Effectology!

[kbit]

I hate to be that dude, but I think doing is the best way to learn. Happy accidents are bound to occur with experimentation.

[yallerhon]

I would have thought "Electronics for Guitarists" would be an important start!

http://www.amazon.com/Electronics-Guita ... 1461440866

[jrmy]

While videos aren't perfect by any stretch, I always prefer them to reading about pedals.

Some places to start on YouTube would be Nick Jaffe's stuff (user name JustNick), or Kayzer's (username Kayzer), or Excane's (username MrExcane). You can also check out the vids from retailers - Pro Guitar Shop, or Prymaxe come to mind. Builders will often do demos of their own stuff - Earthquaker Devices do excellent demos, and Aen from Dwarfcraft (on YouTube as theonetrueaen) are both hilarious and awesome.

There's also this DVD, which I haven't watched myself, but seems potentially fantastic - [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBpkcERX1Ug[/youtube]

[smallsnd/bigsnd]

there is the whole EHX effectology youtube series as well for some interesting ideas.

[ryan summit]

i was in this position a year ago
im like a sponge for knowledge
when i get interested in something
info about effects isnt the easiest just to
search guitar pedal
and end up with a decent read
zillions of adds come up to weed through
besides going through backpages of forums like this
i went through effectsbay archives too
and also clicked on EVERY ONE of his links
and i was obsessed with thatwebsite
where they have diagrams of bands rigs
i think that was pedalgeek or somethin
what i was really surprised at
was the different subcultures within the effects world
never realized it was that important
what really works is:
BUY AND TRY
youll learn so much about what your lookin for
if you buy the wrong thing
and everything is resellable
id say start with used stuff
you will sell everything that you first buy
first pedal i bought was the big muff w/tone wicker
(which just got demod on effectsbay btw,and is as harsh as it sounds)
as much as i hated it
it helped me put all the infinite tone adjectives i read
into perspective
and yeah watch alot of demos
i had watched all of excanes demos
before i knew anything like ILF existed
good luck
oh and a good start is show us what you got

[01010111]

At one time I was going to write a series of articles for my bandmates to read so I could stop explaining what effects did what. I only wrote one explaining what distortion, overdrive, boost, fuzz and bitcrushing are. The next was going to be about phasers, univibes, choruses, flangers, and the Leslie rotating speaker; but they never read the first one, so I didn't write anymore...

Serious suggestion:

BUY AND TRY

And looking up the rigs of artists you like isn't a bad way to start out either; just look up their rigs and then find videos that demo the pedals, so you can figure out what does what.

I think it's guitargeek not pedalgeek that does those cool diagrams.

[Bassus Sanguinis]

And: Hang out in here, people post their own vids and share them here, lots of happy accidents happening in them. Also remember, the target sound is depending not only on the (combination of) pedals but on Your instrument and the amp, too.

[sonidero]

Awww guys we're so helpful... That book looks cool but it's only been out for 9 months and I NEED an ART OF THE STOMPBOX DVD... I can't find it to watch anywhere, and it's been out awhile... Did anyone here ever get a copy??? Wanna do an ILF Netflix with one movie???

[bigchiefbc]

While videos aren't perfect by any stretch, I always prefer them to reading about pedals.

Some places to start on YouTube would be Nick Jaffe's stuff (user name JustNick), or Kayzer's (username Kayzer), or Excane's (username MrExcane). You can also check out the vids from retailers - Pro Guitar Shop, or Prymaxe come to mind. Builders will often do demos of their own stuff - Earthquaker Devices do excellent demos, and Aen from Dwarfcraft (on YouTube as theonetrueaen) are both hilarious and awesome.

This is good advice right here. If you just want to learn what effects do what, just watch a bunch of pedal demos by ProGuitarShop, Prymaxe, JustNick and Gearmandude. Between those 4, you'll hear a few demos of basically every effect on earth.

[MannequinRaces]

http://www.amazon.com/Sound-FX-Unlockin ... d_sim_b_64

[goosekevin]

Just nick has some of the best demo/explanations ever
Got me into a lot of cool stuff when I was first fretting into pedals
Explains things in a really succinct way

[ryan summit]

before i signed up for ilf
i was gettin my knowledge from stonerrock lives
all i had was the fender mustang amp
and johns df2
i was so broke
and was tryin to learn about gear
just by reading and watching and lurking
one day i couldnt take it anymore
my first post was a thread
just started playin again/my gear sucks
i really bugged out
detailed my whole setup and took pictures
theres so many directions to go with this shit
they gave me a bunch of ideas
and i went with it
most informative thing for me
is two people talkin bout how they use a pedal
not only do you know its good
but its like a 3d idea of what it can do
one dude is a/the other is b
and you can kind of visualize y
where its gonna end up in your rig
what its gonna do to your sound
and this is why im so freakin addicted to this place
oh sorry..... handsome devils to boot!

[zRobertez]

Another +1 for just nick. He's real about it. The new prymaxe demos don't do it for me so much anymore
I really dug prymaxe evan

[kbit]

Another +1 for just nick. He's real about it. The new prymaxe demos don't do it for me so much anymore
I really dug prymaxe evan

Agreed. The latest Prymaxe demos are too bluesy for me.

[Tristan]

I don't want to 'drop the bomb' but this site has got lots of info too and it's nicely categorized in effect styles: http://www.effectsdatabase.com
I guess, like music, with effects it's also about finding your style, which type of effects and which specific pedals work for you and which don't.
If you look at artists rigs you'll see lots of classics which can be a good starting point, a guy who has some nice video's of those classics is blondegraemey, you can look him up on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/blondegraemey
The best however is sitting down with some boxes yourself and actually trying them out, mabe there's a nice shop in your area that has some cool things you can try, or better still hook up with a fellow musician who has a nice collection, most of us pedal geeks like to share and spread the disease, whaha.