What pedal?

robgilmo

So my wee boy doesnt need an amp for school lessons, he uses his teachers amp, so , I was thinking a pedal.

He uses a Fender Frontman 10G and a Vox Pathfinder 10, both small and boxy, would a pedal be a good option or should I be looking at an amp with effects? The amps he uses have gain so get dirty when needed, but sound very dry, I was thinking a cheap reverb or chorus pedal might work?

Any ideas?

LionAquaLooper

Maybe a simple cheap and small multi fx? Zoom MS70CDR if you don't need dirt and amp sims. 

robgilmo

LionAquaLooper said:

Maybe a simple cheap and small multi fx? Zoom MS70CDR if you don't need dirt and amp sims. 

It woud be too complicated for him, he's 7, I dont want to shy him away from it.

DoctorX

Simple 1 knob phaser?

timbuk02

Ditto looper? Good for teaching how important timing is. Even if the looping/layering is a bit too tricky just now, its still a neat way to 'record' and hear what you sound like.

LionAquaLooper

robgilmo said:

LionAquaLooper said:

Maybe a simple cheap and small multi fx? Zoom MS70CDR if you don't need dirt and amp sims. 

It woud be too complicated for him, he's 7, I dont want to shy him away from it.

Ah he's 7. TC Hall of Fame Mini. 1 knob reverb. Done. 

Flanging_Fred

Honestly, I’d save up for a better amp. 

The Fender and Vox are fine as practice amps (I have the slightly larger Pathfinder myself) but an amp with a larger speaker would most likely be more satisfying in the long run. I started out playing for the first few years with a nasty little practice amp with a 5” speaker and I bought some pedals to make it better. Only when I finally got a Marshall valvestate 80 to replace it did it feel like I was getting a ‘proper’ guitar sound.

EricTheWeary

3 knob low budget analog delay and make space ship noises. 

Have a look at the Tone City and Landlord FX on Andertons. If you buy two they throw in a 5 way PSU. Add a patch cable (some velcro and a bit of board if so inclined) and then he’s got a mini pedalboard for £80.
Almost anything overdrive/fuzz/distortion will crap out through those amps so delay/chorus/reverb type pedals. 

TTony

robgilmo said:

 would a pedal be a good option or should I be looking at an amp with effects? 

The answer, of course, is always "both"


As others have said, get a small multi-fx.  Much more flexibility and more sounds and more tweakable in one of those than you'll get built into an amp.

As for not wanting to scare him off, get a multi-fx with user presets.  Spend a little time (with him maybe) setting up some decent sounds, save them, and then all he needs to do is pretty button 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 (or whatever) to get the sound he wants easily and immediately.  When he gets bored of those sounds, make him some more.

stickyfiddle

Put me down for "Katana or similar" - best of both worlds and will be a much bigger step up than putting a pedal through a tiny practice amp. 

DesVegas

The answer, as always, is a Rat

ICBM

I would get a simple multi-FX and not underestimate the ability of a 7-year-old to learn how to use it…

Just for once I’m not going to say the ME-50, because it’s rather big and heavy to carry to school, but there are a lot of smaller and older but still decent models by Boss, Digitech, Zoom, and Korg. If he has two amps he can even have fun with stereo, which will offset the ‘smallness’ of their sound to some extent.

robgilmo

ICBM said:

I would get a simple multi-FX and not underestimate the ability of a 7-year-old to learn how to use it…

Just for once I’m not going to say the ME-50, because it’s rather big and heavy to carry to school, but there are a lot of smaller and older but still decent models by Boss, Digitech, Zoom, and Korg. If he has two amps he can even have fun with stereo, which will offset the ‘smallness’ of their sound to some extent.

Ooooh, I never clicked on that, the stereo option, thats opened up a whole new train of options.
Its not for school, he is sorted in that dept, its just something to keep him interested at home.

It could even be that the guitar isnt his instrument, I remember when he was very young I took him to the guitar shop and he went straight for the drums, I couldnt get him away from them much to the dismay of everyone else in the quite small shop.
I took him to PMT last week and again he made a B line for the drums, they were electric kits so not too much distress for the shop staff, so I may have a drummer on my hands. 

Snags

Ask him if he wants to learn drums

If he says no, I'd try to find a more modern equivalent of an old Korg G3 - it's a basic multi, but with direct physical controls like the Boss ME series, but smaller, lighter etc. 

chrisj1602

I picked up a used Fender Mustang I amp really cheap a few years back, has some decent amp models and basic effects.

Sporky

DesVegas said:

The answer, as always, is a Rat

I was about to ask what I should have for lunch - thank you. 

ICBM

robgilmo said:

It could even be that the guitar isnt his instrument, I remember when he was very young I took him to the guitar shop and he went straight for the drums, I couldnt get him away from them much to the dismay of everyone else in the quite small shop.
I took him to PMT last week and again he made a B line for the drums, they were electric kits so not too much distress for the shop staff, so I may have a drummer on my hands. 

This definitely needs to be encouraged. There’s a world shortage of drummers, and a surplus of guitarists.

LionAquaLooper

ICBM said:

robgilmo said:

It could even be that the guitar isnt his instrument, I remember when he was very young I took him to the guitar shop and he went straight for the drums, I couldnt get him away from them much to the dismay of everyone else in the quite small shop.
I took him to PMT last week and again he made a B line for the drums, they were electric kits so not too much distress for the shop staff, so I may have a drummer on my hands. 

This definitely needs to be encouraged. There’s a world shortage of drummers with their own drumkits, and a surplus of guitarists.

FTFY   
I know a few drummers but none have their own kits (and transportation).  End of the day they're just guys with drumsticks then.

robgilmo

I would love to encourage drums, my neighbours would be pretty pissed though and the electric kits we looked at were 3k! How do drummers learn without pissing off their neighbours?

CarpeDiem

robgilmo said:

I would love to encourage drums, my neighbours would be pretty pissed though and the electric kits we looked at were 3k! How do drummers learn without pissing off their neighbours?

You shouldn’t need to spend £3k on an electric drum kit, as starter kits are around £300 new. I’d suggest taking your son to a music store again and let him try out drums and guitar so he can focus on what interests him. You may then need to have a friendly chat with your neighbours……

LionAquaLooper

Electronic kits have come a long way, and less expensive.  They still take up space though obviously.