We've all started down that road and are at some point on it. My journey has taken me through over a dozen guitars, several amps, amp modelers/multi-effects units and countless stompboxes. I have wound up with a Strat and a Tele, two amps, an amp modeler and a few stomboxes. My two-cents? I would begin with a good amp. I don't believe you can go wrong with either of the Cyber-Twins. With their tone stacks and effects, they have limitless possibilities. Ultimately I would suggest a good tube amp with a good distortion/overdrive and a limited number of effects. I believe you should get your main distortion from your amp and use effects to shape, not define, your tone. As far as effects go, I am sold on boutique pedals over your typical guitar store brands. They simply sound better to me. Multi-effects units have their place but nothing will sound the same as a good stompbox.
The type of effects I would suggest would be one or two overdrives, they will give you different gain options working with your amp. A chorus and/or phaser, delay and reverb (if there's not a good one on the amp).

You alone can deterimine what the "sound-in-my-head" is and there is no right or wrong way to find it. Your ambitions or aspirations for your guitar playing may be a factor. No matter where you see yourself, don't skimp on your gear, even if you never get "serious" with your playing. Let your ears be your guide, not what ______ plays. Keep asking questions and thoroughly research before you buy. You don't have to buy the most expensive gear, just the stuff that sounds best to you. Good luck and enjoy the ride!

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2004 American Deluxe V-Neck Strat w/Kinman Blues
2007 American Deluxe Tele w/Kinman Broadcasters
Mesa Boogie Lonestar Classic 2X12
Fender Cyber-Twin SE

A good post with some sound advice. Thanks! I would only add a compressor. just a little.

I think you should do exactly what I did.

There, I have now ended any reason for anyone to post about gear until the end of time. Anytime you have a gear question, just refer to this master post and be enlightened.

That's what most people do huh?

My 10 year old son is just learning. The teacher teaches him all the required reading and "twinkle twinkle" stuff. When we practice together or if he is practicing the lessons on his own he just uses the amp clean. He is doing well but it gets boring as you all know.

When he is done practicing his lessons we have "free for all" time. Either he plays chords and I lead, or I play chords and he leads. Mostly it's just stuff by ear. But he gets to choose what effect (and I have too many) he wants to use. Having access to all these effects he will usually just go for a slight "blues crunch". But sometimes he turns on the full on distortion and his playing sometimes becomes much more "fluid" and less thought out (i.e. stumbling for the next note). I love it when he closes his eyes and really gets into it!

I think effects are fun, but you do need to learn how to make the notes sound good clean to really improve your playing.

Mark.

I couldn't agree with that one more. My first pedal was a Zoom 505 and that thing taught me a lot. It made me familiar with swithing effects smoothly, as well as "creating" effects with it and where to put them in conjunction with each other for certain songs. It stopped working after a few years and since then I've just bought individual pedals, but Zoom makes an easy to use product.

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-Classic 50's Strat.
-Std. Telecaster.
-Mike Dirnt P-bass.
-Custody of SE Strat.
-Peavey Predator/Dean Evo/Epiphone DR150/Gibson Slide (much older than me).

Rellik Productions Inc.

Hillarious

You like that one, huh?

Then there's more multi-FX based nonsense and a Hillybilly rendition of Stairway on this clip. The song at the end it nice, too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plTVUfQeV5M&NR=1

Cheers - C

Cousin in red HaHaHa
cheers

Nah, Bill's a jolly fellow really.

I could spend from now till Christmas posting great Bill Bailey clips. He used to do a neat routine based on all the incidental music from Starsky and Hutch. A good one to hunt down.

And if you ever get the chance to see him live you won't be disappointed...

G'night all - C

As a beginner keep things simple. Get your tech down first but play with the basics first. A nice over drive is good, a wah wah is good to learn to use and a uni vibe makes things interesting. Don,t over do it. The multi effects pedals can get confusing. Find your sound and play with things. Have fun. I have more than I know what to do with and only use the 3.

Wow - some great replies and advice. Okay, my take on the thread is that most people agree that getting my skills together is the best road first. A few people tossed in that getting some effects pedals for fun would help to keep the learning interesting, but shouldn't replace practice.

And, there were a lot of good suggestions for effects, multi-effects and a lot of emphasis on getting a good amp on which to build a sound.

I'll digest this info and see what my next step will be.

To answer someone's earlier question - I just have a headphone amp at the moment. I tend to pick up the guitar after everyone else is asleep, so I don't want to disturb them (or them me). However, getting a small tube amp might be a good investment in the near future.

Thanks for the input everyone!

mas