I have played guitar for probably 25 years now, mostly Jazz and Blues, but I am still what you would call a shy guitarist. That’s not to say that I haven’t played in public, I have, but in music stores for some reason I hate all the ego’s and testosterone feeling going around so I end up going when it’s not busy or using the internet to do extensive research before making a decision. Which is funny because the people playing in the music store usually cannot tell that the guitar they’re wailing on mercilessly is out of tune or more importantly no one really cares about how good their guitar playing is (or is not in many cases). I would kill for a guitar shop that had some sound rooms in the back where I could spend 15-30 minutes trying out equipment without others watching and listening.
So back to the story, I’m in the market for a blues pedal. Typically when I want some edge or bite to my sound I turn up the amp volume. Problem is these days I have a little one and when I have time to play is usually when she’s asleep. My options are either sound proof my man cave or buy something that will give me the same sound as an amp in overdrive…without cranking triple digit decibals. So I am taking the easier and cheaper route and am in the marketing for what they call a tube screamer or overdrive pedal and though there are only a handful that are recognized as contenders I did run across a really cool site that tries to compare 2 pedals against the same song flipping between them every 10 seconds or so. Here is the site: OD Pedal Comparinator
I have watched enough youtube video’s and forum articles to make my eyes swim. I think to get my feet wet I am going to low ball my effort and try the Boss SD1 since it’s only $50. The other two pedals I am interested in are the Ibanez TS-808 and the Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet, both going for about 150$. Boss also has a couple of Amp shaper pedals one specifically being the Fender ’59 Bassman. I decided to go low to make sure that my assumptions of being able to get a screaming tone at lower volumes is going to work before I put $150 down on something that could end up collecting dust. I’ll post my findings once I have had some time with the new pedal.