The Ugly Guide To Buying Your First Guitar Pedal

Let me start by saying that the previous post about "Your First Guitar Pedal" was just awful, and not very helpful at all. Having said that, lets try it again...


So there you are, standing in the store or, more likely, looking at a website. Let's do this: find the guitar effect page, then select the box that sorts everything in order of cheap to not-cheap. Now we should be looking at some very reasonably priced items. The first pedals you might see are some by Danelectro. There are some of these pedals that are diamonds in the rough, however we are going to move past most of these because of their durability. They are affordable, but they are made from plastic and won't stand up to much rough housing. For the same reason, we are going to skip past the Behringer pedals. These aren't bad choices, but I'd prefer to have a pedal that I can grow into rather one that I'll quickly out grow.


Now we are up to pedals that cost right at $50. This gives you a lot of options. There is a pedal that you are going to want to buy. It is a Boss Distortion. It is Orange. Do not buy this pedal. For some reason, every guitarist wants to buy this pedal. I bought one. Everyone who has played pedals has been temped to pick up one of these pedal. resist that urge. Put. The pedal. Down. So you have a choice to make, but don't worry, I'll help you. There are four pedals: Boss SD-1, TC Mojomojo, TC Dark Matter, DOD 250* (*currently at $50, but I've seen it at $99 when not on "sale", but it can be regularly found for $50 new) All of these pedals are very solid, but you have to know what you are looking for. These are all overdrive/distortion pedals. So decide how much grit you want and pick your pedal. Just want a little grit? DOD 250. Little more? SD-1 or the Mojomojo (the mojo has bass and treble control, the SD-1 has a more classic sound) The Dark Matter is a flexible distortion that punches about it's price tag.


But wait, what about BandX pedal that cost (<50 and="" best="" bread="" distortion="" it="" overdrive="" s="" says="" since="" sliced="" strong="" the="">


Most of the pedals that fit into that statement above have a few things going against it. Modtone, Outlaw, and many others aren't going to offer the type of support that the larger established makers can. It's important that your first experience with effects be a smooth one, otherwise you might get a bad impression due to a bad QC or customer support. Boss (Roland), TC Electronic, and DOD (Digitech/Harman) are going to stand behind their product and offer warranties.


What about this one guy that makes a pedal that's the greatest thing since sliced bread?


 Again, there are reasons why your first pedal shouldn't be one that fits into the previous statement. Not to say that boutique pedals, I like them. The main thing that deters me from recommending these pedal is the price. Many people just getting into effect don't want to invest more than they have to. Also, there are so many builders and sometimes their products can be a little cryptic. You might want to buy a light overdrive and end up with a over the top fuzz pedal. It might be exciting to buy from a boutique builder, but when it's your first go-round, then you should get your feet wet before jumping into the deep end.


Should I only buy Boss/TC/DOD pedals, of course not. But these are good pedals to get your start. It is a new experience to have the capability to adjust your tone without taking you hands off the guitar. These are great pedals that can serve as a great jumping off point for anyone looking into guitar effect pedals.

Ugly Truth: Buying Your First Guitar Effect Pedal (Distortion)

Congratulations. You have discovered guitar effect pedals. But what should your first one be? There are so many choices. If you go to Musician's Buddy web store and check out the first page of effect pedals you'll see over a thousand different products. That's not even all the options out there. Most boutique and custom pedals are available only from the builders directly. But lucky for us, there are some simply categories that we can break these down into. We'll talk about what typically is someones first pedal purchase:

Overdrive/Distortion/Fuzz

This group of pedals range from pedals that are designed to boost your amp into a naturally broken up (distorted) sound to those that are heavily saturated, over-the-top type sound. These pedals are used by nearly all guitarist. Some pedals are famously associated with iconic guitarist. Stevie Ray Vaughn famously used the Ibanez Tube Screamer, Jimi Hendrex used Fuzz Face pedals. Some pedals even include artist's editions with the guitarist name actually on the pedal. Distortions sit somewhere in the middle of Overdrive and Fuzz. They tend to add a distinct voice and ample gain to your signal. There are many of all these type of pedals. It is important to try many of these pedals and to find what suits you and helps you find the sound you want to make.

What you should try first:

EHX Soul Food, Ibanez TS9, MXR Super Badass, Proco Rat, EHX Big Muff, Dunlop Fuzz Face

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