think Jeff Beck).

Chorus:

Can be a nice ‘ukulele effect if used with taste – it can get annoying quickly and too much takes away from the ‘ukulele’s unique sound. What a chorus pedal does, is double the notes you are playing and de-tune the second track a little bit. The achieved sound is like a 12-string guitar – kind of a swirl sound. A great example of a chorus sound is the Police’s “Message in a Bottle”. Basic controls are:

• Effect level changes how loud the doubled track is. The mix between the normal (dry) and effected (wet) signals.
• EQ or Filter changes the overall tone of the chorus.
• Rate controls how fast the sound changes from the low end of the swirl to the high end.
• Depth changes how deep the swirl is.

Some other effects include:

• Compression boosts low volumes and cuts back on high volumes. It can also be used to increase the perceived sustain of a note as the compressor clamps down on the initial attack, but as the note fades it releases and allows more volume through.
• Distortion is the result of to much input, which overloads a circuit and makes the signal buzz. Almost all classic rock lead guitar is distorted. This is probably the most annoying ‘ukulele effect. People always seem to think that any instrument through a distortion pedal will sound like an electric guitar, but it won’t. ‘Ukuleles especially seem to sound really “fizzy” through a distortion pedal. Try an overdrive or fuzz pedal instead. They seem to react better to an ‘ukulele pickup.
• Overdrive is a milder form of distortion. More of a BB King sound.
• Tremolo fluctuates the level of the incoming signal up and down. This was used a lot in old surf music and more recently in “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day.
• The flanger was originally invented when a studio engineer played two analog tapes back at the same time and held his finger on one to slow it down. It creates a swirling type of sound. Eddie Van Halen used flanger on many of his lead parts. Personally, my favorite example is Eric Johnson’s “High Landrons”.
• The phaser is the sister to flange except it is a frequency-based effect instead of delay-based (EVH “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love sound)
• A pitch shifter analyzes the incoming signal and adds a harmony note. An intelligent pitch shifter will track harmony within a set scale, a conventional pitch shifter will harmonize in straight intervals which might place notes outside of the key.
• An octave pedal instantly adds a duplicate of your playing an octave above or below (or both) the original signal
• The wah-wah is a rocker pedal that sweeps through the “Q-range”. The Q-range is a spiked section of the EQ spectrum. As you move the pedal back and forth, the spike moves from treble to bass. An auto-wah creates sounds like a wah-wah, but without the expression pedal input.

Wet vs. Dry - The effected signal is called the wet signal. The un-effected signal is called the dry signal. Many times the “mix” knob on a pedal is considered the “wet mix” or something similar.

Pluging In:

When you plug in an ‘ukulele effect, the signal line looks like this: ‘ukulele>cable>effect>cable>amp. With more than one effect it would be like: ‘ukulele>cable>effect>cable>effect>[add cable>effect as needed]>cable>amp/PA.

You need at least one instrument cable besides the one from your ‘ukulele to your amp (more depending on how many effects you are plugging in). Instead of directly plugging the cable into the amp, plug it into the “input” jack of the effect unit. (I’m assuming at this point that you have either installed batteries or plugged the effects unit into a wall outlet). Plug one end of the second cable into the “output” jack of the effect unit. Plug the other end into your amp. Make sure all volume controls are at zero on the ‘ukulele, effects, and amp. Turn on the effect first, then your amp so that the pop from turning on the effect doesn’t hit your amp. Slowly turn up the volume on the amp, effect(s), and ‘ukulele until you can hear a picked note. Turn the effect on by stomping on the switch and adjust the parameters to your liking. Be sure to refer back to the manual to make sure you don’t miss anything important that might cause damage.

Pedal Order:

If you have several pedals, lining them up in the correct (or incorrect) order can change your sound in big ways. The main reason for optimizing your signal chain is to figure out what pedals interact with each other the best.

In general, if it sounds good, go with it. That said, the generally accepted pedal order goes like this. All are optional. Just skip through the list until you find the pedals you have:

1. Preamp (So that the following pedals have the most polished sound to work with)
2. Tuner
3. Filters (Wah-wahs, envelope followers)
4. Compressors
5. Dirt (Overdrive, Distortion, and Fuzz)
6. Modulation (Chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo, etc.)
7. Volume pedal
8. Delay and Reverb (Delay usually goes first)

Running Stereo: