Have not used effects for 10 years..what should I get?

[zappaslaughter]

Ok, as if i have not spent nuff cash this month on my kick *** LSC, I have decided to up grade my rig with some effects. I am just getting over a purist phase of playing which lasted ten year, in which i never used any effects, just guitar to amp.

I broke out my old Digitech RP-10 the other day just to hear it in front of the new amp, and low and behold it is broken. Just as well I suppose, as that processor always sounded too **** ..well...processed to me. (if that makes sense).

I play mostly Blues/Jazz, but a little metal after beer 4-5 ussually. or just to clear a room real fast.

whats the good sh-tuff now adays?

Should I re-buy the old BOSS pedals I used to own and have lost along the way (the metal zone and the super chorus)?

Or has the latest generation of multi effects processors gotten better since my RP-10 days?

Is this G-Force thing i read about here only for metal heads?

 

[Brewski]

whats the good sh-tuff now adays?

Should I re-buy the old BOSS pedals I used to own and have lost along the way (the metal zone and the super chorus)?

Or has the latest generation of multi effects processors gotten better since my RP-10 days?

I've tried going multi effects processor route with a Boss GT-6. I figured that with all the bells and whistles that it had, I'd be money ahead. I bypassed the pre-amp to use some of the effects. Then once I got it, I realized that I didn't want to do all the programming on it and I didn't like the sound of some of the effects. A multi processor can save you money overall if you plan on buying a bunch of effects, but then you will be stuck with that version of a certain effect. If you are only inclined to use a couple of pedals, you might want to shop around and pick and choose what sounds the best to you and your style of playing.

There is a whole world of cool pedals out there and you'll get a lot of different recommendations. What may sound good to you, may not sound as good to the next guy and vice versa. If you are near a store that carries effects, you might try them out and see if they do what you want them to. Check out pedalgeek.com and there are some samples with a lot of the pedals to give you an idea of how they sound.

Now that you've got a great amp, you may want to get pedals that are true bypass, to minimize any tone suckage. I went the individual pedal route to be able to change things up, if I chose, and to have good ol' knobs that I can turn, rather than pushing buttons and setting up cascading programs and such. To me, it makes it easier to make adjustments on the fly.

 

[zappaslaughter]

Yeah a huge turn off of my RP-10 was the programming. I prefer knobs. I think I used two setting on that the thing, and one of them was with 3 of the effects disengaged.

I am leaning the way of the single stomp boxes, maybe a drive, chorus, delay and wah. was checking out the fulltone wahs from a few posts down. **** 250 bones? I suppose thats worth it, but I am going to have to intercept the mail man to hide the crdit card bill from the wife.

Can you expand on the true bypass concept? gonna look up some stuff about it on the web. I'm an old timer from the plug n' play era.

Checked out the pedelgeek site; almost made my head implode with all the options. gonna havta sift thru that site a few hours.

Thanx for the reply Brewski, which reminds me.....

Fridge-bound I is!

 

[Brewski]

I'm not that technical but true bypass completely bypasses your pedal when you switch it off, so the signal being sent from your guitar is uninterrupted. Boss pedals among some others are a buffered circuit and suck some of the signal before it reaches the amp, or inbetween when you run your signal through a loop. (OK, you engineers, please correct me if my wording is incorrect)

For a chorus, I use a Homebrew THC. The Fulltone Choral Flange is said to be a great pedal, as well.

I own a George Dennis wah. (Bought it used on E-bay) Not impressed. Maybe I'm not a wah kind of guy. The next one that I'd look at would probably be a Dunlop 535Q, if I felt the need to try one again.

I have an SPF I-5 Delay. It's digital but can get warmer and dirtier. For whatever reason, I haven't been able to get it to work and sound good in the loop. I've heard good things about the Guyatones, and the Maxons.

And for a drive pedal, I have a T. Jauernig Gristle King. It's an overdrive and clean drive in one pedal. I like it, especially the clean drive, but it's not a "Metal Zone" type of pedal. I'm not a metal player, so that recommendation can come from someone who uses these.

Yeah, these stomp boxes can get expensive and/or exotic. I'm not saying that you have to spend all that money on the "boutique" pedals, but some of them are real gems.

There are other sights that have old school stompboxes that are build your own Kits, that you can either build yourself or have completed for you for less money than buying some of the other stuff out there. They are based on popular circuits, some of which, are no longer in production. I don't have any of those sites bookmarked, or I'd share them.

Anyway, all the best to you on your search.

 

[plan-x]

With my lsc 2x12 I use Keeley mods and Barber pedals. Don't even waste your time on the stock Boss dirt pedals.

 

[geoangus]

and as a result of praise and recommendations from this and other sites, I just picked up the Fulltone Choralflange. I have it in the effects loop of my MkIII. Its the best chorus pedal I've heard or played. They're not cheap, but worth it. And holds value very well on e-bay.

Fulltone makes some nice pedals.

I'm still uncertain as to a delay though . . .

 

[SabuJSE]

If you want to cover what I am going to term "the basics", here's what I would recommend:

Fulltone Clyde Wah - you already mentioned it, it's worth every penny.

Fulltone OCD - Full raging overdrive, back off the guitar's volume and it cleans up nicely with oodles of tones in between.

H20 Liquid Chorus - SMooth, lush chorus on side, usable echo/delay on the other.

The OCD and the H20 are not hugely expensive, the Clyde is. But with those three pedals, you have some serious tone potential.

 

[ylo]

" . . . Boss pedals among some others are a buffered circuit and suck some of the signal before it reaches the amp, "

Buffered outputs are good, but Boss skimps on cost here and though buffered, most of their pedals suck tone, especially when off. In my opinion, this, plus true bypass, are the main reasons to try boutique pedals.

zappaslaughter, if you are still shopping, I play similar styles to you, I have:

1. A Wah (Fulltone).
2. An overdrive / fuzz (Line 6 distortion modeler) for a few extra flavors not available with my amps' controls.
3. A chorus pedal (Digitech CF-7 on order) to thicken the tone on a couple of tunes. You could substitute a phaser or flanger here, or even a slap-back echo unit.

Let your ears decide which ones, but definitely find a shop that carries some boutique pedals, don't just grab the first Boss you find.