Your Essential Effect Types...

Wow, this is a wide subject. Context is everything - someone who plays original music and is really looking to create new sounds might need a pedalboard that only fits in a cargo hold. I personally make a living playing cover tunes, so I will offer my "must haves" from that perspective.

First, 2-3 OD pedals, preferably of different flavors. Between manipulating the knobs and stacking, you should be able to achieve a very wide variety of tones, from cleanish tones with bite to full-blown, high-gain madness.

Second comes modulation. I like to have available chorus, flanging, phase shifting and a nice wah. This will cover all the bases pretty much. If a song calls for a univibe, a nice phase shifter can get you very close - if you need a leslie effect, a flanger or chorus pedal can get you close, etc.

Next comes compression - I will admit I tried to avoid this type of effect, but it is so widely used, and such an effective tool for achieving certain tones, that I have found it to be a necessary part of my arsenal

Finally, delay and/or reverb. These ambient types of pedals allow me to dot the I's and cross the T's when trying to cop certain songs. I am not a big fan of these types of effects, especially when playing live, but sometimes the thing will not sound right unless you use them.

I do not include any type of effect that makes weird or unusual noises - they might be cool, but for my context, they are out of place. Some examples of this kind of effect might be a Theramin or Talk Box. Cool, but not really necessary.

 

Hi,

With spring reverb and tremolo in my amp I'd get along with just an OD and a delay.
Then I'd like to have phaser and wah as well and maybe a second dirtpedal.

Unusable effects for me:
chorus - just sounds cheesy 80s metalballads to me, (unless I want cheesy)
flanger

hard for me to use but sounds great
fuzz
autofilters

/c

 

chorus, delay, reverb-/ Phrase shifter-vibe type pedal-/3 o/d's of various colors and e/q's-/1 distortion-/1 Fuzz-/1 boost pedal-/tuner-/compresser-/volume pedal and wah. thats it for me

 

OD, Fuzz and Delay for me

 

For me (and I'm a very 'non rock' player!), the following:

Always On:
Volume Pedal - immensely handy and expressive, and frees a hand for better use!
Tone Press (compression with audible compression - better tone and greater sustain)
Clean boost (Hao Rust Booster - which I deliberately use for a fatter/warmer tone as much as for boost)/Snarling Dogs Very Tone (10 tone presets, but generally on "Bypass" as a very transparent clean boost or "E" for a full range boost)
BBE Sonic Stomp - clarity and focus
Noise Gate
(last two used in the FX loop on the amp)

Used frequently:
Boss Digital Dimension (DC3) - used sparingly for a touch of shimmer (rate at minimum, depth at noon)

For colour:
Tremolo (an old TR2 that I want to upgrade) - again, depth generally fairly shallow
Line 6 Verbzilla - the Octo patch, mix fairly low to add a certain something to lead lines (would love to experiment with a HOG for similar effect but greater control of frequencies and attack/decay of them - comments very welcome!)
Guyatone SV2 (SlowGear clone)/OD (an old Boss OS-2), both set up via a Morley FX Blender - allows me to have a clean tone for initial attack with the OD fading in as the note sustains, or for a subtle 'violin' effect (here I'd love to experiment with an Enveloope, but would miss the controllability of the Morley)
Rotary (using a Line 6, but not liking it, its tone sucking, or its noise floor!)
Delay (Wasabi Forward/Reverse Delay - very good pedal, and rarely mentioned)

Recently tried a Diamond Halo Chorus (to replace a Boss CH1 currently connected via the Morley), and loved the Phase Mix element, but didn't otherwise like the pedal much (too subtle!).

 

For me personally:

MUST HAVE:
+ Volume Pedal - i live on these things
+ Wah - its amazing how much you can do with one of these (i once did a complete gig on just Tele > 535q > Amp, and i must say it really forces creativity out of you)
+ Delay - it fattens, it layers...again, i live on these

DEFINTELY GOOD TO HAVE:
+ Overdrive/Distortion - 2 to 3 of these are enough, ranging from "lite" to "drop your pants"
+ Chorus - great for colouring in, where there is a lack of ambience (keyboards)

USEABLE, BUT NOT NECESSARY:
+ Phaser - nice for ambience, but ain't my bread and butter
+ Tremolo - for party tricks IMO
+ Boost - either to goose up your dirt (pre-drives) or to get a bit more 'in your face' (post-drives)
+ Loop Sampler - enough said

I DON'T QUITE 'GET' THEM:
+ Compression
+ Fuzz
+ EQ
+ Octaver

 

Simply, Fuzz, OD & Delay for me. Maybe the occasional Wah to keep things interesting.

I no longer use Trem, Chorus, or Phase.

 

For the last 15 years, my essential effects have been a wah and a vibe. Those two pedals combined with a 2 channel amp and a good guitar keep me pretty happy!

:AOK

 

"ranging from "lite" to "drop your pants"

hah!

I use delay, comp, and od constantly. I've noticed that I'm turning the gain down on my od's gradually as weeks go by.

 

essential would be fuzz, overdrive, and delay. maybe a phaser as well.
i pretty much have at least one of every effect though just 'cause.

 

I can't stand chorus or volume pedals. I'll give everything else a go.

 

er....everything.
make that 3 of everything otherwise I wouldn't be on TGP......

I'm still a cable guy for blues gigs though.

 

Essential? Probably just overdrive/distortion and delay. But this is coming from a guy who has very little experience with anything else. I've built up my collection so I can really get a feel for fuzzes and other modulation effects.

 

For me, the essentials are:

Wah
Delay
​

The next level up would be (allowing me to cover more songs):

Wah
Delay
Fuzz
Vibe
​

Then this would cover all I need (for most songs):

Wah
Delay
Fuzz
Octave fuzz
various dirt pedals
Phaser
Flanger
Compressor

​

The extras that I have in a rack or access to, but use rarely:

Tremolo
Auto wah / filters
Outboard reverbs
Talk box
Volume

​

 

I play hard rock. Essential for me:

Wah, OD, TUNER!!!

Not a "Must have" but really enjoy using are:

Delay, chorus

Would like to try out:

Tremolo pedal, maybe a flanger or something as well...

 

simple...
compression, wah, overdrive, distortion, chorus, tremolo, vibrato, flanger, phaser, delay, octavia, accoustic simulator, auto-way, and reverb...the barest of essentials!

 

bare bones is:

OD
chorus
delay

 

Essential:
Distortion--many levels of dirt when combined with guitar volume knob
Delay--I often need to sound like a keyboard, and delay gives a lot of options for that, especially with modulation.

On the fence:
Chorus--I occasionally play songs where a thick chorus is necessary to put the song over the top. Usually I can do without.
Wah--I recently stopped using it.
Tremolo--It takes up a lot of space for a sound I rarely need.
Volume--I never had one until I started using a POD XT. It is great for swells with full chords, but I have gone back to using the guitar volume and just single note swells.
Fuzz--I like it, but can't justify the extra spot usually.

No thanks:
Flanger--It makes me want to throw up
Phaser--To me, it's like a chorus that never grew up.

 

Essential:

Various degrees of Overdrive:
--Mild (ie, Timmy)
--Moderate (ie, Eternity)
--High (ie, Crunch Box, Dyna Red, etc)

Compressor:
--Barber Tone Press (the compressor for those who hate compressors. won't kill your attack.)

Delay:
--Good to have short and long

Clean Boost:
--for solos obviously

Helpful:

--Wah (I only use it probably 10% of the time)
--Phaser (they're fun, what can I say?)
--Fuzz (anger management in a pedal)
--Tremelo (some nice variety for soft passages)
--Reverb (If you have a good delay, you don't necessarily need one)

I never use:

--Chorus (Its annoying, IMO)
--Flanger (Also semi annoying, unless you're playing RATM)
--Rotary (I've never had the opportunity to use one)
--Pitch Shift (I just can't picture ever needing this)

Of course it all depends on the type of music you play.