Is there a type of pedal we didn't mention that YOU think is a must-have for someone new to guitar pedals? Let us know in the comments! Table of Contents 00:00 Introduction 00:53 Pedal #1 03:05 Pedal #2 05:20 Pedal #3 07:38 Pedal #4 10:13 Pedal #5 12:29 Conclusion
I think it really depends on the style of music you want to play. A wah wouldn't even make my top 10... I had one in the 80s... I never used it and haven't had one in my rig since the late 80s. Unless you play classic rock, I really do not see the usefulness but it's of course a matter of personal taste. Personally, I'd replace the wah with a compressor in my top 3, Reverb depends on the amp you use but, yes, if it's not covered there I'd add it too. As I came of age in the 80s, modulation (chorus) would be my #4. So for me: #1 - overdrive/distortion, #2 - compressor, #3 - delay, #4 modulation/chorus, #4 - reverb
Instead of a wha or a comp I find much more useful a volume pedal for swells or simply to control the volume on some sections ala Gilmour and avoid noise. My top 3 would be Dist, chorus, delay.
Listen to Robin Trower on "Alethea" Live. The Wah pedal work is fantastic. He is so underrated. He makes "every-note-count" - There are 2 pedals that I can't gig without: Overdrive & Delay. (there's about 5 Wah's that I love) but I use a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe. As a huge Alex Lifeson fan, I am a Chorus guy. oNe LovE from NYC
I think an EQ is hugely underrated in terms of what it can do for boards. Changing the voicing of ODs, Pushing the preamp of the amp, solo boost, using it as a specific sound in a song (e.g. no lowend for a riff)... Technically with a good amount of fiddeling an EQ could be used as some sort of speaker sim. EQ all the way.
As a beginner who's mostly focused on acoustic but need to learn electric too, I'm doing the math and its seems like I could buy a high end stomp box by the time I buy a few necessary pedals.
This video seems like it‘s for begginers, I think this list would be a little more helpful: -Tuner In the beginning you won‘t be able to tune by ear, so a tuner is essential. But try to tune without it from time to time! -Overdrive/Distortion To get to know the „fun“ side of the guitar! :D -Modulation Maybe a multi FX pedal, there are some great ones out there, perfect for getting to know the wide range of fx like Chorus, Flanger, Phasor, Vibrato, etc. -Reverb Because why not? Reverb is awesome and makes you sound better 🥺 -Delay
Great video as always 👍 Might be kinda intimidating of a pedal but the source audio collider will knock out the reverb and delay in one. Definitely my favorite for sound and space.
YES ! Thank you for the sermon brother Mason (silent Bob rocks !). Other young youtubers would say : " The Ibanez tube screamer eewwww those suck . You need a $ pedal built by my buddy out of rare unobtainium ! " Not Silent Mason, he even praises a dd3. The nerve of this guy !. Should have dropped a microphone at the end (an affordable one ).
Boost/preamp/eq is probably the most important pedal on any rig, I'd vote that over a Wah any day. Sold mine cuz I never used it. It shapes your tone, helps hit the front of the amp harder, and changes the way your each pedal interacts with your tone. (compressor, overdrive, etc.)
@@gunkanjima3408 It just highlights the good parts of your tone and shapes the bad. Not much to it! If you're a beginner just strumming a nice big G chord, that boost will help a whole lot more than playing with a wah would! Just my opinion
Great recommendation of the Boss Compressors. People don't realize that the cheap CS2 and CS3 pedals were THE sound of Nashville guitar in the 90s. Brent Mason, Vince Gill, Dan Huff (Don't know if he used one, but it sure sounds like it).
I kind of think wah pedals should be illegal for new players. Beginners sound terrible with them and I think they stunt musical growth. I’d swap for a chorus or tremolo.
This is a great list, and probably perfect for a lot of players. For me... I’ve somehow managed to avoid ever needing a wah, and growing up in the ‘80s with a “super Strat”, chorus & distortion took the place of the wah & tube screamer. There were, however, many years of multi-effect units between my first pedal (a chorus) and my second (a distortion).
I wish I could agree on the Tube Screamer..... Maybe the way your was set didn't present as you were hoping, but that'd be no sound I'd ever want. No disrespect, I guess I prefer OD from a different angle. I use an original Tim and OCD Ver 1.3, which keeps me satisfied as I learn all this stuff. Sometimes I think a Compressor should be the first pedal we all need. LOL I like my Keeley Limiting Amplifier. Sometimes, quite the lifesaver until the finesse develops to beyond reliable..
feel (If there is room in the budget) I have seen some very good noise gates, silencers-what ever you want to call them. I have seen them as low as 25-30.00 and seem to work. Something is better than nothing when it comes down to getting rid of nasty hum. Great video.
no indeed... so i am a beginner (rythm) guitar player , and i just got my first pedal (5150 overdrive) and im thinking about getting a chorus as my second pedal... Working on beginner/intermediate metallica songs (bell tolls, sandman, battery) and for my bigger projects some AJFA songs.. so im a wrong here? should i get something else first?
In my case, since my Amp has no Reverb, I would pick; Wah-Distortion-Volume pedal-Delay-Reverb. My favourites are; Morley Bad Horsie - JHS Angry Charlie - Vertex Boost with expretion pedal - EHX Canyon - MXR Reverb Regards!
I have the andy timmons dual echo and thats an analog delay which goes into the effects loop like a champ. Actually works better in the loop than in the front. Are you sure?
Imho a Wha and compressor arent essencials...a modularion of any kind (chorus, flanger, phasers, vibes...personal taste, you choose) and...a Tuner pedal. that's essencial.
Wrong. Boring pedal suggestion, does nothing to excite new players and get them invested in guitar playing. Maybe a zoom multi-stomp, shit tons of sounds and will help the player understand different effect types, giving them a taste of pedals they can buy down the line.
@@fuckenps3valid answer. You can always get tuners elsewhere, be it clip on, an app or on an amp…a pedal tuner will be useful down the road, but you’re right, inspiration is the key early doors
I think of pedals for the players and their first tube amp. There are some great & LOUD solid state amps with efx built in. Now, for that “maybe birthday present Blues Jr” there are pedals from Behringer starting at $20. TC, EHX and MXR starting $50 and the JHS 3 Series $99.00.
It depends on what amp you're using but assuming it's a beginner's amp, an overdrive/distortion that's more amp-like than a tube screamer would be my choice. Sub that in for the wah. A Boss OD-3 maybe and keep the TS or switch that to a boost. Teaches gain cascades and if you like heavier stuff then learning how to pile on gain and keep your tone is important.
For beginners though it's such a nice feature to have...I wanted to sound like Slash and Hendrix...hard to have that "effect" with a volume pedal as it's more of a professional tool.
Nice video. I cant get the tube screamer to clean up or at least not with a pleasant sound by using the volume control of the Guitar. I’ve started to use an old Marshall guvnor with the mids cranked instead and the gain quite high. That way I can go from cleanish to gainy sounds with just one pedal and the volume control. Do you have any tips for getting the TS to clean up better?
I have just six pedals in my board and they are: compressors, overdrive, distortion, boost, chorus and a multistomp by zoom that I use as a delay and tuner. They run into a clean Hiwatt. I think that you always need a boost and a chorus in your board. With this setup you can cover almost the 70% of the existing music on the earth.
Hey, I don't know if you get way better metrics for setting every video as a premiere... but its really annoying unless its a Livestream. "Oh theres a new video I'll click on... oh I can't watch it yet..." Then I leave it and most of the time never take the time to look it up again when it's live.
@@VertexEffectsInc instead of it clogging up the subscription feed… unsubscribing and relying on the algorithm to suggest it one day might be a better experience.
I like them off the board for the times I don't use them and I like to angle them some so it's a bit more natural. Just enough for them to clear the jacks in terms of the spacing. We have some good videos on this on the channel if you want to learn more about pedal layouts on boards.
Just when I think I’ve got all the pedals Mason has recommended….you just had to throw the compressor in there didn’t ya!!! Uuuuughhhhh! My Sweetwater account is well used!
I have both the Keeley and the dyna comp. If I could only have one the Keeley hands down. MXR makes a good compressor but it’s a little harsh for always on. IMO.
Multi-Mod was helpful before buying individual mods. My Wampler terraform helped me figure out I only really like Univibe. In the long run, saves me money.
@@CenterThePendulum or maybe doubling down on one pedal with a lot of budget doesn't give you much room to experiment. If I was suggesting big budget it might be better spent on something that does a lot of stuff - not just modulation if you're going that route so you can learn your own tastes. Won't be as good as the Wampler unit but serviceable to learn your preferences.
@@VertexEffectsInc I wanna add modulation pedal. Chorus, flanger, phaser like these. No modulation pedal, no guitar life. And metal guys need MT2 Metal Zone instead of overdrive. In this case, I use MS50G as Uni-Vibe. With wah of course lol. MS50G is good stomp, but it's not multi pedal board. And can't use extra foot switch. No one can escape from pedal mobius, can you？ Thanks.
Question? if i have two pedals that can run at 18volts can i daisy chain them together with my Truetone 1 Spot CS 12 from the same 18volts output (2pedals powered from the 1 power output but daisy chained at 18volts) is this OK to do or will I kill/damage my pedals. Great video as always 👍🏼
Maybe it's not used in your genre. Play some funky 16th-note lick or a fast country chicken lick. First with the compressor off and then turn it on. You'll hear the difference.
I suppose another pedal which might be a good addition for a new player is a harmonic tremolo (to keep yet another from jumping on the uni-vibe train). Another thing you might talk about is the different types of compressors (opto being the most transparent). Also the different places a compressor can be used (like after a fuzz, etc.). I have spent the past year plus using all this lock-down time to research the hell out of everything on the market. There's at least 20 different wah pedals I want. Sometimes you want a different Q and Freq response on different songs. I actually see many different scenarios, which is why I like the RJM Mastermind so much because we can re-order pedals from song section to song section. And, in the studio, multiple compressors are used very gently just as drives are used in stacking or gain-staging. Now, I know this video was about entry-level. I am just suggesting things I have been learning about (like the similarities between a dumble pedal and a compressor, sound and feel wise). Obviously, there are rules, but at the same time it is repeated again and again that all these rules can be broken at will. I can see the use of multiple compressors (all used extremely lightly/transparently) at different points in different chains, just as I can see multiple 'drive' pedals. It's just me bringing my studio experience to my live rig. Man, I can't wait to get back to playing again! Right now, my son is in our studio doing his album and I am just waiting for him to finish and get out of my way. I have been writing non-stop (at least one a day) and have dozens and dozens of new songs waiting for the studio to open up. He's doing an amazing job, so I am cool with it, but . . . I'm chomping at the bit! It looks as though I have a few more months to remain patient. But damn, I think I know every piece of equipment on Reverb! It's a fantastic research resource! One thing I am not going to do is discuss the beautiful and unique treasures I have discovered. I don't want their prices skyrocketing as they disappear in the clone wars. Aaarrggghhh!
I agree with all the picks except the Wah pedal. I mean, unless you're just playing classics or funk, I feel like a chorus pedal or the compressor pedal are more frequent nowadays.
Compressor was on there but as a beginner you never feel so confident as you do playing a wah...I know I did. I though I sounded like Slash when I probably sounded like "Sludge".
Nothing wrong with going simple and pure. I own lots of pedals, but find it very refreshing to just plug directly into my amp sometimes. Plus, if I understand what amp your talking about, there's a whole market for pedals that imitate what that amp does.
Yeah, I'm no expert,but from what I understand, the starting premise of many overdrive pedals is to get the sound of one or another classic amp. How much they succeed in emulating those amps, I don't know. If you got a great overdriven amp sound, then you don't really "need" to get into overdrive pedals, though there still may be reasons some people might want to add them. A good sounding amp is always the best foundation for pedals, anyway, so you're in good shape either way.
@@Sd12sx23 I still have my first amp, a late 50's tweed champ. It broke up at around '2.' I was WAY ahead of the times. I gave $25 for it, and they're asking over 3K for them. Still have the first guitar too, a Silvertone U-1 for $15 bought at the same time-$40 for my first rig.
I'm using an analog delay in the loop. Never knew you shouldn't do that. Is it just for vintage pedals? I have a cheapo joyo jf33. What should i be looking for in terms of it not working? it sounds fine to me.
I recommend the Sansamp GT2 or the Sansamp Bass Driver DI. Super useful for practice, performance, and also great for home recording. Extremely reliable compared to a tube amp, and they sound excellent. You can track down an affordable power amplifier on the used market, and connect it to a guitar cab. This is a great way for a beginner or professional player to get some great tones on the cheap. Plus this type of setup is modular so you can change out things and upgrade as you grow and find your style. I got an extremely professional bass amp rig for about 1000 dollars. And it could have been cheaper, I just like big loud things. :D
I think an analog delay is easier on a beginner as it will fade and duck out of the way. Digital delays generally need more precision. Tremolo would be more useful than a wah if the amp doesn’t have that.
Wrong. Boring pedal suggestion, does nothing to excite new players and get them invested in guitar playing. Maybe a zoom multi-stomp, shit tons of sounds and will help the player understand different effect types, giving them a taste of pedals they can buy down the line.
Question. If buffered pedals alter tone and Boss pedals have more than one buffer that does not ever go off... Why use a DD3 which has AD DA conversion and not a TC Flashback that actually has Analog dry through?
I'm 99% sure that both of these pedals have analog dry thru - and most of us make a bigger deal out of this feature than it is. If you're that concerned you can put your non-analog dry path pedal in a parallel mixer and I would be surprised if you could tell when it's analog dry or not in a blind test. I'm almost certain the the DD-3 follows a similar format as the DD-2, a 12-bit digital delay with analog feedback and mixing stage, so everything in the pedal is analog except the part that produces the actual delay. From the input, the analog signal is split, one side going to the delay chip and the rest on the output stage where it is merged with the delay signal. This was pretty standard for most digital delays of that time. I don't think Boss moved away from this format until the more feature filled delays like the DD-20.
Vertex i'm not sure if you have any vertex overdrives pedals that have a "decompression control" like Norlands ODR-C. What do you consider "decompression" in overdrive pedals?
Sounds like an fancy term for "EQ" - not sure now the ODR-C is going about it, perhaps scooping more mids out to give it a "wider" sound. Sometimes adding in more dry signal can have this effect too.
@@VertexEffectsInc Decompression control is suppose to change the compression and headroom of the overdrive pedal. I'm not really sure what decompression means or what is considered decompression in overdrive pedals
Wrong. Boring pedal suggestion, does nothing to excite new players and get them invested in guitar playing. Maybe a zoom multi-stomp, shit tons of sounds and will help the player understand different effect types, giving them a taste of pedals they can buy down the line.
I started to watch this video but after I saw pedal #1 was a wah wah I skipped ahead to see what was #2. If this video was aimed at beginners then I think #1 should be a tuner. I hate watching a you tube video of someone demonstrating a pedal or guitar and they’re out out tune. I may be a little picky but tune up first then show the product.
We're presuming that you're likely at least going to have a clip on tuner if you're new to guitar or pedals. The focus was more on "effects" and less on the obvious nuts and bolts of the mechanics of playing the guitar and tuning it.
We are starting to offer customer services however I am not the one that builds them from one of our certified technicians does it, if you’re interested you can email is info@therigdr.com
I've been playing for over 40 years. Seeing the "starter pedals" videos on RU-vid makes me glad RU-vid wasn't around when I started. What you need depends on what you already have and what you want. Most players want some distortion first. Some are ok with their amp's OD chanel, and some will want an OD/distortion/fuzz/metal pedal. EQ for better control of your sound is one that most players overlook. Then some echo or delay is often desired next. Noise gates and compression cut your very soft and very loud signals - limiting your dynamics and expression. Then comes FX like wah, chorus, flange, phaser, etc.
Agree. This is hardly a “beginner” setup. Been playing since the 90s- overdrive/distortion of some sort- maybe reverb- consider a wah wah once you are intermediate. Everything else is just noise!😅
Haven't played in bands for years. Never really connected with comps. Just not my thing. Broad spectrum of sounds styles. Just play for my mind sake anymore
Pretty much exactly what I expected you don’t need a comp for your situation Definitely a tool rather than a sound unless it’s some chicken pickin type strummery
Pretty much exactly what I expected you don’t need a comp for your situation Definitely a tool rather than a sound unless it’s some chicken pickin type strummery
If all you viewers picked the same top 5 we would all sound the same. I don’t want to sound like you, and you don’t want to sound like me. Maybe you can learn something from another player instead of thinking you know it all, cause I got news for you, there’s always someone wayyy better than you, and they don’t even need 1 pedal.
