mr. baggy pants Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 Hey, i was just wondering, what are some good digital effects for a beginner-to-moderate guitar player for his first effects machine? a wise man once told me, "A wise man once told me a wise man sees both sides of the coin." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revolead Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 I get to be the one to tell you: We need more information. What kind of music do you play? What kind of guitar and amp do you have? What's your budget? Shut up and play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revolead Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 Ignore this post. Shut up and play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicalhair Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 Why digital? I think it depends on what you listen to and what you like and what you want to do. Talk about that and people will give you some things to consider. Remember this: practice your guitar "clean" or even unplugged a lot to develope your "finger embroucher", and your sustain and all that comes from from your hands. Also, make use of your tone and volume knobs as they are pretty effective tools too. Getting a mildly dirty sound with your volume knob on like 8 or 7 and rolling it up to get more distortion is a good thing to do. In general, I like picking one good effect rather than a multi-effect box. I see uses for such boxes and wouldn't mind having one or five of them, but: for a good wah buy a good wah, for a good chorus buy a good chorus, etc. Welcome to the best guitar forum on the internet. check out some comedy I've done: http://louhasspoken.tumblr.com/ My Unitarian Jihad Name: Brother Broadsword of Enlightened Compassion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr. baggy pants Posted July 1, 2006 Author Share Posted July 1, 2006 ok, fine. i play grunge and hard rock. sorry for the lack of information, but any advice on any kind of effects would be great. well, im on a pretty tight budget, and disregard that beginner to moderate thing, because i just realized, i lied. yes i am stupid. i really am just a beginner, but its gonna be a while before i get it any way. so, whatever ill probably just end up buying a 20 dollar wah wah pedal. EDIT: i have a basic yamaha guitaqr and amp. i have 5 thigs i can mess with. volume, tone, 5 rythem to lead gutar, treble, and bass levels. hope i remembered everything this time. a wise man once told me, "A wise man once told me a wise man sees both sides of the coin." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revolead Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 It's all right dude. We just need more information about what you like. We can't make proper recommendations based on nothing anymore than a doctor can prescribe a drug if he doesn't know what your symptoms are. From what you've said, if you don't already have a distortion or overdrive pedal, you should get one. I echo musicalhair's ideas in saying that I would invest more money in something you can keep longer (a nice analog distortion pedal can be found for under 100 bucks). I would hould back on the wah pedal until you've mastered lead. And i mean that. I've played guitar for almost five years now, and I have yet to buy a wah pedal. Paritally because I don't want one that much, but moreover than that, they are very hard to use properly. Even if you know all your scales and can play very well, you may suck with a wah. Same could be said for any effect. I just remember the following advice: Effects are a privledge, not a right or necessity, and should be used sparingly to the taste of the song, not just because you can. I've invested over 1000 dollars into effects pedals and I find I still come back to the same ones: a distortion with light analog delay. That's all I've ever really needed. Shut up and play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicalhair Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 Dude, no need to apologize!!! Relax. If you find a used wah pedal that works, usually all you'll have to do is blow it out with a can of air and clean it and use some "contact cleaner" to reduce the scratchiness sound. A bad sounding effect will in the long run not serve you and won't retain resale value, so it doesn't hurt to save up. I picked up a Morely Flanger for $10 new at GC a few years ago and it is pretty cool. So if you take your time and look around you can find stuff a reasonable prices. OK, Grunge and Hard Rock. Do you like the amps distortion or do you need a way to get the distortion you want or to quickly go back and forth between really clear and clean to "heavy"? some people here really like the "Metal Zone" distortion. I've never used it, but it is cheaper than all but two of my distortions. The only to that I have that in the same price range are the RAT and the American Woman by Tech 21. The Rat some love (man, I used to love that pedal) and some hate, the American Woman is a very cool gadget but not just a straight up distortion type thing. You might love it or hate it. The Marshall pedals might be in the same price range. I love the Jackhammer-- great overdrive sound and very flexible EQ--, and others here rave over the Bluesbreaker pedal and the Gov'ner. The Fulltone Fulldrive II is as great sounding as it is expensive. The key with almost any pedal: listening to it for yourself. you can get an idea of what is built well and lasts, you can get a feel for what others are digging which is useful, but the various shades of tone and the interaction between you and your guitar and amp with the pedal matters. Very rarely do things in the store sound like what they sound like at home. check out some comedy I've done: http://louhasspoken.tumblr.com/ My Unitarian Jihad Name: Brother Broadsword of Enlightened Compassion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr. baggy pants Posted July 1, 2006 Author Share Posted July 1, 2006 ok, about the amp distortion, i tried to play an alice in chains line, and i had to listen to the song, comeback and play it, and repeat a few times before i truly realized the similarities. i dont expect to be alice in chains or clutch or nothing, but im just disappointed of the sound my amp gives when i play my favorite kind of music. and, are those RAT and American Woman diferent lines of pedals? and, how can i accually hear them to see if i like them without buying them? thanks alot for your help. a wise man once told me, "A wise man once told me a wise man sees both sides of the coin." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A String Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 head out to your local music store, bring your guitar (If possible) and plug it in. If the guys there know you want to buy a pedal, they will be more then happy to let you try some out. Try out different overdrive and distortion pedals to start with. They will give you the best bang for your buck for right now. Eventually, you will stumble on that one pedal that has "your" sound. Good luck! Craig Stringnetwork on Facebook String Network Forum My Music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr. baggy pants Posted July 1, 2006 Author Share Posted July 1, 2006 ok, thanks alot! now i wont waste 150+ onsomething that wont get the job done right a wise man once told me, "A wise man once told me a wise man sees both sides of the coin." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr. baggy pants Posted July 1, 2006 Author Share Posted July 1, 2006 ok, thanks alot! now i wont waste 150+ onsomething that wont get the job done right a wise man once told me, "A wise man once told me a wise man sees both sides of the coin." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr. baggy pants Posted July 1, 2006 Author Share Posted July 1, 2006 ok, thanks alot! now i wont waste 150+ onsomething that wont get the job done right a wise man once told me, "A wise man once told me a wise man sees both sides of the coin." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdrs Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 if you're into grunge and heavy rock check this one out; http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Boss-MT2-Metal-Zone-Effects-Pedal?sku=151328 Don Don "There once was a note, Pure and Easy. Playing so free, like a breath rippling by." http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=574296 http://www.myspace.com/imdrs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicalhair Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 The Rat is made by ProCo. It comes in different flavors: turbo rat and a couple of others. The American Woman-- again this might not be doing the job you need, though it is cool-- is made by Tech 21. The Metal Zone is made by Boss I guess, or DOD or someone. There were a bunch of pedals I mentioned all made by Marshall- the amp company. The Fulldrive II is made by Fulltone and man do they make great sounding pedals. You can fully expect to be able to walk into any decent music store say "hey, I wan't to checkout these distortions and I want to plug my guitar into that there amp over there", and they should accomodate you. I'd walk in and see what they got, take notes (really write what they got down), go home checkout reviews or search our forum for mentions of it, go to GuitarGeek.com and see if it gets mentioned there (because you'll see who if anyone is using it). Then go back asking to test them out. Tune up and check your tuning (please, pleeeeeese). Set the amp neutral (tones on "5" and all that) to start. Set the stomp box to all middle of the road settings and start listening. Listen bypassed and listen with the effect engaged. Listen for everything. Listen for "fizzyness", listen for the way it chokes down your pick attack or for unnatural alterations of your volume (swelling as notes decay or something), listen to how it effects the low open E and the highest note you got and something stuff in between. Listen to chords in a few spots on the neck, "closed" chords where th voices are close together (like and "open C" and Bar or power chords), and any "jazzy" chords you might use. Listen to Double stops, and pick slides. Then tweak the pedal and listen. Honestly I don't see how people have the time to play Stairway to Heaven when testing out gear. Three is a lot of listening to do. Maybe my routine has more to do with my need to improvise and not being in any band for a long time (or in a long time at this point). You'll get a sense of a pedal's character and it's range of usefullness. A lot of pedals unfortunately have a narrow range of usefullness and much of the knobs when pushed to their either extremes are useless. It is best to not just look for one great sound (though the best sound does trump all else), but the greatest range of useful sounds. check out some comedy I've done: http://louhasspoken.tumblr.com/ My Unitarian Jihad Name: Brother Broadsword of Enlightened Compassion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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