educate me on guitar pedals
 

Played an acoustic for 10 years playing folk and bluegrass shit. Bought a cheap strat about a year ago have pounded on it every day, and have figured out I don't know dick about electric guitar. I've been running it through a roland microcube, which is great up to a point. It has simulated effects like trem, phaser, chorus, etc. If you twiddle the knobs on it, it can approximate just about any rock sound there is. Be that as it may, I think I've progressed enough to invest more money into this habit. I've decided to buy a better amp, so I'm open to suggestions, but pedals are what I really don't understand. Also head unit?

I'd like to build a pedal board, with a few different effects, but in particular, I want to play a lot of dick dale/ventures type surfy stuff. I'll occasionally want to play around with some hard rock tones, but I find myself more interested in the bluesy end of things. I know we have some experts around here, so go on, spill.

Stay away from pedals and purchase a great sounding amp. Unfortunately, the Roland is far from a great sounding amp.

If you're looking for more of a classic surf sound, a Fender Bassman would be your best bet. If you need something smaller, look for a Deluxe.

Played music semi-professionally for years so I'll try and help out.

Pedals are generally aftermarket effects that are there to compliment, replace, alter or enhance your sound. Think of your Roland - if you didn't have those built in effects, you would purchase a pedal to acquire the phaser, chorus or overdrive etc.

I agree / disagree with Dane. Most pedals aren't the best, but there are a few out there that are wonderful. Dane is spot on with the advice of getting a great sounding head. Root of your tone should be your head, NOT pedals.

A head unit combines a pre-amp and power-amp and is the brains of an amp essentially but without the speaker(s) cabinet. Your Roland is a combo (speaker and head) together.

I too recommend the Deluxe from Fender for the type of sound you're going for. I also recommend an AC-30 by VOX. Very hard to go wrong with one, then again, how much are you looking to spend?

If you don't want to drop the coin on a bassman or a deluxe, a blues junior is a fine amp. If you want to trick it a little, put a Celestion Vintage 30 in it. Fulltone OCD is my favorite pedal. I have a Keeley TS808, but I much prefer the OCD.

Did you already purchase an electric? Of not, I'd highly recommend a Fender Road Worn Strat. In my experience, they're the best out of the box guitar line on the market.

Thanks guys. I'm planning to spend 4-600 bucks, but would go a little higher for the right thing. I knew you guys would let me know what's up.

Not that you need to do this setup exactly, but it certainly helps that your guitar is a strat, from the looks of things it looks your next step should be a fender amp with tube head, not solid state.

http://www.guitargeek.com/dick-dale-...ar-setup-2000/

I bought a classic 60s model. It was where price (700) met looks (classic butternut). Had a local luthier set it up for me and seems to play great. I would have went electric a long time ago if I'd known how much easier it is to play one.

Wow, that's cool. Thanx

Awesome!

And frankly, dont hesitate to buy a pedal or two... or considering the amount you're willing to spend, a good rack mount unit that includes pretty much ALL pedal effects is even better.

While theres no substitute for a good guitar and amp... effects can inspire you to open strange new doors in your playing.

Here's the thing: 99% of people that buy pedals (and those are the people that fuel the market, BTW), don't know what they're doing with said pedals.

While I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a delay pedal, which is essential if you're going for a Rock-a-Billy "slapback" type sound or a delay pedal for long delays when soloing. Chorus pedals are cool if you're going for that 80's sound, The Police, etc. An Electro-Harmonix Small Stone is essential for doing 70's funk (or AM radio, for that matter), a Vox wah for Hendrix (or 70's porn).

But for the most part, guys will buy pedals because they don't know how to dial in their amp. They "think" they need more distortion or more treble (EQ), etc. and so on, when in reality, it's all about the guitars, pickups, hardware, strings, speakers, cabinet, preamp tubes, power tubes and cable.

Now, to Brock, if you end up purchasing something like a Fender Bassman, Deluxe, Vibroverb, etc. and you don't want to turn it up to 10 in order to get it to break up nicely, then sure, a Boss Blues Driver or Boss OD-1 would give the amp a little compression and some gain at a reasonable volume.

But I wouldn't rush out and buy a pedal until you come to the conclusion that you actually need something more to get the tone you're hearing in your head or you're wanting to achieve.

Now I want everybody to listen while Carl plays with his wah-wah.

Those are nice, I had a 50s, but I didn't prefer the V shaped neck and the 7.25 radius. Of course that's just a matter of preference. (I think only the 50s have the V neck, the others have the modern C shape)