Just placed an order for my first pedal. It’s an overdrive pedal with a particular vulgar and semi-political message on it so I won’t share extra deets about it in the forum (though if you are curious and message me, I’ll share).
I’ve been thinking a bit about pedals for awhile. It’s taken me a long time to wrap my head around what various types do. I still don’t have a clue what some do, but I do have an understanding of a few. Starting with an OD pedal since that’s a super common one in rock and blues. That’ll let me set my amp super clean and then use the pedal to add dirt when I want it.
Here’s where I’m thinking I’ll probably go as I add more pedals.
Pitch shifter - It looks like these can be pretty versatile if you want them to be, but my main objective with something like this is to be able to play a bass line without buying a bass guitar. Sortof a fake it option. Another notable use I’ve run into with something like this is changing the output key of a song while still playing the same chords. One song I wanted to play with my wife this week didn’t work out how I had hoped. She changed the key to work better with her vocal range, but in changing keys, it made certain riffs a LOT harder for me and well outside my ability level. With a pitch shifter, I could just turn a knob to adjust it. I think with at least some of them, I could drop an octave to play a bassline AND change the key to fit my wife’s vocal range. I think I would need to have two switches, though. One to change the key (from E to A in this specific instance) and the other to drop an octave for the bassline. so that with the looper (next pedal), I could loop the bassline and then play something else on top of that.
Looper - This was really driven home to me this past week when I was playing with my wife a particular song that had an important bassline. In concert with the pitch shifter, I could record and loop a bass line and then play something else for the rest of the song. I’m not doing solo work very much at this point, but it certainly frees me up to do a solo, but also to maybe add some arpeggios or even just simple space-filling strums while my wife strums a rhythm on her uke and sings. Flexibility here, but the part that really makes it work for me now is the ability to use it with the pitch shifter to loop a bass line and then play something else.
Beat Buddy - This again gets into setting up some rhythm to play along to. I really enjoy playing with my Boss Rhythm Partner at home, but that is pretty limited to home use (and is also kinda limited on the time signatures it can use, as well as not being good for songs that switch time signatures). There’s even a copyright statement from Boss that they don’t want you doing recordings or performances with it. Beat Buddy doesn’t have that restriction AFAIK and I could even use it on its own for open mic playing (at least at the open mic I go to, pedals are not prohibited, though simple setups are encouraged).
Boost pedal - It looks like when I do eventually get to playing solos, one of these will be handy to go between playing rhythm and doing a solo.
MultiFX/Amp sim pedal - This is a much later sort of deal but would give me the ability to ensure I get the tone I want when I’m plugging into a PA system and not lugging an amp around. I don’t see performing at this level for quite some time. And then depending on which MultiFX pedal I wind up with, would have options for how I set up other functions. This would probably be its biggest use. I don’t think I’d want one of the really huge ones, but who knows when I get to that point of being ready to buy something.
You could buy the last option first, and then not need any of the others. Some multi-effects units are really inexpensive, so even if you later decided to upgrade, you wouldn’t have wasted much money, and you would have a backup device anyway.
Agreed with @MarkPeters if you’re new to pedals look at something like the Valeton GP50 which is inexpensive (given how much it does) and will allow you to try most types of pedal effects. It includes a looper and basic drums. Once you know what you like maybe you do buy a specific pedal after that because the multi fx will give you a flavour of things but a bespoke pedal may offer exactly what you want
Nate, I had to make a similar decision a couple of years ago, and after some research I came to the conclusion that buying individual pedals for different effects is a lot more expensive and cumbersome than buying a good multi FX unit. I got a Zoom G5N second hand which cost me about ÂŁ140 on eBay. It came with a bag and was in mint condition. That has all the effects one can possibly desire, including a looper and drums. Sure, the sound quality is probably lower than that that of a good tube amp + analog pedals, but it costs about 10 times less and occupies a lot less space.
I also got a FRFR speaker, which I use when I want to play not using headphones. I had an old amp which I sold because amps tend to nuance the sound when used merely as speakers.
There are many mid range multi FX units available today for under £500 new. At some point I’ll upgrade mine to a Line6 probably, but I’m not in a rush. It sounds great as it is.
Big bands (like Metallica) have moved to multi FX units on stage too.
I’ve run through the multifx-as-only-pedal option awhile ago. While they’re cool and flexible, it’s not something I want to dive into as my first. And honestly that specific strategy may never be for me.
I absolutely understand their advantages for performing musicians. But for me? Eh. I’d rather have a limited selection of specific analog pedals to start with. Maybe do the multifx thing later on. I could totally see using a small, dedicated amp sim pedal for open mics or small gigs where I’m plugged into a PA. But I’m not there right now. It’s certainly not needed for me to play electric at an open mic.
When it comes to money, that’s not a huge factor for me. Durability and serviceability are higher priorities for me than absolute budget. I tend to prefer knobs and switches over menus, too. So the big ones are probably never going to be for me. So maybe I’ll wind up with a smaller, more basic multifx pedal (with knobs and switches, not touchscreens and menus) later on for those rare edge cases where I am looking for an effect I don’t have for limited use but don’t want to buy yet another pedal for. But for things I’ll be using fairly often, I think individual pedals will be for me.
Yes, Nate, I was the same, but a friend of mine is so good with his. he has inspired me to learn, and I was fortunate enough to be able to play and use his rig. The other thing about it was that I just happened to mention how good they were to my family, and it appeared, so I’d better learn how to use it, cheers
There are some multi FX units that are full of knobs and switches and don’t have touch screens (most Zoom ones).
I also found that chasing tone can be a rabbit hole which takes away a lot of time that could otherwise be used to improve guitar playing skills. I tend to use only a handful of signal chains I’m happy with.
Hec, what a nice present!
I’ve been thinking of getting a Helix LT at some point.
imho, your notion as to how ya wanna do your pedals is valid.
You have a goal with what you’ve choose.
I went your route too. I play plain combo amps (SS or tube, not modeler/processor computers) . I wanted a few pedals so searched a few out on the criags list. Got me the basics. Like your wanting.
I have 6 pedals. Right now, I’m down to 3 that I use (the other 3 are in a drawer not being used). fwiw, one of my 3 in use pedals in use is a strobe tuner. So only two effects. I pretty much turn on my amp and then play my guitar. No scrolling menus for that elusive, just right tone. I do like the two effects I do have at my disposal though.
Have fun on your pedal adventure. Seems you’ve researched what your wanting for effects well. Get them and ya may just be downtown (good)!
I forgot to mention a tuner pedal. I don’t mind using a clip-on tuner when I’m at home or plinking around with friends. but I see the value on stage. I won’t be at that point any time soon, but the tuner pedal would certainly get use either way. Especially since the battery on my clip-on tuner likes to die at inopportune times. I’m tempted to get a rechargeable clip-on tuner, also…it seems we can’t have too many. my wife and I are always looking for a tuner and we already have a few.
Seems like ya got a good reason to get a pedal tuner of some sorts to me. If your plugged in, it’s available.
fwiw, I got the clip on too. Since getting a pedal version, the clip on gets used very little.
Congratulations on diving into the rabbit hole named sound…
If there’s one pedal that needs to be on any board, it should be a tuner pedal. And this is the first one in your chain.
Why? You’ll always have a tuner at the ready and as a bonus, if you engage the pedal, you can switch guitars without having to turn your amp off.
I’d recommend the Boss TU-3 chromatic tuner. It never fails. These things are built to withstand nuclear war…
From there on out, it’s listening to examples, trying pedals, buying them, keeping or returning them…
Building a pedalboard, looking at your chain, rearraging it to get a different sound… Nice!!
A word of warning though… They breed…
I wish you lot’s of fun on this voyage through sound.
You’ll notice that most of the ones I have in mind are for things other than making adjustments to my sound. Simulating a bass with my guitar sorta falls under “adjusting my sound” but it’s also more of a functional thing, too. Maybe one day I’ll get a bass and play whichever as needed, but being able to simulate a bass part, loop it, and then just switch back to playing guitar has its uses even if I do get a bass at some point.
I do wish that I had the cash to just buy all the pedals I have in mind now. Would let me get right to using them all. But not right now. Maybe if I get that 12mo contract at work I won’t have to wait a really long time to get some of the more expensive ones. I used part of my holiday bonus to get this overdrive pedal.
I suspect that my wife will eventually get interested in some pedals for the electric ukulele I’m building her. Playing with my pedals will probably get her interested in some of her own.
I know nothing about pedals, so a newbie question (to the experienced pedal users):
Wouldn’t an overdrive pedal make more sense? I mean an overdrive pedal can function as a clean boost, if you set the “drive” to minimum and the “level” to the volume increase that you want, right? Then, if you did want to add overdrive to your solo (which you probably will), you have that option. I guess I never understood the idea behind the boost pedal.
I think of it this way - you’re not going to be fiddling with knobs in the middle of a song. You’re going to set the knobs where you want them beforehand so that when you’re playing all you need to do is activate/deactivate whichever pedal you need at that time.
Maybe sometimes the one OD pedal will be all you need. But maybe you want one collection of settings for part/song and you want another collection of settings for another part/song. Maybe it’s less about what’s going on in one particular song and more about what you need for your entire set/show. I see a simpler sort of setup that might use an OD and a separate boost looking like this. Set up the amp for clean sounds (or cleanER sounds). You know that for some songs, you want an overdriven sound in the background. Add a separate boost pedal and you can have a clean solo sound or an overdriven solo sound. So you have a few different options.
For now, I’m not doing that many things. So the OD will be all I need on that front for awhile. I could certainly see the possibility for wanting a boost pedal later on, though.
Maybe I wind up buying a boost-only pedal. Maybe decide to use more than one OD (not to use at the same time, but so I can use either/or). Maybe I get what I want in that regard out of a smaller multifx pedal. Maybe I end up with a couple small multifx pedals so I have effect options.
Next pedal acquisitions are definitely going to be focused on some of the other functions first. Looper, pitch shift (it’s entirely possible I buy these two at the same time since they play into each other), beat buddy. Tuner pedal whenever, I guess.
I agree that you don’t want to fiddle with knobs in the middle of a song, but it’s quite common to adjust things between songs. So, the combo of clean(-ish) amp setting and an OD pedal that you adjust from song to song, if you really want different amounts of overdrive for different songs, is a pretty bread-and-butter setup, imo.
Now, I suppose that you can construct a scenario where having OD and boost pedals could be convenient. However, for somebody just starting their collection like you, the OD sounds like a much better option than a booster. You didn’t mention getting an overdrive in your original post, which caught my eye, because I gather that it’s one of the 1st pedals that most guitarists get.
That’s where you might be mistaken. Any adjustment you make, simulating a bass (like with a pog), using an overdrive is adjusting your sound.
Suppose you use your looper with a clean sound and solo over that with the od engaged.
Voila. Sound affected.
They’re all functional.
Loopers, od’s, delays, echo’s, etc… all alter your sound in one way or another.
I did. It’s in the 2nd sentence. I’ve already bought it.
I didn’t say none of them affected my sound. I said most don’t. of course the OD does. yeah the pitch shifter does (most seem to be able to do a whole lot of things I’m not looking for right now). but using it to simulate a bass or change the key I’m playing in I put in a subtly different category than an OD. the looper itself doesn’t change my tone. but it can be used with the ones that do. The beat buddy doesn’t. it’s an accompaniment. the tuner doesn’t.
