Best guitar pedals

I'm not a huge one for effects pedals (although primarily a "purist"......nice tube amp with reverb around 3-4, bass, treble.........I do appreciate cool effects and sustain)........which one (or two.......no more than 3 though) efeects pedals would U recommend and why?? Specifically too if this is allowed...namebrand and advantages........if this is already on this forum site than I apologize and will look up anything in GuitarTricks nice library!! I love this site by the way..........this is only my first month of premium membership and I still feel like a kid at Christmas morning spoiled with all sorts of presents and not knowing which one(s) to open first!! Love it!! Jim C.

Hi stratmanjimbo,

I love pedals. I'm so glad you asked. The first pedal I ever bought was a tube screamer. They're all clones of the Ibanez Tube Screamer at this point, which I believe was the original pedal. There's just something really nice about having that hairy but not too crazy distorted tone. The Ibanez Tube Screamer can cost hundreds of dollars. But you can find a cheaper clone for less than $100. Google em, search through Youtube for reviews!

The second pedal I bought was a delay pedal, and it was kind of crazy. It has the ability to loop two tracks and it also has a handful of fun effects to play with. It just works. Here's a link: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LilLooper

If you're okay with your guitar tone and want to experiment, I suggest getting some type of delay pedal or a loop pedal if you just want to jam out with yourself or create some new stuff.

Sorry, I'm ranting!

Goodluck!

- Billy

No-no!! Please rant away!! Tube screamer sounds pretty cool.........my buddy had an ancient Echoplex which was really cool..........he loved to imitate David Gilmour ......which sounds pretty close to a delay pedal............the one pedal I do have.......and may still work (needs a battery I'm certain!) is a Univox Wah-wah pedal..........so this in conjunction should cast away some of the boredom with basic (yet classic and good sounding) straight amp playing!! Thanks, Billy!!

Jim C.

My three favourite pedals (at the moment) are the ProCo Rat, Vox V847 wah pedal and the Boss OC-3 octave pedal. Loads of fun and great sounds from these.

This is great time to be playing electric guitar! The digital modelling amps & rack units are amazing. And there are more great pedals than ever available by big manufacturers as well as small builders. More than I could ever even try! :)

When I first started playing as a kid in the 70s you didn't have too many options & it was very much trial & error. Nowdays you can play through any of them at a store through different guitars & amps, or watch YouTube gear demos forever!

Because I learned by playing through tube amps & with basic pedals that's my go to solution if possible. That's how my technique & playing style developed, so that's what is most comfotable for me. I have computer software plug-ins & a Line6 POD. Those are great solutions for some studio work. But they never feel as comfortable as a tube amp & a Boss overdrive pedal. :)

There are 2 things you should consider when thinking about equipment.

1. Use what works for you.

What equipment makes it easy for you to play the guitar? If you are fighting or strugging to make some amp or pedal sound good, then you should find another piece of gear to try. There are just too many options available to have something that doesn't inspire you & make it a joy to play.

2. Use the right tool for the job.

Are you playing in you home studio? A pro studio? An open mic jam? A big club with a PA? A small rock band in a basement or garage? A country band in a small bar with 2 other guitars? What style of music are you playing?

Sometimes you have to follow point 2 instead of point 1. The ideal is to be able to follow both point 1 & 2! But it's important to consider what you actually plan to do with the equipment. If you are only going to play in your home studio or open jam you really don't need a 100-watt Marshall & a $2000 original Klon overdrive pedal. :)

Originally Posted by: stratmanjimbo

I'm not a huge one for effects pedals (although primarily a "purist"......nice tube amp with reverb around 3-4, bass, treble.........I do appreciate cool effects and sustain)........which one (or two.......no more than 3 though) efeects pedals would U recommend and why??

If I was limited to only one pedal it would be my Boss Super Overdrive SD-1.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SD1

That's because it's the most widely applicable pedal I've ever used & it perfectly matches my playing style, technique & pick attack. You can use it to get anything from slight grit, to beefy gain to full on distortion. And it sounds great at every one of those levels.

It also pairs well with every single tube amp I've ever used: big & small Marshall, big & small Fender, mid-sized & small Reason Grande & Bambino.

I also rely a lot on my Zoom MS-50.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MS50G

It's awesome because it has a bunch of models of classic pedals all in one unit. Chorus, reverb, delay, flange, overdrives & more. It even has a great auto wah setting that can simulate my wah pedal & I don't even miss my wah-wah pedal!

Also, I did a post comparing the Line6 POD to my Marshall here:

https://www.guitartricks.com/forum/thread.php?f=25&t=44617

Gear chasing is fun! :)

Hi Stratman,

If you have an iPad and a mobile interface, there's an app called bias fx that turns your device into a digital amp and has pretty faithful recreations of how the pedals sound, so you can try out a lot. I tried Amplitube and didn't like it--it felt too "digital" and charged me for every little thing. Line 6 has some modelling products as well, but I've never tried them.

For drive, the pedals are too personal to recommend. It's like recommending food to someone. Here's what I use.

I use a $120 TS9DX tube screamer clone for my light overdrive with the gain set to halfway. That pedal dries up my sound and gives it a punchy little bite, but lets the notes ring out. Think Stevie Ray Vaughan or Gary Moore.

A $60 Soul Food pedal with gain set to 8 o'clock is my medium overdrive. This gives my sound a more rock feel, but I start to lose the clarity of the individual notes. I don't use this as much, and the Soul Food is a really popular pedal, so there are probably people on this forum who use this pedal more and can tell you how to get better sounds. I think John Meyer when I hear this pedal.

For fuzz, I use the $90 Big Muff Pi. This is one of my most used drive pedals, and it sounds like the black keys or Jack White. Be careful when trying out a fuzz pedal though. Most fuzz pedals don't "kick in" until you have the amp cranked--the classic fuzz face just sounds like overdrive with a typical bedroom playing. Since you don't want the neighbors calling the cops on you just because you're trying to use your pedal, I'd recommend looking for a fuzz that has a "level" knob, and still trying it out at low volumes in the store.

Happy Playing!

Hi Jim. You say you're a purist and like sustain, so the obvious pedal choices, IMHO, would be a compressor and a boost pedal. Both will keep your tone but will enhance the guitar's responsiveness and increase sustain making playing easier and your sound more even and consistent - a more 'recorded' sound, if you like. The booster pedal is a very subtle overdrive that just adds a little more drive and life to the tone without being obvious 'distortion'. I would try the real cheap eBay $30-60 pedals from manufacturers such as Mooer, Kokko, Donner, Mosky etc al. If you like the direction they take your sound and playing in, you can always spend a little more in the future buying replacements with a littler more class. Have fun Jim! Joe.

If you're on a tight budget, you can get one of those 'multi-effects' pedals. But, if you really want the true taste of a dedicated (distortion, delay, reverb, and just about any) pedal, you need to buy a dedicated pedal. Check out this Reddit thread for further reading.

I mostly use a BOSS AC-3 acoustic simulator pedal, a Boss DS-1X distortion pedal, and a Electro-Harmonix Soul Food transparent overdrive pedal.

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!

Delay is great. Check TC Electronic Flashback. :)[br]https://musicsquare.co.uk/137150g_Guitar-and-Bass-Guitar-and-Bass-Effects-Guitar-Effects-Pedals.html[br]https://www.sweetwater.com/shop/guitars/guitar-pedals/[br]https://www.gear4music.com/guitar-effects.html

I would suggest a overdrive, fuzz, octave and a Wah Pedal.

I love playing with my pedals in front of my amp. At the moment I am loving my Boss Blues Driver, Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face and TC Electronics Sub N' Up octave pedal.

TheBD2 sounds is great for that overdriven blues tone, just got to learn the SVR licks..

Jim Dunlop Fuzz Face mini, silcon based fuzz based on the orginal from the sixties. Outstanding pedal.

TheSub N' UP is half the price of the EHX Pog but sounds great, has one up nd two down octaves. Also has a few different settings, with Classic and Polyphonic as well as the Toneprint. For that Jack White, Rival Sons, Gary Clark Jr sound this does the job well.

I got another fuzz last week that I am still trying to nail down, the DOD Carcosa. Got a feeling this will be a faveorite pedal ever or will sell it week.

I had the Zoom MS-70CDR, simiar to the MS-50 mention before. While it was fanastic value for money I sold as I realised I didnt use because it was fiddly to use and in the end I got other pedals to make the tone I wanted ie a separate octave pedal. The Zoom pedals are a great way of learning what tones and effects you want but in the end unless you use a lot of different modulations, delays, etc you'll you only use one or two of the effects.