After searching through all of the guitar effect pedals online music stores have to offer, you’ve found it — the perfect guitar distortion pedal. It was affordable, had great reviews, and is even amongst your favorite artist’s collection of sound equipment.
The trouble is that your knowledge set is limited to practical skills, not technical ones. You’re a great guitar player, but an amateur sound tech without a clue as to what each of your new guitar distortion pedal’s knobs do.
If this really does sound like you, fear not. Here’s what you need to do to get your pedal to produce the guitar distortion you want it to.
Set It Up.
First things first — you’ve got to get it all hooked up. Either plug the pedal in to a wall adapter or put a battery in. Then, connect a cable from your amp’s input to the guitar distortion pedal’s output. Next, connect your guitar to the pedal’s input. Lastly, turn everything on.
Dial It Down.
Either turn all of your pedal’s knobs down, or put them each at five — whichever is the neutral, default position. The idea is to put the knobs in a setting that will affect your guitar’s tone the least.
Play Around With It.
Now, adjust each knob one by one to see how it affects your guitar’s tone, turning them back down to the default position when done. Although the booklet that came with the pedal should explain what each knob does, it’s no use knowing what they do if you don’t understand what they do practically speaking. Experimenting this way will help you get accustomed to what each knob does so you can master the pedal.
Whether you buy a Tortuga effects pedal, Walrus guitar distortion pedal, or even a T-rex guitar distortion pedal, taking these first steps will help you craft the perfect tone. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments. Read more about this topic at this link.