A power Attenuator enables a player to obtain power-tube distortion independently of listening volume.  Examples of power attenuators are the Marshall PowerBrake, THD HotPlate and Weber MASS.A power attenuator is a dummy load placed between the guitar amplifier’s power tubes and the guitar speaker, or a power-supply based circuit to reduce the plate voltage on the power tubes.

A Power-Tube pedal contains a power tube and optional dummy load, or a preamp tube used as a power tube. This allows the device to produce power-tube distortion independently of volume; therefore, power-tube distortion can be used as an effects module in an effects chain.

Hi-Gain is the sound most used in Heavy metal. High gain in normal electric guitar playing simply references a thick sound produced by heavily overdriven amplifier tubes, a distortion pedal, or some combination of both–the essential component is the typically loud, thick, harmonically rich, and sustaining quality of the tone. However, the Hi-Gain sound of modern pedals is somewhat distinct from, although descended from, this sound.  Many extreme distortions are either hi-gain or the descendents of such. The Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier Series of amps are an example.The distortion often produces sounds not possible any other way.

Fuzz was originally intended to recreate the classic 1960’s tone of an overdriven tube amp combined with torn speaker cones. Since the original designs, more extreme fuzz pedals have been designed and produced, incorporating octave-up effects, oscillation, gating, and greater amounts of distortion.Oldschool guitar players would use a screwdriver to poke several holes through the paperboard part of the guitar amp speaker to achieve a similar sound.

Some distortion effects provide an “overdrive” effect. Either by using a vacuum tube, or by using simulated tube modeling techniques, the top of the wave form is compressed, thus giving a smoother distorted signal than regular distortion effects.Used in conjunction with an amplifier, especially a tube amplifier, driven to the point of mild tonal breakup short of what would be generally considered distortion or overdrive, or along with another, stronger overdrive or distortion pedal, these can produce extremely thick distortion sounds much like those used by Carlos Santana or Eddie Van Halen. When an overdrive effect is used at a high setting, the sound’s waveform can become clipped, which imparts a gritty or “dirty” tone, which sounds like a tube amplifier “driven” to its limit.  Today there is a huge variety of overdrive pedals.

Overdrive distortion is a well-known distortion. While the general purpose is to emulate classic “warm-tube” sounds, distortion pedals such as the ones in this list can be distinguished from overdrive pedals in that the intent is to provide players with instant access to the sound of a high-gain Marshall amplifier such as the JCM800 pushed past the point of tonal breakup and into the range of tonal distortion known to electric guitarists as “saturated gain.” Although most distortion devices use solid-state circuitry, some “tube distortion” pedals are designed with preamplifier vacuum tubes. Some guitarists will use these pedals along with an already distorted amp or along with a milder overdrive effect to produce radically high-gain sounds. In some cases, tube distortion pedals use power tubes or a preamp tube used as a power tube driving a built-in “dummy load.” Pedals designed specifically for bass guitar are also available.

Guitar effects are electronic devices that modify the tone, pitch, or sound of an electric guitar, or condition or reroute the signal in some fashion. Effects can be housed in small effects pedals, guitar amplifiers, guitar amplifier simulation software, and in rackmount preamplifiers or processors. Electronic effects and signal processing form an important part of the electric guitar tone used in many genres, such as rock, pop, blues, and metal.Electric bass players use bass effects, which are designed to work with low-frequency tones of the bass.

The overdriven sound of distortion, which alters a signal’s waveform by “clipping” the signal, is an important part of an electric guitar’s sound in many genres, particularly for rock, hard rock, and metal. Filtering-related effects such as equalizers are used to adjust the frequency response in a number of different frequency bands, either for subtle sound shaping, to notch out unwanted resonance, or to enhance certain frequencies. Some filtering effects are used for creating more pronounced effects such as the “crying” sound of the wah pedal, the funky tone of the auto-wah, or the vocal-like sounds of the “Talk box. Volume-related effects such as volume pedals are used to adjust the volume of an instrument, make notes or chords fade in and out, or create a tremolo effect by rapidly increasing and decreasing the volume. A more complex volume-related effect is the compressor, which acts as an automatic volume control and smoothes out the peaks and valleys in the signal.

Time-based effects such as delay or echo pedals create a copy of an incoming sound which can be used for reverb effects; very long delay times can be used as a looping pedal. Modulation-related effects include the swirling sound of rotary speakers such as the Leslie speaker, the “whooshing” sound of the electronic Phase shifter, the psychedelic rock-style flanger, or the shimmering sound of a chorus effect. Pitch-related effects includes octave effects and pitch shifting pedals which can be used with an expression pedal to give a smooth bend-like effect or to add a parallel harmony part to a melody. Other pedals include switcher pedals; noise gates; and multi-effect pedals, which contain many different effects in a single chassis.

Rusty Cooley is a guitarist from Houston, Texas.

Rusty received his first equipment (a Peavey T27 guitar and a Peavey Decade amp) on his fifteenth birthday. From that day on Cooley immersed himself in music, practicing upwards of four hours a day. Rusty took guitar lessons for a while but became dissatisfied with local guitar instructors and decided to become self-taught. He relied on instructional books and videos like Doug Mark’s Metal Method.

After only three years of playing he became a guitar teacher at the music store where he had purchased his first guitar.

Rusty joined Revolution in 1989 and stayed with them until 1993. During his time with Revolution they became a well-known band in Houston, even opening for bands such as Nitro, Badlands, South Gang, and Every Mother’s Nightmare.

Rusty formed a short-lived band called Dominion after he left Revolution. The band broke up in 1995. During this time Rusty won the Guitar Master Series and was named “Best Guitarist” in Houston.

David Kyle Cook born August 29, 1975 in Frankfort, Indiana, is a member of the band Matchbox Twenty.He attended the Atlanta Music Institute. He plays lead guitar, banjo and sings backing vocals for the band.  He also lived in Oviedo, Florida for a time. His house located between two family houses belonging to relatives of professional golfer Steve Lamontagne.

Cook and his wife, Sabrina, whom he married in may 1999 have two children, both girls. He currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee. He played classical violin for five years before learning to play the guitar. His first guitar was a classical.

He is also the guitarist and co-lead vocalist for the band The New Left. The New Left consists of himself and three other musicians he played with under the name Downpour in high school. He has also contributed to recording guitar for Mick Jagger’s song “Visions Of Paradise” on his solo record “Goddess In The Doorway”. He also played guitar on the song “something to be…” by Rob Thomas on his solo album of the same name.

More recently while Matchbox Twenty was on a brief hiatus, he has been releasing songs written solo via his myspace page. He also shares writing credits on the Matchbox Twenty songs “Feel” and “Soul”.

Jamie Cook (born Jamie Robert Cook, 8 July 1985) is the guitarist of Sheffield’s Arctic Monkeys.

During the first album, Cook’s setup was fairly simple : A Fender Telecaster 62 reissue. His pedals were a MXR M-104 Distortion+, a Electro-Harmonix Big Muff and, at least for a while, he could be seen using a T-Rex Dr. Swamp twin distortion pedal. He also had a Boss TU-2 Tuner. His amplifier used was a Hiwatt Custom 50-Watt 2×12 Combo.

From the second album onwards, he has had quite an elaborate pedalboard. The pedals used have almost changed altogether. He sticks to his MXR M-104 Distortion+, and has added a Electro Harmonix Little Big Muff, an Electro Harmonix Hog, an Electro Harmonix Pulsar Tremolo, an Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man, a Boss LS-2 Line Selector, and has also been seen with a phaser and a wah pedal. His main guitar is now a Gibson 335TD from 1975. He has been seen using several different Bad Cat amplifiers in addition to his Hiwatt amplifiers.