(Part 2) Best products from r/guitarpedals

I'm going to do my best to help but without a given budget it's a little more difficult, though I'm going to assume a sub-$150 range seeing as though it's a gift. While there are not a lot of particular pedals made exclusively for shoegaze, there is a pretty agreed upon category of effects to give the shoegaze sound: fuzz/distorition, delay, reverb, modulation.

Fuzz: My personal favorite category

Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi- there are a lot of different variations of this pedal, many in the boutique market (read: price range), but the newly launched Nano Big Muff is a great compromise of sound and space.
Devi Ever Shoegazer- a little more pricey, but if you peruse the used markets you can occasionally find one for a little less than $150.
Way Huge Swollen Pickle- A Big Muff variation, but with a lot of additional controls to help sculpt the sound you want. There is also a newer version that moves the original SP's internal trim pots to the outside.
Blackout Effectors Musket- Yet another Big Muff variation, but my personal favorite and the one that currently presides on my board with very little risk of being replaced any time soon.

Distorition

Proco Rat- A fun little distortion pedal that's capable of some huge sounds
Dr. Scientist The Elements- A little more pricey, but arguably the most versatile distortion on the market, capable of everything from a clean boost to massive, almost fuzz-like distortion.
Walrus Audio Iron Horse- only slightly over budget, but a great distortion

Modulation

Chorus- A few suggestions for a classic shoegaze effect in ascending price:
EHX Small Stone
MXR Analog Chorus
TC Electronic Corona Chorus

Tremolo- The other classic shoegaze modulation effect
Boss TR-2
Voodoo Lab Tremolo
Fulltone ST-1 Supa-Trem
Mooer Trelicopter- Haven't tried this one and there's mixed reviews about the Mooer's quality control, but from what I've gathered, this isn't one of the pedals people seem to be having lots of issues with

Delay

TC Electronic Flashback- Also available in the X4 model (larger but offers presets)
Boss DD-3- Really any of the Boss DD series pedals would do the trick, and they go for a steal on the used market
EarthQuaker Devices Dispatch Master- a combo delay and reverb that sacrifices versatility in exchange for an awesome sound
MXR Carbon Copy- an extremely popular delay on this sub. This one's analog as opposed to digital, meaning the repeats will be a little darker, but the available modulation for the repeats sounds really good.
Malekko 616 Delay- Another analog delay that's fairly comparable to the Carbon Copy, but this pedal offers adjustable modulation amounts.

Reverb

TC Electronic Hall of Fame- My current favorite reverb pedal! Offers a wide variety of sounds, each with a fair amount of control, but the toneprint ability is really where this pedal shines.
Neunaber WET
Electro Harmonix Cathedral- a little pricer, but a great reverb with cool features like reverse reverb and a hold switch
Digitech Digiverb- There's a bit of a split consensus on this pedal, as some think its terrible and some love it. That being said, you can regularly find these things on the used market for around $40. If you went for a cheaper fuzz option, you could pick up one of these used for the reverse reverb setting alone- placed before a fuzz, it perfectly hits that huge Kevin-Shields sound.

These are just a few suggestions since I don't have too much time to keep going at the moment, but feel free to reply or shoot me a PM if you have any questions or would like more suggestions and I'll do my best to get back to you by tonight.

I'd veto the Tuner for now, especially if you're just starting out. Kaptoo is right in a Tuner being something you can keep forever, but you can just as easily get a clip-on Snark and use that money elsewhere.

I'd recommend a good distortion or fuzz pedal. I feel like a good fuzz energizes my solos, giving me more grit and sustain. The best fuzz I've played through so far is Analogman's Sunface, but that's expensive. The Swollen Pickle sounds great, but I feel like you get even more fuzz with the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff for a lot less money. It's tried and true and Jack White has used one for a decade. But the Pickle's still a great pick, too! I like Way Huge.

It's good to get an overdrive and a separate fuzz to go between that crunchy jangle and full blown mayhem. The Fat Sandwich is a great pick for the Overdrive/Distortion category, but so is the Boss Blues Driver

I'm really into ambient rock, so a reverb was essential for me. I started out with the Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail which is a good starter verb with Room, Hall, and Spring built in (Flerb is almost useless unless you do sound design for alien robots). Though I did notice a drop in volume with it on. I've heard good things about the Malekko Chicklet Reverb and the Boss FRV-1 reverb as well. YMMV.

But for $50 more you can get the Neunaber WET reverb which sounds phenomenal and doesn't cost as much as a Strymon...

Otherwise, wahs are a really popular starting point for pedalboards, but I don't use mine as much as others seem to.

And then, you can always get a delay pedal. I started with the MXR Carbon Copy which is a great pedal and it still has a place on my board, though I moved to a Strymon eventually. Way Huge also makes an analog delay called the Aqua Puss. Worth checking out

Happy hunting, my friend! You're starting a lifelong journey, here...

Granted, I've been buying a few, but there are some pretty good, cheap mini pedals out there available for $20-$50 on Amazon.

AA Germanium Fuzz - $25

Donner Time Wave - $35

Donner White Wizard multi-modulation - $55

I own all of those. I have a post talking about the good and the bad of the latter two pedals I listed. The AA Fuzz doesn't have a ton of volume or gain on tap, but you can achieve the same volume between on/off at full volume and it still sounds like a pretty good fuzz.

For $110, you can get what one pedal would cost you. Sure, you're not going to recoup your money on the used market, but between joyo, AA, donner, and the list of these Chinese copies goes on and on, you can dip your toes, get a taste for what you like, at half or the cost or less.

I've been pretty impressed with that White Wizard, though I didn't get much time to play it this weekend. If I get a useful phaser, tremolo, and rotary sound out of it, it's well worth the $55.

Check out Reverb.com for buying some used pedals. That will help make things fit into your budget. You can find a DS-1 for around $30 on there. A used crybaby for roughly $40. The MXR is actually a phaser and not a chorus so I'll address that in the phaser section.

As for the other stuff, I highly recommend the TC Electronic Sub 'n' Up as an octave ($100 used or for the mini on reverb.com).

The Vox Delaylab is a ton of delay for not a lot of money if you want tap tempo and all that fancy stuff ($125 used on reverb.com). Plus, if you don't use delay and tremolo at the same time then you can set up the delaylab to do a trem type thing.

The Trelicopter is a really great trem (the guys on That Pedal Show have demoed it before). It gets rebranded by various companies so just find the cheapest one. If you want some more features then check out the TC Electronic Tremolo that just came out.

As for phasers, you can pick up an old Boss PH-3 for $50 used a lot of places. I don't have a lot of experience with other ones, but I'm sure you could get a phase 95 pretty cheap ($90).

After all of that you should have spent roughly $375-420. So you still have a good amount of money for a solid power supply and cables. Get yourself a Truetone CS7 which is fully isolated, has great power ratings if you want to add more pedals, and is fairly inexpensive ($120). Now you still have about $60 for patch cables. Go cheap or get good quality ones. You're definitely gonna be under $60 for 6-8 patch cables.

the donner yellow fall delay is $35 and it's a surprisingly good analog-style (it says analog but I'm almost sure it's digital) delay.

also, I know not everybody's into chorus, but the danelectro fab chorus is an absolute steal at $15. it's probably not gig-worthy, but it's the best 15 buck pedal I've ever heard. I think most people would agree that it's the best out of the danelectro fab series. can't go wrong if you like chorus.

if you're not interested in aesthetics and you want something fairly cheap, you can do what i did:

1.) arrange your pedals how you'd want them on the board and make sure to account for any other things you'd want to attach to it and measure the perimeter.

2.) drive on down to your local home depot or lowe's or what have you, and look for some boards that suit you. i don't know much about wood so this is where i can't really offer a suggestion, but you should be able to eyeball what would work and what wouldn't. ask someone to cut the wood for you in the dimensions you need. (they do this for free at home depot, but not sure about lowe's.) i got 1/2" thick because the 1/4" looked a little flimsy for the weight of the pedals.

3.) i recommend doing this step first, unless you can find it in a store near you, but i bought it on amazon. This velcro-ish tape is super heavy duty and actually sometimes hard to pull off once attached, but it did the job for me. I had about 8 or 9 pedals attached to the board and used two rolls with a little left over i think. for less of a death grip, try pairing it with regular velcro.

4.) with your freshly cut board and your super hardcore velcro, cut the velcro and attach it to the bottom of your pedals. i always try to put two small strips on each side of the bottom of the pedal because otherwise it'll lean one way or the other when you put your foot on it. It's more of just a feel thing. then, cut off some more velcro tape to hook onto the pedal velcro but don't take off the sticky stuff until you're ready to place it on the board.

5.) lay out the pedals how you'd like them on the board and maybe even draw the outlines around them so you know what goes where if necessary. When I was setting mine up, i was hooking the pedals up as i was placing them because i was really excited to try it out. But otherwise, peel off the sticky stuff and place them. Be sure to let them sit for about 24 hours before doing much else with it because the velcro tape needs some time to form a bond with what it's stuck to. (it's not permanent, but it sure tries to be.)

Once you're all plugged in and hooked up, you should be all ready to go. I recommend attaching a power strip with a fairly long cable to the board so you're able to have the power supply plugged into the board and use an extension cord without much mess. it seemed easier that way to me. if you want it raised, you can use the spare wood from when they cut it and nail it on the side farthest from where you'd be standing.

It won't be pretty, but at the end of the day, i didn't really care what it looked like so long as it allowed me to not have to spend half an hour setting up and tearing down any time i wanted to play somewhere with them.

hmm, you could always stick to whats safe then and go for something like a tuner or compressor if they dont already have one. a compressor is something that can be used for pretty much everything and a tuner pedal can make tuning up a billion times easier then using one that clips onto the head stock.

As far as a tuner goes, you can get a boss tu-2 new for aronud 100$ or used on reverb for half that.

And if you decide to go for a compressor, the mxr has a few solid bass compressors, but you can also get a guitar compressor that would work just as well for a bit cheaper. the mooer yellow comp is a clone of the diamond comp and is another personal favorite, and it comes in closer to 50$.

You could also get another overdrive or distortion pedal for them that they could stack with what they already have to add some new sounds. I always really loved the way bass sounds through a RAT and the mooer black secret is a fantastic RAT that can be had for 40$

Like several others have mentioned, /r/diypedals is a good place to go. As long as we've got you here, though... I had already practiced soldering before and wanted to start with a kit. That way you have everything you need and just have to assemble. A very easy and inexpensive first build was [this] (http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/effects-projects/boosters/stratoblaster-booster/) boost pedal. Don't let the simplicity fool you. I still have this boost pedal on my board to this day and love it. Also, I picked up [this] (https://www.amazon.com/Weller-WLC100-40-Watt-Soldering-Station/dp/B000AS28UC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1483458417&sr=8-2&keywords=weller+soldering+station) Weller soldering station. Crazy cheap, but I've been using it for over 6 years with no issues. Finally, just read, read, read and read some more! There's tons of great info in various forums, books and youtube videos to get you on your way. Best of luck and have fun with it!

Honestly, my best advice would be to invest in a good compressor. I lot of people feel like their tone is dead and not going anywhere of any particular interest until they purchase a compressor. It's the pedal you never know you needed. It will change your life, just like it changed mine.

That said: Keeley Compressor Deep Six and the Diamond are all amazing options. The Diamond is probably a little too bulky for what you want.

But that's what I'd do, if I were you.

Sure! I'll just use Amazon links just cause it's easier for me though you'll most likely be able to find better deals on Gear dedicated site.

Boss DD-7 Digital Delay

MXR Carbon Copy Digital Delay

Electro-Harmonix Canyon Delay and Looper

TC Electronic Flashback 2 Delay

Boss TU-3 Tuner

MXR M234 Analog Chorus

Boss CH-1 Stereo Super Chorus

Electro-Harmonix Small Clone Chorus

Electro-Harmonix Stereo Electric Mistress Chorus/Flanger

Just a few of the more popular ones.

"dirt" pedals are overdrive, fuzz, or distortion pedals because they 'dirty' up your signal

if you're okay with waiting, used is always the best to go in terms of cost. if not, here's a small list of cheap, simple pedals that work

delay:

tc electronic the prophet


joyo d-seed


boss dd-3

joyo delay

donner yellow fall analog delay

reverb:

mosky spring reverb

tc electronic drip

caline snake bite

behringer dr-600

chorus:

mxr analog chorus

joyo classic chorus

biyang chorus

danelectro fab chorus

volume pedal:

ernie ball

boss fv-50h

power supply:

cs7

mxr iso brick

here's a cheap/basic place to start. since you're going simple, most pedals you come across will honestly work with what you want you want to accomplish, it's mostly down to your budget. if you're looking used, you can't go wrong with MXR, boss, and EHX pedals, they're usually everywhere on the used market

Kokko Comp $26 all the way. If you're just getting into compressors it is (imo) the absolute best option. Sounds just as good as comps $80 more than it. If you decide you hate it, amazon's return policy is great. Oh and you can run it at 18v for more headroom and volume.



The Mooer Yellow Comp $52 would be my second suggestion but it also costs twice as much. Id choose this one if you are more interested in an optical comp.

Here's a video by Just Nick Music that explains comps really well. Comps can be a tremendous help with getting your sound just how you like it. Also experiment where you put it in your chain, there are no "right" answers and different placement will change the sound a lot.

The Xvive U2 is rechargeable so it doesn't need to be connected to a power supply while you're using it at all. Xvive claims that they go for 5 hours per charge. I never had to use them for that long at once but they worked great for me for a couple of months. Then we got a wireless in ear monitor system installed in our church and the interference got so bad that I just switched back to a cable. Wifi can also cause significant interference with these so just keep that in mind too. Without any interference though, it's a great unit that I never had any issues with.

That's why I love the Deep Six Compressor so much. Blend knob is easily the best feature to retain dynamics.

I just bought a looper off Amazon for a little over $30. It's called the Donner Tiny Looper and I love it. It's true bypass and works just as well as any looper. As a nice addition you can make your loop go in reverse and 1/2 speed.

Hey there. I use the Xvive U2 rechargeable 2.4GHZ Wireless Guitar System everywhere I go. I play at home with them, take them to studio spaces, and have played gigs with them. No latency I have noticed at all and I cannot tell any tone change. I almost never plug a cable into my guitar anymore. At home I just keep the receiver plugged into my home board and leave it on with the charger cable plugged in as well. So it is always on. Anytime I want to play I just grab the transmitter, stick it in the guitar, and flip master power on my rig and I'm ready to go. Here is the one I have: https://www.amazon.com/Xvive-U2-rechargeable-2-4GHZ-Wireless/dp/B01J78IC64 . Love this system.

I have a white wizard and it's great. Lots of different mod effects, pick two at once, stereo out, and tap tempo. Plus 9 storable presets. Sounds great with two amps on the vib, trem, and rotary settings because it alternates between them. Great purchase, no ragrets, gnome sane?

BYOC and General Guitar Gadgets kits are a great start to learn how to solder and assemble. Electronic Projects for Musicians is a good book and Jack Orman's website, muzique is an incredible resource. Electrosmash is also awesome in their analysis of various famous circuits. I still reference that site every once in a while.

There are a couple of Eno pedals that'd cover the sounds you need.

Eno Trinity Distortion - a clone of the Mooer Ultra Drive, which is a clone of the Keeley modded DS1.

Eno Myomorpha Distortion - a clone of the Mooer Black Secrt, which is a clone of the Vintage and Turbo Rat circuits.

Edit: Just read that you are after one pedal. If so, the Behringer Distortion Modeler might be your best option. It models the DS1, Rat and MXR Distortion+. It's pretty good, and the models sound close to the real pedals. I used one as my main distortion for a while.

I’d recommend getting a pedal kit from BYOC . The other thing you can do is just just buy a bunch of hook up wire and some jacks and just practice. Another good soldering iron to start with in addition to the one above is the Weller WLC100. Good luck!

Anything isolated in my opinion. You could do a 1 spot in the meantime, but I stopped using mine several years ago after I got more pedals. I have a Walrus Phoenix, but that’s totally overkill for you right now. They have a smaller version called the Aetos which is really great. It’s on the higher end of the price. MXR and T Rex have some options that are around the $99 mark. Amazon has some generic versions called Donners, which I’ve seen before and will probably work fine for a while. I guess you just take the risk as it gets older of the probably no-name transformers going out and surging your pedals; maybe not worth it then.

I do highly recommend either the MXR mini and T Rex mini are my most recommended if you can afford them.

Battery is definitely the problem. Maybe it was already used with that battery for a while before you bought it. Delays are definitely more power intensive than any other pedal in the first place.

Even still, I'd say in the long run it's really better to buy a power supply for any pedal. Highly recommend the OneSpot power adapter, it's $18, just one plug, and it can power up to 20 pedals.

You can also go for the more popular Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2, but it's $170 and only has support for 8 pedals.

With this setup you can play pretty much anything and it'll sound great.

Guitar

Squier Classic Vibe 50's Stratocaster - $400

Amp

Fender Bassbreaker 15 - $650

Dirt

Xotic RC Booster V2 - $168

ProCo RAT 2 - $70

Devi Ever Hyperion Fuzz - $100

Compressor

MXR DynaComp - $80

Delay

Boss DD-500 - $300

Reverb

Empress Reverb - $450

Power Supply

Voodoo Lab Pedal Power Mondo - $250

I got one of these Innogear PSU's a while ago and it's working out great for me so far. It's the only PSU I've had though, so I can't compare it to anything else. But for ~$40 it's great, and I haven't noticed any glaring issues.

If you put in the time and effort you can pick it up fairly well. If you really want to get into design and modding and stuff I'd say find a few fairly simple circuits and socket a bunch of the components so you can see how changing various parts impacts the sound. This is supposed to be an interesting book from Brian Wampler. Most of the negative reviews basically bash it for basically taking informations and schematics you can find online and putting them into a book, but the analysis and organization helps you work through some of this stuff. This is another good one too from Craig Anderton. The Anderton tube sound fuzz is the basis for one of my got to distortions.

Donner's Tiny Looper
Amoon AP09 Nano Looper
Getaria Loop Station
Muku Looper
Tom'sline Excitant Looper
Take your pick! I think they're all under $50!
I have used the Tom'sline and I can say it's every bit as good as the TCE Ditto Looper. Any one of these will do as they're all basically the same pedal.

Lol at "producer," yeah its just a coffee shop.

I'm definitely not lloking to drop a grand on a DI setup, but in the future would one of these Mooer Preamp Pedals allow me to plug right into the PA?

I replaced the little rubber feet on each pedal with some small square cut outs of this stuff:


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004ZKIHVU


Word of caution: it’s extremely strong, so use sparingly. I like it better than regular velcro as the pedals sit flat and don’t rock around as much.

Oh okay, that's fine. If you have a link to the one you're thinking of, I can check it out and let you know what all you'd need.

Alternatively, if your budget is ~$60 total, here's a link to a ProCo Rat clone for much cheaper. It uses pretty much the same exact circuit, and sounds nearly identical.

For powering that clone (which uses the standard polarity), here is an inexpensive power supply. By searching "9v power supply" on Amazon I was also able to find inexpensive similar units that can power multiple pedals (if you decide to add on later).

Lastly, if you only have one cable to go from guitar to amp, you'll need a second one to go from guitar to pedal, then pedal to amp. If you're looking to buy something inexpensive, here's one that I used to own. It lasted me about five years before it gave out.

Those three together bring you to a total just under fifty bucks.

for a tuner i'd suggest getting a snark clip on. tiny and cheap and works fine. easy enough to store in your guitar case and would free up a little more room for another pedal.

Yeah, I have two Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2+ power supplies on the bottom, which are great. The board is a Pedaltrain Classic 2.

I was in the same predicament and decided to splurge and get an isolated because I knew I wouldnt regret it. I got the Truetone CS12 but they make a CS7 that super affordable and has lots of power options https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012F2AWMQ

This unit is currently doing the Amazon Prime hustle to my door. Are they untruthful about the isolation?

I saw the lackluster reviews for people with big Strymon gear, but that's most definitely not me. The hungriest thing I've got is a Polytune.

I got this one in last week and I'm happy with it. You'll have plenty and it's got a 12v a lot on it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0146CROME/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1453621486&sr=8-2&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=pedal+power+supply&dpPl=1&dpID=41F8Zj7L9YL&ref=plSrch

Yes, that would be fine. Pricey for an adapter at $30 though. For another $18 you could get one of these Joyos and ditch the One Spot. Should be much cheaper if you find a used one.

this :/

Gotta one day invest in a better power supply and a compressor

Yeah, all of the Chinese PSU's aren't isolated but claim to be

https://www.amazon.com/Donner-Guitar-Supply-Isolated-Output/dp/B00WHLLDWO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488230501&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=donner+power+supply&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/AGPtek-Isolated-Cricuit-Overcurrent-Protection/dp/B00HH62VB6/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1488230530&sr=8-4&keywords=guitar+power+supply

https://www.amazon.com/COWEEN-Supplies-Isolated-Guitar-Adapter/dp/B01F8BVN9M/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1488230530&sr=8-5&keywords=guitar+power+supply


https://www.amazon.com/JOYO-Supply-JP-02-Isolated-Effect/dp/B00B5X2W4I/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1488230530&sr=8-10&keywords=guitar+power+supply

https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Isolated-Outputs-Polarity-Reversal/dp/B01I19HNLA/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1488230530&sr=8-11&keywords=guitar+power+supply

it's just a daisy chain. this has been documented, check the product questions/reviews, google it as well-forum posts

I dig it. It does its job. However, I wouldn't have paid $300 for it...

Mine wasn't nearly that much. See here - https://www.amazon.com/Voodoo-Lab-Pedal-Isolated-Supply/dp/B0002IHGZC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1526446057&sr=8-3&keywords=voodoo+pedal+power+2+plus

Are you sure you aren't looking at the Mondo?

Here's the Voodoo Power 2 Plus I'm using. That will be more than adequate to feed your 6 9v pedals.

Yellow Comp is $51 on Amazon right now https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DM4LT10/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_bkXcBbKCEQ8P8

I’m using this one.

Brian Wampler wrote a couple books back in the day

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ultimate-bench-warrior-lee-jackson/1110976252

https://www.biblio.com/book/how-modify-guitar-pedals-complete-how/d/590378032

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/books-sheet-music-media/hal-leonard-guitar-effects-pedals-the-practical-handbook-book-cd

https://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Projects-Musicians-Craig-Anderton/dp/0825695023


Here is a video manual for your new pedal
https://youtu.be/T1lpDsAZKgU