The ultimate effects thread

[funk generator]

The purpose of this thread is to post what effect pedals you use, what you use them for, and what they do.
This is for people like me who know absolutely nothing about effect pedals, but want to learn and make a pedal board of their very own.

Please post pics of your boards for showing off purposes.

I'm not sure if this has been done or not, but I did not find anything like it in the search. If I missed something please point me in that direction.

[DeltaPhoenix]

PYPB XXXIII - Effects are STOOPID

This should get you started

[MSUsousaphone]

The thing that I did way back when I was totally at a loss with pedals, and the way I would do it all over again, was I bought a Multi-Effects unit. People cringe at that because they tend not to sound as good as individual pedals, but it's THE cheapest and easiest way through this journey. Eventually, I got a slightly more expensive Multi-Effects Processor (the Boss GT-10B) which I felt compared sound for sound to some of the more basic individual pedals. This got me through a few years....it sounded good enough to play locally in a band, get lots of local praise for my sound, and allowed me to know what sounds I liked and what I wanted to avoid.

Recently, my band started doing regional stuff and we're talking about getting a pro recording thing going...so I'm making the leap to higher end individual pedals. I now know that all I need is a nice overdrive, fuzz, chorus/flanger, and possibly a compressor and I'm good to go....and that Synth, Delay, and other stuff like that I don't like and would never use...

So...long story still long, my opinion is go with the Multi Effects unit. Play around with it. Learn what you like. Then go individual pedals. There is no way you will find what you like just by reading what other people use and why they use them. That road will cost you thousands of dollars...as opposed to a slightly lower thousands of dollars...

[bongomania]

^^^ Good advice in both of the above posts. Also, this entire forum is what you described as the purpose of this thread, so really--just read the forum. And I don't mean read the first five threads and then give up, I mean keep reading.

[Fitz]

Pointless thread is pointless. You're trying too hard.

[TheMutt]

Definitely give this entire section of the forums a read-through, and search for different effect types (e.g. chorus, overdrive, envelope filter, etc) to see what is generally out there. Check out people's boards on the Post your pedalboard threads to see what other people are using, how they are using it, and how they have their signal chains set up (to give yourself a very good idea of how to setup your own pedalboard). Then narrow down your search in a given effect type by looking at what is available/affordable for you to purchase (start looking at brands and features of different effects under one type). Listen to some sound clips of the effect(s) in question. TalkBass is an excellent site to do that, as well as Youtube, Bassfuzz.com, and other sites out there. If you can, definitely try out the effects that you want to purchase in stores local to your area. If possible, use gear in the store that is similar to what you own, or better than that bring in your own gear for testing.

Other than that, I'll definitely echo the recommendation for trying out a multi-effect pedal. It really is the cheapest way to get your feet wet in effects. Find out what effect types work for you, and what don't, and ultimately decide whether to keep using effects and upgrade to single stomp boxes or a better multi down the road, or to stop using effects and not have invested too much money into it.