Strings

Working in a music store, there is probably no more frequently asked question from guitarists than, "Hey dude... what pedals do I need?" Usually, this is asked while standing in front of the case with hundreds of pedals in it and drooling profusely. So, while sopping up the drool I give some advice:

Amps With Internal Effects - Some effects belong in amps and some are better off as external add-ons. Reverb, distortion, equalizers, tremolo, vibrato, analog chorus and compressors are excellent additions to an amplifier as they can be implemented directly into the amp's circuits and work WITH the amp instead of ON the amp. Things like phasers, delays, pitch shifters and wahs usually belong on the floor. The most important thing to think about when considering this is the following: NO EFFECT WILL SOUND GOOD THROUGH A LOUSY AMP! If you're only spending a few hundred on an amp, you're FAR better off getting a simple amp that sounds good and has no bells and whistles as possible and get the effects later on.

Multi-effects vs. Stompboxes - Ok, there is a simple differnce between these; multi-effects attempt to do everything so-so, while stompboxes do a single thing well. So which is right for you? Well, if you are planning on using numerous effects go with the multi unit to reduce the number of tone-sucking connections in your signal chain, if you're probably only going to use 3 or fewer effects, go with the individual units.

Sound Quality - As with amps, there are three levels of sound quality in pedals: tube, solid-state (analog) and digital. Tube will give you the highest quality, solid state gives the most fidelity and digital creates a rough approximation of your sound. People like Vai and VanHalen prefer the clarity and "effected" sound of digital units but most guitarists prefer the more transparent and natural sound of tune or analog units.

Less is More - You'd be amazed what can be accomplished with very few effects. Personally, i use amps that have reverb and either chorus or tremolo and the only pedals I use normally are a tuner and eq. Between those few effects and a couple guitars I can pull off a multitude of tones. Heck, if you know your amp really well, you can get it to go from clean to dirty by altering your pick attck!

$20 or $2000? - Some effects are just fine as an inexpensive peadl, some kinda require a higher-end piece. Since distortion is essentially a degredation of your tone, you can often get away with a cheapo pedal. Sometimes you want a pedal that glitches and "sounds terrible" in which case those little Danelectro mini-pedals are great! For some things like harmonists and echo you really need to spend some cash to get one that will work well and sound good.