Not really, if you want distortion you simply leave your amp on the clean channel
and stomp on your distortion/overdrive pedal. Then if you want more effects on top of that
like say, delay, you would stomp on that so now your guitars signal is effected by those two stomp
boxes and then sent to your amp. It can be difficult, like i said earlier, to get multiple effects at once to
switch on and off simataniously. Though, they do have fancy equipment (not sure of the exact name) that
can help with that problem.

There are midi controllers that you can set up presets which enable you to turn "on/off" multiple pedals at once. Also there are footswitchable effects loops. And effect loop pedals as well

Yeah that's the sentence I was looking for haha. Don't they get kinda pricey though?

Here's something I never understood-

If you're just going to get your tone through pedals, then why even invest money into expensive amps just to get a clean setting on them?
*Probably another dumb question, but I'm no gear-head.*

First off - you will barely get a better tone using boss pedals and a solid state amp over a multi-fx box. If you're using way huge, zvex, fulltone, etc. through a decent tube amp, you'll notice a huge difference.



People choose better amps because the overall tone will be warmer, even on the clean channel, and they have much more personality. Also, tube amps distort beautifully when you drive them, vs a solid state which actually sounds worse as you increase the volume.

As for all of the amateur gear I've seen listed in this thread - there are plenty of alternatives available that will improve your tone tenfold. For example -

Tuner - Korg Pitchblack
OD/Dist - Fulltone OCD
Compression - original MXR Dyna Comp
Delay - TC nova delay for digital, or MXR carbon copy for analog.
Reverb - EHX holy grail
wah - zvex wah probe

This post was edited by Jebsus on Aug 30 2009 08:33am

How do I go about choosing what pedal to get? I assume I'd need a distortion pedal first.

Can anybody help me figure out which one to get? Let me know what information you need to go about choosing one.

I would have to disagree. My Line 6 XT LIve Pro sucks a fucking dick, where as my tone with my BOSS MT-2 is a lot better then my amp head itself
and the POD put together. Though, when I get my new head I'm going to stop using pedals all together.

boss pedals rule! metal zone and the eq's combo is so heavy it'll kill small children

I do like the tone and sound I can get from from my MT-2 but it won't and can't compare
with the amp head sound of, say, a Mesa Boogie Mark IV or Mark V or any other high end
model for example.

It will definetly kill anyone for an ear for tone.

Most Boss pedals are not very good. I would say their chorus and delay are not bad. But the distortion and other effects, you can get much better for around the same price. Unless you are talking Keeley modded or something of the sort.

This post was edited by aokmaster15 on Aug 31 2009 06:37am