News: all you need to know about stomp box effects

Effects units are packaged by their manufacturers, and used by musicians, in various sizes, the most common of which are the stomp-box and the rack-mount unit. A "Stomp box" is a metal box, containing the circuitry, which is placed on the floor in front of the musician and connected in line with, say, the guitar cord. The box is typically controlled by one or more foot-pedal on-off switches and typically contains only one or two effects. A second type of effects unit may contain the identical electronic circuit, but is mounted in a standard 19" equipment rack. Usually, however, rack-mount effects units contain several different types of effects. They are typically controlled by knobs or switches on the front panel, and often by a MIDI digital control interface. Musicians who prefer multiple stomp-boxes use “Off-boards”; these may be simply pieces of plywood with several stomp-box units fastened to the plywood and connected in series. Rack Mounted effects or off-boards can combine several effects in one unit, and can include analog controls such as pedals or knobs.

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