Ok guitarists… What is the one effect (pedal or otherwise) that you can’t live without?
Does distortion count as an effect? I need distortion, whether from a pedal or an amp. I don’t really need anything else, but tremolo is cool every now and then.
Absolutely!! And that is a go-to for me too. I use overdrive even when I’m playing “clean”. It’s a must-have for me.
Apart from overdrive, (which I don’t really think of as an “effect” anyway) delay is the one effect I consider essential…It’s not that I can’t “live without it” but it’s really nice to have, especially for solos, as I don’t generally like reverb on my amp.
I’ve become less interested in amp reverb the last few years also. I don’t really know what caused the switch other than the fact that I usually record instruments dry and got used to the sound.
They’ve been talking about Jake E. Lee in the other thread “Style Over Substance”, so I figure I’ll post this here.
http://www.jakeelee.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=108
An interesting interview with the man himself. Says he thinks frivolous effects only cover up boring riffs or sloppy playing.
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Hmmmm, I’m sitting here staring at my pedalboard, and there’s not one thing on there that I can’t live without.
Clean boost, two overdrives, flanger, phaser, a gate, wah, tremolo, delay, 10-band EQ,…and a tuner. I’ll keep the tuner, throw the rest away. I’d be fine without all of it. The “effect” I like is tubes melting down, and I don’t need a pedal for that.
But to answer the question, if I had to keep just one “effect”, it’d probably be wah.
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It’s hard to beat legit tube drive. That’s for sure 
Distortion was my first thought
Reverb and delay are the only other regularly used effects.