Strymon is to the reverb pedal world what Gibson and Fender are to electric guitar. There is no brand out there that commands such a stake in this space; there is no equal to its influence. And for good reason. I can’t even begin to imagine the number of pedalboards the boutique effects pedal specialist has found itself on across the globe.

It isn’t just reverb, of course. The US pedal maker also specializes in delay, modulation, drives and more. But its 'verb pedals almost sit in a category of their own. The BigSky MX is the premium reverb workstation to beat. The smaller BlueSky tops best reverb pedal lists across the internet.

And then there’s the Flint. Strymon's twofer ambient pedal that has become the first-choice reverb-tremolo solution for players across the globe. It's almost laughable how many big-name players have – or have had – it on their pedalboards over the years.

John Mayer, Noel Gallagher, Billy Corgan, Gary Clark Jr., Graham Coxon, Chris Shiflett… the list goes on. For Mayer fans in particular, it is one of the most crucial components of his rig.

All of that is to say, the Flint is a very popular pedal, one that has stood the test of time thanks to its tonal superiority and foolproof functionality. But it’s got its fair share of competition. After all this time, does its latest iteration still hold up to scrutiny?

Specs

• Launch price: $349 | £315 | €369
• Type: Reverb and tremolo pedal
• Origin: USA
• Controls: Tremolo on/off footswitch, Intensity, Speed, three-way toggle switch | Reverb on/off switch, Mix, Decay, Color, three-way toggle switch
• Features: MIDI, Stereo/Mono Input, USB-C, Stereo Out, Class A JFET TRS stereo input
• Connectivity: 1/4" Stereo/Mono Input, L and R Stereo Output
• Bypass: True
• Power: 9V DC center-negative, 300mA
• Dimensions: 101.6mm (W) x 114.3 mm (D) x 44.5 mm (H)
• Weight: 1.1lbs (0.5kg)
• Contact: Strymon

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

The phrase ‘it’s built like a tank’ gets bandied about far too easily these days, but we should make an exception for the Flint. I wouldn’t recommend testing this theory, though.

Now, this is a review of the V2 – which I have spent plenty of time with – but before that I’ve had the V1 on every permutation of my pedalboard over the past two years. Therefore, I can say with some confidence that I’ve found it to be one of the most hard-wearing workhorse pedals money can buy.

I’ve had it on pedalboards big and small, and dragged it to venues of all shapes and sizes. Granted, it’s not the stompbox in my rig that has the highest stomps-per-night ratio, but it’s never shown any signs of weakness or any chinks in the armour.

What’s more, the robust box-like chassis has a nice brushed-aluminum finish that feels well equipped to protect the circuits inside. The toggle switches are firm with an authoritative ‘snap’ between modes – safe from any accidental switches when tweaking the innermost knobs – and the parameters all have a healthy sweep with a nice amount of resistance.

Between the V1 and the V2, the build quality and overall components are the same: top-notch. The looks is clean and classic – a Strymon calling card – and it all comes in a tidy package that, while not exactly on the small side, doesn’t take up too much pedalboard real estate considering the two effects it hosts. And any space you might sacrifice will be worth it.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

Another reason why the Flint has stood the test of time is because of how intuitive it is. If, like me, the sight of a BigSky MX gives you cold sweats, the Flint is an excellent entry point into top quality Strymon effects.

The reverb and tremolo effects get their own sides. On the left, you get a bypass footswitch for the tremolo, along with a three-way voice toggle and controls for Intensity and Speed. On the right, reverb has its own bypass switch, another three-way toggle, and Mix, Decay and Color parameters.

On the face of it, that’s all you need. For some, that might be limiting. But the V2 added MIDI connectivity, meaning you can save and store up to 300 presets that can be recalled using an external MIDI controller.

It can be a faff to set up, and for players (like myself) who try to avoid MIDI at all costs, the lack of any onboard preset slots is a bit of a shame. Regardless, normal operation is so easy you could practically do it in your sleep, so as long as your changes aren’t too drastic, you could probably get away with doing it on the fly.

There are also some secondary controls worth noting hidden away, including Pre-Delay, Tap Division, and Boost/Cut. To access these, you need to either press and hold both footswitches, or engage Live Edit mode by holding a single switch.

It can be a pain if these secondary functions are key to your tone, and it's not the most intuitive layout for them. Some additional tagging on which knob does what would be helpful here.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

Naturally, Strymon pedals excel when it comes to sound. And there are plenty of excellent reverb and tremolo tones to unpack here. For my money, you won’t find a twofer reverb/tremolo pedal that sounds better.

The V1 and V2 share the same core effects algorithms, but with hardware differences around them that I will get to. On the right side, you get ‘60s Spring Tank Reverb, ‘70s Electronic Plate Reverb and ‘80s Hall Rack Reverb, while the tremolo gives you ‘61 Harmonic Tremolo, ‘63 Power Tube Tremolo and ‘65 Photocell Tremolo. The nice thing about the Flint is that, thanks to the independent toggles, you can mix-and-match any reverb and tremolo combo you like. The V2 also lets you determine the order of effects.

On the reverb side of things, the Flint can be used as a ‘set it and forget it’ end-of-chain or effects loop ’verb, or you can have fun with it and move between modes depending on what you need.

I’ve done both, and the Flint can do them easily. At first, I used it similar to how Mayer did: locked on the ‘60s reverb mode, with Decay and Color around noon and Mix just below. With that, you get a no-nonsense, solid spring-style reverb reminiscent of vintage tube amps. It’s digital, but it could fool anyone, with a lovely three-dimensional dynamic feel that escapes some lesser reverb pedals.

The tremolo I initially used for subtle lead lines, again similar to how Mayer deploys it. Intensity around noon, speed around nine o’ clock, just for a tone tonic that can thicken and add a bit of character and personality when you need something to stick out in the mix. Lead lines, for example, or jangly melodies that would otherwise fall flat.

When I went ampless and started using the reverb in my Nano Cortex, I then deployed the Flint in a more ambient role, leveraging the experimental tones you can get from the reverb and tremolo effects.

Namely, I moved to the ‘80s Hall setting, cranked the Mix and Color, and used it for soundscaping: textural parts and atmospheric pads that sounded absolutely incredible in the mix. This is how I used the Flint when I played at Portman Road Stadium in the UK with a band, and the thought of those reverbs still gives me goosebumps. It filled the 30,000 cap venue absolutely magnificently.

The Color control really comes into its own when you give it freedom, too. When it’s bumped, you get a darker vibe that almost gives your chain a bit of grit. It affects the decays, so when your reverb time is bumped, you get this irresistible break-up that filters out in an incredible musical way.

The tremolo can get more involved, too. As well as those aforementioned subtle warbles, you can really crank the controls to get into gnarly, choppy territory. Dime the Intensity and it will make you feel seasick, such is the responsiveness of the control. Up the Speed and it could give you whiplash.

Again, I’ve followed the Mayer school of thought, but I’ve also paired it with fuzz pedals and overdrives for more bit-crush-y, shoegaze-y tones. Granted, it’s not easy switching between all those different effects without a MIDI controller, but it’s nice to have those options. There's also the option of using the Strymon MiniSwitch ($49, sold separately) to recall a favourite setting and switch between that what's dialed into the Flint at the time. You can also tap in tremolo speeds with it too. If that appeals, you'll just have to make extra space on your pedalboard as well as your wallet.

For this V2 version, Strymon also adds a Mono/Stereo input signal switch. A bit of a gamechanger, especially for players like myself, who somewhat struggled with the V1’s placement, given the fact it had a sum-to-mono input. Not ideal, especially when you’re running it alongside stereo effects beforehand – like I would with choruses and ping-pong delays.

I should also mention the premium analog JFET input circuit of the V2, which is said to offer improved responsiveness to your playing. An A/B test with both shows there’s certainly a distinction there, with a great receptiveness to dynamic playing – particularly when rolling back the volume on your guitar.

Verdict

It’s easy to see why the humble Strymon Flint has played a starring role in John Mayer’s rig for such a long time, and become the go-to reverb/tremolo pedal for players across the world. As a standalone reverb pedal, you’d be hard pressed to find three better algorithms in one unit. Pair that with three wholly distinct tremolos, and the ability to match them as you see fit, and it really is a winning formula.

Sometimes, the simplest solutions are often the best, and while the Flint V2 did introduce some very handy features – MIDI compatibility, USB-C connectivity, and a stereo input switch – it would probably have retained its title without them. That said, as an avid fan of the V1, I’d definitely be looking to make a permanent switch to the V2.

It’s one pedal that has never left Mayer’s pedalboard and except for some very minor cases, I doubt it will ever leave mine.

Guitar World verdict: And still the reverb/tremolo pedal to beat, the Flint V2 updates an already world-beating two-in-one that has little to prove in this day and age. It's good enough for some of the most particular toneheads on the planet, it's good enough for me.

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With timeless cuts like Baby, I Love Your Way and Do You Feel Like We Do, Frampton made the strange little effect a household name. The unit, which features a plastic tube that players quite literally sing into, rose to prominence in the 1970s, and Jeff Beck and Aerosmith were big fans, too.

Slash’s model is based on the classic Heil circuit, the same one that Frampton preferred for its higher output. Using that as a platform, it’s been duly hot-rodded for even more firepower and offers an upgraded loudspeaker.

The firm also believes it has better articulation than other models, plus a thicker low-end. It’s finished in the Candy Apple Red finish that Slash has stayed loyal to down to the ears, resulting in a pedal that MXR stresses was “built to say something.”

“I’ve had a talk box since I was 16,” Slash says of his new collab. “The first time I heard it was Frampton’s Do You Feel Like We Do, then Jeff Beck’s She’s a Woman, and Aerosmith’s live Walk This Way.

“To me,” he adds, “it’s right up there with the Cry Baby Wah: a classic effect that transforms your guitar into an extension of your own voice.”

That’s quite the claim from someone who has made the wah pedal such a key part of his arsenal since the Appetite for Destruction days. Maybe we’ll hear it in action on the new Guns N’ Roses album, although don’t expect that to arrive anytime soon.

The MXR Slash Signature Talk Box is available exclusively on Reverb for $499.99.

In other recent Slash news, the top-hatted one has opened up about his surprise Marshall exit.

It’s been a few years since the Strymon BigSky MX was released, so it’s about time we got around to reviewing it. Successor to arguably the most popular reverb pedal of all time, the MX looks to build on the success of the original, adding more sounds, more processing power, better connectivity, plus loads more.

The headline here is that you can now run two reverb engines simultaneously, whether that’s in series, parallel, or with each engine panned separately. The MX also significantly increases the power to do this, replacing the 366 MHz SHARC DSP chip with an 800 MHz tri-core ARM processor.

The impulse and chamber engines are fresh additions to the lineup, but it's not just new stuff that's been added. The spring, plate, hall, room, and shimmer engines have been rewritten from the ground up, with many of the other returning sounds getting additional functions and enhancements. The ability to load custom impulse responses up to 10 seconds long adds a lot of potential flexibility, and it ships with 22 stereo IRs as stock.

The footswitches have had some slight changes, with a dedicated infinite footswitch, while the A and B footswitches can now be set to toggle each reverb engine independently. It has USB-C, bringing it firmly into the future versus the original, which required a MIDI-to-USB adapter to use the Nixie companion app. It can also do MIDI over USB-C, TRS, or the traditional 5-pin DIN connection.

Specs

• Launch price: $749 | £699 | €699
• Type: Dual-engine reverb workstation
• Controls: Type, Value, Decay, Pre-Delay, Tone, Mod, Param 1/2, Mix; 3 footswitches (A, B, Infinite)
• Features: 12 reverb algorithms, dual reverb engines (Series/Parallel/Split routing), 10-second stereo impulse response loading and editing, Nixie 2 editor software
• Connectivity: Stereo in/out, MIDI in/out (5-pin DIN), USB-C (MIDI, editor, firmware updates), EXP jack (expression pedal / MultiSwitch / TRS MIDI)
• Bypass: True bypass (electromechanical relay) or buffered bypass, selectable
• Power: 9VDC, center-negative, 2.1mm, 500mA minimum
• Dimensions: 172mm x 127mm x 48mm (7" x 5" x 1.87")
• Weight: 800g
• Options: N/A
• Contact: Strymon

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

Despite the workstation moniker, it’s not actually as big as you think it might be. The MX is slightly wider than the original BigSky but only just, and it weighs well below a kilo. It’ll take up the same amount of space as two and a bit Boss stompboxes by my reckoning. It’s not tall either, offering a relatively low-profile platform that won’t stick out too much alongside other pedals.

All of the parameter control knobs offer a nice, firm travel and feel robustly applied to the chassis. The endless encoders for selecting reverb engines and adjusting certain values, on the other hand, are a lot softer in their response.

There’s no ratcheting to the engines, which are instead dictated by an LED light, and when I turn slowly, it takes a second or two to move to the next option. The push-in function of each encoder is nice and tactile, but personally I’d like a little more resistance when turning them.

One thing I didn’t enjoy was the white text on the blue background. Great when playing on a dark stage, but at some angles could be difficult to read with the overhead lighting in my home studio. No such issues with the screen, which works brilliantly in any light thanks to the contrast of green on black.

The footswitches feel very robust, and they click quietly when I press them in. There’s no reason to suspect it’s any less durable than the original BigSky, which has graced players’ pedalboards for a good thirteen years and counting.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

To test its stereo capabilities, I plug the BigSky MX into my Universal Audio audio interface and started by seeing how easy it is to navigate the pedal without resorting to the manual. At the other end of my guitar cable is the Sire S7 HSS S-type.

Moving banks is handled by the ‘value’ encoder or by pressing the A and B footswitches to bank down, or the B and Infinite footswitches to bank up. The presets stay disengaged until you click one of the A or B footswitches, which could be quite handy for live players who want to tee a fresh sound up without necessarily engaging it. If you leave the pedal for too long, it engages a screensaver function that scrolls the preset across to prevent burn-in.

Due to the seven parameter-specific knobs on the chassis, hands-on control is an absolute breeze. Any time I want to change something about the preset, I’m easily able to dial in those most important controls with a quick turn of a knob. A handy up arrow marks where the knob was originally set to, should you want to go back to the original sound.

Pressing the value encoder opens up further settings, allowing me to change the low end, size, diffusion, output level, pan, and loads more options. It’s all quick and easy to change, and it's nice that Strymon has kept the way you interact with the pedal the same as the original.

Holding the ‘Value’ encoder down unlocks the global settings for the pedal, where I can get even more granular. Things like the display mode for the screen, screen brightness, MIDI settings, expression settings, spillover, and even the footswitch LED brightness are accessible here.

Downloading the Nixie 2 companion app, I’m surprised to find there is still no preset editability, despite the pedal having launched several years ago. The only real use for the software is for loading third-party impulse responses or adding new presets, so if you prefer doing your editing on a computer, there’s currently no option for it. Strymon hasn’t said when this is coming, but they have promised it will be part of a future software update.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

In order to test the stereo capabilities, I route the outputs to inputs 1 and 2 of my interface, then load a couple of clean amp simulations in Pro Tools and pan them hard left and right. Scrolling through the presets, I come across the ‘Drippy Spring’ setting. It’s a delightful tone, perfect for surf rock noodling and tremolo picking on the middle position of my Strat-style guitar.

It’s easy to see why the cloud engine got its own pedal when I switch to the ‘Silverscreen’ preset. It manages to be washy and atmospheric without drowning out your core playing, ideal for ambient players who want that huge reverb sound but still need to keep their original guitar tone clear in the mix.

The shimmer engine tracks brilliantly and allows me to select basically any harmony I can think of, including tritones. It stays on point even with complex chords and non-linear harmonies, and I can add two different harmonies at once when running dual engines, making it a very flexible tool for some soaring tones that coalesce beneath whichever note I’m playing.

The chorale engine is similarly superb, providing a lush undertone for pretty much any kind of sound. Riffs with prominent drone strings ring out with clarity, all underpinned by the soaring or impending (depending on what I'm playing) synth pad-like sounds.

The magneto engine is an interesting one. On the face of it, it's actually tape echo emulation, but at higher diffusion settings it blurs the line between echo and reverb. It’s cool but feels slightly out of place initially. It really comes into its own when I pair it with another reverb in dual mode, which results in some incredible sounds as I feed the delay tails into the reverb algorithms.

There are so many sounds here that it’s not possible for me to list them all within the constraints of this review. But the main takeaway I got is how good they are at not completely overpowering your playing. The engines can all do this with the right mix setting, of course, but the presets are remarkably good at balancing the wash of reverb whilst still keeping the attack when I strike the strings.

Verdict

The Strymon BigSky MX succeeds in delivering some spectacular reverb tones that will cover all bases, whether it’s a classic room tone or you want huge waves of ambient wash that drown your guitar completely. The sheer quality of the sounds is unbelievably good, up there with anything Line 6, Neural, Eventide, Boss, or any other manufacturer is putting out there, and it's easy to see why the BigSky has been such a popular pedal for such a long time.

Its real strength, though, is in how refreshingly easy it is to dial in the sounds. There is no companion app with preset editing for the BigSky MX at the time of writing this review, but I didn’t miss it at all. A lot of pedals like to hide functionality behind an app these days, so having all the controls on the front of the unit is a breath of fresh air. For those who do prefer doing their tweaking on the computer, the immediate lack of app editing could be a deal breaker.

Is it overkill for a lot of players? Absolutely, and especially when you consider the price point is well north of $600. If you just want one or two reverb sounds, then this pedal would likely be wasted on you, and some players could easily get lost in option paralysis instead of just concentrating on their playing.

Guitar World verdict: The Strymon BigSky MX is a worthy successor to arguably the most popular reverb pedal ever made. It’s not just a quick rehash either, with entire engines being rebuilt to improve the quality, and the addition of running dual algorithms seriously expanding the sound-sculpting possibilities. Despite the huge depth, it’s incredibly easy to edit and adjust sounds, which is the real strength of this pedal. It’s a worthwhile upgrade for anyone who already owns a BigSky, as well as a potentially huge boon for players who want a wealth of top-quality reverb tones at their fingertips.

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Chords of Orion

The eponymous EHX Adrian Belew Echoflanger does what it promises, and so much more. It’s an all-analog, multi-mode modulator voiced for versatility. So expect a subtle, smooth signal waver, through to calculated carnage.

A host of classic modes from the original pedal have been copied over. That includes Filter Matrix, Flange, Chorus, and Slap Back. It's bolstered by new combination modes.

So, you can double your money by blending Slap Back and Filter Matrix, or Adrian’s go-to blend of Chorus and Flange, which is all over his King Crimson records.

Its controls have also been expanded at Belew’s request. Volume is a new addition, sitting alongside Rate and Width dials, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Speed, Range, Tune – for dialing in the centerpoint of the modulation waveform – and Feedback combine to present new ways to get weird.

Further, the Blend switch either adds or removes the dry signal from the effect, serving up more traditional modulation sounds and intensifying the vibrato sounds on offer.

Belew has worked with Frank Zappa, Talking Heads, King Crimson, and David Bowie, and also collaborated with the late Ken Parker on a bonkers MIDI-powered Parker Fly signature. This is his next madcap invention.

“I got my first Echo Flanger in 1980, and I had it for the [Talking Heads offshoot band] Tom Tom Club,” Belew remembers. With the pedal at his feet, the guitarist was able to achieve a “steel drum” sound with his guitar, and it went on to make the single Genius of Love. According to Belew, it helped it become “the most sampled song of all time.”

“Electro-Harmonix is the one company you could make do things they’re not supposed to do,” he continues. “You could make it do really weird sounds that I started doing off the bat with King Crimson. As someone who loves sonic design, you’re going to love it. I’m so happy this pedal exists.”

Priced at $239, the Echoflanger features stereo outputs and true bypass with mechanical relays. It also ships with a 9V power supply.

See Electro-Harmonix for more info.

It’s hard to believe that the Z.Vex Fuzz Factory is over 30 years old, heck, it’s almost as old as I am. This tiny, yet pioneering stompbox launched way back in 1995 and proved that not all boutique pedals had to recreate historic units from the past. Instead, they could innovate and push the medium forward into bold new territories.

Used by everyone from Deftones axeman Stef Carpenter to resident Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy, and noise junky Trent Reznor, the Fuzz Factory has a long list of famous admirers – and it seems it’s just as popular today as it was back in the day.

The unit is built around a pair of new old stock germanium transistors, and it ditches the traditional tone-shaping of level, tone, and gain in favor of direct control over transistor bias and stability to unlock everything from Velcro-like sputter and gating to infinite, self-oscillating synthy squeals – but it can do some classic Fuzz Face sounds as well, if you like your fuzz tone boring...

As you’d expect from an old-school boutique pedal, the vast majority of Z.Vex pedals are hand-painted, hand-assembled, and produced in relatively small batches in Minneapolis, Minnesota. That said, the model I’m reviewing is part of the Vexter series. This is a slightly more affordable version of the Fuzz Factory. While the innards are the same, this one features UV-printed artwork and is assembled in Taiwan.

Those who like to run pedals on batteries will be happy to hear the pedal draws very little current: a tiny 3 mA, to be exact. For context, and as Z.Vex points out in the manual, an Ibanez Tube Screamer runs at almost 40 mA. Of course, the pedal can also run on a standard 9V center-negative pedalboard power supply.

Today, I’m taking this famous box of fuzz for a test drive to see if it lives up to its stellar reputation and to see if, after 30 years, it’s still one of the best fuzz pedals on the market.

Specs

• Launch price: $229 | £189 | €199
• Type: Germanium Fuzz / Self-Oscillating Fuzz Effect Pedal
• Controls: Volume, Gate, Comp, Drive, Stab
• Features: NOS 1960s Germanium transistors, interactive self-oscillation, velcro-fuzz to synth tones, silk-screened graphics, LED indicator
• Connectivity: 1/4" Mono Input, 1/4" Mono Output
• Bypass: True Bypass
• Power: 9V DC center-negative / 9V Battery (~4mA current draw)
• Dimensions: 4.70" x 2.38" x 1.82" (119 mm x 60 mm x 46 mm)
• Weight: 0.5 lbs (0.23 kg)
• Options: Hand-Painted Fuzz Factory, Fat Fuzz Factory (with bass switch), Fuzz Factory 7
• Contact: Z.Vex

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

It's fair to say the Fuzz Factory is an iconic-looking pedal. Now, while it does do other enclosure styles, this small horizontal format has become somewhat of a trademark of the brand. Yes, it may not be the most practical when trying to Tetris together a pedalboard, but I’ve always thought it looked cool – and it certainly stands out among the sea of other boutique stompboxes.

Another trademark is the cartoony, colorful hand-painted graphics, which are unfortunately missing on this version. That’s not to say the UV-printed graphic is bad; I actually think it looks great, but it doesn’t quite have the charm or uniqueness of the original.

Really, though, it’s not about how a pedal looks, it’s more about how well it’s built, and like all Z.Vex units, this one feels expertly put together. There’s a reassuring heft to the pedal, the knobs are smooth, and the footswitch is robust. Really, what more do you need in a pedal?

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

When I say this is one of the most interactive fuzz pedals around, I really do mean it. Each dial parameter seems to morph and change depending on how the others are set. Even in the manual, Z.Vex jokes, “Although the five knobs are named for the parameters over which they seem to have the most control, please don’t hold me to it.”

The result is a pedal that’s genuinely fun to experiment with. It’s somewhat unpredictable in its nature, and that’s what’s so engaging about it. A few small adjustments can make wild changes to the tone.

Going through the controls, the first, aside from the output volume, is Gate. As you’d expect. This can be a noisy little pedal, so this is used to fully kill any unwanted buzz, hiss, or feedback. Now, it can even be used to tune the feedback pitch, too, if you’re a fan of things getting a little unruly and a touch mad.

The Comp control adjusts the overall attack character of the fuzz. Turn it left for a softer sound, and right for a harder, more immediate one. Again, though, like the other controls, its parameters change when used in conjunction with the other dials.

Drive is used to dial in the amount of distortion. Well, it is if you’re running the Fuzz Factory as a traditional fuzz pedal. This control doesn’t really do anything if you have the Comp dial maxed out.

When it comes to the Stability control, there’s a warning in the manual, “Use all the way right. Do not adjust this control below 2:00, unless you like your fuzz soft and squishy.” Very basically, Stability regulates the voltage supplied to the pedal's internal germanium transistors. By starving or feeding the circuit power, it dictates whether the pedal behaves like a “normal” fuzz or a spitting, sputtering noise machine.

Rarely do I get to play with a pedal that’s so simply laid out, yet invites so much experimentation. I think a large portion of the success of this fuzz is how fun it is to dial in. I lost hours of my life finding cool and interesting settings, and I don’t care one bit – in fact, I loved spending so much time endlessly tweaking.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

For testing, I’m running a Gibson Les Paul directly into the Fuzz Factory and then into a Vox AC30 set fairly clean and open, with a smidge of reverb.

With so much talk of experimentation, it's easy to write off the Fuzz Factory as only for those who like absolutely feral fuzz tones, but it does the classic sounds very well indeed. Leaving the Gate and Comp dials all the way down for the moment, I push the Drive to around halfway and keep the Stab on max. The tone is somewhat Fuzz Face-like. It’s smooth, seriously dynamic, and plays very well with my guitar’s volume pot.

Push the gain further and bring in the Comp, and things start to get very heavy and thick with tonnes of compression. I did start to dial up the gate here too, trying to catch some of the buzz. Things get pretty filthy in this setting, and in the best possible way.

These settings alone are worth the price of admission, but this tiny stomp can do a whole lot more than that, it is a factory of fuzz, after all.

If you max out the Comp and Drive, and pull back on the Stab, you get that quintessential “Velcro” fuzz sound that is addictive to play. It sounds fierce and unpredictable, and it's perfect for garage rock-style single-note riffing. I genuinely love this setting.

Would I use it all the time? No, of course not, but it’s bags of fun. The tone here shifts from something you’d instantly recognize as a standard guitar sound to something that could be considered synth-like, especially as those high octaves start to creep in.

Moving the dials while playing can create filter sweeps. At times, it almost sounds like tuning an old radio, with wild feedback screams and other equally mad, noisy sounds that are all part of the fun with this pedal.

It isn’t for the faint of heart, or guitarists who like a mild Tube Screamer into a slightly overdriven tube amp to go with their equally beige cup of tea. It’s for lovers of over-the-top filthy saturation and those who don’t mind more than a little knob tinkering.

Verdict

The Z.Vex Fuzz Factory is a true icon in the world of effects pedals, and after three decades, it still stands out as a bold, innovative stomp that more than lives up to its reputation.

Unlike troves of boutique pedals that simply pay homage to the past, the Fuzz Factory has always forged its own path, offering a unique and experimental approach to fuzz that has attracted a legion of devoted fans, famous and normies alike.

For me, what sets the Fuzz Factory apart is its sheer versatility and interactivity. The unusual control set invites hours of sonic tinkering. Each knob interacts with the others in unpredictable ways, making the pedal as much an instrument as an effect. Whether you crave classic, dynamic Fuzz Face-like tones or wild, synth-like oscillations and velcro-gated textures, the Fuzz Factory delivers it in spades.

The Vexter Series provides the same legendary circuit at a more accessible price point, trading the original hand-painted graphics for sleek UV-printed artwork. Despite the change in aesthetics, the build quality remains exceptional, with robust components and a solid feel underfoot. Honestly, outside of the printed graphic, most of us would be hard-pressed to notice, or indeed hear, the difference.

Okay, I’ll admit that this pedal isn’t for everyone. Its unpredictable character and penchant for chaos make it best suited for players who live on the wilder side of the street. But for those willing to dive in, the rewards are immense.

I genuinely think the Z.Vex Fuzz Factory remains one of the most creative, inspiring, and fun fuzz pedals ever made. It’s a modern classic in every sense of the word, and one that continues to push the boundaries of what a stompbox can do.

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Pedal Of The Day

Matt Kelly

Only a few years after the first guitar amps emerged, foot pedals appeared that allowed players to manually adjust volume and tone settings while performing.

However, the very first outboard device that provided a truly new sound effect was the DeArmond Model 60 Tremolo Control unit and its big brother, the Model 800 Trem-Trol volume/tremolo pedal, which DeArmond introduced during the late ’40s.

DeArmond actually planned on introducing the Tremolo Control as far back as 1941 as an effect device for electric organs and early electric pianos, but parts and materials shortages during World War II delayed its debut.

Even though tremolo became a built-in feature of many combo amps (usually on models designed for accordion players) shortly after these DeArmond effects came out, the Model 60 and Model 800 both enjoyed a pretty long and successful lifespan until the late ’50s, mainly thanks to guitarists who were more enthusiastic about the device than keyboard or accordion players.

During the early ’60s, DeArmond replaced the Model 60 with the 60B, which was enclosed in a less-costly plastic housing and featured push-button on/off switches for selecting the straight instrument signal or the tremolo effect.

The most fascinating element of the DeArmond unit’s design is that the tremolo effect (volume/amplitude modulation) is created purely by electro-mechanical means instead of an electrical circuit.

The interior components are a steampunk wonderland of spindles, rubber flywheels, a motor, pendulum arm and a small canister filled with conductive electrolytic liquid (Windex is an ideal substitute for replacing the original fluid that has evaporated).

The motor shakes the canister back and forth causing the amount of signal reaching the output to fluctuate, creating a very organic-sounding tremolo effect. The flywheel and gears allow users to adjust the effect’s speed via the Rate/Speed control, and a separate control potentiometer adjusts the effect’s depth/intensity.

The shark-shaped Model 800, which is longer and bulkier than an average wah pedal, is probably the most “pedalboard friendly” model of the three variations, although the only way to bypass the tremolo effect is via a slider switch on the side. Modern players who want a stompbox-style means of experiencing the vintage mojo of the Model 60 or 60B can incorporate these units in their rigs via a loop switcher.

Only a handful of classic recordings featuring the DeArmond Tremolo can be verified, but they are quite influential. The first known instance is Muddy Waters 1953 Chess recording of Flood.

Later, during the mid-to-late-’50s, Bo Diddley and Duane Eddy used their DeArmond Tremolo effects frequently, including on the hit singles Bo Diddley and Rebel Rouser, respectively. A gray 60B unit made a notable appearance during the late ’60s on stage with Canned Heat at the Woodstock Festival (Rollin’ Blues and On the Road Again).

Although the DeArmond Tremolo became forgotten by the ’70s after it was discontinued, players like Ry Cooder and Billy Gibbons revived its cult status during the ’80s and ’90s, respectively.

Gibbons has used his DeArmond Tremolo effects frequently on ZZ Top albums starting with Rhythmeen in 1996, and he often plays through two at once for a psychedelic, unsynchronized stereo tremolo effect on stage.

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

The first guitar pedals I ever encountered were sitting in a glass case at Russellville Pawn on the main highway that cut through the center of my small Alabama town. They changed my life.

I was probably 15, and there they were – a handful of lovingly used stompboxes with price tags hanging on those classic paper tags with a single string tied around the knobs. What struck me wasn't their promise of sonic transformation – I barely understood what they did. It was how completely different they were from each other.

A Zoom 505 with its digital display and plastic housing looked like a piece of consumer electronics, something that belonged next to a Nintendo or a calculator. But the scratched-up BOSS pedal sitting next to it had the solid, purposeful presence of a craftsman's tool – something my dad might pick up at the hardware store because he had work to get done.

Even then, I sensed that these visual differences meant something. The brands weren't just competing on features or price; they were making completely different statements about what a guitar pedal should be, who should use it, and how seriously you should consider the aesthetic.

Decades later, as both a pedal builder and a student of guitar culture, I've come to realize that this moment in that pawn shop captured something essential about the relationship between sound and sight in our instrument's evolution. We don't just hear our pedals – we live with them, arrange them, obsess over them, and yes, judge them by their covers.

That visual language has never been more diverse or sophisticated. Every pedal is a collaboration between sound and sight, between engineer and artist, between maker and musician. In an era when anyone can build a circuit, it's often the visual language that separates the memorable from the forgettable, the iconic from the ignored.

The guitar pedal occupies a unique space in industrial design – simultaneously utilitarian and expressive, mass-produced yet personal. These are objects designed to be stepped on, yet many never touch the floor. They're tools for making music, but they're also statements about who we are as players and what we value as artists.

I've always believed that the best pedal designs aren't decorations applied to functional objects – they're integral expressions of the musical philosophy contained within.

When Ivor Arbiter made his Fuzz Face smile, when Bill Finnegan chose the perfect shade of gold for his Klon, when BOSS created their color-coded universe, they weren't just making pedals look different. They were creating visual languages that would become part of how we understand and relate to our instruments.

In my own company's evolution from hand-stamped boxes to printed graphics, I've learned that every design choice – from the thickness of a line to the placement of a logo – either adds to or subtracts from this musical conversation. The best pedal art doesn't just catch your eye; it becomes part of your sound in ways you might not even consciously realize.

Pedals are not mere effects processors but artifacts of creative intent. In the world of guitar effects, beauty and function aren't opposing forces – they're partners in the endless pursuit of the perfect sound.

• Art of the Stompbox: Celebrating The Visual Artistry of Effects Pedals features 300 color photographs from 60 pedal makers across 18 countries, with a foreword by Josh Scott of JHS Pedals and a cover testimonial from the late Ace Frehley of KISS. It's available now via Amazon.

Electro-Harmonix likes to describe it as a “distortion/sustainer,” but the rest of us think of it as a fuzz pedal, and arguably one of the most important. This massive stompbox may have launched way back in 1969, but it’s still being used today by a list of guitar legends that reads like a who's who of the greatest ever to strum a six-string.

The humble Big Muff helped David Gilmour get comfortably numb, disarmed Billy Corgan, and was there when J Mascis defined the freak scene. It’s a staple of alternative music, and as such, it’s had more variations than you can shake a Jazzmaster at.

Over the years, transistors were swapped out, and the circuit was tweaked, refined, and improved to evolve alongside the players who used it. Today, there are a whopping 11 options to choose from in the current EHX catalog, all based on the various versions through the pedal's long and storied history – and that’s not counting the boutique clones and copies that have used the Muff as inspiration.

Today, I’m looking at the iconic Big Muff Pi. For most players, this is the most classic version of the Muff, at least from a visual point of view. Standing proud in its over-the-top, giant enclosure, the pedal relies on a classic 4-stage silicon transistor circuit to create its famous singing sustain and crushing distorted harmonics.

The unit features a basic three-knob layout with dials for Volume, Tone, and the gain knob labeled as Sustain. It's true bypass and can run on a 9V battery or a pedalboard power supply.

The Big Muff is pedal royalty at this point, and with a long list of famous admirers, it certainly doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone. That said, today I’m going to take a closer look at the stomp that defined good guitar tone for so many, see how it holds up today, and see whether it’s just nostalgia or has a place on modern pedalboards.

Specs

• Launch price: $101 | £75 | €89
• Type: Fuzz
• Controls: Volume, Tone, Sustain
• Features: Quad-transistor fuzz with true bypass switching
• Connectivity: 1/4" input and output
• Bypass: True bypass
• Power: 9V
• Dimensions: 140 mm x 75 mm x 175 mm
• Weight: 450 g
• Options: N/A
• Contact: Electro-Harmonix

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★☆

Right, first things first, this pedal is massive. Like, seriously big. Fun fact: it’s called the Big Muff because it was larger than Mike Matthews’ compact original Muff Fuzz, which predated this one by a few months. Well, it certainly lives up to the name.

Is it totally impractical by today’s pedal standards? Absolutely, but I don’t care one bit. I’ve always thought the Big Muff was a cool-looking pedal, and the ginormous and unwieldy enclosure is a lot of the appeal. From a build point of view, it’s a pretty lightweight pedal; in fact, it feels almost like there’s nothing inside it, but that’s not to say it feels cheap. Far from it. It feels solidly put together and well made with smooth controls and a firm but satisfying footswitch.

I’ve gigged many versions of the Big Muff, from this one to the Little Big Muff, the Nano, and even a Russian one, and I can reassure you that they always hold up to the harsh rigors of stage life. Genuinely, I’m yet to break one, and I’m not exactly light on my feet when I’m stomping around on stage.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

With just a trio of dials, this pedal works just like any other three-knob drive pedal – and it’s not exactly difficult to dial in. In a world of complex modern pedals, I think the control layout here is refreshingly simple; even pure beginners can get a usable sound with very little fuss. The three knobs of Volume, Tone, and Sustain are clearly labeled and large enough to grab mid-song if you wanted to make on-the-fly adjustments on stage.

Obviously, the volume knob controls the overall output level, allowing you to match or boost your signal to sit perfectly in a mix. The Tone knob is a sweeping EQ that shifts the pedal’s voice from dark and woolly to bright and biting; use this dial to season the high-end to taste.

Of course, the Sustain knob is where the magic happens. Turning it up increases the gain, and adds more clipping and saturation, pushing the fuzz from a subtle sizzle to the classic, roaring Big Muff wall of sound. I’d honestly say the interaction between these controls is very intuitive. There’s really no bad setting, and you can quickly find usable tones without endless tweaking.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

I don't think it’s hyperbolic to say the sound of the Big Muff Pi is instantly recognizable. It's thick, saturated, and loaded with sustain. Personally to me, this is the archetypal fuzz tone – it’s at least the fuzz sound I’m the most familiar with.

There’s something about the huge, creamy, and harmonically rich tone that flatters both chords and single-note lines, and I just can’t get enough of it.

Sonically, the pedal delivers a massive low end with smooth highs, but the mid-range is noticeably scooped. This lack of mids is perhaps both the Big Muff’s calling card and, for some, its Achilles heel.

Many players love the scooped sound, but others think it lacks definition, and well, that’s a fair comment. It can sound a little unfocused, and when playing in a band, it can be easily lost in the mix.

Playing a Gibson Firebird through the Big Muff into a mid-focused amp like my beloved Vox AC30, I found that pairing helped balance the pedal’s inherent lack of midrange. This amp’s natural pokeyness added focus and punch, letting the Muff’s character shine through without sounding too hollow.

Stacking the Big Muff with other pedals opens up even more tonal possibilities. Placing a transparent overdrive in front can tighten the lows and bring the mids forward, while running it after modulation and delay can create lush, swirling shoegaze soundscapes.

I found that the pedal responds really well to different guitars and pickups, but always retains its unmistakable Muff-y identity.

Verdict

The Big Muff is a stone-cold classic in my eyes. You certainly don’t get to enjoy 57 years on the pedalboards of iconic players unless you sound the part, are dependable, and easy to use – and well, the Big Muff Pi ticks all three boxes.

Its instantly recognizable voice, massive sustain, and rich, creamy fuzz have inspired generations of guitarists and shaped the sound of countless records.

Despite its undeniably bulky enclosure, which is sure to frustrate anyone trying to maximize pedalboard real estate, the payoff in tone is more than worth the inconvenience.

The straightforward three-knob layout is refreshingly simple, allowing you to dial in everything from smooth, singing leads to thick, wall-of-sound chords with minimal effort. While the classic mid-scoop can make it tricky to sit perfectly in every mix, it’s also a key part of the Big Muff’s character, and a clever amp or pedal pairing can overcome this small limitation.

What truly sets the Big Muff apart is its versatility and enduring appeal. Whether you’re chasing Gilmour’s soaring solos, Corgan’s alt-rock crunch, or J Mascis’s fuzz-drenched riffing, the Big Muff delivers in spades.

Yes, more feature-packed or compact fuzz pedals are on the market, and some variants offer greater flexibility, but none capture the iconic sound and spirit of the original quite like the Big Muff Pi. If you want classic fuzz in its purest form, this pedal remains the gold standard.

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Reverb

That Pedal Show

But while my pedal bag included a PolyTune, OCD and reverb, all I really needed was my beloved Vox wah-wah. Hello, my name is Eva Walker. I'm a wah-wah addict, and this is my story.

I remember my first wah-wah fondly. I didn’t buy it – it was gifted to me by an ex. But no matter the source, I marveled that I could manipulate my guitar’s natural tone with a simple flex or point of my foot. As a former dancer (tap and ballet) I could put my training to good use.

For me, the wah-wah is single-handedly the greatest, most recognizable guitar sound. The alternation between high and low frequency isn’t just a cool effect – it’s power! It’s the ability to influence the listener from sounding like a temper tantrum from my two-year-old daughter to the teacher on Charlie Brown giving a lecture.

What I love most is that it sounds like it could be talking or crying. Whenever I hear a player using it, I wonder: are they speaking or are they weeping?

One of my favorite weeping wah-wah songs is Maggot Brain by Funkadelic. As some guitar-heads know, George Clinton told Eddie Hazel to play the lead solo as if his mother just died. Mission accomplished!

Although I think it’s more that the Strat’s mother just died and Funkadelic are the pallbearers. Sometimes I can’t listen to the whole 10-minute song without feeling overly emotional.

The weeping wah-wah features prominently in plenty of songs from the 1960s and ’70s. Perhaps most famously is Voodoo Child (Slight Return) by Jimi Hendrix; he sounds like he’s wailing, screaming and even begging. Somehow, though, it’s just two tones on a seesaw.

As for that delightful talking wah-wah, players know that making a guitar talk isn’t the most difficult thing in the world. The talent is in how a player puts emotion into that language. One of my favorite examples is What I Am by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians.

The guitar practically raps – clean, calm and consistent, the energy builds as it makes its final point. Kenny Withrow knows how to make his guitar talk. It’s like he gave it a public speaking class; he shows real diction and dexterity.

Another great example is Tell Me Something Good by Rufus and Chaka Khan. It’s as if Chaka Khan is Chuck D and the lead guitar is Flava Flav – yes, that’s the hype wah! The guitar offers two standout features that could carry the track on their own, yet they prove to be complimentary in the background; the peanut gallery.

More of my favorite wah-wah comes in 1970s Afrorock songs from areas like Nigeria and Zambia. W.I.T.C.H, Chrissy Zebby Tembo and the Ngozi Family kill me. Tracks like Coffin Maker and Troublemaker are Zamrock staples that heavily stand on the fuzzy wah-wah.

The recordings at times even sound cheap or low quality – muffled. But it’s the talent and the choices made by the musicians that make them some of the best recordings I’ve ever heard, where the wah-wah displays rawness, resilience and frustration from civil wars and economic struggle.

Another example is Blacky Joe from the Nigerian band PRO (People’s Rock Outfit). The tune puts me in the shoes of the titular Joe, who’s burnt all his bridges in town. He’s a misfit, constantly in shady situations. The guitar solo at the end could easily be Joe running away or begging for his life. It’s the sound of a defenseless man.

The best compliment I’ve ever gotten came from a man in New York. I’d just come off stage after an hour with my favorite pedal. “Wow!” he said. “You’re like Jimi Hendrix but with a better ass!”

I’m pretty sure I hugged him. Hey, addicts have to stick together.

When it comes to cramming a lot of tone into tiny units, Positive Grid's Spark Series of amp modelers has led the industry for years. From combos and practice amps to headphones and the pocket-sized Spark Go, the Sand Diego-based firm has proven a formidable player in the field.

It’s a surprise, then, that it’s taken this long for the tech to be converted into the more traditional pedal format. With the say-it-as-it-is Spark Pedal, that’s changing.

Crafted as an all-in-one amp and effects pedal, with a looper and partner mobile app for scrupulous tone sculpting, it’s super compact and caters to electric guitars, acoustics, and bass in equal measure. Flexibility is also the name of the game, with the pedal ready to become the epicenter of someone’s entire rig, a recording tool, or a versatile practice station.

Under the hood is the same Spark tech that has impressed players worldwide. It packs 33 amp models, 43 effects, and grants users access to over 100,000 tones through Positive Grid’s online ToneCloud community. That creates near-infinite tonal possibilities in a unit that easily slots into a guitar bag.

Other features include a rechargeable battery for up to seven hours of shredding (there’s no mains power option), Bluetooth connectivity with users funneled through its partnering mobile amp for operation, and AI tone building.

The latter is the same prompt-generating feature that first launched in its impressive Bias X plugin, and it can craft tones on demand from the array of amp models and effects baked into the pedal.

Positive Grid's software is typically quick and easy to get great results from, and its track record of releases attests to that. So, is the Spark pedal another victory for the series, or does the new format fall short?

Specs

• PRICE: $199 | £179
• ORIGIN: China
• TYPE: Amp and effects modeler pedal
• FEATURES: 33 amps and 43 effects, plus access to the Positive Grid ToneCloud community, looper, Bluetooth, MIDI-compatible 
• CONTROLS: Drive, three-band EQ, amp type, volume, three preset footswitches
• CONNECTIONS: Input, mono and stereo outputs, expression pedal, MIDI in/out, USB-C port, headphone jack
• POWER: Built-in battery with up to seven hours of playtime, rechargeable via USB-C
• DIMENSIONS: 170 (w) x 100 (d) x 30-50mm (h)
• CONTACT: Positive Grid

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

At 0.58kg, it weighs just a little more than a standard Boss pedal, and about half of a Crybaby Wah. And with the Spark’s signature black-and-gold drip, it walks a tightrope between classic pedal and modern aesthetics, in my book. It’s small but mighty.

All the in/outputs are housed to the rear of the pedal, and with expression pedal compatibility as well as MIDI – with 3.5mm jack-to-MIDI port adapters coming in the box it ships in – it’s well equipped and neatly assembled. The Power and Bluetooth buttons, however, sit by the input, so an angled jack is slightly ill-advised, as it gets in the way. It’s a small note.

Intriguingly, the Spark Pedal follows the lead of the Spark Go in that most of its outer shell is textured rubber, yet it looks and feels durable. The real benefit here is that the entire bottom skirt of the pedal means it’s never really in the mood for sliding about.

As with most other Spark products, there’s a real marriage between the unit and its mobile app, which means I’m tethered to both a lot of the time. For more traditional players who don’t want extra screens and tech to get a pedal to sing, it’s likely to prove off-putting. But it also makes a lot of sense.

Often, these products are better managed through a mobile or desktop app, but still let you craft tones and edit settings within the unit itself. That's the case here with EQ, amp and effect type editable on the hardware but further control requiring the app. In truth, I imagine most players intrigued by the Spark Pedal will not be put off by this phone-and-stompbox marriage, given that it’s very much a futuristic, tech-filled product; it’s digital through and through. The app makes the experience far better.

Setting up the app and using it was pleasingly intuitive. But without coming across as ‘old man yells at cloud,’ the thought of tweaking a tone via my phone at soundcheck is pretty bizarre.

The pedal itself looks really smart and makes great use of the limited space. Its row of six knobs has multiple uses and, at a glance, makes the powerful pedal look much prettier and far less intimidating. They’re quite stiff to touch, in a pleasing, sturdily built way, and they give the Spark Pedal a fairly premium feel considering it’s almost entirely rubber and plastic.

From there, a series of seven lights flicker and flash to show players what mode it’s in, whether Bluetooth is on, the power status, and more. It takes me a minute to get to grips with everything, but I find it as intuitive as it can be. Still, the app is where I tend to gravitate, because it displays the amps and pedals, etc., in a more obvious way – I can see the green tube screamer or the Marshall-looking amp head – it feels far more tactile and less like I’m getting dressed in the dark.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

In amp mode, the dials are straightforward: Drive, a three-band EQ, the big center dial for choosing the amp type (Clean, Glassy, Crunch, High-Gain, Metal, and Bass), and the master volume. While the dials have lines on them, as is tradition, each is also surrounded by LED lights that show how much, or how little, something is dialed in. It’s all very clear.

Pressing the center dial switches the Spark Pedal from Amp to FX mode, and the dials now offer different functions. The far-left dial houses the Boost, Distortion, and Fuzz effects, increasing in intensity before switching to the next effect. The next dial does likewise with modulations – Tremolo, Chorus, Phaser, and Flanger. On the other side of the center dial, there are choices of Digital, Vintage, Multi, and Reverse delays, and Studio, Chamber, Hall, and Ambient reverbs.

If I press and hold the center button, the tuner engages, which, for me, is a really important feature if Positive Grid has any real hopes of players using the Spark Pedal live. The pedal doesn’t display the name of the note being played; it only tells me if it’s sharp, flat, or just right. For minor adjustments on the go, it’s useful enough, but for any more specifics, the app becomes a crutch – for better or for worse.

The same applies elsewhere. Spark Pedal sans app is well-suited for making smaller adjustments. Sure, adding a little fuzz, delay, and reverb to a crunch tone can make it sound wholly different, and I am having a lot of fun making those more wholesale changes on the pedal’s face, but there’s also a ceiling. For anything more involved, like tweaking the speed of the Tremolo, the feedback of the delay, or the specific amp at play, the app becomes a necessity.

One benefit of being chained to the app is making the most of Positive Grid’s AI tone generator. I first typed in “modern prog rock rhythm,” and within about a minute – there was a short wait – it served up three presets and a breakdown of how it got there. The three presets are previewable and savable, making for an easy addition to my bank of tones.

The crunch tone I found a little underwhelming; it was a bit too scuzzy for what I was looking for, but the middle option paired a Friedman BE-100 (down as BE-101) and matching cab with a Tube Drive and a few other accouterments. The problem is that when I accidentally press back on my phone, it closes the app completely and takes a few seconds to reconnect to the pedal. It also takes me back to the home page, which is frustrating, as I lose that tone entirely.

The Amp Type dial is also smart. Once I find a tone I like - for instance, I found a user-made Slash/Guns N’ Roses tone using a Marshall - I can tweak the amp type, as it says on the tin. So if that crunch amp needs a shot in the arm, I can turn it to high gain while leaving the other settings alone, or pull it back for a glassy clean. It also changes the cab to match the head, which is the best way to work it.

So yes, it’s designed to be used almost always in conjunction with the app, which is like the key to the Spark Pedal’s tonal kingdom, but the pedal itself is also really well laid out; everything makes sense, everything’s easy to find and tweak, and it’s hard to find any major downsides here.

Also, with three preset footswitches per bank, and each bank wholly customizable, that should leave most players with enough tones to cover a song each for live. For example, preset one could be a glassy clean with a little chorus, with the other two for rhythm and lead channels.

Naturally, it’s not as plentiful as Neural DSP Quad Cortex, a Line 6, Kemper, or the other leading built-for-live modelers, but there should be more than enough to get by. Preset changes are also lightning quick. But for those looking to take this into the rehearsal room and beyond, I think it's a drawback in terms of flexibility that it's completely battery-powered – you can't use your pedal power supply or any other mains adaptor here. You always need to consider battery depletion and recharging.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

From my experience with Positive Grid's Spark range of modelers, it’s nigh-on impossible to craft a bad tone. Its products are always really easy to use and very forgiving. The Spark Pedal is no different. Even with some of the built-in metal tones, which were initially too nasal, old-school, and cliché for me, a simple nip-and-tuck with the EQ quickly fixes things. Not once have I managed to concoct something downright awful; it’s just taste that dictates whether what I dial in is exciting or not inspiring enough to lock that particular amp in place.

You can see that by scrolling through the provided presets. From a pure clean tone provided by a model of a Matchless DC-30, to some really lovely, warm-but-gritty crunch tones from an Orange AD30, and searing 5150 lead tones (all from bank B), the bar is high, and the versatility of sounds on offer is hard to argue with. I rarely tweak the other presets; they’re finely tuned to begin with.

I plug a variety of electric guitars into the Spark Pedal. From a Fishman-powered Charvel San Dimas Tele to a seven-string Strandberg Boden N2 Standard and a 30” Gear4Music baritone tuned one octave below drop-D, it handles everything I throw at it with ease. There’s no tuning so low that the amps fall apart, and really, given the breadth of options, no genre that feels out of reach.

With tones so quick to dial in, or find via provided, user-made, and AI-powered presets, there’s a sense of a great well of inspiration for players to draw upon.

There are rare moments when I’m left a little disappointed. The Reverse Delay, for instance, has an inherently digital sound and doesn’t track quite as well as I’d like. It’s a little glitchy. But more often than not, reaching for an effect gives me what I want, from fuzzing up a bass tone (which sounded great with my baritone) to embellishing a clean tone with a nice, wavering chorus. Largely, very few moments of using the pedal have left me wanting more.

For those looking to call upon cornerstone tones for covers, this is an excellent value option. Whether it's a Marshall JCM-800 for tight, British rock and metal tones, or a Blackface Duo (based on a Fender Twin) for spangly, John Mayer-inspired cleans, the Spark Pedal nails the brief time and again. The quality is high enough to gig with, and versatile enough to make a solo practice an absolute hoot. Playing also feels dynamic under my fingers, and the amps the tones are modeled off are easy to recognize the majority of the time – something a lot of cheaper modelers can struggle with.

Moreover, it tracks really well, so using it to record, practice, and gig are all tasks it’s more than capable of handling. Add in an expression pedal and MIDI switching, and this is a serious bit of kit for a price closer to a single effect pedal or wireless guitar system than the big dog modelers of the world.

Verdict

Positive Grid's reputation with the Spark family of products has preceded it here. Its track record of delivering impressive, highly versatile tones in really affordable, user-friendly packages is a standout. So it’s perhaps wise that it’s taken this long to add a more traditional amp-in-a-box format to the celebrated series; it’s gone into this task emboldened by previous successes, and it comes out on the other end with flying colors.

Tone-wise, there’s no compromise compared to the rest of the range. It’s the same great array of options, all tweakable and re-shapable on the pedal itself, and, to a larger, more detailed extent, via the partner app.

For $199, it feels like a real steal, and certainly has its head above a lot of the other competitors circling that same price point. Sure, it’s no (much more expensive) Quad Cortex or Tone Master Pro, but the drop-off isn’t insane either, and it’s packed with more than enough features to get almost every player by.

My playing experience was 10x better with the app loaded, even just as a visual aid to see what amp and effects a preset offers, and whether I wanted to swap anything out. The tuner was also far better on the app than the pedal alone, so that reliance on a mobile phone companion may not be everyone’s cup of tea, and will make it more suited to the home environment for others.

But with three presets per bank, AI tone building, and enough amps and effects to handle all genres, there’s a hell of a lot going for the Spark Pedal.

Guitar World verdict: For those new to the modeling world, or players with tighter budgets, this should be top of mind for practice and gigs alike into an FRFR cab or PA. For more experienced players, and those with a little more cash to splash, it’s more of a practice and recording companion plugged straight into a DAW, or used via Bluetooth to jam along to songs, rather than something that might replace your trusty amp or a higher-end modeler. With its price, ease of use, and some really nice features, this pedal makes a very welcome addition to the Spark’s genuinely brilliant range of low-cost modelers.

• More info: Positive Grid

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Hands-on videos

Positive Grid

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With the PR for its new drop-tuning pedal, the Chug Capo, Ola Englund’s Solar is coming out of the traps with confidence and at least two potential aces up its sleeve.

The pedal’s shtick is simple: It pitches the entire guitar signal by a set number of semitones – stretching up and down one octave each – and does so, the firm reckons, with a greater clarity than ever before. Yet many other pedals, like the long-adored DigiTech Drop, the new and impressive challenger, the Boss XS series, aren’t going to take such hype lightly. The Chug Capo can’t be deemed the new gold standard without winning a fight or two first.

Chiefly, Solar points to two standout factors that go in its favor. Firstly, the “digital bi-directional capo” pedal promises the lowest-latency performance, roughly half that of the other big players. That means players can chug to their heart’s content without it feeling like it’s dragging; it might make them forget the signal has been pitched altogether.

Secondly, there’s talk of retaining "sonic integrity" even with the shifting at its most extreme. That means full, detailed note clarity with single notes and chords. The Boss XS-100 proved remarkable at this; with its artifact-free shifting, it made it one of 2025’s most impressive pedals. The bar is high.

The overarching idea from Solar here is that this pedal could feasibly replace the need to gig with multiple guitars, as it can handle tuning changes in a flash and it also benefits from a preset slot. At the same time, a Mix dial also lets it double as an octaver. It could become a real cuckoo piece of gear.

Lastly, there’s also the option of plugging in a non-latching switch, which is not included, and would need to be purchased from a third party. The Boss FS-5U and the Harley Benton Tap Tempo Switch have both been confirmed as compatible.

So then, the Solar Chug Capo is a pretty straightforward design, and its makers are talking a big game. But how does it fare against the pedals it claims to be ready to slay?

Specs

• Price: $249 (approx £186/€217)
• Type: Pitch shifter and octaver pedal
• Controls: Pitch +/-, mix, Fav, on/off footswitch
• Connectivity: 1/4" inputs, outputs, 3.5mm non-latching switch input, 9V DC, USB-C
• Power: DC 9V, 180mA
• Dimensions: 120mm x 70mm (4.72 x 2.75 Inches)
• Contact: Solar Guitars

Build quality ★★★★½

The pedal is an absolute tank. Coming in a little boxier than your average Boss pedal, it should sit on most pedalboards with little fuss, and honestly feels like it could survive a nuclear holocaust and still be able to down-tune the world’s last-ever electric guitar. Its metal face makes it clear what kind of guitar playing it’s aimed at – even if I’ve never been a fan of how on-the-nose Solar is with the cliché metal aesthetic – and its four interface buttons and sole footswitch are equally rock-solid.

Curiously, it boots up at -2 by default. I find it a shame that it doesn’t recall the last setting used, but it’s an easy fix nevertheless.

Meanwhile, the on light glows red when the pedal is engaged. There are no color discrepancies between up and down shifts, but it glows blue when the Mix mode is on.

Still, its lack of MIDI connectivity harms its compatibility in modern rigs. It’s built to either be on or off throughout a song, but it feels like an oversight all the same.

Usability and features ★★★★☆

The Chug Capo's interface is as simple as it gets, and that works in its favor. The screen is bright and clear, with arrows on either side for pitching the signal up and down. A dot appears above the Mix and Fav mini switches to indicate when they’re engaged, and on the darkest stages, visibility should be no issue.

Pressing the Mix button turns it into octaver mode, blending the dry and pitched signals. Holding the switch down for around four seconds displays a number between 1 and 99, which is the percentage of the pitched signal that’s audible. The higher the number, the drier the signal I get. Conveniently, it defaults to a 50/50 split, unless I’m recalling a preset.

Speaking of which, the Fav button instantly brings up a saved setting, and a new favorite can be saved by holding the button down for 4 seconds again. It’s a doddle to do. However, given that Englund and Solar see this as a trusty gigging companion, I think this feature should have been taken further. There is only one preset slot, so for sets where more than one shift is needed, I’d need to squat down and dial everything in manually. Nevertheless, having presets at all is still a feature the compact competition of the Boss XS-1 and DigiTech Drop don't offer.

Granted, hitting the Fav button a second time restores the pedal to its last setting, including whether Mix is on or off and its percentage. That means there are, in essence, two settings you have access to, which does give its practicality a shot in the arm – even if the non-preset mode will need to be freshly dialed in every time I boot up the pedal. But there’s another issue, too.

I feel the Mix and/or Fav buttons could have benefited from being footswitches. There are feasibility issues here, of course, with Solar wanting to keep the pedal as small as possible. But even the smallest of feet are going to have issues trying to hit any of those buttons on the fly, while not simultaneously hitting one of the arrows. Of course, this is where the extra non-latching switch comes in, connecting via a ¼” to 3.5mm cable handily provided in the box. I can confirm the Boss FS-5U works a treat, but it also increases the pedal’s surface area and, in fixing one operational problem, causes clunky problems of its own.

Another feature Englund is very happy about is how fast the pedal turns on/off, and does so without any weird glitches. Bashing the footswitch repeatedly confirmed that, which is great for peace of mind when making changes mid-song.

Sounds ★★★★☆

In Englund’s own words, the pedal has been created to satisfy his need for “something fast, something tight, and something specifically made for metal rhythm playing,” and so it only seems fair that that’s the benchmark the pedal is put up against.

When tracking fast, aggressively picked riffs, the pedal does its duties with aplomb, and it’s easy to forget that the guitar is actually pitched at times, given the speed of its response and how smooth it handles riffs. Even pinch harmonics squeal with clarity and aren’t smeared with weird glitches.

It’s a similar deal for chords; they don’t get too mushy; they don’t sound warped, and only when making more extreme shifts – +/-7 is where imperfections start to arise – are chords marred by a sense of artificiality. It’s all very impressive, and honestly, even in 2026, expecting an extreme pitch jump to be executed flawlessly feels unrealistic.

Solar forewarns players that “for Solos, some digital artifact is unavoidable and audible as in all pitch manipulators, but the tone remains faithful to the source.” This is very much the case, and, in a shootout with the Boss XS-100 and DigiTech Drop, playing the same Gojira-inspired aggressive metal riff through -2, -4, -8, and -12 shifts, the Solar wins out in terms of tone preservation. There is a minor signal loss and a little of the life sucked out of the Boss, while the DigiTech falls just behind that. The differences, I must add, aren’t night and day, but it’s clear that in moments like this, I am finding that Solar can walk as well as it talks.

However, the tone-sapping is avoided by compressing the pitched signal; it’s essentially trying to pep the signal back up after applying the effect. While that means it really does excel when playing heavy riffs, the compression is far more noticeable with clean tones. Here, the Boss is the outright winner, perhaps alluding to the fact that the Boss is meant to be a catch-all in terms of genres and styles, while this is an area that isn’t the Chug Capo’s strong suit. It adds a little too much grit to the clean tone for my liking, as it endeavors to prevent the signal from losing too much character.

As for solos, I’d go one step further than Solar’s advice. Where possible, disengage the effect and shift the pitch manually, perhaps only relying on it if there are open-string passages that are vital. It keeps things pure; the Chug Capo is meant to be a rhythm machine above all else.

Again, the differences between the three pedals are negligible, but if you’re reading this with very specific uses of the pedal in mind, they are really important aspects to consider. If, like I imagine I would, you need a pedal to go between D and C standard at the press of a button during a metal show, the Solar edges the Boss. And that surprised me, because the Boss is exceptional.

But for more universal applications, I fear Solar’s quest to make it the ultimate chugger means Boss takes the crown for its versatility. If metal rhythms aren’t your only usage, the Boss suddenly becomes way more viable.

It’s only around +/- 7, and beyond that I start to feel the pedal show its weaknesses, but that’s common across its competitors, too – it’s a big jump; there are always going to be side effects. For anything less, I’d happily use this over bringing an extra guitar to a gig, and the pitched tones are virtually indistinguishable from the non-pitched tones with regard to the cleanliness and purity of the effect in that first quartet of semitone shifts. To that end, the Solar can hold its head high. For one-track metal rhythm usage, this pedal will absolutely be a godsend for so many gigging riffers.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★☆

The Chug Capo does exactly what it says on the tin when it comes to standing as a potential replacement for a second guitar for gigging metal bands. When shifting the signal by up to seven semitones, my tone doesn’t suffer; chords ring out fully, fast runs are tracked with ease. Even pinch harmonics remain clear and artifact-free.

But, ultimately, it’s a pedal designed for metal guitarists. For more universal uses, especially in lower-gain and clean settings, the Boss XS-100 beats it, but not by much.

The fact it only has one preset slot, and that the Mix dial – which turns it into an octaver – isn’t overly accessible on the fly, lets it down a little, but for metal guitar pitch shifts on the fly, I feel Solar’s big talk isn't hyperbole.

Guitar World’s verdict: Designed to be the ultimate pitch-shifting pedal for metal rhythm guitar playing, the Chug Capo aces the test with its shifts up to +/-7 semitones artifact-free, while also retaining the original tone and handling fast passages and chords comfortably. But it has also painted itself into a corner, away from high-gain settings; its inherent compression becomes apparent, and I feel that a few quality-of-life features have been overlooked. It isn’t the undisputed king, but it certainly deserves a place in the castle’s keep.

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Solar

Attila Voros

The multi-effects pedal market is the most stacked I’ve ever seen it, and now guitar players have yet another option to consider. The Eventide H9 Harmonizer Gen 2 isn’t like the more typical combined effects and amp simulators we see released these days; instead, it focuses on delivering the most pristine studio-level effects algorithms in a form factor that will fit on any pedalboard.

So why this, over a used H9 Max or the H90? Well, from the spec alone, the H9 Gen 2 blows the H9 Max right out of the water. Not only does it feature all of the algorithms from that most popular of multi-effects pedals, but it also has all the same effects found on the H90. It only runs one at a time, though. If you want the power of dual algorithms, you’ll need to fork out an additional $300 for the privilege of owning an H90.

The number of onboard presets has significantly increased over the H9 Max, so you can now save over 1,000 of your finest machinations. It’s got the same ARM processor as the H90 (and the H9000 studio rack unit), and the 6-character LED screen has been replaced with a 2.5-inch one. The micro-USB has been replaced with a modern USB-C, and there are now separate expression pedal and control jacks.

The H9 Gen 2 comes with a 12V, 1A power supply in the box, but you can run it at 9V, 400mA if you want to use your pedalboard power supply. It’s got stereo ins and outs, plus MIDI in and out/thru. It’s compatible with Gen 1 presets and has a spillover function, which solves one of the big issues with the original.

Specs

• Launch price: $599 | £599 | €694
• Type: Multi-effects pedal
• Controls: 4 knobs, 4 button pads for menu navigation, 2 programmable footswitches, 2 contextual LED buttons
• Features: 74 algorithms spanning the complete H90 and H9 Max libraries, 1,000+ factory presets, SIFT polyphonic pitch-shifting, built-in tuner, Select/Bank/Perform modes, full parameter control with no companion app required
• Connectivity: 2x 1/4" TS inputs, 2x 1/4" TS outputs, USB-C (Eventide Control app), 5-pin MIDI I/O, expression pedal input, aux switch input, Bluetooth (Mac/iPad, via Eventide Control)
• Bypass: Flexible wet/dry and pre/post routing; footswitches control preset/bypass
• Power: 9-12V DC, 300 mA @ 12V / 400 mA @ 9V, 12V 1A power supply (included)
• Dimensions: 133 x 127 x 69mm (5.25 x 5 x 2.7 inches)
• Weight: 0.6 kg (1.32 lbs)
• Options: Harmonizer+ Suite vocal processing available with Mixing Link (sold separately)
• Contact: Eventide

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

Despite the high price and huge feature set, the Eventide H9 Gen 2 is tiny for a multi-effects pedal. It’s slightly narrower than two Boss pedals side by side, and shorter in height than the most popular of pedal enclosures. It weighs about the same as a single Boss stompbox and is wedge-shaped to provide a better angle for pressing the footswitches when it's ‘board-mounted.

The ins and outs are very close together, so if you’re planning on using all of the connectivity, make sure you’ve got some very slimline patch cables. I had to pull a couple of different options out of my box of spares to get two that would fit snugly enough together to utilize the H9 Gen 2 in a stereo configuration.

The base is made out of metal and devoid of rubber feet, so you can mount it straight to your pedalboard. The front fascia is hard plastic, and all of the knobs feel firmly mounted to it. The three smaller knobs provide a firm, smooth travel and are all pressable, while the large encoder is stepped, and can also be pressed down when menu-diving.

The four buttons provide a quiet operation, but are firm in feel when pushed down. Overall, the unit feels very robust, but the contextual LED lights that double as buttons feel a bit flimsy. They move around in their housing a bit, and don’t take much force to press in.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

Plugging the H9 Gen 2 into my Universal Audio audio interface with my trusty Telecaster at the other end, I find navigating the unit is fairly easy on the surface. The large knob changes presets, with a click to confirm my selection. The three knobs below the screen have parameters already dedicated to them, while in the default mode the left footswitch changes to the next preset while the right footswitch engages or disengages the effect.

The rest of it is a lot harder to decipher without having to dive into the manual. I can work out how to change the three settings already assigned to the knobs, but I can’t fathom how to move to the secondary pages. The LED switch above the left footswitch also works to engage the effect, while the right-hand one only seems to change color with no discernible effect to my ear.

I cave and head for the manual, which enlightens me to a lot of additional, and useful, functionality. It turns out the right LED switch changes the direction of preset change, so you can move up through the numbers when red, or back down when it's blue. ‘Params’ is what I was looking for to dive deeper into settings changes, while global settings and tempo can be accessed via dual presses of the top section of four buttons.

Hitting the Perform button allows you to change what the footswitches do, whether that’s assignments such as tap tempo, momentary/latching operation, as well as ‘HotSwitches’, which allow for multiple parameter changes at the same time. You can dial in timings, effects changes, mix amounts, pretty much anything you like. I’m not sure I’d want to do this with the hardware controls, to be totally honest.

For me, I’d much rather do this through the Eventide Control app. Dialing in my sound here before taking it to the rehearsal room and making some final tweaks alongside my band worked much better for me. For studio users, you’ll probably just want to keep it hooked up to your laptop for quicker changes.

I did find one issue with this, though. It was quite noisy with my guitar because there was some noise issues happening with the pedal going to the interface, the interface connected to my laptop, and the pedal being connected to my laptop all at the same time. It was definitely bordering on unusable for me, especially for clean sounds. Thankfully, there’s a fix in the works for this, as the pedal will get Bluetooth connectivity in a future update, so you can run the companion app alongside all of your regular gear.

The Eventide Control app is really intuitive, though. You can quickly set a tempo for each preset and create fresh banks (called ‘lists’) of user presets. It even asks you if you want to save changes before you click on another preset, a godsend when I’d spent half an hour tweaking without committing my changes to the pedal's memory.

The depth on offer really is something. There are far too many options to go into here, but things like the ability to set LFO rates from 1/64th notes all the way to a full 16 bars is absolutely amazing. Effects can be tweaked to the nth degree, making it not only great for guitarists who like to deep dive, but super useful for studio users who need that level of control for the mix.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

There are more sounds packed into the Eventide H9 Gen 2 than I could possibly fit into the constraints of this review. I’ve put together some audio samples for you at the end of this section if you want to hear what it’s capable of for yourself. For now, I’ll just go through some of my favorite sounds that I encountered as part of the stock presets during my testing.

I start with the H910 algorithm, a recreation of a very famous studio rack unit. It’s a subtle sound, one that’s more noticeable when I switch it off. My tone suddenly sounds anaemic with the effect bypassed. This is the sound that was famously used by Eddie Van Halen in rack form, and I can see why as I play my favorite licks through it. They sound fuller and fatter than ever.

It’s similar to the famous MicroPitch algorithm, which uses multiple, slightly offset tunings to make it sound like more than one guitar playing together. Again, it can be subtle depending on how it's used, but it’s incredibly effective. If you’re the only guitarist in your band, it’s a great way to massively thicken up your sound in a way that doesn’t drastically affect your core tone.

Next up is the algorithm that’s so popular it got its own pedal, the Blackhole reverb. With moody open chords, it adds a spiralling, seemingly endless space that somehow never completely consumes your tone. It’s addictive for lead work and maintains remarkable clarity even when you start getting into more complex runs and chord work.

Moving on, I start to get into pitch effects with the Polyphony algorithm. It’s set to fifths by default and tracks remarkably well no matter what I play. Chords hold up spectacularly well, as does bending, with the pitch tracking staying incredibly accurate. I thought I caught it out at one point, but it turned out one of my strings had slightly detuned during some aggressive bending.

Alongside the more out-there stuff, there’s a selection of overdrives which feel like a waste with the power of this pedal, to be honest. But there are also great fuzz tones, flangers, phasers, room reverbs, delays, all of which are delivered in superb quality. It’s a one-stop shop for effects of all kinds, with the ability to work in pretty much any genre you can think of.

Verdict

I like that the Eventide H9 Harmonizer Gen 2 bucks the recent trend in multi-effects pedals and doesn’t try to be a do-it-all unit. It’s a multi-effect in the truest sense, providing supreme-quality effect tones without the added complication of amp and cab simulation. It does that job stupendously well, too, with some of the best effects algorithms I’ve come across.

Is it easy to use? Kind of. Switching presets and using the pedal on a face level is self-explanatory enough. If you want to get the most out of it, you’ll need to dive into the manual and be prepared to spend some time experimenting. Do this, and you will be greatly rewarded for your patience.

It’s not cheap, but it’s my honest opinion that the quality of the sounds makes it worth the entry price. Power users will want to spend more for the H90. These effect algorithms are so good that for some it would be a shame to only be able to use one at a time. Those who live a simpler tone life will absolutely get their money’s worth here.

Guitar World verdict: Packing some of the very best effects algorithms into a pedalboard-friendly format, the Eventide H9 Harmonizer Gen 2 is an absolute triumph. I’ve tested a lot of multi-effects units over the past few years, and the sounds here are absolutely the cream of the crop. It requires deep diving and knob twiddling to get the most out of it, but the level of customization on offer is huge, and it’s a pedal that can play in pretty much any genre you can think of.

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loopop (Ziv Eliraz)

Andertons

Mitch Gallagher

With the arrival of its first touchscreen-equipped floorboard modeler, IK Multimedia is looking to not only make up ground on its rivals, but pile on the pressure with a highly competitive alternative.

Ever since the TONEX Pedal launched, a larger touchscreen version has always seemed like an inevitability.

Neural DSP, Line 6 and Fender all already have one under their belts. In that regard, IK Multimedia is a few years behind. But the company insists it’s been worth the wait.

At $999, it is one of the most affordable modelers of its kind from any of the 'premium' brands. Still an investment, but the Quad Cortex mini is $1,399. The much larger and more cumbersome Fender Tone Master Pro and Line 6 Helix Stadium are more expensive. The latter is more than $2k.

Price-wise, then, the TONE Board is a very tempting option, one that undercuts its closest rivals. And we haven’t even dived into the spec sheet yet.

IK Multimedia says this is the most advanced and best-sounding complete guitar and bass rig ever put in a compact pedal. It is the complete TONEX ecosystem in one package.

AI Machine Modeling amps and cabs, and AmpliTube effects can be navigated through the five-inch touchscreen. 76 effects and a whopping 2,000 Premium Tone Models are baked in, with more said to be on the way and a wealth to browse on ToneNET.

What’s more, the pedal has been released alongside TONEX 2.0 Player, which debuts updated Premium V2 Tone models. These can be accessed through the Board.

Indeed, IK Multimedia’s Tone Models – read: amp, cab and effects – are widely praised for their realism and dynamic feel. Previous TONEX pedals have been praised for them. V2 models therefore make for a neat inclusion.

Like previous pedals, the TONEX Board can also be used to capture your own gear and rig to take on the road.

Elsewhere, the photo-realistic onscreen gear designs depicted onscreen are a nice touch for dialing in amps and effects. There’s also four footswitches, six push-rotary controls, and three performance modes – Preset, Scene and Stomp – for flexibility.

To make it suitable for stage and studio, there are plenty of connectivity and output options. Dual-amp, parallel, stereo and wet/dry setups can be used thanks to the pedal’s signal chain. There are also two stereo output pairs, MIDI compatibility, and expression pedal control.

All in all, it’s the TONEX that IK Multimedia fans have been waiting for. You get the entire TONEX experience in a robust package that can be controlled by a flash touchscreen. And, weighing just under the $1k mark, it's perhaps one of the best value-for-money modelers of its kind.

The TONEX Board is available now for $999.

Visit IK Multimedia for more.

Until now, the pedals have typically had military styling (founder Adrian Thorpe was in the British Army for many years), and though not all players will grasp the Cold War symbolism of, say, the Peacekeeper or the ER-2, to use but two examples, there was no mistaking the etched-crosshair motif of the company’s debut overdrive, the Marshall-like Gunshot.

More recently, however, as world events have taken a darker turn, ThorpyFX has broadened its visual and sonic identity with two pedals that depart from the bellicose script. The Hanami fuzz, launched last year, took its inspiration from Japanese cherry blossom season.

Now the Kudu, named after a large South African antelope, continues the nature‑derived theme. The pedal took shape after a chance gift from a fellow designer Dan Coggins, inspiring Adrian to create a highly versatile overdrive. We sit down with the company’s namesake and founder to find out more…

The new Hanami and now Kudu pedals are a bit of a departure from what’s gone before, at least visually.

Yes, it’s been a bit of a wholesale change, really. We like to listen to customers generally, and whenever we’ve felt that the swell of brown noise reached a certain crescendo, we’ve always made changes.

So when people were saying the first petals we ever brought out were a little bit too big, we shrunk them down. And when people were saying they couldn’t see the controls because the metal was too shiny, we moved it to black anodised aluminium.

And as a small company, these are big changes and it costs lots of money and it takes time to try to mitigate the sheer cost of doing these things. We then looked at our range and went, ‘Well, we could invest in several bits of equipment, and we could utilise our tools to essentially allow us to buy product that’s blank and then customise it for this specific pedal.’

So we invested 100 grand in lasers, UV printers and 3D printers and jigs and stuff like that. What that’s enabled us to do is almost go back to my roots, so I can do custom one-offs, I can do small runs, I can do full main runs, and the base enclosure stays the same – but we just apply custom artwork and we have full control over that process.

So it’s a bit of a business decision but also a creative decision as well. It took a bit of time, but it’s panned out quite nicely and it’s also allowed us to, not branch away from the military thing, but tone it down a little bit – and that’s a personal choice as well. I have a background in the military. I’m not a warmonger, as I have been called by some, and I believe I operate for peace and have good moral compass.

But I wanted to change things up a bit and so we’ve done a few things that have stepped away from the military aesthetic. Hanami was the first one, then The J, and now the Kudu. And as we move forward, we’re just sort of toning things down a little bit, art-wise, to appeal to a broader audience.

And you know what? At some point we’ll do full on Custom Shop stuff. We have it in the glide path that we’re working towards, and I’ve done many things already for people, which was fun. I’m glad we can do it because creative freedom brings quite a lot of joy.

How did this new Kudu overdrive pedal come into being?

I feel a bit guilty about the Kudu in some ways [laughs]. Dan [Coggins], my erstwhile analogue designer, gifted me a present [of a pedal he had made] at Christmas of 2024 because I was a bit down – I’d just lost my parents and [everything] was shit, if I’m honest. But he cheered me right up. Because as much I design pedals, I really like them – I like everyone else’s pedals.

Dan said, ‘I’d been asked to do this for someone and when I’d finished I liked it so much I thought I’d make you one because you like Marshall amps.’ Essentially, it was an MXR Distortion+ with quite a few modifications to it.

Even though the Distortion+ does work well with Marshall‑style amps, this works so much better. And so I use it with a Soldano and I use it with a Cornford, and [you could] use it with all these different style amps.

I was thinking, ‘This is amazing, it just works with everything’ – it’s a bit simple because it’s just got Level and Drive. So we had this back and forth together and a few months later, Dan said, ‘I was thinking about your comment about simplicity.’ Dan knows what I want with stuff and he turned around and said, ‘So I’ve sketched this out and it takes that concept of making things better and working well with everything and enhancing the thing that you’re playing into.’

He explained that this would need to come from a wider field – so it’s got more EQ, it’s got more clipping options, the gain control is more flexible, and the tone control is not a true tone control; it adds presence and treble, so it’s more of a ‘bite’.

And the control’s actually called Bite because, depending on your amp, it cuts through a certain way. He just drew this schematic out from me and I was like, ‘Oh, wow. Now I’ve definitely got to lay this out and see how it comes out.’ And everything I plugged into, it made it sound better.

My dream amp has long been the Cornford MK50 II, which won Guitarist awards when it came out. I bought one then and later sold it, then ended up buying it back because it’s my favourite amp. It doesn’t need anything, truthfully – it’s such a great amp from the off.

But then I plug this thing that we designed into it and it makes it sound better. It’s one of those moments where my go-to amp that I could just plug into now has been ruined: I now have to have this thing sat in front of it because it sounds better.

So I’m like’ ‘Great!’ [laughs]. But a shared misery is better than suffering in silence, so we’ve decided to release the thing so everyone else can have this pedal where they have to keep it on all the time…

Why did you choose to name it after an antelope specifically?

We went to release it and, I have to say, it was [co-director and Adrian’s wife] Georgia’s idea. She was like, ‘This needs to get out there because you know people don’t always have control over their backline – people don’t even necessarily have control over what amps they can use at home – but they want a sound that’s like the thing’s rocking at high volume when this kicks in.’

And so I actually turned around to Georgia and said, ‘Well, you design it, then.’ She did all the art and the layout and everything – Georgia is doing a lot more sort of the creative side, which has been really good.

We ended up calling it the Kudu because I spent a bit of time in South Africa and I’ve seen quite a lot of animals out there like the springbok, and then I saw these kudus and the one I saw was called a greater kudo, and that just seemed to fit: because it makes everything greater.

What are the core tones it generates and how can you use them?

Well, I hate to use this word, but it’s fairly transparent at low-gain settings because we have an ethos of having low noise and high clarity, generally, and lots of string separation, so that’s baked in as a must, right?

Then you wind the gain up and I would say the mid focus of it sits perfectly for a standard tuning guitar. Across the strings, it is absolutely perfect. So that’s where we centered everything.

Then as you wind the gain up more, it overdrives itself in just a perfect way, but it does have three clipping options: Hard clipping, which is LED; Soft clipping, which is silicon; and then Soft+ clipping – they’re Schottky diodes and they have a response and feel exactly the same as germanium.

They have a soft ‘knee’ and a flubbiness that is identical to germanium. But we haven’t put germanium in there because if we did germanium, we could only do a certain amount and it would make the pedal more expensive.

The reason the three [clipping styles] are available is because you may have, say, a Fender ‘Drip Tray’ Princeton, that’s fairly clean and clear, so you can get away with something that’s a little bit softer on the clipping, something with a bit more sag and flubbiness.

But if you’ve got a Tweed combo, you really need harder clipping because you’ve already got the compression from the amp and so you don’t want to be compressing and compressing.

So the clipping types were very specifically chosen with certain types of amp in mind: Soft is great for Marshall‑style amps; Hard is great for something with more sag; and then Soft+ is really if your amp is more present and with less negative feedback, so something like a Two-Rock.

• Find out more at ThorpyFX
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

Thorn Soundlabs is a relatively new pedal company formed in Nashville, USA. Its mission, it says, is to “redefine effects pedals with tools that inspire sonic exploration, not just sonic replication”.

We have six of the current Flex range of nine pedals here for review, the Flex in the name standing for flexible with the understanding that each pedal offers a wide range of variation within and maybe beyond its allotted task.

Drive, distortion and fuzz are respectively taken care of by the Bad Cash, Silver Spurs and Black Swamp, while The FreaQ provides boost with EQ functionality, and Steam is a compressor. The Tremonator is the sole modulation pedal in the bunch, offering tremolo with tap tempo.

Construction is reassuringly solid, and the pedals all run from a standard nine-volt adapter (no batteries), with four of them also taking an 18-volt supply for extra headroom.

A quick glance and one thing that’s apparent is that some of the pedals have controls with names that are not standard – most notably Damping and Headroom.

The Damping knob, found on the three dirt pedals and the boost, adjusts a variable filter that reduces the low-frequency content before the signal enters the overdrive circuit, working brilliantly for getting rid of any flub and tightening up your sound.

The Headroom knob is designed to adjust the clipping threshold of the output stage on the drive and distortion pedals, working in conjunction with the drive/gain knob to turn up the wick.

Specs

Thorn Soundlabs Bad Cash

• PRICE: $189 | £147 | €161
• ORIGIN: China
• TYPE: Drive pedal
• FEATURES: True bypass
• CONTROLS: Drive, Damping, Headroom, Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence, Symmetry O/I switch, Class A/AB switch, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V-18V DC adaptor 18mA 
• DIMENSIONS: 94 (w) x 120 (d) x 51mm (h) 

Thorn Soundlabs Silver Spurs

• PRICE: $189 | £156 | €169
• ORIGIN: China
• TYPE: Distortion pedal
• FEATURES: True bypass
• CONTROLS: Gain, Damping, Headroom, Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V-18V DC adaptor 18mA
• DIMENSIONS: 94 (w) x 120 (d) x 51mm (h)

Thorn Soundlabs Black Swamp

• PRICE: $199 | £164 | €189
• ORIGIN: China
• TYPE: Fuzz pedal
• FEATURES: True bypass
• CONTROLS: Gain, Damping, Mid Freq, Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Character S/N/H switch, Hard Clip O/I switch, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V-18V DC adaptor 24mA 
• DIMENSIONS: 94 (w) x 120 (d) x 51mm (h)

Thorn Soundlabs The FreaQ

• PRICE: $149 | £121 | €139
• ORIGIN: China
• TYPE: Double Stage Booster pedal
• FEATURES: True bypass, Freq and Boost switching
• CONTROLS: Damping, Gain, Boost, Freq, Freq footswitch, Boost/Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V-18V DC adaptor 18mA 
• DIMENSIONS: 94 (w) x 120 (d) x 51mm (h)

Thorn Soundlabs Steam

• PRICE: $204 | £164 | €189
• ORIGIN: China
• TYPE: Compressor pedal
• FEATURES: True bypass
• CONTROLS: Threshold, Amount, Attack, Release, Detail, Output, Auto/Manual switch, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V DC adaptor 29mA 
• DIMENSIONS: 94 (w) x 120 (d) x 51mm (h) 

Thorn Soundlabs Tremonator

• PRICE: $244 | £199 | €198
• ORIGIN: China
• TYPE: Tremolo pedal
• FEATURES: True bypass, Tap Tempo
• CONTROLS: Symmetry, Mix, Volume, Rate, Multiplier, Sine/Square Wave switch, Tap Tempo footswitch, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output, external tap tempo (3.5mm jack)
• POWER: 9V DC adaptor 28mA 
• DIMENSIONS: 94 (w) x 120 (d) x 51mm (h) 
• CONTACT: Thorn Soundlabs

Build quality, usability and sounds

Bad Cash is an overdrive with a wide range of tone shaping available from its amp-like tone stack array of Bass, Mid, Treble and Presence knobs, as well as the aforementioned Damping and Headroom controls.

There are two clipping options available; symmetrical is the smoothest option, with asymmetrical delivering an edgier sound. There’s also a similar choice of output distortion characteristics with Class A or AB on offer, so a total of four nuanced voice combinations. With a wide clean to dirty range, this is one flexible drive pedal that should pair with any amp.

Silver Spurs has a similar set of controls to the Bad Cash but operates in a higher gain range. The aim here is classic British amp sound, which the pedal does with aplomb, spitting out aggressive raunch and heavier saturation.

Incidentally, there’s one more drive pedal that we couldn’t fit into this review and that’s the Magma, which is described as a Metal Distortion.

The last of the dirt pedals is the Black Swamp fuzz, although we’d say it’s as much a distortion as a fuzz in the same way that a Big Muff can be.

With a choice of Smooth, Normal or Hot for the fuzz character, as well as the options of soft or hard clipping, all shaped by the usual Damping, Bass and Treble knobs, there’s no mistaking the versatility available.

But the kicker here is the extra layer of detailed tone sculpture provided by the semi-parametric midrange EQ, which offers boost or cut anywhere between 310Hz and 2kHz.

The FreaQ, described as a Double Stage Booster, has a Boost footswitch that activates the first boost stage where the sound is only affected by the Damping and Boost knobs.

It starts from unity gain, so has plenty on tap, yet it also adds a subtle but sweet amount of top-end that can combine with the reduced lows from the Damping knob for added tonal enhancement.

The second Freq footswitch only works if the Boost footswitch is already engaged and adds the Gain and Freq controls into the mix to give you a targeted boost where a frequency between 200Hz and 3.4kHz can be cut or boosted by the Gain knobs. This is a really functional pedal that works equally well as an always-on tone conditioner or something to be kicked in as needed.

First port of call on the Steam compressor has to be the Auto/Manual switch to choose between automatic attack and release timing (which is really well dialled in), or use of the Attack and Release knobs for your preferred settings, especially in sculpting the transients. A Threshold knob sets the level at which compression starts and an Amount knob sets the intensity of compression.

But the secret weapon here is the Detail knob, ostensibly designed to restore the brightness perceived to have been lost due to compression and in reality a great tone enhancer to focus your top-end with up to +15dB of gain in the upper mid/treble frequency bands. Steam provides a practical compression toolbox with plenty of output for a boost, too.

Finally, the Tremonator provides a choice of decent-sounding sine or square-wave tremolo that can be further shaped by the Symmetry knob, which will dial in lopsided waveforms in either direction.

The tremolo is added to the dry sound by a Mix knob that runs from 100 per cent dry to 100 per cent wet – think of this as your depth control – while speed is set by the Rate knob.

Alternatively, you can set the speed via the Tap Tempo footswitch, which means you can sync to a drummer on the fly. A Multiplier knob multiplies any tempo inputted by either method.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★½

Some US pedals can get a bit pricey, but the ‘Designed in the USA/Made in China’ concept here keeps these units more reasonable. They’re neither budget pedals nor overly expensive.

The Bad Cash and Silver Spurs have a solid flexibility with tonal shaping options that set them apart from many other dirt pedals. Likewise, the Black Swamp benefits from the tonal focusing of its semi-parametric midrange.

Flexibility is again the name of the game with the FreaQ, offering plenty of gain on tap and tonally targeted, too, while Steam pretty much does everything you’d want from a guitar compressor (apart from the parallel compression that a dry mix knob would add).

Guitar World verdict: Considering its higher price, the Tremonator isn’t such a bargain as the rest, but overall this is a range of pedals endowed with thoughtfully considered features that would make them practical additions to a signal chain.

Hands-on videos

Thorn Soundlabs

Thomann

• Best cheap guitar pedals 2026: killer budget stompboxes you need to try
• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

Well, it’s fair to say if you’re into boutique pedals in 2026 you aren't exactly short on options. There are more choices than ever, whether you’re chasing a fuzz that could level a city block, a dreamy atmospheric delay, or a mythical harmonically rich overdrive. The tricky part isn’t finding something cool, it’s actually getting your hands on it. With the most hyped boutique builders, waitlists can stretch for months, sometimes years, and worse yet, there’s typically an eye-watering price attached.

That’s where the Warm Audio Dirty Boy Jr. Overdrive comes in. As you probably know, Warm Audio has built a serious reputation for making pro-level versions of classic gear, from iconic stompboxes to microphones and studio outboard units. Its latest pedal, the Dirty Boy Jr. Overdrive, aims to capture the magic of the beloved Dirty Boy Preamp in a more pedalboard-friendly, affordable package.

Dirty Boy has been in the pedal game since the 80s, but by the early 2000s it had solidified itself as one of the most sought-after boutique brands, with Neal Schon, Phil X, John Frusciante, and Tom DeLonge each having one of its pedals on their boards.

The Dirty Boy Jr. is a pure analog overdrive pedal built for dynamic, amp-like grit. The controls are pretty simple, with just Volume, Gain, and Tone, plus a Variac dial which simulates reduced voltage to the circuit, and in turn introduces sag, compression, and voltage-starved fuzz characteristics to the drive sound.

Now, while the Jr. can be used as a traditional overdrive pedal into the front end of your favorite tube amp, it also includes a handy emulated out. Danny Gomez developed the proprietary T.A.E. (Tube Amp Emulation) technology, voiced after a closed-back 4x12 Greenback cabinet, and you can send it directly to the PA for live shows or to your audio interface for recording.

As you’d expect, the pedal runs on your standard 9V power supply and is true bypass. The entire thing is housed in a rugged, all-metal enclosure with the iconic, sparse homemade look of the original.

Specs

• Launch price: $169 | £169 | €189
• Type: Preamp/overdrive
• Controls: Gain, Tone, Volume, and Variac
• Features: Overdrive circuit based on the Dirty Boy Preamp and emulated out with T.A.E. (Tube Amp Emulation)
• Connectivity: 1 x 1/4" input jack, 1 x 1/4" preamp output jack and 1 x 1/4" emulated cabinet output
• Bypass: True Bypass
• Power: 9V
• Dimensions: 122 mm x 51 mm x 65 mm (W x D x H)
• Weight: 0.6 lbs
• Options: N/A
• Contact: Warm Audio

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

So, first things first, the pedal’s enclosure feels reassuringly solid. Admittedly, there’s very little to go wrong here. However, the limited controls feel smooth and well-made.

The chassis is a weighty, all-metal affair, and the pedal’s graphics are understated and basic. Of course, this is a deliberate callback to the original Dirty Boy aesthetic, and I must say, I like the scrappy DIY style.

Yes, it’s plain, and maybe a little boring when compared to the wild graphics on some modern pedals, but it is functional, and those clear labels are easy to read, even under dim stage lights.

As you'd expect, the footswitch has a positive, tactile click, and the jacks and power input are firmly mounted, with no wobble.

All told, this is a very well-made pedal indeed, not that I’d expect anything less from the folks at Warm Audio.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★★

This pedal is pretty much as simple as it gets. The straightforward three-knob layout of Volume, Gain, and Tone means I can land on usable sounds in seconds. I’m happy to see there's no learning curve or labyrinth of secondary functions to contend with – just plug in, set the levels, and play.

That said, the Variac dial is the wild card here, turning this from an average three-knob overdrive into something else entirely. At maximum, the pedal is punchy and open, delivering classic, amp-like drive tones. Start rolling the Variac back, and you introduce that saggy, compressed feel that mimics a voltage-starved amp.

Switching between using the pedal in front of an amp or sending it direct is seamless, thanks to the extra emulated output. There’s no menu-diving, IR loading, or annoying software to download. I just plug straight into my interface and instantly get a convincing 4x12 cab sound.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

Okay, I am well aware that “amp-like” is an overused cliché when describing pedals, but honestly, I can’t think of a better way to convey how this pedal sounds. This is a truly touch-responsive, dynamic pedal that reacts like a good amplifier.

For testing, I’m starting off with a Gibson Firebird into a Vox AC30 on the Normal channel, set as clean as possible with just a touch of verb. I’m using the pedal as a standard overdrive.

Starting with the gain low and the Variac wide open, the sound is clear and punchy with just enough hair on the notes. To me, it sounds like the natural sound of my beloved Vox amp, just pushed a little harder. There’s extra sustain, and an organic quality to the distortion.

As the gain makes its way past 12 O’Clock, we get more saturation and a fuller sound overall. This becomes a fantastic classic rock-type drive. What I like about this pedal is how much it responds to volume changes. By simply turning down my guitar's volume, I can get it to clean up naturally.

Max-out the gain, and things start to get a little too fizzy for my tastes. Yes, the tone is more than usable, but it’s not as smooth as the previous settings. However, it did start to smooth out when I dialed back the tone to tame some of the harsh top-end.

Moving on to the Variac dial, I must say this is fun to play around with. As I said before, with the control on max, it’s the sound of the pedal wide open, but as you turn it down, you introduce lower-voltage sounds.

Around 3 o’clock, it is less noticeable tonally, but you can definitely feel the difference. It’s more spongy, and there’s a touch of that amp-like sag there. Moving the dial toward 12 o’clock, things turn more fuzz-like, with a spitty distortion that is now way rougher around the edges. Turning the control almost all the way down, it sounds like a lo-fi broken fuzz – like a sound you’d get out of the ZVex Fuzz Factory.

That is only half of the story, as the Dirty Boy Jr. Overdrive features an emulated output. To test this, I ran the emulated out into my Positive Grid Spark Live Cab, which is an FRFR speaker. The emulation here is pretty classic, opting for a typical 4x12 cabinet loaded with Celestion Greenbacks.

It sounds pretty good. It's warm, wide, and has the nice midrange punch you’d hope for from the real deal. I’d have no problem popping this pedal at the end of my pedalboard chain and using it as my “amp” for a live gig. It just sounds exactly as it should, and you can’t say fairer than that.

Verdict

Without its extra features, this Warm Audio and Dirty Boy collaboration would have yielded a seriously usable three-knob overdrive, but throw in the Variac control and a very good all-analog emulated out, and you have a characterful drive pedal that’s as versatile as it is fun to play.

At a price point well within reach for most working musicians, this is a great opportunity to snag a boutique-quality overdrive for a fraction of the original's cost. Honestly, whether you’re after classic rock crunch, amp-style breakup, or wild, voltage-starved fuzzy-edged distortion, this pedal will get you there with very little fuss.

Guitar World’s verdict: Warm Audio’s collaboration with Dirty Boy has not only honored the legacy of the original but made it accessible for a new generation of players. If you’re looking for a flexible, inspiring overdrive that punches well above its weight, the Dirty Boy Jr. deserves a spot on your board.

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Warm Audio

intheblues

• Best pedal amps: top preamps, power amps, and amp modelers

With the reinvigorated DOD brand comes the opportunity to improve upon classic designs from their past.

The Drag is a new analog delay pedal designed by the minds behind the Rubberneck, a cult classic pedal that is still sought-after today.

The Rubberneck expanded the palette of what was possible with a bucket-brigade delay (BBD), with its novel time-stretching features. The Drag packs a lot of the same punch as the Rubberneck, while adding new modes into the mix.

Specs

• Price: $219.99 | £199
• Type: Bucket Brigade Device analog delay pedal
• Controls: Time, Level, Feedback, Filter, Curve Tails, Drift, Friction
• Features: Delay and time stretching
• Connectivity: Input, Output, Power, FS3X jack
• Bypass: True and Buffered/Tails (switchable)
• Power: 9V DC centre-negative 120mA
• Dimensions: 121 x 71 x 38 mm
• Weight: 10.58oz/0.30kg
• Contact: Digitech

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★☆

The Drag is a good-looking pedal. It's sturdy as you'd expect, and the artwork is a nice, cyberpunk-ish nod to classic Manga film Akira. It comes with a complementary magnetic front plate that can be stuck to a DigiTech FS3X footswitch, so that their designs match.

There are also some automotive-themed screwdrivers, plectrums and stickers as case candy, continuing DOD's commitment to adding some fun to proceedings as it did with the Badder Monkey.

To my eye, there is an accident waiting to happen with the pedal, however. Either side of the footswitch are two mini knobs. Now, only time can tell whether or not these will break, but it's enough to make me wary.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★☆

The biggest strength of the Drag also reveals its biggest issue. The DOD Rubberneck was a feature-rich, double-width enclosure, with three large pots, two dual-mode pots, two small pots, and two toggles on the front plate, as well as two footswitches.

The Drag, meanwhile, attempts to cram the same functionality, and more, into a single footswitch compact pedal. For the player, this means a great deal of poking around on the front panel, and the need for an expansion footswitch to get the most out of it. As a result of this complexity, it failed my 'can this be used without looking at the manual' test pretty fast.

In the end, it's a minor complaint, since at least the FS3X isn't too expensive at around $60, but needing the pedalboard real estate to use it is a big drawback. This takes the footprint of the two up to around the same size as a flagship digital multi-delay like a Boss or Strymon.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

At its core, the DOD Drag is an excellent-sounding analogue delay. Depending on where you are in the world, its base price point might be competitive enough to purchase the Drag as a BBD delay, full-stop. Additionally, less space-cadet features like modulation are then just a bonus.

As a BBD delay, it's got a dark, rich voicing, which means I prefer bridge pickups so that it will cut through the mix. Combined with its modulation features, it has the ability to be used in more of a textural way, much like a tape echo.

However much I enjoy setting it up like a Roland Space Echo, then calling it a day, it's the additional features that make it stand out from the competition. Of these, the tape stop effect is the most fun, although admittedly it is an effect that's easy to replicate on record or in a DAW.

The pitch bouncing of the original Rubberneck also returns, but if you've got an EHX Pitch Fork, Boss Shifter or Whammy, then it's less controllable than those options. Where it is superior is in its unique, warm timbre.

Across all the additional modes, the best part is the unexpected. These BBD chips are being pushed to their limits and beyond, and sometimes the results are unusual or glitchy. Paired with a gated fuzz and whammy in front, the results can be incredibly fun.

Verdict

The DOD Drag is a great-sounding, solidly built pedal that is nevertheless held back by two things.

First, the complexity of its interface, and second, the need for a better way to interact with the depth of its functionality. If those two things aren't a deal-breaker for you, then you should definitely check it out.

Guitar World verdict: All in all, the Drag deserves credit for being an unusual pedal that is trying to do something new. The sounds within are solid at their core and fun, bordering on thrilling at the extreme. The only issue is figuring the pedal out – luckily for the Drag, trial and error is pretty rewarding.

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DigiTech

• Best delay pedals

When Mayer’s internet-breaking signature Neural DSP plugin came out last year, players (this writer included) immediately began calling for compatibility with the firm’s two QC modelers.

Now, our prayers have been answered. But Neural DSP has gone one step further, incorporating it as part of the new CorOS 4.1.0 firmware update.

This one is a biggie. Neural DSP has also introduced Quad Cortex compatibility for a collection of other signature Archetype plugins.

That means every single current X-updated Neural DSP plugin has been added, including those belonging to Tim Henson, Misha Mansoor, John Petrucci, and Rabea Massaad.

This has been a long time coming. It’s almost hard to believe we’ve waited this long to get some of these plugins added to the QC. But, they are here at last, and with them comes a range of amps and effects that were previously unavailable on the floorboard platform.

Highlights include (but are not limited to) Mayer’s assortment of Dumble and Fender amps, Massaad’s uber-powerful synth engine, and Henson’s Multivoicer.

The update doesn’t end there. Neural DSP has also debuted Device Presets, “one of the most significant workflow improvements ever added to the Quad Cortex”.

This adds a number of factory presets for each virtual device (read: amp, cab, drives, effects and utility block), as well as space for players to create their own. Handy for those who spend ages dialing in each block to a specific setting every time they start a new preset.

Another key workflow improvement is Dual Footswitch Assignments, which allows for secondary functions independent of the usual bypass operation. Elsewhere, eight new Virtual Devices have been introduced, such as the Crystal Delay, Glitch granular delay, Ring Modulator and more.

“CorOS 4.1.0 represents a major milestone for the Quad Cortex ecosystem” said Francisco Cresp, Neural DSP CPO and Co-Founder. “With Plugin Compatibility now spanning every X-updated plugin in our lineup, alongside powerful new workflows like Device Presets, we’re giving musicians even more freedom to create, experiment, and move between software and hardware without compromise.”

CorOS 4.1.0 has been rolled out alongside Cortex Control 4.1.0. This also offers some workflow improvements, chief among which is Multiple Device Management for connecting multiple Quad Cortex pedals simultaneously from a single computer.

“Every CorOS release is about making Quad Cortex a more powerful creative platform,” said Douglas Castro, Neural DSP CEO and Co-Founder.

“This update is our biggest yet, not only because of the amount of new functionality we’ve added, but because it fundamentally changes how quickly musicians can build sounds, move between devices, and bring our entire plugin ecosystem into their hardware workflow.”

Visit Neural DSP to find out more.

It's no secret that many guitarists build their tone from multiple drive blocks – overdrives, fuzz pedals, boosts, tube amps, and even rack preamps.

Players from Eric Johnson to Billy Corgan have employed gain-stacking and drives to nail the sound in their heads.

The Triptychon takes this truism and attempts to put three of the blocks – boost, fuzz, and overdrive – into one compact enclosure.

Specs

• Price: $359 | £269 | €299
• Type: Boost/Fuzz/Distortion
• Controls: Octave/Boost, Mod, Boost gain, Fuzz Gain, Fuzz Voice, Fuzz Volume, Drive Gain, Drive Tone, Drive Volume, Footswitch selector, 2x Buffer selector, 2x Footswitch
• Features: Boost, Fuzz, Drive pedals
• Connectivity: Input, Output, Expansion Footswitch, Power
• Bypass: True relay
• Power: 9V DC Centre-negative, 80mA
• Dimensions: 69 x 125 x 58 mm
• Weight: 385g
• Contact: Crazy Tube Circuits

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

The Triptychon is well-built, sensibly laid out, and very compact given how much it's squeezing in. There's also an option to use an extension footswitch to control the drive block separately and have all three blocks independently switchable, which is cool.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

The Triptychon crams so much functionality into its compact footprint that usability does suffer a bit. For me, the main snag is not immediately being able to figure out the anti-buffer feature. This helps with impedance when there is either a buffered pedal or a guitar with active pickups in front of it.

Still, apart from that, the pedal reads sensibly from right to left and vertically, so it's intuitive to set up, even if it takes a few minutes to get oriented in the context of your rig. From there it's simple to nail lots of different tones, even when switching fuzz voicings.

The switchable fuzz options are all two-knob units, so their Fuzz and Volume controls are included in the Fuzz block, while they rely on the Tone control in the Drive block.

If you're not using the extension footswitch, the Drive and Fuzz blocks are activated together, meaning that even if the drive is turned all the way down, the tone control is active, in my opinion an improvement on the original fuzzes.

The only feature the Triptychon doesn't offer is the ability to change the order of the effects. This might be an issue for some, but luckily for me, the three come in my preferred order, meaning it's a feature, not a bug. Although you can't reorder the effects, you can set it so the drive is on the second footswitch, instead of the boost, for added versatility.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

The Triptychon opts for the order of boost into fuzz, into drive. The plus side of this is that the drive tends to make the fuzz more controllable, not less. Though it's not as compressed as say, a Tube Screamer, it does still compress and add saturation in response to the fuzz.

This is rather like the response of a tube amp, which is what the designers intended. Completely wide open, it does become quite uncontrollable, but given the range of gain on the pedal, and the presence of three gain blocks, it's impressive how much of that range is usable.

The Boost block also sports an analog octave-up, if that's your thing, but i find myself leaving it in the Rangemaster setting, adding a treble boost. It's such a substantial voicing change that with the Gain up, on a neck pickup, engaging the boost will have you checking your guitar to see that you didn't toggle to the bridge by accident.

For my money, the pedal is at its best when all three circuits are engaged, with the Fuzz and Drive controls north of 12 o' clock – the lead tones this thing can put out are simply brilliant.

The drive block on its own is easy to dial in for fantastic rhythm tones, and I found generally mixing the drive and fuzz sounded best - I'm a sucker for Fuzz Face into drive.

Though the Triptychon is designed to be a one-stop gain shop, it interacts well with other gain pedals. Using a darker, Space Echo-style boost, the fuzz and drive blocks respond with a pleasant kick, useful for thicker rhythm tones. At the other end, pushing up the level with the gain down results in lower-wattage tube amps adding their own breakup to the mix. Taking the fuzz and drive blocks back out, the boost on its own also has enough juice to claw saturation from the tube amp.

The only drawback I can think of is that, by not including a Big Muff-style fuzz voice, there's no Smashing Pumpkins-style 'Muff into drive' lead tone. Then again, this would have taken up valuable space with a very different fuzz circuit, so it's understandable.

Verdict

For a drive pedal, the Triptychon isn't cheap, but it may well be the only drive pedal that you need on your board.

Should that not be the case, it stacks well with other drives and the amps that follow it. The range of all the controls is well-judged; the result is that there's hardly a bad setting in the pedal.

Guitar World verdict: The Triptychon is not a new idea, but it is well-executed. All of the fuzzes sound fantastic, and access to a tone control and the extra kick of the drive adds versatility and character. I'm not sure it will replace all the drives and fuzzes on your board, but it will streamline them, and work with the ones that remain.

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R.J. Ronquillo

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• “Whether you’re an AC/DC fan or not, there are some classic tones to be found within this little box of rock”: Crazy Tube Circuits Heatseeker review

It’s true that Mooer doesn’t have the same weight of gravity to it as the likes of Neural DSP, Kemper, and Line 6 when it comes to amp modeling. But that doesn’t mean you should dismiss it.

As a penny-conscious entry point into the world of digital amp tones, Mooer’s ever-growing GE line has proven to offer a lot of bang for not all that much buck. The GE150 Pro Li, then, clocks in at a fairly eye-watering 200 presets, 55 amps, 26 cabinets, and support for third-party IRs as well as compatibility for NAM captures. That’s a lot of choice.

Following the success of the $240 GE150 Max Li and the €449 GS1000 modeler and profiler, Mooer continues to expand its all-in-one rig roster. The most noteworthy upgrade sees Mooer expanding from two to four footswitches with recent releases, and this one is no different.

The headline is that the Chinese firm touts “improved control logic” that makes preset switching mid-gig faster and more seamless. Those two improvements show Mooer pushing players to take these from bedrooms to the stage and grow its presence on the live circuit.

There’s a 2.8” LCD screen at its heart, an expression pedal with toe-tap mode for engaging it in a flash (another live-minded addition), an 80-second stereo looper, 40 built-in drum patterns, 10 metronome modes, and a USB-C port for desktop tone building, firmware updates, and an audio interface for recording.

It also has mono and stereo outputs, but it doesn’t go as far as adding an effects loop. Powering it via the mains or, for nine hours, with its built-in lithium battery adds flexibility that puts gigs back in its crosshairs. So, is it good enough to make the jump from bedroom to the stage?

Specs

• Price: $180|£165|€192
• Type: Multi-effects and amp-modelling/profiling pedal
• Features: 55 amp models, 26 cabinets, built-in effects, third-party IR compatibility, software editing, NAM profile loader, 200 preset slots, 80-second stereo looper, 40 drum patterns, 10 metronome modes, and expression pedal
• Connectivity: 1/4” input, stereo and mono outputs, USB-C, 3.5mm aux in and headphone port
• Power: DC, 9v, center negative, 1A, built-in lithium battery with 9-hour playtime
• Dimensions: 310xH35x153 mm
• Weight: 1.17kg (41.27054 oz)
• Options: GE150 Pro (white finish) is mains-powered only ($155 / £138)
• Contact: Mooer

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★☆

If I’m being harsh, despite the lovely embossed swirl design on its expression pedal trying its best to suggest otherwise, it doesn’t look or feel that premium. Its housing is plastic, like pretty much everything else except its quartet of footswitches.

But it’s compact, and at 310xH35x153 mm, it will easily slip into a guitar case. That size makes it a little wider than a Quad Cortex, but still smaller and less bulky. The pinky-red finish is quite nice too; it’s good to see a splash of color in the often monochrome modeler world.

It’s fairly well equipped, with a single jack input, mono and stereo outputs, 3.5mm inputs for aux cables and headphones, a USB-C for updates and doubling as an interface, a power switch, and an input for the power adapter. It’s limited, sure, and lacks MIDI compatibility, which other affordable Mooer offerings include. But for an everything-you-need-and-not-much-more starting point, it has the necessary bases covered. Still, no XLR output does seem an oversight, considering Mooer seems to be angling for the stage here.

What I will praise is its pretty fast start-up; for my money, my Quad Cortex is a little slow here. Also, having a built-in battery with a battery percentage indicator visible on the main page for each preset is a really handy feature. And yes, preset switching is very fast and smooth.

Sure, the screen could be bigger, but the text is clear enough from a distance, especially at a glance, and the footswitches are decent quality underfoot. I also feel swerving the touch screen is a good move, given that other Mooers have felt somewhat second-class in that department.

The lights are bright enough without feeling like a distracting rave. Though it does give away its stunted price a little, what matters most is what it can do. The build quality holds up as well as I expected before getting my hands on it.

Usability

Usability rating: ★★★★☆

Without a touchscreen, the Select and Mode dials do most of the operational heavy lifting. You can think of the Select as a mouse or arrow pad: scroll through presets, then push down to select the setting you want to tweak.

Mode, meanwhile, leafs through the various blocks of each preset, which take in a Compressor slot, Overdrive/Fuzz/Boost, Amp, Cab, Noise gate, EQ, Modulation, Delay, and Reverb. All of these slots are optional, with plenty of choices and familiar names for each. I also don't encounter any latency issues, with the on-screen ‘dials’ reacting to my touch immediately.

It works and is a far more enjoyable experience building and tweaking tones on the unit itself versus other budget modelers.

The software editor is certainly effective, with an intuitive interface that spells everything out. Assigning the footswitch takes just a few clicks and lets you control many different block parameters. Getting the change to stick, however, can be a little fiddly. And the pedal’s actual sweep feels limited.

Unfortunately, the signal chain is locked in place, so I can’t stick a flanger before the amp if I wanted to. But the order makes perfect sense, and so will be perfectly good enough for most needs.

It just falls short when it comes to that extra level of customization. It also means it can handle whatever processing I dial in. There’s no way I can run six amps, three different overdrives and delay pedals at once. Even the most full-on presets didn’t tax its processing power.

Although I sometimes find myself turning the Select dial when I should have turned the Mode, or vice versa, it is easy to navigate and tinker. It’s especially pleasing that all controls fit onto its 3x3-dial screen.

Pressing footswitches A and B engages the tuner, which is easy on the eye and has Bypass and Mute modes. Pressing footswitches C and D loads the looper. Here, the four switches control playing, recording, and clearing the loop, with D for exiting it entirely. It’s all pretty straightforward, and I felt comfortable using the pedal's functions after just a few minutes of experimenting.

Admittedly, it would have been nice to have dedicated switches for both the tuner and looper, but in the spirit of streamlining its design, it’s a perfectly acceptable compromise.

The Tap Tempo button, however, is tiny and right beneath the Master Volume. That’s not wholly practical. Still, it's a nice addition.

The lack of a screen that shows everything active in a preset at a glance is a minor disappointment. An update now highlights which blocks are active in a preset, but it doesn’t show specifics like the selected amp model.

Also, the lack of lists for each block – I have to scroll through the numbered slots individually to find what I need – is another small drawback, but the desktop is at least a little better for it. It could be smoother, but I’ve encountered a whole lot worse.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

Broadly speaking, the tone quality is respectable. From the crystal-clear cleans of its ‘65 Fender Deluxe, to the distortion of a Marshall JCM 900, and the odd but surprisingly entertaining Game Boy preset – a ring modulator-warped Jet City JCA100H that gives off 8-bit charm – it covers a lot of ground.

With its cleaner amps, especially Fenders like the Twin and the aforementioned ’65 Deluxe, there’s a recognizable quality under the fingers. They sound pure, putting the character on the guitar, its pickups, and the player front and center, just like the original. As for impressions of famous gear elsewhere, they often leave me guessing.

The JCM 900 preset included with the modeler sounds good to my ears; it’s a chug-friendly, high-gain amp. But after playing a few bars, I can't tell you what amp it's supposed to be specifically. It sounds good enough, and for filling the kind of role a JCM 900 is built to, I can’t fault it. How faithful it is to the real deal, however, feels debatable.

The same goes for the Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier. It sounds like a generic high-gain amp, and I would probably estimate 'American' in a blindfold test, but anything beyond that is guesswork.

The EVH 5150, though, is at least undeniable. It’s got that snarl that really makes me want to dig in and play pinch harmonics until the cows come home. So really, it’s a mixed bag. Some tones are close enough to do a job; others make it obvious you’ve got an approximation over the real deal.

Elsewhere, its effects offerings start to highlight further shortcomings. The Pitch Shifter is littered with harsh artifacts that really get in the way of my enjoyment of the effect. Attempts to assign the effect to the expression pedal stomp to make a faux Whammy pedal prove unsuccessful too. It just doesn't want to play ball, which is sadly the case with a good few effects parameters.

The Delay is good to a point, but even the analog mode has a digital sheen. That said, the Phaser is satisfying on clean and ultra-high-gain tones, especially at slower settings, and its Noise Killer is very reliable. It doesn’t need cranking to clean up signal hiss, either.

Then there’s its built-in drum machine, which is a nice touch for novice players looking for something to jam along to and unlock their creativity. Its simple-but-effective beats come with tweakable tempos, and you can adjust the guitar output and drum volumes. But I don’t expect more advanced players to be particularly moved by it, beyond treating it as a more interesting metronome for practice.

For the money, it’s hard to argue with what you get. In fact, it’s pretty astounding how much is crammed in, and the quality of what you get is generally solid. But I also feel that the tones I got out of my first modeling amp – a Peavey Vypyr combo bought about 15 years ago – could go toe-to-toe with this. This is especially true with the effects, because more often than not, they nestle in that very digital, clearly-a-cheap-version-of-something territory.

Still, when you compare the price to the product, it’s very impressive.

Verdict

As someone who learned the foundation of a lot of gear via a modeling amp early in my playing days, the Mooer feels like the modern equivalent that a young me would have really gotten on with. On price, portability, versatility, and ease of use, Mooer ticks a lot of boxes without fetching a silly price.

However, in the wake of cost-cutting measures, I feel this pretty red modeler has hit a ceiling that makes it ideal for less experienced players rather than seasoned giggers looking to ditch their tube amps at long last.

That doesn’t make it bad, and for an entry-level modeler, it could absolutely handle smaller gigs, and one that can inspire plenty of ideas and teach players a lot about tone building in the process.

For under $200, I can say with confidence that it goes a long way. The amp models may not always be the most convincing, and some effects disappoint, but there’s so much to extract from this very cheap, easy-to-use, and gig-worthy floor modeler. For newer players, products like this feel like essential parts of the journey. An ideal stepping stone.

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Leo Gibson

Kai Down

Taylor Danley

I’ve often heard it said that if you ask someone to draw a picture of a guitar pedal, the likelihood is they will draw something akin to a Boss compact. It's a format with heritage that harks back to the release of the Boss OD-1 Overdrive, the PH-1 Phaser, and the SP-1 Spectrum in the ‘70s, and has since developed into an expansive range of pedals that follow the successful compact design. Perhaps one of the most famous is the BD-2 Blues Driver overdrive pedal.

It's a fully analog, transistor-based pedal that uses multiple gain stages to emulate an amplifier's natural breakup. That may sound a little complicated, but one reason Boss’ compact pedal range has become so ubiquitous is its simplicity.

The user sees just Gain, Volume and Tone controls, plus a footswitch. That’s it. In return for that simplicity, you're rewarded with affordability as the pedal comes in at around $109. It’s also worth noting that the BD-2 circuit is not a clone of something else, but is its own thing, as are many other Boss pedals.

The BD-2 name insinuates the existence of a BD-1, but that's actually not the case. In Boss history, the "1" designation was initially reserved for its first-generation compact pedals from the late 1970s; therefore, when Boss designed new circuits in the '80s and '90s, they automatically assigned them a "2" to signify they belonged to the modern generation of pedals.

Hitting the scene in 1995, this pedal has remained practically the same circuit since its release, aside from a shift to the more modern surface-mount components in the late 2000’s.

So, with over 30 years of tone under its belt, let's have a look at what all the fuss is about.

Specs

• Launch price: $109 | £109 | €105
• Type: Transistor-based analog overdrive pedal
• Controls: Tone, Volume, Gain
• Connectivity: 1 x ¼” input and output
• Bypass: Buffered
• Power: 9v, centre negative, 20mA
• Dimensions: 73x129x59mm/2.8x5.0x2.3”
• Weight: 360g
• Contact: Boss

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

Boss is famous for pedals that genuinely outlast most users. I've gigged a BD-2 at literally hundreds of events, and it hasn’t choked once. In fact, it barely even has a scratch. Whilst I consider myself to be a trustworthy individual, if you want proof, the pictures here are of my own unit.

The aluminium chassis is solid enough that it feels like you could build houses with it. Most of the front panel is taken up by the large rectangular footswitch that forms part of that chassis, so it can easily stand up to years of abuse from even the most enthusiastic stompers. This is furthered by the extra protection of the rubber contact on the footswitch.

You access the battery compartment by lifting the footswitch out of the way having unthreaded the thumb screw at the front. This, the three controls, two jacks, and DC power input all feel perfectly robust in use. Honestly, there's nothing fancy here, so very little can go wrong.

Okay, I’ll admit the aesthetic isn’t exactly exciting; the blue finish and yellow text gives the stomp a somewhat dated look, especially in today's market. On the other hand, I can imagine a substantial backlash if Boss changed this appearance after an iconic 30 years in production. Like it or not, it's classically Boss and instantly identifiable.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

As I alluded to earlier, there's very little to this pedal. The Level, Tone, and Gain controls are all self-explanatory, and there are no bells and whistles to speak of. The simple aesthetic means these controls are clearly labeled, along with the input and output jacks. So, operation is almost foolproof.

I say almost because, as a fussy reviewer (it my the job, after all), those three controls sit close enough together that turning the central Tone control can, on occasion, accidentally move the Level and/or Gain controls.

As with most analog pedals, the BD-2 draws a tiny 20mA, so it's an easy job for any pedalboard power supply. If you run it on a battery, the aforementioned battery compartment is easy to access, and the battery sits nicely in place within the enclosure.

The massive footswitch is impossible to miss, and the pedal's size means most won't have trouble fitting it onto their pedalboard.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★

The Blues Driver is often presented as a transparent pedal, and while that is relatively true compared to many other overdrives, it still subtly affects your tone's overall EQ. Running it into my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe IV, there's a very slight reduction in low end and a touch more presence in the high mids.

Gain-wise, there is enough on tap to get into some pretty heavy drive sounds, but higher gain settings accentuate those high mids, resulting in some fizzy tones that are not all that pretty, so best leaving the gain control at somewhere below 70%.

At that setting, there's plenty of drive for well-overdriven bluesy leads and tight, classic rock rhythms, with a pleasant high-end bite. Here too is where many will discover what this pedal's main strength is – its dynamic response.

The pedal feels truly alive, reflecting how hard I pick. There’s a significant reduction in drive with a light attack, and an aggressive bite coming through as I dig in. Similarly, it cleans up incredibly well on the volume control. Even at the highest gain settings, the Blues Driver gets glassy clean when I roll the guitar volume back.

With this in mind, I leave the gain at around 70% and do the rest with my volume control and picking. In short, this is what makes the Blues Driver the iconic pedal that it is.

Another factor is how it pairs with other drive pedals. I find the mid hump of a Tube Screamer pairs well with the bite of the Blues Driver in order to push the unit into saturation for those soaring leads.

That's not to say the lower gain settings aren’t handy. On numerous occasions, I've found myself at the mercy of a high-headroom valve amp provided by a venue, on a stage too small to let me push it. Here, the Blues driver can save the day.

With the gain control at 25%, the signal stays clean and nearly transparent, while offering a little compression and breaking up a bit when I dig in. It nicely simulates an amp on the edge of breakup and saves me from the spiky nightmare of a high-headroom tube amp.

There is plenty of level here to push a driven amp into saturation, although I would typically prefer the mid-hump of a Tube Screamer or Klon clone for this.

And lastly, the Tone control is useful for dialling out some of that fizz, but be careful as things get a little lifeless if you go too far anti-clockwise, and very shrill if you go too far the other way. It's ideal, however, for matching the Blues Driver to your guitar.

For example, on my Telecaster with its bright vintage pickups, I'll dial the tone back a little to tame that high end, and do the opposite on my Les Paul to maintain that bite.

Verdict

There are certainly some ugly sounds in the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver. The Gain control can make things fizzy, and the Tone control can remove life from a sound in one setting and make it too harsh in another.

However, use it correctly, and it will add an almost transparent gain to your rig that will go from a nice compressed, pushed clean feel to a rewarding drive, and all in a way that reflects your carefully chosen guitar and amplifier.

And in such a simple, affordable pedal, these tones are easy to figure out. Its crowning achievement, however, is a dynamic response that reacts to your playing like premium pedals over three times the price.

Guitar World verdict: If you're looking for a pedal that does high-gain shenanigans or has multiple tone-shaping options, the BD-2 Blues Driver isn’t it. What it does do, however, is provide an incredibly dynamic, almost transparent overdrive in a way that reflects the carefully curated gear in your rig. Don’t let the low price fool you. This is a solid choice for professionals and beginners alike.

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Reverb

intheblues

Australia’s lovable psych rock lunatics, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, believe in small amp supremacy, and their new pedal is here to spread the message. The Tiny Amp Destroyer is a tiny amp in an even tinier box, and, by Stu Mackenzie’s count, it’s “fucking sick.”

Made in collaboration with Greek co JAM Pedals, it’s based on the sound of a tiny $29 practice amp Mackenzie found at the pawn shop Cash Converters that sounded “cool, loud, and awesome.” It’s been on every Gizzard record since he bought it, which means it probably features on at least 45.

The Tiny Amp Destroyer is being billed as a three-footswitch gain machine, combining two independent drive stages with a standalone treble booster. Tonally, it traverses focused low-gain overdrive plains, through to “raw, boxy distortion” valleys and “dense, blown-out saturation” plateaus.

But it isn’t just the amp alone. The process started by pushing two JAM Boomster booster pedals into the amp and pushing it to the point of unruly, unstable breakup. The pedal is the soundtrack of the bargain combo being pushed far beyond the point of comfort. It’s the amp screaming for dear life. Small amp lifer Josh Homme will likely be first in line. And it all furthers our case that the age of “bad” guitar tone is officially over.

Active Bass and Treble controls, plus Magic and Notch dials, give players “the freedom to shape that instability,” for as much or as little control as they please.

This being Gizzard, of course there’s a splash of insanity in there. In this case, the lights change from blue to purple, depending on how cranked (or un-cranked) its dials are.

“It rips so hard, it’s insane,” Mackenzie says. “People should play way tinier amps. Fuck all this huge amp business. So I thought, ‘Everyone needs a Tiny Amp Destroyer,’ because it makes your massive amp sound tiny. And it’s just way better.”

“TAD is not an amp in a box,” adds Jam Pedals. “It is the sound of the box losing the fight.”

The first 50 units sold by JAM Pedals come hand-signed by Stu Mackenzie and Jason Galea, the band’s longtime artist who created the pedal’s visuals.

It’s priced at $399/£319 and available to order now.

See JAM Pedals for more.

If there was ever one pedal that the vast majority of players have owned at some point, it is the humble Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive. In fact, I’m not even convinced people buy them; they just seem to materialize out of thin air the moment you decide you want to turn your hand at the electric guitar. All joking aside, this famous yellow box is one of the most popular, most enduring stompboxes in the world, being a firm favorite for many guitarists across genres and generations – but how does it actually hold up to the standard of today? Well, that’s what I’m going to find out.

This pedal is a pretty simple affair, with dials for Volume, Drive, and Tone. Despite these limited controls, there are plenty of ways to run this pedal, and it all depends on the sound you are after and, of course, your rig. For a fraction of the cost of many boutique pedals, the SD-1 delivers a classic, usable overdrive that works equally well as a standalone boost or as a stackable gain stage in more complex setups.

As for the drive, the pedal uses asymmetric soft clipping to give it an amp-like overdrive that feels more organic than some other budget-friendly pedals, with a smoother transition from clean to driven tones.

You can’t talk about this little yellow box without mentioning some of the guitarists who have used one. The roster of artists who have relied on the Boss SD-1 is like a who's who of iconic players. Guitar wizard Steve Vai has used the SD-1 both in the studio and on stage, Prince was often seen with one at his feet live, and even The Darkness axe man Dan Hawkins used one on the band's breakout album Permission To Land. Other notable players of this yellow wonder include Josh Homme, Zakk Wylde, and Kirk Hammett. The pedal’s presence in the rigs of such varied players shows just how versatile the SD-1 can be.

So, with so many players swearing by it, and with an overdrive market that’s fully saturated with more “transparent drives” than you can shake a Les Paul at, I’m going to test the famous SD-1 from a modern viewpoint and see if it still holds up to today’s standards.

Specs

• Launch price: $66/£59/€62
• Type: Overdrive
• Controls: Level, Tone, and Drive
• Features: Asymmetric soft clipping drive pedal
• Connectivity: 1/4" ins/outs
• Bypass: Buffered
• Power: 9V
• Dimensions: W 73 mm x D 129 mm x H 59 mm
• Weight: 0.4 kg
• Options: N/A
• Contact: Boss

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

If there’s one thing Boss has always nailed, it’s making pedals that feel like they could survive a drop out of a moving van. Simply put, the SD-1 is rugged, dependable, and superbly put together. The chassis is that classic Boss metal shell that’s sturdy, weighty, and finished in that unmistakable canary yellow.

As with all Boss pedals, turn the screw on the front of the footswitch to access the battery compartment. I love that. It’s so much less of a faff than having to peel it off your pedalboard and unscrewing a tiny backplate. This way you can change the battery without it ever leaving your board.

The jacks are properly mounted to the chassis, so you don’t get that worrying wiggle you sometimes find in cheap guitar pedals, and the footswitch is classic Boss. It’s wide, smooth, with just the right amount of resistance. You can stomp it barefoot or in boots, and it always registers.

Everything here feels like it’s made to last for literal decades, and honestly, most SD-1s probably do. I’ve certainly played some that are older than me and still going strong!

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★★

Usability-wise, this pedal is straightforward, unfussy, and instantly familiar to just about anyone who’s plugged in a guitar before. As I said before, you get only three knobs: Level, Tone, and Drive, and that’s it. No hidden switches, no convoluted menus, just the essentials for dialing a reliable driven sound. I reckon you could hand this to a total beginner and they’d have a usable sound in about ten seconds flat – like all Boss pedals, set everything to noon, and you’re pretty much good to go.

Now, I would say that while it’s simple, it’s not limiting. There’s a surprising amount of range in those three controls. The Level knob gives you loads of output, so you can use the SD-1 as a clean boost or really slam the front of your tube amp. The Tone control has a wide sweep, going from dark and woolly to bright and biting; be warned, though, it can get a touch harsh if you push it too far. The Drive knob is equally versatile, taking you from the subtlest edge-of-breakup to a full, singing overdrive.

Another thing I love is that it stacks beautifully with other pedals. You can run it into a fuzz, another overdrive, or a distortion, and it just plays nice. If you gig, you’ll appreciate the fact that the pedal’s footprint is compact, so it fits on even the most crowded boards.

Whether you’re a beginner sorting out your first board or a seasoned player who wants something reliable and no-nonsense, the SD-1 just works.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

For testing, I’m starting out by plugging my Fender Telecaster straight into my trusty Fender Twin, set completely clean. With all the controls on the pedal at noon, you get this barky, slightly honky, and gritty tone. It’s not super high-gain; instead, it’s an immediately usable light overdrive.

Compared to the Tube Screamer I usually have on my board, the SD-1 comes across as a bit brighter and more present, while the TS leans warmer and a little smoother overall. Of course, these are different circuits, using different clipping diodes, but they’re cut from similar cloth, and I can see why they are often compared to each other.

Dial the gain down, and the pedal cleans up beautifully, giving you those edge-of-breakup tones. For me, this is a great clean boost if you crank the Level.

Turn the gain up, and you’re in full-on overdrive territory. This is perfect for classic rock rhythms, bluesy leads, or even a bit of punk bite. I find the sweet spot is usually around two o’clock on the Drive, but there’s plenty of room to play. It does tend to get a little fizzy if you push it too far, though.

Some players love that extra sizzle; I usually keep it dialed back. The Tone control, too, can get a little sharp if you max it out, but the usable range is huge, so it’s easy to find your sweet spot.

Where things get really fun is running the SD-1 into an already cooking amp. Suddenly, that midrange bump helps your solos leap out of the mix, giving you extra sustain and presence.

Stacking it with other drives or boosts is a classic use of this pedal. The SD-1 excels at tightening up low-end flub and adding clarity, making even high-gain setups feel more focused and articulate.

What I appreciate most is how well the SD-1 responds to your playing dynamics and your guitar’s volume knob. Dig in, and you get more grit; roll back, and it cleans up without losing character.

It’s transparent enough to let your guitar and amp shine, but it always adds a little something extra. That’s why it’s stuck around for decades. Whether you’re after a subtle push or a full-on drive, the SD-1 can definitely do it.

Verdict

Okay, so the Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive is a classic; there’s no getting away from that, but I actually think it holds up surprisingly well in 2026. The pedal landscape has gone through a monumental change since this unit launched in 1981. There’s now more budget brands than ever before, and cheap, almost disposable stompboxes are ten a penny, but none can hold a candle to the build quality of the humble SD-1 – there’s a reason this stomp tops so many best overdrive pedal lists.

At around $69, it’s hard to think of another pedal that’s so cheap, so reliable, and that so many famous players continue to use on their boards. Is it the most complex or best-sounding overdrive in the world? No, of course not, but it is a surprisingly versatile one.

What really sets the SD-1 apart is its ability to fit into almost any rig. Whether you’re stacking it with other drives, pushing the front end of a tube amp, or using it to add just a hint of grit to a clean tone, the SD-1 delivers.

For new players and veterans alike, it’s a reminder that sometimes, the tried-and-true classics really can’t be beat.

Guitar World verdict: This classic overdrive is just as relevant today as it was when it launched in 1981. It’s versatile, affordable, dependable, and incredibly easy to dial in – really, what more do you need in an overdrive pedal?

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PMTVUK

intheblues

• Best overdrive pedals: from mid-hump to transparent tone

Only launching in 2025, Klowra is the new kid on the pedal block, but right out of the gate, it's had an impressive start, exploding onto as many Instagram and YouTube demo videos as humanly possible. Arguably the most talked-about pedal of its relatively modest product line is the competitively priced and feature-rich Limbo, a compact stereo reverb pedal with a selection of nine studio-grade reverb algorithms.

As you'd expect, the unit comes loaded with algorithms for realistic physical spaces like a hall, church, and room as well as atmospheric textures like Swell, Hazy, Shimmer, and Tide. Of course, there’s the obligatory Spring and Plate settings too, rounding out a comprehensive clutch of reverb modes.

​But that’s not all that’s on offer. There’s a Ramp function that lets you smoothly fade and morph between your live front-panel knob settings and a saved secondary preset, creating unique dynamic effects. There’s also Freeze and Infinity modes, which, as you’d expect, let you sustain notes or ambient textures indefinitely without the reverb decaying away.

As for connectivity, you get both left and right ins and outs, meaning this can be a fully stereo reverb if you’re so inclined. There’s also an input for connecting an expression pedal or external footswitch, unlocking extra control over the pedal’s parameters on the fly. Finally, the Limbo is powered via a standard 9V DC supply, center-negative, 250mA minimum.

Specs

• Launch price: $129.99 | £111 | €129
• Type: Reverb pedal
• Controls: Decay, Bright, Mix, Texture, Size, Mode selection, Pre-delay, Ramp Attack, and Ramp Release
• Features: Nine built-in studio-grade algorithms: Hall, Church, Room, Spring, Plate, Swell, Hazy, Shimmer, and Tide
• Connectivity: Inputs: 2 x 1/4" TS instrument inputs (Left/Mono, Right), outputs: 2 x 1/4" TS instrument outputs (Left, Right), external control: 1 x 1/4" CTRL/EXP jack (for TRS expression pedals or TS/TRS momentary footswitches)
• Bypass: True or buffered
• Power: 9V DC, center-negative barrel connector (minimum 250mA current draw required; battery power not supported)
• Dimensions: 54.7mm H x 124.8mm D x 69.2mm W (2.0" H x 4.9" D x 2.7" W)
• Weight: 0.45 Kg
• Contact: Klowra

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

In recent years, I’ve seen a real boom in ultra-affordable pedals that are so packed with features that they are taking aim squarely at the heavy-hitters like Strymon. But while it’s all well and good being dense with algorithms and extras, it doesn’t mean squat if it comes shipped in a subpar, cheaply made enclosure.

Thankfully, that’s not the case with the Limbo. All told, this is a neatly presented and well-constructed little pedal. It’s a good size, too. Coming in a little larger than a Boss compact, it won’t take up too much prime pedalboard real estate, but it’s large enough to tweak comfortably.

Like every good pedal, the controls feel exceptionally smooth and responsive, making it easy to dial in precise settings without any wobble or play. The footswitch has a reassuring, soft click, and I’d say with confidence that it’s solid enough to trust for live performance. I also appreciate the thoughtful placement of the inputs and outputs, which are spaced well and logically arranged along the sides. This not only helps with tidy cable management but also makes setup on a crowded board nice and straightforward.

The white-on-blue ethereal graphics are pleasing but do make the control names less clear to read at a glance than they could have been. But despite its tiny price tag, the Limbo has a somewhat premium sheen to it overall, and it certainly makes me excited to plug it in and see what it can do.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

There’s a lot going on with this pedal. For the most part, it’s intuitive, but some of the deeper editing is a little convoluted and does require me to poke my nose in the manual. Let’s start with the easy stuff.

So, selecting a reverb mode is a piece of cake. The light blue selector switches through the nine algorithms. Like all the dials, these are all well labeled, albeit in a pretty small font that can get lost in the graphic a little.

I think the order of the reverbs could be improved. It starts on Hall, then Church, Room, Spring, and Plate. For me, it would make more sense to go from smallest to largest in terms of space, but admittedly it is a small gripe.

As you’d expect, there’s the standard array of reverb controls such as Decay, Bright, Mix and Size, with a Texture dial that, as Klowra says, “Adjusts the texture of the reverb reflections. Turning the control to the right softens the early reflections and produces a smooth onset of the reverb.” It proves a useful control to fine-tune these sounds to taste and need.

The three dials at the top also have secondary modes: Pre-Delay, Ramp Attack, and Ramp Release, which relate to the Ramp mode.

To access the Ramp or Freeze modes, you simply press and hold the footswitch. You need to press the indicator LED to switch between the modes. These are helpfully color-coded, with white indicating the Freeze/Infinity function is selected, blue showing the Freeze/Infinity is actively being triggered, while orange lets you know the Ramp function is selected and purple shows the Ramp is actively being triggered. So far so good, it’s all pretty accessible stuff.

If you want to save a setting, you can press and hold the LED button, and it will save the current parameter settings as what Klora calls a Snap-Set.

To access the deeper pedal functions, you need to press and hold the footswitch while powering on the Limbo. Through a combination of button presses, you can tweak things like the bypass of the unit, whether trails continue after you turn the pedal off, and even the brightness of the LED.

I recommend you have the manual handy if you plan to play around with these settings; it’s not something you can really do on the fly, but it does show how much thought has gone into this pedal. It’s so impressive that I need to keep reminding myself this pedal retails for a little over $100!

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

When it comes to reverb pedals, versatility and character are everything, and the Limbo delivers both in spades. Its bread-and-butter algorithms, like Hall, Church and Room, cover all the familiar territory you’d expect from a modern stompbox, but what’s remarkable is how polished and musical they sound.

For testing, I’m using a Fender ‘68 reissue Telecaster into a super clean Fender Twin, with the reverb turned all the way off, obviously.

Starting on the Hall mode, this setting can take you from realistic concert venues to bright present reverb. Church, meanwhile, offers a grand, cathedral-style resonance that’s lush and immersive, with enough parameter control to really dial it in so it doesn’t totally wash you out.

The spring setting is pretty nice too. Klowra says this “uses physical modeling tech with three virtual springs to emulate classic spring tank circuits.” Twisting the texture knob adjusts both reverb tail modulation and spring drive, which creates some fun surf-rock results.

Now, these are all pretty common and standard reverb pedal staples, but I’d say across these modes, the Limbo holds its own against the best in the business. There’s nice depth, clarity, and presence that rivals industry stalwarts like Strymon or Eventide.

That said, I think the Limbo really earns its keep with the experimental modes. Swell transforms your playing into dreamy pads with faded attack and gradual volume swells, ideal for shoegazy ambient textures – especially when I stomp on the Big Muff to fuzz things up.

Klowra says that the Hazy setting “lets you drift between serene morning mist and raging sandstorms.” Pretty visual suggestions there, but it’s a fun setting nonetheless. It’s almost synthy in the way the reverb reacts and blooms.

Next we have Shimmer. As someone who did almost 10 years in a guitar store, shimmer verbs can feel a little played out at this point for me, but I must say this one sounds fantastic. You can hear that classic octave-up sound, but tweaking the Texture dial lets you really shape the character.

Lastly, we have the Tide setting, which is perhaps the most unique mode. Adding what I’d describe as softly pulsing white noise under your playing, it mimics the sound of crashing waves on a beach – and it’s weirdly relaxing to play through. Personally, I probably don’t have a musical use for this sound, but if you’re into creating dream-like soundscapes and instant atmosphere, then you’ll get a lot out of the setting.

I think these experimental modes encourage you to push boundaries, explore new sonic territory, and discover tones you won’t find anywhere else. Add in the ability to freeze your reverb trail, and things get even more inspiring. For players who crave both classic reverb and adventurous effects, the Limbo more than delivers on all of these fronts for sure.

Verdict

I think the Klowra Limbo isn’t just another affordable reverb pedal gunning for a slice of the market. It’s a genuinely impressive entry that manages to punch way above its weight class. Klowra, as a brand, may be new on the scene, but the Limbo is proof that it's paid close attention to what modern players want and need, and have delivered it in a package that’s both accessible and inspiring.

For starters, the Limbo’s build quality is rock-solid. And better yet, sound-wise, the Limbo covers all the expected bases and then some. The classic Hall, Church, Room, Spring, and Plate algorithms are actually excellent, with a musicality and depth that rivals some of the more expensive and established competition.

But where this pedal truly sets itself apart is in the more experimental modes. Swell, Hazy, Shimmer, and especially Tide provide a sonic playground for curious guitarists who like their sounds a little less run-of-the-mill.

Oh, and I can’t forget the price. For a little over $100, you get a true stereo, feature-rich reverb pedal that feels thought out and lovingly built. That’s almost unheard of. I’d say the Limbo is more than just a budget reverb option; it’s a versatile tool for both traditional and adventurous players alike.

Guitar World verdict: Klowra Limbo is a superbly built, affordable reverb pedal that rivals pricier competitors. With versatile algorithms from classic to experimental, a wealth of controls, and a bargain price, it’s an inspiring choice for both traditionalists and sonic explorers alike.

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Hands-on videos

Klorwra

Perry Frank

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