I am playing through an original 40W fender blues deluxe, with upgraded speaker and tubes. Chorus, compression, OD/distortion, reverb and delay are all I really need. Yes I have a nice spring reverb in the amp already but the big hall is nice to access on occasion. Can you steer me towards specific make/model for analog content? Mang.
Chorus…I use an EHX small clone sometimes. Dirt cheap and sounds really cool. Not overly flexible but how much flexibility does a chorus need?
Compression…I have a Barber Tone Press, it's ok, perhaps a bit too "transparent" for my needs. If I could do it all over again I'd keep the Keeley Compressor I had years ago. Just a tasty comp with tons of character.
Reverb? Your amp has great spring reverb. I also like plate reverb and my favorite was Dr Scientist Radical Red Reverb (or something). I don't have that anymore. Miss it. Why did I sell it? Probably because in general I prefer spring amp reverb and analog delays.
Delay? My favorite is the EHX Deluxe Memory Man but these days I use what I consider the best bang for the buck analog delay MXR Carbon Copy. Awesome, small foot print, cool tones.
For delay, I also like a digital with tap tempo. Because the digital delay is generally more articulate than analog (even if it has a tone rolloff option) it's just cool to sync it with the rhythm of your riffs or drummer. Boss DD5 is cool but there's also a lot of newer options out there for tap tempo delay.
For distortion, overdrive, fuzz, etc, a lot of that depends on the amp. I'm a fuzzface kind of gal but they don't sound great with blackface amps unless you put an od with mids between them, then it sounds cool.
For overdrive, I really want to get a Honey Bee. I like every sample I've heard and they are used by one of my tone heroes Lee Ranaldo with his Super Reverb.
Wrong. Always.