software

Pedals...i've always sludged through multifx pedals and never really cared for em...so this time...i'm gonna build my own set up when i start buying gear back again......i know these questions have been asked before...but i appreciate the input....i know quot;bestquot; is impossible, so just tell me why your favorite is your favorite!?

thanks,
mikeChorus -

Overdrive -
Delay -
Distortion -

Wah -

Chorus - Ibanez RC-99 or the old purple one, it has a mix knob and it can go from old Ensemble sounds to almost flanging tones, plus the pre-delay can also be tweaked, it is very control able and sounds great.
Overdrive - Hehe I made my own actually, but I think that the Lovetone COT-50 and the Eternity are very great units. The Lovetones has that woddy tone I love, my own stuff I try to balance grit with smooth, sofar I am quite pleased, but it is a custom build thing that I only made three of sofar.
Delay -Hmm Maxon AD-900, very full and nice delay, lovely repeats, our own stuff is also not just something we build but I like them myself, and use all of our delays, then there is the Memoryman, like the modulation and sound, it has some quirks but it works.
Distortion -Well Maxon SD-9 or the Ibanez SD-9, the old Fatcat from Ibanez is also a cool unit, sounds deadon like those old rats, I like fat open tones here, and those delivers just that.
Wah -Old Vox wah wah, nothing beats an old 60's Vox nothing!
Well not in my ears

To be completely honest I've very little experience with actually using pedals, though I'm always reading about them. Because I'm still at school, and money is tight to say the least, I have to make absolute certain that I'm making the right choice with every bit of gear I buy. This has had a positive effect in that I have to really do a lot of research every time I get something new. So for this reason I'll make no attempt to suggest what I have is by any means 'best' but give you the reasons for my buying them.

Chorus - Boss CE-2
A fairly cheap and very basic pedal. Just two knobs in the traditional Boss stylings. However, this thing sounds awesome. I've never heard another chorus pedal in any price bracket that I'd swap this thing for. It can go the entire spectrum, very subtle to stomach turning. I think this is one of those rare examples when Boss really did get everything right.Overdrive - Homebrew Power Screamer and Toadworks Death Rattle
Absolutely love both of these things. I think the Power Screamer (TS808 clone) is probably more versatile than the Death Rattle though, despite the latter having two channels and an independant boost function. I can get everything out of these two. The Power Screamer excels in smooth Santana sounds type sounds, to my ears at least (He actually uses one come to think of it). The Death Rattle, as I mentioned earlier, has two channels, the Tweed and Plexi. Bet you can guess what these do! They do both it very well. I bought this off a guy with a Fender Blues Junior. The reason he was selling it was that it sounded identical to his amp. He actually couldn't tell the difference, that's how good this is. Haven't tried them with single coils so don't know what that would be like.

Delay - Boss DD-20
Sheer versitility as much as anything else. Ten presets. Decent sounds. I think you'd have to spend a lot of money to get something noticable better.

Don't really use any Distortion or Wah pedals. Though for distortion I'd recommend either a Homebrew Big D (Similiar to the Power Screamer only a lot more versitile with a lot more gain on tap. Joel, the designer, also told me it's voiced a little bit brighter). Or a Pro Co Rat Vintage. There must be a reason why everyone uses it.

Don't know anything about Wahs at all, never really appealed to me to be honest. But if so many are using the Dunlop Cry Baby it's got to be worth investigating.

Hope I've helped in some way.

Ben

Here's some of my faves:

Chorus - BOSS CE5 Chorus Ensemble. I'm not a big user of Chorus, but this 1 sounds good (imo anyway) and has some nice EQ and tone shaping options.

Overdrive - My favourite Overdrive all depends on what amp I'm using. As a stand alone Overdrive pedal for using on an amps clean channel, I really like my Spina modified Ibanez TS9 Tubescreamer. When pushing the OD channel on my Marshall's I like the sound that a Fulltone Fulldrive2 gives, and also like something along the lines of a ZVex Super Duper, Fulltone Fat Boost or SD Pup Booster also helps to push my amps OD. On my Orange I like the Z Vex Super Duper to Overdrive the amps input, so all of the gain comes from the amp.

Delay - I'm not a big fan of Delay, and I find that an Ibanez DE7 Echo/Delay covers all my needs in this area

Distortion - At the minute I'm really digging the warm fuzz sound of my EMMA ReezaFRATzitz. It's not distortion as such, but it's the next step gain wise up from any sort of Overdrive sound that I currently use

Wah - The only wah I own is a Spina modded Vox wah with external Volume/gain and 'Q' controls and true bypass. It's very full sounding, and very 'vocal' too. Great wah sound.

Craig

After using all sorts of pedals in all sorts of combinations, and finding I was losing alot of tone and signal, I sold 'em all, and got a Boss ME-50, it has all the stuff I need, chorus, delay, compression, and alot of distortions, wah, volume and a tuner.it does have it's limitations tho', and may not be for everyone, works great for me live, but I don't use the program section, just kick on whatever effect is needed. and since it's an all in one unit, no signal loss. And alot cheaper than buying individual pedals.
P.S. I've been trying to get AnalogMan to look into upgrading these units, don't know if it's a cost-effective thing for him to offer tho'.

Chorus: Boss CE2. IMO one of the best. Its Analog. The Stero Chorus just sonds sterile.

OD. Depending on the Amp. (I use Fender SR amp; DR and a Marhshall 990). In the Super Reverb I use a Ibanez TS9 RI. It sounds real good with this Amp. In the Deluxe I use A Ibenez TS9 that has been modded to the original specs. Awsome sound with this Amp. In the Marshall I use an original Bluesbreaker Pedal to push it over the edge.

Delay: Boss DD3, DD5, or DD6 they are all excellent.

Distotion: I don't really use Distortion, but I like the Boss DS1

Wah: I have 3 A mooded original Crybaby which is my current NO. 1, a Vox 847, and a Vox Clyde McCoy. They are all good Wahs in one way or another, But a lot of guys like the Fullertone Clyde Deluxe. Pricey but real nice Wah.

(Chorus) UniVibe- Mini Deja' Vibe. Best UniVibe, Univibes are just cooler than chorus.

Overdrive- The only overdrive I really use is when I push my fuzzface to ten, then it really overdrives and adds alot of sustian.

Distortion(Fuzz Face)- Fulltone 69- I like it because its really warm and.... fuzzy.

Wah- Vox 847 Spina Modded.

I've had a few pedals over the years, so here's my take.

Chorus:

I've never cared much for for the single clock choruses (ala CE-2). Too thin sounding to me. I had a Peavey Dual Clock chorus that was really lush and thick, which is what I like, everyone that heard it was amazed by the sound of that thing. They come up on ebay from time to time pretty cheap now. The Boss CE-20 seems to be along the same lines, and although I've never used one, people seem to speak highly of it (read the effects database comments at Harmony Central). I actually used a BF-2 flanger to simulate a really thick chrous before I got the Peavey. One last thing, Line6 has a new quot;Space Chorusquot; pedal (I think I got that right) that's quot;supposedquot; to emulate any chorus known to man, so you might want to check it out. The Line6 MM-4 modulation unit is also amazing, but a bit pricy. I borrowed one of these for a show and I loved it.Overdrive:

That's a tough one, everyone is looking for something a bit different here. I like a smooth blues type overdrive that can go way, way over the top when I need it (with a clean amp setting), but can also be so subtle it's barely noticable. The big thing here for me is transparancy. I want to have the pedal color my tone as little as possible. The only stomp box I can remember trying (and I tried a crap load of them 3-4 months ago) that was really transparent and could go from subtle overdrive to screaming lead solos and crunchy rythms was the Digitech Blues Screamer. This is a great pedal, though the Digitech Bad Monkey isn't too bad either. I also don't like any of my pedals messing with the dynamics of my playing style (accept of course a compressor/limiter, which is supposed to do that, when I want it). (BTW, I would have definately bought the Blues Screamer, but I came to the eventual conclusion that I need/want a higher end multieffects floor board, like a GT-6 or GT-8)

Delay:

I like crisp clean delays (ie. digital), but nothing too elaborate. I had a Boss DD-3 at one point and could never ask for anything more (wish I still had it; at least until I get that GT-6/8!) . If you prefer that warmer, slightly distorted analog sound, someone else here is prabably better qualified to answer.

Wah:

You can't really go wrong with a Crybaby. I love it, but I'm not looking for anything over the top in my wah; just the vintage type wah sound.

Good luck on your quest.

My fav. overdrive/distortion is the Tonebone Classic amp; Hot British. Both sound very good, are easy to use, and are buildt very well.

Havent tried out that much of other types of effect, but I use Boss DD-5 Delay, and a Boss CH-1 Super Chorus. There are probably better devices out there, but I dont use them that much, and they work ok.

Chorus - Fulltone Choralflange - holy grail CE-1 like chorus tones with a very good flanger that can be put on top of it.

Overdrive - Clay Jones - bloom and harmonics abound, very sensitive to pick attack and control changes, endless sustain
Delay - Tone Czar Echo Czar - sweetest analog delay around with some very digital like delay times, two different delays in one, true bypass and everything you love about the old delays just in a small and easily portable package.
Distortion - Tone Bone Trimode Classic - best quot;distortion in a boxquot; I've heard, but I dislike most distortion pedals period because they lack the tone that you hear from an amp clipping those speakers naturally.

Wah - Pro Analog Supa Quack - wide range, super vocal, true bypass, cuts through distortion as beautifully as it handles cleans and it's very responsive to foot movement.

Chorus - Boss CE-2, but I use chorus' differently than anyone I know.

Overdrive - Never used one
Delay - Boss DD-6, not sure why lol
Distortion - Boss DS-1, modded by Spina It's got some killer sounds, and at a fair price.

Wah - Dunlop JH-1, the one I used to own had this really unique sweep, and I loved it, but never used it.~EDIT~
crap... quot;and whyquot;

Chorus - Don't remember the name, but I know it's a model by Line 6. I'm not really a fan of their amp modeling for live use but their effects are stellar IMO.

Overdrive - Hermida Zendrive. Transparent, dynamic, smooth, and fat all at the same time. Genius pedal.

Delay - Line 6 stuff again here, though I'm thinking of trying a Boss DD-20 soon.

Distortion - Spina mod DS-1 is pretty cool, though not really my flavor gain-wise. I'll soon be trying a Hermida Mosferatu, hopefully it will have a similar amount of gain just voiced the way I want.

Wah - I'm not a big wah user, and haven't really played around with many.

Hi Mike, for what its worth

Chorus: TC Electronics very lush modern sounding or Univibe for that vintage thing.

O.D.: Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive, TS 808 clone gonna have John mod mine when I get the dough.

Delay: Boss DM-3 Good old fashioned analog delay, great for slapback echo

Distortion:Mesa/Boogie V-Twin, more of a preamp but has a lot of great tones

Wah: Vox Clyde McCoy great vintage tone

Just my $.02 plug into everything you can, one man's trash is another man's treasure..........Joe

I like all my DOD pedals. Top quality. I had them modded by a pawn shop.

Chorus: dont like chorus
Overdrive: sd-1's are awesome, tube screams rock too
delay:ibanez de7, best bang for the buck pedal i know of
distortion: my (stock) ds-1, pretty versitle for what i use it for, and i got a good price for it too
wah: i dont really like wah, but crybabies are always good.

thanks guys...all of your suggestions and descriptions were very helpful! i didn't expect otherwise of course! you've given me a great list of pedals to try out...once i get a new amp...(either a Celtic Franklin 15 or a Peavey Classic, depending on money here pretty soon)

thanks again,
mike

Chorus - Sounds odd, but I'm really digging the chorus built into my Fender amp. I may rip it out and make a pedal out of it, not sure though. Doesn't help you much though... I prefer a simple chorus. This one has an adjustable sweep and that's it. It's also got a hint of a flanging effect to it.

Delay - I'm not much of a delay user, but I have used the Line 6 Echo Park and it was absolutly incredible. If I thought I'd ever have much of a need for it I'd buy one.

Overdrive/Distortion - Don't use

Wah - Tough call. I prefer the operation of my Morley Bad Horsie II, but I prefer the sound of my Original Crybaby.

I also use the Line 6 Tap Tremolo and the Boss Compression/Sustainer