ORIGINAL: voodoochyl

Fly,
I luvs talking music and instruments!!! Okay, sounding good (tone), is a life long quest in my opinion. I am ALWAYS trying to improve my tone and that is done several ways:

1) Guitar pick-ups...not only single coil, humbuckers, active, and passive, but who makes the pick-up. The drag about pick-ups is you can't hear how they sound in your guitar until after they are in.

2) Amp...please use a tube amp. They rule. You can get modeling amps with the effects in them, but they are un-natural sounding to my ears, unless you like that processed kind of sound. Also, how you adjust your EQ on the amp is very important and changes depending on the room you are playing in. Every place sounds different and you have to make minor adjustments. My out of the box setting for my '59 Bassman reissue is LOW: 4 (out of 12), MIDS: 3-5 (lots of mids sound like **** to me), HIGHS: 4.

3) Guitar...guitars are made out of various *tonewoods*. Alder, Ash, Korina, and my personal favorite Swamp Ash, to name a few. They all have different tonal charactaristics. I've found a cheap guitar sounds cheap and a good guitar sounds good. You would be surprised at how much guitar you can get for your money if you order from Warmoth and have a local guy put the guitar together for you. Just a thought, but a lot of research.

4) Strings...swear to Baby Jesus this makes a huge difference. I play 11 gague strings and they sound rich and good. SRV played 13 gague strings...and his tone is legendary. It is rumored that he would tear up his finger tips so badly that he would put superglue on them, adheer them to his forearm, and rip away. Tuning down 1/2 step also makes the tone really warm and rich.

5) To answer the question...Effects...so many options! I like an Ibanez Tube Screamer or a Boss Overdrive pedal modded by the Analog Man (use Google). You have to crank the amp to get a good distortion tone with those pedals however, and livingroom level isn't as good. I like using delay (also Boss), and am currently lookig for a Voodoo Lab tremolo pedal. Wah pedal is a must...I have an Ibanez Sceamin Deamon that is okay, but Crybaby's are popular, and I have heard the Steve Vai Bad Horsie by Morley is killer. I think Phase Shifter, Flanger, and Chorus pedals are stupid and a waste of money. You can also get one of those modeling multi-effect set ups by POD or something by BOSS/Roland. Not my cup of tea, but you have limitless options with those.

Sorry for such a long post. I am very passionate about gear. I think you should think of your favorite guitar players, and research what they use. Then, go to Guitar Center (I hate that place), and plug into everything you can until something sounds good to you. Keep in mind, though, the best way to get better at playing is to practice without any effects. Good luck bro, and feel free to ask about gear anytime.