First effect I should get?

hi, it's me again.

what do you guys recommend for a first pedal/effect for a budding electric guitar worship team member? overdrive? delay? something else?

right now, i have just my tele and an amp. oh, and a tuner. i did a search in all the forums, and the sentiment there was to go for an overdrive pedal, but i don't know if that's true or useful if i'm going to be playing for worship, as opposed to, say, heavy metal. my church plays a lot of hillsong united and chris tomlin, if that helps.

thanks!

Laundromatt:
Pedals are such a personal thing. I play lead at a large church (5 weekend services) and we do a lot of Chris Tomlin, Hillsong, etc. From my experience I would recomend in order of importance:

1.) Boss TU-2 Tuner (I know you already have a tuner. This is bullet proof and fast for stage work).

2.) Fulltone OCD (Superb Overdrive and light distortion)

3.) Fulltone Distortion Pro (or distortion of your liking)

4.) Fulltone Fat Boost

5.) Ernie Ball 6166 Volume Pedal.

6.) Delay pedal--your choice (Boss DD-3?).

You could get by with just the Boss Tuner and Fulltone OCD for a long time and do well. I just like to have a little more diversity.

I'm not pushing Fulltone, it's just that I've tried a lot of pedals and we play a lot of services and they have proven stage worthy and are built with reliability and quality.

You might also consider a good chorus, but frankly I believe they are used way too much. Hope this helps.

What amp are you using? Does it have onboard reverb?
I would suggest, that if it does, go get a good compressor, and a distortion or overdrive unit and grow from there. You should be able to cover most of the material with this set-up. As time goes on you might want to add a delay. But right now focus on the comp and drive.

One more thing. I don't know if you read Guitar Player, but you may have a

buddy with it, or whatever. In the December issue there is a head to head

comparison of 12 different models of new distortion and overdrive pedals. It

might be worth a quick read.

What amp are you using? Does it have onboard reverb?

Important question. I NEEEEED a touch of reverb. I've played in church bands for a few years. I don't use much distortion (usually just a bit of overdrive I can dial in on my amp). I've had luck with VERY modest use of modulation effects, like Chorus, Phaser or Flanger. Just a hint of Flange makes my day! The key is to not overdo it.

You're right Aunchaki, a little bit goes a long way,,,
A guitar, amp, tuner, a touch or reverb and a OCD box (Obsesive Compulsive Drive) will really be all you need. Learning to use those well is enough to keep most of us busy without adding the layers of tonal crap, chorus, flangers, and all that other stuff. The OCD is easy to use, very versitlie, and can add a lot of demension to your sound even though it's just a small box. For a first pedal this is a huge addition,, they're running around $165.00 - $180.00

I'd get a delay. You can do a lot with them to alter your sound and you'll get good sound effecting bang for your buck if you will. They can be a lot of fun! And very versatile. Maybe start with a Boss DDx or the Digitech Digidelay.

Otherwise a good overdrive (depending on your amp). I'd recommend a Barber Direct Drive as certainly a great place to start for overdrive. It does Tube Screamer plus a whole lot more besides. Or a Bad Monkey, people seem to rave about them and they're cheap but good.

Wah wahs are a radically effecting effect - and again a lot of fun.

Funnily enough as I got more experienced with pedals I found the ones that initially (well, when I first started out with effects anyway... ) appeared to do the least were the ones that had the most merit. Things like compression (especially - my favourite effect), boost, and mild delays.

If you have an amp that is switchable in channels/boost,and has reverb,I would get a good chorus.

It just occurred to me that I didn't even know about the OCD until
Trimmed and Burnin' recommended one to me! (Thanks Shannon!).

What he said about your question is absolute the truth. Less is more, but at least....get a Fulltone OCD. I'd forget the chorus, delay and flanger stuff for quite a while, if not for good.

For a Tele...

1. Tuner.
2. On-board reverb.
3. Bad Bob booster.

I suggest checking out a BBE Sonic Stomp, but it's not an effects pedal or effects generator as much as it's an item that has a nice effect on all playing. The on and off differences mine make has everything sound like blankets are piled on the amp without it.

I gotta have reverb. Marshall Reflector is pretty good price wise.

Next you gotta have a good overdrive. Theres' lots of them. Price is good for a Bad Monkey. There's alot better, but thats a good place to start.

I'd grab a used Yamaha Magicstomp off eBay. You can find them stupid cheap.

LOTS of effects to play with: compressor, flanger, chorus, overdrives, fuzzes, on and on and on.

Oh, and the reverbs and delays are absolutely first-rate.

I'll give my two cents too. Like most guys here, I like some reverb, but most amps have that built in (in some manner, digital or otherwise). I was in your position about 2 years ago. I had bought a Tele and a VOX Valvetronix. I had 2 channels, and reverb effects. I still went out to look for an Overdrive though, and I'm glad I did. I started with a Blues Driver, but got a Bad Monkey soon after and still use both of them. Good luck in your search!

A half decent overdrive is a great starting point, with a delay soon to follow IMO.

You mention Hillsong United... about 75% of the songs we play are Hillsong or Hillsong United. You can find pics of their rigs fairly easy. All the guitar players of United have at least one and sometimes 2 tubescreamers on their pedalboard. I've used a modded Boss SD-1 for a while and now used a Fulldrive.
For the delay sounds a Boss DD-5 or DD-20 will cover just about everything.

thanks everyone for the suggestions. i have some follow up info/questions.

right now i'm practicing at home on a vox pathfinder 10, no reverb. it has a "clean" mode and an "overdrive" mode (which seems to be just the clean mode but louder). the amp at church doesn't have reverb either.

after seeing the recommendations, i looked into the fulltone ocd for overdrive. everything i've read says that it's good, but is it ~$100 better than a boss overdrive unit or a bad monkey?

thanks!

thanks everyone for the suggestions. i have some follow up info/questions.

right now i'm practicing at home on a vox pathfinder 10, no reverb. it has a "clean" mode and an "overdrive" mode (which seems to be just the clean mode but louder). the amp at church doesn't have reverb either.

after seeing the recommendations, i looked into the fulltone ocd for overdrive. everything i've read says that it's good, but is it ~$100 better than a boss overdrive unit or a bad monkey?

thanks!

I think the OCD is worth every cent,,,

IMO chorus is the way to go.

I agree with Pickalittle and Dillon the tuner is number 1. Other things in my opinion more important than a bunch of effects are:

1. ready on time with all the music
2. ability to listen, i.e., fit with the group
3. don't over play.
4. remember you are not the only one there (also I doubt that anybody except your mom and girlfriend are there to see you).
5. Ability to discern whether the effect works with the song and arrangement.

I have been the primary guitarist (elec and acoustic) in a PW group for about ten years. I am still waiting for No. 1. to be fulfilled. Usally the other guitarist show up late, no music, and no tuner.

thanks everyone for the suggestions. i have some follow up info/questions.

right now i'm practicing at home on a vox pathfinder 10, no reverb. it has a "clean" mode and an "overdrive" mode (which seems to be just the clean mode but louder). the amp at church doesn't have reverb either.

after seeing the recommendations, i looked into the fulltone ocd for overdrive. everything i've read says that it's good, but is it ~$100 better than a boss overdrive unit or a bad monkey?

thanks!
Since the amp you practice on at home has overdrive, but no reverb, and the amp you play through at church doesn't have it either, i would go with a good reverb pedal. I also have an amp with no reverb, and I like to use an electro-harmonix holygrail reverb pedal.

I'm faced with a similar issue at our church, I plug directly into the system and the sound of my guitar is quite sterile that way.

I bought a DigiTech RP250 guitar modeling processor.
It does a great many things with numerous distortion models to choose from as well as numerous reverb and chorus and flange effects. In addition you can select different amp and cabinet models.

This has given me much greater tonal range than I would have with specific individual pedals and only takes up an 8x8 inch space on the floor in front of me.

Other features that I like include the ability to plug in my MP3 player and headphones so that I can practice without waking up the kids. The USB connection allows me to connect it to my laptop and to record tracks using Audacity. Great fun.

Something to consider.

If you're not using multi-effects; Overdrive and Delay. Hillsong uses a lot of overdrive and delay. United tend to go a bit heavier.

I have a modded Boss DS-1 (rectifier, tri-gain) and SD-1 (TS-808, dual-gain) on my board. I don't need any other gain pedals nowadays.

If you can get a good overdriven tone from your amp, then I'd say definitely a delay pedal. If you get one with multiple settings, "echo" or "analog" usually will have the highs dampened on the repeats, which helps the repeats to blend into the background better. Use it well and it will really fill out your sound a lot.

With your amp, try turning the "gain" up on the overdrive mode and turning the "volume" down. Don't be afraid to turn the gain all the way up. This should get you an overdriven tone, but it looks like your amp probably doesn't have the controls to get balanced levels on overdriven and clean.


With the kind of budget you're on, I have another suggestion: a multifx pedal. I know some guys will chime in saying that they don't sound as good as regular stomp boxes, but a $100 mfx can get you emulations of several overdrive pedals, as well as delays and chorus and such. Mfx units also have tuners onboard. As far as bang/buck goes, it's really hard to beat a mfx, and, nowadays, the tone really isn't all that bad. As someone using a 10 watt SS amp, I doubt you'd be in a position to appreciate whatever subtle tonal advantages analog stomps may have.

I'd recommend a Digitech RP90 (http://www.digitech.com/products/RP90/features.php). It looks like a good option for around $100. It's got enough amp and stompbox models to give you some options, but not enough to bury you.

Another cool thing about a MFX pedal is it can help you get a feel for what kind of gear you need to get the sounds you're looking for. The fact is that with amps and pedals and all that, there is a HUGE amount of subjectivity in evaluating them. There isn't very much "better" or "worse," but mostly just "different." Plus, a mfx lets you try out a lot of different stuff without having to go buy more gear.

Honestly, for the amount of money it would cost to get a good OD pedal, a delay, a tuner, and maybe another pedal or two, you would have been a good ways towards getting a decent amp. If I were in your shoes, I'd pick up a mfx pedal and save money for a nicer amp. You didn't say what your church's amp is, but I'm going to guess that it's probably not all that great if it doesn't even have reverb (yes, I know there are some good amps that don't have reverb, but I doubt his church has one of them).

If you are playing in a church , perhaps consider the ' Holy Grail ' :lol:

if you play a tele and a fender tube amp you got to get a boss compressior cs2 or cs3

Its funny I read this post just now, I've been playing for two years acoustically at my church and I just bought my first tele (MIM standard) and am very exited to use it. First practice is tonight. I have a friend whose very respected for playing guitar and floats around alot of churches because he just quit his so he's seen alot and he told me to get a delay and then and overdrive. I already have a good amount of distortion from my AC15 and reverb, and I bought the TU-2 along time ago. But this weekend is my first and even though I've been playing acoustic with a little bit of chorus effect for awhile I'm still nervous on making a switch. My church hasn't been doing contemporary worship for a long time (two years lol) but the electric my turn some heads.

Good luck playing electric in Church. Make it sound Beautiful and you'll be okay. :cool:
be careful about using a delay pedal into a amps overdrive...it distorts the delay weirdly sometimes. Usually you have to have an overdrive pedal into a delay pedal then into your amp. (you probably already know this, but just in case).

Right now, I'm either using my Guyatone compressor or Hartman Compressor(orange squeezer) The hartman is winning more and more.
I'm getting interested in Fullton products, the OCD drive and Fat Boost, also envelope filters. Right now, don't want to overdo it, my fellow guitarist uses a digital delay either a Behringer or a Boss DD1,(he says he likes the behringer better), am not going to argue with him, he's 78 and played in country bands his whole life. He has 4 electrics, a Tele, 2 les Pauls (1 $4000 model) and a Hagstrom electric
Jim

After reading my original posts, and thinking about it, I would just get the Fulltone OCD and be done with it!

I did 5 sets (services) on Saturday/Sunday. Some "righteous" rock, a couple of precious hymns and some inbetween.

My OCD set at: Vol=9 o'clock, Distortion=10 o'clock, Tone=12 o'clock.
A touch of reverb (set at 3 out of 10) out of my Music Man 112 Sixty Five
('70's vintage amp).

I did it all with just that pedal. Well o.k. I did use my Vox wah for the exit song lead as people left, but I do not recommend a wah for most situations (usually w-a-a-a-y over used, much like chorus).

I would much rather hear a musician who can play his/her guitar really well with just one effect than a slew of them with no sense of tonality or musical balance. You don't need compressors, wahs, flangers and choruses to make heavenly music unto the Lord!

It's mostly in the fingers anyway, my dear bro!

hi all,

thanks everyone for all your responses. it really helped a lot.

i thought i'd come back with some of my own thoughts so that it can help other newbies out there.

after hearing all the recommendations, i ended up getting an ocd. so far, i like it a lot. i think it's better with the drive setting on the low side, to add some color to the sound. someone on the thread mentioned that the hillsong people use tube screamers... at least from what i can tell, the ocd doesn't exactly "do" that kind of sound, no matter how much i mess around with the knobs. i may have to get a tube screamer or a bad monkey to see what that sounds like, and if it is different.

i also had a boss dd-3 fall into my lap (at a great price), so i've been fiddling around with that. to be perfectly honest, i have no idea how to use this thing. i did a search on this forum, and got some settings from people, but i still need some time to figure it out. it seems like if you use a longer feedback setting, your tone sounds more and more airy/spacy... i don't like that, but maybe that's just how it's supposed to be? any suggestions on this are welcome.

one other thing - are there pedals that help you when you play more rhythm, as opposed to lead? on the "essential pedals" thread in the stomp box forum, a lot of people mention having a compression pedal - does that help you with both lead and rhythm playing?

thanks!
matt

I've never used compression. And probably never will. If you play loud enough your speakers naturally compress, and so do Tubes & overdrive pedals & microphones.
But if you play quiet (in a church) a compresser may even out your tone. Sometimes it squishes the dynamics out of it.

I tried an OCD for awhile. great overdrive & low-end. It was missing some needed Midrange for a great Solo tone. Bad Monkey would help in this department. A good lead sound is usually all about the Midrange blooming. Were as the less mid & overdrive the better you can strum (sometimes).

I'm faced with a similar issue at our church, I plug directly into the system and the sound of my guitar is quite sterile that way.

I bought a DigiTech RP250 guitar modeling processor.
It does a great many things with numerous distortion models to choose from as well as numerous reverb and chorus and flange effects. In addition you can select different amp and cabinet models.

This has given me much greater tonal range than I would have with specific individual pedals and only takes up an 8x8 inch space on the floor in front of me.

Other features that I like include the ability to plug in my MP3 player and headphones so that I can practice without waking up the kids. The USB connection allows me to connect it to my laptop and to record tracks using Audacity. Great fun.

Something to consider.

I bought my RP200 a few years ago for $150 @ GC and it turned out to be some of the best $$$ I've spent during the 30 years I've been playing. I did 25 yrs. doing rhythm and singing and started playing lead in our praise band since we had plenty of good rhythm players. The RPs are all quite flexible, are fairly user friendly, and the stock sounds can be edited and stored. They also have a built in tuner, and the headphone jack and 1/8 stereo input for external audio (or MP3 hookup) is INVALUABLE for practicing w/o disturbing the family or neighbors. I have a church issued POD XTL, and I'm still learning how to edit sounds using the POD interface software, but it's kind of intimidating as it's like having an entire music store full of amps and effects. I get some of my best sounds by adjusting/ removing elements from the RP stock effects.

I've had luck with VERY modest use of modulation effects, like Chorus, Phaser or Flanger. Just a hint of Flange makes my day! The key is to not overdo it.

Excelent point made!

"Subtlety" is key with modulating effects.

With delay, I usually find the key is to turn the "mix" level to where your original notes are noticably louder than the delayed notes. However, if you're going for a swell effect, more mix and feedback makes it work better. (Go ahead and try some swells - turn on the delay, turn your guitar volume all the way down, hit some notes, and then pull the volume up.)

dude, od pedal and delay......i recommend the boss dd-7 for delay. and an od by boss, and a boss pedal tuner, thats like a little under 300 bucks (sadly) but for that style of hillsong united and chris tomlin yea that would be almost all you need, cept an AMAZING Tube amp ; )

hi all,

thanks everyone for all your responses. it really helped a lot.

i thought i'd come back with some of my own thoughts so that it can help other newbies out there.

after hearing all the recommendations, i ended up getting an ocd. so far, i like it a lot. i think it's better with the drive setting on the low side, to add some color to the sound. someone on the thread mentioned that the hillsong people use tube screamers... at least from what i can tell, the ocd doesn't exactly "do" that kind of sound, no matter how much i mess around with the knobs. i may have to get a tube screamer or a bad monkey to see what that sounds like, and if it is different.

i also had a boss dd-3 fall into my lap (at a great price), so i've been fiddling around with that. to be perfectly honest, i have no idea how to use this thing. i did a search on this forum, and got some settings from people, but i still need some time to figure it out. it seems like if you use a longer feedback setting, your tone sounds more and more airy/spacy... i don't like that, but maybe that's just how it's supposed to be? any suggestions on this are welcome.

one other thing - are there pedals that help you when you play more rhythm, as opposed to lead? on the "essential pedals" thread in the stomp box forum, a lot of people mention having a compression pedal - does that help you with both lead and rhythm playing?

thanks!
matt
Um with the dd-3 its pretty simple it has tap tempo hold it down turn it on. I think you just need to expiriment, like for dotted 8th settings turn up the effects volume to 2 o clock and the feedback to like 2 or three(preference of player) use the shortest delay mode, and have delay time set to twelve depending on how fast or slow the song is, and use the tap tempo it is VERY helpful!

Hi there,

that's a very good question you have.

I've been playing guitar now for over 10 years, and been with a couple of worship teams over the last 8 years. From my experience playing with a worship team in a live situation, I've come to generalize the world of effects for electric guitar like the player pieces on a chess board.

The Queen:
Delay

Delay is probably the most powerful and versatile effects you can have. With a decent delay pedal you can not only achieve beautiful, ambient sounds but also achieve a plethora of reverb-esque, chorus, and even slight flang/phase-esque type effects. Essentially, a delay can venture into the sounds of other popular effects. For praise and especially worship, delay is a bread and butter effect for many guitarists. It's great for light, sensitive picking during worship. Conversely, back off the delay and throw in an overdrive pedal and you have a nice rocky, Hillsong, Coldplay, sound going on - very inspring.

The Rooks:
Overdrive

Overdrive acts like the Rooks in chess: go in there and dominate. Overdrive denotes a sense of overcoming, power, authority, fervency among other feelings. It also can add beautiful harmonically rich sounds when used conservatively with other effects like delay, chorus, phaser.

Without making this post too long winded, many other effects play out other roles on "chess" board. Effects like Phaser and Flanger can be great for some praise/worship songs.

I have to run - getting ready for church.

Will post some good pedals try for you later.

Best

I'd try and grab a cheap boss ME-50 multi effects

It has pretty much every boss pedal COSM modelled so would be great to learn what you like and go from there..

Check out the demos here

http://www.bosscorp.co.jp/PRODUCTS/EN/ME-50/demos.html

Just one thing I've learned, as you probably know - each church is different and you need to be sensitive to what's "acceptable". I once had the soundman run backstage so he could get to my amp volume knob. He turned it down when I hit the second overdrive pedal.

I just picked up a DS-1. I love that little guy, cheap and can be very effective for playing single notes. I have and RP100, but it's just not my thing. It served me for a while, but eventually it just fell out of favor with me. My next pedal will likely be a delay, most of the songs we play would benefit greatly from it.

hi, it's the original poster. i saw this thread jump up to the top, so i thought i'd fill in everyone on my progress. hopefully it'll help someone new out there.

since i started this thread, i've bought/acquired the following pedals, in the following order

1. OCD
2. Boss TU-2
3. TS-9
4. Boss DD-3
5. Keeley Compressor
6. Line 6 Verbzilla
7. Voodoo Lab Tremolo

I use the TS-9 as a boost / light overdrive, and add the OCD when I want a heavier crunch. I use the DD-3 just to fatten up my sound.

Next pedal I'm planning to get is a Boss DD-5 with an external foot switch so that I can use the tap tempo feature.