EFFECT: Wah
Let’s face it, Kirk Hammett is a man who loves his wah – to the point where man and pedal are virtually inseparable. And on the solo for Enter Sandman, one of the most important songs in Metallica’s career, Kirk’s choices clearly paid off.
The Cry Baby not only helps distinguish between the two guitar players heard on the track, it also allows his leads to cut through, demanding the listener’s attention at every twist and turn.
39. The Cult – She Sells Sanctuary
EFFECTS: Delay, Flanger
Billy Duffy describes his Boss pedals as “a big part of the signature sound” on their 1985 hit – specifically the DM-2 delay and BF-2 flanger.
“I played the middle section of the song, which was a picked thing with all the Boss pedals on, and that sound just leaped out,” he told TG. “The producer went, ‘Hold it, hold it, that’s great!’ And we decided to start the song with that mystical sound.”
38. Rush – The Spirit Of Radio
EFFECTS: Flanger, chorus, delay
This 1980 single, cheekily named after a local radio station’s slogan, is one of the Canadian trio’s most enduring – thanks to some stunning fretwork from Alex Lifeson.
“The flanger on that song was an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress, which I still have,” he explained in 2008. “I used the Boss Chorus Ensemble, and I had graduated to the Roland Space Echo, which replaced my Echoplex.”
37. Steve Vai – Bad Horsie
EFFECT: Wah
This opening track from the multiple Grammy-winning virtuoso’s Alien Love Secrets EP features some of the juiciest wah tones of his career in its melee of screaming leads, whammy bar abuse and farmyard noises. And so when Morley released Vai’s signature wah pedal the following year, there was only ever one true contender for the name.
36. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under The Bridge
EFFECT: Compression
Compression is a great way of making clean guitars sound more rich and full, adding to the overall sonic weight in more subtle ways than boosts or overdrive. For the intro of this 1992 RHCP hit, guitarist John Frusciante was using his 1966 Fender Jaguar through a MXR Dyna Comp to thicken up his tone while still keeping it clean.
It’s a relatively simple function that any compressor pedal can achieve, though it’s worth noting Frusciante kept his sensitivity dial around the halfway point so as not to lose too much in dynamics – any more would have resulted in his signal sounding processed and squashed.
35. Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
EFFECT: Treble Booster
Prior to Black Sabbath, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward had been playing together in Mythology, which is when Iommi first got his hands on a Dallas Arbiter Rangemaster treble booster that was later modified by a friend’s brother. “I don’t know what he did to it, but it was really good!” he told TG in 2010.
34. Black Sabbath – Paranoid
EFFECT: Ring Modulator
It would be fair to say ring modulator is one of those effects you either love or hate. Even Tony Iommi himself was against the idea of putting the effect on the solo from this 1970 title track, but was forced to succumb to producer Rodger Bain’s suggestion. The effected guitar signal, panned to the right, ended up sounding glitchy and robotic, and ultimately more like something you’d hear in a sci-fi movie.
33. The Smashing Pumpkins – Cherub Rock
EFFECT: Fuzz
Fuzz was a major component of the Pumpkins’ sound on 1993’s Siamese Dream. Guitarists Billy Corgan and James Iha used Electro-Harmonix Big Muffs and Marshall JCM800s to achieve the massive, twin-attack riffs on the likes of Cherub Rock. A meaty alternative to distortion, a quality fuzz pedal is a worthy addition to any pedalboard.
32. Joe Satriani – Surfing With the Alien
EFFECT: Wah
For his name-making 1987 piece of melodic shred, Satch’s relatively modest rig included his Dunlop Cry Baby wah-wah. Here, it’s used for the Hendrixian wah effect in the verses, with Satch known to kick it up to full treble for the speedily tapped, C# Phrygian part, thus filtering out any extraneous bass frequencies.
31. Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah
EFFECT: Reverb
Buckley’s unforgettable take on Leonard Cohen’s classic song featured some beautiful guitar arpeggios, wreathed in haunting reverb. Producer Andy Wallace fed Buckley’s Telecaster through short, medium and long reverbs, and these were then mixed and EQ’d together, to send this heart-rending performance into an altogether more ethereal, spiritual space.
