Birthday pedals

[herbychimp]

So I have a dilemma which requires the assistance of experts in two areas. I have to buy birthday gifts for two people (my Dad and an old buddy who is turning 40) both are guitarists so I have decided to get each a pedal. My Dad plays acoustic guitar (Lowden Pierre something or other model through a Fishman amp) . He already has a looper and chorus / reverb on the amp so I was thinking a nice delay pedal. I like the idea of an old analog tape style delay  but I don't want to colour the sound very much.

As for my friend who is turning 40.. well he's an amazingly rhythmic funky guitar player who tends to stick with cleans and light overdrives although he does have a penchant for late 60's early 70s Hendrix style fuzz. He normally gigs with a Robben Ford Fender esprit through an old Hughes & Kettner amp but his tone is generally warm and bluesy. For him I am thinking either a nice transparent boost / overdrive or a gnarly  fuzz face type effect. The Robben Ford model has humbuckers (I think) but pretty smooth and medium- low-output

Any thoughts / ideas on particular models for either b.day would be great - especially as it is a race  against time.


cheers

Stef

[PhilKing]

Check out Guitar and Bass mag this month (the one with Chuck Berry on the cover).  They have a shoot out between analog style delays and you can see the price ranges too.  I have a Strymon El Capistan and a Danelectro Reel Echo, both of which are reviewed.

For the overdrive I would go with something like a Klon Clone (Juansolo on this site makes great ones), or perhaps an Xotic Effects AC boost or BB preamp, though any of the 808 styles are good too.  If you go to the Prymaxe Vintage web site, they have all the pedals with many of them demo'd.

For a fuzz, you could go for one of the new Fuzz Face mini's (there is the Jimi Hendrix model), Death By Audio Fuzz War or, one of my favourites, the Mojo Hand Iron Bell.

For something a bit different look at the Mad Professor Golden Cello, which is an overdrive with delay built in.

Of course all guitarists will give you lots of different options (I have lots of overdrives and fuzzes and can never make my mind up which is my favourite either).