When should i get my first guitar effect pedal and what kind should i get??

Question

I have a line 6 spider 30 watt amp and a Gibson les paul double cutaway.

Answer 1

Kind've a shame, putting a Gibson through a POS Line 6.

The Line 6 already has a lot of built-in effects and junk, and honestly you won't see a huge degree of improvement if you start getting pedals and whatnot.

My personal advice would be to get an amp that doesn't have the built-in effects, preferably tube, and start from there. Kustom, Epiphone, Fender all have tube amps for under 200$, and even though they're only 5-10w, will be just as loud as your 30w line 6.

Bring your guitar to guitar center and try a few of the different amps I mentioned. If you can hear a difference, then you'll know what I'm talking about.

The pedals you get will certainly depend on your preferred style. A blues guitarist might want an ibanez tubescreamer for soloing, an indie guitarist might want a delay pedal or a flanger or phaser pedal for the swirling/ambient sounds, a country player might want a chorus pedal to make simple chords and fills sweeten up a bit.

I love chorus and phaser sounds - my single note trippy stuff sounds cooler.

Multifx pedals are a definite way to go. They don't always have the quality of tone that separate pedals do, but it's one way to go. I have a Boss GT-3 that I love, and I use it for just the clean sounds - I can dial in big swooshy stuff, or ambient delays (ding.. ding.. ding...), or washes of fuzz, etc.

Saul