Any cheap but decent (analog) effect pedal suggestions?

Anything about hardware musical instruments.
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I don't have any yet and not into pedals, but reading some recent posts in other topics kinda sparked my interest a bit.

Considering I am a newbie at this, please recommend some pedals (preferably <= $50) for my first pedal. It could be basically any effect (except maybe compressor), but something interesting, fun and useful and can do a few little things if possible. :help:

Intention: I would like to send any soft synth output from audio interface to the pedal and then record it back in.

Thank you for any suggestions! :)

EDIT: behringer-fx600 any good?
Last edited by LoveEnigma18 on Thu Jun 13, 2019 9:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

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And it would be great if they are USB powered. I assume such are available. :)

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LoveEnigma18 wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 9:47 am And it would be great if they are USB powered. I assume such are available. :)
Erm, no, not really. Guitar pedals tend to use 9V minimum, USB only delivers 5V. Plus very few guitars have USB ports. :wink:
my other modular synth is a bugbrand

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joyo actone

http://www.joyoaudio.com/en/product/show_111.html

It is a simple amp emulator but I imagine it would play very nice with synths.

$30.00
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whyterabbyt wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 10:19 am
LoveEnigma18 wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 9:47 am And it would be great if they are USB powered. I assume such are available. :)
Erm, no, not really. Guitar pedals tend to use 9V minimum, USB only delivers 5V. Plus very few guitars have USB ports. :wink:
Okay, makes sense, thanks. I thought since I am late in the pedal world, pedals might have started working on 5V. USB is ubiquitous after all. ;)

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Scrubbing Monkeys wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 10:28 am joyo actone

http://www.joyoaudio.com/en/product/show_111.html

It is a simple amp emulator but I imagine it would play very nice with synths.

$30.00
Thanks! Looks good, but on quick web search its availability and/or price looks like a concern in my country. :(
EDIT: The company does have some good variety of models. :tu:

Any other suggestions? I am seeing Behringer models a lot (FX-600 looks cool) and they are cheap. Perhaps any recommendation from this brand? Boss and all seem expensive.

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LoveEnigma18 wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 10:53 am
whyterabbyt wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 10:19 am
LoveEnigma18 wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 9:47 am And it would be great if they are USB powered. I assume such are available. :)
Erm, no, not really. Guitar pedals tend to use 9V minimum, USB only delivers 5V. Plus very few guitars have USB ports. :wink:
Okay, makes sense, thanks. I thought since I am late in the pedal world, pedals might have started working on 5V. USB is ubiquitous after all. ;)
9V is more headroom, and its been standard so long its unikely to change; there's even a whole ecosystem of multi-pedal power supplies out there...

as regards the behringers, have a dig through this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApJZa8yCMCQ

and a dig through the rest of his channel

he test a lot of cheaper pedals in various videos, and rates some of behringers pretty well
my other modular synth is a bugbrand

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the only real issue with the behringers is they dont stand up to much "stomping".
for a desktop or even floor, if you arent hammering them they're fine.
a favourite would be the echo machine. a few good delay models in that one :)

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The FX600 won't be better than your DAW effects, and in general software is much better value for digital effects.

Where hardware is arguably still winning is distortion, as it takes a lot of CPU to model distortion circuits accurately without much aliasing. Maybe consider a Boss SD1 or Marshall BB2, which are good overdrive pedals that are solidly built, resellable, are well-regarded and much cheaper than a lot of comparably good options.

FWIW I'm pretty satisfied with the Kuassa distortion plugins, but pretty interested in the TC Tube Pilot. If the demos are to be believed it sounds absolutely horrible in interesting way I've not yet found "in the box". There's also a huge variety of boutique fuzz pedals on the market that have no software equivalent... but how many do you need?

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No sense getting digital FX. Like imrae said, your stock DAW effects do that just fine.

In addition to distortion, Behringer has a legit BBD delay for half your cost ceiling.

Another type to look for is some kind of loopback/feedback routing since doing that in your DAW can be CPU-heavy. I got a VFE Klein Bottle for that reason, can loop virtual instruments through it to virtual effects and back. But it's way past your budget.

Also, you'll probably be wanting some kind of pedal power distributor so factor that into your budget.

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yellowmix wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 4:58 pm No sense getting digital FX. Like imrae said, your stock DAW effects do that just fine.
i understand what you are saying, and yes the sound can be comparable.
the hands on, that's not the same, even with a controller imo. as good as that can be, there is something about the dedicated fx box that is easier to control, by which i mean, push it to feedback, pull back and it tames immediately, software can often take longer to come under control.
ymmv.

but, if behringer do a bbd at that price, dammit! get that now! i love bbd delays :D

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yellowmix wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 4:58 pm VFE Klein Bottle
ps: :band: :party:

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whyterabbyt wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 1:02 pm
LoveEnigma18 wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 10:53 am
whyterabbyt wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 10:19 am
LoveEnigma18 wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 9:47 am And it would be great if they are USB powered. I assume such are available. :)
Erm, no, not really. Guitar pedals tend to use 9V minimum, USB only delivers 5V. Plus very few guitars have USB ports. :wink:
Okay, makes sense, thanks. I thought since I am late in the pedal world, pedals might have started working on 5V. USB is ubiquitous after all. ;)
9V is more headroom, and its been standard so long its unikely to change; there's even a whole ecosystem of multi-pedal power supplies out there...

as regards the behringers, have a dig through this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApJZa8yCMCQ

and a dig through the rest of his channel

he test a lot of cheaper pedals in various videos, and rates some of behringers pretty well

Okay, I get it. Thanks for the link, looks like I will be spending some time with those videos. :tu:

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imrae wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 1:20 pm The FX600 won't be better than your DAW effects, and in general software is much better value for digital effects.

Where hardware is arguably still winning is distortion, as it takes a lot of CPU to model distortion circuits accurately without much aliasing. Maybe consider a Boss SD1 or Marshall BB2, which are good overdrive pedals that are solidly built, resellable, are well-regarded and much cheaper than a lot of comparably good options.

FWIW I'm pretty satisfied with the Kuassa distortion plugins, but pretty interested in the TC Tube Pilot. If the demos are to be believed it sounds absolutely horrible in interesting way I've not yet found "in the box". There's also a huge variety of boutique fuzz pedals on the market that have no software equivalent... but how many do you need?
yellowmix wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 4:58 pm No sense getting digital FX. Like imrae said, your stock DAW effects do that just fine.

In addition to distortion, Behringer has a legit BBD delay for half your cost ceiling.

Another type to look for is some kind of loopback/feedback routing since doing that in your DAW can be CPU-heavy. I got a VFE Klein Bottle for that reason, can loop virtual instruments through it to virtual effects and back. But it's way past your budget.

Also, you'll probably be wanting some kind of pedal power distributor so factor that into your budget.

Thanks guys. Appreciate the suggestions. I will keep the power thing in mind and will check the models mentioned. I cannot spend more than $50, unfortunately, so my options in terms of quality might be limited.

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vurt wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 1:09 pm the only real issue with the behringers is they dont stand up to much "stomping".
for a desktop or even floor, if you arent hammering them they're fine.
a favourite would be the echo machine. a few good delay models in that one :)
Thanks, will check it out. :)

EDIT: Saw some videos, sounds good and interesting. :tu:
Last edited by LoveEnigma18 on Fri Jun 14, 2019 5:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

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