Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeff 'Bones' Reilly on July 30, 2017 at 5:04pm

If I can't seem to build my own I'd get a CB Gitty one I saw Shane stomping on one in a video .

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on July 31, 2017 at 9:02am

Over the years, the effects I've used most have been: Distortion, Reverb, Chorus, Delay and Tremolo/Flanger.

Sometimes you can get an amp with some of these and cut down what you need. Not everyone has the same likes/needs for effects.

Multi-effect pedals. Some are better than others and those usually cost more.

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Permalink Reply by Blues Frog on August 2, 2017 at 10:09am

I've tried Distortion, Reverb and a Wah Pedal. Also bought a sampler just to mess around with.

Distortion can add some crunch to your sound, but so can an amp with Gain control. I have an old Marshall Lead 12 amp and the Gain is up about 3/4 full and it really adds to the sound. 

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Permalink Reply by bigmcgiv on August 2, 2017 at 10:24am

Cool. I think I have a distortion pedal. Got to hunt for it. I hate moving.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on August 2, 2017 at 7:45pm

The Psycho Knob that CBGitty sells is a good effect to get and doesn't cost much. Put one together with one of their inexpensive preamps with EQ, and you can get a lot of different tones with a boost in volume too. 

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on August 2, 2017 at 7:48pm

If you like to build your own pedals and tool around with electronics, Check out Runoffgroove.com. They have a bunch of pedal effect schematics and layouts to make your own. They also have a Ruby chip amp that sounds great.

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Permalink Reply by bigmcgiv on August 3, 2017 at 6:55am

cool I will have to check it out.

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on August 4, 2017 at 4:27am

If I could only get one? If I was being cheap, I would get a Digitech. RP-55's are less than $50 on Craigslist. The older RPS-255 is USB programmable, built in WAH pedal, etc. and does lots of fun things... these may not be concert worthy, but do a lot of different effects...

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Permalink Reply by Sean on August 4, 2017 at 9:01am

What kind of sound are you looking for BigMcGiv? Personally, I'd choose a fuzz or overdrive pedal. But I like a lot of volume pot controlled fuzz mayhem. If you're looking to cover a lot of sounds, or explore what different FX do, then the multi-FX units are great.

Fuzz, overdrive, reverb, echo-delay, and tremolo are probably the most common for blues. Hard clipping distortion will kill off your playing dynamics.

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