If you could go back...

big kurka

New member
If you could go back to when you bought your first guitar pedal, would you buy the same pedal or something different? What pedal would you recommend as a first pedal and why?
 
Re: If you could go back...

Dunlop Crybaby was my first, and it was the only pedal I owned for a very long time. I would definitely recommend it to the past me.
 
Re: If you could go back...

If you could go back to when you bought your first guitar pedal, would you buy the same pedal or something different? What pedal would you recommend as a first pedal and why?

I didn't buy a single pedal. I bought a pile of pedals including power supply and started to learn what I could do with them. I eventually sold all of them and got well on my own. Would definitely do it again.
 
Re: If you could go back...

My first "pedal" was a EHX LPB-1 back in the 70's. The type that had a fixed 1/4" plug that plugged directly into the amps input. It was well used and the case was beat to hell when I bought it. I know I paid next to nothing for it. Hell yes I'd buy it again. I don't remember what it sounded like exactly, but I remember having a blast with that thing.

Like this one ... but beat to hell

iu
 
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Re: If you could go back...

The first pedal I bought was a Zoom 505. I wish I would have saved my money and bought a Blues Jr. to replace my Peavy Rage 8” combo. After that, I would have kept the Vox wah, but bought a BD-2 and SD-2 instead of OS-2 and MT-2.
 
Re: If you could go back...

MXR Distortion + back in 1982, sounded like a cheese-grater thru a small, solid-state Ampeg amp, but I thought it was the coolest thing on the planet, until the battery went dead...
 
Re: If you could go back...

My first pedal was a Sekova copy of an EHX Mole bass booster. The next was a Guild Foxy Lady (rebranded 3 knob Big Muff Pi) and then a Maestro Bass Brassmaster. This was in the early 70's. Those last two would be valuable now!


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Re: If you could go back...

Dunlop Crybaby was my first, and it was the only pedal I owned for a very long time. I would definitely recommend it to the past me.

Same here....in fact I still have it! It really needs to be rebuilt at this point but it served me well for 20+ years.
 
Re: If you could go back...

I was totally clueless when I started. First pedal was a DigiTech hot rod distortion.

Silly piece of gear given my tastes today. They had a morph knob to change continuously between digital emulation of DOD 250, boss ds-1, and a fuzz face.
Didn't really sound that much like any of those.
The thing ate batteries like crazy.
Kind of a cool idea but it really only sounded good on you ds-1 setting, Morpher knob straight up 12:00.
In which case, a ds-1 is half the price, has a sturdier switch (my DigiTech died when the cheap switch crapped out), and doesn't kill batteries at a rate of one every two jam session!

Fwiw DigiTech made an overdive pedal that morphed between tube screamer and sd-1 sounds. The morph knob on it was more subtle and useable, but it still destroyed 9v batteries
 
Re: If you could go back...

My first pedal was a Roktek (sp?) chorus. I still have it down in the studio, though haven’t used it EVER. The first pedal that I used a lot was my early 90s Yamaha flanger (FL-10M) - it’s on my live board right now.


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Re: If you could go back...

My first pedal was an EHX Small Clone. If I could go back I'd tell myself not to sell it because I've played a bunch of Small Clones since and none of them sounded as good. My 2nd pedal was a very early LED MXR Distortion+ from '81 or '82. Sold that too, but missed it and bought another pre-LED version a couple years ago after finding it for $29.
 
Re: If you could go back...

I would. My amp needed decent distortion.

Now - my second pedal....I'd have got a delay instead of a chorus.

Still have both today, by the way....
 
Re: If you could go back...

Lot of interesting and funny stories so far. My first pedal was a DOD Death Metal distortion pedal that i bought back around 98. I had just started playing guitar and wanted to try and make my 15 watt crate amp with a 10" speaker sound better. Little did I know back then. I still have it and the only amp it ever sounded good with to me is my jc-120. If I could go back I think I would get some type of doubling effect pedal.
 
Re: If you could go back...

My first one was a Next Distortion X. It sounded bad. But I loved it. Over the years I took it out to see if I could stand how it sounded with my older ears. Nope. Not for a minute.

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Re: If you could go back...

My first was a BOSS Blues Driver. Decent pedal. I think I might actually have gotten it again, which really surprises me, given that I am pretty much past the pedal format. There still isn't much in the way of good overdrives in rack units.
 
Re: If you could go back...

No, I would've bought a metal muff instead of an mxr fullbore metal, metal zone, or digitech metal master. Those 3 pedals are terrible. The hiss and white noise is impossible to get rid of.
 
Re: If you could go back...

My first one was a Digitech DF7, if I could choose again then I'd buy a delay pedal or a phaser like small stone ehx.
 
Re: If you could go back...

Dunlop Crybaby was my first, and it was the only pedal I owned for a very long time. I would definitely recommend it to the past me.

Pedals I bought included Dunlop Crybaby GCB95. I tried it about twice and thought it sounded horrid. I don't know if it was in full working condition though...
 
Re: If you could go back...

Can't believe I'm the first on this thread to have such a stock answer; Boss sd1

Hated it, was 100% not what I was looking for but I let my little wimpy 13yr old brain be told it was the one I wanted. lol

The hm2 was the first pedal I really picked for myself based off sound, and it served me well until the mt2 came out, which I still feel is a much better pedal.
 
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