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Early days No Effects....


Zuben

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This is a question and some research. Back in the day, the day than many of us here unfortunately remember, the day of an amp and a guitar. No pedals with the exception of the amps reverb and tremolo. (Keyboard players had B3's, Rhodes.

 

I played for some time with just an amp and axe. My 1st effect pedal was a Wah. I think my second was a fuzz. A lot of early effects plugged in to the cord and into the amp.

 

Today, I wouldn't be found without a chorus, sustain, compression, wah, depending on gig, inline tuner, one of several over drives.

 

How many of you remember playing gigs axe and amp? What was the 1st effect pedal you had to have? How any do you have to have now?

 

Peace

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LOL.....My first effect was, believe it or not, a Colorsound Wah. I wish to God I still had it. :cry:

 

I have too many effects...LOL. I'm am perpetually in search of tone. But, in reality, I only have a wah, a tuner pedal, the Fulltone Tube Tape Echo, and the Klon in my current set up. If I was playing live, I'd have three amps with switching....a Marshall (or equivalent), a chimey or bluesy Fender, and a Roland JC-120. I've found that playing the JC-120 with the on board stereo chorus turned on, and having the Roland on softer than the primary amp I'm using (either the Marshall or the Fender), gives a very pleasing, big broad sounding tone.

 

I seem to use the Wah more than any of my other pedals. The Klon is something you'd not even realize was on at all! It mostly brings out the best from your amps inherent tone.

 

One of these days, I'm gonna have the biggest eBay sale of effects pedals ever!! ;) :grin:

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

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I bought my first guitar Kramer American

and my first pedal DOD American Metal on the

same day

He was a very good sales man.

i was 14 years old and this guy could just rip

I thouhgt it had to be the guitar and the pedal

so I bought them both

ha

I had a lot to learn

Why do you lay down? I say that it beats standing up! whats got you feeling so down? I hold up my empty cup!
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My first amp was a 15W Fender Vibrochamp. Not sure if I bought my first ever pedal, an Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, on the same day or not.

 

Unsurprisingly, I soon realized I needed a bigger amp to play in my then band. :rolleyes:

 

Oh, and when I play guitar these days I can get by pretty well with the same tubsecreamer and a Boss DD-3.

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1970 something... phase shifter and Morley Volume pedal. cost a bundle but with a 100-watt Marshall SL I didn't need much... that sucker was amazing.
"well fellas... there's 1 other thing yer gonna need to make it in Rock & Roll besides all them guitars and amps and drums and things. They call it A SONG..."
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I honestly can't remember the first effect I ever bought/used. It was late in the day for me (maybe 20 years ago) because I still prefer going straight into the amp. Currently I use a Dean Markley Overlord overdrive, Morley Classic Wah, and a DOD envelope filter (because it's a sickness with me). I despise chorus. I need to get another delay pedal because I like to use it for jusy a slapback echo and a bit of compression.

 

 

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The first effect I bought was a Boss, overdrive pedal. After that was my favourite, Boss parametric EQ (PQ4)(Made my acoustic sound like gold). I also grabbed a flanger, a fuzz, a delay and a few others.

 

Sadly, my PQ4 was stolen and the other pedals (with the exception of DOD distortion), burned up in a truck fire.

 

Now, I have a Tokai Overdrive, a noise gate (That I traded with Reif) and a 535Q Crybaby. Still have a lot of pedals to replace, but give me time...

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The first effects that I ever saw came from Vox. There were three of them, and they were in lng chrome chassis about 1 inch by 2 inches by about 4 inches. There was a 1/4" plug mounted on them on one end, and the 9 volt battery went into the other end. You plugged it directly into the amp and plugged your guitar cord into it... yeah, it stuck way out and it's weight (plus any pulling you did with your guitar cord) caused the plug to bend. I remember the treble booster and the distortion, so I'm guessing that the other one must have been a bass boost. Everyone wanted to sound like the Yardbirds or the Kinks.

 

Then distortion boxes started to appear.... I remember the local rich kid bought the first Fuzz Face that I saw.. and he had to carry it around in a case with a hot water bottle to keep it working. Sears or Wards (where most of us could afford to shop) advertised that you could make your guitar 'sound like a sax'... which shows that they didn't know what they were selling, but they sold them anyway.

 

And the first amp with a serious effects package that I remember (more than just reverb and tremelo) was again Vox.... I was a drummer in a band playing Hendrix and Creem and such, and our guitarist used a Vox Super Beatle with all the options, including 'repeat percussion'.

 

Bill

"I believe that entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you're an idiot."

 

Steve Martin

 

Show business: we're all here because we're not all there.

 

 

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Hahaha....good thread. :grin:

 

I had the Mutron Bi-phase back in the 70's. It was actually pretty cool though.

We were into Trower back then and this was a MUST pedal.

There's one on Ebay now for $125, which is where I got this pic from.

 

Other than than, I had a Wah pedal, and later on came an analog delay that started replacing the tape delays.

 

Those were the days! :rawk: :grin:

 

http://www.auctiondepotla.com/pics/080307dsc02093.jpg

"Just play!"
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ALSO....nowdays, there are times I just love to connect a cable between my guitar and amp...and just wail....be it clean or gain.

 

Sometimes when you do that on the clean channel and can really jack it up...it almost becomes 3D.

 

That's when it's good! :)

 

Randy

"Just play!"
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Both Electro Harmonix. A Big-Muff and a SmallClone Chorus.

 

Unfortunately those Electro-Harmonix effects just didnt hold up, but they were very cheap.

The Big-Muff has such great sustain. I've thought about getting a

re-issue.

I bought 2 of the Small Clones which is just a great sounding chorus. I still have both, but neither work(?) I don't know what the re-issues sound like.

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I had this one too about 15 years ago I think.

Man, I really liked this pedal.

No damn modelled amps or anything, just great effects.

I wish Digitech would start making these again.

 

http://www.harmony-central.com/Events/WNAMM98/DigiTech/RP-3.jpg

 

THis was nice to have too. Conn Strobotuner.

 

http://i21.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/ac/68/7ae5_1.JPG

"Just play!"
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ALSO....nowdays, there are times I just love to connect a cable between my guitar and amp...and just wail....be it clean or gain.

 

Sometimes when you do that on the clean channel and can really jack it up...it almost becomes 3D.

 

That's when it's good! :)

 

Randy

 

so true - I've been playing straight into an old Roland 80's 50-watt SS amp lately. Roland has some sweet clean sounds... It has built-in effects (long delay, shory delay, chorus, flanger, etc) and clean as a whistle cranked up has a powerful sound.

"well fellas... there's 1 other thing yer gonna need to make it in Rock & Roll besides all them guitars and amps and drums and things. They call it A SONG..."
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Wow, a Strobotuner! Haven't seen one of those in years.

It's unbelievable how elaborate the early tuners were.

 

I recently sold off my Peterson 450R... the rack mount version of their popular tuner. I still see tem in the racks of guitar techs, mostly unused these days, or I see the unique hole in their road case where one used to be. I still have the Sabine tuner (7100? 7200?) but mostly I use the StroboStomp or on of the clip ons that I have for the acoustics.

 

Bill

"I believe that entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you're an idiot."

 

Steve Martin

 

Show business: we're all here because we're not all there.

 

 

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so true - I've been playing straight into an old Roland 80's 50-watt SS amp lately. ...

 

That is what led me ito the boutique amps and effects... taek the shit out of your signal path, and suddely you can hear the guitar and amp. Change those for better tone, then insert the effects... blah... the sound goes to hell. So you start to buy better effects. Personally I started with great guitars, because I had moved up from the various axes that I owned through the 60s and 70s (which were vintage) through the experiments of the 70s and 80s with pickups, electonics and other guitar brands, then back to the original stock vintage guitars in the 90s. Then I moved back to vintage amps, and I was happy until the brothers here got me started with boutique amps. (sigh...)

 

Bill

"I believe that entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you're an idiot."

 

Steve Martin

 

Show business: we're all here because we're not all there.

 

 

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My first pedal was a Ross Distortion that my brother and I bought from a friend along with a horrible LP copy and an even crappier tiny little amp. As I recall, the pedal sounded pretty good. The first new pedal I bought was a TS10 Tube Screamer, still have it, and it even survived my brothers apartment flood in about '91 or so.

 

Nowadays, I have a Danelectro Cool Cat chorus, Danelectro Tremelo, '70s Thomas Organ wah, Danelectro Danecho, original Marshall Guv'nor, and the TS10. But, sometimes, as stated above, there's just something about going straight into the amp that does it for me. I am now at a point in my playing that I feel that I can actually use the effects to enhance the sound coming out of my amp.

Avoid playing the amplifier at a volume setting high enough to produce a distorted sound through the speaker-Fender Guitar Course-1966

 

 

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If I remember correctly my first outboard effect was a Fender Reverb Unit, the second effect was one of these: http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b48/ellwood1/images-1.jpg

 

Ellwood,

 

I swear I had one of those. Plugged into the amp and your guitar plugged into the box. It was advertised as an Amp Output Increaser or something like that. In retrospect, it was a preamp.

 

That is if it the same one I bought with my hard earned Burger King Money!

 

Peace

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Yeah! or some guys actually plugged them straight into the guitar and ran the cable into the amp...I used mine at the amp! actually they did do a pretty good job for a little preamp but if turned up too much they went CRAZY LOL!! I bet I still have that thing around here some where in some old cable box in the attic!! :)
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My first amp was something called a Little Devil - I can't remember who made it but for a tiny thing it had some kick to it. I followed that with a Peavey Decade and then a Peavey Backstage - yes, I was taking baby steps here. I did a few high school gigs with the Backstage, which had a pretty nice internal distortion, or Saturation as Peavey called it back then. So, technically I played some gigs without any pedals. Unless you count the time I forgot and left my pedals at home for a weekend gig at a mountain resort a few hundred miles away. Then I was playing a Peavey Musician head that DID have some internal fuzz and distortion built in, but it lacked any form of punch and sounded like they somehow wired in a kazoo to obtain the distortion effect. Ugh.

 

Randy - I still have my Digitech RP6 that I use frequently. It actually had some poor online reveiws but I always liked it. Has never let me down.

 

Ellwood - I had one of those overdrive plug ins as well. Used it on the amp side also. I had almost forgotten about that thing! Thanks for posting it.

 

Eric

Reverbnation stuff

More Reverbnation stuff

I feel happy! I feel happy!

 

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Well, my first effects were not mine at all. They were my brother's. My parents got him a Peavey T-60 and Peavey Pacer ss amp in 1978. Before we moved to Germany in 1980 he'd bought an MXR Distortion+ and an Ibanez PT-909 Phase Tone. I still own both, though I haven't used them much in years.

 

I had it in the car because I intended to use it last week so, here's a pic I just shot.

 

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/9028/mxrdistortion00650or3.jpg

It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman

 

Soundclick

fntstcsnd

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