What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (2024)

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In this Discussion

  • July 2015 monquixote
  • July 2015 DesVegas
  • July 2015 Lew
  • July 2015 EricTheWeary
  • July 2015 AxeWieldingBastard
  • July 2015 Sassafras
  • July 2015 hugbot
  • July 2015 John_P
  • July 2015 topomorto
  • July 2015 daveyh
  • July 2015 IanSavage
  • July 2015 Teetonetal
  • July 2015 d8m
  • July 2015 rsvmark
  • July 2015 guitarfishbay
  • July 2015 Gassage
  • July 2015 jpttaylor
  • July 2015 Branshen
  • July 2015 UnclePsychosis
  • July 2015 mike_l

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Rox Frets: 2147

July 2015 in FX

I ask this as someone who doesn't use pedals. I've got a Vox Valvetronix, and it gives me loads of options... but... I'm curious.. am I missing out?

What are the essential pedals if you're starting from scratch?

Even if you have a modelling amp with all those options, what external pedals are must-haves?

Feedback Thread: http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1053312

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  • mike_l Frets: 5700

    July 2015

    Wah

    OD or distortion (or a multi-channel amp)

    Delay and/or reverb

    Non essential

    Chorus

    Phase

    Flanger

    Having said that, non are essential as long as the guitar/amp combinationsounds awesomes

    Ringleaderof the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)

    0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (9) LOL 0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (10) Wow! 0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (11) Wisdom

  • UnclePsychosis Frets: 13053

    July 2015

    There are no essential pedals. (Although a pedal tuner is probably a good idea).

    The only time pedals become "essential" is if there is a sound you are trying to make that you cannot make otherwise. That may or may not be the case.

    That said, probably the best pedals for pedal beginners are delays, fuzzes, phasers, wah-wahs. All sounds that you cannot make normally and all very common in many types of music.

    My trading feedback

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  • Branshen Frets: 1222

    July 2015

    I'd say it depends on your music. I use delay and verb for a fair bit of my band stuff, so the pedals are key to my sound. I have delay on my modelling amp but it wouldn't give me even close to what I need.

    If you're playing ska/reggae, you'll want a wah/autowah. You'll want phaser and chorus if you're into '80s rock stuff.

    If you're playing blues and jazz, then arguably you don't "need" anything, but it's always fun to expand on your sounds with effect pedals.

    And of course everyone ('cept the snooty tube-breakup folk) needs a drive pedal.

    What music do you play?

    1What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (17) LOL 0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (18) Wow! 1What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (19) Wisdom

  • jpttaylor Frets: 473

    July 2015

    The only two I'd need are a tuner and a delay, and even the tuner is dubious if you have a clip on.

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  • Gassage Frets: 31244

    July 2015

    comp dist od flanger delay

    *An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.

    0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (25) LOL 0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (26) Wow! 0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (27) Wisdom

  • guitarfishbay Frets: 7966

    July 2015

    For me, tuner, noise gate, volume pedal. That is the utility stuff - if you use a gate it makes sense to also use a volume pedal after the gate, as using the guitar volume pot then might cause the gate to cut off the tail of quieter notes. Anything else is an actual effect so depends on needs.

    If you don't play loud with high gain you might not need a gate, which might mean no need for a volume pedal, so only the tuner would be necessary if you had no other means of tuning. Personally I'd still use a volume pedal regardless as I prefer to have both hands free for playing.

    0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (29) LOL 0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (30) Wow! 0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (31) Wisdom

  • rsvmark Frets: 1406

    July 2015

    Compressor, tuner, delay

    An official Foo liked guitarist since 2024

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  • d8m Frets: 2434

    July 2015

    Depends what sort of music you play but a tuner and delay are a must I reckon.

    A metalzone is always an essential just as a baseline of how bad dirt pedals can be!

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  • Teetonetal Frets: 7835

    July 2015

    Well, essential to me is a two stage phaser, a tap tempo delay, a tap tempo tremolo and a tuner.

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  • IanSavage Frets: 1319

    July 2015

    Always need a tuner.

    As a guitarist who largely plays rhythm in bluesy / rocky outfits (usually doing deps or jam nights), I find that I need an overdrive of some sort in case I can't use my own amp, and I like using tremolo (tap-tempo ideally for dropping it in on-the-fly).

    An awful lot of lead guitarists I play with can't do a solo without delay, and there often needs to be a boost pedal to go with it; I can't see why you shouldn't be able to cover most mainstream ground with a tuner, overdrive, boost and delay.

    0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (45) LOL 0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (46) Wow! 0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (47) Wisdom

  • daveyh Frets: 699

    July 2015

    Tuner, and possibly an overdrive/distortion depending on the amp.

    Trading feedback:https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/57836/

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  • topomorto Frets: 68

    July 2015

    If you already think you have loads of options then you probably don't need any more.

    0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (53) LOL 0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (54) Wow! 0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (55) Wisdom

  • John_P Frets: 2756

    July 2015

    Definitely at least one red one.

    0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (57) LOL 0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (58) Wow! 1What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (59) Wisdom

  • hugbot Frets: 1528

    July 2015

    Rat.

    I always recommend the rat when someone wants a distortion, just because I think before you start going boutique it's worth trying through the obvious things first. Rat, tubescreamer ect. A lot of boutique stuff is just tweaks of classic designs anyway.

    Nothing is truely essential mind.

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  • Sassafras Frets: 30322

    July 2015

    I wouldn't like to be without a light touch of reverb if the amp doesn't have it.

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  • AxeWieldingBastard Frets: 157

    July 2015

    I'd say a good eq pedal should be fairly high up on the list of pedal priorities. After that, a compressor can pretty much be applied to any style of music. As a tuner has already been mentioned, i'd say those three types are the essential utilities.

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  • EricTheWeary Frets: 16439

    July 2015

    Wisdom to UncleP.

    Off the top of my head the main categories would be something like eq, boost ( overdrive/distortion/ compression), modulation and time based. So something in each category covers a lot of ground ( plus a tuner!). So, for example - wah, tube screamer, rotary and reverb would be a good blues-rock set up but would do rock, reggae,etc, impersonations.

    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell.

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  • Lew Frets: 1657

    July 2015

    Essential? A muff variant.

    0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (77) LOL 0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (78) Wow! 0What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (79) Wisdom

  • DesVegas Frets: 4651

    July 2015 edited July 2015

    Welcome to your first day of schoolin

    a good place to start is with a phaser, preferably the mxr one with the joined up writting (script 90 they call it.)
    "most" pedals are 60 uk bucks, but our friend gassage up there has bought em for 350

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  • monquixote Frets: 17933

    July 2015 tFB Trader

    Nothing is really essential.

    But assuming you are playing in a covers band

    If you don't have a multi channel amp then some kind of OD or distortion is going to be required.

    Wah is one of those things where if you need it for a song then you have to have one.

    Modulation is entirely optional unless you are doing something like "Ain't Talking Bout Love" where it's really central to the song. If you do have one you really don't need chorus, flange and phase. Just generic "Swirly Thing" will do.

    Many people will disagree with me, but I also tend to think of delay as inessential unless you are doing U2 type stuff. I have one, but I hardly use it.

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What Are The Essential Pedals? - FX Discussions on theFretBoard (2024)

FAQs

What are the 5 must have guitar pedals? ›

While the options may seem overwhelming, focusing on essential pedals can provide a solid foundation for your sound. The five pedals every guitarist should consider for their first pedalboard are a tuner, compression, overdrive, reverb/delay, and modulation.

What is the one pedal that every guitarist needs? ›

Every guitarist needs a reliable “amp-in-a-box” pedal, especially for playing gigs and recording. You can skip this step if you ONLY play with an amplifier. However, the moment you start playing through a speaker, PA, or recording through an interface, you will notice the need for an Amp Simulator.

What pedal board does John Mayer use? ›

His pedalboard setup was: - TC Electronic Polytune 3 - Keeley Katana - Origin Effects pedal (he has used a SlideRIG in the past, might be this one) - J Rockett The Jeff Archer - Ibanez TS10 - Way Huge Aqua-Puss MkII - Boss DM-101 Delay Machine - Boss CE-2 (blacked out) - Strymon Flint Before the release, they ...

How many pedals do you really need? ›

In conclusion, there are no hard and fast rules for how many pedals a guitarist should have. Ultimately, it will depend on your playing style, the type of music you're playing, and your personal preferences.

How do you arrange pedals on a board? ›

Common Pedal Order
  1. Dynamics. The first thing in your pedal chain should typically be pedals that involve dynamics, such as compressors and volume pedals. ...
  2. Pitch Effects. Next up are pitch based effects like pitch shifters and octave pedals. ...
  3. Filter Effects. ...
  4. Gain Effects. ...
  5. Modulation Effects. ...
  6. Time Effects. ...
  7. Volume Pedal. ...
  8. Wah.
Oct 24, 2022

What pedals did Jimi Hendrix use? ›

Hendrix usually used a Vox Wah pedal alongside a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, Shin-Ei Uni-Vibe pedal, and an Octavia stompbox built by Roger Mayer. Some of these pedals have since been discontinued and are now extremely rare - so here we'll explore some of the ways you can add these effects to your rig..

What is the most famous guitar pedal? ›

Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, and more have all used the Cry Baby. It's just one of those pedals that everyone knows about. Wah is certainly one of the most popular and iconic guitar effects, and it turns out that the Cry Baby is the best-selling of them all.

What pedal does Led Zeppelin use? ›

Guitar Pedals

He was known to experiment throughout his illustrious Zeppelin career and you'll hear Phaser, Tape Delay and Fuzz aplenty. The important pedals to nail his sound are definitely the fuzz and the tape delay and once you've got those with a Les Paul and Marshall-style amp, you're set!

What pedals did Eric Clapton use? ›

He famously played it on the songs 'White Room' and 'Tales Of Brave Ulysses'. During this time, Clapton used a Vox V846 Wah-Wah Pedal. He also used this later in his career, along with a Dunlop Crybaby GCB-95 Wah Pedal and a Dunlop 535Q Crybaby Wah Pedal.

Does John Mayer use a tube screamer? ›

Mayer is known to have played through the TS808, TS9, and TS10 in order to get that “Stevie Ray Vaughan” style of overdrive. Ibanez Tube Screamers are also relatively inexpensive, beginning at $100 for a brand new unit. Another Tube Screamer style overdrive that Mayer is known to use is a Fulltone Fulldrive 2.

Who has the biggest pedal board? ›

Rob Scallon with the Worlds largest working pedalboard ever built! The World's largest pedalboard was created on July 9, 2019. More than 500 feet of EBS PCF-Deluxe patch cables were used when creating the board. That is about the length of 2 football fields after each other.

How many pedals fit on pedalboard? ›

On boards like these, you can usually fit about 10 standard-sized pedals. Medium-sized pedal boards really open up the options for your rig. For example, they have room for all the basics, plus your amp's footswitch (if it has one) or a power supply.

What kind of power supply do I need for my pedal board? ›

The great majority of pedals require 9 volts (9v) to operate, though you'll also find certain pedals want to have 12v or 18v. Not all power supplies can offer multiple voltages, so do look out for that.

What does a phaser pedal do? ›

A phaser splits a guitar signal into two separate signals. This division allows one signal to pass through unaffected and applies all-pass filters to the other. As a result, the two signals pass in and out of phase at a varying speed defined by an LFO.

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