Guitar Effects Pedal Info Please?

No one will answer this question better than your own ears. Go to the music store, bring your guitar, and test out their pedals. If you can use an amp similar to yours, with settings similar to yours, you are a step ahead of the game.

Keep in mind, all the recordings you listened to are cabinets that have been mic'd, expensive heads and speakers, and they go through a rack of effects typically. They also all change the pickups in their guitars (Schenker has his own signature pickup).

Im a big fan of Boss as a standard. You can get the boutique stuff too... but let your own ears be the judge. And stay away from Zoom pedals, they are a pain to operate.

They have special bass effects. If you are running a guitar through a bass amp, you might not get great tone, and would probably want an MXR 10 band EQ. The Modded DS-1's are good as an overdrive pedal, instead of a straight distortion pedal.... meaning, you'll run it on top of the distortion already on your amp, or to add a little crunch to the clean channel. I have one and I'm looking to sell it. Actually, it's modded by the Whizzer and has a special 2 switch mod and is pretty sweet which adds more distortion and bottom end to the unit. I'm not sure he makes it anymore.

The boss ds-1 is really not a great pedal on its own. It's basic in getting basic tones. I would suggest the Boss metal zone over that one, which isn't a great pedal either, but might be better. It has a muddy tone, so I had the Whizzer modify that one too and it works great for adding bottom end to my tone, but again, it's more of an overdrive now.... played alone without the help of your amps distortion, the pedal sounds thin with only trace amounts of distortion, when compared to the unmodified pedal... but the tone is much better.

Keeley makes a great modified TR-2 tremolo pedal.

I honestly don't think the DS-1 is what you're looking for. To my ears, the DS-1 has more of a "Nirvana/Foo Fightes/grunge-ish" tone, and that sooo doesn't strike me as what you're looking for. The Keeley mod is a good one, and does improve the overall tone of the pedal... why don't you try comparing YouTube videos of it before and after the Keeley mod to see what you think?

And outdated technology? Who said that? They = dumb. That's like dissing on tubes - it's just retarded. Vacuum tube technology is old, outdated, almost completely outdated or obsolescent by now... yet we still love how they sound. Crazy thing - sometimes older can be just as good, if not better....

You will want a distortion pedal, yes. I would normally recommend a multifx unit like a Line 6 POD, but I hate the way their distortion sounds/plays. Don't get me wrong, its worth looking at, simply because of the versatility and how many other tones you can get when you play something like that, though. Just because I personally hate Line 6 doesn't mean that it's intrinsically evil or anything - you owe it to yourself to try one out. I don't have a high opinion of Digitech in general either, but because of the price point, it's also worth trying out the RP- series multifx pedals.

I would personally say that a Keeley modified Metal Zone might be the way you want to go if you're looking for a big crunchy distorted tone. The unmodified Metal Zone might be a little too "80's metal" tone-wise.... but once its modified it really does open up and become something incredible all its own. The only sucky thing is that Keeley mods = lots more money! Again, comparing vis-a-vis via YouTube would be strongly recommended.

I love modding pedals and that kind of thing, so to me doing a simple (simple!!!) pedal or amp mod isn't a big deal - pull out the soldering iron and go to town, y'know? Desoldering two caps alone on the Metal Zone really opened it up and gave it a fuller, more natural tone (although it did add a bit of noise back in... gotta fix that....) but not everyone's into playing with a burning hot piece of metal....

The search for the Holy Grail of Tone is a rough one. Might not be a bad idea to just grab your guitar, go to your local Guitar Center/Sam Ash/whatever, and just sit down and start playing!

EDIT: I actually own a Marshall Jackhammer - its a pretty sweet pedal, I'm very happy with it. The hardest part to "get" about it was that its very easy to overload its input - with high-output pickups its easy to slam it too hard and have it kinda sound like crap. Again, something I'll hope to have a chance to look at here at some point, but I've found that lowering the gain (the "overdrive" setting vs the "distortion" setting) and rolling back the volume on my guitar seems to help keep it in good tone land.

And man, I bought that pedal at Guitar Center for 30$ used... I think they disco'd it... I swear, guitarists are idiots, because you know that the only reason they'd disco it is because people couldn't figure out how to use it properly. Same thing with the Metal Zone.... which is another great pedal you can get for half of retail easily used....

Saul

Just another suggestion is you might want to consider a multi-effects pedal like a Zoom G2.1u or a Line6 POD. Those would allow you to experiment with different patches and types of effects. I found this really helpful when I was starting to play electric guitar and didn't really know much about effects. You can pick and choose the types of effects you want, tweak the parameters, dial in the EQ, and store patches. It allows you to experiment and tweak until you get a sound you like and then save it. Once you get more experienced with effects you can then choose the specific pedals you want (the multi-effects pedals aren't good for live performances but are great for practicing and studio work).

As far as distortion pedals, I really like the Blues Driver pedal but that might be exactly the sound you're looking for.

Shop used and save yourself some cash too. I only paid $60 for my Zoom G2.1u pedal and it was like new.

The Ibanez Tubescreamers are probably what you're looking for. I suggest either the TS-808 or the TS-9

Another good option is the Bad Monkey. But the Tubescreamer is a pedal that EVERYONE MUST HAVE. The TS-9 has a wider range of sounds than the TS-808, but the TS-808 has warmer tones than the TS-9, and that's probably the tone you're looking for. The TS-808 is the first tubescreamer model, and Cliff Burton used one in "pulling teeth(Anethesia)" AND "For Whom the Bell Tolls". If that's your thing. Still, it does offer almost every tone I want.

A Marshall Jackhammer is essentially an 'amp in a pedal'. It sounds like a JCM800, basically. It's got plenty of tone-shaping controls as well. Should be perfect for you.

I would suggest you look into the digitech line of stomp boxes. They have a metal distortion and also a fuzz box, depending on your needs. And age doesn't matter, I have an 8 year old distortion box and that's all I use. Plus in reality nothing beats the old tech, ask any real musician.