What are good pedal choices for beginners?

[kspeed]

Get a ProCo RAT pedal. It'll give you some crunch, some fuzz, some fairly heavy distortion, and it's built like a tank with great battery life (can also get an AC adapter for it). I've had mine for well over 10 years and it's still going strong, and very versatile.

[auditi]

i'm a beginner player too and love my line 6 spider3 15... i really like that i can dial in the settings and effects and save them to a preset. i definitely agree thought about the clean preset sounding like crap, that was the first one i changed, now that clean button actually sounds like a clean guitar, no effects or funky echo like it came with. and its not really that big that you can't take it to a friends to jam, i do a couple times a week. what about the amp don't you like?

pedal wise, i liked the distortion pedal that the guy gave me when i bought the guitar, but gave it to a buddy who really could use it more right now, and had also previously gave me a washburn bass with emg humbuckers. i also got a cheapo cry baby wah pedal, and that is kinda fun to mess around with, but i really need to learn how to use it properly. i think someone mentioned buy an effects station to find what you use and like the most and then go buy the best of those pedals, that sounds like a good route to go, would save money instead of just buying pedals and then figuring out you should've bought a different pedal first...

[El_Greco]

Actually, the question should be what about the amp DO I like...
I have tried every possible combo with the clean channel, and I could not find one that sounds good to me. Of course that's just me, I'm happy you like it,
beauty and sound is after all in the eye (or ears) of the beholder.
Considering the dist channels, thy are decent I guess, they're just missing something to me. It's as if they are too digital, I don's know how to describe it, too 'fake'.
I guess I just enjoy the classical sound of a tube amp more *shrug*

[auditi]

yeah, it did take some tweaking for me to find settings the way i like them... and i def agree about the sound out of a tube amp...

[geochem1st]

For Randy and Zakk sounds you might consider a compressor, over a wah.

[st.bede]

Originally Posted by kspeed

Get a ProCo RAT pedal. It'll give you some crunch, some fuzz, some fairly heavy distortion, and it's built like a tank with great battery life (can also get an AC adapter for it). I've had mine for well over 10 years and it's still going strong, and very versatile.

the new ones I heard are not good......

Robert Keeley Electronics: RAT

[Phil Bennett]

Originally Posted by El_Greco

Yeah I will be needing a new amp badly... My problem is I live on my own in a rather small place, and I could not use a big amp like it should be. I mostly play with my huge headphones on. So what I'm looking for is something rather small to avg, but with a better sound than the, how should I put it, much too digital sound of my Line6.

Edit: hey, 200th post

Vox valvetronix, with built in effects.

Phil

[slowhand0461]

For me ,overdrive wise I've owned so many over the years it's almost a shame..
I have although found my hands down favorite::The Barber Direct Drive

YouTube - Barber Direct Drive Overdrive Pedal


Barber Electronics




#100 woo hoo

[wullie]

Having just started out playing it might be better sticking with the Line 6 Spider amp for a while, it has some built in effects. Acquiring an acute case of GAS this early on can severely deplete your bank balance. Play with the Line 6 and see what you like in terms of the effects and then decide from there. Effects can be very expensive, I have spent a fortune on them only to list them on ebay a few months after purchase, they spent most of the time in my studio drawers. Experiment with what you have and find what works for YOU.

Good luck with the guitar.

[VoodooHighway]

If you don't already own a metronome, you may want to add one to your shopping list.



Take care,
Ace

[El_Greco]

I'm baaaa haaaaaack :P
With a new amp that is! I got me a VOX Valvetronix AD30VT fot starts, and the footswitch to go, and I couldn't be happier
Not expensive, amazing clean sounds, nice OD, the FX are not THE best but still useable for my livingroom playing. In the future I will upgrade to a tube amp, but now I can at least enjoy playing much much more.

[Splattle101]

I disagree with the wah suggestion. It's not that I don't think wahs are good or important, but rather that I think distortion is more important. If you are playing electric guitar, and you're playing any genre other than jazz, then the tone of your overdrive / distortion is what defines your guitar sound.

This is not a simple thing.

Distortion interacts with just about everything you do and everything you put in your signal path. This means you need to get a handle on your EQ and your guitar controls. This in turn means you need to do something about your amp. I agree wholeheartedly with that bit of advice given above.

But again, it's not as simple as it sounds. Keeping your eye on your overdrive / distortion requirements, you need to select an amp that's going to get you close to your basic sound that you want. In other words, if you want to shred, you need gain: therefore you need a master volume amp. If your ambition is to sound like Keith Richard, on the other hand, then you'll need something different. Probably a Fender.

Once you've got the amp sorted, you can start your pedals. The first one, in my view, should be a distortion or overdrive. They can be used to colour your sound and to provide boosts for soloing. This arrangement, combined with the right amp, will form the basis of a tone that your mates will want to copy.

Amp then od / dist for me.

Splat

[auditi]

to add to that, as a beginner, i sold my wah in favor of a boss blues driver. not cuz i didn't want the wah, but because as a beginner, i am focusing on playing, and all the techniques, and finding "my sound".... then on to learning to play with a wah....

[Geetarguy]

If you are looking for a good rock sound and low on cash try the Metal Muff Nano. Sounds great going from my geetar into the MM and then into my Blackheart Little Giant. It's the only pedal I need when I am practicing at home!

[brianbzed]

I would get 3 basic pedals: A Tube Screamer, a Boss Chorus and a Crybaby Wah. That would set you up for most rock n' roll and popular music. The brand name isn't paramount, but buy the highest quality that you can afford. Quality pedals last many,many years!