Music term for a piece of equipment installed between the
instrument (usually a
guitar) and the
amp to enhance or distort the sound. Examples of effect boxes are
fuzzbox,
distortion,
overdrive,
flanger,
phaser,
chorus,
reverb,
compressor, and many others.
With modern DSP units, multi-effect boxes with two or more effects in one box have become more common.
The term "effect box" was originally used for the small, foot-operated units used by guitar and bass players, but now the term also applies to rack-mounted equipment used for any kind of instrument.