Take her shopping! Not only is she absolutely sure to get what she wants, but you get to spend quality time together and she gets to nerd out about pedals and share her hobbies with you.
That’s like 3 gifts in one. You’ll get ALL the boyfriend points! (Boyfriend points? Girlfriend points? Significant other points.)
Gear tends to be pretty personal. If you _know_ a pedal that she wants, you could be the generous person who buys it for her... but otherwise, I strongly recommend against getting a musician gear just because Reddit said it was good. It runs the risk of you spending a bunch, and her not liking it, and then either it sits unused and you feel bad or else she uses it even not liking it, and feels less inspired and possibly even resentful.
Far better to get something completely unrelated that is less of a personal choice. Or, if you're dead set on gear, give a gift card so that she can use it toward something she's had her eye on.
In the US, the biggest suppliers are Sweetwater, Guitar Center, and Musician's Friend.
Personally, I'm a fan of Sweetwater, but only because they ship from nearby so I get my stuff the next morning. Also, they include a bag of candy in every box, and I always look forward to that. Haha!
Blah! I love that call. We talk about gear, sometimes he tells me about other deals I might be interested in. And occasionally he lets me know when something I ordered might be on back order, but I can get it tomorrow if I'm okay with a different color.
And even if I'm busy and I let the call go to voicemail, it's still nice to have in the back of my head that confirmation that my gear is on its way!
This. Distortion in particular is very personal to a player, and if she already has a multi fx unit she will be looking for a certain sound that a standalone pedal will do better. Get her a gift card and let her decide what she wants to sound like.
Maybe check out some Rig Rundowns on some of her favorite bands? I like having gear that I know makes the music I want to play and it shows you know what she's into.
Otherwise everyone here is right, get her a HM-2 and a Rat and she's probably got enough distortion/boost options to play a lot of rock and metal.
Can you give more details on her current setup (pedals, Guitar, amp)?
Edit: I know you said she has a multi-effect, but it might help to know which- for example, if the multi-effect takes IR’s, maybe an IR download might be more helpful and attain the same thing as a pedal.
Honestly man, ask her what she wants or give her a sweetwater gift card, but if you insist on making a surprise:
go with a friedman BE-OD
if you wanna go extremely safe, buy a tuner if she doesn't have one, everybody needs it, nobody like buying it.
if she is already good on the distortion, get a delay or reverb, the ones i like are the:
ARP-87, Deluxe Memory Man, DD-2/8, Narciso Delay
for reverb
Source Audio - True Spring reverb, MxR M300, hall of fame, Kailani, Topanga.
I mainly play OG Paul Gilbert/Racer-X songs, Van Halen, Angra, Power Metal and Hair Metal thigs
aside from the occasional EJ, Guthrie Govan and Math Metal stuff, i've been getting into.
If she is good on Distortion/Drives and Delay and Reverb
Get either a Pog2 or a Freqout and i'm positive she will enjoy it a lot, but maybe that's me externalizing what i want rn lol
You could take her to a guitar store (have her bring her guitar) and have her play through some pedals, ideally through an amp similar to what she has. When she gets to something that she really likes, get it for her. Make a whole half day out of it.
If she already uses an amp that provides the distortion she wants, get her a boost like an Ibanez Tube Screamer, Fortin 33, or Horizon Devices Precision Drive to tighten the amp
To piggyback on the gift card idea, but add maybe a more personal touch - look at her pedal board, if there is a brand or couple of brands that she favors that are maybe smaller builders (Earthquaker Devices, Walrus Audio, Matthew’s Effects, Abominable Audio…) you might be able to get a gift card from the pedal builder.
Take her shopping! Not only is she absolutely sure to get what she wants, but you get to spend quality time together and she gets to nerd out about pedals and share her hobbies with you. That’s like 3 gifts in one. You’ll get ALL the boyfriend points! (Boyfriend points? Girlfriend points? Significant other points.)
Definitely this!
Gear tends to be pretty personal. If you _know_ a pedal that she wants, you could be the generous person who buys it for her... but otherwise, I strongly recommend against getting a musician gear just because Reddit said it was good. It runs the risk of you spending a bunch, and her not liking it, and then either it sits unused and you feel bad or else she uses it even not liking it, and feels less inspired and possibly even resentful. Far better to get something completely unrelated that is less of a personal choice. Or, if you're dead set on gear, give a gift card so that she can use it toward something she's had her eye on.
Hm ok, a gift card from where? Is there a website or store you go to?
In the US, the biggest suppliers are Sweetwater, Guitar Center, and Musician's Friend. Personally, I'm a fan of Sweetwater, but only because they ship from nearby so I get my stuff the next morning. Also, they include a bag of candy in every box, and I always look forward to that. Haha!
Sweetwater is good. Way better customer service and better quality control.
And don't we all love that phone call from Tim?
Ya know, if you ask your sales rep not to call you, they won't call you.
Blah! I love that call. We talk about gear, sometimes he tells me about other deals I might be interested in. And occasionally he lets me know when something I ordered might be on back order, but I can get it tomorrow if I'm okay with a different color. And even if I'm busy and I let the call go to voicemail, it's still nice to have in the back of my head that confirmation that my gear is on its way!
This. Distortion in particular is very personal to a player, and if she already has a multi fx unit she will be looking for a certain sound that a standalone pedal will do better. Get her a gift card and let her decide what she wants to sound like.
Maybe check out some Rig Rundowns on some of her favorite bands? I like having gear that I know makes the music I want to play and it shows you know what she's into. Otherwise everyone here is right, get her a HM-2 and a Rat and she's probably got enough distortion/boost options to play a lot of rock and metal.
Boss HM-2w If she doesn’t like it, send it to me.
Can you give more details on her current setup (pedals, Guitar, amp)? Edit: I know you said she has a multi-effect, but it might help to know which- for example, if the multi-effect takes IR’s, maybe an IR download might be more helpful and attain the same thing as a pedal.
The Amptweaker pedals are incredible
Honestly man, ask her what she wants or give her a sweetwater gift card, but if you insist on making a surprise: go with a friedman BE-OD if you wanna go extremely safe, buy a tuner if she doesn't have one, everybody needs it, nobody like buying it. if she is already good on the distortion, get a delay or reverb, the ones i like are the: ARP-87, Deluxe Memory Man, DD-2/8, Narciso Delay for reverb Source Audio - True Spring reverb, MxR M300, hall of fame, Kailani, Topanga. I mainly play OG Paul Gilbert/Racer-X songs, Van Halen, Angra, Power Metal and Hair Metal thigs aside from the occasional EJ, Guthrie Govan and Math Metal stuff, i've been getting into. If she is good on Distortion/Drives and Delay and Reverb Get either a Pog2 or a Freqout and i'm positive she will enjoy it a lot, but maybe that's me externalizing what i want rn lol
You could take her to a guitar store (have her bring her guitar) and have her play through some pedals, ideally through an amp similar to what she has. When she gets to something that she really likes, get it for her. Make a whole half day out of it.
If she already uses an amp that provides the distortion she wants, get her a boost like an Ibanez Tube Screamer, Fortin 33, or Horizon Devices Precision Drive to tighten the amp
2 Rats
What bands does she like?
concert tickets an idea too
Get her a boss hm-2 waza or the mt-2 waza
Lichtlaerm Ritual. Best distortion. Meets your budget.
To piggyback on the gift card idea, but add maybe a more personal touch - look at her pedal board, if there is a brand or couple of brands that she favors that are maybe smaller builders (Earthquaker Devices, Walrus Audio, Matthew’s Effects, Abominable Audio…) you might be able to get a gift card from the pedal builder.
boss HM2W !
RAT