How do *you* evaluate effects.

[Growler]

Steve,

For someone that uses as many effects as you do, when you evaluate a new pedal/processor what methodology do you go through? Do you have a preconceived notion of what sound you're looking for before you plug in, or do you take a effect and see how it sounds in the larger picture?

I normally play 70s, greasy funk and so I have a "sound" in my head (think cheesy 70s porn music) and so I'm looking for that sound prior to plugging in.

Last time I caught you (Espresso Garden in SanJose, Calif) in '06 I took away from your solo thinking "This is what a One Man Pink Floyd Band sounds like."

[Steve Lawson]

Hey Growler...

I tend to look at certain things - obviously, i don't want it to degrade my signal, so i try to find a processor that I can switch to 'neutral' if I need to.

i then look at how far I can edit the parameters, and how easily I can control things in real time. The absolute beauty of the G2 is the degree to which I can configure it to do exactly what I want, from MIDI control, to putting effects in side chains, reordering effects, having the output from one effect route back into the input of another etc... It's pretty amazing.

I tend to ignore presets as an indicator of what the thing will do, because what I want it to do is very rarely anything they bother to programme into it....

Experimentation is the key!

cheers

Steve
www.stevelawson.net