Steve Marcia
Guitar FX in Modern Worship
by Corey Fournier
Steve Marcia is a gifted guitar player in the Southern California area who’s amassed an impressive list of credits in his young career. I met him a few years ago when he played with Tommy Walker at the Roland Worship Summit, and since then, he’s gone on to play for such notable Christian bands and artists as Shane & Shane, The Kry, Phil Wickham, and Mercy Me. Despite the diversity of these bands and their songs, Steve’s affinity for Boss pedals has remained a constant, and two pedals in particular have been staples in his pedal board. He was kind enough to share his insights and techniques on how worship guitarists can utilize these effects in creating their own unique tone.
WC: You probably have access to any effect device you need. What pedals are you using in your pedal board?
SM: A few BOSS pedals that I’ve been using are the TU-2, the DD-20 and the RT-20. The TU-2 is a chromatic tuner – which is essential. You’ve got to have a great tuner and this one is great for dark stages. Another pedal I love, that really is a staple in my tone, is the DD-20 Giga Delay pedal. I love its versatility and its relatively small size. I love that you can store four different presets of delays, and it’s just really tweakable. It works all across the board in different styles and applications. It’s just a cool pedal with lots of options.
Another great pedal that I’ve been using a lot is the RT-20, which is the Rotary Ensemble pedal. It emulates a rotary speaker cabinet and it’s a really cool effect for volume swells and rock tones. When you’re trying to do something modern and unique, the RT-20 gives you some unique tone-creating options.
With delay being such a big part of your sound, and with all the delay pedals out there, why did you choose the DD-20?
I chose the DD-20 because it’s really consistent. Once you tap in the delay time it stays there. I’ve had a couple different delay pedals that move around in tempo, and I was always having to go back and re-tap. Also, being able to tap quarter notes and control the output note value makes playing in time with a dotted 8th-note delay effortless. Also, I ’m able to plug in an external tap tempo switch – the BOSS FS-5U. You can set this next to your pedal board and you can tap it whenever you want to reset the tempo to match the drummer or if the song speeds up or slows down – so you can always keep your delays in time.
The RT-20 is a bit less conventional than typical guitar effects. Why did you add it to your rig?
There are a couple of different Christian records that just came out – Phil Wickham’s latest record is one of them. He had some really cool tones on there and I was trying to find out how to recreate those tones. I discovered the RT-20 one day and I’ve been using it ever since.
With its Speed control pedal, you can create some very vibey chordal work, or, leave it at full speed and play some soaring parts or lead solos. It has built-in overdrive too, which adds warm rich tones and gives the perfect volume boost to make the parts stand out. It also has a selectable Uni-vibe mode that sounds great.
Plus, it has an amazing realtime, spinning, multi-color, rotary display. This is not only fun to watch, but it gives you a good idea of how fast or slow the speaker is spinning. So, when you turn it on you know exactly what your sound is going to be. No more being shocked and standing out during a gig with some loud, crazy tone.
Do you use the pedals differently when you’re recording versus playing live?
These pedals are great for recording because you can sit down and tweak them on the fly to fit sonically in the song. Both the DD-20 and RT-20 are great because of all the different tweakable knobs and buttons. BOSS thought of everything when they put these pedals together. Being able to quickly adjust settings is a key feature when you’re playing live or when you’re recording.
How do you arrange the order of your effects on your pedal board?
In order: volume, wah, whammy, compressor, overdrives, rotary, tremolo, delays, tuner. I like putting my delay pedals at the end of my pedal board. I have my overdrive, tremolo, and rotary sounds first, and then it all goes through delay at the end.
What are the main components of your pedal board?
A couple good overdrive pedals, a treble booster and a compressor pedal. But I will say my DD-20 is pretty much always on because it gives me that spacious, really fat sound – whether it‘s a power chord thing, whether it’s parts, or whether it’s a rhythmic delay thing – it just makes your tone a little bit bigger.
How has your sound changed over time and how have your pedals played a part in that?
My first guitar rig was a BOSS GT-3 [multi-effects pedal]. I used that for a couple of years. That was a great tool to understand how sounds work together. I made myself familiar with what tones I liked and disliked, what worked in the modern worship setting and what didn’t. There are so many delay pedals out there, but the DD-20 is the only one that has stayed on my board throughout the years. It’s a great simulator of vintage sounding tape and analog delays. Extending the feedback levels in these modes can create great pad like echo tones perfect for smooth chordal work and volume swells.
In working with so many different artists, each with their own unique sounds and styles, how do you cover all that ground from a tone standpoint?
That’s the great thing about the DD-20 – the fact that it has four presets makes life easy. Let’s say I’m playing with one band and I need something with loud and long delays – I can save those and recall them on the fly. If I’m playing something that has a drier sound, that tone can be saved in the next preset. Just having those presets there is key when I’m trying to recall different sounds for whatever the music style calls for, and it allows me to be versatile in my tone selections.
The RT-20 can be used in many ways also. It has four different modes so you can have it set at a slow, spinning, rotary sound which is great for volume swells and those kinds of tones. Or you can speed it up, turn the overdrive on, and then you can use it for a soaring solo tone. It can be used in multiple situations.
For guitarists that are developing their tone for worship music, what guidance would you give them in choosing effects?
A lot of modern worship music today has two main ingredients that you’re hearing in the guitar tone: delays and overdrives. So, picking the right pedal is key to the style that you’re going for. The DD-20, for me, is perfect for so many different styles. So, when I’m working with Mercy Me, Phil Wickham, The Kry – or whoever it may be – the DD-20 delay pedal has been key to recreating what is on the record. It’s a very versatile pedal.
What are the most important factors for you in choosing an effects pedal?
Not only are the sounds important, but when you’re traveling, you need to have something that’s durable, something that you can rely on, something that’s tweakable on the fly – and these BOSS pedals are perfect for that. The tap tempo feature is really a key feature to the DD-20 for me. Being able to change the tempos, being able to just bend down and turn a knob, add some overdrive or take some out, make the effect speed up or slow down – having options and making your pedals work for you is very important when you’re trying to find the perfect pedal for your pedal board.
For more info about Steve and his upcoming performances, go to web.mac.com/stevenmarcia.
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