Effects pedal needed ?

[RobWard]

effects pedal ? but which one ? I am about to start using my electric guitar again after a year break or so, and am wanting to get the right sound threw an effects pedal, but which one I have no idia, as there are so many, so I am hoping someone can help me out here, first of all the sound i am looking for is a clean sound, with just a tad of echo/reverb, but it must also have a good tone to hear that drive. and when I want to play lead, I want a crackiling crunching blues sound. nothing to heavy. just a little fuzz but not to much that it sounds like something out of the 70's.. I am trying to think of other guitarist as I am typing this up, to give you more of an idia, and all thats coming to mind, is the sound of the lead on the song Road To Hell-Chris Rea.

any help would be much appreciated, cheers

[Trelloskilos]

Hi Rob - Welcome to the forum

I would like to say to get pedal X, or pedal Y and that will be what you are after, but ultimately, it will be a case of you just trying out a few pedals yourself. - The thing is that it's not strictly a case that there is one pedal on the market that you can plug in & it will give you exactly what you need. You will probably need one pedal to give you a bit of reverb/delay, and another to give you your bluesy crunch.

Mind you, before you think about whether to invest in a pedal, you should ask yourself if you really need one. Take a good look at your amp. Maybe your amp is capable of doing the job perfectly well if you tweak a few settings. Maybe trying out different pickup switch positions on the guitar, or rolling the tone pot may give you a better tone. Those are things you can do for free, and already get a huge range of tones.

Another possibility is to maybe consider a multi-FX unit. There are some very good ones out there for all budgets. Getting one of those will allow you to experiment with a whole range of sounds and tones. You may find exactly what you're looking for, or you may come across something new. However, it can be a bit overwhelming, and sometimes, it's difficult to focus on getting your own tone.

If you still want to get an effects pedal, my personal recommendation is to look for a decent Overdrive pedal for the blues crunch, and maybe a delay pedal for the reverb (Your amp should be able to provide a little reverb already, but a delay pedal with low settings can make the reverb sound more natural, in my opinion)

Finally, and this is important - Aiming for a tone based on a tone you hear in a song is always good. Trying to replicate that tone perfectly is always not good. Get a tone that sounds right & good to you, and don't be dissatisfied if it doesn't sound exactly like Chris Rea's. If it sounds good to you, and feels good to you, then don't mes with it.

[Nik Harrison]

Hi Rob - Welcome to the forum

I would like to say to get pedal X, or pedal Y and that will be what you are after, but ultimately, it will be a case of you just trying out a few pedals yourself. - The thing is that it's not strictly a case that there is one pedal on the market that you can plug in & it will give you exactly what you need. You will probably need one pedal to give you a bit of reverb/delay, and another to give you your bluesy crunch.

Mind you, before you think about whether to invest in a pedal, you should ask yourself if you really need one. Take a good look at your amp. Maybe your amp is capable of doing the job perfectly well if you tweak a few settings. Maybe trying out different pickup switch positions on the guitar, or rolling the tone pot may give you a better tone. Those are things you can do for free, and already get a huge range of tones.

Another possibility is to maybe consider a multi-FX unit. There are some very good ones out there for all budgets. Getting one of those will allow you to experiment with a whole range of sounds and tones. You may find exactly what you're looking for, or you may come across something new. However, it can be a bit overwhelming, and sometimes, it's difficult to focus on getting your own tone.

If you still want to get an effects pedal, my personal recommendation is to look for a decent Overdrive pedal for the blues crunch, and maybe a delay pedal for the reverb (Your amp should be able to provide a little reverb already, but a delay pedal with low settings can make the reverb sound more natural, in my opinion)

Finally, and this is important - Aiming for a tone based on a tone you hear in a song is always good. Trying to replicate that tone perfectly is always not good. Get a tone that sounds right & good to you, and don't be dissatisfied if it doesn't sound exactly like Chris Rea's. If it sounds good to you, and feels good to you, then don't mes with it.

+1

What I'll add here though is a common situation which can influence people buying shiny new stuff. Do you want some FX stuff as tools or toys? Neither purchase decision is bad. If you're after something to experiment and "play with" independent from playing the guitar, then a multi FX unit would probably be better. If you want a specific effect to enhance your tone, then you are buying "tools". Knowing what you want can help you spend your money the best way to ensure you end up with what you want.

[RobWard]

Thanks for the feedback guys, its very much apprecited, all i gotta do now is find a music shop where they dont hound you for a sale as soon as you tell them you wanna try out a few effects pedals lol

[Trelloskilos]

Thanks for the feedback guys, its very much apprecited, all i gotta do now is find a music shop where they dont hound you for a sale as soon as you tell them you wanna try out a few effects pedals lol

No probs, Rob.

Just another thing based on your last comment. Don't be shy about going in and sticking to exactly what you are looking for. I'm pretty sure there are several music shops in Manchester, and if one of them seems too sales-heavy, or snooty, walk out and try another.

Believe it or not, there are music shops that exist where they don't sneer at other peoples levels of expertise, where they don't assume you want the biggest, baddest & most expensive thing, and where they actually want to sell you the right thing for the right price. - Like the pedals, however, it is a matter of searching.... :wink:

[RobWard]

yeah I am sure somewhere in Manchester there should be shop happy to help and not just sell, I have been to America a couple of time, and visited two music shops, there approach was much different, well to be honest I had both sides of the coin from both shops, one small music shop in Florida was very friendly, as soon as I walked in, it was like a shack of the hand with a big Hi, and then they asked my name, I was like I have never been in store before and someones asked me my name, lol, then this sales assistant kid was following me around, saying " you like that Rob ?" you wanna try this out Rob ? etc etc.. got kind of freaky after 20minutes lol, all I wanted was a desktop mic stand so no big sales commision for him that day lol
The other store I went in was Musicians Friend, Universal Avenue Kansas City, now this place was Huge, it was like 5 asda's all knocked together, I should of took a pack lunch looking back now lol.. but the service there was terrible, I knew just what I wanted a sure pg58 microphone and some leads, oh and also I got an Alesis Mixer that I use to record. it took three assistants to sort me out, one was at the desk looking up on the computer for my items, then he dissapeared, and another took over, then he dissapeared and then another took over, I was gettign kind of pissed to be honest with there attitude, I was like, Dont you want my money or what!
I guess its just swings and roundabouts as they say, but when Ive got the money and I know what I want, theres never any useful help, but when I dont have the money and im not sure what I want, they fall over backwards to get a sale lol, typical sods law lol