Do You Remember Your First Pedal?

[zulu]

 

[sailingshoes72]

Didn't have a use for pedals since I started out on acoustic guitar and played that way for a very long time; that changed when I started playing in a band. This is the first pedal I bought and it's still the only one I have, not counting the tremolo pedal that I got after I sold my vintage Fender Amp that had built in tremolo and I really missed the effect.

You should be able to figure out what I use it for!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

That “stomp box” looks like it has seen some serious stage use! I’m guessing you used it to “overdrive” a lap steel guitar.

 

[Midnight Toker]

Yeah I also had an MXR phase shifter and chorus pedal in the 80’s I miss. I traded them for the Sony Tom Scholtz Rockman in the early 80’s. Now I REALLY wished I’d kept that one. I could sound like the band Boston all day!

I had one of those. Creamy distortion, slap back delay, and chorus= that Boston sound. I even had the Rock Mount, where you load the rockman into a slot of a double spaced rack effect unit.

 

[spoox]

My first actual pedal was a Fender volume pedal for steel guitar, but prior to that in 1967 after first hearing The Music Machine I went to Abate's Music
and purchased one of these:


I still use it to this day...my favorite fuzz, and as Sneaky Pete showed is also great for steel guitar!

 

[PreacherBob]

I had one of those. Creamy distortion, slap back delay, and chorus= that Boston sound. I even had the Rock Mount, where you load the rockman into a slot of a double spaced rack effect unit.

Didn’t know about the Rock Mount, DANG! I tried everything to run it through my amp with no success. Man if I would’ve had that Rock Mount I would still probably be a famous guitarist today! 🎛

 

[hearth_man]

Late 70s MXR dyna comp compressor. It took me a lot of experimenting to use it properly. It could do a range of compression functions from chicken picking sounds to smooth sustain, and did them well with just two controls. I still have one in my collection of MXR block era pedals.

 

[Sats]

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

Loved those! I had two! My gosh, what would they be worth now...

 

[lungimsam]

Can’t remember the first. But:
At 13, what I wanted: Eventide Flanger, after hearing it in a Mahogany Rush song. Sounds like a jet flying over his solo (@ 4:17)

 

[jp]

My brother and I had to share everything from the beginning. So for us, the starter kit was a horrible Hondo II Les Paul copy and a Crate amp, the kind that looked like it was still in the box. Our first pedal was this iconic gem -- the MXR Distortion+. It rocked my world.



This was the second, and I still have it. A 1979 Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress. For high school, axe-wielding knuckleheads in the early 80s, this was very exciting. It's super noisy, so it's on the bench pile for repairs when I can get to it.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

 

[mushroom]

It was a Boss super distortion feedbacker or similarly titled.

 

[HeyMikey]

Of course….

 

[PreacherBob]

You gotta love that foot! If it glowed in the dark you could always see where the stomp switch was when playing on a dark stage.

 

[PreacherBob]

Of course….

Oh yeah, baby! Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton put that wah on the map. The guitarist in our 1977 high school band used one and he had that clear mouth tube thingy for Frampton stuff. His name was Keen Fleck, from Germany. Looked like Neal Schon back then. He was older than us, I thought he was so cool. He stole the show when we show up at Battle Of The Bands at the fair. He could work that Cry Baby along with a sunburst Les Paul!

 

[wileypickett]

Still have most of them -- Mutrons, Electro-Harmonixes, DODs, Line 6es, a boatload of Bosses, etc., all from my electric days.

Ironic since I'm playing strictly acoustically now.

 

[richardp69]

Early on I had a tube driven Fuzz/Wah that was superb. Can't remember the brand. I played in a jazz band (played very poorly actually) in college. I left it in a locked room at the University but someone got in there and stole it. I'd love to have that back today.

 

[PreacherBob]

Early on I had a tube driven Fuzz/Wah that was superb. Can't remember the brand. I played in a jazz band (played very poorly actually) in college. I left it in a locked room at the University but someone got in there and stole it. I'd love to have that back today.

“Played very poorly”? We had our first band practice in ‘77 in the bass player‘s garage, in Folly Beach, SC. Two other guitars players, one had a burst USA Hammer and the other a black ‘76 Kramer 450G, with a solid aluminum neck and pitchfork headstock. Bass player had the red Rckenbacker and a Road head with a 2-18” cabinet. Drummer played Slingerlands. So I brought the Teisco sunburst guitar that my mom bought at Kmart. While everyone was discussing chord changes on “Fool For The City“ by Foghat, I was off in my own little world goofing around holding my guitar up and singing into the pickups on that Teisco, worked just like a microphone. They came over and complemented me on how great my voice was and they voted my to just sing lead! I believed every word. We all became friends for many years and eventually they told the truth. I was never going to make it as a guitar player. However I did take all the chorus classes in high school I could take and went on to sing for a number of groups through the 80’s. I tell people that I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, but a guitar player has never been one of them.

 

[Rocky]

My brother and I had to share everything from the beginning. ......


This was the second, and I still have it. A 1979 Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress. For high school, axe-wielding knuckleheads in the early 80s, this was very exciting. It's super noisy, so it's on the bench pile for repairs when I can get to it.

Seeing as you had to share everything, I certainly hope you two spent time with one of you playing while the other was twisting the knobs.

 

[jp]

Seeing as you had to share everything, I certainly hope you two spent time with one of you playing while the other was twisting the knobs.

Hah! My brother couldn't tolerate sharing with me, and it didn't take long before he bought himself a Fender Lead II.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

No.

I've never owned a pedal.

Smart. They're a black hole.