Do You Remember Your First Pedal?

Charlie Bernstein

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Mine was on a tricycle I got when I was four.
Worked great!
Could make the trike go fast, slow, forward and backwards.
But alas, there are no photos, so some folks here won't believe I really had it.
RBSinTo
Excellent! Reminds me of a post at tdpri.com. Someone asked what everyone's favorite compressor was, and someone came back with make, model, and photo of a Craftsman air compressor.
 

Charlie Bernstein

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Love your spaghetti photo, Steve!

I think my first pedal was a used Ibanez TS-10. Never got a good sound out of the dern thing. They should've stuck with the 808 and the 9.
 

fronobulax

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Smart. They're a black hole.

I have sometimes thought a distortion or fuzz would be nice but then I look at what is available and realize how many sonic options I need to understand before I could even narrow a search and decide the effort would be better spent in learning to play :)
 

Charlie Bernstein

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I have sometimes thought a distortion or fuzz would be nice but then I look at what is available and realize how many sonic options I need to understand before I could even narrow a search and decide the effort would be better spent in learning to play :)
It's a reasonable question. It's taken me years (and years) to settle on the right overdrives for me. If you play electric guitar, there's a dizzying universe to navigate. Jazz, country, blues, and metal players want very different sounds.

Luckily most overdrive pedals fall into just a few families:

- Clean boosts: They're not truly clean, but they don't distort, they just add a little, well, boost. I have a BBE Boosta Grande, just for soloing (and for when the rest of the band gets too loud).

- Tube Screamer: Ibanez introduced the Tube Screamer, and it's the effect most pedal makers emulate.

- Range Master: The Dallas Range Master, also widely imitated, is for guitarists who are already overdriving their amps and still want more. They're for playing loud. Eric Clapton's old Cream solos are good examples.

- Klon Centaur: The Klon and its klones are favored by Chicago-style blues players. Warm, not too brassy, assertive without being annoying. I have an Electro-Harmonix Soul Food (a.k.a. the poor man's Klon). It's always on and always set low, just to add presence. Lots of people use it that way.

- Marshall Bluesbreaker and Guv'nor: Like Marshall amps: crunchy and hairy. But not out of control. I have a Chicago Stompworks Blooze Maker. It's more humane than turning the amp up to ten.

- Fuzz: The germanium chip that most fuzzes have serves up over-the-top distortion — which smooths out violinishly when driven hard. Think Hendrix.

A vesatile all-in-one pedal is the Barber Gain Changer. There are several well-engineered voicings in it, so chances are, everything you want is there and easy to dial in. A good company, and a safe choice for a first (or only) pedal.

And for mellow (and expensive) overdrive options, Google artists like Julian Lange, Bill Frizzel, and Pat Metheny to see what they use.
 
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fronobulax

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It's a reasonable question. It's taken me years (and years) to settle on the right overdrives for me. If you play electric guitar, there's a dizzying universe to navigate. Jazz, country, blues, and metal players want very different sounds.

Luckily most overdrive pedals fall into just a few families:

- Clean boosts: They're not truly clean, but they don't distort, they just add a little, well, boost. I have a BBE Boosta Grande, just for soloing (and for when the rest of the band gets too loud).

- Tube Screamer: Ibanez introduced the Tube Screamer, and it's the effect most pedal makers emulate.

- Range Master: The Dallas Range Master, also widely imitated, is for guitarists who are already overdriving their amps and still want more. They're for playing loud. Eric Clapton's old Cream solos are good examples.

- Klon Centaur: The Klon and its klones are favored by Chicago-style blues players. Warm, not too brassy, assertive without being annoying. I have an Electro-Harmonix Soul Food (a.k.a. the poor man's Klon). It's always on and always set low, just to add presence. Lots of people use it that way.

- Marshall Bluesbreaker and Guv'nor: Like Marshall amps: crunchy and hairy. But not out of control. I have a Chicago Stompworks Blooze Maker. It's more humane than turning the amp up to ten.

- Fuzz: The germanium chip most fuzzes have serves up over-the-top distortion — which smooths out violinishly when driven hard. Think Hendrix.

A vesatile all-in-one pedal is the Barber Gain Changer. There are several well-engineered voicings in it, so chances are, everything you want is there and easy to dial in. Good company, and a fairly safe choice for a versatile pedal.

And for for mellow (and expensive) overdrive options, Google artists like Julian Lange, Bill Frizzel, and Pat Metheny to see what they use.

You aren't helping :)
 

zulu

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It's a reasonable question. It's taken me years (and years) to settle on the right overdrives for me. If you play electric guitar, there's a dizzying universe to navigate. Jazz, country, blues, and metal players want very different sounds.

Luckily most overdrive pedals fall into just a few families:

- Clean boosts: They're not truly clean, but they don't distort, they just add a little, well, boost. I have a BBE Boosta Grande, just for soloing (and for when the rest of the band gets too loud).

- Tube Screamer: Ibanez introduced the Tube Screamer, and it's the effect most pedal makers emulate.

- Range Master: The Dallas Range Master, also widely imitated, is for guitarists who are already overdriving their amps and still want more. They're for playing loud. Eric Clapton's old Cream solos are good examples.

- Klon Centaur: The Klon and its klones are favored by Chicago-style blues players. Warm, not too brassy, assertive without being annoying. I have an Electro-Harmonix Soul Food (a.k.a. the poor man's Klon). It's always on and always set low, just to add presence. Lots of people use it that way.

- Marshall Bluesbreaker and Guv'nor: Like Marshall amps: crunchy and hairy. But not out of control. I have a Chicago Stompworks Blooze Maker. It's more humane than turning the amp up to ten.

- Fuzz: The germanium chip most fuzzes have serves up over-the-top distortion — which smooths out violinishly when driven hard. Think Hendrix.

A vesatile all-in-one pedal is the Barber Gain Changer. There are several well-engineered voicings in it, so chances are, everything you want is there and easy to dial in. Good company, and a fairly safe choice for a versatile pedal.

And for for mellow (and expensive) overdrive options, Google artists like Julian Lange, Bill Frizzel, and Pat Metheny to see what they use.

Informative rundown. I never went down the pedal hole. When I used to gig I got into the multi pedals and, for convenience, never wanted to start with individual pedals.

Now I'm down to one clean amp. I'd like to find the right distortion to use with it. I'll defend my GT-6 to the death but I can't find the right OD with my T1RVT
 

Charlie Bernstein

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Informative rundown. I never went down the pedal hole. When I used to gig I got into the multi pedals and, for convenience, never wanted to start with individual pedals.

Now I'm down to one clean amp. I'd like to find the right distortion to use with it. I'll defend my GT-6 to the death but I can't find the right OD with my T1RVT
What kind of music do you play? All over the highway? One genre? Mostly lead? Mostly rhythm?

I like the word overdrive because it covers the whole waterfront, from "clean" boost to sonic mayhem.

For me, individual pedals are where it's at. Those digital Swiss knife things do lots of things, mostly things I don't want and mostly poorly. And there's too much dialing up. I want to play, not program.

So I stick with well-made pedals with no more than three knobs each and do as little knob twirling as possible. And I shun cheap Asian knock-offs just out of spite.

But I'm not a shoegazer. My rig would be hopelessly inadequate for those cats. I don't even have delay!
 
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mad dog

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Didn't buy a pedal until early 90s. First two up (can't remember which one was first); Diaz Tremodillo, Klon. Quickly grew to dislike the Tremodillo, used the Klon on and off for years until finding far better choices for my tastes.
 

Charlie Bernstein

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Just to add to the confusion and make your little head explode, here's a bunch of pedal conny-sewers talking about which overdrives they like and why:

 

teleharmonium

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My first was a blue Ibanez chorus, bought through the mail around '84-85. I thought about that decision a lot, and it was the wrong one.

Now I've got lots of pedals, with a strong selection of fuzzes and boosts and a more utilitarian pile for everything else. I do like making some weird, non guitar sounds sometimes.
 

Charlie Bernstein

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I have sometimes thought a distortion or fuzz would be nice but then I look at what is available and realize how many sonic options I need to understand before I could even narrow a search and decide the effort would be better spent in learning to play :)
PS -

And I was just reminded of the Boss Blues Driver. Don't know how they sound, but they're real popular and seem to have a niche of their own, especially with classic rockers.

Some people buy them and send them to a tech for hotrodding. For some reason.
 

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A fuzz face in '69, followed by a crybaby, was using a 63 strat through a 100 watt Marshall head and a 4x15 cab. All long gone sadly!
 

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DOD 250 and Thomas Organ Wah.
 

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1C30782E-31CC-494C-A1BE-9FB80D7C709D.jpeg

still have it. she's a lifer
 
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