General Guitar Questions

Flagg

I have had a guitar for awhile and have noodle with it and learned several songs through tabs and can fake my way through a lot of stuff. But I have a lot of questions. Any guitar experts want to help me out? I just know almost nothing about effects and tweaks and things you can do to sound better.

I read the thread about pedal order and that helped some and searched around but have some other questions.

BTW I have a Mexican Strat and a Crate amp. Can’t remember the model number since I am here at work but it has some built in effects and two 20” speakers and is loud as hell.

1)Should I be using the effects on the amp or would the pedals be more effective? The only ones on the amp are reverb, delay, chorus, flange, and the gain knobs. But the effects are pretty much just on and off with a knob to adjust the amount and seem kind of cheap. I guess I am wondering if I should just leave it clean and use pedals for any effects.
2)What is compression and what does it do? Is it a must-have? Would it help with the noise?
3)What do you do for volume? Do you turn the amp up and keep the volume knob on the guitar low, or do you turn the volume up on the guitar all the way? When I do that I get unbearable noise like snow on the TV.
4)Pickups – My guitar isn’t the best, as noted above. Would new pickups be worth it? Would that reduce some of the noise?

xtremehardy388

1. In my opinion, I'd say individual effects would work best. You can adjust the sound of each effect a lot better with individual stompboxes.

2. Compression compresses the sound. It might even make it quieter depending on how much tone you lose.

3. I usually keep the volume all the way up on the guitar and just control it from the amp (or a volume pedal). You can can your volume at 7, on the guitar, and then have the amp set at whatever you want. If you're coming out for a solo, raise the volume on your guitar and then being it back down, after the solo.

4. Pickups might help with the noise. It might also be the outlet you're plugged into and what's running in the room. Pickups should help your tone.

Flagg

xtremehardy388 wrote:

1. In my opinion, I'd say individual effects would work best. You can adjust the sound of each effect a lot better with individual stompboxes.

2. Compression compresses the sound. It might even make it quieter depending on how much tone you lose.

3. I usually keep the volume all the way up on the guitar and just control it from the amp (or a volume pedal). You can can your volume at 7, on the guitar, and then have the amp set at whatever you want. If you're coming out for a solo, raise the volume on your guitar and then being it back down, after the solo.

4. Pickups might help with the noise. It might also be the outlet you're plugged into and what's running in the room. Pickups should help your tone.

1. Thanks, I'll try that.
2. But is it necessary? I'm just not sure what the benefit is, although I see it in almost everyone's setup.
3. OK.
4. OK, my computer is in the room, maybe that is messing with it. Someone suggested plugging the amp into a nice surge protector instead of directly into the wall. Will try that.

Thanks!