What effects am I using?

I get this question a lot.  First of all, it's not just the effects that make my sound , but also that I use direct recording to be edited into my videos.  So what you hear in a computer digital recording or such is obviously different than an effect plugged into some kind of amplifier and/or speaker.

I used to go through a lot of BOSS pedals and then direct into my digital recorder.  Now I use a small piece of equipment called a BOSS GT-001.  It's got every effect in it you could imagine.  So that really is not going to help you to understand how I get my tone.

There is no simple answer.  It's a LOT of tweaking.  When you have a multi effects unit, you have a LOT of settings.  For example if you turn on compression, that has it's own tone setting, in addition to other settings.  Then if you turn on distortion, THAT has it's own tone + gain, then EQ, tone again, pre-amp TONE again.  Maybe in 2 places.  Also my unit allows 2 channels - ie, 2 preamps at a time, each with their own  gain, treble, mid, bass, speaker type, etc.  You can spend hours and get nowhere.  When you turn on a lot of things like compression and gain, distortion, it is also really important to tune in the noise suppressor to keep out any humming, especially when notes are not being played, but not too much to kill off all your sustain as the volume fades.

I play along with headphones with the original track and listen to the difference with my tone and the recordings tone.  It's surprising how often I have too much distortion on for example.  

So while I can tell you what effects I'm using, it's just not  a simple answer to say, go get this, and you're all set.  Again, the BOSS GT-001 is a multi effects processor, but there is still all the time to put in if you want to make your own sounds.

One other point is there is also some control of the tone and noise - or more lack of distortion noise - due to the players ability to control the strings as is needed.

Sometimes a simple solo can take me 15 or 20 minutes to learn, and I'll spend an hour tweaking my darn sound. 

Oh one more thing, later on I found this unit does have some free downloadable effects that other professionals have created.  I downloaded the Steve Lukather patches, which were GREAT, far better than anything I had done.  Then I tweak those to more appropriate settings to use in videos, like maybe reducing the amount of delay.  After saving a few of those off, I'm finding I don't need to spend so much time tweaking anymore!