Pedals for a newbie

Tokai Forum

Help Support Tokai Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Hey just thought id throw my two cents into the discussion. My pedal history goes back almost as long as ive been playing eek. In the last couple of years I decided to try and arrange them onto a professional board for gigging purposes. Some may think its slightly silly, but hey ho, keeps me off the streets :eek:) At the end of the day, the quest goes on. Ive made a flickr set to try and explain the evolution of it all :eek:)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48441708@N08/sets/72157623984102048/
 
incidentally that huge board weighed in just under 25kg, all flight cases from theflightcasewarehouse. The pedal power is now mounted underneath the board :)
 
Great topic people! Sorry if this counts as hijack but i feel that its unnecessary to open another topic.

At the moment im in a similar situation like what Big Willie Style had experienced. Ive just got my blackstar ht60 which sounds amazing, and im getting away from my line6 x3L as well and going to get a few pedals for a simple setup to compliment the new amp. Im into playing stuff from classic rock, blues up to hardrock (big fan of GunsNRoses if that helps).

Ive already made myself a list of the sort of pedals that i want to get:
tuner - maybe a polytune?
wah - thinking about a dunlop 535q or some of those CAE wah
boost/drive
chorus
delay
and maybe a distortation and one of those boss's harmonizer thingy or similar.

Im bit spoiled and confused by all the available brands/options and hopefully you guys can give some input to help me get some idea or what to get.

Cheers!
 
warxy said:
Great topic people! Sorry if this counts as hijack but i feel that its unnecessary to open another topic.

At the moment im in a similar situation like what Big Willie Style had experienced. Ive just got my blackstar ht60 which sounds amazing, and im getting away from my line6 x3L as well and going to get a few pedals for a simple setup to compliment the new amp. Im into playing stuff from classic rock, blues up to hardrock (big fan of GunsNRoses if that helps).

Ive already made myself a list of the sort of pedals that i want to get:
tuner - maybe a polytune?
wah - thinking about a dunlop 535q or some of those CAE wah
boost/drive
chorus
delay
and maybe a distortation and one of those boss's harmonizer thingy or similar.

Im bit spoiled and confused by all the available brands/options and hopefully you guys can give some input to help me get some idea or what to get.

Cheers!

Polytune's are very cool.... but if you're going to be up on stage for a gig, they are next to impossible to read from the floor.

Ibanez tube screamer (TS9) is a great overdrive pedal.
 
marcusnieman said:
Polytune's are very cool.... but if you're going to be up on stage for a gig, they are next to impossible to read from the floor.
OOh how come? :eek: i might be joining my youth's band soon so i need to make sure ill get something that will work. What would be a better one then?


marcusnieman said:
Ibanez tube screamer (TS9) is a great overdrive pedal.
Yeah i thought about that but i got confused with all the different tube screamers, TS9, TS9X?, 808 and all that.
 
warxy said:
marcusnieman said:
Polytune's are very cool.... but if you're going to be up on stage for a gig, they are next to impossible to read from the floor.
OOh how come? :eek: i might be joining my youth's band soon so i need to make sure ill get something that will work. What would be a better one then?

Boss TU-2 - accurate, easy to use, easy to read, bomb-proof

As for other pedals, all you can really do is to audition them until you find what suits. Took me years of chopping and changing to find that I like Barber overdrives but my ?20 Digitech Bad Monkey also sounds great. Try not to be swayed by 'boutique pedal' hype and trust your own ears 8)
 
warxy said:
marcusnieman said:
Polytune's are very cool.... but if you're going to be up on stage for a gig, they are next to impossible to read from the floor.
OOh how come? :eek: i might be joining my youth's band soon so i need to make sure ill get something that will work. What would be a better one then?


marcusnieman said:
Ibanez tube screamer (TS9) is a great overdrive pedal.
Yeah i thought about that but i got confused with all the different tube screamers, TS9, TS9X?, 808 and all that.

The Polytone LED lights are very small and at a distance on a dark stage, you can't see them if you need to tune on the fly. I use this Planet Waves strobe with true signal bypass.... it's built like a tank but works like a charm. And you can SEE it.... even with stage lights in your eyes:

http://store.daddario.com/category/148523/Chromatic_Pedal_Tuner

The original Ibanez Tube Screamer was the TS808. The first reissue was the TS9..... great pedal. I think they've also reissued the TS808 and some variations of it. Here's the whole story on them:

http://www.analogman.com/tshist.htm
 
Think i will defs stay away from the fancy polytune pedal then, still think its cool tho :oops:
What about the newer Boss TU-3?

Anyone know if those pedaltrain pedal boards are worth the price? Im gonna try one of those ikea gorm board project before considering the pedaltrain but still, i cant figure out a way to transport the gorm board.
 
It's your old eyes Marcus :wink: The polytune, in poly mode is a bit on the small side but I can see it just fine, also if you just pick a single string it automatically reverts to being a regular tuner and the E A D and the tuning lights are very big and clear.

TU-2, TU-3 or Polytune would all be great choices though.
 
Well, I've just got meself a Line 6 PD HD300. Initially I wasn't impressed as the presets on it are absolutely useless...... but having spent most of the week getting to know it and reprogramming the settings I've got to say it's pretty amazing and sounds fantastic. The amp sims on it are superb and sound great even through the front end of my tube amp :D

Dave
 
DaveWW said:
Well, I've just got meself a Line 6 PD HD300. Initially I wasn't impressed as the presets on it are absolutely useless...... but having spent most of the week getting to know it and reprogramming the settings I've got to say it's pretty amazing and sounds fantastic. The amp sims on it are superb and sound great even through the front end of my tube amp :D

Dave

Amazing value those HD300's still trying to work out why they are cheaper than the m9, but seem to have more on them!! I'll be round to have a play with that :wink:
 
That would be good :D Yep, it's amazing value for what it does. It's probably a bit harder to set up than the M9 but that's about it I think. The HD 500 is also easier to use having more individual rather than multi function knobs and it has a larger display showing more of the features. However, if you set it up with the supplied PC editing software it's a pierce of cake. I've now got it set on a range of amps with minimal effects and it's now dead easy to tweak on the unit itself.

Dave
 
I think ive plugged into a HD300 when i was shopping for a les paul. The preset was extremely unimpressive, everything (all kinds of strat, tele and LP) plugged into it sounded dull. I doubt it sounds any better than my X3 :roll:
 
The FX are based on the new M Series stomp boxes which I think do sound better than the other pod stuff. I agree out of the box the presets are awful but after setting it up properly It's pretty **** good. You need to know what you're doping though and it took me quite a while to set it up properly.:wink:

Have a listen to these and their other demos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiibPLP-iCU&feature=player_embedded

It does deliver what they say :D
 
Quite a good review on the HD500 with some simpler samples from the HD300 here as well.

http://www.musicradar.com/gear/all/guitars/fx/modelling/pod-hd500-339039/review/3
 
Yeha those sound clips really demostrated the tonal awesome of the new pod. Now i am quite tempted in getting one..

Anyway, my polytune and CAE wah arrived the other day and im having great fun with it. Still havnt tried the polytune in a more dark setting thou. Now i just need to get a overdrive or some sort. :roll: Thinking about one of those BYOC overdrive 2 pedals.

Oh and ive built a homemade pedal board using those ikea gorm board stuff. Have to say, it was quite fun making it. :lol:
 

Latest posts

Back
Top