Ideal cheap rig

[junkemail86]

the pedal world is ripe with super cheap clones and other goodies.  you could definitely do a full rig with just these kinds of pedals.  what would your ideal cheapo rig look like?  here's one that would give pretty nice tone for <$500:

Wah:   Used Cry Baby or Morley Bad Horsie (so cheap, why bother with something else)
Compressor: Monoprice Compressor 
Overdrive:   Caline Crazy Cacti
Distortion:   Behringer GDI 21
Fuzz:   Joyo Voodoo Octave
Chorus: Danelectro CC-1 Cool Cat Chorus
Flanger: Joyo JF-07
Delay: Behringer Vintage VD400
Tremolo: Joyo JF-09
Phaser: Behringer Vintage Phaser
Reverb: Donner Surge Rotater
EQ: Danelectro Fish n Chips
Boost: Caline Highway Man

[jimilee]

My cheap rig was a behringer v-amp pro with a midi pedal.


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[Willybomb]

Jimi brings up a good point. There's some excellent multis out there now.. I like the look of the zoom g3x and g5x.. Stacks of effects, amps, cab sims, and direct balanced outs... What else do you need?

[Muadzin]

For $500 you can probably get a Line6 HD500X multi, which will give you stacks of FX, amps, cab sims, balanced outs and flexible signal routing. Everything in one unit you can put on stage and plug directly into a DI box. Or 2 if you want stereo. With all those cheap ass pedals you also need to drop money on a pedal board, patch cables and a power supply. Chances are those things will cost you more then all those cheap ass pedals combined. Plus you'd still need an amp.

[solderfumes]

+1 on the multi FX love!  I use a Fender Mustang Floor for my electric tones, because I play electric, acoustic, and keyboards in my band, and I wanted to only carry one amp to practice and gigs.  At the time I bought it, the options were the Line 6 HD Pods, the Vox Tonelab, and the Mustang Floor.  The reputations were that the Line 6 had the best effects but the worst amp models, the Mustang Floor had the best amp models overall, and the Vox had better British/distorted tones.  My time auditioning them in the store confirmed those reputations.  I was only really interested in the amp models, so I went with the Fender.  That unit does everything I needed it to and I was happy enough using it on its own until I caught the DIY bug.  Now I use my own pedals, but the Mustang still provides the amp models, delays, reverbs, and whatever other effects I don't have on my pedalboard.

I don't think the Zoom G3 and G5 existed at the time, or at least I hadn't heard of them, but I recently got a Zoom B3 for bass tones (our bass player quit, and I still don't want to carry more than one amp), and I love it.  The interface on the Zooms is miles better than on any of the other boxes, and is probably reason enough to choose one, frankly.

I'm also a staunch believer in AmpliTube.  I use the plugin in Logic on all my recordings, and have used the iPhone version into a mixing board for quiet rehearsals where everyone is wearing headphones.  It sounds great but I haven't found the iOS version to be robust enough that I would trust it on stage.  The computer version has never let me down, but I don't think depending on my laptop on stage is a recipe for success.  Still, that would be a super cheap and good sounding option.

[Willybomb]

From memory, the Mustang has an insert/loop so you can use other (dirt) pedals with it... That's a pretty cool feature, correct me if I'm wrong, but the others don't have that.

[solderfumes]

From memory, the Mustang has an insert/loop so you can use other (dirt) pedals with it... That's a pretty cool feature, correct me if I'm wrong, but the others don't have that.

That's true, it does.  The lame thing though is that the loop is at the beginning of the signal chain, and you can't program it into the spot between the preamp and power amp, or after the output.

[Muadzin]

So I googled the Fender Mustang Floor and it would appear its out of production. So 2nd hand only.

From memory, the Mustang has an insert/loop so you can use other (dirt) pedals with it... That's a pretty cool feature, correct me if I'm wrong, but the others don't have that.

That's true, it does.  The lame thing though is that the loop is at the beginning of the signal chain, and you can't program it into the spot between the preamp and power amp, or after the output.

My Line6 HD500 also has an insert/loop for dirt pedals, and you can also assign it anywhere into the chain.

[diablochris6]

My cheap rig consists of...

- a Fender Pro 185 SS amp with 2 12" speakers (my dad got it, a Washburn electric, and an Aria Pro bass for $250 at a pawn shop...I stole it from him shortly afterward)
- a Boss DS-1 distortion ($20 on ebay) and CE-5 chorus (birthday gift when I was 16)
- a Washburn Nuno Bettencourt guitar (one of the cheaper models...got it used for $150-200...I also swapped one of the pickups with a Seymour Duncan...so another $80)

I played this for years before I started building stuff. I still use all of this. I haven't saved up enough to buy another amp in my 20 years of playing. I don't play the guitar as often, but I pull it out every once and a while.

[wgc]

Personally, I'd go with one of the tech21 flyrigs.  might still pick one up if I get some extra $$ one of these days.