What Was Your First Pedal/Effect?

[jwyles90]

My very first pedal was a good ol' fashioned Tube Screamer back in like, 2006. I was a teenager and was playing a Squire through a Fender 2x12 solid state amp. I remember thinking that a Tube Screamer was supposed to sound like a distortion pedal (since it had 'Screamer' in its name), and could never seem to get a good sound out of it. If only 16 year old me knew then what I know now...

 

[eh là bas ma]

6 or 7 years ago, first time I went to a real store to find a stompbox, I asked for a distortion. I was a complete beginner with effects. The owner asked what kind of music I was playing. "Metal" i answered. He sold me a Metal Muff w/ top boost from EHX for 110 euros. Still have it, it's quite good I think (top boost isn't really useful to me, though). But i never really made an interesting song with it... Now I almost never play with it, probably the worst artwork i have ever seen on a stompbox , it's really ugly so I put a nice postcard on the enclosure to hide it.

First builds were 2 musikding kits, 7 or 8 years ago : SHO booster (The HardOne) and an mxr phase 90 clone (Der Phaser). I unboxed the booster recently to fit a veroboard Rat inside. I still use the phaser, it's one of the best I ever tried, especially with a distortion or overdrive after it. Der Phaser is even more useful to me than the expensive and beautiful Walrus Lillian I bought later .

 

[MichaelW]

My first pedal was an MXR Distortion Plus back in the day. I have no clue where it is now, a lot of stuff disappeared during my misspent youth.

I've actually got the PedalPCB version to build the Dist+/DOD250 switchable hybrid for nostalgia's sake. In my queue.

 

[sticky1138]

When I was a teenager, I didn't know what I was doing and bought that big red Dunlop Fuzz Face and played it through a solid state combo. It was the shrillest, fartiest, most unusable guitar tone imaginable, but I thought it looked cool as hell!