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So a girl from a socially disadvantaged family I mentor has been learning guitar and showing IMO real promise and compositional talent and I want to buy her a small pedal board but I've bought her a secondhand Microbrute for her coming birthday already and I'm wanting to spend as little as possible on this. I've six daughters so they have already hoovered up all my spare pedals (or just all my pedals if you ask them), so what I want is the cheapest of the cheap but as good as I can get.

So please only pedals you have direct experience of.

For her guitar and synth I'd like to get (possibly mini pedals) ; analogue delay, chorus, digital reverb and a possibly a traditional fuzz. I've already sorted her a distortion.

As I said i want to pay very little for this as next up I'm fixing a bass I have for her and I'm hoping to sort her a better guitar from santa (probably a parts whatsit). As I said the kid has IMO really good style and developing an interest in post punk, darkwave and minimal wave music and I'd like to encourage this.

D

The Marshall pedals are pretty decent value I think, the delay and the reverb sound pretty good and you can often find them used on eBay for pretty cheap.

You're a good dude, D! I'm not personally as big of a fan of the mini pedals, but I've played some of the Mooer stuff and it's solid, especially for a beginner. I haven't used a ton of their stuff, but I had both the Reecho Pro and the ShimVerb Pro, and the algorithms on both sounded really good. I can only assume that the smaller single pedals are the same algorithms (just less of them).

Mooer Audio EchoVerb
Two-in-one delay and reverb, but I think you can only run one or the other.

Mooer Audio Red Truck Multi-Effect
This probably isn't what you're looking for, but it's got most of what you're looking for, with an effects loop too! Never used one though.

If you can find them, the old 7 series Ibanez pedals are great, especially the DE-7 Delay/Echo. I had one and it sounded fantastic. Used Boss would be great for a beginner too!

Also not a Mini-pedal guy...
Can‘t just argue about standard sized stuff (and big boxes)!
Definitely +1 on the Ibanez DE-7! Was my first delay and I still have and play it - after 15+ years - so I‘d call that solid!
Besides the 7-series the Soundtank series Is pretty decent priced - haven‘t tried their recent mini-pedals - but could be really cool too!

Also the Joyo/Harley Benton stuff is unexpectedly pretty good and reeeeaaally cheap! Tried their OCD-clone and the „American Tone“ (Fender style Preamp) and I think one of their delays so far...
The electro harmonix stuff can be had quite cheap (especially used) too!

And of course (another one’s) diy-kits!

What kind of Fuzz do you have in mind?

Perhaps pushing the budget a few hairs over the edge for this kind of project, but in the cheapish range, sorting her out with Ibanez Delay and Chorus Minis (warning the narration in the clips is not for the pure of soul, but gives a good representation of the sounds) would set her up well for the analog delay and chorus slices of the pie. I've experience with and can vouch for both, the delay was on my board for a long time and it's one of the best sounding analog delays I've played full stop regardless of size or price range. The Ibanez mini line also screams quality in a way a lot of pricepoint-comparables could only whisper and would probably have a better resale value if she changed her tastes down the road. Again, pushing the budget a bit but could be had for $USD 50-75 used each if you don't mind scrounging eBay and the like a bit.

Moving on to the Plastic Fantastic end of the spectrum, you might look out for a Dinosaur (I think there's an Arion branded version too) DCH-1 stereo chorus--the build quality leaves a lot to be desired, but it sounds horrible (digital artifacts galore, laser beam brightness) in a way that's most pleasing for this kind of music. I got mine for $25 brand new. At a similar pricepoint, the Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz has been lauded around these parts as a skid row alternative to the Boss FZ-2, and I'll be damned if I could've told the one I've played apart from the real thing in a blind test.

Lastly, a bit of a departure but you might also consider just getting her an iRig for ~$40 if there's an iPad around the house. It removes the tactile knob-twiddling aspect, but effects in Garageband and Amplitube are surprisingly decent and I got on with them just fine while all my 'real' pedals were in storage as I lived out of a suitcase the past few months. It would also provide her a means to record her compositions in a portable and easy-to-use format.

I absolutely love the Ibanez AD-MINI.

It's very cheap and sounds really, really great (also very small).

Despite being my least-expensive delay, I don't think less of it than my others... it doesn't sound worse, it's just operationally-simpler.

gave you a PM david.

I’ve had good luck with Behringer and Joyo pedals. I gift them to friends and have ended up picking up a couple that impressed me. The TC Electronic budget line from a few years ago was also great. Basically Behringers with better cases. They even have a Juno chorus in a pedal too.

Also, used Boss pedals can be a great value. SD-1’s and DS-1’s are practically given away.

The mini Ibanez pedals are great. Solid (!) and sound great. Not super cheap, but a good value.

I've had both the delay and chorus and they punch way above their size (if not weight -- they're solid little things). Both are on par with the classic vintage ones. The Fuzz is supposedly really good, too, but EHX has a ton of flavors there as well. The little Mooer pedals might be a good option as well (if not quite the same quality).

Great and generous project. I hope she continues to be inspired (and inspiring).

I'm not sure how cheap you want cheap to be, but if dirt's not a concern and $120 US is in the budget, the zoom CDR would fill the bill. One pedal with all the effects, and a very good sounding one at that. Admittedly, I'm a bit of an evangelical about that pedal, but that's not for no good reason.

And I'll second the recommends on Joyo stuff. It's worth the money. Behringer I've had a couple of, and they were both good for the price, though ultimately neither stuck around forever.

One i have looked into for delay was a Movall Centipede, and also got a Dr J Shadow Echo. Both very cheap.

Certainly TC electronic distortions from the cheaper series get a good rep, just clones, as are a lot of chinese mini-pedals on ebay.

For verb many use the ms70cdr or other Zooms (the 50 has an update to have same patches?).
Well it is a multi-fx, so that would cover many bases.
If want to find your sound, then multifx are great- it means you only have to press a button rather than buy a whole new pedal.

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I see a lot of big spenders in the list still

These are the ones I have:

Fuzz: Azor 303 mini for $20 (Big Muff Pi clone)
Rat: Mulady/Moskey/Ammoon Black Rat for $25
Klon: Ammoon/Mulady Golden Horse $28
A used Boss DS-1 are often inexpensive $30 pedals.

Sort through the 60 cycle hum channel as he's been reviewing a lot of the $20 mini pedals. Including reverb, delay, compressors, and more. Price ranging from $17-$30 each off Amazon/ebay.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... fordaboard

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There's a lot of dirt cheap mini's floating around Amazon these days. The Kmise stuff (also under many different brand names, e.g. Naomi) is rehoused Joyo. Azor is Caline. I've got a few Mosky pedals as well. Sound good but cheaply constructed.

Here are my impressions of the mini-pedals I have:

Mosky Spring Reverb: Great verb pedal, the dwell control actually will allow you to go into feedback! About $30
Mosky Black Rat Distortion: Two distinct distortion types, both very good but not the greatest. About $30
Rowin Trelicopter: Great tremolo, the bias control allows for a broad variety of tremolo shapes. About $35
Tomsline digital delay: Three different echo types, all very good but not quite as good as some stand-alones. About $40
Mosky MM Silver Overdrive: Great pedal, Separate bass and treble tone controls are a plus. About $25
Nux Monterey Vibe: Very good, two different vibe effects, tap tempo is a great feature. About $70

I have a Caline 6 output power supply (CP02) that works well and can be tucked under a slanted pedal board, about $30

6 very usable effects that fit on a pedal board 14 inches by 6 inches!

The Trelicopter is the one I like the best, but I'm very pleased with all of them. They all seem to be built OK but time will tell if they last.

The Reverb, the Echo and the Vibe need a full 300 ma, the others will work with 100ma.

What amp does she have? If it could use an upgrade, that would be money well spent. Better amp, fewer pedals?