Over the past few years, I've noticed a trend with the Amazon Prime Day sales. More and more big manufacturers are jumping on the bandwagon. What started as a way to grab cheap accessories and off-brand products has now become a place where even legendary companies like Boss are getting in on the action.

There are absolutely loads of Boss' compact stompboxes on sale at the moment, so if you've got a gap on your pedalboard to fill, then now's a great time to take advantage of some serious savings. Whether you need an overdrive pedal, some delay effects, a new tuner, or even some utility pedals, there's pretty much something for everyone on offer here.

Here's every single one of the 14 Boss stompboxes currently on sale for Prime Day:

If you’re searching for a feature-packed multi-effects unit that won’t break the bank, the Mooer GE150 is a deal you can’t ignore. Over the past few years, Mooer has undergone a dramatic transformation, evolving from a brand best known for its affordable micro pedals (often inspired by classic designs) to a genuine force in the world of guitar effects. With flagship releases like the GE300 amp modeler/multi-effects, Mooer has proven it can compete with the big guns. Now, with the GE150 Pro, the company brings its innovative spirit and commitment to value into a compact, affordable package perfect for players at any level – and right now, there’s 35% off at Amazon, making this pedal only $129.

What sets the GE150 apart? For starters, it delivers an astonishing range of tones and features at a price point comfortably below $200. Built on Mooer’s acclaimed MNRS modeling technology, the GE150 comes loaded with 55 amp models derived from the brand’s best-selling Micro Preamp series. That means you get access to a huge library of authentic amp sounds, from sparkling cleans to high-gain heaviness, all at your fingertips.

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But the value doesn’t stop there. The GE150 packs in a massive 151 effects, covering everything from lush reverbs and delays to wild modulation and dynamic processors. Want even more sonic flexibility? The unit boasts 26 high-quality cabinet simulations and supports MNRS sample files for both the amp and cab modules (GNR and GIR formats). The AMP module offers 20 slots for loading your own sample files, while the CAB module also provides 20 slots for user customization, making the GE150 one of the most versatile pedals in its class.

For those who want instant inspiration, the GE150 includes 200 factory preset tones, so you can plug in and play right out of the box. Whether you’re a bedroom noodler, a gigging musician, or someone looking for a powerful recording tool, the GE150 offers pro-level sounds and features without the pro-level price tag.

In short, the Mooer GE150 is a must-see deal for any guitarist who wants maximum value, versatility, and tone-shaping power. With its impressive feature set and wallet-friendly price, it’s no wonder the GE150 is making waves in the world of guitar effects.

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When it comes to dialing in guitar tones, I’ll be the first to admit I’m a straight shooter. I like straightforward saturated rock tones, minimal fuss, and as few pedals as possible. I’ve rarely been tempted by massive ambiance or shimmer reverb pedals. But after spending time with the Hotone NC-200 Verbera, I have to admit, my thoughts on do-it-all reverb units have been turned upside down - and better yet, it has 20% off this Prime Day!

This is a dual-engine stomp, loaded up with both real-space impulse response (IR) convolution reverbs and Hotone’s own stellar algorithmic sounds. That means you get everything from lush concert halls and subtle plates to wild, otherworldly textures perfect for atmospheric playing. If you’ve ever found yourself paralyzed by too many options or confused by complicated menus, you’ll be relieved to know that the NC-200 makes it all refreshingly simple. Every knob is clearly marked, and the colorful LED rings let you know exactly what you’re adjusting at a glance.

Even with its deep list of features, the NC-200 is one of the most intuitive pedals I’ve ever used. I braced myself for a labyrinth of submenus and cryptic buttons, but instead, I found a layout that made sense from the get-go. Whether you’re at home, in the studio, or on stage, you can get to any sound you want in seconds, with no manual diving required. That’s a rarity in the world of modern effects.

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The NC-200 comes loaded with a staggering 100 presets, and impressively, almost all of them are entirely gig-ready. There are, of course, a few settings that didn’t quite hit the mark for me (the spring reverbs aren’t quite as convincing as the rest), but the ambient, hall, and space options are genuinely inspiring.

Of course, no piece of gear is perfect, and the NC-200 does have a minor quirk. Weirdly, the MIDI jacks are in a rather odd spot. I can’t imagine a scenario where their placement wouldn’t be a bit awkward, either in a pedalboard setup or in the studio. They’re a little too easy to bump or accidentally disconnect. Still, that’s a small nitpick in an otherwise stellar package.

If you’ve ever felt intimidated by the idea of modern reverb pedals, or just wanted a unit that can go from classic to experimental without a learning curve, the Hotone NC-200 Verbera is an easy recommendation. And right now, it’s an even easier decision, as you can save 20% at Amazon, bringing the price down to just $239.99. That’s a killer deal for a pedal this loaded with features and inspiring tones.

Curious to hear more? Check out my full Hotone NC-200 Verbera review and see the pedal in action in the Guitar World demo video linked below. If you’re ready to rethink what a reverb pedal can do, this one might just change your mind, too.

Guitar World takes a closer look at what the Hotone Verbera can do

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Let's face it, cheap pedals can be hit and miss. For every diamond in the rough, there are 8 or 9 that should probably be destined for landfill. With the launch of the Amazon Prime Day sale today, there's myriad budget stompboxes available with serious money off, but which should you get?

Before Prime Day guitar deals even started, the Guitar World team bought 8 of the most talked about cheap pedals on Amazon to put them to the test and find out what they're really good for. We've used them with real tube amps, with a modeling amp, and through an audio interface with guitar plugins to see how they hold up.

Tonally, there's some really great stuff here, especially if you're willing to tweak. You can absolutely use them to record and rehearse. Where they typically fall short of more expensive models, however, is the build quality, which is fine for using on a home pedalboard, but I'd stop short of playing them live.

For the money, it's hard to knock these pedals, especially if you're just building a budget second home 'board or you want to try some iconic pedal circuits out without committing to spending hundreds of dollars. Of the 8 pedals we tested, 7 have seen discounts, so here's what we thought of each one. We've also ranked them in order of preference.

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What is it?

With so many options, it can be hard to choose an overdrive pedal. For the most part, it comes down to two things - the job you want the pedal to do, and personal preference. The original Little Green Wonder from Finnish brand Mad Professor is an example of a more interesting choice, with its different take on controlling tone courtesy of its unique ‘Body' control.

Since the initial release around 20 years ago, the original version has been discontinued, with that ‘Body' control being replaced by the more ubiquitous Treble and Bass controls on the second iteration, named The Green Wonder.

Now, Mad Professor is bringing the original layout back, including its bougie handwired nature. With it in front of me for review, I am looking forward to seeing what this different take on an EQ control can do.

Specs

• Launch price: $378 | £286 | €330
• Type: Overdrive pedal
• Made: Finland
• Controls: Volume, Gain, Body
• Features: Unique ‘Body’ control EQ, handwired
• Connectivity: ¼” in and out
• Bypass: True
• Power: 9V centre negative, 4mA
• Dimensions: 2.7”x5.3”x2.5”/70x135x65mm
• Weight: 0.9lbs/415g
• Contact: Mad Professor

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

Being a hand-wired pedal, we are paying a hand-wired price, and the Little Green Wonder, with its metal chassis, boasts the near-indestructible feel we can expect when spending this sort of money.

It’s an impression that continues with the knobs and footswitch pushing back in a way that makes them feel premium and reassuring in use, and a bright power LED settled in a metal bevel completes the feeling of industrial strength.

The artwork here is more intricate than the less expensive factory version, and in my opinion, the art deco approach just looks better and, yes, more premium as a result.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

With only three controls and without no screens or menus to worry about, there is no need for a manual here.

A ¼” in and out is as you would expect, and the standard 9V power input that will suit any pedalboard power supply. It can take up to 18V, but Mad Professor recommends we stick to the noted 9V for best results. Still, it’s handy to have this range to avoid any accidents with mixing up voltages.

To state the obvious, the Volume control makes things louder, and the Gain control adds more drive. Less obvious is the Body control. Fully left adds more bass and low mids with a slight treble boost, and fully right reduces bass with more mid focus.

We’ll get into the minutiae of the sounds later, but the result is a control that is, oddly, darkest in the middle and different types of bright at the extremes. In other words, not your usual tone control, or the low-end control that most people would associate with the term.

Whilst this might take a beat or two to figure out, it is still a simple pedal that requires only minimal brain power to get the head around and dial in on the fly.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

Now, as a drive pedal with green in its name and finish, most are going to, fairly, assume that the Little Green Wonder is a take on a Tube Screamer.

The gain range is similar, as it goes from light breakup to a relatively driven overdrive. But the increased headroom and Body Control are where things differ quite drastically from a classic TS-type pedal.

With the Body control set straight up the middle, the tone has a TS-style mid hump, but without the smooth feel of a Screamer. This is my least favorite setting, as it sounds a little lacking in high-end life to me.

Turn left, and some high-end gets added back in while the bass response is retained, resulting in a pleasing, relatively full-range type of drive, quite far removed from the TS thing, and perfect for edge of breakup tones or classic rock rhythms when the Gain is pushed.

Turn right, and some more high mid is added (at a higher mid-frequency than a screamer), and the low end is slightly reduced, which means a cutting type of drive that will get you heard in the mix whilst still being pleasant to listen to on its own.

This setting is well-suited to pushing another drive pedal or driven amp into saturation, helped along by a huge amount of output available on the Volume control.

This all ends up in a unique-sounding drive pedal that can work well as a standalone crunchy rhythm or driven lead, or as a boost for a driven amp and other pedals. It is not transparent like a Bluesbreaker, for example, but has a mid hump that is not as forward as a TS-type pedal. A pretty great middle ground.

Verdict

The result of all this is versatility. It can do Tube Screamery things, but the highlights are within the Little Green Wonder’s ability to provide a range of boost and overdrive tones, creating a drive pedal that will fit most pedalboards or guitars. A handy little device.

Guitar World verdict: Ignore the connotations of its green color and title. This is an impressive drive/boost pedal with the unique Body control being the crux of its versatility. It can provide a relatively full-range drive, or a mid-humped lead as a boost or a standalone pedal. Something that could find a home in many a setup.

Also try

Hands-on videos

Mike Hermans

Mad Professor

What is it?

Strymon made its name on the back of its formidable skills in digital guitar effects design, reverb pedals the likes of which we had never seen nor heard before, great, multi-modal delay pedals like the TimeLine that come packed with all kinds of sounds.

Its DSP architecture puts studio-quality sounds on your pedalboard – sounds ranging from the quotidian essentials to the avant-garde. There is MIDI connectivity, presets, functions out of the wazoo.

The Canoga is not that. It’s something completely different; an analog fuzz pedal inspired by a vintage Fuzz Face. Just two knobs and the truth, ma’am. And it wasn’t even designed to be launched as an actual project.

That’s the thing about stompbox designers like Strymon CEO and analog engineer Gregg Stock; they just like making stuff. The Canoga was initially a fuzz box that was made to complement the UltraViolet Vintage Vibe, something suitably Jimi Hendrix to get the most out of this digital Uni-Vibe inspired modulation for the demo videos. They even made a rudimentary, unbranded enclosure for it. And it sat around gathering dust.

In the interim, Strymon underwent a revolution of sorts. It went analog, unveiling the Series A in December 2025 with the launch of the Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive. It was a taste of things to come. Strymon, as it turned out, had a heart that beats for all things old-school and analog, too, such as the Garnet Amplifiers Herzog device that inspired the Fairfax, and the Arbiter Fuzz Face that inspired the Canoga.

This two-knob silicon fuzz does not reinvent the wheel-shaped original. But, says Strymon, it might just prove to be more than the some of its parts. The Canoga is a simple pedal but it is designed to perform both as a fuzz, and a drive-come-distortion when you roll the volume back on your electric guitar.

Specs

• Launch price: $199 | £199 | €263
• Type: Fuzz pedal
• Controls: Drive, Level
• Features: Silicon analogue fuzz circuit, internal jumpers for switchable power-up state (bypassed or engaged)
• Connectivity: 1/4" input/output, DC centre-negative power input
• Bypass: True
• Power: 9V DC (min. 50mA)
• Dimensions: 4.53” (D) x 2.83” (W) x 2.33” (H)
• Weight: 270gm
• Contact: Strymon

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

Like the Fairfax, the Canoga arrives in an unfussy boxy but compact enclosure that will appeal to players who baulk at any pedal that requires consultation with the manual. It has a silent soft-touch footswitch, a pair of amp-style knobs for Drive and Level that sit on a raised black plastic panel.

As with all the pedals that come out of Strymon’s US facility, the build is impeccable. There is no battery power here. Feed it 9V DC from your pedalboard power supply and it’s good to go. All of your connections on the top of the pedal. It’s a simple affair but you can unscrew the base plate to change how the pedal powers up.

By default, it will power up in bypass mode, but there are a pair of internal jumpers that allow you to set it to power up as engaged, which may be useful depending if you have this in a rack setup. The orange LED lets you know when it’s on.

The Canoga has the feel of one of those super-rugged pedals you throw on your 'board, tape it down, and never have to worry about it again. There's no buffer. Stick it on the front end of your signal chain and have at at it.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★☆

Sure, the switchable power-up modes speaks to the stereotypical Strymon user – those of the multi-level pedalboards, loop switches, electric toothbrushes and Soundbrenner wearables... Y'know, the tech-literate and ready to mingle. But the Canoga is a time machine pedal. It is Woodstock ’69, not Coachella 2026, and there is something to be said for that.

It’s not about presenting players with all mod cons. We can have too many features. There is none of the post-modern fuzz accoutrements here, no selectable modes, no blend knob or bias control. There isn’t even a tone control. It is old school.

Adjust the Drive and Level, and use the volume control on your guitar to roll off the gain. The Canoga’s simplicity, its presentation of a vintage Fuzz Face in the hear and now, is what we’re here for.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

This is one of those occasions where the instinct to dime a fuzz pedal’s controls and work back makes sense. Strymon has designed this to be one of those fuzzboxes you set up on the floor but control with your guitar’s volume knob – or indeed with how hard you hit the strings.

Unity gain was a little surprising. With my ‘50s Telecaster into a clean tube amp, it came around two o’clock on the Level control but there is a whopping amount of output gain beyond that. The Canoga can hit your amp hard.

But just like a shot of tequila as your first drink of the night can be a bit much, the Canoga is best introduced when you’ve already got a little bit of breakup on the amp – that’s where it sounds the sweetest. And it really does sound sweet, teasing out that harmonic content, adding a bit of sparkle and bloom to your chords, giving single notes the juice they need to hang in the air a bit more.

Strymon is as good as its word here; the Canoga cleans up beautifully. Starting from our all-guns-blazing position of both dials maxed out, there’s all the bestial woof you could want – especially when switching to a Jackson loaded with a Bare Knuckle Holy Diver humbucker, but notably also with both Tele pickups engaged in series, whereupon it came good for all those hairy Kyuss-style stoner tones.

Rolling back the volume brings us to almost clean but with the Canoga just heating everything up. This is where your Hendrix-style triads might take flight. Who needs a blend control when a pedal sounds this good?

Sadly, I didn’t have a Uni-Vibe to hand, but the disorientating throb from the CE-1 vibrato mode on my Boss Waza Craft CE-2 Chorus pedal was surely lysergic enough to give some acid casualties a mean flashback to Monterey; burning Stratocasters, all that mojo. Just add some tape echo and you might open up a new dimension (or set off the smoke alarm). Hmm, maybe it was just as well there was no Uni-Vibe.

Stick it on your ‘board and you’ll surely open up pathways to all kinds of sounds. There is the countrified scratch of its low-gain drive-stortion voicing. There is chewy Gary Moore blues-rock.

Just as the original fuzz pedals were deployed for quasi-horn tones, you can dime this, noodle on the upper registers on the neck pickup and the guitar transcends its anatomy as a stringed instrument.

Which is all to say that the Canoga is a great-sounding vintage-voiced fuzz, and that can be a much more versatile pedal than you might think, especially if you are comfortable working your volume pot during a show.

Verdict

Fuzz pedal design has moved on since Hendrix et al tread the boards, for good and for ill.

There will be some players who, quite reasonably, might baulk at paying 200 bucks for a Fuzz Face clone in 2026. Some of them might want a more modern voicing. Others might simple want more stuff going on. These days, we are used to options. There will be those who want more control over their tone on the pedal. Again, not unreasonably.

But the Canoga makes no promises on that score. It invites you to turn it up and search for the sweet spots via your instrument, or your amp, and how the Canoga interacts with that and other pedals further down the signal chain.

From the full-bore fuzz, to those in between tones that could pass for console grit or dirt from some unbranded vintage drive pedal you found at a pawnshop, the sounds are stellar.

And the simplicity lets you concentrate on doing the playing instead of worrying how the pedal is setup. Sometimes you realise that’s what you've been looking for – what you have needed – all along.

Guitar World verdict: Who would have thought in 2016 that the best Fuzz Face-inspired pedal of 2026 so far would have come from Strymon? But the digital powerhouse has proved it has the appetite for adventures in analog, with the Canoga presenting as an old-school fuzz that can be equally effective as an all-purposes dirt pedal.

Also try

Hands-on videos

Strymon

Perry Frank

Pete "Danish Pete" Honore

• “This is a powerhouse of a stompbox that manages to keep things simple while offering endless inspiration”: Strymon EC-1 Single Head dTape Echo pedal review

Swiss firm Ebbe Design has launched a Kickstarter campaign for a new modular pedalboard design that ditches velcro in favor of magnets for cleaner, more flexible setups. And it’s gone to extreme lengths to show how well it works.

Set up by two Swiss industrial designers and first conceptualized in 2024, Ebbe Design’s modular pedalboard looks like a bold step forward for pedalboard design.

The idea is simple but manyfold: metal boards piece together like Lego, so players can customize their 'board size, with pedals fastening via ultra-strong magnetic plates attached to the bottom of the pedals.

There’s a 5mm gap for patch cables to run underneath each pedal, space for a power supply underneath, and each pedalboard comes supplied with magnetic clips to make cable management on the underside a dream. Its feet are also height-adjustable.

To show how strong the magnets are, the firm took one of its 'boards to the Pendenta Bridge in Graubünden, Switzerland, which is 270m long and nearly 100m above the Rhine river.

There, the pedalboard, which features a Boss OC-2 octaver and an expression pedal, was given the ultimate litmus test.

“To show you how much we trust this product, we’re gonna throw it off this bridge,” he says before gleefully tossing the pedalboard – which was attached to a bungee rope – over the edge

Every single pedal held steadfast as the bungee cable jerked back skywards and beyond. It’s one hell of a demo.

What makes this really cool is the level of attention to detail Ebbe Design has shown. The magnets, vitally, have been designed through an exhaustive process to ensure they don’t interfere with audio signals, while the cable routing looks intuitive and sufficient to satisfy even the freakiest of neat freaks.

Plates featuring the magnets attach to the bottom of pedals with adhesive, but are easily removable thanks to pull strips, which are said to leave no damage or residue behind, helping remedy an age-old issue with velcro and other adhesives. Also, the fact the boards can effortlessly be made bigger or smaller means that customizing a rig for each gig is a doddle.

Kickstarter pledges start at €235 (approv $270/£204). That tier includes a one-row board set up (44.8 cm x 17.6 cm), which can house up to five pedals, a host of plates and cable clips, and an equally modular soft case.

That means it can grow and shrink in tandem with your board. It’s made from ballistic nylon, a heavy-duty fabric, too, so it can take a beating. But only throw it off a bridge if it's attached to a bungee.

See Kickstarter for more.

What is it?

Be it overdrive, distortion or fuzz, pedals of a certain nature fall into the catch-all category of ‘dirt’ pedals, and The Joker, the latest offering from Flattley, is certainly of that ilk – it even says so on the front panel! What you have here is a pedal with two toggle-switched modes, the aforementioned Dirt and, to take things a stage further, Filth.

Flattley tells us the pedal was inspired by a simple question: what happens if you add controlled distortion to a normally clean booster? And to that end, the designers developed a pedal with a FET-based 12AX7 valve simulation with the aim of achieving a similar sound to an overdriven single-valve amp.

However, this pedal takes it a stage further by adding the Filth mode for more gain and distortion.

Specs

• Price: £259
• Type: Overdrive pedal
• Origin: UK
• Controls: Volume, Gain, Tone, Dirt/Filth switch, Bypass footswitch
• Features: True bypass
• Power: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) 50mA
• Contact: Flattley Guitar Pedals

Build quality, usability and sounds

In Dirt mode with the pedal’s Gain knob at minimum, the Volume knob (starting from silence) hits unity gain at around 11 o’clock, so anything beyond that will give you a boost – not squeaky clean but with a touch of grit to it and coloured by whatever you have dialled in on the tone knob.

To our ears, that knob is at its most neutral at minimum position, but advancing it starts rolling off bottom-end, and from the midpoint onwards there’s increasing top-end emphasis, heading right into classic treble-boost territory towards its end point. All good stuff for hitting the front-end of your amp in exactly the right way or pushing another dirt pedal.

When you start advancing the Gain knob there’s plenty of those ‘just beyond clean’ tones to explore as you move through low-level break-up and into the more crunchy arena with the flavour of a small valve amp that’s being driven hard. It’s all very playable with fully exploitable dynamic response, pulling back from the dirt to cleaner tone with a softer touch.

Switching to Filth mode, the starting point is somewhere towards the upper end of Dirt mode, so there’s some crossover between the two, but Filth moves very naturally from that crunch into a more compressed, gainier (but not overly saturated) version of it.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★½

Guitar World verdict: A practical range of gain, from clean-ish through to raunch, combined with a Tone knob that focuses it to push the right buttons, make The Joker a versatile boost/drive asset for your signal chain.

Hands-on videos

R.J. Ronquillo

Flattley

• “Arguably the most practical single pedal you can put in front of an amp”: Flattley The Outlaw review
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

What is it?

Guitar tuner pedals are never going to be the most exciting pedalboard-based purchase, but they are essential, and the Fender Strobo-Sonic Pro Tuner Pedal wants to steal your attention. It arrives at an interesting moment for the company, but boardroom antics and internet discourse aside, it’s my job to look at the gear objectively. Ignoring the logo on the box, is this tuner pedal able to compete in a part of the market with some already very established names? Let’s find out.

The Strobo-Sonic promises a tuning accuracy of just 0.01 cents, which, on paper, is better than the TC Electronic PolyTune, the legendary Boss TU-3, and even the benchmark for accurate tuning, the Peterson StroboStomp HD. Like other competitors in the Walrus Audio Canvas Tuner and TC PolyTune, the Strobo-Sonic features dual modes, so you can use it in a combo strobe/needle mode, or in the more familiar needle mode.

The large, 2.3 x 2.1” screen is second only to the Walrus Audio Canvas tuner, providing plentiful real estate to view the notes you’re aiming for. It also has an auto dim function that adapts to the ambient light condition, getting less blinding when you’re on stage in the dark versus a brighter mode when playing in daylight.

It also has a switchable buffer. You can run it in true bypass, buffered bypass, or an always-on mode, which is what you’ll find with the Peterson, Canvas Tuner, and TC PolyTune. In the always-on mode, the footswitch acts as a mute button, but the tuner is always active, so you can see which note you’re on whilst playing.

The Strobo-Sonic Pro can be powered via a traditional pedalboard power supply, drawing 9V 180mA. You can also run it with a USB-C connection if you’ve got a modern PSU that features a USB-C port.

Specs

• Launch price: $129.99 | £99 | €102
• Type: Tuner pedal
• Controls: Footswitch, bypass switch, mode button
• Features: Auto dim display, strobe mode, needle mode, always on mode, bypass switching
• Connectivity: 1 x 1/4" (instrument), 1 x 1/4" (main out), 1 x USB-C
• Bypass: Buffered, true bypass, buffered always on
• Power: 9V DC, 180mA, USB-C 5V
• Dimensions: 4.53 x 2.57 x 1.73" (115 x 65.3 x 44mm)
• Weight: 0.5 lbs, 0.22 kg
• Options: N/A
• Contact: Fender

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

Pulling the Strobo-Sonic tuner out of its box, it’s a pretty unassuming bit of kit. The all-black fascia is very toned down, with just the silver footswitch, retro-gaming inspired white logo, and the classic Fender ‘spaghetti’ logo. It’s very lightweight at 0.5 lbs, weighing no more than a smartphone in the palm of my hand.

It’s got a very low profile in terms of height too, with a 1.73” (44mm) thickness. The footswitch sticks out a good amount and features a modern, quiet-click operation that doesn’t have the loud ‘clack’ of older pedals. It has a nice balance of easy press and feel, so you know you’ve engaged it, and sticks out enough from the chassis that it’s easy enough to hit from a variety of angles.

On top of the unit are two 1/4-inch jacks, and nestled in between the 9V DC power input. All are marked with bold white text so there’s no doubting what does what. This theme continues on the right-hand side of the unit, with a bypass switch, tuning mode switch, and the USC- port nestled here. The bypass switch moves solidly if unspectacularly, and there’s a nice click to the small, circular mode button when you engage it.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

Plugging the Fender Strobo-Sonic at the front of a pedalboard of cheap pedals I’m testing at the moment, the display lights up dimly, showing the reference pitch before going to black. Plugging in a Baum Core Verve electric guitar into the front of it, I engage the footswitch, and I’m greeted with the pedal in dual strobe-and-needle mode.

The strobe portion of the tuner display consists of blocks of LED dots that drift left or right across the screen, depending on the string's pitch. If drifting to the left, it’s flat; if drifting to the right, the note is sharp. The aim is to get the blocks to stop moving, which signals that your guitar is perfectly in tune. Strobe tuning allows you to be more accurate than a needle tuner, because it’s an overlay of the exact pitch of your string. It means even if you’re out by 0.03 cents, the blocks will still move ever so slightly.

Above and below the blocks that drift across the screen is the more familiar needle tuner. This works like the tuners most of us know, turning blue when flat or sharp and going green when it reaches the center of the screen, indicating the pitch is correct. Needle tuners have some guesswork in them, however, because this kind of tuner is constantly sampling your note and doing a little smoothing to make it readable for the human eye.

Having the option for both makes the Strobo-Sonic Pro incredibly useful. Use the needle for quick check-ups in between songs, but you have that strobe accuracy for recording sessions or set-up work, allowing you to get as close to perfect intonation as possible. Interestingly, there’s no strobe mode on its own as you’d get with a Peterson tuner, so your options are either traditional needle on its own, or both strobe and needle together.

The display itself is fantastic, super bright, and readable from any angle. I used the tuner both in my home studio and in a dingy rehearsal room, and had zero issues reading it from any angle. I didn’t really notice the auto-dim function, which is probably a good thing, and although I didn’t try it in bright sunlight, I don’t have any qualms about the readability of it.

Another plus is having the switchable bypass modes on a physical switch. These are often hidden inside the pedal or inside menus, so the ability to change at will is a nice feature. There’s a very slight sonic difference between the true and buffered modes. I can definitely sense a little less high-end on the true bypass mode, as the signal is running through a decent amount of guitar cable and several patch cables.

It’s not going to make a huge difference overall to your tone, but having the switch on the outside makes it very easy to check exactly what effect it’s having when you're rigging it up with a bunch of other pedals.

Verdict

My overall experience with the Fender Strobo-Sonic was a good one, and I think it has enough features to compete with the more established names like Boss, Peterson, and TC Electronic. I love the dual strobe/needle tuner mode, which combines super accuracy with quick convenience, and the price feels right for what it is, especially as strobe tuners, like those from Peterson, are generally a little pricier.

It’s a shame then that it doesn’t have some of the other quality of life options found on other tuner pedals, like an additional power out or the ability to be run on a 9V battery. I also think the side-mounted USB-C isn’t the best placement for powering the pedal, particularly if it’s going onto a tightly packed pedalboard.

Guitar World verdict: While admittedly difficult to get excited about, the Fender Strobo-Sonic Pro Tuner Pedal does its single job extremely well. It’s sensitive enough to cater to those who demand the utmost accuracy, while remaining simple enough to use that the gigging player will appreciate it. The switchable bypass and multiple tuning modes mean it will slot nicely into any pedalboard.

Also try

Alex Lifeson’s Rush reunion pedalboard and live rig has been revealed, and it confirms that there are no tube amps on the Fifty Something tour.

The Canadian virtuoso had recently revealed to Rick Beato that his signature IK Multimedia TONEX pedal was to play a key role in his new live rig as he looks to recreate classic Rush tones throughout the set. Now we know exactly how he's doing that thanks to an Instagram post from his gear brand, Lerxst.

In Rush’s later years, Lifeson had ditched tube amps for a Fractal Axe-Fx amp modeler. However, the traditional modeler route, Lifeson told Beato, usually used the same cluster of tones shared between dedicated hot, dirty, and clean channels.

So, to see him doubling down and expanding his use of digital gear isn’t a surprise. The beating heart of Lifeson's new rig is his signature IK Multimedia TONEX pedal, which has captured some of his most prized amps and tones from across his career. Beyond that, he’s got a few other tricks up his sleeve.

Joining the 12-foot-strong Fractal FC-12 foot controller and his TONEX pedal is a Tech 21 wah pedal, a Paul Cochrane Timmy overdrive, and a TC Electronic Ditto X2 looper.

Rounding out the bunch is the Morley x Lerxst ATWAS, a wah-and-volume pedal in one. While its successor, the Blah Blah, was released in 2024, Lifeson is staying true to the two-trick pedal. It got used right off the bat, too, with – spoilers ahead – Lifeson and Geddy Lee donning double-neck guitars for their epic set opener, Xanadu, on opening night.

The ATWAS is likely being employed as a volume pedal here, with the Tech 21 catering to all of Lifeson’s wah-y needs.

Lifeson has been busy with Lerxst releases in the years between Rush’s apparent farewell 11 years ago and their triumphant comeback with Anika Nilles and Loren Gold. The firm has dropped the Limelight S-style guitar, a reimagining of his iconic Hentor Sportcaster; a pre-wired Limelight pickguard; CHI head and 1x12 cab; and the By-Tor drive and boost pedal, among others.

It’s perhaps a surprise, then, that only one piece of Lerxst-branded gear has made it onto his latest pedalboard, but it’s a high-powered ‘board all the same, and his guitar tones have been getting rave reviews so far.

In related news, Gibson Custom Shop Greeny has also made its way into his live rig, while Epiphone – its finger firmly on the pulse – has now reissued Lifeson’s ES-355.

Guitarist–meets-businessman-meets-pedal-wizard Mike Matthews’ company Electro-Harmonix is, undisputedly, one of the earliest pioneers of guitar pedals – converting the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, and Jimmy Page – into loyal fans. However, the company has faced its fair share of hardships and pivots to survive – and thrive – in 2026.

The ’70s were a particularly fruitful period for the company. After starting with just $1,000, a scrappy attitude, and a knack for innovation in 1968, EHX was grossing $5 million annually by 1978 and had offices in New York, Toronto, London, and Tokyo.

However, great success and great hardship can go hand in hand.

After a series of business decisions – coupled with an aggressive campaign by a trade union in New York that targeted EHX’s 200-something employees – caused one of the company’s potential lenders to pull its funds, Matthews was forced to file for bankruptcy. Even more heartbreaking, he had to sell the Electro-Harmonix trademark.

“I went bankrupt in ’82. I still tried to hang in there,” he recounts in an interview on The Zak Kuhn Show.

“Finally, the doors were shut. We brought in the generator to just keep the power on. I had loyal people that worked with me. But finally, in ’84, I was completely bankrupt, and it was very devastating, depressing.”

Matthews was forced to do a complete 180. His new plan and target market? The Soviet Union.

“I got involved with vacuum tubes because I was going to the Ministry of Electronics. Everything in Russia was centrally controlled,” he explains.

“In the ’70s, [I] was doing some business with communist countries, like with Hungary, which was communist-controlled. They came to my booth in Frankfurt and wanted to order about $1,000 worth of pedals. They picked out some stuff. I went back to them. I said, ‘Look, instead of ordering this and this and this, order this, because they'll sell better.’ And they said, ‘Okay, we'll take your advice.’”

“So the next year they came back and gave me a $2,000 order, and they said, ‘Mike, you pick out what we should buy.’”

Eventually, Matthews built enough rapport with the Eastern Bloc to secure an invitation to exhibit at the first consumer trade show open to Western countries.

“I jumped on it, and I got carried away. I took a whole band, and I took a guy to set things up… we would go on three times a day.”

This first introduction to the Soviet Union led Matthews down a path that would not only save the company but also secure its future – all under his new brand name, Sovtek.

“I got involved with the vacuum tubes. When we were in Russia, everybody wanted to buy our stuff, but they had no money. So I started thinking, well, ‘What can I buy from Russia, so they'll have money?’”

He continues, “At first, I was thinking of integrated circuits… so I went over to the Ministry of Electronics there… I saw, hanging on the wall, vacuum tubes. That's how I got into vacuum tubes.”

As the Cold War came to an end and the Soviet Union collapsed, another phenomenon was brewing in the guitar world.

“In the ’70s, we built tens of thousands of different pedals… the thing that puzzled me was that pedals that were built in the ’70s were selling for more than what they used to sell for when we had built thousands,” Matthews adds.

“This new vintage market developed, and so initially I started making them [the pedals] in Russia, because Russia collapsed, and they were desperately looking for work to survive.

“I hooked up with a very small military factory in St. Petersburg. They started making these pedals. That's how they came out with the first Electro-Harmonix pedals made in Russia.”

This Russian side quest eventually led to a full EHX comeback – and Matthews even managed to get the trademark back and restart Stateside operations.

The EHX founder's business learnings continue to guide him to this day – right down to his favorite pedal. “[It's] whatever sells, because I mean, it's a business. If I'm not focusing on business, I can't make more money, and if I can't make more money, I can't get more designers to design more products, especially in digital.”

In an exclusive Guitar World interview, Matthews looked back on the brand’s groundbreaking Hall of Science – a veritable candy store for audio pioneers that predated the likes of the Gibson Garage and Fender flagship stores by decades.

Fender has launched a new update for its flagship amp modeler, the Tone Master Pro, delivering a whopping 15 new effects and a assortment of fresh amps and cabs to boot.

The update – v1.8.45 – finds Fender leveraging its exclusive EVH brand endorsement, adding a 50-watt 5150 III combo to its roster. Three different models, covering their Green (clean), Blue (crunch), and Red (high-gain) tones, are included.

The rest of the amps are all from the Fender stock, with a ’57 Champ and ‘65 Twin Custom 15 offering some vintage loveliness, while two models from 1968 – a Deluxe Reverb and a Princeton Reverb – make their Tone Master Pro debuts. For bass players, a Rumble 800 adds another tone-sculpting option.

The eight new cabs strike a balance between matching the new heads and filling the void left by the above combos. The new cabs include a 1x8 ’57 Champ, 1x10 ’65 Princeton GB, 1x10 ’68 Princeton, 1x12 ’65 Deluxe GB, 1x12 ’68 Deluxe, 1x15 Twin Custom, 1x12 EVH 5150 G12H, and 4x12 British G12H.

But the real fun can be found in the effects department. Highlights included the Rockbox 100, which is Fender’s take on the Scholz R&D Rockman X100 headphone amp; the Grunt, designed for modern metal tones a la the Fortin Grind; and the Lightyear, a take on the Greer Lightspeed overdrive.

Two EarthQuaker Devices pedals, the Plumes overdrive and Blumes bass overdrive, are represented by the Pinions and Runes. At the same time, the Integrator Boost draws inspiration from the TC Electronic Integrated Preamp. Finally, the Seventy Sixer Compressor is a much-welcome impression of the Universal Audio 1176.

But there are Fender original effects to play with, too, including a Step Tremolo, Prismatic Delay, Spectral Reverb, and a Pitch Sequencer, which could be a whole world of fun.

Aside from those new toys, Fender has introduced a few handy quality-of-life tweaks in the update. A second page of footswitch button assignments, bumping the total up to 16 available footswitches per preset, is most welcome, and players can now switch between needle-mode tuning and strobe tuning.

The looper is also said to be improved so you can Ed Sheeran your heart out.

With fierce competition in the modeler world growing, every update helps Fender keep apace with its rivals and maintain its position alongside those at the very top of the table.

See Fender for more information about the update and how to download and install it.

In related news, Fender appears to have also scored a major victory by convincing Joe Bonamassa to test-drive a Tone Master modeling amp.

JHS Pedals is commemorating what firm founder Josh Scott has called “the biggest mistake of my career” by releasing the Fumble – an $89 boost based on an ultra-rare Dumble circuit.

The affordable standalone unit comes amidst overwhelming fan demand, after the clean boost circuit was mistakenly put in the V1 Notadümblë pedal last year.

As Scott explained at the time, the Notadümblë was meant to include the clean-boosting magic of John Mayer’s one-of-one A Box Later pedal, which was custom-built by the late Howard Dumble and later cloned by Scott.

Then, Scott realized he had made a huge mistake and, in a schematics mix-up, had actually used Mayer’s even-rarer preamp buffer, the Dumble BBC-1, instead.

Consequently, the Notadümblë was discontinued after the first batch – all of which contained the incorrect circuit – sold like hot cakes.

Moving forward, this is the only place the BBC-1 circuit will live, and the small, affordable pedal is as simple as it gets. With dials for its Input and Output, and true-bypass switching, the faithful recreation promises “enhanced clean tones.”

But while the Output is for your Master Volume, the Input isn’t actually a gain knob; it attenuates bass and input gain simultaneously at the front of the circuit. Rolling it off gives a thinner, tighter response. Doing the opposite makes it fuller and louder.

It can be used as a clean boost at the front of pedalboards, or to slam the front of overdrive pedals and dirty amps. Yet this pedal’s story has one more surprise up its sleeve.

While “digging through” the original unit’s history, JHS realized, “The BBC-1 isn’t really a Dumble circuit at all. It’s a JFET preamp lifted almost part-for-part from a Barcus Berry acoustic preamp made in the 1970s – the kind of small utility box that bridged piezo pickups into electric guitar amps in an era when nobody had a modern acoustic preamp.”

Howard Dumble had cloned the circuit and built a few pedals for LA-based players. JHS Pedals adds that “he then used the same JFET stage inside his amplifiers and called it the FET mode.

“Which means the legendary Dumble FET sound is a clone of a 1970s piezo preamp,” the company says.

So, the JHS Fumble is a clone of a clone of a clone, which once accidentally masqueraded as a different clone altogether. Anyone else's head hurting?

Scott has now revealed that the Notadümblë Mark II is on its way – presumably with the right Dumble inside it. But for those that want JHS’s Dumble BBC-1 recreation on its own, the Fumble is not to be, er, fumbled.

“I’m excited to commemorate my own failures,” says Scott.

Get one for just $89 from JHS.

Elsewhere, Scott has raised concerns that ChatGPT is erasing pedal history after an experiment with the AI platform.

The octave pedal (or ‘octaver’) is a mainstay of today’s bass pedalboards. It might not always be on, but many players will use theirs far more than you might expect. If you haven’t used one before, you should definitely give it a try; it might be exactly what your rig has been missing.

In brief, an octaver creates a replica of your instrument’s signal and pitch-shifts it down (or up) an octave, with this pitch-shifted signal heard alongside your original note. The effect is of two separate instruments playing the same note, an octave apart. For bass, the most commonly used setting is an octave below the normal signal – we’re talking about seriously low notes.

You’ll often hear (and feel) them at points when the bass needs to provide extra ‘oomph’ – think of a big chorus or the middle-8 of a pop or rock song. Many other songs and sections have had the sound as more of a feature in its own right.

Once upon a time, the octaver was a purely analogue device, but today’s market is quite diverse – there are probably more digital than analog models now, and these offer a wider range of sounds and capabilities. The major benefits are increased adjustability, and better pitch tracking – how quickly the pedal produces a reliable octave signal. Most current digital octavers will also boast ‘polyphonic’ settings, which means that they are designed to track multiple notes at once.

This is a short-list of some of the best octave pedals for bass in the current market, but it’s certainly not exhaustive – there are lots of great octavers out there, and there are many that could easily have ended up in this guide.

To kick things off, I've gone for the classic Boss OC-5 as my number one pick. It boasts the usual Boss build quality and is a mainstay of many bassist's pedalboards thanks to its top tier performance.

Below, you'll find more standout octave pedals for bass, alongside practical information and a FAQ section which should answer more of your questions.

For the guitarists out there, we have a dedicated best octave pedals guide for six-string players.

Best overall

The original OC-2 is octave pedal royalty, and Boss knows it. The famous brown box was launched in 1982 and is still a reference tone for a huge number of bassists seeking their own perfect octave sound.

The vintage pedal is specifically referred to in the product blurb for the OC-5, whose Vintage mode is intended to give a ‘spot-on recreation’ of those sounds. But there’s also plenty of emphasis given to everything else this modern, high-powered version can do. For the first time, it boasts an octave-up setting as well as down, and the newly-enhanced Poly mode tracks multiple notes at once – with a setting even allowing the octave to be isolated to the lowest note in a chord. A Direct Out jack allows the dry and wet signals to be sent to separate destinations, for blended sounds.

There are several reasons I've selected the OC-5 as the best overall – its feature set and price-to-performance ratio is superb, it sounds great and tracks superbly, and being a Boss compact pedal, it’s housed in a legendarily durable, practical and space-efficient enclosure. In many ways, it’s the obvious choice – but that’s not to say you shouldn’t also consider some of of the alternatives I've picked out below.

Best budget

TC's compact TonePrint form-factor is a bit of an institution in the pedal world at this point, having given us such classics as the Flashback delay and Hall of Fame reverb. The Sub n’ Up stuffs an awful lot of octave goodness into the format, offering (as the name suggests) both octave-down and octave-up sounds, with polyphonic capabilities too.

This is another pedal that’s equally pitched (no pun intended) at guitarists and bassists – but its digital engine is advanced enough that, even in the bass register, tracking is superb. And then, of course, there's the TonePrint feature. If you’ve used other TC pedals in the range, you’ll already know how impressive this is. You can load in external, often artist-developed settings, and the Sub n’ Up can take on amazing, synth-like modulated sounds, or a simple, perfectly dialled-in vintage octave tone, or anything in between. There’s a deep-editing facility for tweaking your own settings, too.

With all this considered, the Sub n’ Up punches well above its relatively small price tag (around $119 or £80). You can, of course, go cheaper still if you want – but why bother, when a pedal of this capability is available for this price.

Best for beginners

This is far from MXR's first octave pedal. Their history with the effect is longer than most – going all the way back to the barely-usable, robotic fart generator that was the Blue Box of the mid-1970s. In fact, the Bass Octave Deluxe is far from the only octave pedal in the company's current line-up, too – but it's the one to go for, especially if you value simplicity and usability without the learning curve that some other octavers can present.

This is an all-analog circuit, excelling at fat, chunky retro sounds, and the controls are easy to get to grips with. The two tone controls are ‘Girth’ and ‘Growl’, for the octave signal’s low-end and midrange respectively – in other words, they do what they say on the tin.

Of course, it offers a dry level control for the all-important signal blend and, finally, there’s a button labelled ‘Mid +’ – no prizes for guessing that this is a midrange boost, letting the MXR slam its way through a dense mix with a serious push at either 400Hz or 800Hz (adjustable internally).

Overall, it’s not over-burdened with complex controls, and it’s intuitive to dial in. It won’t take long to get the Bass Octave Deluxe to sound great.

Best value

Laney’s amps have accumulated generations of fans, but their Black Country Customs effects range is a newer phenomenon. There’s been a steady stream of very interesting circuits, however, and in a solid, compact MXR-sized enclosure with British build – at pretty sensible prices to boot. This, The 85, is the company’s take on the octave pedal, and has clearly had the same level of thoughtful design put into it.

The 85 always provides a sub-octave sound as the foundation of its tone, with its own separate volume control. There’s more, though – a central mini-switch controls the pitch of the second added interval in the signal. Two octaves down, one octave up or, interestingly, a 5th up.

One presumes, then, that the ‘8’ in the pedal’s name is for octave, and the ‘5’ is for that 5th-up setting, which will make for instant power chords on every note you play. It's probably not a setting you'll use all the time (unless you're in a Blink 182 covers band), but it certainly has a lot of potential as a writing tool, and nothing else on this list short of the larger, more expensive Bass Whammy offers the option.

They don’t get quite the same attention as the biggest hitters in the market, but don’t sleep on Laney’s BCC pedals.

Best premium

The Kaamos is the fruit of a collaboration between Darkglass and top-level session bassist Amos Heller – ‘fruit’ being the key word, owing to its punningly-named octave modes. ‘Sublime’, ‘Sublemon’ and ‘Subcitri’ offer three different voices, the latter being a polyphonic setting. Then, as befits a Darkglass product, we find a growling distortion circuit plucked directly from the well-liked Alpha Omicron drive pedal.

The octave can be set in series or parallel with the dry signal. The Kaamos even includes a built-in effects loop which can be shifted to different stages in the pedal’s circuit to allow for optimal positioning of different effects. Serious technical wizardry, then, but it’d be pointless if it didn’t deliver the sonic goods.

This is a Darkglass, though, so of course it does. All three modes have fantastic, defined and characterful sounds on tap, and there’s so much control over the octave signal that it’s practically impossible not to find the sound you’re after.

A serious investment but, in a slightly perverse way, one could look at the Kaamos as a value proposition. Overdrive and octave are two staples of most bass pedalboards, and here we find both in one reasonably-sized box. Add to that Darkglass's unfailingly accomplished quality in design and build, and it's really quite a package.

Most versatile

I was initially reluctant about including the Bass Whammy, as it's not strictly an octave pedal – but that's one of the sounds it does best, whether you want a traditional octave down, an octave up, or foot-controlled pitch-shifting madness. As wild cards go, they don't come much wilder than this.

Unlike other pedals in this guide, it doesn't have any form of blend control, the octave signal being blended in at a set level. For fully-wet effect sounds, though, you can scroll over to the pitch-shifting settings and enjoy the subterranean roar – and the expression pedal means that you can dive-bomb it down for effect, if you want. You can pitch your signal up to two octaves up or down, via useful scale intervals – 2nds, 4ths and 5ths.

It’s an absolute feast of possibilities, and with true bypass it doesn’t have the tone-coloration issues of older Whammy models. It also has a switch for ‘Classic’ or ‘Chords’ processing – the old, glitchy monophonic digital weirdness that became an early Whammy trademark, or a more modern and digitally-advanced polyphonic mode with excellent tracking.

With sturdy all-steel build quality, and a relatively sensible size and price for all its utility, it’s a compelling package.

How to choose an octave pedal?

If you’re in the market for an octave pedal but are new to the sound, think first about what sort of octave tones you like, and what will be the most useful to you. Have a listen to some well-known players or songs that use these effects, and get an idea of what you like and don’t like about the sounds.

From there, think carefully about how much you want to spend. Some players will use their octaver a lot, and some will find only limited uses for it – in the latter case, it’s probably not worth spending a fortune, unless you do have a very specific sound in mind that needs to be just right. At the same time, even if you’re leaning heavily on your octave sound, you may find that a relatively inexpensive pedal will do just fine.

As this round-up shows, you don’t have to break the bank to find an octave pedal that really does everything most players could ever need. Even the cheaper pedals here will be more than good enough for a pro-level board, with high-quality sounds and sturdy construction.

FAQs

How we test gear at Guitar World

Here at Guitar World, we're experts in our field, with many years of playing and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything guitar and bass related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our guides.

When choosing what we believe to be the best octave pedals for bass, we combined our hands-on experience, user reviews and testimonies and engaged in lengthy discussions with our editorial colleagues to reach a consensus about the top products in any given category.

First and foremost, we are musicians and music fans, and we want other players to find the right product for them. So we take into careful consideration everything from budget to feature set, ease of use and durability to come up with a list of what we can safely say are the best octave pedals for bass available right now.

Read more about our rating system, how we choose the gear we feature, and exactly how we test each product.

Why you can trust us

Guitar World boasts more than 44 years of expertise and stands as the ultimate authority on all things related to guitars. The magazine and website feature expertly written gear round-ups and top-quality, authoritative reviews penned by a team of highly experienced industry professionals.

Guitar World's inaugural print issue hit the shelves in July 1980, and ever since, it has been captivating players and enthusiasts with engaging lessons, insightful interviews with the biggest guitar heroes, and priceless buying advice for newbie players.

Furthermore, GuitarWorld.com continues this legacy online and serves as the hub of the world's foremost authorities on guitar playing. The site not only hosts content from Guitar World but also showcases articles from respected publications such as Guitarist, Total Guitar, Guitar Techniques, and Bass Player.

With a reach extending to 3.8 million players each month, GuitarWorld.com is a go-to destination for guitar fanatics globally.

Meet the expert

TONE3000 has unveiled the next generation of its open-source, free-to-use amp modeling technology, and it could represent a watershed moment for the digital modeling market.

The Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) Architecture 2 was built in partnership between TONE3000 and NAM creator Steve Atkinson. The company says, is the “most accurate and best sounding amp modeling technology in history”, yet curiously it runs a humble “$3 chip.”

It’s generally thought that top-level modeling tech – like what we get with the Line 6 Helix Stadium , Neural DSP Quad Cortex, and Fractal AxeFx – requires a top-dollar outlay. So how can the free-to-use A2 outstrip the competition?

Well, there are three important factors. Firstly, it’s open source, meaning any hardware or software maker can support A2 in their product, with a ton of resources freely available online to help players dive into capturing their gear, or pull from a massive library of pre-made captures.

Next, there are the results of “quantitative and blind listening tests” to consider. TONE3000 says in its A2 tests saw Neural DSP, Line 6, and IK Multimedia lose out “by a wide margin.”

Quantitative testing pitted A2 models against leading modelers and the real amps, pedals, and signal chains they were born to mimic. A total of 39 tones were covered, using bass and guitar amplifiers across a range of permutations involving different pedals, cabs, and signal chains, with a cranked Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier and a vintage Neve 1073 mentioned here.

Blind tests were large-scale and used the MUSHRA methodology, which TONE3000 describes as “the audio industry’s gold standard for evaluating perceived sound quality.” The BBC is among its advocates.

During these tests, over 1,000 participants listened to recordings of 37 different tonal combinations of real and modeled gear. With 100 being the best possible score. A2 Full clocked in at 100. By comparison, TONEX (91) and Neural DSP V2 (94) followed behind. Line 6 Proxy ranked with 77.

You can read the full results in TONE3000's blog post.

The third trump card is the growing list of products that support NAM, which currently includes Blackstar’s Beam Mini and offerings from Darkglass and Lava Music, right down to budget modelers accommodating the captures. That can make even the cheapest units extremely powerful, especially given that its library currently boasts over 350,000 different tones.

Both versions of A2 – Full is built for pro audio and now runs on less than 30-40% less CPU, and Lite is built for multi-effects pedals – are being heralded by their creators as “a turning point for the industry.”

“A2 captures feel more satisfying to play and sound virtually indistinguishable from the analog original,” TONE3000 says. “The bloom of a tube amp pushed into breakup, the sag of a fuzz pedal under a heavy chord, the snap of a transient through an analog compressor: A2 captures it all.”

Crucially, NAM’s algorithms work by listening to real analog gear before its neural network creates a dynamic capture of that gear, including the various bits of gear it might be paired with, be that head going through a specific cab, or pushed by an overdrive pedal, and so on.

It being free also means that many players get access to gear models they could never otherwise dream of playing.

See TONE3000 for more.

What is it?

Long before the boom in boutique pedals, the one company that could be relied upon for pushing the ‘quirky and weird’ envelope was Electro-Harmonix – and the New York maker is still in motion.

As part of the cute and pedalboard-friendly Pico range, the Atomic Cluster Spectral Decomposer is described by the company as “unlike any effect Electro-Harmonix has made before”.

Specs

• PRICE: $129 | £129 | €119
• ORIGIN: USA
• TYPE: Spectral Decomposer pedal 
• FEATURES: Buffered Bypass, T
  ap tempo
• CONTROLS: Volume, Speed, Blend, Atoms, Sharp/Smooth Mode button, bypass footswitch 
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V DC adaptor (supplied) 100mA
• DIMENSIONS: 50 (w) x 91 (d) x 47mm (h) 
• CONTACT: Electro-Harmonix

Build quality, usability and sounds

Falling into the broad category of synth and glitch pedals, the Atomic Cluster “breaks down your signal and interpolates it into a variety of musical and whimsical sounds,” says EHX.

This is done mostly via the Atoms knob, which reduces the frequency resolution of your guitar and generates resonant oscillations, the number of which reduces as the knob is turned anti-clockwise. This is best heard in Sharp mode where you get an instant transition of oscillations for a rhythmic effect.

Switching to Smooth mode produces a more diffused effect, with a nice fade between oscillations. The Speed knob sets how quickly the oscillations refresh. Any sound you dial in can be mixed in proportion with your dry sound with a Blend knob up to 100 per cent wet.

With the Atoms knob at maximum, the effect is bright and metallic with a chaotic undercurrent of glitchy burbling, but as you roll it back the brightness reduces and that burbling becomes more coherent, revealing itself in Sharp mode to be more like synth-style arpeggiation with distinct notes.

This is something that, when synchronised (you can use the footswitch tap tempo in place of the Speed knob), can add bubbly flavour behind fast strumming. Switching to Smooth mode, though, results in an effect that can be exploited with guitar dynamics as those distinct notes now fade into each other for a more undulating sound.

Play chords and you’ll get a sustained ambient pad sound, but with single notes the altered envelope of the generated sounds is akin to a backwards effect and it works particularly well if you dig in with a bit of dirt. Balancing Speed and Atoms yields plenty of variations on the theme for subtle blending with dry guitar or upfront prominence.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★☆

Guitar World verdict: The Atomic Cluster is niche and not the most predictable of effects. It’s unlikely to appeal to traditionalists, but if you like quirky and off-the-wall, it’s out there waiting to throw a spanner in the works of your guitar tone.

Hands-on videos

Electro-Harmonix

Pedal of the Day

• Best Electro-Harmonix pedals: We break down the very best EHX pedals available in all effects categories
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

Integrated circuit technology advanced at such a rapid pace during the late ’70s and early ’80s that only seven years passed between the introduction of the first analog delay pedals in 1976 and the debut of the world’s first compact digital delay pedal – the Boss DD-2 Digital Delay – in 1983.

The Boss DD-2 was sort of a spin-off product of the larger and more expensive SDE-3000 rack-unit professional digital delay introduced that same year.

But although the DD-2 contained the same 63H101 CMOS gate array IC “long chip” as the SDE-3000, the pedal version was not an SDE-3000 in a stompbox like some have claimed, as the DD-2 lacked the 3000’s modulation section and had a shorter maximum delay time and lower frequency response of 10Hz to 8kHz (compared to the 3000’s 17kHz upper range), amongst several other feature differences.

Regardless of its spec deficits compared to its big brother rack unit, the DD-2 still sounded superb, with its exceptionally impressive low noise performance and longer delay times (12.5 to 800 milliseconds) than those offered by analog delay pedals.

Many guitarists also preferred the warmer sound of the DD-2’s delayed signal over that of the SDE-3000 thanks to the stompbox’s rolled off high frequencies above 8kHz. With only four knobs on its front panel (effect level, feedback, delay time, delay mode), the DD-2 made it easy for guitarists to dial in delay settings.

When the Hold mode was selected, the pedal would infinitely repeat a short section as long as the footswitch was held down, providing a primitive looper function. The DD-2 also included a pair of output jacks for a stereo setup where the stereo (right) jack output the original dry signal while the mono (left) jack automatically switched from a mixed output to the delayed signal only.

When the cost of the 63H101 chip dropped significantly, Boss changed the pedal’s name to DD-3 and reduced the list price, even though the DD-2 and DD-3 were otherwise completely identical. The decision was mainly a PR move to avoid upsetting DD-2 buyers who paid a lot more for the same thing.

Sometime during the very late ’80s the DD-3’s 63H101 chip was replaced by a smaller square IC that also offered improved bandwidth and audio specs. Further chip upgrades appeared in later iterations of the DD-3 up through 2014.

However, many guitarists feel that the darker, warmer qualities of the more “lo-fi” 63H101 chip sound more musical, so long chip versions of the DD-3 (identifiable by a cutout section on the bottom housing for mounting the old-style large power supply jack) now sell for premium prices.

Despite the fact that digital delay technology continues to expand and improve, many discriminating players like Joe Bonamassa, Nels Cline, Billy Duffy, David Gilmour, Eric Johnson, Tom Morello and Brad Paisley still keep their original DD-2 or long chip DD-3 delays on their pedalboards.

While most guitarists have moved on to more modern digital delay boxes (including the Boss DD-8 and upgraded DD-3T), it seems almost everyone who is anyone has used a DD-2 or DD-3 at some point in their careers. It’s a perennial pedal that simply sounds good and works for anything from rambunctious rockabilly slapback and crisp Edge-style dotted eighth note rhythms to trippy long repeating echoes.

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

When Korn and Distortion Inc. teamed up last year to create a pedal that encapsulated Munky’s iconic early sound, it sold out in the blink of an eye. Now, in the wake of that success, his co-riffer, Brian “Head” Welch, is getting in on the action.

Drawing on the nu-metal giant’s 1990s Indigo Ranch sessions with producer Ross Robinson, all 500 of Munky’s $250 Indigo Sludge pedals sold out before Guitar World could even write a news story about it. We don’t expect this new run of limited-edition stories to be any different.

This new dual preamp and fuzz pedal is built for Head’s deliciously nasty tonal standards, and, like its counterpart, features the same breadth of controls to nail every aspect of those seminal early Korn albums.

On its top row are dials for the Master, Gain, Volume, and Distortion, with a three-band EQ and a separate Tone control beneath. Tone-tweaking versatility is complemented by Presence and Octave mini-switches to ensure this thing hits hard, as well as dedicated footswitches for both sides of the pedal.

Once more, the pedal’s preamp section draws on the high-gain preamp stages that were all over the band’s first few records, conspiring to unfurl a “tight, saturated crunch.”

At the same time, the fuzz marries sustain with hairy chaos, ideal for seven-string brutality, with Korn among the earliest advocates of extended-range guitars.

A nice, nuanced touch is that while both pedals sport the same self-titled record-inspired artwork, Head’s version of the Indigo Sludge pulls away from the red visage of Munky's, opting for a color scheme closer to the original album cover.

“This pedal isn’t ‘inspired by’ – it’s built on the same ingredients that forged the sound,” says Head.

Distortion Inc has also teamed up with PRVNZ to provide easy, secure digital authentication for all Korn pedals.

Head’s Indigo Sludge pedal is available to pre-order via Korn.

Elsewhere, Korn bassist Ra Díaz has used the power of community to recover 15 stolen basses. In contrast, original bassist, Fieldy, has finally lifted the lid on the reasons for his exit from the band.

Two historic guitar pedal brands, DOD and Morley, have united for the Wah-ocTo-Fuzz, an expression pedal with plenty of tricks up its sleeve.

The three-in-one stompbox, which builds off the classic Morley wah chassis, is like a supergroup of pedals. Covering the low end is DOD’s revered ‘80’s FX35 Octoplus sub-octave circuit, with Morley’s famed wah and fuzz circuits also getting in on the action.

The result, its makers say, “is a pedal that simply leaves players saying, ‘WTF!’” It’s a little shoehorned in, but we see what they’ve done there.

Designed for guitar, bass, and keyboards, the three effects can be run independently or in various combinations, giving them three reasons to find their way onto people’s pedalboards.

Expect the “captivating, glitchy essence of the 1980s” from the Octoplus side of the pedal. Dial in the dry signal input via the Direct Level control, and use the Tone Control to adjust its brightness, and the Octave Level to determine just how thunderous you need it to be.

Over to Morley’s double act, and the wah features the firm’s classic Electro-Optical design and switchless operation, with the effect in operation as soon as its glow-in-the-dark treadle is stomped on. Metallica’s Cliff Burton most famously used the Morley wah, and it has stood the test of time since its introduction in the 1970s.

For all things fuzzy, the collaborative pedal serves up Morley’s ‘70s era, velcro-like tonality, complete with a Level dial for the gain and a Fuzz Level dial for managing the wider signal.

The WTF is housed in a lightweight cold-rolled steel chassis, which should make it pretty bulletproof. A “premium Morley buffer circuit” that protects the pedal’s tone from “mischief” in the signal chain is also included, so it can better partner with a litany of other effects.

Beyond that, it’s business as usual: it has 1/4” in/output jacks and draws 9V of power via a plug or a battery, with the latter getting a quick clip battery door. It also comes with a one-year warranty.

The three-headed DOD and Morley Wah-ocTo-Fuzz is available now for $249.

See DigiTech for more.

What is it?

The basic premise for the ZEQD-Pre pedal is to introduce some valve mojo into a signal chain and add character.

The result of this collaboration between EarthQuaker Devices and Dr Z Amplification has been designed around an EF86 pentode valve coupled with three-band EQ for fine-tuning of the sound.

There are several scenarios for use, reflected in the available outputs, which can all be used simultaneously. There’s a jack for a standard signal chain, maybe directly in front of an amp or a modeller, an XLR direct output (with switchable cabinet emulation) that could be used to feed a mixing desk or audio interface, and a headphone output with cabinet emulation.

Complementing the standard bypass footswitch, a second footswitch bypasses the three-band EQ and delivers a full-range boost with level set by the Boost knob.

Specs

• PRICE: $399 | £399 | €499
• ORIGIN: USA
• TYPE: Valve-powered preamp pedal
• FEATURES: True bypass
• CONTROLS: Boost, Level, Bass (20Hz to 400Hz), Middle (400Hz to 2kHz), Treble (2kHz to 20kHz), Ground Lift, XLR Cab Bypass, Boost footswitch, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output, XLR direct output, standard headphone output
• POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) 500mA
• DIMENSIONS: 96 (w) x 148 (d) x 66mm (h) 
• CONTACT: EarthQuaker Devices

Build quality, usability and sounds

The EF86 isn’t a valve that offers its own drive as such, but in its context here delivers a big open sound with clarity and great dynamic response, all tied in to the really classy EQ, which never gets out of shape.

Everything above about nine o’clock on the Level knob offers a boost for additional gain stage to push an amp’s front-end, with an extra kick up via the Boost footswitch as required.

Without an amp, the pedal could sit at the end of a pedalboard employing the XLR output direct to front-of-house or FRFR speaker cab as your main amplifier, if you have the pedals to get the sound you need. Likewise, it could be a useful tone conditioner with added dimension before or after a digital modeller.

With pedals, the ZEQD-Pre is also perfect for practice, as the headphone signal with speaker simulation gives you a comfortable sound that encourages you to play.

It’s also excellent as a DI box for recording clean guitar – we got great results with a Strat plugged straight in and the XLR output (speaker sim engaged) connected to an audio interface with compression added as a plugin on the DAW recording track.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★½

The best part of $400 may seem a bit steep for something that could be categorised as a widget, but the ZEQD-Pre is a very practical professional piece of kit with numerous uses for the guitarist.

Guitar World verdict: As a tone-sculptor and gain provider that is capable of sitting in a variety of signal chains, it is both an enabler and an enhancer.

Hands-on videos

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• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

What is it?

The Coyote is a new octave fuzz pedal from JHS, based on the Moonrock Fuzz by G.S. Wyllie. If your reaction to that is "the what?" you're not alone.

According to JHS, after being around the music scene in the 1960s, Wyllie lived a reclusive life in North Carolina, "sandcast[ing] his own enclosures," and "etch[ing] his own boards," never mass producing the pedal.

That didn't stop it from ending up in the hands of famous musicians like Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez and David Byrne.

Specs

• PRICE: $149 | £149 | €199
• TYPE: Octave Fuzz
• MADE: USA
• CONTROLS: Volume, Mode
• CONNECTIVITY: Input, Output, 9V DC in
• BYPASS: True
• POWER: 9VDC Centre-negative, 5mA
• DIMENSIONS: 65x40x120 mm
• WEIGHT: 0.5lbs/250g
• CONTACT: JHS Pedals

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

The Coyote is a clean build, inside and out, housed in a tidy green enclosure.

The pedal has an unusual topology, using a transformer, but not in the normal way you'd expect for an octave pedal. The result is a very different voicing, particularly for the fuzz.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★☆

Like any fuzz pedal, the Coyote is pretty user-friendly. It's a case of plugging it in to a Marshall half-stack, grabbing a guitar and twisting the two knobs. The flip side of this of course, comes from the unusual function of the second control.

JHS describe it as going from a swell when fully counter-clockwise, to a fuzz at 12 o'clock, and an octaver when turned further clockwise. It's a reasonable description, but the multi-function knob makes the pedal more complex. Still, with an analog pedal like this, it's basically unavoidable.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

Of course, unless you're one of the handful of Moonrock owners, you've never heard this pedal before.

The real question is, have you heard anything like it? The answer to that question is, yes. It's got its own thing going on, but fundamentally, it sounds similar to other analog octave units.

At 12 o'clock, the level is a fair bit below unity volume on our test unit, with a range of pickups. A quick nudge to the right sorts everything out.

It's the second control that absorbs most of my attention. JHS describe it as a 'swell' when it's set counter-clockwise, but it's closer to a gate in character. Compared to say, a Boss Slow Gear, the Coyote is less predictable, and I didn't find it very useful.

Once it's into fuzz territory, we're on more stable footing. In some ways this is a little bit like a Fuzz Face, but smoother, more like a Big Muff in overall voicing.

Whatever pickups I used, I found it to be quite dark, and mid gain, so pushing it with a treble booster in front was necessary to get the most from it. If you play more low-gain styles of music, the saturation level might not be an issue, but the voicing may be.

The octave works best, like most octaves, on the neck pickup above the twelfth fret. Where it differs is that, like a Fuzz Face, but unlike most other Octave Fuzzes, it cleans up really rather nicely at the guitar. This lends it versatility for replicating hyper-specific recorded psychedelic guitar tones.

Verdict

Anybody who's been following the guitar pedal market for more than a few months will know that hype and marketing often come over sounds, not to mention originality.

Here would seem to be the exception. The Coyote is a strange and weird anomaly that stands apart not only from most known octave fuzz designs, but also from fuzzes full stop. The issue is, that as JHS themselves acknowledge, it's still not a pedal for everybody.

Guitar World verdict: If you're after an octave fuzz, and the usual suspects haven't done it for you, then the Coyote is worth a look. As a standalone fuzz, it's not the best option – players after a touch-sensitive fuzz are better off with a Fuzz Face, while for most others a Big Muff will do. The space cadets, as always, can try a Z-Vex or Death By Audio sonic destruction device.

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What is it?

Think of a classic recorded bass tone, then think about how it was created. The bass and its pickups, the amp, the mic or direct signal (or both), the environment in which it was captured, and of course, the small ingredient of the player themselves all contribute to the sound we’re hearing.

But there’s something we often overlook that’s omnipresent on our favorite recordings, and that’s the signal chain after it leaves the jurisdiction of our rig. Chances are, if the tone you’re imagining was made in a pro studio, then it will have run through some choice outboard or mixer-based preamps, adding significant qualities to the tone thanks to analog circuitry.

This is summed up in modern-day language with cliches such as ‘warmth’, ‘grit’ and ‘punch’. But they’re cliches for a reason, because what we’re really trying to describe here is the know-it-when-you-hear-it fattening-up of our sound thanks to harmonic distortion imparted by classic analog designs.

Two of the most famous names in the studio preamp game are Neve and API, whose aural fairy dust has been sprinkled on countless recordings.

Now, Walrus Audio has teamed-up with session bassist/bass educator/tone connoisseur, Ian Martin Allison (who most recently caused panic-buying with the MXR Bass Synth) to deliver the flavor of these elusive tonal radiators in a preamp pedal courtesy of transformers, stepped, preset EQ and ‘musical’ gain. Meet the Mantle.

Specs

• Launch price: $749.99 | £749 | €859
• Type: Bass preamp pedal
• Controls: Bass, Gain, Treble (11-step increments)
• Features: Active/passive switch, Ground Lift, custom Sapphire input and output transformers.
• Connectivity: Input (w Active/Passive switch), output, XLR output
• Bypass: N/A
• Power: 9V DC 500 mA (not included)
• Dimensions: 155mm x 120mm x 58mm
• Weight: 2.2lbs (962g)
• Options: N/A
• Contact: Walrus Audio

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

You’ve probably already clocked the Mantle’s $749 price tag, so you’ll be glad to hear that this pedal feels like a premium, luxury design.

The first thing you’ll notice is the weight, at 2.12lbs (962g), the Mantle clocks-in with substance, and it’s continued with the classy design. I’ve already established the ‘golden age’ reference to studio outboard gear, but there’s a definite air of simplistic confidence and consideration - the matte black powder coating meets the subtle gold lines and labelling, and another retro nod sees the Walrus/Mantle branding preserved under a raised plexi window. What’s more, it illuminates when switched on.

It all adds up to a pedal that looks like you’ve just unearthed a lost relic from Rupert Neve’s ‘to-do’ drawer, which could go some way to reassuring you of that outlay.

The high-end finishing continues with machined, knurled aluminum control knobs, outlined with more gold. But to place the romanticism aside for a moment, these are stepped to eleven positions, and held onto the pots via a grub screw.

The first turn indicates that there’s a little bit of give before each one moves and clicks into position, something I resolved with a quick tighten from an Allen key. With that addressed, they feel purposeful and expensive, and most importantly, like they’re going to remain where you put them.

On either side of the Mantle sit push buttons for applying a -10db Active/Passive pad and a Ground Lift. Their defaults are in the ‘out’ position (passive, ground connected), which seems a logical starting point for the majority of users.

However, this does mean that the (fairly thin) switches sit proud. I can’t help but wonder if a slider switch or reverse-wiring might have served these functions better, but with that said, if you intend to use the Mantle mounted on a pedalboard, it’s unlikely that they’re going to be vulnerable to damage.

Talking of ’board-mounting, the Mantle is juiced-up at 9v, 500mA. But, there’s no power supply included, so you’ll either need to use a dedicated supply, or free-up a 500mA output from your pedalboard power supply in order to get it fired up.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★

It’s a straightforward concept with the Mantle: you plug into the input, plug the ¼-inch (unbalanced) output into your amp or any other pedals, and you can use the balanced XLR socket to send your DI signal to FOH or an interface.

There’s no hidden functionality, no dual-pressing of buttons and no emulation. Your signal goes in, the mantle does its thing and it goes out to wherever you want to send it. But while you might think that three controls and some connectivity solutions makes this a simplified design, there’s a bit more going on with those stepped controls.

As mentioned, each control features eleven positions. Position six on all three gives you a flat sound, turning them counter-clockwise introduces a cut, while clockwise turns past the sixth position introduce boosts. In the ‘cut’ positions, the Bass and Treble controls introduce a -18dB per-octave hi-pass (Bass control) or low pass (Treble control) filter, which shifts the cutoff frequency as you cycle through.

The lower-numbered positions for each control introduce the most extreme cut, so in the case of the Bass control, you can select 120Hz, 100Hz, 80Hz, 50Hz and 30Hz from positions 1-5, while the Treble control does the same, ranging from 1kHz, 2kHz, 4kHZ, 6kHz and 8kHz.

When boosting, the center-frequency is fixed at 60Hz for the Bass knob and 4.9 kHz for the Treble control. They react in the same way, so cycling from positions 1-7 on the controls introduces a bell-curve EQ, the higher the setting, the narrower the Q becomes and more gain is applied ranging from a +3dB, wide-frequency boost on position 7, through to a narrowed +15dB bump on position 11.

If you’re thinking that all of that seems like quite a lot to remember, you’d be right. But in reality, it’s a lot more intuitive than that in operation.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

From the description of the controls in the previous section, it might be apparent to you that this is not your forensic, surgical EQ. Nor is it an amp/pedal-simulating overdrive unit. Instead, the order of the day with the Mantle is broad strokes.

Walrus helpfully includes a card with some of Ian’s favorite settings, which, after comparing a reference direct tone to the flat settings, I quickly delve into.

These range from problem solvers such as the Cab Filter (which smooths out the top end), Rumble Remover (you can guess) and Big & Bassy, which sees the Bass control dimed for a huge low end which I found worked particularly well with my flatwound-equipped Jazz Bass for big, weighty vintage tones.

The nature of the EQ circuit means that making relatively bold EQ moves is quick. Unlike a graphic or parametric EQ, you’re working within preset parameters, so rather than having to scrutinize your signal in detail, it’s a case of simply identifying what you want to do and selecting a position.

Too much mud? Turn the Bass control counterclockwise until you find a position that removes it, without killing your fundamental. Need more zing? Move the Treble control clockwise until you find it. And because the frequencies have been fixed at useful points, you can be confident that you will find it.

It’s a similar process with the Gain control. It’s not going to take you into all-out wooly mammoth territory, and it doesn’t claim to either. In some ways, the Gain control could have been renamed ‘harmonics’, ‘dimension’ or ‘vibe’, because that’s essentially what it’s adding.

If the EQ is capable of drastic cutting and boosting, then the Gain control should be viewed as more of a subtle enhancer. The Mantle is designed to be a set-and-forget, always on type pedal (you’ve probably noticed there’s no bypass switch), and as such does a great job of conditioning your tone, particularly if you’re using digital pedals too.

If you want to effectively remove it from the chain then you can just dial everything to noon. When you do you’ll realise that something’s missing, and that’s where Allinson and Walrus can claim success.

Verdict

It’s important (about three-quarters of $1000 important) to really understand what the purpose of the Mantle is in your chain. If you’re the type of player who likes to get into the weeds with micro-adjustments that forensically carve-out your tone, the Mantle isn’t really the solution.

Similarly, there are many preamps out there stocked to ape the front end of an amp while also delivering dynamics processing, a more zoomed-in parametric EQ and true bass-friendly overdrive. In terms of value, it’s hard to argue for the Mantle if those are the features you require. But again, that’s not what the Mantle is attempting to do. Instead, think of this as a gold-standard direct box with specific quality very much positioned over quantity.

There’s no magic bullet at play here, but feed it an already-great signal from a high-end instrument, and the Mantle will reward you with a veneer of studio polish. The analog cliches all apply here, and to end on another one, it’s the final 10% that’ll lift your signal from ‘decent’ to ‘damn!’.

Guitar World verdict: There’s no magic bullet at play here, but feed it an already-great signal from a high-end instrument, and the Mantle will reward you with a veneer of studio polish. The analog cliches all apply here, and to end on another one, it’s the final 10% that’ll lift your signal from ‘decent’ to ‘damn!’.

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• Best bass preamp pedals

What is it?

Whilst not everyone is on board with the digital guitar amplification thing, there is no escaping the fact that it is now an established part of the industry, in both professional and hobbyist realms. IK Multimedia’s Tonex line has done its fair share in helping the technology reach this point, with the Tonex Pedal and its tiny sibling, the Tonex One, leading the way in affordable, capture-based sounds.

It’s the latter of the two pedal amps that I am looking at, as it has received a bit of a glow-up in the form of the Tonex One+. The original is a mini pedal that squeezes the Tonex sounds into a tiny package.

The downside is that there is only one footswitch and four controls, so playing live could be a little awkward if you need more than one or two sounds from the pedal.

If the Tonex One had MIDI and Bluetooth connectivity, this issue would be heavily mitigated by allowing users to utilize a MIDI foot controller for live changes and a mobile app for editing. Unfortunately, this was not to be on the Tonex One, but I think you can see where this is going…

The Tonex One+ boasts exactly these two things, which, if they work as advertised, would drastically increase the utility of the pedal and therefore the number of rigs that it could be a viable addition to.

A bit of housekeeping before we get stuck in, the Tonex line works on captures, which IK Multimedia refers to as Tone Models. Captures differ from amp modeling in that they are a snapshot of the captured amp in its current state, rather than a complete model of the components of the amplifier – including its editable controls.

This means that any EQ changes are a generic, and often more subtle change than you might find on a model that reflects all the controls as they are on the actual amp. The upside is that you have thousands of captures to choose from, and, if you have the right gear, you can even capture your specific amp and take it on the road in digital form within the pedal.

Captures (or Tone Models) can’t be created on the Tonex One+ (this function is reserved for the pricier Tonex Pedal), but it can still run all the captures uploaded to Tone.Net, which is IK Multimedia’s library of free Tone Models uploaded by users across the world and also home to some paid collections from Tonex. Many more paid options are sold by third parties too.

So, in short, this is a potentially huge addition to an already significant product line.

Specs

• Launch price: $249 | £249 | €269
• Type: Amp capture and multi-effects pedal
• Controls: Bass, Middle, Treble, Gate, Comp, Reverb, Volume/Gain, Alt button
• Features: IK Multimedia Tone models and effects, Bluetooth app, MIDI connectivity
• Connectivity: 1/4" In and Out, Bluetooth, and 1/8" TRS MIDI in and through, USB-C
• Bypass: Buffered Bypass
• Power: 9v DC centre negative, 0.15A
• Dimensions: 48x94x53 mm/2.09" 1.89"x3.7"x2.09"
• Weight: 168g/0.37lbs
• Contact: IK Multimedia

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

We’ve reviewed a number of different models of the Tonex One on Guitar World, and the build in all cases is the same outside of the aesthetic, and this remains unchanged in the Tonex One+.

In summary, it’s a small, aluminium package with some reassuring heft that indicates a good build. The footswitch follows suit with a satisfying clunk, and the mini knobs offer enough resistance to inspire confidence in their longevity.

The bigger control is a little looser and doesn’t quite have the same premium feel, but not problematically so.

The aesthetic is similar to the original pedal, with a black chassis but gold text instead of silver. Being entirely subjective here, I prefer the Gold.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★☆

To cram so many features into something so small is nothing short of astounding. Again, we have covered this in previous reviews as the Tonex One+ operates the same way as its prior iterations.

The short of it is that each of the controls for the three-band EQ and the main volume control has two functions, the second of which is accessed by holding down the Alt switch. Making for a total of eight parameters that are adjustable from the front panel.

There are three different modes - Dual, Stomp, and Browse. The first has the footswitch toggle between two presets, and the second features one preset with the switch turning the pedal either on or off. Browse mode changes the function of the three EQ controls from Bass, Mid, and Treble to preset A, B, and C. Turn the mini controls to change the preset each is assigned to, and toggle between the three of them with the footswitch.

The issue with having so much in something so small is that accessing some of these things requires memorizing button presses and/or knob turns. For example, changing between Dual and Stomp mode requires holding the Alt button for six seconds until its light turns blue, then turning the Bass EQ mini knob.

Methods like this feel a little convoluted, but it’s hard to imagine another way to do these things whilst preserving the miniature form factor. So, while it does take a bit of brain power, I find myself willing to figure it out.

But the big news with the Tonex One+ is the added MIDI and Bluetooth functionality. Starting with the MIDI, this allows the player to control preset changes and effects with a MIDI controller.

Unceremoniously demoting my Line 6 Helix Floor to a MIDI controller for testing, this works as expected with the addition of a ⅛” to five-pin DIN adapter, and will make the Tonex One+ a viable addition to many a pedalboard. Particularly if you are using a switching system like the Boss ES-8 or Gig Rig systems with built-in MIDI control.

Adding to the functionality is the Bluetooth and associated Tonex Control app, which changes the way we interact with the Tonex One+. No longer do we have to connect the device to a PC or Mac to edit presets, as it can all be done from the app. A pretty big improvement from the Tonex One.

The app itself is easy to use, with high-quality images of the signal chain across the top. The chain consists of a noise gate, amp, cab, compressor, followed by a choice of five modulation effects, two delays, and six reverbs (four of which are spring).

The parameters for adjusting each item are displayed via big knobs beneath the chain, along with the option to move the effects (apart from the gate) post or pre-amplifier. It’s all pretty straightforward, making editing feel seamless.

A simple metronome and tuner is always a plus, and included here, along with access to Tone.Net - IK’s library of Tone Models. There is a wider selection available in the browser version of ToneNet, and no way to test Tone Models with just the app and pedal (there is, however, with the desktop software), without overwriting a model within the hardware, so there is certainly some room to add utility here.

However, if you have a Tone Model from ToneNet you would like to add, it’s as simple as selecting it from the list, and then the app will add it into the current preset on the hardware. This is delightfully simple and much more straightforward than the process involved in the Desktop apps.

While the desktop apps have been improved over time, and they are certainly easier to navigate than they initially were, they still feel somewhat clunky.

You can download free, user-made Tone Models through the Editor app, but you will need to use a browser to view curated versions of the rather big list. And the only way I could find to download IK's Signature + collection was with a combination of both the Editor and Tonex app.

Companies like Kemper do a better job of having this all in one place, so IK still has some catching up to do. But, as I said, the company has already improved the apps from where they were upon release, so it is the kind of catching up that can absolutely be achieved.

And given the unit's budget credentials combined with the sheer number of features in such a diminutive size, I can see plenty of players finding it worth looking past these issues.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

Since we last looked at the Tonex Line, IK has released the new V2 version of its capture software. This promises more accurate captures, faster AI training in the capture process, the ability to batch process Tone Models, and automatically deal with phase issues.

The Tonex One+ comes loaded with 20 presets consisting of these V2 tone models from the new Signature collection, which is free for all those purchasing the Tonex One+ The Signature collection totals 100 tone models, all accessible via the ToneNet.

Playing through the presets, what is immediately obvious is just how well they clean up on the volume control. As someone who has used and gigged the Tonex Pedal, it’s something that the line has always been good at, and that continues to be the case here.

The result is a set of dynamic sounds that react well to picking attack in a way that you can’t help but feel engaged with.

A quick favourite is the Big Hair 800 preset with it’s JCM800 flavoured tones. It’s a massive Marshall sound, perfect for that 80s rock thing. Another is the 51 chug, with a thumpy low end that you would expect from a 5150 Tone Model.

I find that some models can lean slightly on the edge of too much low end- The Slow Hand preset, for example. When I’m hitting a low note in a clean chord, there’s a bass frequency that tends to take over a little, disguising the rest of the chord in a way that is tricky to dial out.

To that end, there are plenty of third-party vendors that I would highly recommend having a look at. For example, I find some of the Studio Rats stuff to be free from that aforementioned low end and boast a few more of those tasty overtones than the pre-loaded sounds in the pedal.

I’ve spent a lot of time with the Tonex Pedal, having gigged it in the past, and the V2 Tone Models certainly feel a step up in terms of the dynamic response. Tonally, I suspect that it would be hard to tell which is more accurate outside of a controlled A/B test with the reference amp to hand, but the tech is impressive either way, as it is a joy to play.

The cab section can utilize captured cabs, a VIR cabinet emulation, or third-party Impulse Responses. Most of the time, I am leaning towards the captured cabs as they seem to provide a little more clarity when compared to the VIR.

When it comes to the effects, we have already reviewed them in previous bits of hardware, such as the Tonex One Joe Satriani. The Tonex One+ features the same suite of stomp boxes, but to summarise, what’s on offer is a simple but functional collection of essentials.

The chain begins with the gate, and that is particularly impressive when it comes to taming those high-gain sounds, managing to control the noise whilst not getting too much in the way when set properly. Next is the compressor, then a modulation which can be either a Chorus, Tremolo, Phaser, Flanger, or Rotary speaker, then a Digital or Tape delay, and lastly a Room, Plate, or four variations of a Spring reverb.

All feature simple but effective controls, for example, just Time, Feedback, and Mix for the delay sounds. If you're someone who wants to be tweaking for days, you may prefer a device with a bit more depth here.

Personally, I find that their straightforward nature allows me to speedily reach the good stuff, with effects like the delay providing either the crystal clear character of a digital delay, or the lovely flutter of a tape with enough control to keep either out of the way of the mix, or all encompassing if you need it.

The only one I would appreciate a little more control over is the Chorus, as it is a little dark on clean tones, making things a touch too heavy on the low end.

With all this, however, we have to remember the price point. This is around $249 in most places. Significantly cheaper than the competition, but with tones capable of holding their own on a pro-level pedalboard.

Verdict

For long-time Guitar World readers, most of what is written here won't be a surprise. We have reviewed the Tonex Pedal and the Tonex One previously, as well as others from the line, and they all run on the same tech.

What sets the Tonex One+ apart is the inclusion of MIDI and Bluetooth. MIDI significantly increases the pedal's utility on a pedalboard, bypassing the limited switching that its form factor necessitates, and the Bluetooth app makes editing presets a lot easier than on its older sibling.

Compared to other pedalboard-friendly digital solutions, the Tonex One+ doesn't have the relatively high power draw of something like a Nano Cortex or Fractal Am4, and the added functionality solves some of what made the Tonex One a compromise.

I often gig with analog pedals in a digital rig, and those considerations have meant I've never quite found the perfect solution before, but this could be it.

It’s worth noting here, however, that the Tonex One+ does not replace the standard Tonex One if your needs are streamlined. If you are someone who is just looking for one amp sound on the end of a pedal board, with effect duties covered by your favourite stomp boxes, then the MIDI is not needed, the App won't be quite as game-changing, and the best option for you may be the original.

For everyone else, this is a huge step up.

Guitar Word verdict: The already impressive Tonex One has just become a much more interesting proposition with this newest iteration. It’s the same stellar sounds and budget-friendly credentials, but with its limitations decreased and its usability improved. I expect that we are about to see the Tonex One+ on many a pedalboard.

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• Best pedal amps: big sounds in a small package

Is your pedalboard due for an upgrade before a busy summer of shows? We’ve uncovered a major effects pedal sale that’s worth checking out! Sweetwater is currently running one of the top pedal deals this year. Whether you perform on stage, play at home, or obsess over your tone, now is the ideal time to enhance your setup and explore new sonic possibilities.

Sweetwater's huge stompbox promotion features discounts up to 35% on a broad array of pedals, including classic overdrives, fuzzes, lush reverbs, delays, and advanced multi-effects units. No matter your style or musical genre, you'll find everything from nuanced tone tools to wild sound-shaping effects.

Been considering a Line 6 multi-effects unit, a DigiTech Drop, or the distinctive sounds from Keeley and Electro-Harmonix? Now’s your opportunity to score deals on renowned brands. There are also offers on boutique makers, letting you experiment with fresh tones at wallet-friendly prices.

Pedals aren’t the only items getting marked down. Sweetwater’s Gig Essentials event is a great opportunity for musicians preparing for festival season or summer performances, with up to 30% off a wide range of accessories. Whether you need new strings, sturdy cables, power supplies, pedalboard tape, or protective cases and stands, it’s the perfect moment to stock up on essentials for your live setup.

Okay, with so many pedals on offer, we know it can be overwhelming. So, here are a few of our highlights.

The Universal Audio Enigmatic ’82 pedal makes the legendary D-style amp sound accessible to everyone, capturing its dynamic overtones and revered overdrive tones. Modeled after vintage amps used by Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mayer, and Robben Ford, it offers flexible controls including Jazz/Rock modes, tone stack options, and FET preamp voicings. Studio-grade cabinet/mic combos and artist presets are included, plus expanded editing via the UAFX app. It’s a practical way to achieve iconic tones without a costly vintage amp. Save $100 off at Sweewater right now.

Next is the Maxon AD9Pro Analog Delay. Revamping one of Maxon’s most cherished designs, the AD9Pro is 100% analog with a quartet of MC4107 bucket brigade integrated circuits, and frankly, it sounds ace! Save a little over $100.

Next, you need to meet the Beetronics FX Larva. This is a wild, morphing phaser with two flavors, punchy saturation, and LED-lit ramping. This pedal not only looks cool but also sounds the business! Save $50.

Now, we have to shout out the brilliant DigiTech Drop in the Sweetwater-exclusive white finish. This handy little stomp transforms your tuning with the click of a footswitch, allowing you to explore deeper tones and even cover bass duties with any standard 6-string. This pedal’s nine polyphonic pitch-shifted settings give you the power to drop your tuning from 1–7 semitones, a full octave, or a distinct octave-down setting that blends in your dry signal for enhanced clarity. Save $30 at Sweetwater.

Of course, there is a lot more on offer, so we encourage you to take a look for yourself and see what goodies you can find.

What is it?

If you’re inundated by the countless choices of floor processors with amp modeling, capture technology, and multi-effects, you’re not alone. I’m overwhelmed by it too, and it's enough to give me option paralysis. As far as the big modeling guns go, Neural DSP Quad Cortex, Fractal, Line 6 Helix, Kemper, and IK Multimedia's Tonex remain at the forefront and certainly are the most cutting-edge in this space. And while each of those processors has strengths and limitations, you’ll still often hear, “Which one is the best?” Which sounds closest to a real tube amp?” “Which is easiest to use?” and so on. Loaded questions for sure, and truly subjective at best.

If you’re willing to dip your toes in the water, the Nux MG-50Li Modeler & Profiler is an impressive new floor processor for guitarists and bassists looking to explore amp modeling and capture without spending a fortune. As the current flagship of Nux's MG series of floor processors, the MG-50Li has the potential to stand head and shoulders above the rest by offering an extensive array of features typically absent at this price point. Not to mention, the convenience of its rechargeable, battery-powered operation, offering up to six hours of use.

As its name suggests, the MG-50Li Modeler & Profiler is a feature-rich unit that offers state-of-the-art amp and pedal profiling, including support for open-source Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) capture files, and a new hardware platform with three dedicated DSPs for effects, amp modeling, and split amp simulation, powered by Nux’s proprietary TS/AC-4K Amp Modeling (White Box Physical Modeling algorithm).

The MG-50Li boasts a large library of amps (60 split between White Box and profiling types), cabs, and effects, all accessible via a 5-inch color LCD for quick, intuitive editing, and which can also be accomplished using the free Nux Audio app. Additionally, it supports complex setups with 14 simultaneous effect blocks, flexible signal chain routing, and a UR Cyber IR cab simulator for virtual mic placement control.

Finally, the MG-50Li is equipped with a USB audio interface, dual send/return loops, loads of I/O connectivity, and Bluetooth control. Ultimately, the advanced capabilities of the Nux MG-50Li allow users to create everything from simple pedalboards to elaborate multi-amp and stereo rigs for both stage and studio, potentially making it a very impressive spec for value in the sub-$500 price range.

Specs

Build quality

• Price: $499 | £469.99 | €499
• Type: Multi-Effects processor and amp modeler with amp/pedal profile capture
• Controls: Edit, Save, Home, and Global Setting buttons, 7 encoder knobs, and 6 footswitches
• Expression/Volume Control: Built-in pedal
• Features: 5-inch LCD color display, 14 simultaneous FX blocks; 201 User and 96 Factory presets; built-in looper; TS/AC-4K white-box physical modelling; Tri-DSP architecture offers separate processing for FX, amp modeling, and split amps; Up to 80 White-Box amp models plus Deep Image profiling amp models; Nux Image & DeepImage profiling for amps and drive pedals; Compatible with 3rd-party NAM (Neural Amp Modeler) files; UR Cyber IR stereo cabinet engine; NU-X Audio app integration for on-spot editing; and 24-bit AD/DA, 32-bit floating-point processing, and 48kHz sampling rate.
• Connectivity: 1/4" and 1/8" (aux) inputs; 2 x XLR (DI); 2 x 1/4” outputs; 1/8" headphones; In/Out MIDI; 4 x 1/4" send/return; 2 x USB-C (one for Bluetooth module)
• Dimensions: 2.83" H x 15.47" W x 8.26" D
• Weight: 6.17 lbs
• Power: 12V DC power supply; Built-in rechargeable lithium battery (up to 6 hours)
• Bypass Switching: Buffered
• Options: White (as reviewed), Dark Blue
• Contact: Nux

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

Visually, I’m pretty knocked out by the MG-50Li’s highly portable, grab-and-go form factor. In your hands, it’s lightweight and roughly the size of an elongated laptop. Also, its design is intuitive, and the unit feels built to last. The heavy-duty metal casing, durable footswitches, and sturdy, smooth-turning encoder knobs and buttons speak to its ruggedness.

Just how tough is it? Well, I accidentally knocked the MG-50Li three feet onto a cement floor from the music stand I was propping it up with. Remarkably, the unit didn't sustain a dent or any internal damage. That, I have to say, is truly impressive.

A significant advantage is the spacing of the footswitches, which are far enough apart to avoid accidental mis-hits — a common complaint I've heard from guitarists about units like the Quad Cortex with its narrow footswitch spacing. Here, the MG-50Li's well-placed switches simplify managing presets/banks, activating the looper/tuner, toggling stomps, and switching scenes.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★☆

As with most modelers I come in contact with, I usually find the interface confusing, because I’ve grown accustomed to the quick, efficient navigation of a modern touchscreen. However, once I became familiar with the encoders and buttons, which takes all of a few minutes to grasp, I realized a touchscreen isn't necessary. In my opinion, this hands-on format makes the unit less prone to inaccurate swipes.

The large 5-inch LCD is superb, offering a beautiful color display that makes it very easy to view parameters and presets, and to scroll between various screens. Even better, navigating the streamlined MG-50Li is incredibly intuitive.

The large Edit encoder knob is central to the interface, handling multiple functions like quickly scrolling through presets, displaying a complete signal chain view, and allowing selection or activation/deactivation of effect blocks. The Edit and Back/Home buttons, located beneath the Edit encoder, are used to access the more in-depth editing screen where the five lower knobs come into play. Pressing Back simply returns you to the preceding screen.

The five smaller encoder knobs correspond directly to the on-screen display choices. They can be used for scrolling and swapping effects, adjusting settings and parameters, fine-tuning individual effect knobs, and moving between different screen pages. Rounding out the controls are dedicated knobs for Master volume, and separate buttons for Save and Global settings.

The footswitches are self-explanatory (and the unit ships with optional orange toppers for two of them), where you have access to three preset patches per bank, plus a control footswitch where you can assign a specific function, access up to two additional scenes within a preset, or activate the tuner (which is surprisingly kick ass). The two footswitches above the main ones are down/up to select banks, and when held together, activate the onboard looper.

There are also input/output level indicators, and the built-in volume/expression pedal is rugged with a tactile throw. A wealth of I/O connectivity can be found on the MG-50Li’s rear panel, and the unit comes with a dedicated power supply, USB and MIDI cables, and a Bluetooth module.

Finally, while the MG-50Li allows for comprehensive onboard editing (except for profiling), I found the Nux Audio app (for mobile devices and computers) vital for efficiency in streamlining workflow, enabling quick, on-the-spot editing, parameter adjustments, preset organization, and file management.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

As a guitarist who remains firmly in the "tube amp and pedal" camp, I must admit I haven't fully embraced the world of guitar modeling — yet. There are simply too many variables that need to align for me to make that transition. However, the Nux MG-50Li is the one processor that brings me significantly closer to joining the virtual amp modeling dark side. Is it any good? Absolutely. In fact, it's not just good; it's great.

But here’s the rub: Scrolling through the onboard presets, which are mostly influencer and artist-based, I have to admit I’m a bit underwhelmed. Some are overly saturated, modulation-drenched, and flooded in delay and reverb. I get it. Nux wants you to hear the extremes and the overarching capabilities of the onboard amps and effects. But for real-world musical applications, some are rather unusable.

I found a few of the White-Box and DeepImage amp models, like the Marshalls, Mesas, Soldano, Friedman, Vox and Fenders, all sound like approximations. Not that that is a bad thing, but I can’t declare they sound authentic. To my ears, the profiled amps on units like the Kemper, Tonex, and Quad Cortex sound remarkably closer to the actual amplifiers. But like anything you want to get good at — like having washboard abs or creating killer guitar tones — you’re going to have to invest some time with it.

Which brings me to the silver lining. Even though some of the MG-50Li's amp models and effects may not be exact reproductions, they serve as excellent foundations. In fact, many of the factory presets, particularly those in the first half, are solid starting points for crafting your own signal paths and custom presets. For instance, the Soldano capture delivers thick sustain and heavy tone, and certain DeepImage Fender models offer rich, full-bodied cleans that sound lush when combined with effects like pan delay and shimmer reverb. Speaking of which, it already offers a variety of effects, and I’m sure that will expand as the MG-50Li's ecosystem continues to grow.

Digging deep into them, you’ll find the usual, popular shades of drives along with some convincingly close DeepImage profiles of some of the more coveted, boutique styles like the Horseman OD (Klon), Full-OD (OCD), Nob ODR (Nobels), among others, and hell, even the Eat Dist (RAT) profile mimics its typical grungy saturation. Modulation-wise, it’s much of the same mixture, with great choruses, phasers, flangers, and a Harmonist that actually tracks and sounds fantastic. Delays and reverbs are of the common, garden variety, but each particular model is impressive.

One thing that Nux absolutely nails is delivering the natural response and feel of analog pedals and tube amps, thanks to its TS/AC-4K White-Box physical modelling engine and tri-DSP processing architecture. So while I’m not all that concerned whether Nux’s Diezel model sounds exact, I’m more excited that it behaves like the actual amp with its crushing saturation and distinct chug. Even better, the MG-50Li’s capture ecosystem, with its DeepImage tech and external NAM support, allows you to compensate and refine profiles with onboard EQs and power amp tube models. And to be fair, I believe future firmware updates will only enhance the power and impressiveness of the MG-50Li's modeling and captures.

The burning question is undoubtedly, "How accurate is the MG-50Li's profiling?" For starters, you'll need a computer and the free Nux IMAGE app, as profiling cannot be done by a mobile device or the unit itself. The process itself is straightforward because the NU-X app eliminates guesswork with clear instructions. For this, I chose to capture the TWA Source Code pedal I recently reviewed. Following the prompts, connection diagrams, and setting the levels on-screen, the capture was quick. Once it was done, I was able to compare the Model (the capture) to the Reference (the original sound) from my computer.

The result? The capture wasn't an exact twin. The Model had noticeably less gain than the Reference (the original pedal). However, the Model did successfully retain all the nuance and feel of the Source Code pedal, and that, to me, is crucial. After importing its capture to the MG-50Li, I was able to compensate for the difference in gain structure in post-processing, restoring the drive level and even enhancing the sound by adding a custom Impulse Response (IR) at the end of the signal chain.

Verdict

In my opinion, NU-X's multi-effect processors have always been in a league of their own, mostly for their great tones, solid construction, and user-friendly interfaces. Now, it’s glaringly apparent that the new MG-50Li is a significant leap forward for NU-X. What’s interesting, though, is I think its advanced tones, modeling architecture, and feature set allow it to offer more than some competitors in a similar price range. Because of that sophistication and advancement, the MG-50Li is an extremely enticing and relatively affordable option in a sea of floorboard processors.

Still, digital floor modelers are challenging. Unlike 50-year-old tube amps, which remain relevant and will likely continue to be used by guitarists like me for the foreseeable future, modelers are doomed to have an expiration date. Floorboard processors, such as the Line 6 PODxt or BOSS GTs from the early aughts, are practically obsolete. This tells me that current premium modelers, including the Quad Cortex, Line 6 Helix, and even the Nux MG-50Li, will eventually be superseded by newer, more streamlined units. Still, there’s plenty of shelf life left for these contemporary units.

Guitar World verdict: For now, I believe the MG-50Li is an extremely sensible choice, because it delivers performance and profiled tones that are highly impressive, and without a premium price tag.

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Ola Englund

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JHS Pedals owner Josh Scott has exposed the factual inaccuracies of AI and how the tech's “crazy” misinformation is a danger to the history of pedals.

Artificial Intelligence, whether we like it or not, is here to stay. And it isn’t all viciously villainous – Positive Grid’s Bias X plugin has received positive reviews for its prompt-generated tones, for instance. But it has a dark side, too, and Brian May has already spoken of his fears of how the tech will impact the music industry.

Josh Scott, meanwhile, is on a mission to show AI – in this case, ChatGPT – for what it really is: an inaccurate, unreliable source that gets fact all wrong.

“I just asked ChatGPT on my iPhone the history of my industry, guitar pedals, and the answers that I got back were so horrible and inaccurate,” he says in a new YouTube video, which sees him undertaking an experiment in real time.

“I am going to take Chat GPT, and I'm going to question it about my own industry, guitar pedals,” Scott explains. “As many of you know, I am a super nerd here. I have researched, and I have traveled all over the world. I have sat with the inventors. I have written about this stuff in detail. I can even ask it some very detailed information about that company, which I know I'm the only person who knows this information.”

So what does it spew out? Gobbledegook.

Scott asks which guitar pedal is most important from an economic and social standpoint. I don't think anyone expected the “Bibanez Tube Screamer” to be the answer. And the stone-cold look on Scott's face says it all.

However, mispronunciation aside, its reasoning – the pedal’s sheer popularity plus how it helped reshape rock, metal, and blues – isn't awful. But as Scott delves deeper, things get weirder. It first claims that the Big Muff Pi was made by Ibanez, not Electro-Harmonix, and refuses to list its sources; it just says it draws on “well-documented music history.”

“When doing research and giving people information for things they're going to requote on forums, or even Facebook groups, one thing that commonly happens is people just say stuff and a lot of what they're saying you're just telling them, but there's not actually a thread of evidence or provenance for the claims,” Scott returns. “And I think this is a big problem.”

Like Google's search engine has done for decades, AI feeds off pre-existing information from across the web to answer prompts. The problem is, the sources it pulls from aren't always factual.

Ironically, ChatGPT agrees that provenance matters “in a world where pedal lore gets tossed around like campfire stories,” despite the fact that it is doing exactly that. Scott has a theory as to what’s happening here.

“It's in a feedback loop of its own making,” he posits. “It's giving people information that's inaccurate. Those people are posting it, and then it's reading itself. And this is horrible for history.

“Pedal history is in danger,” he claims, issuing a warning to all pedal fans. “ChatGPT is rewriting facts.” It’s easy to understand these fears.

It's worth watching the video in full because it's a fascinating, if dystopian and terrifying, watch, and Scott consistently challenges the historical inaccuracies it regurgitates. The man lives and breathes pedals like no one else, and he has ChatGPT's number every step of the way.

All in all, this underscores another moral dilemma surrounding the rise of ChatGPT and the public’s use of it.

“Be sure to question sources,” Scott concludes. “Be sure to question where the information is coming from. And do not take something as fact simply because it's in a forum or has been typed into the comments.”

Elsewhere, AI practice tools and web-browser amps are a thing, but Billy Corgan warns that musicians using generative AI are doing a deal with the devil.

What is it?

When I was doing the rounds of the Anaheim Convention Center at NAMM earlier this year, I happened to stumble upon a small, unassuming booth in the deep corners of the effects pedal village. That booth belonged to Polish effects innovator and synth specialist Polyend, whose artificially intelligent, first-of-its-kind Endless pedal immediately caught my attention.

The premise was simple, yet the potential was anything but. When paired with the brand’s text-based, prompt-powered ‘Playground’ chatbox, the Polyend Endless pedal could, in theory, turn into any effect pedal you wanted it to.

I received a brief demonstration of it during my NAMM stroll, and it operates something like this: you ask the chatbox to create any effect you can think of. It will translate that prompt into code via C++ and generate an effect algorithm, which can then be loaded into the Polyend Endless pedal via USB-C. Put that on your pedalboard, and hey presto: your very own boutique effect box.

The effect can be tweaked if needed, and there are three control knobs that can be assigned any parameter you wish. There are also two footswitches, and the potential for multiple momentary, latched, and secondary functions depending on how the algorithm has been generated. No understanding of coding is required, but if you are knowledgeable in that area, you can code your own effect from scratch. It really is that simple.

I was intrigued and highly impressed by the demonstration. So much so that I gave it a shoutout during Guitar World’s end of NAMM highlights roundup discussion. And I wasn’t alone in giving it its flowers: the Polyend Endless also won Best in Show at the convention.

It caused a bit of a stir in the guitar community, and although the ethics and application of AI in the wider music world is still under huge scrutiny, Polyend really represents AI as a force for good in the guitar world, supporting player creativity and serving as a tool to help inspire and encourage music-making.

It should also be noted that Polyend itself doesn’t use the term AI, and in an interview with MusicRadar brand founder Piotr Raczyński very clearly articulated that the company agrees that artificial intelligence should be used to support, rather than replace, creative processes.

“We hate AI slop,” stated Raczyński. “We don't want the fun to be taken out of music making. I think there is a distinct boundary where AI should be involved in creating the tools that inspire you, but it doesn’t take any of the fun from you.”

Whatever the case, the application potential of the Polyend is huge. But just how effective is this algorithm generator? Are there any limits to its seemingly (ahem) endless potential? Is there a catch? I spent a week with the Polyend Endless to find out – and to determine whether my early appreciation for the pedal held up to scrutiny.

Specs

• Launch price: $299 | £299 | €299
• Type: AI-assisted effects pedal
• Controls: 2x footswitches / 3x control knobs, customizable and interchangeable depending on effect
• Features: USB-C connection to Polyend Playground, an AI-assisted prompt-based chatbox for creating and tweaking custom effects / Access to existing collection of user-made effects
• Connectivity: TRS stereo line in, TRS stereo line / headphone out, expression pedal jack, USB-C
• Bypass: Buffered
• Power: 9VDC
• Dimensions: 2.2" x 4.72" x 3.15" (5.5cm x 12.0cm x 8.0cm)
• Weight: 0.42kg (0.88lbs)
• Contact: Polyend

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★☆

The Polyend Endless looks and feels like the product of modern-era gear design norms; an extension of the sleek Apple-ification of consumer goods that have given most high-end tech products – from smartphones to laptops – a sleek, no-nonsense minimalist design defined by monochromatic aesthetics and clinical efficiency. The Polyend Endless looks really, really nice.

It has a matte silver chassis that has a brushed, almost satin sheen to touch. It feels premium and, when put in a signal chain that includes my Neural DSP Quad Cortex Mini and MacBook Pro, it looks like the real deal. A true pedal for the 21st Century guitar rig. It does make me feel slightly uneasy, though. My rig is starting to look like a Tesla workbench.

However, combating the sterile, clinical feel that threatens to sap any soul from my entire pedalboard, Polyend has very smartly created the concept of customizable ‘Plates’, which can be swapped out ad hoc depending on what effect is loaded into the Endless.

For instance, if you’ve asked for a dimed Metal Zone, chainsaw fuzz tone, you can draw and create your very own Plate, which can be placed onto the pedal itself to give it a splash of psychedelic color or unique personality. It’s a fiddly process – one that involves removing the control knob tops – and you need to pay extra for blank Plates, but it might be deemed a necessary move for those who don’t like the minimalism of the standard appearance.

And, speaking of Plates, Polyend has on offer a bunch of pre-made designs that can be paired with the many existing free-to-download effects that can be put straight into the pedal. These effects include Silicon Super Villain, Wall Pusher, Bass Synth and Dual Lines, as well as many more.

Again, you have to buy these Plates – and at $20, they aren’t cheap – and take time to swap out, but it’s a nice idea to give something that can feel a bit sterile, a nice bit of life.

It’s a relatively compact pedal, too, and has a nice heft to it that adds to the premium feel. The pedal is $299, so you’d expect as much, but with so much of its innards geared towards complex coding and effect transfer, it's nice to see Polyend hasn't compromised on the medium through which its tones will be accessed. Apart from one thing…

My only gripe is with the footswitches. For something that otherwise does a good job of providing a premium feel, the switches leave a lot to be desired. They feel a bit loose, the tops are rattly and loose, and the ‘click’ is a strange one.

Elsewhere, the I/Os here will serve players well. It’s powered by 9VDC, has a USB-C jack for uploading effects, has an expression pedal jack, and has a TRS stereo input and output.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★½

The real USP for the Polyend Endless is just how easy it is on paper to create your own effects. ‘Vibe coding’, Polyend calls it. And although those with a bit more technical nous can code their own effects using C++ (and, as we’ll find out, that may be a better way of doing it) it is the ‘Playground’ platform that will attract the majority of users.

I’m impressed with the premise, although I had a few teething problems with the setup. First, the good: Playground is a browser-based service, meaning you don’t have to download any apps to get started. That’s a big win for me. All you need to do is make an account and register your pedal, and you’re good to go.

Once you’re logged in, you are able to use Playground to generate effects, which can be downloaded as a file to your device. Then, simply hook up your Endless pedal (you need to hold the left footswitch while powering up to operate in mono, the right to go stereo) to your device of choice via the USB-C, drag and drop the effect file into the pedal, and after a few seconds you will be good to go.

Now, I used my iPad for this review, to test just how portable you can get the setup, but you could use your laptop or, if you really wanted to, your smartphone, so long as there is a USB-C connection. Top marks for convenience there.

I have to say, getting set up straight out of the box was super easy, and I had no issue with hooking up to Playground and getting started with making my own effects via the chatbox. It’s a no-barriers-to-entry approach that, like Polyend says, is geared towards player usability.

That said, effect generation isn’t a quick game, and you can be waiting a while for your prompt to be turned into a usable sound. Playground might even ask you for some clarifying points before it generates code. Afterwards, you might need to do some tweaks. The issue arises when you ask for more complex effects that need a little additional direction, and more processing power to generate.

For example, I asked Playground to create a gated distorted reverb akin to my Rainger FX Reverb X pedal, with parameters for gate threshold, distortion level, and decay time. From concept to final product, it took about 16 minutes to create. By no means a deal-breaker, and enough time to refill my coffee while I waited, but you do need to be patient – even more so if you need a few bites at the cherry to get it right.

To that end, it can be a tedious process to upload an effect, trial it, go back to Playground, ask for tweaks, re-download, re-test etc…It is a bit of an operation, especially for more tricky sounds. There’s a lot of back and forthing, plugging in and un-plugging. It can be a good 40 minutes before you’ve landed on something usable. Some might like the process, others not so much – especially if you’re in a bind and need something quick.

The timing, naturally, seemed to be dependent on the complexity of the prompt and the desired effect. That makes sense. It’s easier to generate a chorus-drenched, DI-style multi-track tone inspired by the Tascam 424 (can you tell I tested this over the Coachella weekend?) than it is a reverse swell delay with modulated reverb.

And we need to talk about tokens, because don’t forget this is a pay-to-play service. 2000 tokens cost about $20 (you can this amount of credit included with the pedal to start) and each time you ask Playground to create or tweak an effect, it’s going to use up tokens. The bigger the file and task, the more tokens it will be. If you need edits to an algorithm but you’re out of tokens, you need to buy more to get it over the line. Even if it coughs up something that sounds nothing like what you had in your head, you will still pay for it. Each prompt works out to around $1-$5 depending on how involved it is. So a simple effect may only cost $1 if you're happy with it after the first prompt, but the cost goes up from there with revisions and more complex commands.

Side note: the guitar world’s wider opinion on pay-to-play gear is well known, to say the least. I actually don’t have too much of an issue here. I think it’s much better than a subscription service, which would require continuous payments for access. With the tokens system, you only have to pay for what you want, with no commitment required.

I think it’s a good middle ground, but it does put a price on your creativity and you might end up spending more than you initially wanted chasing that sound.

Away from the tech, I experienced more issues at a more basic level with the process of actually uploading effects to the Polyend. Once I’d downloaded the effect file to my iPad, and attempted to drag it into Endless – which comes up as its own Drive on your device – the upload would routinely time out at the start with an Error 503 message. Endless would then eject itself, and I’d have to start the process over.

After doing the classic ‘turn it off and on again’ remedy, and changing out all my cables, the Endless began performing a bit more reliably, but I did still find myself having to reboot the pedal after it’d fail an upload and disconnect itself from my device.

I found this very frustrating at the start, not least because it takes enough time as it is to actually generate the effect in the first place. Pair that with the trial and error required to perfect an effect, the constant back and forth, it can be a lengthy process.

Moreover, you can only ever load one effect into Endless at a time. And to do so, you have to hook it up to your device via USB-C. The Endless really needs Bluetooth connectivity to improve this side of the user experience. If (when?) that comes, the usability score will go up a notch. But no matter how easy Playground is, the logistics can be a bit more bothersome.

Back to the pedal and a spot of troubleshooting seemed to overcome those connectivity issues, but it didn’t fill me with much confidence. Especially because, at NAMM, I saw up close just how easy it should be. And it’s a shame my first impressions were so jarring, because once everything was running smoothly, Playground and Endless really was fun to experience.

You can get super specific with what you want – with varying results, of course. You can pick and choose parameters, get wild with the effects you want, run the gamut of modulation, delay, reverb, overdrive… you name it. You can even generate loopers, compressors, drum machines, amp models, cabs, other utility pedals… the possibilities of Playground are impressively massive. And it’s largely easy to do.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★½

I spent the first few hours with the Endless playing with the pre-made effects, just to see how good the Polyend-approved algorithms were. And they were good. Silicon Super Villain is a very usable high-gain fuzz tone that has some nice beef to it. Riptide is a really lush delay/reverb that has impressive depth. 65 Sparkle wasn’t the best Fender amp model I’ve played, but it’s a decent option.

So, even if you don’t buy any tokens or do any of the Playground generation, there’s still a lot to play with. But Playground is the USP here, and when I started to dive in with my own creations, I had some pretty good success – and lots of fun – with my experiments.

The aforementioned Reverb X-style pedal I asked it to do was impressive, and I was pleased with the results it came up with after just one back and forth and a not-inconsequential 107 tokens. It’s a bit of a niche effect, and can sound really bad when dialed in wrong, but the Endless surprised me. After asking it to reassign the parameters for gate threshold, distortion size and reverb decay, I found it spat out a very usable effect. It didn’t replace the Rainger, but a valiant effort nonetheless.

The lo-fi tape echo/reverb combo effect, which I wanted for some warbly, gritty, dodgy cassette texture, was also good, and it goes without saying that the simpler effects with fewer specifics were easier and ultimately sounded better. There was less open to interpretation and a wider margin for error.

I enjoyed playing with a fuzz effect that I spec’d to have a sag control in order to get a broken, spitty, dying-battery type vibe. It did the classic mid-hump drive thing nicely. I was convinced by its bread-and-butter basics, including its Tube Screamer and Blues Breaker drives.

That said, I wasn’t blown away by any means and you won’t be surprised to hear that a lot of the time these digital algorithms didn’t quite live up to analog counterparts, or more specialized digital stompboxes. By the nature of the quick-fire ‘vibe coding’ approach, lots of the gain tones started to sound the same, and there were a few times where the parameters weren’t too responsive in dialing in nuance.

To that end, I think the Endless would benefit from a screen – just something small to differentiate the parameters each custom-made effect is linked to. Because, unless you get a $20 plate to remind you, you’ll need to remember each one.

When I stopped using the pedal to create sounds I’d already heard, and used it to generate more experimental effects that I couldn’t get anywhere else, I started to realise the potential of Endless. And I think that’s wherein the magic of the pedal lies. You’re missing a trick if you end up being too vanilla with this thing.

On the whole, I thought the reverb algorithm it clearly relied on was really accomplished, and even if such effects did lack a bit of nuance between variations. But the reverse swells, expansive modulations and delays were all very robust.

The issue with a pedal that tries to do everything is that it’s limited by its own ambition. “Jack of all trades, master of none” is the phrase that comes to mind here. And that might be unfair, because Endless isn’t meant to be a master of anything, merely a tool to inspire and encourage creativity.

Ultimately, there’s always going to be a limit between how well an AI-assisted chat box can effectively interpret your commands and turn them into playable and tweakable sound. That might be why, after a while, the reverbs started sounding the same, and the drives didn’t have too much to separate them.

That might also be why coding an effect through C++ is potentially the way to go with this, and why Polyend’s existing effects are better than the ones I asked it to create. Perhaps they’d been finely tuned at a deeper coding level, with less margin for error. Again, that just highlights the shortcomings of ‘vibe coding’ – and not everyone can code. If you can you'll also side-step the paid tokens too.

Polyend has a fully fledged tutorial on how to get setup with coding effects for the Endless, and while ‘vibe coding’ is easier for the majority of players, those who are more well-versed in the detail might have better success in really eeking out the sound they have in their head, without the back-and-forth required with Playground.

Because, after all, Endless is just the medium for this code. It's no different to asking Chat GPT to write a C++ code for an overdrive pedal (which I tried) and turn it into a plugin for your DAW. Here, the benefit is you have a hardware pedal to bring those tones to your pedalboard, and Polyend’s expertise in digital audio effects.

Verdict

I had a lot of fun with the Polyend Endless. I think it’s AI-assistance in the gear world done right, and for those who get a thrill from the process in chasing a sound – or those with wild imaginations wanting something to experiment with – it could prove to be a hugely useful Swiss Army pedal to add to your chain.

But it’s by no means the tech utopia pedal that some might be hoping for, and there are some considerations that hampered the experience for me. It needs Bluetooth, or some way of wirelessly dropping in effects, to speed up the process. If I’ve got this on my pedalboard, and I need to rip it out in order to hook it up to my iPhone or iPad to draft in another effect, it’s not exactly seamless.

Likewise, if I want to use it for a drive, then, say, a post-effect reverb, you’ll need to move it around. You can, of course, get more than one Endless, but that’s opening up a can of worms that is best left unopened.

Instead, this is a great, if slightly novel, tool to experiment with, and if you’ve got a sound in your head, or the desire to try and forge something a bit unique you feel your rig is missing out on, I think this is definitely worth experiencing.

It won’t give you the best tones in the world, and at times it might trip over what’s being asked of it, but by and large it’s a fascinating example of modern effects done right.

Guitar World verdict: The AI-assisted future of guitar effects pedals? In its current form, not quite, but it represents a fascinating and futuristic take on the humble stompbox, with a massively ambitious ethos that deserves credit. The applications of Playground are huge, and it could be a valuable tool to help you get the tone you hear in your mind into a pedal.

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MusicRadar

Polyend

Sonic State

What is it?

New from Electro-Harmonix is the Pico Intelligent Harmony Machine, a pedal that puts some of the functionality of its larger namesake into a diminutive Pico chassis, which could easily slip into any vacant pedalboard gap.

The pedal’s function is to create two- or three-part harmony in any key over a range of different intervals.

Specs

• PRICE: $149 | £119 | €131
• ORIGIN: USA
• TYPE: Pitch-shifting pedal 
• FEATURES: Buffered bypass, 12 selectable keys, 10 single intervals, 10 dual intervals
• CONTROLS: Volume, Mix, Key, Interval, Natural/Sharp or Dual button, bypass footswitch 
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V DC adaptor (supplied) 100mA
• DIMENSIONS: 50 (w) x 91 (d) x 47mm (h) 
• CONTACT: Electro-Harmonix

Usability and sounds

Volume and wet/dry Mix knobs complement two more rotary knobs that set the Key and Interval. These two are not detented, but each different pitch or interval resides in a particular segment of their arc of travel and the LED will flash briefly as you move from one segment to the next.

The Key knob has the keys clearly marked, but there is no legending around the interval knob for the eight single intervals between the octave-down and octave-up at the two extremes of its travel.

A button determines whether a natural or sharp key is selected, and it has a secondary function that brings in Dual mode where the Interval knob selects two different intervals simultaneously.

First impressions are that the tracking seems really good – instantaneous and solid with no lag to the pitch-shifted notes.

The pedal is designed to work with single notes only but will go polyphonic if you choose an octave interval, which means you can dial in an approximation of 12-string jangle with the upper octave and the Mix knob set appropriately low. Choose the octave down, turn the Mix knob up full and you’ll be able to play basslines if needed.

The main attraction, though, is the harmonies. For the single harmonies you can choose 6th, 4th and 3rd down, plus 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th up.

There is a metallic tonality to the pitch-shifted voices in isolation, but the pitching is close enough and, in the proper context, mixed proportionally with your dry sound, they are very effective in the blend.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★

We particularly liked the musicality and extra thickness of the Dual harmonies, most notably the ones that combined pitched-down with pitched-up intervals.

Pick your key, stick to the notes in it, and you’ll be rewarded with tight harmonies that can sound like two (or three!) guitars playing together.

Guitar World verdict: If you want to bring harmonies into your playing, the Pico Intelligent Harmony Machine will do the job without breaking the bank or eating up too much of your pedalboard real estate.

Hands-on videos

EHX

Guitar Center

• Best Electro-Harmonix pedals: We break down the very best EHX pedals available in all effects categories
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

What is it?

With the quirky-minded Dimension Shifter, Casio wants to unlock a new world of expressive guitar playing. The device, which clips onto a player's strap, allows them to control selected effect parameters with their movements.

In a world of digital tone-sculpting, where gear is often intangibly locked behind LED screens and menus, it's a very traditional, tactile invention, with Yvette Young – drafted in for its promo content – one name onboard with the concept.

Its origins can be traced to 2024, when the design was previewed as the Dimension Tripper. It's undergone some selective streamlining since then, namely, the Receiver's control panel was cut by 50%. But the strap-mounted Transmitter, which harnesses strap tension and spring-return force, as when your foot sweeps an expression pedal or a wah, remains the centerpiece.

The signal is wirelessly transmitted to the Receiver, which is, in turn, connected to the expression input/output of a pedal or amp modeler, giving players new levels of autonomy over their existing gear. That also means that it shouldn't be limited in its scope; it's a tool for revitalizing one's collection of stompboxes and effects, and maybe getting a little closer to them in the process.

Other possible benefits could include the Dimension Shifter producing whammy-like warbles without the tuning side effects, as well as better use of pedalboard real estate, meaning that hard-to-reach pedals at the back of a board could suddenly be back in favor.

It's certainly one of the most intriguing effect concepts to have unveiled itself to the world at NAMM 2026, but is it a bit of a laugh, or a masterstroke?

Specs

• Price: $299 (approx. £222, €255)
• Type: Strap-mounted expression pedal 
• Controls: Minimum setting knob, Pedal/Switch mode, Momentary/Latch, Polarity
• Features: Wireless strap-mounted expression control of effect parameters
• Connectivity: 5.1 Bluetooth, 1x ¼” TRS cable
• Bypass: True, buffer, both (switchable)
• Power:  2x AA batteries (Transmitter, not provided), 9V AC (Receiver, not provided)  
• Dimensions: 50x120x25.5mm (Transmitter), 60x40x115mm (Reciever)
• Weight: 0.150kg (Transmitter), 0.145kg (Receiver)
• Contact: Casio

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★☆☆

The Casio Dimension Shifter presents itself fairly well. It’s sleekly designed, with pretty much everything in place because it deserves to be. The tiny four rubber feet on the base of the Receiver are stubborn as hell, helping lock it in place, even if it’s cast casually down onto a stage or bedroom floor. The receiver’s casing is plastic, but it doesn’t scratch easily, and appears to be made of strong stuff, so there are no qualms there.

Over to the transmitter, and though it’s easy to attach to my strap/guitar – sitting between the guitar’s strap button and the strap itself – it isn’t a snugly universal fit. It would need to be pre-installed with Dunlop strap locks, for instance. It fits the D’Addario Auto Lock, but quite loosely; the best fit I had was with traditional strap fitments. Its rubber sleeve, meanwhile, is there to protect the guitar’s finish, but it is a magnet for dust and dirt.

The design means it must be played almost exclusively while standing up. I can operate it while sitting down, but only in a slightly unnatural position, so really, my hand is forced. And it is quite easy to accidentally engage the effect while moving around. To that end, the segmented green lights, which light up to show the intensity of the effect and are paired with a Minimum dial, are massively useful. It’s easy to see if the effect is engaged; I just wish the same could be said for the mini switches on the receiver.

These are for choosing the TRS channel, switching between Momentary/Latch and Pedal/Footswitch, and inverting the movement, where the effect is at maximum with movement, then scaling it back. That gives greater versatility, but these have no lights of any sort, so working on a darkened stage, or any room that isn’t as bright as a dentist's, makes operation a little tricky. It’s definitely an oversight.

However, the transmitter does have a light that signals when the INV (inverted) mode is engaged and the signal is inverted.

I feel it’s better suited for a pedalboard. Setting it up without one requires two 9V plugs and a lot of messy cables. Whack it on a board with a power brick, though, and you’ll have a much cleaner setup.

Finally, it can get a little clunky. While messing around and experimenting with different pedals and settings, I find that the Transmitter’s swivel feature, which is designed to accommodate different guitars and their strap button placements, often gets tangled. And the very motion needed to work the Dimension Shifter saw it slip out during use.

Upon closer inspection, a small corner of the strap lock has broken off, and I wasn’t playing with force. The locking mechanism isn’t foolproof. There’s a lot of ‘nearly, but not quite’ going on here.

Usability

Usability rating: ★★★☆☆

The setup isn’t without its troubles, especially since no TRS cable was provided – so make sure you have one in advance. The manual tells you to set up the partner pedal for expression before plugging it in, but it also helps to know the ins and outs of the partner pedal (for example, that it controls the Rate on the Boss PH-3 phaser) to truly make the most of it. Of course, with a bit of trial and error, you can figure that out, but Google was far more efficient for me. Especially when dealing with atypical pedals like the Earthquaker Devices Afterneath.

In terms of the effect of the operation itself, I find that the movement of engaging the pedal doesn’t always feel natural. It takes some control to manipulate the partner pedal with the right amount of movements to get the desired effect, and also to not let that movement impact my playing. At times, I find I either bend notes when I don’t want to, because of the necessary motion, or, more rarely, accidentally bend the note via moving the guitar itself. This can impact tuning stability.

It takes a bit of a Goldilocks approach, finding that ‘just right’ sweet spot with regard to the expressive movements. But this is a very novel approach to expressive playing, so it’s hard to deduct points for that. Just note that there will likely be an adjustment period.

While the Dimension Shifter's official press release said it was “fully compatible” with DAWs and the scripture had me imagining I could control VST plugins with it out of the box, you will need extra specific gear to do so. One option is the AudioFront MIDI Expression device ($59) will allow you to convert expression signals into MIDI. Casio confirms the Dimension Shifter is also compatible with USB audio interfaces that have expression inputs, like the IK Multimedia AXE I/O ONE.

For modelers, the Neural DSP Quad Cortex and Nano Cortex, Kemper Profiler, Line 6 Helix, and Boss GT-1000 can all be used with the Dimension Shifter – and you can see below for instructions on getting it running with the Neural DSP Quad Cortex.

The Transmitter also has a little bit of weight to it. It’s nothing major, but coupled with the motion that engaging the effect necessitates, I did feel some slight pain in my shoulder after prolonged playing sessions, like I’ve done a workout at the gym, but only on one shoulder. However, the Dimension Shifter does allow the spring tension to be adjusted by turning the transmitter and could help alleviate this for players.

Overall, the movement takes some getting used to, but for those who want to free up their feet and move across the stage with a bit more freedom, it’s a valid alternative. But certainly not for everyone.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★½

Once I’m rolling, there’s a good chunk of fun to be had. Ramping up the intensity of a phaser (Boss PH-3) or tremolo (Moog MF Trem) for emphasis is really fun, especially when you can slowly bring it in and out, with my movements holding complete dominion over that one effect parameter. It's everything you can do with a traditional expression pedal, just in a new guise.

The Latch function is also a fine addition, especially for upping the ante on reverb and delay pedals, which can really come up clutch for guitar solos and lead parts. Then I just need to disengage it at the end of the part. The same concept could be applied to something like an octave (I had some great fun hooking it up to an Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork+), and can essentially use it like a +/1 octaver to fatten up certain riffs before turning it off, or, with some twiddling, doing its best Whammy impression. Essentially, I can turn the effect on/off with my body movements, so I can be far away from my pedalboard at the time – that’s great for freedom of movement when playing live.

Furthermore, the Reverse Polarity feature is a well-thought-out addition, offering another way to manipulate or un-manipulate my chosen effect. Although I haven’t personally found much use for it, the pedal is better suited to it.

Ultimately, it’s usable with any pedal with a jack input/output for an expression pedal; there’s no MIDI functionality, so that rules out things like the DigiTech Whammy DT. Tom Morello denied.

For a pedal like the EHX PitchFork+, which lets me choose whether the expression controls Volume, Frequency, or Glissando, the Dimension Shifter gets far more mileage than one where the singular parameter I can dictate is pre-determined.

That also means the sonic results vary based on the effect it’s plugged into. The EQD Afterneath is rather unmusical in its application here. It’s fun to expressively ramp up the weird, but it isn’t something I’m doing thinking, ‘this is a game changer, and I can use this in X song.’

So really, it’s a piece of gear designed to augment and get new usage out of your pre-existing pedals. Those disillusioned with foot-controlled expression pedals might delight in this, but as fun as it can be at times, I’m struggling to see where it would fit into my rig in the long term.

Verdict

Personally, this has done little to encourage me to ditch expression pedals in form of this new strap-mounted concept. I love the idea, but its scope isn’t as large and as powerful as I’d have hoped – it would be a different story if there was fully-fledged MIDI and DAW-controlling capacity – and the motion just doesn’t feel all that natural.

It’s left me looking at my pedalboard – and in particular my Ernie Ball expressive delay – and thinking “I prefer doing this with my feet” as it doesn’t impact my playing, and I don’t get shoulder pain from it, either.

However, while it isn’t going to replace an expression pedal in my rig any time soon, it could be a powerful tool when paired with an expression pedal. For instance, I could dictate wah, delay, etc., while the other controls volume – it’s certainly a far better way to perform than operating two pedals at once, but it’s more a compliment to, rather than a usurper of traditional expression pedals for my money.

Guitar World Verdict: The Casio Dimension Shifter is trying to disrupt the market, but for me, it falls on the wrong side of gimmicky fun. I’m sure there’s a score of players out there that can find a more worthwhile role for this in their playing, but it’s not going to threaten traditional expression pedals in the market any time soon. It's fun while it lasts.

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Sean Daniel

Casio / Yvette Young

From being named Eric Clapton’s favorite new guitarist to making a special appearance at Millennial pop prince Justin Bieber’s highly anticipated Coachella set, Mk.gee has, for many, redefined what it means to be a guitar hero in the 2020s.

In particular, his tone and, in turn seemingly leftfield gear choices have played a key part in that process.

Mk.gee’s baritone-strung Fender Jaguar into a Tascam 424 set-up – in full display on his 2024 debut record, Two Star & the Dream Police, and piquing the interest of tone geeks during his shows – has forced many to reconsider what makes a ‘good’ guitar tone, and inspired guitar pedal brands such as JHS Pedals to capitalize on the lo-fi trend.

Now, as The Atlantic reports in their Mk.gee gear deep dive, another essential piece of his tonal puzzle, the Roland VG-8 – an early-stage modeler released in 1995 that well predated current-day amp modeler technology – is also seeing something of a renaissance.

According to The Atlantic’s interview with Chris Bristol, the former chair and CEO of Roland U.S., the VG-8 was crafted as “a toolbox filled with essentially every existing guitar sound.”

It was famously used by experimentalists such as Joni Mitchell, David Lynch, David Bowie-era Reeves Gabrels, and even Sting.

However, its hefty $3,000 price tag meant that it held a degree of exclusivity, or, as Paul Youngblood, the former president of Roland’s U.S. BOSS division, describes it, “because of the price, it was a very elitist, expensive technological product.”

Music technology in the mid-90s “wasn’t anywhere near what it is today,” but, as Youngblood asserts, it “had a lo-fi kind of sound to it” that made – and still makes – it appealing. It also marks a “nostalgia for a time when digital was still new,” notes Steve Waksman, a rock musicologist at the University of Huddersfield, in the same interview.

And thanks to the Mk.gee school of guitarists, the VG-8 is well and truly making a comeback, and this hype is reflected in its price tag on the secondary market.

At the time of writing, the VG-8’s estimated price range on Reverb is between $807 and $1,065, with prices reaching as high as $2,999 in October 2024 – a few months after Mk.gee’s debut album release. Mere coincidence? Unlikely.

In more recent news relating to this early-stage modeler, David Lynch’s Parker Fly guitar, which sold last year at auction, also came with a Roland VG-8 – and the two oddball pieces of equipment were put through their paces by their new owners.

Yvette Young may now be one of the most recognizable faces of the contemporary guitar scene on social media – yet, she's quick to admit she wasn't completely sold on the idea of sharing her music on Instagram when she first started building a name for herself.

“I was an art teacher, and I taught at an art school, and then my student tricked me into getting an Instagram and I was one of those tinfoil hat, ‘I'm not gonna let Mark Zuckerberg have my DNA’ people,” she quips during a Guitar Center Hollywood masterclass alongside Kiki Wong.

“[The student] was like, ‘You're so dumb. You need to be on social media.’ And I was like, ‘I guess.’”

The rest, as they say is history. As Young recalls, “I posted a video, and then it got me touring. It got me endorsements, and that was great. I'm so grateful.”

As for her foray into the guitar world, Young reveals she “started on acoustic,” as she was initially “afraid” of guitar pedals.

“It was terrifying because there's so many knobs and buttons, and it was a little bit like a spaceship to me. So when I first started writing, it definitely was very melody centric, and I didn't really think about how to make a guitar sound different from just a traditional guitar tone.”

However, acquiring a looper eventually led Young down the pedal rabbit hole, and she soon became just as addicted as the rest of us: "I remember I had a looper, and then I had a couple of reverb and delays, and I all of a sudden, I was like, ‘Wait a minute…’”

In fact, the virtuoso launched her own signature pedal – the feature-packed Qi Etherealizer with Walrus Audio – just last year. It is a multi-effects stompbox that promises to be an “ambient machine” and an “idea generator that helps musicians get past that oftentimes tricky starting point."

What is it?

Way, way back, just before the dawn of the Eighties and way before the myriad of distortion pedals we now have the luxury of choosing from, you’d find that distortion — not fuzz or overdrive — as a stompbox was rather scarce. Maybe you had an early “Made-in-Japan” Boss DS-1, or rocked the MXR Distortion+ just like Randy Rhoads and others did, or possibly channeled David Gilmour’s sustained sizzle with an EHX Big Muff Pi. But the ProCo RAT, another soon-to-be-classic, was still an unknown pedal in its nascency.

Just for context, my first distortion pedal was the Boss Heavy Metal, introduced in 1983. I bought it because, duh!, the name, and also being a die-hard Judas Priest fan, I was firmly convinced I’d get that Screaming For Vengeance tone in a stompbox (close, but no cigar). However, when I finally got around to owning an original big-box ProCo RAT shortly after (a 1981 version), I had to admit it was an eye-opening experience.

Having only used amp saturation from a Peavey Bandit 65 up until then, the RAT was different; thick and hairy. Almost fuzzy, and unlike anything else I’d ever heard, but, in fact, a raw distortion. It was kinda glorious.

Since then, the ProCo RAT's signature molten saturation has captivated countless musicians like me, from gutter-rocking punks to doom metal players, who have incorporated its unique, sludgy distortion into their music. Because of this, its enduring appeal has also led to a few boutique brands offering modern and authentic takes on the classic RAT circuit.

Now, Act Entertainment has taken up the mantle of the RAT brand and introduced a more refined and outwardly ornate RAT pedal called the Sterling Vermin. In all but name, the Sterling Vermin still has the soul of a RAT pedal, but now transcends its predecessors in a shiny, refined form with selectable clipping diodes that expand its dynamic range and signature distortion.

Specs

• Price: $349 / £359
• Type: Analog distortion with LM741 op-amp
• Controls: Distortion, Filter, Volume; Diode toggle (SI/BAT41)
• Features: Mini-toggle offers selectable clipping diodes between traditional RAT silicon “SI” (punchy response) and a modded “BAT41” (smoother/balanced response); high-end CTS pots and oversized knobs; polished stainless-steel enclosure with laser-annealed graphics; hand-soldered in Jackson, Missouri.
• Jacks: Top-mounted 1/4-inch Mono Input and Output jacks
• Dimensions: 4.8" x 2.6" x 1.4"
• Weight: 1.1 lb
• Power: 9V DC center-negative; 9V battery.
• Bypass: True Bypass
• Contact: Act Entertainment

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

Right off the bat, the Sterling Vermin presents a surprisingly elegant appearance. Unlike the original mil-spec RAT pedal, the Sterling Vermin features a polished mirror-finish on its stainless-steel housing, accented by laser-annealed decorative calligraphic swirls around its chunky, lowercase name.

Sure, you can say its shiny aesthetic looks more like a tchotchke found in a curio cabinet than a utilitarian stompbox, and because of that, it might prompt players to treat it with a bit more care. But don’t be fooled, the SV still has the ProCo pedigree, confirmed by the famous boxed-in RAT logo below the face panel and its famously tank-like construction.

According to its designers, Shawn Wells and Matt Gates, who refined it, the Sterling Vermin is built in small batches and hand-soldered in their Jackson, Missouri, facility, further cementing that the pedal occupies both a “boutique” vibe and space. The pedal features an LM741 Op-Amp and a pair of clipping diodes selectable by a mini-toggle.

The SV also utilizes premium CTS pots and looks complete with the same three oversized knobs for Distortion, Filter, and Volume found on typical RAT pedals that rotate slowly and smoothly, a sturdy footswitch, and a bright red LED on/off indicator. There are dual input and output jacks, and in up-to-date fashion, the power supply is 9V DC center-negative, replacing the outdated 3.5mm (positive tip) DC jack found on older RAT models. And if you want, the same thumb screw/allen key compartment is underneath the pedal if you want to chuck a 9V battery in.

Usability

Usability rating: ★★★★☆

Like most pedals with just three knobs, the ProCo Sterling Vermin is not hard to figure out. The Volume and Distortion controls are straightforward, but the Filter knob is what makes the SV — and all RAT pedals — unique. It's not your traditional Tone control (which older RAT pedals had before 1981) but rather a modified low-pass filter. Unlike a standard Tone control that boosts treble when turned clockwise, the Filter knob works in reverse: turning it clockwise reduces or "filters out" treble frequencies from the signal.

The SV's most notable feature, setting it apart from other RAT pedals, is its selectable clipping diode mini-toggle switch. This switch provides two distinct tonal options: "SI" (traditional silicon diode) and "BAT41." The "SI" setting offers a familiar sound, delivering that aggressive, heavy-midrange grind similar to a standard RAT pedal. In contrast, the new "BAT41" option yields a smoother response and improved dynamics.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

Lately, my ears have become quite accustomed to the soft-clipping sounds of the many overdrives I've reviewed. With that, it's a welcome change to hear the Sterling Vermin, which is essentially a more refined RAT, offering two subtle variations on the classic hard-clipping circuit.

For this review, I had to dig deep in my effect coffers and pull out what’s left of my RAT collection: a 1988 Rat 2 and a 2002 DeuceTone (unfortunately, I sold my original big box RAT a long time ago) for comparison. Firing away on a variety of classic amps, the vintage RATs all held up nicely, straddling the line between massive distortion and fuzz — or “fuzz-stortion,” with an undeniable dark and grungy overtone on both pedals. It’s no wonder this was a sound favored by Kurt Cobain and still appeals to guitarists who dabble in doom and drone metal.

Moving on to the Sterling Vermin, the good news is that the pedal is nearly identical in tone to the vintage ones, and successfully preserves the ProCo RAT’s familiar shaggy distortion and fuzz blend on its selectable “SI” diode setting. RAT pedals always had a raucous nature when you attenuate their higher frequencies via the Filter control, and the Sterling Vermin is no exception.

As you turn the Filter control counterclockwise past two o’clock toward noon, the distorted textures can become overly bright and grindingly sharp. Conversely, pushing the Filter past three o’clock introduces the more desired, darker, and bottom-heavy tones that flesh out its wall-of-sludge saturation. I found having both the Distortion and Filter set somewhere between the 2 o’clock range is the hallowed middle ground and sweet spot where the SV sounds wonderfully thick, heavy and spongy — all the hallmarks that make this pedal a bona-fide classic.

Frankly, I don’t hear too much of a contrast between the “SI” and its newer “BAT41” diode setting. What I do hear is the frequencies soften a bit, and there’s an ever-so-slight drop in output in the “BAT41” mode. That’s not a bad thing for me; I can certainly discern the articulate focus and refinement in this setting.

Here, the SV’s thickened distortion sounds smoother, tighter, and more defined, even when I turn the Distortion clockwise toward fuzzier textures. But if you’re not looking for doom and gloom as your tonal backdrop, dialing back the Distortion knob is where the Sterling Vermin can become more of a “Sterling Screamer.” With less grind, the SV imitates a soft-clipping stance, which works best for drawing out nuanced amp-like, overdriven tones, adding perceived weight to chords and single notes.

Verdict

Not everyone is a fan of the RAT’s sludgy and shaggy distortion. Even Jeff Beck, one of the pedal’s earliest adopters, moved on from it at one point in his career. And yes, you can easily dismiss this new pedal as “a RAT in a fancy box,” and undoubtedly, the Sterling Vermin is a premium, boutique take on the traditional ProCo RAT circuit, and quite expensive too. Is it worth the higher price tag? For some, it won’t matter, but for others, it is something to weigh on heavily, considering there are other boutique pedals that admirably ape the RAT circuit quite convincingly.

Guitar World verdict: Whether it moves the needle or not, Act Entertainment has taken a worthy stab at transforming its lowly rodent pedal into a king among them — a Sterling Vermin, if you will. With a handsome, mirror-finish and a selectable diode toggle to bounce between the original, filthy RAT tone or an elevated “RAT-atouille” distorted flavor that’s far smoother and more polished, the Sterling Vermin impressively presents itself as an evolved and cultivated RAT pedal dressed in shining armor.

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Meme king Chibson is back with another pun-tastic pedal, and the Drive is such an obvious play on Google’s highly popular cloud storage service that it’s mystifying that it wasn’t made sooner.

Landing on April Fool’s Day – the firm's favorite launch date – the overdrive pedal is obviously very witty in its marketing and messaging, but miraculously, it isn’t solely here for the punchline.

The Chibson Drive, made in collaboration with Acorn Amps, has been programmed to “get the data-driven results musicians dream of having.”

Of course, the jokes don't stop there, with the pedal supposedly loved for its “synchronization of an overdriven signal from the 3-dial, custom-voiced ‘Storage Against The Machine’ Data Center Circuit.” But beyond its side-splitting silliness, what does the pedal actually offer?

Well, its controls are in classic OD territory, with dials for Storage (Volume), Spam (Tone), and Trash (Drive), and it packs a USB socket for gain stacking and charging external devices, because why on earth not?

Expect a “mid-forward punch and creamy harmonic saturation,” with the stompboxes hand-built by Acorn Amplifiers at its Atlanta, Georgia headquarters.

Acorn is the firm behind the Solid State preamp pedal, based on Josh Homme's secret weapon amp, the Peavey Decade, and the TMA-1 fuzz pedal, which lets users toggle between germanium and silicon clipping. That, and a raft of amplifiers, of course, which are often housed in rather fetching Baltic birch boxes. So expectations are high.

It's not the first time that comedy genius, Chibson, has dropped a pedal on April 1st, with the Klon-styled Priority Delay arriving in 2024.

In recent times, it’s also turned to movie-making, having spearheaded a documentary on Robert Plant’s favorite band, Dread Zeppelin. It isn’t, however, responsible for Machine Gun Kelly’s razor blade guitar – a fact that left many gearheads shook when it was launched.

The Chibson x Acorn Amps Drive pedal is priced at $189, and is available to order now.

You can view the files by going to Chibson, and don't worry, you won't need to request permission to access them. We've already checked.

Here's to hoping it's working on an Ask Jeeves-styled AI prompts pedal a la the Polyend next.

JHS Pedals is back with another versatile-and-slightly-wacky stompbox, the Coyote – a three-in-one fuzz based on one of the rarest pedals of all time.

At its heart, the Coyote is a vintage-style fuzz pedal designed to be “a complete one-for-one replica” of the late Glenn S. Wyllie's boutique Moonrock Fuzz. That pedal has garnered something of a cult status over the years, and JHS Pedals leader Josh Scott is among its fans.

Wyllie was an elusive and mysterious figure, with little information about him online, save for a snippet of handycam footage in which he makes a cameo at a music store. JHS Pedals says he was something of a reclusive builder with unconventional techniques. But he sure knew how to make 'em.

As Scott states, a replica of this ilk has never crash-landed in the marketplace, though it’s been the subject of a few DIY recreations over the years. He wants to use this release to celebrate Wyllie's legacy and tell his story.

As such, the Coyote cycles through three fuzz effects via one mode knob, with another for Volume.

Those three effects are Swell, Fuzz, and Octave. The further you dial, the more effect you get, before it switches to the next effect.

The Swell does what it says on the tin, blooming “with a gated, reversed-tape quality,” while Fuzz fuzz oozes vintage 1960s rock charm, and Octave adds a biting high-end to what’s played – it’s an octave up, rather than down.

There’s also the promise that the Fuzz mode can handle chords, while the Octave mode is pure Jimi Hendrix – whom Wylie met several times – with intentionally uneven clipping for a real untamed vibe.

But while Scott says that most fuzzy devices can trace their lineage back to one of the Octavia, the Super Fuzz, and the Tone Machine, the Moonrock drifts in its own peculiar orbit.

“It's one of the rarest fuzzes I've ever tried to find,” he says. “It's way more rare than a Klon. I looked for one for about six years. People don't get rid of them.”

The JHS Coyote has been in development for over four years, with Scott and co. taking their time to master this tribute to one of the pedal world’s most intriguing enigmas.

Pedals cost $149 apiece, offer true bypass, and take standard 9V power.

See JHS Pedals for more.

The pedal drop follows the Double Dragon, the firm's first-ever octaver that was designed to be imperfect and unpredictable, and its Morning Glory Clean, a first-stage overdrive inspired by a jazz legend. JHS reckons it is the best pedal it's ever made.

What is it?

You have to hand it to DigiTech and IVL Technologies, the effects icon and the company that it has licensed pitch-shifting algorithms from for years have got serious product mileage out of their partnership. Numerous Whammy models, the compact Ricochet, HammerOn and the Drop have all come from it and they continue to sell because they were ahead of the market then, and continue to deliver now.

But for the Drop especially, things have changed since its own 2014 launch. As the name suggests, it focuses on the drop-tuning side of polyphonic pitch-shifting to allow guitarists and bassists to lower their instruments' tuning by one to seven semitones. It was a huge deal then and still is – allowing players to play sets with less guitars, tuning changes and even explore creative ideas at the click of a switch. The key difference is the DigiTech Drop has more competition now.

XP Audio's Morpheus DropTune was already discontinued by 2013, but the year of the Drop's launch saw direct competition from the Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork, and later 2020's Pitch Fork Plus. But that was about it. But the relentless evolution of DSP found in multi-fx and amp modeling processors has seen a (pitch) shift in recent years with Line 6's Helix, plus Neural DSP's Nano and Quad Cortex models offering in-built downtuning options.

But it's Boss that offers the most serious sally to the Drop's standalone status in more recent times – namely the smaller of last year's pitch-shifting duo, the XS-100 and XS-1. After years of R&D, Boss claims to have reduced latency, but its compact XS-1 also offers the ability to tune up as well as down. I think this pedal is the elephant in the jam room we can't ignore in any 2026 evaluation of the Drop and how well it holds up for players' needs today.

Specs

• Price: $249.99 | £150
• Type: Polyphonic pitch shifting drop tune pedal
• Controls: Effect selection rotary control, Momentary On / Off switch, bypass footswitch
• Features: Seven semitones and full octave down pitch shifting, with octave down + dry mix mode, momentary and latching modes
• Connectivity: 1/4 jack input and output
• Bypass: True
• Power: 9VDC, 300mA (included)
• Dimensions: 121 (L) x 73 (W) x 45 (H) mm
• Weight: 160g
• Options: Standard Red finish and Sweetwater-exclusive White finish also available
• Contact: DigiTech

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

This limited Black Edition certainly looks cooler than the original (and still available) red version; more geared towards metal players and those who want to color-code their pedalboards a different way. The trade-off is the stealthy colorway makes the semitone number reading far less easy to read, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue, as you see where the LEDs lie in relation to each other. Personally, I think this is the coolest-looking pitch shifter pedal right now. Sorry Boss.

The build elsewhere remains the same as the original: sturdy and heavy metal casing with a matte lightly textured coating. A reassuring, large and notched rotary control turns the semitone level with a corresponding red LED letting you know where you are in the tuning stakes. Even the mini toggle switch for the Momentary mode (meaning the pitch drop will only engage when you press on the footswitch) feels dependable.

My only bugbear is the same as the original, and indeed any pedal with sidejacks these days; I wish they were top-mounted. I can't be a minority in looking to free up as much space on my pedalboard as possible. Always trying to squeeze one more pedal on, right?

Another consideration is the 300mA current draw here – technically 250mA but 300 is recommended to be on the safe side– it's considerably more than the newer Boss XS-1 Poly Shifter and school of 2020's Pitch Fork Plus's 120mA each, but if your pedal power supply is packing 500mA isolated outputs, it won't sweat with this.

Those aside, it looks Darth Vader-levels of cool, and it feels quality and roadworthy.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★½

The Drop is a very easy pedal to use because it does one thing – well two if you include the Momentary mode. Each notch on the rotary control is a semitone down, start with half a step at the far left, pressing the footswitch disengages whichever polyphonic pitch the selector is set on. Eight semitones down and you're at a full octave for faux-bass thrills for guitarists, but there's also a ninth setting…

This is one full octave down with a dry guitar signal for a sound reminiscent of the band CKY's early signature sound. For the Drop, the balance between dry guitar and -1 octave sound is preset and can't be altered like it can on the Boss XS-1 and Pitch Fork Plus. Both of which you can also pitch up.

Of course, the clue is in the pedal's name on the latter front. And all this means the Drop is streamlined for those who just want their pitch shifter to be a simple drop tuning pedal, but it's undeniably limited in the scope you can explore with your unpitched dry signal in comparison with its main competition now. So usability is the strong point, but features are not in 2026.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

Moving between a semitone and full-step down with the Drop during my testing, it's clear that it still holds up very well 12 years on. It's easy to see why it made such an impact at launch, honing in on a facet of the larger Whammy models to serve as a go-to utility pedal for players. And it's not just metal and heavy rock players who can benefit – anyone who needs to tune down for cover versions for the sake of a vocalist will find this a huge help. I'd argue this is an essential kind of pedal if you're in a function band.

With the benefit of being able to A/B with the Boss XS-1, I can detect a slightly darker tonality from the Drop at the first two settings that goes beyond the obvious lower pitches. Without direct comparison, it wouldn't have been noticeable to me, but any latency differences between the two are less apparent to my ears at this stage, and that's obviously good news.

The XS-1 has had the obvious advantage of time, but as the obvious competitor in the admittedly still small compact pitch shifter pedal market, it can't be overlooked. Especially with the price situation out there. Something I'll get to later.

With all pitch shifters, the technology is pushed as you go further up or down in pitch. The tracking is challenged, and with that, clarity suffers, especially for runs and bends up higher on the neck. To my ears, the XS-1 is less affected than the Drop in a test with the notoriously tricky arpeggios of the function-band staple The Killers' Mr Brightside.

As I listen to my colleague and function band veteran Pete Emery play the part as I switch through semitones down, the XS-1 is a little clearer in the high end where the part is played between frets 15 and 19.

For general rhythm work and lower end riffs, the Drop still gets the job done well, and compared to the Transpose feature on a Neural DSP Quad Cortex (that isn't truly polyphonic like the Drop but is impressive with chordwork considering) I'd prefer to use the Drop as I sense there's a little more clarity and less warble for cleaner tones too.

I'd also prefer to free up the Quad's processing for running drive pedal captures instead. With the Helix's Poly Pitch and Poly Capo, the processing demands on the pre-Helix Stadium units are even greater, and although they're impressive, users may want to balance the advantages with using the Drop as a dedicated option for drop tuning. It's still a pedal I'd be more than happy to gig with.

Verdict

I need to be honest about how well this pedal holds up for down-tuning against the newer competition it faces, and it still does well. But it's also showing its age a little in terms of features, as you might expect, while still offering a compelling alternative to the processing modellers for the most part. But with the current state of play we're seeing between US and European prices – influenced in some cases by tariffs – buying decisions based on price have gained new dimensions that I can't overlook.

The verdict section is always the place I start to reflect on the value proposition of a product - what it offers you for your money, and how that compares to other options. And with the Drop it's a trickier area than you might think. The thing is, right now, it's a much better deal for players in Europe than the US. I'm seeing it for around $249.99, whereas in the UK this Black Edition is around £130 or lower. That's a big difference, especially considering the Pitch Fork + and XS-1 are both coming in under $200 at the time of writing, but the latter is around £200.

So in short, the DigiTech Drop is simply a more persuasive deal on the UK side of the Atlantic right now for players who need to tune down.

It's been 14 years since the Drop emerged, and a decade since the similarly-sized DigiTech Whammy Ricochet. Neither has a dry blend, only octave + dry setting, so it's something DigiTech probably should have addressed by now with a newer release. However, with DigiTech effectively dormant in terms of design as a brand from 2018 until Cort-Tek acquired the brand alongside DOD in 2022, there's a sense that lost time may well have factored into its evolutionary story with pitch-shifting effects. It'll be very interesting to see if it has further plans.

As it stands, the Drop still holds up… or down pretty well, depending on your specific scope and where you're buying it right now.

Guitar World verdict: The Drop might be showing its age against the more recent competition in some ways – and it's undoubtedly a better deal in Europe than the US right now – but it still gets the job done well, especially if you're regularly going a half and full step down and want to save yourself guitar changes. Plus it looks cooler than ever with this black edition.

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As founder of EarthQuaker Devices, Jamie Stillman hasn’t just been at the forefront of the boutique effects boom, he’s shaped its direction with a spirit for left-field turns. None more so than with his trailblazing approach to reverb that manifested with the Afterneath.

First released in 2014, with a few iterations since, it did more than change the scale of EarthQuaker’s operations – based in Akron, Ohio, under Jamie and CEO (and wife) Julie Robbins – it inspired other makers to explore new realms of creativity with reverb pedals.

“My approach is hands-on, especially with the reverb side of things,” Jamie tells us. “I know what I like – I like a giant, massive canyon and cathedral-style reverb with a lot of high-end content and reflections all over the place. That’s what I personally like. But I also know that’s not what everybody likes. So if I’ve got this idea for a reverb pedal, I start where I like and then I dial it back.”

EarthQuaker’s work with digital time-based effects allows for easier editing in the design process, but that doesn’t mean it’s a speedy process.

“I find that none of the reverb development is ever quick,” Jamie says. “I usually spend six months off and on, sometimes a year. I’ll take it around to a bunch of amps and a bunch of guitars and be like, ‘We’ve really got to rein this in.’

“Then once you dial in that sound, a lot of times I’m looking to do something a little bit more experimental with it. So maybe it could be adding in octaves or adding in modulation. And then that’s where I’ll start to investigate.”

But the Afterneath pedal was different: a delay-based reverb capable of delivering the huge soundscapes that Jamie loves as a designer and musician but with a twist or three. Nowadays we’re used to seeing leftfield pedals like this from boutique and mainstream brands, but they simply weren’t on the market before the Afterneath caused a huge stir.

Jamie says: “When the Afterneath came out, I don’t believe there was any experimental reverb pedal category like there is today. I feel like it’s the first. Quote me on that, I guess! But this is exactly how I describe it – it was kind of experimenting with reverb.

“We had this processor that I was using a lot for other pedals,” he explains, “and I stumbled across what I think is the selling feature, the kind of repeating, almost multi-tap delay. But, really, it sounds like reverb with all these – for lack of a better term – ‘pinging reflections’ that come in and out. So I stumbled on it by accident.

“I changed something in the code, went and tested it and was like, ‘Oh my God, this is not what I wanted to happen… but this is amazing.’ And then I figured out how to exploit that a little bit further.”

Rapid Expansion

The Afterneath remains a bit of an anomaly for an EarthQuaker Devices reverb, as Jamie explains: “This pedal actually came together pretty quickly, and I don’t know if I’ve ever been more excited by a product in the development stage. Where it’s like, I got it to this point and I’m not touching a thing. And I’m going to show it to people and see what they think. Everybody who got to play it was kind of mesmerised by it.”

It quickly became a significant hit with players, especially in post-rock circles. So much so, the company had to change the way it operated.

“We had to bring in eight employees – eight new employees on one day just to keep up with the production of it when it came out,” Jamie says.

The Afterneath’s legacy wasn’t just one that concerned the company’s scale (EarthQuaker now employs more than 30 people) but how Jamie moved forward with boldly ambient effects alongside EarthQuaker’s overdrive and fuzz catalogue.

“It seemed like permission to do other really weird things,” he reflects. “We had already done the Rainbow Machine, and it was really starting to catch on at that point when it came out, but the Afterneath kind of opened the door to doing other stuff, such as the Transmisser, Arpanoid and Data Corrupter, and eventually the Astral Destiny.

“Up until that point, the more esoteric pedals did well for us, but it was always the ‘bread and butter’ pedals that brought in the money to keep the lights on and keep our employees paid.

“But I do feel like the Afterneath put us on the map for people to say, ‘Okay, they can make experimental stuff that is really musical and useful.’ You don’t just have to be a weird noise musician to use them – they can find a place in traditional music, too.”

As for the legacy of pedal builders impressing him on the reverb side of things these days, Jamie is full of praise for this era of experimentalists.

“I think the last year has been one of the best years for pedals. There have been some really interesting things around, such as the Kinotone pedals. I think they’re gonna be huge at some point. But I just found them on Reverb – the Ribbons pedal is really cool.

“Old Blood Noise Endeavors put out a pedal called Bathing [Liminal Delay] that I love. And Chase Bliss’s Lost + Found – that thing is pretty mindblowing, too. I watched videos on it and then I bought one.”

These pedals hone in on specific sonic realms for players to explore, and this is happening while do-it-all effects and amp modellers continue to grow and evolve. But there’s still a healthy appetite for the simpler and “more manageable” devices, and Jamie has had an increasing sense of that recently.

“Speaking as a player and a judgmental person,” he says, “everything has gotten so complicated. Last year it was like, ‘Well, if it’s not an iPad with a bunch of switches on it, I’m not interested.’ I feel like everyone thought the next thing should be one thing that does it all for an extraordinary price tag.

“Of course, there’s a market for that, but I don’t think that’s the answer to creativity. I think the less complications there are between you and actually creating art with it, the better.”

Three EarthQuaker classics

Afterneath Enhanced Otherworldly Reverberator – $219/£229

“This current revision is a buffered bypass, so it’ll tail, and it has expression control over the Drag, which then operates in a couple of modes.

“But it’s a confusing thing to explain because it’s like a change in pitch, but there’s actually no pitch shifting happening in the audio path. It’s the sound of the clock changing the processor, right? But we figured out what frequency ranges create notes out of it. So that’s how it’s changing.”

Dispatch Master Digital Delay & Reverb – $199/£205

“The Dispatch Master is a mainstay for us. You can put the controls anywhere – it sounds good. It’s been used on everything from chaotic noise to death metal to being a secret weapon in Nashville studios for pedal steel.

“It’s a great platform for delay and reverb. And also, when it came out there was no option for a compact delay and reverb pedal. There was the Boss RV-3, but it was out of production.”

Rainbow Machine Polyphonic Pitch Mesmerizer – $229/£245

“This is one of our most misunderstood pedals. A lot of people know it for what I like to call ‘the magic pixie dust sound’, but it can do a whole lot more. Part of the key is understanding what the controls are doing.

“The weird control is Secondary: it takes that primary output signal and feeds it back through. So you’re getting something that is similar to an octave of that primary output, and a harmony of it at the same time.”

• Find out more at EarthQuaker Devices.
• “It’s like a Christopher Nolan movie in a pedal. Don’t think – feel”: EarthQuaker Devices Towers review
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

What is it?

It goes without saying that EarthQuaker Devices – the Ohio-based firm headed up by Jamie and Julie Stillman – has cemented its position as one of the market’s leading specialists in ambient and soundscaping effects pedals. Heck, the company single-handedly reinvented the concept of the reverb pedal and its catalog reads like a Hall of Fame honorary list of gold standard stompboxes. Avalanche Run, Astral Destiny, Afterneath… the list goes on, but that won't stop EarthQuaker from vying for another space on your pedalboard.

What we have here is a very interesting prospect indeed. The Towers is another entry to that storied EQD reverb lineup, but there’s a bit of a twist. Because, in true 'Quaker fashion, this one looks to do things a bit differently.

How so? Well, it’s described as a ‘Stereo Reverberant Filter’ that offers “endless possibilities” for experimental reverb sound construction. That sounds a little daunting – and, at times, it is – but the prospect here is enticing all the same.

In practice, Towers catapults your signal through a set of resonant filtered feedback networks and multi-tap delay reflections, which help create everything from always-on cavernous reverbs to incomprehensibly spacious stereophonic expanses.

Perhaps the biggest point of intrigue here is the addition of the ‘Stretch’ footswitch, which, as you’ll see later, slows everything down, doubling reverb lengths, manipulating filter frequencies and just giving your signal flow a healthy helping of mad. No one does reverb like EarthQuaker Devices. Towers is something else entirely, as you’ll see…

Specs

• Launch price: $299 | £329 | €399
• Type: Ambient reverb pedal
• Controls: Three-way mode toggle / Mix, Length, Filter, Frequency, Preset knobs / Activty and Stretch footswitches
• Features: Ambient reverb pedal with three filter modes for expansive soundscaping
• Connectivity: Mono and stereo inputs and outputs / expression pedal jack
• Bypass: Buffered
• Power: 9V DC 85mA
• Dimensions: 4.75 x 4.25 x 2.50" (121 x 108 x 64 mm)
• Weight: 1.03lbs
• Options: N/A
• Contact: EarthQuaker Devices

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

All EarthQuaker Devices pedals are built by hand in the US by the EQD team, and the Towers is as robust as it gets. My bandmate has gigged with the Astral Destiny on multiple occasions, and has never been afraid to give its own Stretch footswitch a serious boot. Never has that once failed him, and the Towers is built to the same sturdy standard. I’d have no fear putting this through the wringer.

And that’s good, because this pedal is destined to receive a serious kicking. Stamping the Activate footswitch, stomping on and off the Stretch feature, twisting the knobs to your heart's content – this pedal is all about feel and blind exploration. The last thing you want to worry about is a loose or noisy footswitch, or an un-reactive parameter pot that feels loose, or like it could pull off at any moment. Such worries are absent here.

Anything of a sub-bar build quality wouldn’t be able to withstand the rigorous knob-tweaking and switch stamping that a pedal of Towers’ design would require. It’s designed to take a beating and built accordingly. Elsewhere, there's stereo input and outputs, as well as an expression pedal jack, if you want to get really crazy.

Usability

Usability rating: ★★★★½

For something that promises such otherworldly tones, this is an inherently easy pedal to operate. There are Activate and Stretch footswitches, larger Length and Frequency knobs, smaller Mix and Filter controls, a Preset selector and a three-way mode toggle that moves between three distinct filter frequency modes.

Manual mode is self-explanatory, envelope responds to your picking dynamics, and LFO mode follows an LFO rate set by the Frequency dial. It’s quite impressive that EQD has managed to put such a cavernous array of reverb tones in at the whim of so few controls. The control knob tops are also nicely indented, providing good grip for on-the-fly tweaks.

The fact the pedal is so easy to operate is a blessing, because Towers is inherently based on feel. At times, it’s easy to let the effect run away from you, likewise it’s not uncommon for a tone to pass you by only to never return. Sometimes, it kinda felt like if a Christopher Nolan movie was a pedal – don’t try and understand, just feel it. Anything more complicated would be too much.

Of course, that’s not to say the Towers can’t be tamed. The eight preset slots is a nice touch, and a good way to bottle any reverb effect you might want to return to.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

In basic terms, this could be an ambient-shaper's dream pedal. The reverbs are incredibly impressive and I found them to be immensely inspiring to navigate, even if at times I did feel a little lost at sea. As someone whose most adventurous dabble with ambient reverbs is the cranked hall setting on the Strymon Flint, or a maxed-out Glitz on the Line 6 HX Stomp, I found the Towers to be genuinely eye-opening and a welcoming entry point to such effects.

It’s a nice blend of being a gateway soundscape reverb and something that more serious shoegazers could really make sing. As mentioned, there’s a huge spectrum of reverb effects, and you really don’t have to work hard to get something usable and workable.

Single-note stabs can be transformed into synth-esque drones with reflections and reverbations a plenty. When the Mix and Length knobs are maxed out, you’re in space. Bump the Frequency and Filter and you start entering wild and wonderful territory.

Of course, you’re not buying this pedal to stick it in a subtle ambient room setting and leave at the end of your chain. This is for the occasions where you need something more. And Towers is capable of 'more', make no mistake.

That’s also majorly thanks to the Stretch feature, the MVP of the pedal, in my opinion. The reverb length doubles, the filter frequency lowers. Single switches activate it instantly, while pressing the footswitch drags out the effect change, making it more ethereal and whimsical.

Verdict

This pedal certainly isn’t for the faint of heart, but those brave enough – and patient enough – to sit down with it and pore over its bottomless pit of sounds will receive their just rewards. It certainly operates within a niche of the market, and it goes without saying that this pedal won’t be for everyone. Shoegazers and sludgers will no doubt find this a dream addition to their pedalboard, function gig enthusiasts probably won’t.

But for those who do lean towards more ambient music – and those partial to reverbs that they can get wild and wacky with – will find much joy here. But that’s not to say I don’t think every player could take some joy from the Towers. It’s incredibly inspiring, and it could make you rethink your entire relationship with reverb.

Guitar World verdict: This pedal certainly isn’t for the faint of heart, but those brave enough to sit down with it and pore over its bottomless pit of sounds will receive their just rewards. Capable of some genuinely awe-inspiring effects, it'll make you rethink your relationship with reverb.

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Pedal of the Day

Sweetwater

What is it?

Shopping for an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff is a bit like ordering a coffee on the high street; so many permutations, different sizes, different ingredients and different (sonic) flavors.

Or at least, that’s the case if you’re a guitarist. For a long time now, the bass contingent hasn't had nearly so much choice – just one circuit, in a couple of sizes. There's a more in-depth Deluxe version that offers lots of extra features, but also takes the blueprint further away from the simplicity the Muff has always offered.

Now though, a watershed moment, thanks to Josh Scott, of JHS Pedals fame, and Electro-Harmonix archivist Daniel Danger. Pedal historians, geeks, and also the co-authors of a comprehensive new volume on the history of EHX.

While researching, Danger and Scott had cause to dig around in the treasure-trove garage of former EHX engineer Bob Myer. There, they discovered a schematic for a dual op-amp powered Muff variant that had never made it off the drawing board.

The brains at JHS set to work on giving it physical form, and realized this was something special - a different, distinct new flavor that was a worthy addition to the range. These findings were shared with EHX, who conceded that it deserved its time in the sun after all.

It’s available now, named the Big Muff Pi 2 – aimed at guitarists, but with a fanbase among bassists for its huge low-end. If ever there was an excuse to create a new Bass Big Muff, here it was.

And here it is. Deep breath – it’s the Electro-Harmonix Bass Big Muff Pi 2, whose name conjures the feeling of reciting a highly specific Starbucks order and brings it right to your pedalboard.

Specs

• Price: $122 | £105 | €121
• Type: Bass fuzz pedal
• Controls: Volume, Sustain, Blend, Tone, Bass Boost
• Connectivity: ¼” instrument input, ¼” amp output
• Bypass: True
• Power: 9v DC, 20mA
• Dimensions: 70 x 114 x 53 mm
• Weight: 340g
• Contact: Electro-Harmonix

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★☆

That coffee was made in about 45 seconds, though, whereas this feels a well-considered item. A solid metal enclosure in a fetching shade of dark metallic green, with four solid-feeling pots and a metal mini-switch.

The whole thing is marshalled by a metal plunger footswitch which, for the first time in Muff history, is able to trigger momentarily should you only require a short burst of fuzz.

Usability

Usability rating: ★★★★★

Other than that footswitch, there aren’t many hidden tricks here. The usual Volume, Sustain (that’s gain) and Tone knobs are present and correct, along with a Bass Boost switch, and a Blend knob for balancing the fuzz with the clean signal - a vital tool for bass overdrive and distortion.

Picking up my old Ibanez Roadstar P-style bass, I get the pedal hooked-up to my Line 6 HX Stomp-powered pedalboard. The Muff comes equipped with a 9V battery, which I duly disconnect in favor of my Cioks power supply – after unscrewing the base-plate of the pedal to reach it.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

Cycling through my bass presets, I alight upon my overdriven Ampeg SVT emulation. This preset is a perfect match for a hot P-tone, and it proves a good basis for my explorations.

Even switching the Muff on and slamming out some rock riffs unaccompanied is enormous fun – and it's far more versatile than you might expect, thanks to that essential Blend control.

When it’s set very low, you get the subtlest tones that the pedal is capable of but, let’s be clear, subtle is a relative term; even this makes it sound like the amp is melting. From there, higher Sustain settings bring out the archetypal Big Muff roar, in abundance, and it’s hard to think that anyone will be left wanting more gain.

The range of the Tone control is well-judged; my own favorite sounds are in the middle reaches of the pot, but either extreme still provides EQ settings that would be usable. The Bass Boost mini-switch is really useful too – I tend to keep it on, for the biggest low-end possible, but much fun can be had with it disengaged too.

I’m always curious to see how a bass-optimized pedal sounds on guitar, and so I grab my Strat and dial up my go-to clean Mesa/Boogie Mk IV sound. Initially, with Blend all the way up, it’s business-as-usual Big Muff – a thick, noisy, ultra-high-gain bellow.

But here’s what’s really interesting – dial back the Blend, and you get something totally different. The distortion fades into the background and you have a defined, cutting overdrive/boost.

This is useful on clean and dirty signals alike, and sounds fantastic. It’s rare to find a gain effect that can serve both bass guitar and electric guitar so well.

Verdict

I came to the Bass Big Muff Pi 2 expecting to enjoy some filthy, growling fuzz bass riffs, and it doesn't disappoint.

But the addition of a clean blend gives it far more utility, and I was blown away by how good it sounds for guitar too – to the point where I’d strongly consider buying one over the guitarists’ Big Muff Pi 2, for those extra ‘Easter egg’ sounds offered by the Blend knob.

It’s the best Big Muff there’s ever been for bass, and turns out to be quite something for those an octave above as well.

Guitar World verdict: The Bass Big Muff Pi 2 is a natural addition to Electro-Harmonix’s range – fantastic and versatile fuzz tones that can be kept in check with the Blend control, or let loose. What’s unexpected is just how well it works for guitar, too!

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Electro-Harmonix

• Best bass effects pedals: 11 of the best pedals for every type of bassist

With my first gig of the year coming up, it’s time to set about rebuilding my pedalboard. I’ve got a couple of new pedals I want to make permanent additions to my setup, and, of course, tidying up the cabling to make it as ergonomic as possible is always something that can be improved upon. And a tidy pedalboard does more than just look good; it makes me organized with my gear so I can concentrate on the actual playing.

The timing of this is perfect as the Amazon Big Spring Sale has just launched, and it features a bunch of gear that’s perfect for neatening up and tidying a pedalboard. With none of the items here costing more than $22, you can upgrade your setup without having to spend loads. With just a few cleverly sourced accessories from beyond the musical instruments section of Amazon’s Narnia of domestic goods, we’ll have your pedalboard looking properly professional in no time, and for very little outlay.

Having looked through a huge portion of the sale, I’ve picked out 9 pedalboard essentials that will ensure you have a great gigging season going forward, some of which I will be picking up myself:

Shop more sales

• Save up to 35% on live sound at Sweetwater
• Over 25,000 deals at Musician’s Friend
• Save 15% on Spark Neo at Positive Grid

What is it?

The Outlaw is a twin-footswitch pedal that combines elements of two of the Lincolnshire, UK-based pedal maker’s previous pedals – the Ace tone booster and the Plexstar overdrive – and is styled after a Marshall JTM45 ‘Plexi’ amp.

What you’re getting are independently footswitched boost and drive sections that can be used individually or combined. A toggle switch determines whether boost is placed before or after the drive.

Specs

• PRICE: $379 | £299 | €379
• ORIGIN: UK
• TYPE: Overdrive pedal 
• FEATURES: True bypass, 2x channels
• CONTROLS: Volume, Gain, Tone, Boost Volume, Boost Tone, effect order toggle switch, Boost footswitch, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) 50mA
• DIMENSIONS: 94 (w) x 119 (d) x 30mm (h) 
• CONTACT: Flatley Guitar Pedals

Usability and sounds

The boost section features a Volume knob that starts from silence and has unity gain at around 12 o’clock, which means that there’s plenty of boost available beyond that, but it also gives you the scope to use it to attenuate levels or even as a mute switch.

It’s allied to a Tone knob that lets you target the boost in a specific area. Kick the boost in and you’ll find it at its most neutral sounding with the Tone knob somewhere around the midway point.

From here, you can turn the knob anti-clockwise to thicken the sound and bring out more low-end, or turn it clockwise for more top-end sparkle, ranging up to a potent treble boost at its full-on position.

The FET-based drive section has Volume, Gain and Tone knobs and is silent until you advance both Volume and Gain. With lower levels of gain there’s some gritty just-beyond-clean sounds, but advancing the knob soon gets you into increasing amounts of Marshall-flavoured crunch and raunch that responds well to playing dynamics.

All of this can be tempered with a sensibly voiced Tone knob that focuses on upper-mid presence and is a practical asset for getting the drive in the right tonal space to complement your amp.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★½

As individually used entities, both sections shine. But there are tasty performance benefits in combining them. Boost before drive expands the range of your dirt options like pushing the front-end of a valve amp, teasing out extra drive, increased sustain and harmonics for single-note leads.

Placing the boost after the drive offers the alternative action of a volume boost when needed, with or without a tonal shift.

Guitar World verdict: A drive and boost with flexible routing options in a single chassis is arguably the most practical single pedal you can put in front of an amp. The Outlaw ticks all the boxes in that role with two excellent-sounding effects that hold their own individually but really complement each other when combined.

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Flattley Guitar Pedals

Philip Czarnecki x Flattley

• “Much more versatility than you’d expect in a fuzz pedal of this lineage”: Flattley DG Fuzz review
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

What is it?

Do we really need another overdrive pedal voiced after a certain famous amplifier? Arguably not. But the Wampler Golden Jubilee is considerably more than yet another Marshall-in-a-box, not least because it also includes a Mesa-style distortion in there too. By combining two of rock’s most iconic amp voices into a single compact enclosure, Wampler has set out to create the ultimate hi-gain pedal for those who like their tone hot enough to melt faces.

At the heart of the Golden Jubilee are two distinct channels. The Overdrive channel is voiced after the iconic Marshall Plexi, capturing that saturated, muscular British crunch that has inspired guitarists for decades. The Distortion channel, meanwhile, draws on the California boutique-amp sound, specifically the Mesa Boogie Mark II, delivering tight, articulate American distortion with exceptional note clarity even at high-gain settings. Together they cover an enormous tonal range, from classic rock crunch to full-on modern metal.

Each channel comes with its own dedicated controls: Level, Gain, and Tone knobs, plus a Character switch that further refines each voice. On the OD side, the Character switch reshapes the gain profile, pushing the circuit into higher-gain territory with noticeably more compression. On the DS side, it governs presence, with the bright setting opening up the top end for additional treble and cut, while the dark setting reins in the highs for a more focused, less aggressive response.

Both channels can be used independently or stacked together simultaneously, and a central Order switch determines the internal routing, whether the overdrive feeds into the distortion or vice versa, significantly changing how the two gain stages interact and compress against each other.

Aesthetically, the Golden Jubilee is wrapped in a premium evergreen emerald sparkle finish with gold-anodised knobs and hardware, is true bypass, and runs on a standard 9V DC centre-negative power supply, or 18V if you’re looking for extra headroom. As expected, it also features top-mounted jacks for clean pedalboard integration and is crafted in the USA.

Specs

• Launch price: $239/£209/€239
• Type: Overdrive/Distortion
• Controls: Level, Tone, Gain, Character, Order
• Features: Stackable dual channel distortion and overdrive, with separate channel switches for further tone shaping.
• Connectivity: 1/4 input and output
• Bypass: True Bypass
• Power: 9V DC or 18V DC, 30mA
• Dimensions: 2.5” x 4.8” x 2.3” (64mm x 125mm x 60mm)
• Weight: 0.85 lbs (0.39 kg)
• Contact: Wampler Pedals

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

Wampler is known for its quality, and thankfully, the Golden Jubilee is no different. The enclosure feels dense and solid, and before a note is played, I know it will withstand the stress of gigging. If you’re at all familiar with Wampler's dual drive pedals like the Pantheon Deluxe or Gearbox, you may be expecting a larger format unit, but for the Golden Jubilee, it's managed to cram both circuits into a stomp the size of the Triumph or Mofetta.

The result is a genuinely compact, pedalboard-friendly unit, and for those of us perpetually locked in a battle to reclaim real estate on an overcrowded pedalboard, that is no small thing.

That said, it is worth acknowledging that, as this is such a slight pedal, the footswitches are pretty close together. Some players with larger feet or those used to more spacious enclosures may find it a little cramped to navigate, particularly when changing channels on stage in the heat of the moment. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s worth being aware of before you buy.

Moving on to the finish itself, and I’d say it’s pretty standout. The classy, evergreen emerald sparkle coating catches the light in a way that makes it genuinely striking on a pedalboard, and the gold-anodised hardware further elevates its visual appeal. There is a whiff of MXR’s mighty Carbon Copy about its get-up, but I think it wears it well – in fact, it may be the best-looking pedal in Wampler's lineup.

The build quality here is exemplary. For me, this is a pedal built to last and built to tour.

Usability

Usability rating: ★★★★☆

One of the Golden Jubilee’s greatest strengths is how intuitive it is to use. Despite packing two full channels of gain into a compact enclosure, Wampler has resisted the temptation to overcomplicate things. Each channel has just three knobs and a Character switch. That’s it. We don’t even have a three-band EQ, meaning you can be up and running with a usable tone within minutes of unboxing it – and I was!

I think the Character switches are deceptively powerful tools. On the OD channel, engaging it pushes the gain structure into a noticeably different range, more compressed, more saturated, with a feel that calls to mind a modded Marshall without tipping over into excess. On the DS side, the Character switch can be used to tame the top end, which is particularly useful when running into bright-sounding rigs or when you need more cut for lead work.

The Order switch is where things get especially interesting. Being able to flip the signal routing from overdrive into distortion, or distortion into overdrive, produces two meaningfully different results when both channels are engaged simultaneously.

The interaction between the gain stages changes character depending on the routing, and both options are genuinely useful rather than one being clearly superior. My personal preference is classic overdrive into distortion, but the reverse routing has its own appeal for certain applications.

One area where the usability picture is slightly less rosy is the switching behaviour when you don’t want to combine the sides, but rather switch between them. For players who want to toggle between using one channel and then the other, you can’t do this with a single press of a footswitch; the current setup requires a bit of choreography by pressing two switches. Is it difficult? No, of course not, but playing live, I’m looking for things to be as seamless and fast as possible.

A dip switch inside the enclosure that could change the pedal to toggle mode, so that when you press on a footswitch, the other side is disengaged, would be a welcome addition. Perhaps the second footswitch could then be used to combine the sides so you don't lose the ability to stack?

It’s a minor point in an otherwise highly usable pedal, but one worth flagging for gigging players – perhaps we could see this feature on a V2?

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

I play in a punk band that blends grunge and metal elements, and from the first notes through this pedal, it felt like it was made for exactly that context. The tonal range on offer is genuinely vast. Everything from classic rock crunch to grunge to full-on metal, and crucially, every stop along that spectrum is available in this pint-sized stomp.

To start my testing, I plugged my Gibson Firebird into a Fender Blues Junior. The clean sound was bright with a bell-like chime, but that all changed when I stepped on the pedal. The OD channel, based on classic Marshall voicing, is a joy. It delivers smooth, rich, and unmistakably Marshall-flavoured tones, everything you love about a cranked British stack, without the fizz or excessive brightness that can make high-gain pedals tiring to play through.

The low end is tight, the mids are muscular and present, and the top end has enough air to breathe without ever becoming harsh. I found that this side is particularly great for Angus-style tones. Engaging the Character switch on the OD channel shifts things into a different territory entirely. There’s more compression, an even tighter feel, and a gain structure that edges convincingly into Green Day’s Dookie-era. It certainly brings to mind a modded Marshall in character.

The DS channel is equally impressive. There is more than enough gain on tap for even the most demanding modern contexts, and the high-end is singing and rich, making it phenomenal for solos and lead work. Note clarity is exceptional, even at high gain settings, individual notes retain their definition and articulation, which is a genuine achievement.

The Character switch comes in handy here; both the Firebird and the Fender amp are bright by nature, so some taming is necessary. I found myself preferring the switch in the dark mode. The change is subtle, but it becomes more noticeable when you start to increase the gain.

When both channels are stacked, the result is massive, a full-frequency wall of gain that feels enormous without becoming a muddy mess. They stack in a very musical way, complementing each other rather than simply piling gain on top of gain. It’s one of the most satisfying stacking combinations I’ve encountered in a dual-channel pedal for a very long time.

Of course, you can change the order in which you feed the pedals. Personally, I preferred keeping it classic, with the overdrive feeding the distortion side, and using the distortion with a slight increase in volume and gain as a boost.

Verdict

I’ll be straight with you, I went into this review half-expecting the Golden Jubilee to be another well-built but ultimately predictable gain pedal. Two amp voices in a box is hardly a new concept, and the boutique pedal market is not exactly short of Marshall-inspired stomps. But the Golden Jubilee genuinely surprised me, and not just a little.

What Wampler has pulled off here is a pedal that feels both deeply familiar and genuinely fresh at the same time. The two channels are distinctly different in flavor that work perfectly well separately as they do combined.

The build is everything you’d hope for from the US company, and that finish is genuinely gorgeous. This one is hard to ignore on a 'board.

My only real frustration is the lack of a toggle mode for switching between channels independently on stage. It’s the one thing that stops this from being a completely frictionless live tool. That said, it’s a niggle rather than a dealbreaker, and it doesn’t diminish how good this pedal sounds. Most players will be looking to stack the sides anyway.

If you play rock, punk, grunge, or metal and you’re looking for one pedal to cover serious ground, this could be your golden ticket to upgraded tone.

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Peter “Danish Pete” Honoré

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What is it?

The Big Muff PI 2 is the fuzz pedal that almost never was; a schematic lost for half a century, until Josh Scott, rummaging around the Electro-Harmonix archives, unearthed it.

He was there with EHX collector Daniel Danger and the writer and historian Dan Epstein as they were researching the forthcoming book about iconic NYC stompbox company, Made On Earth for Rising Stars: The Electro-Harmonix Story.

They were there to piece together the history of the company, but when you find an original circuit schematic, hand-drawn by the inventor of the Big Muff, Bob Myer, you have to at least ask the question of EHX supremo Mike Matthews as to whether they should put it to work.

They did. And it wasn’t long before they realized that this would be very different to the Op-Amp Big Muff that the likes of Billy Corgan used to craft the Smashing Pumpkins’ seminal Siamese Dream electric guitar tone. Featuring not one but two op-amps in its design, this would be unlike any other Muff in history. It turns out that two op-amps really take the pedal in a different direction.

“We breadboarded the circuit exactly as Bob drew it, and immediately knew we had something worth making,” says Scott. “We found that Bob’s design is unique when compared to the now-famous late ‘70s Op-Amp Big Muff designed by Michael Abrams. Different clipping arrangement, an extra gain stage and various other elements that made this lost version extremely special.”

JHS Pedals launched a big-box wedge enclosure version, limited to 5,700 units, priced $249. Electro-Harmonix’s is a more compact, of a piece with its contemporary fuzzes, and it is retails for $122 street.

The question is how different can a Big Muff be and still be recognizably a Big Muff? Do these ingredients really matter? Or is this the Big Muff to convince the unconvinced, the new angle on the ür-fuzz box that turns players on to the woolier side of distorted guitar tone. Scott promises us that this ain’t the Big Muffs you’d find kicking around in David Gilmour’s potting shed.

“It’s super modern,” says Scott. “It feels really heavy. It does this crazy crossover between super aggressive Big Muff, like, for metal players and things, but it’ll also do overdrive well. The tone control is, I would say, more dynamic.”

Specs

• Launch price: $122 | £125 | €119
• Type: Fuzz pedal
• Controls: Volume, Tone, Sustain
• Features: Soft-touch relay switching, momentary/latching operation, dual op-amp circuit
• Connectivity: Standard 1/4" I/O, center negative power supply input
• Bypass: True bypass
• Power: 9V DC or battery / current draw 15 mA
• Dimensions: 146.05 x 87.63 x 69.85mm
• Weight: 242g
• Contact: Electro-Harmonix

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

The traditionalist in us loves the idea of the big-box enclosure, and that fits in with the whole archeological spirit behind the discovery and creation of the Big Muff Pi 2, but playing the guitar is ever the practical concern, and a smaller unit makes for more pedalboard space.

EHX has been doing this a while know and so it has this down to a fine art. The metal enclosure is super-tough, with the back plate removable via four screws.

That makes changing the battery a bit more of a faff but most of us are using a quality pedalboard power supply and so the battery – a beauty featuring the beatific smile of EHX’s Mike Matthews – is really an emergency option, or perhaps to be drained strategically to starve the fuzz and get that choked sound that can be so effective.

There’s nothing silly under the hood. The footswitch is mounted separately from the circuit board, which always preserves the life of the pedal. Everything is super tidy. No notes here.

Usability

Usability rating: ★★★★½

Bob Myer’s schematic is an unorthodox take on his fuzz circuit the world has grown to love, but this isn’t him getting all caught up in the revolutionary fevers of redesign. Looking down at it on your pedalboard it will be reassuringly familiar, with the usual complement of controls for Volume, Tone and Sustain.

A three-knob fuzz, many might argue, is the Platonic ideal. Simple but tweakable (personally, two dials is more than enough but fuzz can be finicky so, okay, the Tone control might come in handy).

Electro-Harmonix suggests starting with the Volume at 9 o’clock and the Sustain and Tone at Noon. Now that you have read this sentence you can dispense with the manual and get on with it.

As easy as this is, maybe you’ve got to allow for the fact that usability with fuzz pedals can be a function of their sound, and getting them to play nice with your setup, i.e. if you have a wah pedal.

But part of the deal with introducing a fuzz on your ‘board is that you are letting wildlife into the home, something a little untamed. Just go with it.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

One of the things that first caught my eye – or, to be anatomically honest, my ear – when JHS Pedals demoed this circuit with an O.G. Big Muff Triangle was all the extra personality in the midrange.

Where the old-school classic Muff sound has this airy, weightlessness in the midrange, particularly when the Sustain dial is pushed to the limit, the Big Muff Pi 2 is brawnier and more physically imposing. How this would translate on my ‘50s style Telecaster, not to mention the beefy monstrousness of a Mark Morton Les Paul Modern Quilt, was a tantalizing proposition.

Scientifically, EHX’s suggested settings seemed the best place to start, and with my Telecaster’s slightly hotter Twisted Tele single-coils it took some of the spikiness out of the bridge pickup and was behaving like a Muff, where the more polite settings on the Sustain dial can double as or stand in for a vintage-style overdrive; warm, wooly, analog, and musical.

But as it turns out, there’s a lot of gain under that Volume knob. With the Sustain dialed back a bit, you can really push the front end of your amp for that violining quality on single notes without turning chord work into mush.

With the Les Paul’s humbuckers, as you would expect, there’s more width, more weight. That bridge pickup is, in its own way, just as uncompromising as the Tele’s but teases out all kinds of magic from the Big Muff Pi 2. Those weaned on Sleep, Melvins, and all the big riff rock that exists somewhere between Blue Cheer and Goatsnake will find numerous tonal epiphanies on their way to the Holy Mountain, so to speak, harmonics that were hitherto out of reach reveal themselves, the overtones adding a certain magic.

Back on Planet Blackguard, the extra aggressiveness that Josh Scott promised was yielding all kinds of goodness, from slightly spiky warm drive/distortion that bloomed nicely when digging in, think the Stones, and garage-rock psych, to Blackmore-esque crunch when you brought up the sustain a bit more. Dialing the Tone control back fattened it up those single-note melodies on the Tele nicely.

Players can sometimes be turned off by fuzz because of unexpected results. But a fuzz-box like this rewards both patience and an open mind as to what kind of sound you want. There are so many sweet spots – so many surprises – and they just keep coming as you play around with volume, and pickup selection.

It’s still recognizably a Big Muff; it’s in that zone. But the Tone control seems to exert even more influence over proceedings. There is a little extra bite. You might want to get a rabies shot with some of the sounds that come out of the speaker. And yet it’s not just rock animal. Blues licks sound superb at more subtle settings.

Verdict

One thing we hear a lot in this new golden era of guitar effects pedals is a certain jaded reply whenever a new fuzz comes out. Does the world really need this? Yadda yadda yadda… And given the sheer abundance of Big Muff-style circuits, clones of clones, triangles, Pi, sheep, the lot, that might be understandable.

But to succumb to such jadedness is to forget the primal appeal of the fuzz pedal in the first place – the primal appeal of electric guitar. The Big Muff Pi 2 is a pedal that will remind you of these simple pleasures.

And this is with two op-amps doing the Lord’s work. What would a Big Muff with three sound like? We’ll let the pedal designers answer that question.

But is this worth checking out, for Big Muff superfans and fuzz noviciates alike? One-hundred per cent yes.

GuitarWorld verdict: More aggressive, more physical, more raw and in tune with the animal kingdom, the Big Muff Pi 2 does what sequels do, and ups the ante, but it also contains multitudes – it’s a pedal fished from the dustbin of history to set up the next chapter in EHX’s fuzz legacy, and could be the versatile war dog your pedalboard is waiting for.

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What is it?

The latest in Beetronics’ apian-themed pedals sees the company able to get the ‘bee’ word into its name twice. The Bee Bee Dee is, of course, a BBD analogue delay pedal, but it’s one that’s digitally controlled, so it takes sonic flexibility way further than most.

For anyone who may be unfamiliar with what a BBD analogue delay is, it’s a technology that emerged in the 1970s as a convenient solid-state alternative to tape delay, long before digital delay entered the mainstream.

Its basic methodology is to delay the analogue signal by moving it in steps along a line of capacitors, the ‘bucket brigade’ name being derived from the analogy of a line of old-time firefighters passing buckets of water.

At the heart of any analogue delay is one or more bucket brigade chips, and the Bee Bee Dee is equipped with two of them.

Specs

• PRICE: $299 | £234 | €329
• ORIGIN: USA
• TYPE: Analogue delay pedal
• FEATURES: Buffered Bypass, 600ms delay time (up to 2 seconds with tap tempo)
• CONTROLS: Tone, Delay Time, Mix, Activity, Repeats, Depth, Performance switch, Mode switch, Performance footswitch, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V power adapter (not supplied) 200mA
• DIMENSIONS: 88 (w) x 145 (d) x 70mm (h)
• CONTACT: Beetronics

Usability and sounds

The new pedal has the usual delay pedal control over delay time, dry/wet mix and repeats (feedback) but also features a Tone knob. Beyond those you get a choice of three toggle-switched operational modes for the pedal: Classic, Lo-Fi and Pitch.

Classic mode delivers straight BBD delay with the Delay Time knob offering a range of clean delay up to 600ms at about its one o’clock position – plenty to cover most practical guitar-playing eventualities and offering bathtub reverb and slapback in its lower reaches.

Up to that point, the basic voice of the repeats – with the Tone knob in its neutral position at 12 o’clock – is typically analogue, giving a clean initial repeat that mirrors your dry sound, with subsequent repeats exhibiting subtle tonality changes that let them blend smoothly into your sound.

A powerful feature of this pedal, though, is that you’re not stuck with a fixed voice. Turning the Tone knob to the right will thin out the body of the repeats, giving you something brighter, sharper and grittier.

Turning the knob to the left rolls off top-end for warmer and darker repeats. Between the two extremes of the knob there’s a whole spectrum of variation for placing the repeats exactly where you need them in relation to your core sound.

Tones from beyond one o’clock on the Delay Time knob are described by Beetronics as “stretching the circuit”, and what happens is that the delay times increase but the clarity of the repeats decreases, so your first repeat isn’t so close tonally to the dry sound, losing a bit of the attack and getting darker and grittier, while still being able to be tempered by the Tone knob. Using tap tempo for longer repeats up to two seconds makes this much more extreme.

If you want to add modulation to the delay, you can set it up with the Depth and Activity knobs (with Activity setting the speed). There’s quite a range available here, from a subtle shift of perspective through smooth chorusing to fully radical seasick vibrato.

Now, it’s perhaps best at this point to mention the footswitching functions. Besides its standard latching bypass functions, the right-hand footswitch also has momentary action for quick bursts of effect when desired. Furthermore, when latched with the effect engaged, a press-and-hold will ramp up the feedback into oscillation, letting you keep your hands on your instrument, rather than physically twisting the knob.

The left-hand (Performance) footswitch has three different functions as set by the toggle switch above it. There’s tap tempo with a range of subdivisions available via the Activity knob, momentary or latching switching of the modulation, or a 2X function where a tap or a hold doubles the delay speed, also shifting the feedback by an octave at the same time, which works well in momentary bursts.

Lo-Fi mode, described by Beetronics as textured and unstable, takes that basic BBD sound and modifies the repeats. What you’ll get are slightly crustier repeats with less clarity, giving you an extra set of tonal options when using non-modulated straight delay. Modulation in this mode is radically different, though.

It’s more irregular in nature because it shifts not just Delay Time but also Tone, so repeats can shift between brighter and darker, something the position of the Tone knob has great influence over. It all adds another layer of interest with an altered texture and sense of movement in the trail of repeats for an otherworldly undercurrent.

The wackiest of the pedal’s modes is Pitch, which introduces pitch shifting to the repeats. The effect is dependent on both the Depth knob, which selects the pitch interval, and the Activity knob. The Activity knob sets the tempo-sync’d rate of the pitch modulation, which is locked to delay time.

The most logical musical starting point to explore this mode is with the Depth knob at noon for an octave pitch change, automatically in tune with whatever you play. The overriding effect here is of rhythmic patterns, not unlike synth-style sequencer parts, which are at their most effective when you synchronise your playing in order to build rhythm parts.

While there is plenty to explore with this simple octave shift, things move into a different gear when you select some of the other available intervals and dial in harmonised repeat patterns. This opens the door to a range of strange and intricate sounds that some players will enjoy employing in a musical context – but may leave others scratching their heads and heading straight back to Classic mode.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★½

For straight delay tasks, the Bee Bee Dee is excellent, combining classic analogue sound, a practical range of delay times and nicely applied modulation with a range of practical elements that you wouldn’t normally find in a conventional analogue delay.

This is particularly true of the unique tone-shaping available for the repeats and the footswitching functionality that gives you tap tempo as well as momentary and latching operation of stage-ready performance effects.

Guitar World verdict: For us, those regular delay sounds would be enough to justify purchase. But, of course, in typical Beetronics fashion, there’s rather more on offer.

The Lo-Fi mode and particularly the Pitch mode take you well beyond the usual analogue delay paradigm for a more expansive range of sonic outcomes, making this pedal a delightful device for extending creativity.

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What is it?

In some ways, the humble volume pedal is as basic as a stomp can get; hell, some are nothing more than a potentiometer connected to a string. That said, the Walrus Audio Canvas Volume Pedal is a compelling example of how far this essential utility has come. The Oklahoma City company, known for its innovative approaches and boutique sensibilities, has designed the Canvas Volume to be much more than a mere signal attenuator. Instead, it’s crafted as an expressive tool for dynamic control, precision, and creative integration into a modern guitarist’s setup.

At its core, the Canvas Volume ditches the old-school string-and-pot setup for a cutting-edge position sensor and pro-grade VCAs. Okay, so what this means is there’s nothing mechanical inside, such as gears or pots to wear out or go wonky on you. The sweep promises to be wickedly smooth and responds exactly how you want, so you can nail those violin swells, dial in subtle ride-the-fader dynamics, or just keep your volume changes seamless and silent.

Now, if you’ve used a number of volume pedals in the past, you’ll know they all operate slightly differently, with their own taper. Basically, the taper defines how a volume changes across the pedal’s sweep. Onboard, the Canvas Volume includes seven models of the most popular volume pedals on the market, including Ernie Ball, Boss, and Lehle - and yes, this just shows you how far modelling has come: we’re now recreating volume pedals!

Moving on to connectivity, the Canvas Volume is basically a Swiss Army knife for your pedalboard’s signal path. Walrus made sure it can slot into just about any rig without too much trouble. You get Mono In/Mono Out, with a dedicated Tuner Out for quick, silent tuning, Stereo In/Stereo Out for those lush ambient rigs, or Mono In/Dual Mono Out if you want to split your signal two ways from a single input.

And it’s not just a one-trick pony, either. At toe-down, you can set the max output level. Leave it at unity gain for classic, transparent volume work, or crank it up in 3dB steps, all the way to +9dB, if you want your solos to stand out. And here’s a feature you don’t see every day, the Lag control. This lets you decide how quickly the pedal reacts to your foot moves. You can dial in up to two seconds of lag.

The volume pedal world is already pretty well stocked with options, from dirt-cheap basics to boutique beasts. The Walrus Audio Canvas Volume definitely sits in the high-end camp, and yeah, it might seem a little extra if you just want something to turn you up or down. But if you’re the kind of player who wants a pedal that does more than just fade in and out, the Canvas Volume is potentially worth the investment. If it lives up to the ambitions. Let’s dive in and see what this thing can really do.

Specs

• Launch price: $299 | £279
• Type: Volume Pedal
• Controls: Taper, Gain, Minimum On, Lag
• Features: Fully controllable volume pedal with analog VCAs, multiple taper modes, and up to a 9dB boost
• Connectivity: Inputs: 2, 1/4” unbalanced TS, Outputs: 2, 1/4” unbalanced TS
• Bypass: Buffered
• Power: 9VDC, center-negative, 300mA minimum
• Dimensions (mm): H: 48 X W: 91 X D: 225
• Weight: 2.2 lbs
• Contact: Walrus Audio

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★☆

Coming dressed in an understated grey-and-black colorway, with a rainbow strip to make sure you know which series it belongs to, the Canvas Volume looks like it’s jumped straight out of the ‘80s. There’s a somewhat utilitarian look to this pedal.

The Canvas Volume’s build quality is as sturdy as I’ve come to expect from the Canvas series, perfectly in line with its guitar tuner, pedalboard power, and DI. The chassis feels reassuringly solid in hand and underfoot, and the action is smooth and precise, with no hint of play or wobble. The tread gives you plenty of grip, and the overall weight means the pedal stays anchored, even during energetic sets.

That said, there is one design choice that might irk some players. For some reason, all the ins and outs are positioned on a single side. For anyone who’s meticulous about cable management or likes an ultra-tidy pedalboard, this can lead to awkward runs and a touch of messiness. Personally, I always prefer top-mounted jacks, as you can’t beat the convenience, especially on a crowded 'board. Still, from a pure construction standpoint, the Canvas Volume feels engineered for the long haul, and I certainly can’t knock that.

Usability

Usability rating: ★★★★☆

Day-to-day usability is a tale of two halves with the Canvas Volume. On one hand, the pedal feels instantly familiar to use: the sweep is smooth and highly responsive, making expressive volume swells, subtle fades, and sudden cuts a breeze. The low-profile design means it sits comfortably on most 'boards.

However, things get a bit more complicated when it comes to changing settings. Walrus has tucked the controls away in a clever spot under the heel, which keeps them safe from accidental bumps mid-performance. But actually accessing them can be awkward, especially in the heat of a set.

Adjusting the pedal’s functions, like selecting different taper models or tweaking the lag control, requires you to press two buttons at the same time and use both hands. If the pedal is already installed on your 'board, and you’ve got a guitar strapped on, this turns a simple tweak into a bit of a juggling act. You’ll likely need to either remove the pedal from your 'board or unstrap your guitar to make changes, which isn’t ideal for quick adjustments onstage or in a band practice. In fact, while testing this pedal for review, my awkward attempts to make adjustments in the rehearsal room resulted in a few questionable looks from my bandmates and more than a few jokes at my expense.

On the plus side, once you have everything dialed in, the Canvas Volume is a set-and-forget device. It delivers seamless operation in use, but just know that making on-the-fly changes is best left for setup, not the middle of a gig.

Now, moving on to the Lag control, and personally, I struggle to see a use for this function in my own playing. As a fairly simple guitarist, I tend to rely on my guitar’s volume knob for most dynamics, and the idea of adding a programmed delay between my foot movement and the pedal’s actual response just doesn’t appeal to me. In practice, it feels a bit like overcomplicating something that should be immediate and intuitive.

That said, I can absolutely see the appeal for players chasing big ambient textures, especially those who want to control lush delays and massive reverbs without having their tails cut off abruptly. Setting the Lag to around a second and placing the Canvas Volume at the end of your signal chain could allow for gorgeously smooth fade-outs, letting your effects trails linger naturally. So while it may not be essential for my style, the Lag control is a useful addition for anyone looking to push their ambient sounds even further.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

One of the most surprising joys of the Canvas Volume is how much the taper selection shapes the pedal’s feel and response. Honestly, I hadn’t given much thought to taper options on a volume pedal before, but cycling through the eight available models made the differences obvious. Each taper offers its own distinct volume curve, from gradual to more abrupt transitions, letting you find the sweet spot for your playing style.

For my taste, Taper Five quickly became my go-to option. It’s modeled after the classic Ernie Ball VP Jr., and it just feels right underfoot. The ability to A/B the tapers and pick what suits your rig or technique best is a feature I never realized I needed, until now.

The boost function is another genuinely useful addition. You get up to 9dB of clean, transparent boost, which is more than enough to push your amp into solo territory or give your sound a little extra presence in the mix. During my tests with a Vox AC30 and a Gibson Theodore, the boost was consistently handy, offering a clear and punchy lift without coloring my core tone. Whether you want a subtle nudge or a bold step out front, it’s got you covered.

Taken together, the sound-shaping options on the Canvas Volume make it far more than just a passive tool; it’s a genuinely creative, interactive part of your signal chain.

Verdict

The Walrus Audio Canvas Volume is a modern take on a classic utility, bringing thoughtful innovation and a surprising amount of flexibility to what’s often the most overlooked pedal on the 'board. Its build quality is as solid as they come, and the pedal’s action feels smooth and reliable underfoot. The range of taper options really does make a difference, and the boost function is genuinely useful for cutting through a mix. While the pedal’s settings aren’t the easiest to tweak on the fly, most players will likely set it and forget it, so it’s not really an issue.

Now, I should probably address the elephant in the room: this pedal retails for just shy of $300, and frankly, that’s a lot for a volume pedal. If most people will just pick their favorite taper and be done with it, why would you bother spending the extra for a bunch of features you may never use? For example, I liked the Ernie Ball Taper, and that pedal retails for half the price of this one. Okay, yes, I won’t get the Lag control, but that's not something I have a use for anyway.

That said, for players who value expressive control, creative sound-shaping, and a robust design, the Canvas Volume is a compelling addition to any rig. It’s not the cheapest solution, but it’s one of the most fully featured volume pedals available, and it feels built to last. If you’re ready to move beyond the basics, the Canvas Volume rewards you with professional versatility and more options than you ever thought you needed.

Guitar World verdict: There’s no denying that Walrus has gone all out with the Canvas Volume, even if it may be overkill for the majority of players. The multiple taper options are a nice touch, and the 9dB boost is very useful, but needing two hands to change modes makes it awkward to operate while it’s on a 'board or while you're holding a guitar.

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Behringer’s owner has filed a lawsuit against Boss and parent company Roland over its use of polyphonic tuning technology in several of its amp modeling and multi-FX pedals.

The lawsuit is from Empower Tribe, which owns Behringer and TC Electronic, and claims Roland has produced a “knock off” of its patented polyphonic tuner.

As a result, Boss has removed the feature from many of its flagship devices, including the GT‑1000, GT‑1000CORE, GX‑100, and GX‑10.

The story was broken by YouTuber John Nathan Cordy, who was prompted to go down a series of rabbit holes when a fan bemoaned that the polyphonic tuner feature had been removed from one of their Boss pedals.

This removal has been confirmed to be related to the court case by Boss in a statement provided to Guitar World.

“As of March 2026, in light of pending litigation concerning certain aspects of polyphonic tuning functionality, we have decided to remove the polyphonic tuner function from the GT‑1000, GT‑1000CORE, GX‑100, and GX‑10,” the company says.

Legal documents can be found on CourtListener.com, with the first complaint issued October 9, 2025.

Empower Tribe claims that Boss has wrongly infringed on TC Electronic’s patented tuner, the PolyTune – in particular its ability to tune multiple strings simultaneously. The pedal was first launched in 2011 and today, the latest version sits atop Guitar World's list of the best tuners in the game.

“Although Roland [which owns Boss] has developed many patented products on its own,” the lawsuit documentation reads, “it decided that instead of creating a polyphonic tuner itself, it would simply knock off Empower's patented device instead.”

As Cordy notes, the PolyTune isn't the world's only polyphonic tuner, and the Boss pedals it formerly existed in weren't direct competitors; tuners were simply one feature among many. The Boss GX-10, for instance, offers 32 amp models, a monophonic tuner, a looper, and multiple effects. So the waters could be deemed a little murky here.

“[The] defendants have never sought or obtained a licence of the patent, and are not authorized to practice any claim of that patent,” the documentation also attests.

It also goes on to say that Empower Tribe had contacted Roland about “reaching an amicable solution,” but claims that Roland “denied infringement” and “refused to negotiate a potential settlement.” This month, Boss removed the polyphonic tuners from those devices, although the units still feature a monophonic tuner.

The lawsuit is steeped in irony, given Behringer has a reputation in the guitar gear community for making cheaper versions of iconic pedal designs – in 2006, Boss sued Behringer over its entire stompbox line, forcing the German firm to redesign its devices. Just last year, it launched a clone of the Boss CE-1.

Behringer was also recently the subject of a lawsuit by Klon Centaur creator Bill Finnegan, forcing the firm to make changes to its Klon copy in an apparent attempt to avoid legal repercussions.

Notably, the Klon versus Behringer case was ultimately dismissed, so we may see a similar outcome repeated in this instance, too.

What is it?

Crumar might not be a name that’s familiar to most guitarists, but the long-established Italian keyboard company has recently released the Burn, a mono in/stereo out rotary speaker simulator designed for both electric guitar and keyboard use.

This is a new take on a pedal originally introduced in the 2010s by Genuine Soundware (Gsi). But where the original offered menu-based operation, this one has an instantly accessible interface with loads of hands-on control.

Specs

• PRICE: $309 | £229 | €259
• ORIGIN: Italy
• TYPE: Rotary pedal 
• FEATURES: Buffered bypass, switchable noise gate, switchable low or high input gain, reverb, optional cabinet simulation
• CONTROLS: Balance, Distance, Angle, Speed, Ramp, Reverb, Memphis switch, Front Stop switch, Reverb Type switch, Hi/Lo input gain switch, Bypass footswitch, Speed footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard outputs L & R, 1/8” headphone output, standard TRS expression pedal input, Crumar ‘One-Cord’ connector, System connector
• POWER: Supplied 9V DC adaptor 300 mA
• DIMENSIONS: 118 (w) x 96 (d) x 34mm (h) 
• CONTACT: Crumar

Usability and sounds

The pedal offers adjustable parameters, not just for rotary speaker sound but also reverb.

Two reverb types are available via a toggle switch, delivering great-sounding yet diverse sonic outcomes via a spring reverb emulation that feeds into the rotary sound, or a larger-spaced ambience at the pedal’s output.

Another switch offers ‘Memphis’-style disabling of the spinning of the emulated bass rotor, which can have the effect of making your low-end more focused.

Speed switching options from the dedicated footswitch toggle between slow and fast speeds but can also bring the speaker to a halt when pressed. A Speed knob adjusts the available range by up to 15 per cent up or down, and you can also set how long the Ramp is from one speed to the other.

The basic rotary sound is very convincing, as are the speed changes with the acceleration/deceleration of the horn and rotor proceeding at different rates like the real thing. The pedal can be run with or without cabinet simulation, giving you two different sonic options to start with.

The overall sonic signature can be adjusted to taste by a knob that balances the level of horn against rotor and parameters representing the simulated mic’ing, particularly the Distance control, which ranges between a focused or more diffused effect.

While rival pedals offer a drive feature to emulate the growl of a vintage Leslie valve amp, there’s none of that here, so you’d have to employ a drive pedal for the more driven speaker sounds.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★

It may lack some of the connective flexibility of its rivals that have optional stereo input and a designated mono output, but if mono input with a stereo output suits your signal chain needs, it could do the job for you.

Guitar World verdict: The Burn offers a really good representation of rotary speaker sound with plenty of practical sonic adjustments on tap and the added bonus of reverb.

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What is it?

The new EHX Effects interface is a generic version of the idea they first trialled with its Big Muff Pi Hardware Plugin.

Like that pedal, the Effects Interface can operate as a stand-alone 2 in, 2 out audio interface, but that's where the similarities end. Instead of having circuitry of its own, the Effects Interface instead allows you to loop in any number of pedals from your rig to use as an insert in your DAW.

Alternatively, if you use a laptop in your rig, you can use the Effects Interface to insert computer-based plugins into your signal path via the pedal itself.

Specs

• PRICE: $359 | £365 | €359
• TYPE: Direct box/Pedalboard Audio Interface
• MADE: USA
• CONTROLS: Level, Monitor, Stereo Input, Stereo Output, Footswitch
• FEATURES: Hardware Plugin Mode (Pedalboard Insert), Pedalboard Mode (DAW Insert), Audio Interface
• CONNECTIVITY: Stereo Input, Stereo Output, Power, USB-C
• BYPASS: Buffered
• POWER: 9V DC Center-negative, 200mA or via USB-C
• DIMENSIONS: 146 x 57 x 114 mm
• WEIGHT: 1.45lbs/0.66kg (shipping weight)
• OPTIONS: None
• CONTACT: Electro-Harmonix

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

The Effects Interface has a neo-retro vibe, with chunky, tactile sliders and a well laid-out front panel. The case is about the size of an old-school Big Muff, so it's compact enough to fit on a pedalboard or on the studio (or bedroom) floor next to a 'board.

There's a footswitch for when you're using the pedal as a DAW effects insert, and stereo input meters to check your level. Since one of the best uses for this pedal is using analogue distortion pedals to gain-stack inside your DAW, this is a crucial feature.

Even with a delay pedal or similar you can use the output of the Effects Interface to generate a bit of extra 'push.'

Usability

Usability rating: ★★★★★

The unit itself is simple. Connecting a pedal is straightforward and the indicators on the front panel tell you when it's powered and connected. The metering is solid and makes the pedal usable rather than a frustrating exercise.

On the DAW side, the plug-in required to use the Effects interface is good, telling you clearly when the unit is connected, and what the status is. On first connection, it needs to be calibrated, but this is straightforward.

All of that said, as you'd expect with a pedal this niche and technical, it's not a plug-and-play affair. Although it is possible to set up in under five minutes, you will need to consult the manual and follow the instructions.

Once it's set up, there's not much else required to figure out, but if you want to use it to insert DAW plugins onto your board, you will need to switch around the settings on the plugin, and follow some suggestions for reducing latency.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

Used as a pedal insert, the Effects Interface is at its best when used to apply analog gain stages to tracks in your DAW projects. Bored of the same digital emulations? Run your drums through a real Big Muff, Tube Screamer, or Smallsound/Bigsound Mini. This is incredibly powerful, as you effectively end up with a new collection of gain plugins.

Taking things a step further, delays and reverbs open up sonic options, especially when you start to include pads and granular reverbs. However, if you're experienced at studio sound manipulation, most of what digital effects on your 'board can do is already easier to create with plugins.

Instead, where the pedal shines is dynamic and expressive effects. Think things like loopers, or any pedal with a rocker footswitch. I found myself processing distorted drums with a wah pedal while chuckling like an idiot, and bit-crushing guitar busses by re-processing them through a pair of DigiTech Whammy pedals that were manipulated in real time.

Because the input and output sections of the Effects Interface are an active amplifier, there's a bit of gain applied by the pedal that also gently improves the punchiness of most things that you throw at it, and also stacks pretty well with gain stages that are in the loop.

Obviously with any pedal of this type, there's a concern about latency. In the case of using the pedal as an insert for pedals, for example, by sending a bus or single track to it, the latency is unnoticeable with a fast computer.

Moreover, it is simple to bump the recorded output of the track – since you'll probably be printing the output – back into time. In general, for use on guitars, I found that the slight lag resulted in a double-tracked effect that was actually pretty useful as an effect in of itself.

Verdict

While there are other ways of doing what the Effects Interface does, it really tries to make this process smooth and intuitive for guitarists. That makes sense.

Besides some of their more out-there offerings, EHX are a company that have thrived on a line of pedals that broadly speaking do one thing, and do it well. That much is true of the Effects Interface as an insert.

Guitar World verdict: Every once in a while a pedal comes along that takes you by surprise. The EHX Effects Interface is one – a pedal I didn't even know I needed. The only drawback is the price. It's not cheap, at about the price of an audio interface.

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Amazon is typically the home of cheap guitar pedals but with the launch of the Spring Deal Days sale, I've spotted some significant discounts on one of the stalwarts of stompboxes, Boss. Reductions have hit up to 26% off, which makes it a great opportunity to bag yourself a top-quality guitar pedal for a lot less.

It's available on a select few pedals, including a Waza Craft Metal Zone, the super versatile Boss DD-8, and a couple of more left-field selections. One of our top-rated looper pedals has seen a discount with money off the RC-600, as well as the excellent guitar amp headphones in the Boss Waza-Air.

I've had a look through the whole Amazon spring sale to see what's available, and picked out 7 of the best for you:

My name is Daryl, and I'm an addict. A pedal addict, to be specific. I can't help but get inspired by new gear. There always seems to be a new song hidden within a new guitar, amp, or stompbox – and frankly, a pedal is the cheapest out of the three if you need an extra jolt of inspiration without buying a new Gibson Les Paul every time.

Over the past year, I've tried to keep my pedal obsession in check, but when Amazon's Spring Deal Days rolled around, all bets were off! If you’ve browsed the online retail giant lately, you know there are some jaw-dropping deals on pedals just begging to be snagged.

With all that said, I’ve compiled a list of the coolest deals I’ve found and some that are seriously tempting me – one more pedal can't hurt, right?

What is it?

You can’t unlock your phone, laptop, or tablet without coming across another multi-effects pedal these days. They’re the hot new product, combining amp modeler, effects pedal, and audio interface into one handy unit. With nearly every major manufacturer offering something in the space, it’s getting increasingly difficult for guitarists to choose the right one for their needs, and that isn’t about to change with the launch of the Blackstar ID:X Floor Three.

Looking very similar to their, in my opinion, underrated Amped series of pedals, these new hardware units do away with the power amp section of the aforementioned pedal and focus on becoming the centrepoint of your rig. As modelling becomes indiscernible from the real deal, the ID:X Floor series seems like the natural evolution from the ID:X amps and Amped pedals, giving guitarists everything they need in a single unit.

Today I’m reviewing the full-fat version of the series, but there’s also the Floor Two, which features three footswitches and an expression pedal, and the Floor One, which has no expression pedal and three footswitches. All of the versions feature the same sounds, but as you go up the range, you add flexibility with additional controls.

Floor Three focuses on giving you a decidedly more guitar amp style workflow, so there’s just a tiny screen offset to the right for visual cues when changing the settings of individual effects or amp models. 7 knobs deliver control over your amp tones, following a very similar path to that of the Blackstar ID:X 50 practice amp. You can select your voice with the left-most knob, before tweaking the overall tone with gain, volume, bass, middle, treble, and Blackstar’s patented ‘ISF’ control, which changes the tonality from an American to a British amp sound.

There are eight footswitches across the front of the unit, with the bottom row handling channel switching, preset banking, tap tempo, and the tuner. The upper row offers additional control for switching the pre-fx, modulation, delay, and reverb sounds. The lower footswitches are slimline and soft click, whereas the higher row is more like what you’d find on a traditional stompbox. To the right of the screen is a master volume along with additional controls for setting the tube response and further voicing options. Finally, there’s a decent-sized expression pedal, which is about two-thirds the size of my UK size 9 foot.

On the back panel, there are plenty of connectivity options, and it can be run with a pedalboard power supply-friendly 9V, 500mA power supply. A single input is joined by an effects loop, amp or FRFR cab, headphone out, and stereo XLR outputs for connecting to a PA system. MIDI in and thru allow for connectivity with additional hardware devices or integration into more complex rigs, while a 1/8-inch input offers a line in for audio devices. Blackstar’s Architect software offers a way to dive deeper into amp modeling using your laptop or PC.

Specs

• Launch price: $399.99/£279/€299
• Type: Amp modeler and multi-effects pedal
• Controls: Voice, gain, volume, bass, middle, treble, ISF, manual, shift, save, pre-fx, mod, delay, reverb, master, response, voice, 8 footswitches
• Features: Expression pedal, tap tempo, tuner
• Connectivity: Input, send, return, output, headphones, XLR (L/mono), XLR R, MIDI in, MIDI thru, line in, USB-C
• Bypass: DSP
• Power: 9V, 500mA
• Dimensions: 6.8 x 39.7 x 19.5cm
• Weight: 2.88kg
• Contact: Blackstar

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

The ID:X Floor Three feels surprisingly heavy as I pull it out of the box, so much so that I nearly drop it on my kitchen counter. It’s just shy of a kilo heavier than the Quad Cortex, and that’s noticeable from the moment you unwrap it. The heftiness implies a certain durability, though, which means it’s without a doubt well built enough for live performance.

The entire chassis is metal, alongside all metal footswitches, which lend it that weight. The expression pedal is plastic, but feels pretty solid with a relatively easy travel out of the box. It does have a hex key adjustment, which allows you to make it a bit more solid-feeling if you’ve got a particularly heavy foot.

The knobs are all robustly applied, feeling very similar to those on the Amped pedals, which I’ve reviewed previously. Here, there’s a nice feel of resistance to the travel, which allows for finer adjustment. Ten buttons perform various functions like saving and letting you change effects, select the tube response of the particular amp model you’ve engaged, and an additional voicing switch for reconfiguring the overall tonal quality of the amplifier, or setting it for a bass guitar or acoustic.

Overall, I have zero qualms with its ability to withstand punishment, but for players seeking a lightweight travel companion, you’ll definitely feel that weight with this thing in your backpack.

Usability

Usability rating: ★★★★☆

With the lack of a gigantic touchscreen and plentiful knobs and footswitches, it feels right to just get stuck into turning knobs and pressing stuff rather than hooking it up to a smartphone or plugging it into a PC or laptop. I switch the unit on and begin trialling the presets, but one issue that becomes apparent immediately is that it’s quite difficult for me to bank up or down using the footswitches.

I am the owner of a pair of UK size 9 feet, but the spacing between the two closest footswitches is such that it’s a bit of a gamble trying to go for it. Sometimes I successfully change banks, other times I just change to either channel 2 or 3, depending on how accurate I am. It’s also made harder because there’s not much travel with the footswitches closest to you, which carry a low-profile design similar to that you’ll find on other Blackstar gear, as well as the recent Boss GX pedals and some of their more advanced loopers.

From a design standpoint, having shallower switches nearer to you with the more traditionally sized ones further away makes a lot of sense, but in use, the lack of height makes it difficult to gauge what’s actually going on. The actual click of the footswitches is tactile enough that you know you’ve pressed them, but due to the spacing, and particularly with socks or bare feet, it’s basically impossible to hit both reliably, even when awkwardly turning my foot sideways to try and get a larger contact patch.

It’s a different story with the switches further away, which bypass or engage the effects on that particular preset. Here, I’m pretty reliably able to switch them on and off at will, which is made easier by the fact that you only need to do one at a time. Having these additional switches certainly makes it a lot more flexible than the Floor One and Floor Two models, giving you greater opportunities to tweak your sounds without having to bank up or down to a fresh selection of presets.

The channel selection can be customized for more subtle changes, like clean, crunch, and drive tones from the same amp, or you can go for completely different tones if you like, say a Fender-type clean, Marshall-inspired crunch, then a high-gain lead preset. The switching is close to seamless, but there is an ever-so-slight gap when you press through the banks and channels. With a well-timed strike, I’m able to get it feeling pretty good, but it’s noticeable enough that you’ll need to be mindful of this if using the channel selection while playing live. It’s also noticeable when engaging the individual effects footswitches, so these need to be well timed to feel seamless.

The ID:X Floor Three stands up well when it comes to diving into a preset and changing it. The surfeit of knobs and switches means minimal menu diving when it comes to the amp tones, and every time you make a change to the knobs, the screen displays not only where you’re moving it, but the original position it held on the preset. This is super handy if you’re moving through a lot of presets and only want to make incremental changes, as the knobs will always be in different positions depending on what you’ve got selected.

The effects can be adjusted in two ways: either by engaging with the dedicated footswitches or by pressing the appropriate button in the effects section next to the screen. Dual rotary encoders allow for changing of parameters, and pressing the encoders can access additional screens. It’s a very different feel to the immediacy of the amp tone controls, but I find it very intuitive to start jumping in and messing around. Everything is clearly labelled, and I certainly don’t need to bring out the manual to work out what I’m doing.

It’s a similar story with the CabRig portion, which also has a dedicated button that unlocks a menu to change settings. Here, I can adjust mic types, room size, and change the type of cabinet the preset is using. Finally, there’s a button for control over the expression pedal, which lets you use it as a volume pedal, a wah pedal, or to control the parameter of a selected effect, like swelling up the mix of a reverb or changing the delay time.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

For me, Blackstar has been doing an awesome job when it comes to making great-feeling and sounding amp models. I really loved the tones on the Blackstar Beam Solo I reviewed recently, and it’s no different here. With some other amp modelers, I feel a constant need to tweak, but setting up with my baritone guitar and my favourite pair of Sennheiser HD 490 studio headphones, the ID:X Floor Three just makes me want to keep playing.

Starting with, as is customary these days on pretty much every amp simulator, a classic Fender clean tone, the sound and response are just so amp-like that I don’t feel like I want to change anything. Cycling through the presets, it’s immediately obvious that serious work has gone into crafting usable tones, and whereas with so many other modelers in the price range I want to immediately reach for the settings knobs, here it’s so tastefully done that it encourages me to play more and tweak less.

Switching to my Gretsch semi-hollow guitar to get a different viewpoint on the modelling, I begin laying into Grounds for Divorce by Elbow, which I’m learning for a covers gig. The response is there to picking dynamics, and it feels super natural. Its mimicry of an amp’s ability to respond immediately to how hard or soft I attack my strings is fantastic, and while the phrase ‘it cleans up nicely’ is so overused these days, it’s absolutely the case here.

The cabinet response is often overlooked when it comes to floor modelers and multi-effects pedals, and I’ve had success making an average amp sim sound a lot better with third-party impulse responses. It’s a credit to Blackstar then that for once, I don’t feel the need to switch out the already existing CabRig emulations to get something that feels and sounds more realistic to my ear.

The feel of an amp in a room is very present when played through my headphones and studio monitors, and although I didn’t have the chance to try it through an FRFR speaker, I don’t doubt that it would do the job there, too.

Verdict

The Blackstar ID:X Floor Three does a lot of things really well. I love the immediacy of control that doesn’t require endless pressing of touch screens or a smartphone app to make changes. It’s super intuitive to use, focusing on putting good sound within easy reach and ensuring that you can change whatever you want quickly and easily. I never felt I had to reach for the manual, nor did I want/need to load up the companion app to change settings. With every control accessible on the front panel, it works great as an all-in-one practice, performing, or recording unit.

It is, however, very heavy for a multi-effects pedal, and the footswitch design on the front row makes bank switching really difficult when you’re not playing in shoes, or if you have smaller feet. There are a few gawky flaws, like the tuner being a bit unresponsive at times, the modulation sounds giving a big jump up in volume versus the other effects, but all of these could most likely be solved with a software update. If, like the big boys of the modelling do these days, Blackstar continues to update this unit; it could have something very good on its hands indeed.

Guitar World verdict: Some of the usability could be an issue for players wanting to use the Floor Three as a live rig, but I can foresee that many will be swayed by the excellent quality of tones on offer, with amp and cab models that surpass some expensive units from bigger brands. While it’s lacking a little in terms of features and number of sounds versus something like the Boss GX series, the quality shines through, and fewer options mean more time playing.

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