Guitar pedal help for the clueless!

[Tryingtobeorganisedthisyear201]

Hi, my 15 year old son has spent lockdown buying and teaching himself to play the electric guitar. I was thinking of getting him a pedal board with a few pedals for christmas but I'm clueless as to which ones do what.
He has mentioned a distortion pedal and mentioned one that sounds like a piano?! As he is a beginner I am looking at the lower end ones. Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks

I’ve just spoken to DH as he plays the electric guitar (funnily enough I’ve bought him a tube screamer which is a distortion pedal for Christmas) he said the below are basic pedals if your building a bored. He said he will then have plenty to play with and find his tone.

• Chorus
• Distortion
• Delay
• Sustain

Power supply box to power them.

Ugh I pressed send to soon! This is the tube screamer I got DH

www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/guitar-pedals/overdrive-pedals/ibanez-tube-screamer-mini-overdrive-pedal

Dd has a distortion that we bought her when she was living here and she has a loop "thingy" a good music shop will help

Thanks so much, that's exactly the kind of advice I was hoping for. I knew this was a good place to ask. I'll go and have a look at those ones. 😁

My ex used to play guitar and from experience I would say definitely ask which pedals he wants, if he's said one that sounds like a piano it's likely that he has an exact make and model in mind. It's a bit of a specialist thing and hard to get right if you're not sure what they all do, I found it a bit of a minefield

Thanks! I've tried asking but he doesnt know what the piano sounding pedal is called- I think he saw it used on YouTube and I cant seem to find anything on google as it mostly shows actual piano pedals!

Dd has a converter thing that makes different sounds might be something like that rather than an actual pedal

DH says Boss ME80 is probably what he means but it's about £200.

He has lots of guitars, pedals & amps so generally knows what he's talking about!

Whereabouts in the world are you OP? We can probably recommend a local shop.

Ouch! £200 is a bit too much for his current level! Hanks for the info though. I'm in west Cornwall

Hi
I've just bought my DS, who plays a Boss Tremelo pedal, apparently this is a good make( I'm clueless)
I bought mine on Amazon( I know..) but Anderson's music also have a good range

Oh and DS's was approx £80 also bought leads

Thanks, I've not heard of Anderson's music so I'll check them out along with Amazon.
Thank you everyone for the help!

Another place to check is Gear4Music.

Have purchased several items from them in the past, at competitive prices.

Was just about to suggest Gear4Music.

Beware though OP. Guitars multiply when you're not looking. As do pedals, amps, cables and all the rest of the gubbins that goes with them. The good news is that plectrums go through the wash without damaging anything.

I was also going to suggest gear4music, I actually got DH’s pedal from there as it was cheaper, but Anderson’s came up first in my google search.

Thanks for the gear4music tips and the heads up about the multiplying @DMCWelshcakes 😂😂 luckily they are fairly small as his bedroom is on the small side!

One of the first one's my son got was a loop pedal then he showed me Ed Sheeran using one and I realised what they did.

Don’t just buy random pedals. Also don’t buy a tube screamer. It’s a fantastic, classic pedal but I wouldn’t say a great start for a beginner.
A wah wah pedal is a lot of fun and easy to use.
Otherwise look at the Andertons site at ‘tone city’ pedals. These are all cheap but very good pedals- amazon sells cheap ones too but the quality isn’t great. Tone City ones cost 30-40 GBP I think.
Have a read on the andertons site about the Tone City ones and pick a couple.
You don’t need a pedal board so don’t buy one. Just a couple of pedals and power supplies and he’s good to go- these things are all down to personal preference so go cheap to start with.
For a wah pedal look ah the Jim Dunlop Mini Wah (cry baby). Great value and a very good pedal.

Thanks, I'll take a look at those and maybe skip the pedal board for now if it's not needed 😁

Could someone point me in the direction of a suitable power supply? DS has asked for a wah pedal and a distortion pedal for Christmas and I didn't even consider that they might need a power cable.

www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/guitar-pedals/pedal-power-supplies/stagg-9v-17-amp-dc-adapter-for-guitar-effect-pedals

That’s all you need. They aren’t vital as most pedals run on 9v batteries (some very small ones don’t have room) but if you leave them plugged in the batteries drain and it’s a pain.

Thank you Coffeeand. I've just ordered one - I had visions of this being the teenage guitarist version of not buying batteries for the must have Christmas morning toy

It's an expensive hobby

Thomann and Andertons are good places to look. This is a good beginners guide:

blog.andertons.co.uk/learn/how-to-set-up-your-first-pedalboard

DS suggested this one for a piano pedal:

www.andertons.co.uk/electro-harmonix-key9-electric-piano-machine.

DS designs and makes his own pedals. You can buy kits or separate components. It's not difficult. Maybe your DS might enjoy doing that?

www.musicradar.com/tuition/guitars/how-to-build-guitar-effects-pedals-640441

@orangenasturtium could you tell me more about building your own pedals? I think DS would like to do this but I haven't got the first idea about sourcing the components.

Hang on. I've read to the end of the article. I think I've got all the information I need