My first effects Pedal was purchased as a necessity. I was playing bass for a little bit in a tiny school band and we were doing a cover of Echoes by Pink Floyd which required some nicely overdriven bass-guitar sounds. I ended up buying the Boss OD-2 since that was all that was available at the music store I went to. It was an 'ok' effect but I always thought it was a little too tame. Other people seem to love this tone, but for me it was only 'so-so'.
Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Wah
At this time I was getting into Jimi Hendrix a lot and I really wanted a Wah Pedal. You know first time you hear 'Voodoo Chile' or 'Machine Gun' by Hendrix as a kid you're like "I want to have a wah to do that!".
In retrospect I think I probably would've preferred a standard Cry-Baby, or maybe even Vox Wah Instead since it always sounded a little fuzzy to me. Over time I tinkered with different Pots, Red & Yellow Fasal Inductors etc, but I just never got it to sound the way I wanted to.
Big Muff Pi [Gone]
I got this one as a gift from someone. It was interesting to see such a huge stompbox , army green, built like a tank and even came in a wooden crate... Sounds were 'interesting', but since I'm not a huge 'fuzz' fan It started to collect dust rather quickly.
Boss DS-1 Distortion
At this point in time I was heavily into Satriani & Vai and wanted more 'distortion' instead of mild overdrive. I liked Boss Pedals, so after testing a few I picked the DS-1. In your face Orange, and In your face Distortion! This pedal is almost mandatory in my opinion for any guitarist.
Dunlop Zakk Wylde Overdrive
As you can tell I tend to go back & forth a lot on the search for tone. Now that I had good distortion tone I needed better overdrive tones. I figured I'd give the Zakk Wyle Overdrive a try since it was a good deal at the time. It sounded pretty decent - obviously much edgier than my original Boss OD-2 pedal, but it's not super stellar either.
Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer
Not being totally satisfied with the Wylde Overdrive I wanted something a bit more 'tube' sounding.. think SRV-like..quick bit of research pointed me to the direction of the Tube Screamer - There's several incarnations of it, but I picked the TS9. This is a GREAT pedal and would also receive a 'Must Have' stamp on it from me because of it's great tone.
ARG MultiVerb Alpha 2.0
My latest acquisition was actually free - someone no longer wanted it and they gave it to me - and this was a Rack-Mounted Reverb Unit. It comes with a bunch of different options and running it in an FX loop is a great way to add a little reverb to the guitar sound. It goes from subtle to lush to ridiculous, so there's always something interesting you can do with this unit.
Boss BR-600 Digital Recorder
Whilst not an 'effect pedal' in the common sense of the word, this device does come loaded with all kinds of effects. I had purchased this as a simple Multi-Track recorder and as a way to be able to play anywhere in the house. Just plug in your guitar, Some headphones, and you're ready to rock with a bunch of preset rhythms (or you can make your own). It has 8 tracks and a bunch of virtual tracks so it really lets you do a lot. The effects are actually fairly decent and I was able to put a few decent songs together on this unit, all while sitting on the couch
Boss CS-3 Compressor/Sustainer
I always wanted to get a compressor to drop in my effects chain. It always seemed like a nice must have effect. I finally settled on just a basic Boss model, the CS-3. I haven't used it much yet, but I like the subtle differences it makes.
No comments:
Post a Comment