Buying Stomp Box?

Buying Stomp Box?

Truly, gone are the days when the guitar alone could win you accolades. A guitar may be the guitarist’s best friend, but you need the whole gang to back you up. That’s right, the sound enhancers, effects pedals and other studio accessories are also necessary and without them, no live performance could ever be the same. After you have gotten hold of a good amplifier and guitar, it is time to get a good stomp box to fit your needs. Buying stomp box is relatively easier than choosing a guitar or amplifier. However, you still need to know when to go for a stomp box and what the different types of pedals / stomp boxes are available in the market.

Understanding The Difference- Processor vs Stomp Box

Now you might have a decent budget of $40-$60 for your stomp box but the seller might be telling you about the new $100-200 multi effect pedal that has just taken the market by storm and is being picked by every other guitarist. Instead of getting confused out there, better know the different pedal boxes that are there in the market.

Multi Effects Boxes/Processors

Multi effect boxes or the guitar processors are actually digitally programmed guitar accessories that come equipped with a pedal and can help generate several effects including distortion, delay, chorus, flanger, reverb, wah-wah, etc. These multi effect digital guitar processors can also help in making loops and change the amp gates which enable you to select from different pre-set tones of different flagship amplifiers that have been very popular in the past few years.

Dedicated Stomp Boxes

Dedicated stomp boxes are much different from the multi effect processors and to be honest, this is where you should be starting your journey with. The stomp boxes are never going to carry more than two effects into them and you don’t really have much of a choice while using them. The dedicated stomp boxes are low on performance as they do not have many features and different facilities as provided by the multi effects processor but here’s the deal- the stomp box is smaller and much easily portable as well as easy to handle.

Comparing the financial aspect, a stomp box is much cheaper than a multi effect processor that you might just need to spend more than half a day on to understand its operation.

Choosing The Stomp Box

So you are pretty much convinced that stomp box is the better choice for you in the beginning so now, we would directly come to the part on how you should be choosing your stomp box.

1. Know Thy Effects- Yes, knowing is winning half the battle truly applies here. If you know your effects well, you have a greater chance of ending up buying a good stomp box that would be your long term guitar accessory. The different effects that you can go for are distortion, chorus, phase shifting, wah wah, flanger, etc.
2. Fix Your Budget- There is a huge variety when it comes to the models of stomp boxes in your desired effect. Thus, you need to fix your budget to make sure that you have enough left to buy another when you require it later. Don’t always go for the brand as even the non branded ones offer the quality that you would just love to play with.
3. Test Run- Do we need say more than that? Never buy a pedal without checking how well it sounds or how easily you can manage to operate it. The easier it is to operate and the better sound it gives, the more you should be inclined to get it for yourself.
4. Try To Get It From The Store, Not Online- I am not against buying online but it is always better to compromise a few bucks and get it from a store from where you can actually check your pedal beforehand and can compare the sounds easily.

WHAT NOT TO DO

Buying a pedal for yourself is brilliant and as far as I know, there is no guitarist who hasn’t enjoyed getting one for himself. As you already know how to choose one, you should also be aware of a few things that should be avoided while getting a stomp box.

1. Never Overlook Functionality- Functionality and quality of sound is everything. Functionality should be the first thing that you should look out for in your stomp box. No matter what the price or how good the reviews, bad functionality of the stomp box can ruin your guitar jamming sessions as well as practice.
2. Never Settle For Less- Never settle for a low grade stomp box if you think the good one isn’t available in the market for now. You can always wait for the better one to hit the market but getting a bad stomp box, you already know what the outcome can be.
3. Never Trust Blindly- Never trust the brand or the reviews or the sales person’s advice blindly. Consult everyone, listen to yourself only. Until and unless you are completely satisfied, do not go for the buy decision.
4. Never Decide In Hurry- Making a decision in haste can be very bad for your buying process, no matter what instrument or accessory you’re buying. Always research well and wait to know all that you can before you finally buy it.

Remember to follow these steps as well as guidelines before buying your stomp box and you will surely be able to get one of the best stomp boxes to enhance your performance capabilities.