Newbie to guitar pedals- recommendations?

Question

Hi, I've had my strat and line 6 amp for about 5 years now, and due to school and such, I'm just now starting to get to the point where I can really play a number of songs fairly well. But I don't feel that my amp effects can really cut it for solos and such. So I'd really just like some advice about what pedal(s) I should purchase. I would like to be able to play some Zeppelin and White Stripes (I don't really need to sound just like Page or anything, but I need something that will make the solos sound good). I was looking at a Digitech whammy, mainly for the Whitestripes stuff- will that suffice to add a bit of distortion and rich solos for the Zeppelin stuff too, or should look at something different?

? · Accepted Answer

Hello there,

If you are looking to add a different distortion, I would think a distortion pedal would be in order. The Boss DS-1 is a good basic distortion pedal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKFuwErM2ZA&feature=related

One note about using a distortion pedal (or any other effects pedal) you should probably be playing through a clean channel. The Line 6 has a built in distortion. It is hard to control the gain and the distortion if both the pedal and the built in effects are on. So when you get to a part that you want to kick in the distortion pedal, switch to a clean channel and tap on the distortion pedal. Then you can switch back to whatever channel you were using for the rest of the song.  To do that you are going to want one of the Line 6 foot switch pedals to change the channel without walking over to the amp.

Later,

J · Answer

I'd start out with a good overdrive pedal.

The Boss Super Overdrive SD-1 is a fantastic value and has a great sound. For a bit more money, an Ibanez Tube Screamer is excellent too and has a little smoother sound than the Boss, and the gold MXR custom badass modified overdrive has a darker heavier sound. 

An overdrive pedal is great to play with and adds a ton of versatility to your playing. You can use it through your clean channel on your amp to add just a little warmth to your sound, or turn up the gain for a moderately dirty sound (but still will hear the true tone of your guitar better than a full on distortion pedal). 

Also... you can use it as a boost pedal for solos... on either your clean or dirty channel. Basically to do that you turn down the gain and pump up the volume. So, you can be playing the rythym part of your song using just the amps distortion at a moderate level...and then when you play lead kick in the overdrive to boost your signal and drive the sound to a more saturated full sound. Seriously you can spend hours and hours just playing with different settings and find all kinds of great sounds just with adding an overdrive. 

You can pick up the Boss SD-1 for about 50 bucks so, really what have you got to lose?

After that, I would look at adding maybe a delay pedal, phase or a wah to add some more dimensions to your sound. Just remember, your playing is way way more important than adding lots of gizmos to your rig... but since you've been at it a few years, I imagine you have that figured out.

Newbie to guitar pedals- recommendations?

2 Answers