Suggestions for a new guitarist?

[Ennuinaut]

I plan on getting a strat, I'm looking for a pedal that can give me your standard kind of alt-rock distortion sound you'd find on a Green Day, Blink 182, etc etc album. Something inexpensive but quality for those purposes. I've never bought a pedal before, so I don't have ANY idea what to look at!

Suggestions? :)

Edit: Just browsing, this seems to be a great pedal. Not knowing anything about them; does anyone here have any thoughts on it? Or better alternatives?

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Boss-DS-1-Distortion-Pedal-100086787-i1124466.gc

[Spudman]

I'd suggest for starters look at used pedals. You can try for less that way.

The Proco Rat is pretty versatile and so is the Boss BD2 Blues Driver. You can get everything from mild grit to fuzz and heavy grind. The BD2 cleans up better with the guitar's volume knob. The Rat will clean up too just not as much.

You'll probably be told about the Bad Monkey but it is more of an overdrive than a distortion box. The DS1 you linked to may leave you wanting more and in my opinion works best when used in conjunction with another drive pedal of some sort.

Other suggestions will follow shortly I'm sure.

[hubberjub]

The DS-1 is not a very versatile pedal. I have the Analogman modded version and I just use it for an overdriven boost. You would probably be happier with a Tube Screamer type pedal.

[Tone2TheBone]

I'm gonna suggest a new take on distortion pedals here....

http://www.prosoundcommunications.com/english/xotic/effects/bb_preamp/

A guy I bought a Jensen speaker from and I were at a local shop on Friday and he tried out the BB Preamp pedal from Xotic. Played it through a teeny tiny Champion 600 amp...I didn't realize just how small those were. Anyway that pedal did a lot of nice things and sounded great. It does clean boost it does overdrive (natural sounding overdrive) and it does all out gainy Marshally sounds. It was a clean sounding pedal I was impressed with it and I'm very picky with distorto pedals. Give that one a whirl.

[hubberjub]

I'm gonna suggest a new take on distortion pedals here....

http://www.prosoundcommunications.com/english/xotic/effects/bb_preamp/

A guy I bought a Jensen speaker from and I were at a local shop on Friday and he tried out the BB Preamp pedal from Xotic. Played it through a teeny tiny Champion 600 amp...I didn't realize just how small those were. Anyway that pedal did a lot of nice things and sounded great. It does clean boost it does overdrive (natural sounding overdrive) and it does all out gainy Marshally sounds. It was a clean sounding pedal I was impressed with it and I'm very picky with distorto pedals. Give that one a whirl.

That's a great pedal but it's probably out of the price range he's looking at.

[Ennuinaut]

That's a great pedal but it's probably out of the price range he's looking at.

MSRP $210.00

Yeah, a little pricey. Thank you for the suggestions so far, though :) I'm sure I'll check out a variety of pedals tomorrow at Guitar Center. Good call on the used bit, I may walk out of there with a used pedal if the price is right :D

[tunghaichuan]

You might try to find a Boss OD-2 Turbo Overdrive. I have one and I like it. It switches between the regular Boss OD sound and the DS-1 sound. There is a footswitchable model for switching on the fly, the OD-2r.

http://www.k5.dion.ne.jp/~lesprs/band/guitar/od2r.jpg

tung

[Big K]

for an inexpensive distortion pedal, GC has these for <$15.00

http://danelectro.com/media/FabDist2MP3.mp3

then add a Bad Monkey, then a Zonkin Yellow Screamer, then a Rat, then a Fuzz Face, then a TS-808, then a Muff, then a BD-2....... oops got caught in a GAS moment...

[pes_laul]

if you have the money a great alt-distortion sound is a boss DS-1 and a DOD overdrive they sound great and when you go to clean the overdrive sounds nice and warm and yummy

[t_ross33]

Given the alt-rock criteria, I think you'll be happy with the Boss DS-1. I have the DS-2 Turbo Distortion which is a DS-1 with higher gain option - I've used it for some Green Day and Blink-182 covers and have been happy with it. You might also check into a Digitech Grunge pedal, which is another high-gain type distortion.

The Danelectro FAB pedals get good reviews, and you can find them used pretty cheap (they're still only about $20 or $25 new) - might be a good place to start.

While I'm more of an 'overdrive' guy vs. 'distortion' I think a distortion will get you in the ballpark. If you move towards classic rock or blues you'll want to get an overdrive.

Pedals are fun - enjoy the GAS :D

Trev

[Katastrophe]

Don't be afraid to try out the cheapies! I once had a no name overdrive pedal that was incredibly cool. I've heard a few Danelectro pedals, and those sound good to me. Your ear will be the ultimate judge.

[Kazz]

I would probably part with my Danelectro Fab Tone pretty cheap if interested shoot me a pm.

[Duff]

For 29 dollars you can get the Korg Toneworks AX3G from musciansfriend.com, or any price matching place. It is a complete guitar processor with multi effects and hundreds of possibilities, several distortion models, delays, choruses, reverbs, etc. You can have several combined at the same time. The AX5G has a expression pedal on it for waw waw and volume, etc. It is 39 dollars at musciansfriend.com right now.

[LowEndWonder]

Boss Metal Zone and a Chorus pedal. The Boss CE-20 is one of the best Chourus peds on the market. :AOK: