I'm going to set up my 1st pedal board in the near future and I was wondering what are some decent pedals (or essential ones)  to look into getting. I figured so far on the boss chromatic tuner and either a vox or crybaby wah. What are some other ones (like distortion, phaser, chorus, etc.) I should into and what brands?

 

PS: I like playing rock and blues/jazz songs if that makes a difference on the selection of pedals to look into

 

thanks!

As for types of pedals, for jazz, I'd imagine a compresser pedal is a must, to help with the cleans (give it a boost, even out the dynamics) and a chorus pedal to give the sound a little more beef by adding some modulation. This is often the classic jazz sound.

 

For blues, you'll need some overdrive to add some dirt, to push your amp to break up more (assuming your using a tube amp). The Ibanez Tubescreamer is the classic pedal, and it's spawned many variants, like the well-regarded Klon Centaur.  Timmy is another popular overdrive. Soul Food by EVH is newer and is a good transparent overdrive. There are many more. Get something good for low-gain and is transparent.

 

For rock, you'll want to beef up the distortion so you want something that can crunch more, so some of the classic models are the Boss DD-1, Rat, etc. I like the Fulltone OCD for it's Marshalll-like gain sounds. 

 

You can mix and match, like some people use a TS pedal (Tubescreamer type) and then feed it into a Rat pedal or Timmy for when they want to rock out more, for more beefy crunch or for solo/leads.

 

I like using a booster/compressor pedal for this, too:  RC Booster, BB Pre-amp, Boss Super Overdrive, Keeley Compresser., Zvex Super Hard on. Feed one of these into your overdrive/distortion, or put it after. It'll change the sound depending on where you place it.

 

When playing live, you'll want to boost your signal at times, either to cut through the mix, or for to use it for leads, so it's good to find a pair of pedals that you find work well. Sometimes pedals don't play well with one another so you have to experiment.  

 

If you doing Hendrix or Queens of the Stone Age (or Smashing Pumpkins), then I'd suggest a fuzz pedal, like a Big Muff, in addition, but it's only if you are playing tunes that need that sound. A lot of Hendrix stuff can get by with a Marshall-type distortion pedal like the Fulltone OCD (or cranking a Marshall stack).

 

Add a reverb or delay pedal to fill out the sound like EHX Holy Grail, Hardwire DL-8. TC Electronics Flashback, etc. As with distortion/overdrive, there are lots of choices.

 

Also, wah pedals are really fun, like a Cry Baby. Great for Hendrix/Robin Trower stuff. You could look at volume pedals, too, which also can help you boost, or lower your sound for rhythm, solo, or to help cut through the mix.

 

If you play at a lot of different locations or playing through different gear, an EQ can come in really handy, as your gear may sound drastically different from place to place.

 

Having said all of that, I've really fallen in love with the Zoom Multi-stomp pedals. They emulate a lot of the classic pedals all in one box. Plus you can chain several of them together, all in one patch. I can connect a Tubescreamer to a chorus, compressor, delay and a eq, one patch, have a chorus, compression in another, a pitch shifter with a fuzz pedal in yet another patch, use a Klon with a rotarty effect in the next patch. It even has amp/cab modeling in it, but I mainly just turn that off (but handy if you want to plug in direct to a PA or recording straight into a computer without needing an amp). 

 

It really cut down my need for a lot of pedals.  I got the Zoom MS-100BT which allows me to buy even more emulated pedals through their iOS StompShare store. If you don't have an iOS device, then look at the Zoom MS-50g which is similar but without the bluetooth/iOS store functionality, or get the Zoom MS-70CDR for only delays and modulations. Right now I'm using a distortion pedal in front of my amp, and a Zoom MS-100BT in the effects loops for delay and modulation, but the new distortion pedals they released via Stompshare are really good. I might buy another Zoom MS-100BT to put in front of my amp and ditch my distortion.

 

You could also look at the Zoom G3/G3X/G5 if you want something more robust. They have more footswitches on it and looping abilities. For me, if I need more footswitches, I'll just buy another Multi-stomp, or take a look at the new budget Zoom G1on.

 

I'd probably suggest doing a hybrid, to cut down costs and give you more flexibility. Get some traditional pedals, and mix it with a multi-effects unit.  I use to buy a ton of pedals, and you can easily spend over a ton of money. 

 

 

That was a REALLY good and informative reply! Thanks a lot, I'm going to be doing some searching for the prices of these things

Yeah, so many choices so experiment. What sounds good also depends on the amp you use.

 

Back when I started playing, there was really just Boss, Digitech, Ibanez, DOD, and Vox and Dunlop as the main ones making pedals. Nowadays there are so many, from big companies to boutique pedal companies. It can get overwhelming with choices.

 

I've been liking stuff from TC Electronics and (EHX) Electro-Harmonix lately (and still use big brand stuff I mentioned above).  I see a lot of people using Digitech Hardwire line of pedals, too.

 

Oh yeah, you could also get a looper pedal. They are so much fun, and can help you improve as well. Tradtionally they've been expensive but companies have released more affordables ones, like the Ditto Looper is really popular, as well as the Jamman Express XT.  A friend uses one live so he can lay down a rhythm and then solo over it.  Don't know why I waited so long to get one. It helps me a lot with practicing scales over chord changes. Some people say this should be your first pedal (after a tuner).

ahhh i see a new addiction coming my way hahaha. I do need to get better with scales so that's another thing to look into

I only have a line 6 spider III amp. I want to upgrade that soon as well

I only have a line 6 spider III amp. I want to upgrade that soon as well

Spider's are fun amps.  Since the Spider has effects on it, you can try experimenting with your foot pedals and kick in some of the Spider effects (like phaser, reverb, chorus, etc). I forget it the noise gate on the LIne 6 is always on, which isn't a bad thing, but be prepared if and when you go to a new amp, that it probably won't have a noise gate built-in it, so it may sound louder, more noisy. THat's just the case with a lot of tube amps unless you buy a noise gate pedal, which can come in handy, but not totally necessary for blues or lower-gain rock. (On high gain tube amps, like stuff for metal, I do see noise-gate bulit in, since those amps will be using with heavy distoration).

 

If you wanted to upgrade to another solid state amp, I recommend checking out the Fender Mustang amps (not to be confused with Fender Mustang guitars), It is a modeling amp, but unlike most combo modeling amps that only do high-gain really well, the Mustang really shines on that hard to get lower-gain, on the edge of breaking up tube sound that you get when cranking up vintage tube amps. It's been a popular amp for Fender for blues and rock guys, who don't want the hassle of dealing with a tube amp. Can get really good approximation of classic Fender tube amp sounds. And since it's a modeling amp, it can get cranked up Marshall sounds (and other amps), too, and plus, you can play at low bedroom levels for practicing and it sound good. Something a tube amp can't do.  I know people who gig with them live, and it can get pretty loud.

 

Comes with software so you can edit patches using your computer, too.

 

On the flip side, there is the Fender Super Champ X2, which is a real tube amp, but a hybrid as it also has some modeling in it using the voice knob. It gets you the classic vintage Fender Super Champ sound, and then you can flip the knobs to get emulated amp models of other Fender amps, as well as classic amps from other companies (like Marshall, Vox, etc).

 

It's modeling isn't as deep as the Mustang, and I think it may use older modeling technology than the Mustang, too (unless they updated it recently) but it gives you the option to have a real tube sound, and then flip to modeling for more versatility. Just depends on what you prefer -- a real tube amp that gets a real tube sounds and also does some modeling, or a modeling amp that has the lastest Fender amp modeling technology, with lots of patch editing features. (Update: The Super Champ XD used the older modeling tech, not the X2. The Super Champ X2 model is newer, uses the newer modeling tech, and can use Fuse software just like in the Mustang amps to edit the modeling patches.)

 

But, yeah, those of course are not your only choices for a blues/rock amp. Lots of other great choices out there.