what pedals should i start with?

[phillyfan26]

I have a limited budget, but I'm interested in starting with a few pedals, maybe two or three. I have none currently. I play a lot of U2, but I'm not looking to copy Edge, because close to his sound is good enough for me!

What kinds (and specific brands are OK too) of pedals should I get?

 

[discothequeLP]

if you want to get individual pedals, i'd suggest a distortion pedallike the Line 6 DM4, a delay pedal like a Boss DD-20, and maybe Dunlop Wah Pedal. the DM4 and DD-20 are pretty expensive pedals, but a Boss SD-1 or OD-2 distortion pedal and a Boss DD-3 delay pedal would work also.

you might be better off getting a Line 6 POD XT Live, which is also expensive but has everything you need and sounds pretty good.

 

[Muad'zin]

A lot of your sound is determined by your amp. For instance I love overdrive pedals, and so does the Edge, but overdrive pedals tend to suck on transistor amps. But they sound lurvey on valve amps.

The Line6 DM4 is a good first buy as it gives you 16 kinds of overdrive, distortion and fuzz. There are bound to be a few useful sounds in there. It also has a built in noisegate. Separately the Boss OD-3 and SD-1 make for good overdrive pedals. The venerable Ibanez TS-9 tubescreamer is still the king of OD pedals but it's pricy. Since the Boss SD-1 shares almost the same PCB board as the TS-9 and if soldering doesn't frighten you you can modify it and get the same sound at half the price.
Distortions are much harder to please with. Both the Boss DS-1 and Electro-Harmonix Big Muff are widespread but I've never been a fan of either of them. The Proco Rat is also a classic. What these three have in common is that if soldering doesn't frighten you, you can find tons of mods on the internet to turn these basic pedals in boutique monsters. Which is basically what the manufacturers of boutique pedals do. Take a basic mass produced pedal, remove some cheap electronic components, install some better components and then sell it to you under a fancy name at over two to three times the cost.

Delays are a world of their own. I find that the Line6 Echo Park makes for a good alround starter. Whichever you choose, go for one that has tap tempo. Nothing sucks more then having to dial in the right delay tempo when it absolutely has to be in sync 100% like with a song like Streets.

And that still leaves you short stuff like wah, compressors, modulation, pitchshift. Which is why a multi effect like the Line6 Pod XT Live, or the Boss GT8 is still the best value for money. For the price of a few good separate pedals you get a full selection of effects all in one handy floor unit. The downside of course is that you'll have to learn how to program the damn thing. Which is nowhere as near as difficult as it sounds, but still takes a learning curve to get good sounds from it.

 

[Edge_Orchestra]

Boss OD-3 is not as good as the OD-2, which The Edge used. The OD-2r is quite good too. Both are available for a fair rate on E-Bay.

The Boss SD-1 will get you in the ballpark, overdrive-wise. The reissue Ibanez 808 tubescreamer will too.

The Line 6 DM4 was used tons on HTDAAB but other than that, it will not get you classic Edge tones. While Edge found a use for it, most reviews online for the DM4 are not so glowing.

Delay wise, the Boss GigaDelay is the way to go.

 

[Barkeeper]

TS-9 pricy? Here in Holland it's going for less than $150. Seeing as the DM-4 goes for $450, I find $150 quite a reasonable price as you call it the king of OD.

 

[Muad'zin]

For half the price of a TS-9 I can get a Boss SD-1, some cheap electronic parts and turn that SD-1 into a state of the art TS-808, the real king of OD's. So it can be done even cheaper.

And no way the DM-4 costs $450. $250 is more likely if you check around. Hell even here in overpriced Holland a DM4 will cost you the equivalent of two TS-9. That's 16 kinds of OD, fuzz and distortion for the price of two OD's. That's what my brother calls good eatin'.

 

[Barkeeper]

It does cost $450, but at a certain store. I admit that I looked only at that store, so my judgement was not very accurate for the general price.

 

[Muad'zin]

I know of such stores myself. Overpriced and usually not very well stocked. Praise the internet for making comparing prices easier.

 

[tpsreports2424]

go for distortion, or delay..

 

[Muad'zin]

Speaking of delay, it's pricey but if you're only going to one delay pedal you should get the TC Electronic Nova Delay. It's the sound of the TC 2290 in a pedal and Edge has four TC 2290's in his rack. It has blown me away.

You know you'll want one eventually so why waste money on a cheaper unit until then?

 

[Tgravlin]

I'd start with a DD20 if youre on a budget. It's mod delay sounds VERY good. The difference between it and a very pricy 2290 is slight for someone starting explore the use of delays (I own both). Major advantage to a 2290 is the ability to store presets. The DD20 maxes out at 5 presets. The 2290 holds 80.

 

[Muad'zin]

Ah, but the Nova Delay is only 25% more expensive then a DD-20. It's a 2290 in a pedal. It also has 9 storable presets, modulation delay and the ability to create offset parallel delays. I know I'm kissing TC Electronics ass here but I've tried both pedals and I like the Nova Delay so much I've ordered a 2nd one.

 

[The_Pac_Mule]

does the nova delay give you the shimmery effect everyone goes crazy about in the 2290 rackmount thing?

 

[Tgravlin]

does the nova delay give you the shimmery effect everyone goes crazy about in the 2290 rackmount thing?

A 2290 doesn't do shimmer. It's a straight delay with modulation. A VERY good straight delay. To get a shimmer effect it's basically a chain of a pitch transposer with a delay and a reverb at the end to smooth it out.

The signal path for shimmer is usually Guitar that splits to 2 separate paths. Path one is the regular guitar sounds with regular delay, OD etc into the amp. Path two ( the shimmer path) is something like an Eventide or AMS pitching up an octave with delay (sometimes built internally into the pitch unit) then part of the pitched up sound gets fed back to the beginning of the chain so that it pitches up again and again cascading upward as it fades out. You need a volume pedal in the chain also to control to level to swell it in as needed.

Some shimmer devices in no particular order.

Digitech DHP33
Digitech IPS33b (must be a "B" model)
Eventide Eclipse
Axe FX
AMS
Verbzilla can do a sort of low grade shimmer also.

 

[EdgeIsTooSexy]

get a whammy pedal!
I'm in the same situation as you. I have a limited budget but I want a few pedals. I have a delay pedal right now thats it...

 

[The_Pac_Mule]

whammy's are awesome, but kinda expensive :S at least the digitech whammy is, and I dont think theres another one. btw, EdgeIsTooSexy, what delay did you get?