Recommend me effects pedals!

Mad Jazz

So here's the skinny, rockin' dudes of H/A:

I have my sweet guitar that I love, but I don't have any pedals to go with it. Given that this is about the only area of guitaring that I know nothing about, I'm here for recommendations. Specifically, I'm wanting a wah pedal and a distortion pedal of some kind, and I'd like a delay pedal as well (but that's less necessary for my purposes). I'll be getting these mostly off craigslist or similar, I'd imagine, so if anyone has any advice as far as what to check for when trying them out (other than standard sounds of bad electronics), that would be great too.

So, recommend me brands that you like, warn me about brands you hate, and if there's a type of effect that you love to play with, tell me about that too!

Thirty-3

Distortion depends entirely on what it is you're playing and even then, no pedal is going to sound as nice as an overdriven amp. As for pedals, Electro-Harmonix Big Muffs are relatively popular; I used a Little Big Muff in my bass rig while I was with my last band (industrial-rock) and loved it.

For delay, I've had good experiences with the Boss DD3. They're pretty much standard and can be had second hand for not terribly much.

You're going to hear this a lot because its true: go to a store and mess around with the pedals they have. It's really the best way to work out what you want and what you like.

Good luck!

The_Glad_Hatter

There are two paths you can go by:
1) get a recommendation for some awesome pedals, buy those, love those. it's great to have just a few knobs to twist and really experiment with all of the various possibilities one pedal can offer

2) get a digital multi-effect device. V-amp, POD, whatever... o lot of older models are sold really cheap nowadays, and still offer a shitload of options. Sure, purists will hate it because it's not authentic.. heck.. i prefer my handfull of old pedals over the pod or boss multipedals i have. But besides offering an enormous amount of sounds, the multi-effects help you with getting to know the different kinds of effects..

it's "cooler" to own old gear with tubes and lotsa wires and knobs, but modern stuff does the job for cheap. you decide...

The only brands i can vouch for:
electro harmonix: my Big Muff is older than i am, but it still works like a fucking charm
Boss: every pedal single pedal is built like a bloody tank. Love this brand to bits.
Line 6 (makers of the POD multieffect) seems solid enough... not as trouble-free as the aforementioned, but still a very good buy....

If you're on a budget:
Behringer has a line of rediculously cheap stompboxes, priced at about 25 bucks a piece (IIRC). They're all modelled to sound exactly like a famous pedal (even look like their inspirations). They feel plasticy and cheap, but i doubt anyone listening to a gig is going to be able to hear the difference between the real thing and the behringer one. Altough i was sceptical, they seem to score well enough on http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Effects/brand/Behringer If you wanna check 'em out, they're the ones with "100" in the product name (well, most of 'em are anyway).

Jeedan

for Wah pedals everyone ends up getting a crybaby, but beware the vanilla dunlop crybaby is the most awful tone sucker when bypassed you will ever use.

Delay get an ibanez dd7

pinenut_canary

Tell us what guitar and amp you have! And what kind of music you like to play. Also, if you're in a band, or you would like to be in one, or whatever, do you want to play lead for the ripping solos or do you want to run across stage playing rhythm and rocking out? What do you want to be able to do?

I play mostly punk, hardcore, and metal, and am mostly a rhythm player (but that's because I do vocals, and I can't sing and play at the same time worth crap).

Gear wise, I am a very simple person. All I have is my guitar, my amp (and it's foot switch), and a Boss TU-2 Chromatic tuner. My guitar has three channels (clean, rhythm, and lead), and that's pretty much all I need. I used to have a Boss DS-1 and SD-1, but I gave them to my friend, because he was in a lot more need of it than I was. They were all right pedals, and mentioned before, built like tanks. My friend later on Keeley modded them, which make them sound a lot better (http://www.robertkeeley.com/home.php). You can send in your pedal and they'll mod it for you. I think Zakk Wylde uses a modded DS-1, and some other guitar virtuoso (Satriani? Vai? It's someone, I forgot).

I don't play as much before, but if I had the money, I would get an equalizer, because to me, tone is much more important than effects, and then a delay pedal. For the delay pedal, I wouldn't do something like the Edge, but have more of a quick decay so that my sound is more full. For the delay, I wouldn't need anything fancy like a Line6 (although they're very nice), so I'd go something like a Boss DD, and for the Equalizer, a Boss GE-7.

But I think you're going to want to wait for the delay and equalizer, but out of those two, I would get the equalizer.

If you want to play solos, and want to boost your sound and make it tighter, then an over drive pedal is the best thing you can do. An SD-1 is fine, especially when it's modded. You can also look into the Radial Tonebone. The pedal has a pre-amp tube in it, and it's own eq, which comes in really handy if you want to be versatile with your sound.

I don't use wah at all, and was never interested in it, so I can't help. But I do know that if you plug your guitar into the output, and your amp into the input, and you step the pedal, it makes a dolphin noise.

But you should really tell us what you play, your gear, etc. There was a thread on a different forum that had a lot of good info on pedals (how they work, what they do, etc), and I'm trying to look for it. I'll post it as soon as I can.

Seol

Re: distortion - this depends entirely on what sound you're looking for. Overdrive is not the same thing as distortion (such as the Boss pedals mentioned), which is not the same as fuzz (Big Muff), and within each of those there's a bunch of different flavours. There are good brands and bad brands, sure, but before you choose between Haagen Dasz and Baskin Robbins, choose between chocolate and vanilla.

Best recommendation here is do some research first. Find someone who's guitar sound you like (preferably based on live performance) and try to find out what sort of gear they use. That'll give you an idea as to what exactly you want from a distortion pedal.

wasted pixels

The only serious advice I'd offer (other than "get a Big Muff, the U.S. model, not the bratty little black Soviet box") is to avoid multi-effects entirely. Granted, they double in quality every two years, but all that means is in two years, the new Pod (or whatever) will make you realize how incredibly cheesy your old Pod (or whatever) sounded.

So that being said, the pedals I like to keep around are a Vox wah, a Boss GE-7 equalizer (this makes a bigger difference than anything else in my rig), a Small Clone chorus, a Boss BD-2 blues driver, and that Big Muff I mentioned above. Keep your pedal use to a bare minimum, and if you can, just rely on your amplifier for distortion. If you can't get a distortion sound you like out of your amp, you have the wrong amp (or at least an amp that isn't well-suited for your musical style).

i n c u b u s

Boss makes some sweet quality pedals and if your not looking to pay too too much for an entire pedal board I'd suggest going for some starters. My board is this:

-Boss DD-3 (Digital Delay, a very simple but fun effect and is by far my favorite pedal I own.)
-Boss PH-3 (Phase Shifter, if you're an Incubus fan this pedal is a must. Great effects for not much coin.)
-Dunlop Classic Wah (The Wah pedal that started it all. Pretty basic and gets the job done.)
-Boss MD-2 (A very hard distortion pedal that gives you that metal or hard rock crunch your looking for.)

Those are all pretty basic starter pedals that you can get below $100 and are simple to work. If you like those than move up when you've gotten used to using the controls and what not to make your own sound. Also I'd reccomend a tuner pedal even if you don't play live shows. It's nice to not have to unplug anything to tune your guitar when all you have to do is step on it, tune, and get back to rockin.

acidlacedpenguin

my effects loop is fairly simple.

it goes Big Muff - > Big Muff -> Boss CS3 (compression/sustain)

I use this for both a guitar and a bass, essentially muff 1 is dialed up for a more guitar fuzz, muff 2 is diale for a more bass fuzz, the CS3 is usually dialed to cut off some of the crazyness I find with the muffs.

Then when I want to play the sound of a chainsaw I turn on both muffs. I much prefer 2 muffs to one of those double muffs, but space isn't really a concern in my pedal board.

Sir Carcass

For multieffects I would definitely check out the Line6 POD line.

Agsie

I'll also toss in a vote for Boss pedals. I have a MT-2 and it's great if you play metal. I also have a Dunlop Crybaby that gets the job done for wah-effects. I bought both of my pedals secondhand from a local guitar shop and saved a bundle. Just make sure they let you test them out first.

i n c u b u s

Good point, all the pedals I have bought are USED. I've literally saved hundreds of dollars simply by buying them off of ebay or refurbished sellers. They all work like a dream.

Dehumanized

Man, we've had a ton of guitar threads in the past week, eh?

I'd add to the recommendations to look into the E-H Big Muff. It's just a fucking fantastic pedal. Ignore the other models that Electro Harmonix has made that are supposed to be "like" the Big Muff (eg: Little Muff, Double Muff). They're simply not as good. As far as which Big Muff to get -- the NYC produced model is more of a classic fuzz, and the Russian made model is definitely more like a distortion pedal. Both are good, but different.

Also, the Ibanez Tube Screamer is great. Stevie Ray Vaughan's sound highly depended on it, if you want an idea on how it sounds like. There's some internal differences between the various TS models, but they're all pretty damn good pedals. The TS-808 reissue or the TS-9 is where you'd want to look, primarily.

As for delays and wah, I don't really have any good suggestions that haven't come up already. I use an Electro-Harmonix Stereo Poly-Chorus as a sort of delay, but it's a) really expensive, b) not really a delay pedal c) not specialized in function. If you were looking for an analog pedal that did filter matrix (makes everything sound kinda robotic), chorus, flanger, and double tracking with stereo output then I'd recommend it.


Those Behringer pedals mentioned earlier are indeed quite decent for the price. Good if you want to mess around with new sounds on the extra cheap.

Seol

Dehumanized wrote: »

Also, the Ibanez Tube Screamer is great. Stevie Ray Vaughan's sound highly depended on it, if you want an idea on how it sounds like. There's some internal differences between the various TS models, but they're all pretty damn good pedals. The TS-808 reissue or the TS-9 is where you'd want to look, primarily.

Didn't SRV basically use the TS as a clean boost to push the preamp harder? ie that "SRV TS sound" isn't really the TS at all?

Dehumanized

Seol wrote: »

Dehumanized wrote: »

Also, the Ibanez Tube Screamer is great. Stevie Ray Vaughan's sound highly depended on it, if you want an idea on how it sounds like. There's some internal differences between the various TS models, but they're all pretty damn good pedals. The TS-808 reissue or the TS-9 is where you'd want to look, primarily.

Didn't SRV basically use the TS as a clean boost to push the preamp harder? ie that "SRV TS sound" isn't really the TS at all?

it's half the TS9, half that he had a chain of amps all set to 10. he used it as sort of a pre-preamp.

this site seems to be pretty accurate, from what i remember reading about his setup as explained by his guitar tech in the SRV box set:

http://www.angelfire.com/music2/guitarglen/srv.htm

relevant quotes in here, with my emphasis added:

AMP SETUP
You'll have to play around with the amp to get a volume setting that just breaks up a bit, but doesn't really fuzz-up. Stevie used multiple amps, chained together, to get his sound, and unless you can do the same, you'll have to dial-in your one amp to get close to the same sound. If your amp has a Master / Preamp setup, set your guitar volume knob to ten, your preamp knob to at least 5, and set a reasonable listening level on the Master knob. Stevie pushed the power tubes and the speakers, and you'll be pushing the preamp tubes only, so you won't get an identical breakup, but it should be close. Plus, you won't go deaf in the process. If you're to play on stage, these reasonable levels will be your stepping stone to the higher concert levels. The guitar volume knob can now be played at 10 for the "greasy breakup", or rolled-off a number or two to back-off on the distortion but keep relatively the same volume.

Listen to something like "In The Beginning" while you dial-in a stage tone, or "Couldn't Stand the Weather" for a consistent album tone. Start by either setting all tone knobs to zero, and turn them up one at a time until you like what you hear, or turn them all to ten and back them off one by one. For you Bassman users, Stevie said in an interview that he liked the sound of his Bassman with all the tone knobs turned almost all the way down. This was around 1989, and not representative of his early years. For that early tone, you might try setting treble to 9 or 10, the midrange to 6, and the bass to 6 on the amp. The guitar tone knobs will then simply roll-off the treble. Stevie constantly fiddled with the guitar tone and volume knobs while he played, and this would allow you to do the same.

EFFECTS SETUP
After you've dialed-in the amp, you can get down to business on the effects pedals. Stevie kept things really simple, so don't get too carried away on the effects. The less you use them, the better off you'll be. The more effects you add will tend to destroy that vintage Fender tone. Start with the distortion pedal. Stevie used the Tube Screamer for more gain, not distortion. In other words, he used the TS as a sort of "pre"-preamp. Do the same with your pedal. We really don't have a specific setting for Stevie's rig, but it would probably be close if you set the Level to max, the distortion to maybe 2, and the tone to max.

Now remember, Stevie is playing on the edge already, and using the Tube Screamer this way will simply provide a wall of volume with more power amp distortion. If you can't turn up like he did (and I don't know who can!), use the distortion control to give just a little more fuzz, and use the level to match the volume like you normally would. It won't sound the same, since you're introducing "imitation" distortion, but it will be at a more reasonable level, and it will help sustain.

Basically, unless you can afford to take a bunch of expensive old tube amps and play them at ear destroying volumes, then using a TS-808 or TS-9 a little more than he did on a more reasonable-for-the-hobbyist volume can provide a similar (not the same, but similar) sound.

Mad Jazz

Cool, thanks for all the posts. Further information coming!

My guitar: Early '90s american stratocaster that I got secondhand. I don't think anything has been done to the electronics, but I'm not 100% sure about that, mostly because I don't know how bright the guy who sold it to me is.
My amp: this

I mostly just play on my own, but I'd like to be able to pick up and go with a band. More than likely it would be bluesish, so being able to switch from rhythm to lead and vice versa would be nice.

As far as distortion, I know there are a bunch of different effects out there, but I was more polling to see what you guys recommend. Like I said, I have very little experience with pedals, since I mostly just play clean through whatever amp I can get (if I'm not at home with my own).

Thanks for all the replies so far, lots of good info!

Pheezer

Seriously, don't go multi-effects, especially if you're in the market for a distortion pedal. Multi-effects pedals are bad at everything except for delay and reverb, and even then there are certain aesthetics that only come from the analog equivalents.

But they're worst at distortion. Multi-effects pedals do nothing worse than the way they do distortion.

You've got two real options for distortion, tube or transistor. Which one is right for you will depend on your tastes and budget, so just get out there and try 'em all. I will however support the advice that Boss distortion pedals sound good and guess what: There's not much out there that's more reliable. So if you decide you love a Boss pedal, find it used.

Also, the best flanger I ever used was the DOD model 74C. The early gen models were called the 747. It's just fucking awesome. The best sounding wah I've ever seen has always come from Crybaby models. The best reverb and phase shifting I've ever had came from my amp head unit, a Peavy 400 Mark III from 1979.

Fiziks

www.steviesnacks.com has some good info on SRV-style tone. If you can find them parametric equalizers can really help give you a clean boost to your sound. However since SRV had the luxury of playing at 10, with an assortment of amps, a tubescreamer really isn't going to give you that natural overdriven tone on your 15 watt amp.

The guy at Stevie Snacks, uses two parametric EQ pedals, one for a clean boost, one for more boost, and then a Nobels ODR-S pedal to really push it

pinenut_canary

You have a very nice amp sir. Everything I've said in my previous post, you can ignore, because what we play are different.

But I still do recommend the Tuner and the Equalizer. And since your'e playing blues, a TS-9 or TS-808 will suit you nicely. I highly recommend getting them Keeley modded though, they do amazing things to your tone.

Celzrro

First off, don't listen to the people telling you to get a Boss GE-7 (at least not at retail prices). You mentioned that you play by yourself for the most part, so the only possible advantage you'd get with a Boss pedal--the rugged metal case--doesn't seem like it would really be that much of an advantage, especially considering it's an EQ pedal. For the money you'd spend on one GE-7, you could get two or three Danelectro Fish and Chips EQs. I've got two: one stays on all the time and I use the other as a mid-boost for when I really want to cut through.

Overdrive/Distortion: I'd look at a range of pedals, but I especially recommend trying out a Tube Screamer and a Digitech Bad Monkey. Some people love the TS and hate the Bad Monkey, but I actually prefer the Bad Monkey in many cases. Others have recommended a Big Muff, which I've also used before, but I've found it to have a bit too much distortion or my taste, so I tend to use it alongside an overdrive for extra fuzz. Just be wary of anyone telling you that X is the best overdrive/distortion pedal, since overdrive/distortion depends as much on your guitar and amp as it does the pedal itself.

Delay: I love delay, and I attribute that to being such a huge fan of the Edge, who talks about delay like it's his wife. That said, I'd stay away from solid-state delay pedals, unless you want a dirt cheap pedal that you will rarely use. Most solid-state delays simply don't respond to dynamics well--if at all--and don't sound very good. I recommend looking at the MXR Carbon Copy, as well as the Memory Man line of delays from Electro-Harmonix; some of the Memory Man pedals are pretty pricey, but can handle things like true stereo delay. If you must get a solid-state delay, the only one I can recommend is the Boss DD-20. It has a lot of useful features, and the display will let you dial in the exact delay time you want, so it can be quite useful.

Wah: I don't own a wah pedal and I rarely use one, so I don't really know much about wah. One of the bassists I play with owns a Vox wah that I've used on several occasions and it seemed pretty solid, though. Sorry I can't help more in this area.

jackisreal

Don't buy anything without trying it out in the store, preferably with your guitar. That said:

Distortion: The Rat
Delay: Boss Delay

And just in case you want a reverb pedal, try out The Holy Grail.