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Post subject: Need some enlightenment
Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 9:18 pm
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Location: Way down south in Dixie ;) not really :(
I have been playing my old acoustic guitar for several months now and have recently gotten an electric and a fender frontman 65r amp. I am obviously not exceedingly knowledgeable on the effects subject. I have been looking for a couple of effects and would like to know what each kind is for. Thanks for any knowledge you can pass on.


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Post subject: Re: Need some enlightenment
Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 12:22 am
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there are different groups os pedals, im not sure what type of music you will be playing so ill just break it down generally...

drive pedals - these add distortion or overdrive to your sound by over loading the signal from your guitar untill it distorts, on a valve amp you get this when the amp is turned up and the valves start to "clip" and produce that trademark valve sound... these are normaly the cheapest pedals, depending on the quality of the drive on your amp you may or may not want to llook at a drive pedal... for most uses, fender amps have a brilliant clean channel and a "ok" drive channel so most people when looking for sound quality will just use the clean channel on the amp and use pedals for everything else...

a good overdrive pedal (can be used for blues) is a tonerider american over drive or the MXR series of efx

BOSS makes almost every pedal known to man, but dont be fooled by the price... they are not that good... most of the efx are "COSM" which are modeld on the origional... i used to have a lot of BOSS pedals but i am slowly flogging them as they just dont have that sound... if you buy new pedals then get the origional... not a modeld copy...

there is also big debates about multi efx vs single stomp boxes... i personly have used both extensivley and found that the quality of the single efx units it better than the multi efx... BUT it gets expensive... for what you getting a multi efx unit is way way cheaper, but if you now you are going for a particular sound then get the single pedal that will give you that particular sound...

another type of effect is "wah" this sounds best when mixed with drive, gives you that classic voodoo child wah sound... there is a huge range of wah pedals, bt i keep on coming back to the crybaby made by dunlop, great sounding units...

the mod or modular section of efx includes all the choruses, phasers, flangers, pitch shifters... the most versatile and usable depends on your style of music but a chorus pedal can always be used, it adds depth and makes the sound "fuller"

then you get delays and loop stations... im sure by the name you can figure out what they do... a delay pedal can also be used as a slight reverb sound as after all... reverb is a slight delay of the sound bouncing around... delay pedals are normaly a lot more expensive but they add a lot to your sound...

the main 4 pedals i would not do without is a delay, chorus, drive and wah...

good luck on your hunt

peace out!

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Post subject: Re: Need some enlightenment
Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 9:37 am
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If you want to know what each effect type (distortion, overdrive, flanger, chorus, delay, etc) sounds like, then Boss' site has their pedals neatly divided by type and has sound samples and even videos of each. Click here: http://www.bossus.com/gear/subcategorie ... rentId=247

Electro-Harmonix has some sound samples and videos too: http://www.ehx.com/

It's easier for you to hear what these sound like rather than us trying to explain them. Use these samples as a generic guideline as to what different pedal types sound like. Then go to the guitar store and try out the effects that interest you and choose the one that sounds best to you and fits your budget regardless of who makes them.

Boss pedals are OK since they have a good reputation of being nearly indestructable. Most touring pros use one or more Boss pedals while on the road instead of taking along the vintage or boutique$$$ gear they used in the studio. Just google "[insert the name of your favorite guitarist here]'s pedal board" and I'm sure you'll see some Boss pedals on his/her board. Get whatever pedal you want. The only biased advice I'll give is to stay away from any pedal that is housed in a plastic case instead of metal.

Have fun!

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Post subject: Re: Need some enlightenment
Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 10:08 am
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Location: Way down south in Dixie ;) not really :(
So a BOSS distortion pedal would probably not be a good idea. I mainly play Christian contemporary, and play a little bit of other stuff. I like the drive sound on my frontman amp but it sounds to fuzzy if put to much drive on. I would rather have a smoother drive sound without the fuzz and buzz. What would I need for that sound.


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Post subject: Re: Need some enlightenment
Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:58 am
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For distortion a Big Muff or T-Rex

If it is overdrive you are after a Ibanez TS-808, I actually prefer the MAXon version of the TS808
Maxon used to make the pedals for Ibanez, before Ibanez move production to a lower cost solution country.

*** I am not familiar with a Frontman amp so have no idea how it would react to these pedals.

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Post subject: Re: Need some enlightenment
Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 12:07 pm
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IMO the first effect you should get is a quality digital or analog delay.
Gives you nice spacial, pillowy sound and just makes for a better experience. No matter what style you play, you will always have use for this type of effect.
And there is nothing wrong with Boss pedals.
I have 4 of them, and they work just fine.
Plus, they are nearly indestructible.

Good enough for EJ, good enough for me.

Sure, there are better ones, but you pay much more for them.

Way Huge is a great line of pedals, but very pricey.

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Post subject: Re: Need some enlightenment
Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 12:14 pm
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flyinjw wrote:
IMO the first effect you should get is a quality digital or analog delay.
Gives you nice spacial, pillowy sound and just makes for a better experience. No matter what style you play, you will always have use for this type of effect.
And there is nothing wrong with Boss pedals.
I have 4 of them, and they work just fine.
Plus, they are nearly indestructible.

Good enough for EJ, good enough for me.

Sure, there are better ones, but you pay much more for them.

Way Huge is a great line of pedals, but very pricey.


Oh, and if you are using a SS amp, like a frontman, you will always have a gritty drive. No way around that.
Get a tube amp if you want smooth tone.
I've owned a couple ss amps, and got rid of them within days.

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Post subject: Re: Need some enlightenment
Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 1:13 pm
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Location: Way down south in Dixie ;) not really :(
So is there a pedal that can give me a smoother sound without buying another amp? :)


Last edited by 65wattsofFENDER on Thu Jan 27, 2011 10:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Need some enlightenment
Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 1:32 pm
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65wattsofFENDER wrote:
So is there a pedal that can give me a smoother sound without buying another pedal?


Do you mean without buying another amp?
No.
A compressor might help take some of the harshness out, but that is just a matter of experimentation on your part.

Compare a tube amp to a ss amp side by side and you will instantly see what I mean.

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Post subject: Re: Need some enlightenment
Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 10:33 pm
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there is also big debates about multi efx vs single stomp boxes... i personly have used both extensivley and found that the quality of the single efx units it better than the multi efx... BUT it gets expensive... for what you getting a multi efx unit is way way cheaper, but if you now you are going for a particular sound then get the single pedal that will give you that particular sound...


I was thinking about the multi effects units, such as Vox Tonelab or Boss ME25. These would be much cheaper overall for the casual player, in lieu of several singles. Also, you could go straight to the sound system with them. What are the pros and cons of them?


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Post subject: Re: Need some enlightenment
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:09 am
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GTG wrote:
there is also big debates about multi efx vs single stomp boxes... i personly have used both extensivley and found that the quality of the single efx units it better than the multi efx... BUT it gets expensive... for what you getting a multi efx unit is way way cheaper, but if you now you are going for a particular sound then get the single pedal that will give you that particular sound...


I was thinking about the multi effects units, such as Vox Tonelab or Boss ME25. These would be much cheaper overall for the casual player, in lieu of several singles. Also, you could go straight to the sound system with them. What are the pros and cons of them?


+1

Any of the pedals with a 12AX7 preamp might also help smooth out a solid-state amp's gritty front-end clipping and add some vintage-style "warmth".

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Need some enlightenment
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:49 pm
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Location: Way down south in Dixie ;) not really :(
I have been listening to the BOSS pedals, and their DS1 distortion pedal sounds pretty good.


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