Effects Pedal Reviews

With a vast array of sounds and controls, including tap tempo and an amazing analog delay emulation, the Boss DD-7 might be the last delay pedal you ever buy.

With its wide range of effects and the onboard preamp, the Boss ME-70 is a Swiss Army knife of effects pedals. It’s both affordable and practical.

The Dunlop EVH wah pedal is a great addition to anyone’s setup who wants a wah pedal that favors the mid-low end of things and is tour-ready.

For someone who wants the sounds of the Axe-Fx II in a portable package, the AX8 delivers.

For someone who wants world class effects in a relatively small package, the Fractal Audio FX8 Mark II is sure to satisfy.

Given its size, cost, and tonal flexibility, the Fulltone Plimsoul is a “must buy” for musicians looking for maximum “bang for the buck.”

Given the accuracy, robustness, and affordability of the Hardwire HT-6, it would be an excellent addition to any working guitarist’s pedalboard.

If you want a responsive, creamy, smooth overdrive that can help a clean tube amp cop those “D” amp tones, this is your pedal.

The Keeley compressor is Keeley’s best selling pedal for a reason. It can be used for a wide variety of styles and guitars, offering everything from a solo boost to punchy comping.

If you’re looking for a super-versatile Ibanez Tube screamer that can be useful in a wide variety of genres, it’s tough to beat the Keeley-modified Ibanez TS9DX Flexi 4×2.

The Line 6 HX Effects offers an incredible amount of sonic flexibility for the money and could easily serve as a pedalboard replacement for many or fly gig pedalboard for professionals.

With the M13, Line 6 offers an affordable, logical, and useful multi-effects system that is gig-ready with both its looks and sounds.

With the Maxon AD-9, you get a warm, rich, vintage-sounding delay with excellent construction, including true bypass.

If you’re looking for an affordable analog delay with all the amenties of a modern effects pedal with the musicality and warmth of a vintage delay, check out the MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay.

If you dig the crunchy Marshall-inpsired tones of such music as Bad Company, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, and Van Halen, then you’d be hard pressed to find a better pedal than the ’78 Distortion.

It doesn’t matter if you play blues, jazz, rock, or country, the MXR reissue ’76 Dyna Comp can help you add a new level to both your rhythm chops and your lead lines.

For blues, rock, and fusion tones that require a versatile overdrive and distortion, it’s hard to beat the reissue RAT from Pro Co.

The Tech 21 Boost D.L.A. offers a wide range of modern and vintage delay sounds along with some wisely-designed features such as the Tap Tempo, Triplets, and Trails functions. Couple the musicality of the pedal along with its tough construction, and you’ve got a winner.

Despite the Axle Grease’s limitations regarding delay time and control, it’s an incredible value for the money, offering beautifully warm delay tones suitable for rockabilly, surf, country, blues, and rock.

When you factor in the Liquid Chorus’s wide range of sounds with the bullet-proof construction, affordability, and small footprint, you’ve got another winner from Visual Sound.

If you want an overdrive pedal that offers tones like a classic tube amp without the hassle or without sounding like another uninspiring Tube Screamer clone, then the Visual Sound Open Road is worth every penny.

The Visual Sound Son of Hyde is an excellent choice for anyone wanting the beloved “Hyde” distortion sound with the increased versatility and decreased footprint of a dedicated pedal.

Although fans of traditional wah pedals might be out of their comfort zone with the Wahzoo, the wide variety of sounds and superior build quality make the Voodoo Lab Wahzoo a serious pedal for serious wah users.

With its sturdy, tour-grade construction and studio-grade sound, the feature-laden Vox Time Machine is well worth the price of admission.

Few pedals can lay claim to having mastered one of the most distinctive signature tones around, but the Wampler Pinnacle has indeed copped the “pinnacle” of classic hard rock, the ever-elusive “brown sound.”

For 80’s Marshall crunch, it’s hard to beat the wide range of lead and rhythm tones in the Wampler Plextortion, which offers high gain distortion in addition to preserving player dynamics, even at higher settings.

The strengths of the Wampler Tumnus Deluxe are not only its ability to nail the classic Klon tone, but to expand upon it in useful and powerful ways.

The Way Huge Fat Sandwich offers a variety of fuzz, overdrive, and distortion tones in a professionally designed pedal that reeks of quality and road-readiness.