I want something pretty easy to use with (what I assume is) standard stuff, distortion, chorus, etc....

 

What would you recommend for a true beginner who is just learning different riffs and chords, but realizes they don't sound like the songs because of the limitations of my meager equipment?

 

Thank you.

The Zoom Multistomp, MS-50G.  Great little pedal for beginners, even though it's digital.  Will let you string together several effects boxes as well.

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MS50G/

What do you have just now; Amp/Cab/Head/Pedals etc..

What do you have just now; Amp/Cab/Head/Pedals etc..

Small Fender amp and a Epiphone Les Paul.  Thats it.

Do you have decent speakers on the computer you play Rocksmith on?  If you just want to do some experimenting without shelling out a lot of money, I would suggest looking into Amplitube 3.  It has tons of amp models, cabinets, and pedal effects.

 

I almost never play through my amp any more, because it was becoming a pain to constantly change pedal configurations and move stuff around.  I also only own a few pedals and didn't want to shell out 250-300 for a multi-effect pedal.

 

With Amplitube I have dozens of presets saved and I can move from sound to sound with a few mouse clicks.  I also have the iRig Blueboard, which is a bluetooth pedal board with 4 buttons that can be used to turn effects on/off, as well as to switch through presets.

It depends.. :)
If you have spare cash burning a hole in your pocket, then you have some options.

 

I personally like the Line6 gear (I've a HD 500x - which is great) but it's way more than I need just now. Mind you, it's pretty future proof.

There are models down the price range (Pod etc). I'd suggest heading into a store and checking them out. That's what I did with mine. :)

I bought myself a Digitech RP255 a while back from Play.com for £119 and it's fantastic. It's got a 20 second looper, 94 amps, cabs, stompboxes and effects, 60 drum patterns, tuner, a built-in expression pedal and comes with Cubase LE4.

 

It basically has everything you need in terms of effects - distortion, wah wah, compression, noise-gates/auto-swells, chorus, flanger, phaser, pitch effects, vibrato/rotary effects, tremolo effects, delay, reverb and a 3 band equaliser.

 

The variety of sounds you can get out of it is ridiculous lol. There's also a shitload of patches that people have done available to download from the Digitech website, including one that makes your guitar sound like a church organ.

 

The best thing about it, and about any multi-effects and modelling pedal, is that when you have a gig you can just plug it straight into the PA so you don't have to worry about carting a bloody great big amp and cab to every gig you get...and of course, because you're not tied to just one amp and cab you're not limiting your tone.

 

We're not too far away from amps and cabs being obsolete imo.

 

If money is no object then go for a Line6 POD HD500X, I'd love one myself but it's waaaay out of my price range unless I win the lottery lol

Truthfully I'd second most things in this thread. The zoom is great the Line six is amazing but a bit pricey and the only complaint I've ever had with digitech gear is that it tends to go wrong in a relatively short period of time. And an older pod particularly if you can get a short board with one used might be a really good option for you.

 

 

ps. Oh and if you're not looking to record. Download the demo of Guitar Rig 5. It's a pain in the ass to record with but you can easily get any sound you want to out of it. And the only restrictions on the demo are no saving presets and only half an hour at a time play time (but you can restart it immediately and go back at it). 

 At the moment I'm looking at building a new giggable rig and I'm thinking a portable rack with a Line six HD pro and a power amp with a short board for control but seriously just look around. I don't know where you're located or what the used market is but you can score a really sweet deal I'm sure if you just look around.

 

p.p.s and Korg makes some great sounding stuff, but their options are a bit limited. I think their top of the line only has 72 total amps, effects, and cabs modeled all together. But they will sound amazing.

As always, you guys are a bunch of help.  Thank you.  Certainly a few interesting ideas in the thread as I had never even heard of Amplitube so I'll definately look into that.  I think the Digitech was one I looked at and almost bought at the store the other day and I'll definitely look at the Zoom as well.

 

Thanks all 

There are always plenty of reviews and demos of stuff on YouTube too, that's partly why I went for the RP255.

 

I'd love to get hold of a Line6 POD HD500X though, but at 400-quid or so it's way out of my league until I get that lottery win lol  :lol:

I have the older version of Snowdogs pedal, Digitech RP250, Ive had it around 3 years now and its still really useful, I can use community shared patches downloaded for the newer pedals by tweaking a line in the xml files.

 

2nd hand they are really cheap, a friend payed around £50 for a 2nd hand rp255 recently

 

I think it has enough features and patches available to satisfy most beginner and bedroom guitarists, and Boss provide something very similar, I cant think of the details, but both are worth a look at

 

from my experience too many switches and buttons is a distraction to my playing so keeping it simple with the rp250 works for me

I can't disagree with anything anyone has already said.  Digitech would not be my first choice, but they can be a lot of fun and sound pretty good.  Any decent multi-fx unit gives you lots of versatility in one unit and a lot of opportunities to find YOUR sound.

 

Last year I went through a hunt for a multi-fx, and demoed lots of stuff.  I bonded with Zoom this time around, so I throw in a vote for a used Zoom G3/X. The G3/X is cheap, has an easy to learn interface, and IMO, great sound quality (YMMV of course).  You also get the ability to switch on and off a few individual effects, and just generally to have more foot control so your hands can keep playing.  I find them very easy to work with.

 

FuzzyMuff brings up a good point.  A complicated interface can be intimidating or distracting to any player.  The worst for me is realizing I've just been fooling around with tones for an hour or two, and not really practicing per se.  Sure I had fun, but I feel like I cheated myself a bit.  To be fair, a pedalboard can be guilty of that too. 

 

 

 

 

............I wandered off to make a drink and stayed away longer than intended.  After reading my post, I had some more thoughts.  I know, I know....TL;DR

 

 

 

 

 

It's important to realize that many factory presets are going to sound like rubbish.  Too heavy on the effects.  To some degree, it's not as bad when playing with others, but man, they can sound waaaay over done practicing by yourself.  Something I like to do, and it's easy these days when you can back up to a PC, is to go through a new multieffect and make notes on which tones I know I'll never use.  I can then go in and delete/reorganize to have plenty of free slots to save my own effects to.

 

Sound quality and ease of use sold me on a Zoom G5 near the end of 2013, and I've been very happy with it since.  Not perfect but very good, and can be found new for $250 or so U.S.  I was going down the road of building my own pedals, but the G5 has given me so many great sounds to explore, DIY is on hold for the time being.  FYI some of the zoom stuff have mods if you like to tinker.  Check out AshBass to see what I mean.  I'm just waiting on my warranty to expire :-D

 

I've never bonded with any Line6 stuff I've tried.  I did keep an old bean (POD 2) around for when I travel for work and just want to use headphones.  Not fantastic, but won't cry if it's stolen.  The L6 HD series I've tried sounded much better than the old POD, but for me, the Zoom stuff wins in bang for your buck.  I personally prefer the Zoom interface vs the HD series as well.  It'll be interesting to see what changes come to L6 with the Yamaha purchase though.

 

 

 

Would any of you recommend a Boss multieffects pedal? I'm still shopping around the amp phase and only have a practice amp a friend gave me, but I've been eyeing some Boss pedals. It was mostly just the ME-25 used or the new ME-75 or w/e it is.

I've tried a 25 that belongs to a friend of mine.  He is certainly able to get some nice tones out of it.  I don't care for the interface personally, but that's user preference for ya. :P

 

I demoed the the ME-80 at the local Guitar Center, so not the best environment to judge really.  It sounded fine, and it's a little more intuitive than the 25, at least to me.