What are the "essential pedals"?

[Guitar Toad]

Re: What are the "essential pedals"?

Like already stated, none are essential. At home I play straight in to the practice amp, nothing else. If I want more overdrive or a different sound, I'll use an overdrive but I don't "have to".

One that is essential for my halfstack is the buffer, but it's not even a pedal. It's in a small Hammond 1590A enclosure with an LED indicator so I know it's on and it sits in the effects loop, always on. Believe it or not, a simple little buffer does wonders to your tone when you have almost 30 feet of cable between you and the amp. (10' between the amp and booster pedal, 18' between the guitar and the pedal).

Anything else is just gravy.

OK, for the tyro, buffer? Does that differ from a booster, i.e. the SD SFX-01?

[ErikH]

Re: What are the "essential pedals"?

OK, for the tyro, buffer? Does that differ from a booster, i.e. the SD SFX-01?

A buffer boosts your signal, but not so much like a booster such as the SFX-01 does. It's more of a signal recovery tool. It's great to have one at the end of your signal chain through a pedal board right before the cable that goes back to the amp if you have a rather large pedalboard. Since I run one, maybe two pedals out front, I don't need it there. It's perfect in the loop right after the delay though.

A booster like the SFX-01 actually boosts your signal by several db that is very noticeable, more for boosting for leads and such. The buffer just adds back what's been lost from the long cable runs and large pedalboards.

[Guitar Toad]

Re: What are the "essential pedals"?

A buffer boosts your signal, but not so much like a booster such as the SFX-01 does. It's more of a signal recovery tool. It's great to have one at the end of your signal chain through a pedal board right before the cable that goes back to the amp if you have a rather large pedalboard. Since I run one, maybe two pedals out front, I don't need it there. It's perfect in the loop right after the delay though.

A booster like the SFX-01 actually boosts your signal by several db that is very noticeable, more for boosting for leads and such. The buffer just adds back what's been lost from the long cable runs and large pedalboards.

Erik, did you make your buffer?

[ErikH]

Re: What are the "essential pedals"?

Erik, did you make your buffer?

Sure did. Easy as pie.....well, if you can bake...LOL LOL. You can see pics of the first build I did on my site, in a different enclosure. The one I have in the Hammond 1590A enclosure is the Tiny Layout. It's really really small. Check it out. Link is in my profile, go to the DIY Effects and Mods section. It's the Simple IC Biffer in the Projects list. You can get the schematic and other notes on it from General Guitar Gadgets.

[Metalman_666]

Re: What are the "essential pedals"?

The only pedals I feel I really NEED are my footswitch (if it counts) and my noise suppressor. Other than that it's just fun to fool around with my wah and EQ, although I find the EQ to be essential to my tone right now; the Randall's just too shrill without it.

[The Golden Boy]

Re: What are the "essential pedals"?

When I'm at home, I rarely use a pedal, I'll tune with the TU-2 and then plug directly into the amp. When playing out, I prefer to have the TU-2, an OD and my chorus. The OD is generally just as a solo boost, the chorus is just for "shimmer."

[Simon_F]

Re: What are the "essential pedals"?

Wah and tuner in front of the amp. Ambient delay in the loop. And whatever way suits you best for boosting your solos.

[nepalnt21]

Re: What are the "essential pedals"?

mxr blue box. or dod buzz box. absolutely essential.

[drpietrzak]

Re: What are the "essential pedals"?

Not really an essential pedal, if I have my El Diablo amp. Otherwise Overdrive (OD-3), Distortion (Silver Dragon), Compressor (ED-1), and Delay (DD-6).

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: What are the "essential pedals"?

Guitar-cord-amp

Single channel amp, ad an OD.....

That said, I use a wah-->OD-->OD/Fuzz-->Replex (reverb & delay)-->cord-->amp

[open]

Re: What are the "essential pedals"?

delay.

[Rich_T]

Re: What are the "essential pedals"?

I dont see why pedals seem to be such a dirty word around here. To me, they make the instrument far more flexible and useful. Fair enough if i was just playing blues then i might not need any, but i'm not. For me, all of my pedlas are esential, they make my guitar sound like all sorts of wierd things. A clean/dirty sound is no where near everything i need, so I would be lost without my 9 pedals which give me all my crazy textures and sounds.

[Rich_T]

Re: What are the "essential pedals"?

Here's my little lot: