Old thread but hopefully will help as people search...
For context, I am in my first band workshop where we rehearse 10 songs and then play at a local bar. I have been going through the newbie gear struggles
The #1 pedal you should buy first is a tuner pedal even if you have a click-on tuner. I use the TC Polytune. I use it to quickly check the tuning I did with my clip-on. You can just hit the 6 open strings and it tells you what strings you need to tune. I also use it as a kill-switch especially if I am switching guitars.
The #2 pedal you should buy is a noise gate. This will mute your signal if there is not enough signal coming through. You set the "gate" above the noise from your guitar but below a soft sustained note. With a noise gate your amp becomes quiet between songs. The most popular models seem to be the ISP Decimator G-string or the Boss NS-1. I use the Boss. The internet scoffs at the Boss for tone coloration but I cannot tell.
The #3 pedal you should buy is whatever is going to be your "solo" button for when you play single notes (rather than chords). It can be a clean boost pedal, a compressor/sustainer (if you play clean tones or country), or an overdrive / distortion pedal. By far, the most popular here is the Ibanez Tube Screamer. Note that you can eliminate this pedal if you have an amp with multiple channels or it's own boost/solo button.
I am going to suggest something weird for #4 because it is not a pedal. It's an attenuator, for your tube amp especially if it lacks a master volume. Tube amps have a minimum volume before they start to "sing." For Fenders, this seems to be Volume = 4. If you cannot turn up that loud, you are not getting the benefit of tube amplification. An attenuator sits between the "out" jack from your amp and your "in" jack to your speaker. It reduces the loudness of the amp so you can run it hotter (to get that tone) but not blast everyone. I have the Ted Weber 50w Mini-Mass on order. I chose that one because the attenuation dial is constant rather than notched.
A mentor once told me the following... "Get effects from pedals, get tone from your amp." Having a $500 amp and $1000 of pedals is like having a Honda Civic with a huge bat wing on the trunk. Budget your amp and pedals together and spend more on the amp. And crank that amp (with the attenuator)!
You really don't need lots of pedals. I have noticed playing and rehearsing in a band that most effects are wasted. The ambient noise level of the band is >85dB and no one hears that echo, delay, or reverb. It just gets lost.
Finally, my #5 pedal to buy is some sort of battery powered buffer to attach to your belt. If you search for guitar buffer on youtube and see the Texas Blues video on it, you can see how important a buffer is.
Hope this helps!
