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Turn everything off. Hook your amplifier and pedal up to power. Connect your guitar to the input jack. Connect the output jack on the pedal to the input of the amplifier. Turn the amplifier on first and set your levels. Turn down the effect knobs before switching it on. Experiment with the pedal. Always unplug cables when you're finished playing.
Anytime you're connecting or disconnecting an effects pedal, you need to cut the power to everything in the chain. While the power cables can and should be plugged in to each separate unit, the units themselves should be switched off. Make sure the amp and each pedal are switched off when you connect them. There is one exception to this rule though - if you are using a tube or valve amp. In this case, you want to keep the amp turned on but put the amp in standby mode using the standby switch. Trying to connect live circuits can result in shorts, as well as loud pops and feedback bursts that will come through the amp. It'll shorten the life of all the components in your rig. Don't do it. The biggest thing to avoid is powering on a pedal, connecting it, then powering on the amplifier. This is a fast-track to a short. To make sure the pedals and the amp are off before you connect them, you'll need to have them plugged in. Connect both your pedal and your amp to power and switch them on and off to make sure. Some guitar pedals will come with 9-volt A/C adapters, while others will be battery-operated, though most feature both options. For most guitar players, batteries are nice because it's one less thing to plug in, but are a hassle because batteries die and are expensive. Most pedals will have only two jacks, one labeled "Input," and another labeled "Output." These jacks are usually located on opposite sides of the pedal's body, depending on the unit, and are built to accept a standard quarter-inch (6 mm) audio cable. Locate the input and output jacks on the guitar pedal, then connect your guitar to the jack labeled "input." All the inputs and outputs can get confusing for the beginner. Remember: the audio signal is generated by your guitar's pickups, from where it travels to the amp through the cable. So, the guitar should always be connected to the input jack of the pedal, because this reflects the direction in which the signal travels. You play a sound on the guitar, then it travels "in" to the pedal, where it comes "out" and goes back "in" to the amp. Run another length of quarter-inch cable from your pedal to your amplifier. The cable connecting the pedal to the amp should go into the same input you would normally plug your guitar into directly. To connect a pedal, you'll need at the very least, two quarter-inch cables. If you're chaining together pedals, you'll likely need more patch cables to fit everything together without much hassle, but if you're just plugging in one, two regular cables will work fine. After you've got all your cables plugged in, switch your amplifier on and set everything like you like it. In general, it's best to keep your amp relatively unaffected when you're trying out a pedal for the first time, to get a feel for how it sounds, but feel free to experiment. If you always play with the amp on the same settings, leave it how you like it. Especially if you're plugging in a super-fuzz distortion pedal or some kind of space-echo, you want to make sure you're not going to blow out your eardrums when you stomp on the pedal for the first time. Turn all the settings down low before you activate the pedal. You can adjust them as you play. To activate most pedals, you can step on a button or a lever below the control knobs on the pedal to activate it. Most of the time, a red or green light will turn on, letting you know the pedal is activated. Gently explore the features of the pedal, turning the different effect knobs up while you're playing to get a feel for the sound. Play around with different effect volumes and orientations. Have fun. To turn most pedals off, you'll step on the button or lever again, cutting the signal to the pedal and going straight through the amp. Play around with activating and deactivating the pedal to get the kind of sound you want. If you leave pedals connected, the power will be drained, making this especially important if you're using batteries to power your guitar pedals. Any time you've got cables connected to the input and output jacks, the power will be drained from the pedal. If you're not actively playing, make sure all your pedals are disconnected and switched off. They'll last a lot longer.