Jack White’s Third Man Hardware is back with another collaborative pedal, this time creating a buzz with Beetronics with the Old Zoo Lion Meat.

The bizarrely named pedal, which looks like a can of tuna, is a short-run fuzz pedal limited to just 333 units. It’s not the first time White’s left-of-center gear firm has spat out a fuzz box, but none have been this streamlined.

The stompbox redresses Beettronics’ tuna-can design, offering “thick, vintage-inspired tones” and a no-frills single-dial design. Turning the ‘Phlegmatic Roar’ dial sets the overall output volume, while the fuzz is dictated by the Volume knob of a player’s electric guitar.

When rolled back, it promises an articulate clean. When at its most extreme, expect a “roaring wall of vintage fuzz”.

In a quirky twist, the pedal’s underside features a transparent back cover, meaning Beetronics’ bee-bestowed circuit board is visible. And there’s not even a hint of tuna to be seen.

Artwork has been provided by Rob Jones, with whom White has worked before. The pedal ships in “an over-the-top blister pack” which is, fittingly, designed to look like a vintage meat label, and plays on the biblical story of Samson and the lion.

As a statement from the collaboration says: “Eat up, then plug in to give your guitar a belly full of bees, like the carcass of Samson’s legendary leonine corpse.”

Each pedal is priced at $150 and is exclusively available via Reverb.

However, at the time of writing, the drop has already buzzed off. As such, Reverb recommends users hit the heart icon in case any second-hand units appear on the site in the future.

For other eye-catching Third Man Hardware collabs, see its one-of-a-kind reverb, made with JHS Pedals, and the Knife Drop, a synth/octave/overdrive built with Eventide.

Beetronics, meanwhile, ventured beyond the usual analog delay paradigm with its recent release, the Bee Bee Dee.

As the trade war escalates between the US and Canada, with the Trump administration applying a 50 percent tariff on selected goods imported from Canada, there will be some knock-on effects on prices paid by American consumers.

If you’re buying potash, salmon, and critical minerals from Canada, shop as usual. The 50 percent Section 338 tariffs do not affect you. If you’re buying, say, cars and aluminum, there’s no change – these are already covered. But say you are in the market for a guitar effects pedal from north of the border – or indeed an electric guitar or tube amp – then you might be in for a shock.

Empress Effects is the first of the high-profile Canadian gear brands to break cover and warn customers that from August 5, “tariffs, duties, or import fees” will be the responsibility of the customer.

This does not mean that, if you were to buy a ZOIA modular synth pedal for $549 from the Empress website, you would automatically be paying 50 percent on top of that (around $823, not including any local taxes etc), but that the US Customs department will calculate whatever duties are payable on the imported value of the item – and then those duties will be payable to your courier.

Of course, many retailers across the US will already have some of the Empress catalog in stock, so it might take some time for these costs to filter through, and in that time the tariffs could be paused or cancelled altogether. This is, however, another example of how the market for guitar gear is vulnerable to externalities such as this.

Steve Bragg, owner and designer at Empress Effects, says until now the company has been able to absorb the cost of tariffs, but not any longer.

“Because shipments can take up to two weeks to reach and clear the U.S. border, orders placed on or after August 5 may be subject to the new tariffs,” he writes. “Beginning August 5, any applicable tariffs, duties, or import fees will therefore be the responsibility of the customer.

“We’re hopeful that a resolution will be reached quickly. Until then, we’ll continue to cover all applicable tariffs on orders shipped to the United States before August 5.”

It will not just be Empress Effects that will be facing these difficult decisions. Revv Amplification, Godin, and other Canadian gear brands will be figuring out how all of this shakes out financially.

The economic rationale behind the tariff is that it will encourage US consumers to buy a rival domestic product, or for a domestic manufacturer to make one. Good luck in finding an alternative to the ZOIA.

Pedals Week 2026: Every now and then, a pedal comes along that leaves guitarists wondering what they just plugged into. Maybe it looks different. Maybe it works differently. Or maybe it solves a problem that nobody was really thinking about at the time.

Whatever the reason, some of the most interesting effects ever made didn't become favorites overnight. In fact, quite a few were overlooked, misunderstood or simply ahead of their time.

Looking back now, it's easy to see just how many of these once overlooked ideas helped shape the way guitarists think about effects today.

1. Boss SG-1 Slow Gear

The SG-1 has always been one of Boss's most misunderstood pedals. Instead of adding gain, delay or modulation, it simply fades in every note automatically, creating smooth violin-like swells without touching the guitar's volume control.

When it arrived in 1979, most players had no idea what to make of it. It didn't fit into any familiar category, and there wasn't much music calling for that kind of effect. Fast forward a few decades and it suddenly makes perfect sense.

Ambient players, soundtrack composers and experimental guitarists all discovered something Boss had quietly introduced years before anyone was really ready for it.

2. EarthQuaker Devices Rainbow Machine

Few pedals have left guitarists scratching their heads quite like the Rainbow Machine. The controls seem almost random at first, and the sounds range from subtle pitch modulation to noises that don't sound much like a guitar at all.

That's probably why so many players weren't quite sure what to make of it when it first appeared. Anyone expecting a conventional harmonizer was likely disappointed.

Dial it back and it adds movement and texture that few pedals can match. Turn it up and things get weird in a hurry. The Rainbow Machine isn't for everyone, and that's exactly the point.

3. Electro-Harmonix Attack Decay

The Attack Decay is one of those pedals that almost defies explanation until it's plugged in. On the surface, it recreates the automatic volume swells of Electro-Harmonix's original late-'70s design, but that's really only the beginning.

With adjustable attack, reverse-style envelopes, fuzz and expression control, it can drift from violin-like swells to synth textures and sounds that barely resemble a guitar. That's probably why it never became a mainstream hit. It asks players to experiment instead of reaching for familiar tones.

Those willing to spend the time are rewarded with one of the most creative and inspiring pedals Electro-Harmonix has ever produced.

4. Boss DF-2 Super Feedbacker & Distortion

The DF-2 is one of those pedals that's much easier to appreciate today than it was when it first appeared in the mid-'80s. Most players saw the word "Distortion" on the enclosure and treated it like another gain pedal, but the real innovation was hidden under the footswitch.

Hold it down and the DF-2 generates controllable amplifier-style feedback, even at volumes where natural feedback would be impossible. At the time, it felt like an odd feature that few players really needed.

Looking back, Boss was solving a problem decades before the rest of the industry caught on. Fast forward a few decades, and what once seemed like a gimmick now feels surprisingly innovative.

5. Boss TE-2 Tera Echo

Trying to describe the Tera Echo is almost impossible because it isn't really a delay, a reverb or a modulation pedal. It borrows ideas from all three, creating spacious, blooming echoes that react to the player's touch in a way that's still difficult to explain. That may be one reason it slipped under the radar.

Guitarists naturally tried comparing it to traditional delays, only to discover it played by its own rules. Give it a little time, though, and its strengths become obvious. The Tera Echo isn't trying to sound like a delay or a reverb. It really does its own thing.

6. Electro-Harmonix HOG

One look at the HOG was enough to intimidate a lot of guitarists. Between all the sliders, switches and expression pedal options, it looked more like a synthesizer than a stompbox. This is probably one reason why it never caught on with the average player.

Spend a little time with it, though, and it starts to make sense. It can create everything from convincing organ sounds and rich octave layers to swelling pads and sounds that barely resemble a guitar.

Most players simply weren't looking for a pedal that could do this much. The HOG wasn't overlooked because it lacked great sounds. It was overlooked because many players never got far enough to it to discover them.

7. Boss DA-2 Adaptive Distortion

At a glance, the DA-2 looks like just another distortion pedal, and that's probably why so many players passed it by. Hidden beneath the familiar controls, however, is Boss's Adaptive Distortion technology, which constantly analyzes your playing and adjusts the distortion across the frequency range. The result is a surprisingly balanced sound that stays articulate whether you're playing open chords or single-note lines high on the neck. It never enjoyed the cult status of classic Boss dirt boxes but that may have had more to do with timing than tone. There's a really good distortion pedal hiding underneath all that technology.

8. Pigtronix Mothership

One look at the Mothership and it's pretty obvious this isn't your average pedal. Part analog synth, part octave generator and part fuzz, it can produce everything from thick octave sounds to quirky synth tones that barely resemble a guitar.

It's not a pedal you can just stomp on and expect instant results. The Mothership rewards clean, accurate technique, and if your playing gets sloppy, you're probably not hearing it at its best. That alone was enough to turn some players away. Those who spent the time with it discovered one of the most expressive and creative analog synth pedals ever built.

9. Z.Vex Seek Wah

The Seek Wah doesn't resemble or behave anything like a traditional wah pedal. Instead of a rocker pedal that sweeps back and forth, you're greeted by a row of lights, knobs and switches that hint at something completely different. It steps through a series of programmable filter patterns that can sound rhythmic, random or somewhere in between. This confused many guitar players.

But the Seek Wah wasn't trying to replace a Cry Baby or Vox wah. It was trying to do something completely different. Players willing to think beyond a traditional wah discovered it could do things no Cry Baby ever could.

10. DigiTech FreqOut Natural Feedback Creator

Initially, creating controllable feedback with a stompbox sounded more like a novelty than something guitarists would actually use. That's exactly why so many players overlooked the DigiTech FreqOut when it first appeared.

Instead of relying on a loud amp, it electronically recreates natural harmonic feedback at almost any volume, with controls that let you choose different feedback harmonics and even adjust how quickly the feedback blooms into each note.

Back then, if you wanted endless sustain, you simply turned the amp up. Today, with lower stage volumes, modelers and home studios becoming the norm, the FreqOut makes more sense than ever.

Pedals Week 2026: Looper pedals are undoubtedly one of the best writing tools a guitar player can have in their arsenal, but they’re also invaluable for anyone looking to sharpen their skills as a soloist, both technically and theoretically.

You could take the chord progression from one of your favorite songs, for example, and start testing out new ideas – which will help you find your voice and identity on your instrument.

As any Guitar World reader already knows, it can be highly rewarding to learn your favorite solos note for note, but studying the chord progression underneath them will help you put your own spin on things. And this is precisely where a looper will come in handy.

Some of the world’s greatest solos were written over movements that allowed the players to create something truly astounding and unique. The more attention you pay to chords and rhythms, the more impactful your solo might end up sounding.

Play the chords into your looper and start experimenting with different sounds and feels. You might notice how some tracks stay in one key and allow you to build your story a scene at a time without any radical harmonic departures.

In other situations, you might notice that some of the chords you’re playing over allow you to add in other tonalities and venture outside of the key, with options for more ear-catching notes from a different scale – from the introduction of Dorian, Aeolian or Mixolydian flavors to more dramatic-sounding harmonic and melodic minor scales.

So, even if you feel like music theory isn’t a strong point, just a little bit of due diligence can go a long way to impress listeners and help you learn how to deliver a solo that truly soars and sings. Your ear is the most important thing here.

Here are 10 tracks that are great for looping, with repetitive progressions that give you plenty of opportunities to conjure up something extra special.

1. Eagles – Hotel California

It’s one of those songs that’s always in the running for the greatest guitar solo(s) of all-time, with Don Felder and Joe Walsh going head to head before joining forces for some lavish harmonized arpeggios at the end.

The minor chord progression underneath is what gives ample opportunity to create something dramatic, with the V chord being changed to dominant (F#7 instead of F#min) and the IV chord alternating between major and minor instead of staying minor.

This is what allows soloists to switch between B pentatonic and Aeolian to harmonic minor, especially on the substituted chords Ultimately, the goal here is to not stick with one scale – make your solo more fluid and unpredictable to catch listeners off-guard.

2. John Mayer – Slow Dancing In A Burning Room

If you’re looking for the perfect song to master your C# minor pentatonic chops, as well as its E major relative, this could very well be it. Unlike Hotel California, the progression is completely diatonic and therefore feels like it’s all in one key, so it’s more about phrasing and delivery than note choices when targeting chords.

With a laid-back tempo and slinky feel, it’s the kind of musical scenario that calls for big pentatonic bends, and therefore works as a practice tool for pitch accuracy. It’s worth asking yourself what note are you trying to bend up to and how close are you getting.

3. Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb

Often cited as one of David Gilmour’s greatest moments, this final single from Pink Floyd’s 1979 rock opera The Wall is an absolute masterclass in how to speak B minor pentatonic.

Pay attention to your vibrato and note choice, because these are two areas where Gilmour is known to excel, and see if you can find your own lines that feel natural and avoid over-complication.

The bar where the chords drop from G to F#min and Emin calls for something extra special – think about what you can play to emphasize the movement underneath you and have some fun with it.

4. B.B. King – The Thrill Is Gone

Anyone trying to master the art of 12-bar blues will undoubtedly come across this Grammy-winning hit from 1969. This is another B minor progression that’s all about the bends – know exactly what you’re aiming for and see what happens when you undershoot or overshoot to unlock “the in-between notes” on the fretboard, like the original blues masters.

The minor pentatonic will be your friend here, but if you’re looking to spice things up, try introducing B melodic minor or A# half-whole diminished scales over the dominant chord (F#7) to create tension before the progression returns to root. This resolution from the V chord to the I is often referred to as a perfect cadence.

5. Metallica – Wherever I May Roam

Arguably one of the most famous heavy metal tracks written using the Phrygian scale, the fourth single from Metallica’s self-titled landmark album of 1991 is a great way of introducing yourself to more outside ideas.

For his solo, Kirk Hammett chose to use a mixture of E minor pentatonic and E Phrygian Dominant – which is the fifth mode of A harmonic minor – to great effect. The big jump from a minor second to a major third is a surefire way of capturing people’s attention.

Use it too much, however, and it loses its effect. So try switching between Phrygian, which has a minor third, and its dominant sibling to mix things up – essentially swapping a G for a G# wherever you think it feels right. Follow your ears and have fun.

6. Led Zeppelin – Stairway To Heaven

Maybe don’t try this one while testing looper pedals in your local guitar shop, but if you’re hoping to explore the world of natural minor, this hit provides a perfect backdrop.

The A minor pentatonic scale will do the trick for most of the chords, but highlighting the F chord with an F note will add a sense of sophistication to what you play, showing everyone how you understand the song’s inner workings by targeting the sound of a minor 6th at exactly the right time.

If you listen to the last note of Jimmy Page’s opening line, you’ll hear how it creates an atmosphere of tension after the familiarity of more bluesy sounds.

7. Free – All Right Now

Some of the world’s greatest guitar solos aren’t strictly major or minor, with the player blending ideas from both worlds into one seamless package. This 1970 hit is one of those, thanks to Paul Kossoff’s iconic fretwork halfway into the song.

Maybe start off in A major pentatonic and work your way into A minor pentatonic as your solo builds towards its grand crescendo, or try using both in a ‘call and answer’ fashion. Kossoff’s vibrato also played a huge part in his solo’s overall feel, so experiment with how you shake the notes you’re choosing to let ring – there’s plenty of space to get creative and express yourself here.

8. Joe Bonamassa – Sloe Gin

The New York blues maverick is one of the undisputed titans of the long-form solo, and the title track from his 2007 album is the perfect example of why that is. Once you’ve recorded the chords into your looping pedal, begin with some simple phrases in D minor and slowly build your ideas in terms of intensity and dynamics.

The original solo is almost three minutes long and never outstays its welcome. Holding back is an art form in itself – and playing along to a progression like this is a great way of learning how to flow naturally through control and discipline, keeping the listener on the edge of their seats every step of the way.

The chords to Purple Rain by Prince would also work very well for this – look at it as telling a story with a beginning, middle and end, rather than going in all guns blazing.

9. Joe Satriani – Flying In A Blue Dream

If you’re mainly used to pentatonic scales, Lydian – which is the fourth mode of the major scale – can present some serious challenges when it comes to phrasing.

Jamming along to the chords from this title track on Joe Satriani’s third full-length, released in 1989, is a great way of familiarizing yourself with these shapes and sounds. You can look at C Lydian from a G major perspective, which is its parent scale, or think of it as C major with a sharpened fourth, or even C major pentatonic with the inclusion of a B and an F.

Ultimately, different ways of visualizing a scale can help you explore new sonic horizons. Experiment with every possibility, even the ones that feel more confusing and less natural, because they might push you in a completely new direction.

10. Gary Moore – Parisienne Walkways

Much like Moore’s most famous track Still Got The Blues, this late ’70s hit is a great way of getting used to cycle-of-fifth progressions, also typified by songs like Autumn Leaves and I Will Survive.

Parisienne Walkways is in the key of A natural minor but at the end of the main progression, the perfect cadence of a V chord (E7) into the I chord (Amin) provides an opportunity to use the A harmonic minor scale for extra tension, which is then released by resolving back to the root.

Like Stairway To Heaven, it’s a great way of learning how to change just one note over the right chord and provide more depth for the listener to appreciate, taking them on a journey that travels further and therefore exceeds expectation.

Pedals Week 2026: The guitar pedal is an ever-evolving format, but also an ever-present one. The first guitar pedals were introduced only in the early 1960s, but in the intervening years they’ve been a source of change in sounds, tastes and techniques in guitar music.

As technology has advanced, so has the debate between the two core types of guitar pedal: analog and digital. Each one elicits different opinions, preconceived notions, and even prejudices: analog and digital. Analog warmth; digital artifacts. Analog mojo; digital harshness. Alternately, noisy analog; pristine digital. Vintage analog; sleek digital.

In this article, we break down the real difference between analog and digital – and what that means for the pedals of today.

What’s in a signal?

To understand the difference between analog and digital pedals, you first need to understand what those pedals are working with. The audio from your electric guitar is a small, variable AC voltage generated by the movement of its strings across its electromagnetic pickups and is directly equivalent to the sound of the strings.

It’s this voltage that amplifiers, well, amplify – and it’s this voltage that pedals make changes to. The method by which those changes are made is what we’re looking at today.

Anatomy of analog

Analog pedals make changes to your guitar’s signal by passing it through discrete electronic components, each of which has different properties. The signal that leaves an analog pedal, though altered, is the exact same signal that came in.

Distortion pedals were among the first analog pedals made, using the limitations of transistors – the small-scale, solid-state replacement for the vacuum tube – to artificially clip the peaks and troughs of incoming signals.

Successive transistor stages continue to amplify the signal, eventually reaching saturation; soft clipping from saturation creates a warmer, more musical sound, while hard clipping creates the buzz-saw (or Velcro-esque) sound of harsher fuzz. Diodes can also hard-clip signals and are often deployed after gain stages for a little extra bite.

Resistors and capacitors, when placed in the right configurations, can make frequency-sensitive alterations to sound. They constitute filter circuits, which can be used to shape your guitar’s tone or the character of an effect. These, in tandem with cascading transistor-based distortion circuits, are the make-up of practically every dirt pedal you’ve ever touched.

Time-based pedal effects came next, as manufacturers sought to replicate the magic of tape delays and spring reverbs in circuit form. Success came through Moore’s Law – the exponential increase in transistor counts in ICs (integrated circuits).

Early analog delay and reverb effects were created with “bucket brigade” ICs, or BBDs, that used arrays of capacitors and transistors to sample, slow, or smear the shifting voltages of the guitar’s signal against itself. Such circuits are also responsible for chorus and phase effects, which come from minuscule time divisions between dry and affected signals.

Iconic analog pedals

There are a great many iconic analog pedals, being that so many were responsible for so many idiosyncratic – and wildly popular – sounds. For instance, pretty much every well-regarded distortion pedal is an analog classic.

The Dunlop Fuzz Face was an early fuzz pedal, championed by the likes of Jimi Hendrix. Electro-Harmonix’s Big Muff spawned a thousand variants, clones and successors, as well as the fulsome tones of David Gilmour’s guitar on Pink Floyd’s Animals, and Billy Corgan’s riffs on Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream. Time-based analog effects are no different, of course.

Electro-Harmonix’s Memory Man was among the first analog delay pedals to market and was responsible for, amongst other sounds, The Edge’s early tone in U2.

Dissecting digital

Digital pedals, meanwhile, use the power of computation to alter sounds. The signal from your guitar is converted from voltages into ones and zeros, typically using something called an ADC (Analog-Digital Converter) that feeds into a microcontroller or small computer chip. From there, the character of the sound can be changed algorithmically, using code.

The first digital pedals were, effectively, miniaturisations of larger rack effects units, made possible again by the ever-shrinking, ever-duplicating transistor. As smaller and more complex pedal-friendly microchips were made possible, so too did it become possible to generate effects otherwise impossible with discrete components: reverb emulations, crystal-clear digital delays and complex pitch-shifting.

Dazzling digital devices (and how they got better)

In 1983, the Boss DD-2 was the first digital delay to enter the stompbox format, marking the effective birth of a new approach to guitar effects. The better chips got, the more digital time-based pedals were capable of; by 1999, the Line6 DL4 was on the market, with its extensive looping and time-stretching capabilities (and with some compelling analog delay emulations too). Why, then, did digital get a bad rap?

In the ’90s, a host of digital multi-effects pedals would launch with the beginner guitarist in mind – the most (in)famous being DigiTech’s RP-1 and Zoom’s 505. Nestled between some semi-capable delay and chorus patches were some of the least inspiring digital-emulation distortions and amp tones a guitarist could ask for.

In certain guitar circles, the preconceived notions that ‘digital=bad’ endure today, despite digital audio technology having come on leaps and bounds – and despite digital delays, reverbs and the DigiTech Whammy (a classic pitch-shifter, used handily by Tom Morello, Jack White and Dimebag Darrell to name but three) having been excellent the whole time.

Today’s digital effects are a world away from those of the ’80s and ’90s, as contemporary digital devices contain entire microcomputers capable of ever more complex algorithms and ever higher audio fidelity – hence the explosion of amp modelers in the past decade.

Hybrid theory

As such, today, it’s not so much a matter of analog vs digital in the pedal world. Digital audio technology is reliably emulating analog tones and technologies to the point of indistinguishability. For another, analog and digital have already been sharing chassis for some time now.

One of the pioneers in this new, harmonious world of analog-digital hybridity is Chase Bliss, the boutique pedal outfit responsible for the Warped Vinyl, Condor HiFi, the recent Automatone series and countless others. Chase Bliss’ slogan is ‘digital brain, analog heart’, speaking to the design smarts behind most of its pedal: all-analog signal paths, with digital control for finer, more accurate and more extensive tweakability.

This is a lesson well-learned by other pedal brands, who are embracing the melding of analog and digital circuits – and embracing the fact that digital effects no longer amount to pale imitations. Boss’ DM-101 is proof positive of this concept hitting the mainstream, being an extensively-featured analog delay with precise digital control. More pedal makers are embracing the possibilities of MIDI and CV too – a topic for another time.

With this whistlestop tour of pedals, their innards and their variably-earned reputations, maybe your pedalboard’s gained a little more luster – and maybe that digital delay you’ve got at the back of your pedal shelf deserves a little more love. Even the Zoom 505 is welcome. Just about.

Pedals Week 2026: Shoegaze is well and truly back. The return of legendary figures to the touring circuit – My Bloody Valentine chief amongst them – has been a heartening thing, demonstrating the continued, vibrant and powerful relevance of the blissed-out guitar as a mode of unreal expression.

These new upwellings of legacy acts are also a reflection of shoegaze’s long and aptly slow second act – newer artists like Glixen, Mo Dotti and They Are Gutting A Body Of Water woozily picking up the mantle left by the likes of Cocteau Twins, The Jesus And Mary Chain and Slowdive, spurred on by the runaway successes of their era.

Even outside of the nu-gaze scene, shoegaze tones have caught on with more mainstream indie and rock torch-bearers, from Wet Leg to Turnstile. But what makes the shoegaze tone? Well, in a nutshell: distortion, modulation, reverb – lots of each, and not quite in that order.

Shoegaze pedalboards are famously well-populated things, Kevin Shields’ small village of floor- and rack-based effects king amongst them. The typical shoegaze sound is heavily distorted guitars, pitch-modulated in some form or another, and smeared by large reverbs placed before them in the chain.

That placement is the defining aspect of a shoegaze tone, in that the huge trails from the reverb compound saturate and swell around the playing at its core – making for a febrile wall of untamed sound. Though the shoegaze tone is broadly easy to recognize, there are countless iterations of it and even more ways to achieve it.

Below you'll find 5 pedals that'll get you into the right spacey ballpark, from do-it-all multi-effects to lush reverbs, glitchy delays, and a must-have My Bloody Valentine signature pedal.

Keeley Loomer

Keeley Electronics’ Loomer is a dual-footswitch multi-effects pedal that combines fuzz, reverb, delay, and modulation into an extremely transparent love letter to everything that jangles, saturates, and otherwise overwhelms.

There are three core reverbs to choose from, each of which has a corresponding amuse-bouche of an effect: hall with shimmer; reverse with vibrato; soft-focus with parallel delays. The fuzz circuit is a Big Muff-of-sorts; big, beefy op-amp distortion with a powerful filter sweep for tone control. A push-button switch on the back lets you switch the order of fuzz and reverb, but for shoegaze, you want reverb first, always.

Fender Shields Blender

What pedal could be better-equipped for shoegaze than one co-designed by Kevin Shields? The Fender Shields Blender is a contemporary remake of the gold-dust ‘70s fuzz-octaver, viewed through a My Bloody Valentine-y lens and tinkered with accordingly. It keeps the same core circuitry as traced from Shields’ own OG Blender but also adds some equally incredible and oblique modes of control.

The Fender Shields Blender contains multitudes, figuratively and literally – what with the two flavors of octave fuzz that run in parallel, the now-optional octave-up, and a whole new control surface just for voltage sag. With so many tonal differentiations at your feet, this is a real Swiss army knife for shoegazery.

Walrus Audio Melee

Walrus Audio’s Melee pedal is another exceedingly swanky dual-effect distortion-and-reverb device, and another immensely handy shortcut to shoegaze. It’s a fuzz and a three-mode reverb, the three modes being Ambient, Octave Down and Reverse With Feedback (all, in one way or another, shoegaze in a box). The fuzz and verb can have their order swapped by a toggle switch, and a Sustain footswitch allows you to both latch reverb pads and swell your trails.

Even accounting for all of that goodness, the Melee’s key USP is something else entirely: that massive joystick on the top-right. It’s an XY controller that gives you precise and expressive control over the blend of fuzz and ‘verb. All the better for dialing in just the right volume of inscrutable trails….

Read more: Full Walrus Audio Melee review

Catalinbread FX40 Soft Focus Reverb

Catalinbread’s FX40 Soft Focus reverb quite literally captures the sound of shoegaze history for pedalboard-friendly delivery to a new generation of ‘gazers. It’s a replication of the ‘Soft Focus’ reverb patch found on the Yamaha FX500 – a ‘90s studio rack processor used heavily on Slowdive’s Souvlaki, amongst other quintessentially dreamy ‘90s records.

The Soft Focus is a big plate-style reverb with some lush modulatory goodness stashed within. The plate reverb meets three parallel channels – one clean, one with an octave-up, and one with a multi-voice chorus – for a blended tone that shimmers and moves in highly idiosyncratic fashion.

Old Blood Noise Endeavors Parting

Shoegaze has always been about tonal experimentation. And the second wave of shoegaze has coincided quite handily with what might be described as the second wave of glitch pedals, as evidenced by Old Blood Noise Endeavours’ pedal collab with harpist Emily Hopkins, Parting.

To make a long story short, Parting is glitchy, random ambiance via a delay/verb and Fun With Samples. It’s an inscrutable box of chance, incorporating downsampling, LFO-based modulation, delay, and reverb. It’s capable of everything from zippy reverse-sample soundscapes to smeared (there is literally a knob labeled ‘Smear’) verby beds. Three-dimensional lushness abounds.

Pedals Week 2026: The stompbox does not belong in these times. A crude metal brick studded with switches and dials, its scuffed footswitch still bearing your bootprint from last night’s gig, its innards a tangle of wires and solder globs – the format is a far cry from the intangible, unknowable sleekness of modeling software.

But perhaps that’s why stompboxes have endured – even flourished – on the modern scene. “People still love turning knobs,” shrugs Reverb’s Senior Director of Analytics, Cyril Nigg, as he prepares to mine the data for GW’s week-long celebration of pedals. “There's just something very satisfying about looking down and seeing your chain of effects and dialling it in. With stompboxes, it's cause and effect, right? I love it. And I'm guessing you love it too.”

What’s the overall health of the pedal market in 2026?

“First of all, people still love pedals. Y’know, we’re selling thousands a day on Reverb. There’s been 100 new pedals released so far this year, so it’s still a thriving market. It’s hard to find a brand-new pedal that hasn’t got more expensive over the last five years. Cost of materials, tariffs, labor costs, all of those things have gone up.

“But then, if you look at the used market, prices have actually been pretty steady. And we know this because we built the Reverb price index, which shows millions of transactions since 2018, just to help us understand how the whole market is moving.”

What pedal categories are selling best in 2026?

“Prices on vintage and rare pedals – y’know, things primarily made in the ’70s through the ’90s, like a Moogerfooger or a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz – are up about 20% year over year, and 50% higher than pre-pandemic. And then, if you look at effects categories: overdrive, distortion, fuzz, that group is all up about 25% since 2019.

“Delays have done well, they’re up about 15% in that period. Of the four main modulation categories, flange has always been the least popular and chorus is still number one by far. But tremolo used to be number two until, like, 2020, when the phaser overtook it.”

Which specific pedals do people want in 2026?

“One that’s definitely come up, especially recently, is the Analog Man King Of Tone. They’re still a boutique builder and they’ve kept that supply limited. To get a new one, you have to email Mike Piera, and I’ve been on the waiting list for a while now. So prices have gone [up sharply]. He sells them for, like, $350 direct, but they regularly sell for over $750 now, and they’ll go up even more if he stops producing them.

“That’s certainly one of the iconic pedals to have. Then there’s the Klons: the KTR and the Horsie/Centaur, those are always in high demand. The Nobels ODR-1, especially the ’90s version, which became the Nashville session pedal – those are selling for, like, $1,000.

“Other things like a Shin-ei Uni-Vibe: you’ll get about $2,500 to $3,000 for those. Of course, there’s the original Roland Space Echo, and the Dallas Arbiter Germanium Fuzz Face will go for around $3,000.”

How expensive can a pedal get on Reverb?

“We regularly sell pedals for thousands of dollars. We’ve certainly sold some original Klons for over 10 grand. And pedals with provenance or a story behind it, something that’s been owned by an artist, or really early serial numbers, those command an even higher price. Recently, Denmark Guitars in London sold Kurt Cobain’s original ’80s BOSS DS-1, used both live and in the studio during Nirvana’s Nevermind era [for $9,748].”

What are the hottest eras of production?

“I think there’s two primary periods. There’s the early days, from the late-’60s into the late-’70s. So y’know, the original Fuzz Face, Uni-Vibe, Space Echo, Mu-Tron, the early wahs, Tone Benders, all that stuff that the Stones, Hendrix, Pete Townshend and these guys used.

“Then it kinda leapfrogs into the ’90s, when you get brands like Nobels, Lovetone, some of the early Way Huge pedals. That ’90s era that has gotten very popular, almost in line with the classic ’60s and ’70s stuff.”

How about the big losers in the pedal market?

“One category that has certainly gone down is multi-effects, which are down about 15% since 2019 and 5% year over year. There’s probably two things driving that. One is the rise of amp modelers. If you’re looking at a Neural DSP, Axe-FX or Fractal, they operate not only as an amp in a box, but also a multi-effects.

“Also, with multi-effects pedals, the technology kinda goes out of out of favor. Like, the newest version of a multi-effects usually has better engines, the sounds are better, they’ve evolved the interface.

“But if you go back a few years, those multi-effects units just don’t sound as good. Whereas, with an individual stompbox, a lot of the good ones are analog, and even the digital ones, they’ve really honed in the sound, and it does its job really well.

“I haven’t really seen that amp modelers have impacted the popularity of individual pedals. Based on the data we see, a lot of people are buying both individual pedals and amp modeling units. Also, people will often have two or three rigs: maybe a traditional setup, and then, if they’re playing gigs, they might recreate that on an Axe-FX or Neural DSP Quad Cortex.”

Have any companies bucked the trend?

“Hologram Electronics are interesting, because they’ve really kept their catalog pretty limited, and one of their best-selling pedals is the Chroma Console, which is actually a multi-effects unit. It’s usually in our top 20 best-selling pedals, but it’s going against the grain. Whereas most other multi-effects are trying to hang on, that one has actually done really well.”

Have any iconic pedals cooled in popularity?

“I’ll put this one out there. The Klon Horsie: they’re still, like, $5,000, so it’s not like there’s not a lot of demand. But at the peak of the pandemic, they were closer to $6,000 or $7,000. So they’ve certainly come down from their peak. They’re still legendary, but people aren’t willing to pay quite as much as they once were. But there’s not many examples of legendary pedals falling off.”

What’s your advice for buying and selling pedals on Reverb?

“Pedals are one of the easiest things to sell. They retain their value well, they’re pretty indestructible, they’re easy to ship. Make sure you price it correctly, using Reverb’s price guide. That’s the most important thing. And then, taking good pictures, being honest about the condition, saving the box and accessories – those things always help.

“On the buyer side, if you have a specific pedal you’re looking for – say, a Lovetone Big Cheese – set up a save search to get notified when anyone lists one or it gets a price drop. You often have to act quickly. And don’t be afraid to make offers. On Reverb, most of the sellers are open to that.

“I’d also say that pedals are one of the best ways to get a different sound without spending a lot of money. Particularly if you buy used. You could spend, like, 50 to 100 bucks, buy a chorus pedal and a DS-1, and get Kurt Cobain’s sound. Or plug in a Phase 90 and sound like Waylon Jennings or Eddie Van Halen – with the right touch.”

Finally, if you could invest in any pedal, what would you choose?

“Right now, maybe an Analog Man King Of Tone. But of course, an original Fuzz Face. It’s so iconic. I grew up wanting to sound like Hendrix, and you see that big red pedal and it conjures up that sound in your mind…”

• Check out to Reverb’s price guide for more insight on pedal price trends.

Pedals Week 2026: If you’ve ever wondered what MIDI can do for your guitar rig, this is the guide you’ve been looking for. MIDI isn’t just for synth nerds. It can add incredible flexibility to your setup, particularly for live players looking to cut down on tap dancing. It can also get you the kind of seamless tone changes normally reserved for pro touring players.

In this guide, I’ll take you through everything you need to know about MIDI, the hardware and connectivity you’ll need, and some examples of how to get it set up on your own rig. It might take an afternoon to get your head around, but once that’s done, you’ll unlock some seriously cool functionality from your pedals.

What is MIDI?

Let’s get one thing straight: MIDI isn’t audio. MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, and at its core, it is a communication protocol for sending signals from one piece of hardware to another. For guitarists, this means you can send a signal that changes a preset on your multi-effects pedal, or even just changes a single setting, like turning up the gain on an overdrive pedal, or adjusting individual EQ knobs.

Back in the ’80s, synth players were growing frustrated at having loads of gear that couldn’t talk to each other. If you bought a synth from Roland, it wouldn’t work with one from Oberheim or Sequential. Ikutaro Kakehashi, then president of Roland, recognized that this issue was limiting the growth of the electronic musical instrument industry, and together with Dave Smith from Sequential, came up with a standard protocol that would allow universal communication. Thus, MIDI was born.

MIDI sequencing enabled musicians with no formal training to create complex arrangements, making music creation far more accessible to the masses. It also allowed a smaller group of musicians to sound like a much bigger group, revolutionizing live performances.

MIDI also coincided with another significant tech development: the personal computer. The combination of MIDI and PCs meant that home recording became far more accessible for your average Joe, without having to use expensive studio equipment.

MIDI & guitars

MIDI had two large effects on the world of guitar. The first camp was those who wanted to turn the guitar into a synthesizer. Suddenly, you could make your guitar sound like a violin or a lush pad on a synthesizer. Players like Allan Holdsworth, Pat Metheny, and Jerry Garcia utilized these to varying degrees, producing some pretty wild effects and some absolutely crazy-looking guitars.

Using pitch to MIDI, you could now send the dynamic signal of an electric guitar, convert it to 1s and 0s, and send it on to a synthesizer to completely transform the sound. This required a hexaphonic pickup, which tracked each string individually in order to prevent the computer from getting confused by so many incoming signals.

The other camp, and the one that is more relevant to today's guitarist, is the rig controllers. Players like The Edge needed a way to manage their ginormous setups with multiple amps, pedals, and rackmount gear more easily, and MIDI systems provided a way to do that.

MIDI foot controllers allowed them to change multiple parameters at once, switching amp tones and multiple patch settings on their rack gear seamlessly, without having to bend down and turn knobs or have someone backstage do the changes manually. It completely revolutionized what guitarists were able to do onstage when it came to controlling masses of effects.

MIDI protocol

How does MIDI actually work? Let’s break it down. There are two main types of MIDI communication:

• Control Change (CC): This is typically used for parameter changes within a preset. For example, turning up the delay time on a delay pedal.
• Program Change (PC): This is used for wider changes like switching to a completely different preset on a multi-effects pedal.

When you send a MIDI CC signal from a foot controller to your hardware, you’ll be sending what’s called a three-byte package. For MIDI PC signals, it only uses the first two bytes to send a signal.

For guitarists, the three-byte package will look something like this:

• Byte 1: The type of message it is and what channel it’s on. For example, “this is a Control Change (CC) message, sending on channel 4.” This means anything not on channel 4 will ignore the message. With a MIDI controller, you get a total of 16 channels to send signals over.
• Byte 2: Each knob, switch, or function on a guitar pedal will have a MIDI CC number assigned, from 0 to 127. Byte 2 will send a MIDI CC number from the foot controller to engage that particular knob, switch, or function. In this example, we want to change the mix knob of our delay pedal, which might be CC number 15.
• Byte 3: This is the value you want to change the parameter to. This also operates the MIDI CC from 0 to 127, so sticking with our delay pedal example, 0 would be the mix knob all the way down, and 127 would be the mix knob all the way up. You can then set this to whatever level you like, adding in more of your delayed sound for a particular section of your song.

As you’re able to send 16 channels with a potential 128 parameters, that totals to 2,048 individual parameters. It means there’s basically no chance of running out of room to send signals in a MIDI system. If you’ve got that many knobs or switches on your pedalboard, please send me a picture!

MIDI hardware

Now you understand how MIDI works and what it does, let’s look at which hardware you can use with MIDI as a guitar player.

MIDI foot controller

The most common use of MIDI by guitar players is the MIDI foot controller. These are pedals with a variety of footswitches, and they usually have a screen so you can see what bank/patch you’re on or which function you’re triggering.

Multi-effects pedal

Many multi-effects pedals also have MIDI already built into them. Units like the Quad Cortex or Helix Stadium can be configured to send MIDI data via their footswitches, so you can control external pedals or hardware whilst using them for your main amp tone.

MIDI receivers

You also need somewhere to send your MIDI data, and there are a few common bits of hardware that you can control with MIDI.

Digital pedals

The most common for guitar players would be a digital effects pedal. Things like reverbs, delays, and modulation pedals are the most typical recipients of MIDI signals.

Guitar amps

Modern guitar amps also often have MIDI ports, which allow you to use a MIDI controller to change the channels. So you could use your multi-effects pedal with a guitar amp, and get that to change the amp channel from clean to dirty at the same time as engaging your delay pedal, and upping the mix knob to 50%.

Laptops

A more modern way to use MIDI is by sending the data to a laptop. This might be to use a guitar plugin live, with the MIDI controller to change presets or parameters. More often, though, especially for big touring bands, they’re using MIDI automation via backing tracks.

In this example, there’s a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) running on a laptop, and all the changes to the amp and pedals are preprogrammed via MIDI. The backing tracks play, and when the band moves to a new section, for example, going from a big chorus to a clean middle eight, the MIDI track sends the changes to their gear, resulting in a seamless switching of tone.

This is what allows big bands like Muse to put on an amazing live show, running around the stage without having to worry about getting back in time to stomp on their pedals to change their settings for a chorus section or a guitar solo. Obviously, this can go wrong, so most pro bands use two laptops running in unison in case the first one fails.

MIDI connections

You might already have some MIDI-enabled gear, so what should you look for to start setting up your own MIDI rig?

5-pin DIN

This is the classic MIDI connection that’s been in use since the ’80s. It’s a round connector with 5 pins, and these are universal, allowing any gear with the same connections to interact with one another.

TRS MIDI

5-pin DIN connections are quite large, which means you’re only likely to find them on bigger pedals like multi-effects or Strymon workstation pedals. So, TRS (Tip Ring Sleeve) MIDI was born, enabling MIDI functionality using a 1/4-inch or 1/8-inch jack, which it makes it much more usable on compact pedals.

Unfortunately, unlike in the ’80s when companies all agreed on a single format, TRS MIDI varies in its functionality depending on which cable you use. The cables look identical on the outside, but are wired differently on the inside depending on what the manufacturer wants them to do.

• TRS MIDI Type A: This is the most common type of TRS MIDI cable, used by Strymon, Boss, Line 6, Meris, and many others. These are wired so that the Tip sends the data and the Ring sends the power. Note that the power isn’t to power pedals, but rather a small voltage required to send the MIDI data.
• TRS MIDI Type B: It’s unlikely you’ll encounter this as a guitarist, but it’s worth knowing about. Type-B cables are often used by synths and MIDI controllers, and here the data is sent down the Ring with the power down the Tip, so if you tried to use this cable with a modern pedal, it won’t work. It just means you need to be careful when buying TRS MIDI cables that you’re getting a Type A rather than a Type B.
• Chase Bliss: On Chase Bliss pedals, neither Type A nor Type B MIDI cables will work. CB uses a specific wiring where the MIDI data is sent down the Ring, but the Tip is disconnected. This is because Chase Bliss MIDI ports need to act as both MIDI inputs and expression pedal inputs. If you have a Chase Bliss pedal, then you need to buy their specific cable or use a MIDI utility/splitter box that translates the signal for you.

MIDI In/Out/Thru

Confused yet? Just wait, there’s more. Many pedals using the 5-pin DIN system will have a separate MIDI In connector, as well as a MIDI Out and/or Thru. Your MIDI footcontroller might only have a single MIDI Out, so if you want to chain multiple MIDI pedals together, you’ll need to go out from your controller, to the In of your pedal, then use the Out or Thru to go to the next pedal’s MIDI In, and so on and so forth.

The hole goes even deeper as we start to get into TRS MIDI. On some pedals, manufacturers use two 1/8-inch jacks side by side to act as the In and Out/Thru. You might need to dive into your pedal settings to get this to work properly, as by default the Out will need to be reconfigured as a Thru.

You might notice that some of your pedals only feature a single TRS MIDI connector. In this instance, you can’t daisy chain them and instead need to buy an additional MIDI splitter box, which acts as the main hub for all your MIDI pedals. A typical setup would be to run a master 5-pin DIN from your MIDI foot controller to your MIDI splitter box, then send out from here to each individual pedal with a single TRS MIDI connector.

Other MIDI uses

MIDI can do more than just change pedal settings, so here’s some extra functionality you can unlock.

MIDI clock

Syncing your delay and modulation effects with the song’s tempo will make your songs sound a lot more professional, and a MIDI controller can do this automatically. A MIDI clock can be sent by a controller or a DAW and will automatically synchronize all of the pedals in the MIDI ecosystem to the same tempo. This means your delay repeats or tremolo pedals will be exactly in time with the beat.

Don’t worry if you don’t play with a DAW; most MIDI foot controllers also allow you to set a global tap tempo. That way, when your drummer inevitably speeds up the song, you can still make sure all of your pedals are synchronized to the tempo of the track when playing without a click.

MIDI expression

A lot of MIDI foot controllers have a dedicated expression pedal input. Traditionally, an expression pedal controls a single or two functions, so you’d need to get two pedals to control more than one or two pieces of gear. With a MIDI controller, however, you can digitally alter which parameter you want the expression pedal to control.

For example, on the first song of your set list, it can be set to do a traditional wah effect, on the second song it will seamlessly control the time knob on your delay pedal, and so on. You can even program it to change multiple parameters at once, which can unlock some wild sounds you wouldn’t be able to achieve without a MIDI controller.

Common issues

If you’re setting a MIDI rig up for the first time, here’s a few cautionary tales from other players so you can learn from their mistakes.

Omni Mode

Many pedals come set to Omni mode by default, which means they’re listening to all 16 MIDI channels at once. If you chain a couple of pedals together without specifying a channel for them to communicate, you’ll likely find that both pedals change presets at the same time.

To counter this, make sure to find the MIDI channel settings for each pedal and give them their own channel number to communicate over.

MIDI loops

Connecting the MIDI Out of the foot controller to the MIDI In of the pedal is the right way to use MIDI functionality. Many beginners, however, then end up going back from the MIDI Out of the pedal to the MIDI In of the foot controller. This is logical to a guitarist because we’re used to plugging in guitar pedals in this way.

This doesn’t work with MIDI because when communicating with MIDI, we want a one-way stream. If you connect them in this way, you’ll get a feedback loop where the foot controller sends messages to the pedal, which sends back to the controller, which then passes it back on to the pedal, resulting in crashes or freezes.

The only time you would be likely to use both the MIDI ports on your controller is when integrating a rack processor like the Kemper or Axe-Fx. Here you might want to send data like the tuner from the rack unit to make it visible on your controller, or to align preset names so you know which song setting you’re on. This requires a more advanced setup to enable bi-directional communication between the two without getting the feedback loop.

Cable compatibility

I mentioned it earlier, but cable compatibility is one of the biggest issues guitarists run into. When you type ‘TRS MIDI cable’ into Amazon, it’s not always clear which one you’re getting. Make sure you check the specifications or title so that you’re getting a Type-A cable, as Type-B cables typically don’t work with guitar gear.

MIDI 2.0

You may have heard of MIDI 2.0, and for now it’s primarily within the realm of synthesizers and DAWs. It’s worth mentioning here however as eventually it will become the norm for guitarists with pedalboards.

As I mentioned before, MIDI communication typically works as a one-way street. With MIDI 2.0, bidirectional communication becomes much easier. This means that in the future, you can plug a MIDI controller into a guitar pedal, and it will automatically know things like CC maps and preset names, so you won’t have to program them in manually.

MIDI currently works with the 0 to 127 parameters, so for some effects with really fine control, you might notice small ‘steps’ as it ramps up. This is sometimes called ‘zipper noise’. MIDI 2.0 has 32-bit resolution, so zipper noise disappears as there are billions of steps in MIDI 2.0.

MIDI 2.0 also features up to 256 channels, which, while it isn’t that useful for guitar players, can open up more options for big bands running super-complex MIDI setups. If you’ve got a single laptop running a huge group of musicians, you won’t be limited by MIDI channels any longer.

Finally, MIDI 2.0 is backwards compatible, so it will recognize MIDI 1.0 devices automatically. It means all the MIDI gear we have now won’t suddenly become obsolete when the music industry moves to MIDI 2.0 at a larger scale.

Conclusion

Still with me and excited by the possibilities of MIDI now? Well, my advice would be to start small first. Use one controller for one pedal, changing one parameter. MIDI can be a real minefield when you start introducing multiple components, so starting small will save you a lot of headaches in the long run.

Once you’ve got one thing working, you can build on top of this to create an automated rig that will up your live playing to the level of the pros. It’s one of those things that takes a while to set up, but you will absolutely reap the benefits once you get your head around it.

Pedals Week 2026: Before the late 1990s, your options for guitar pedals were pretty limited. You either bought a mass-produced, assembly-line stompbox, or you spent a fortune hunting down old vintage gear that might just die on you mid-gig. If you wanted a truly unique sound, you basically had to burn your fingers with a soldering iron and mod it yourself.

Then, everything changed when a quiet revolution started bubbling up from basement workbenches. A small group of circuit tweakers and tone chasers began pulling apart classic designs, swapping in premium components, and focusing entirely on touch-sensitive dynamics.

What started as a niche DIY hobby quickly exploded into a massive industry that completely changed how we sculpt electric guitar tone.

Here are 12 of the definitive stompboxes that built the boutique pedal boom.

1. Pete Cornish P-2 / Precision Fuzz

Hand-built in the UK since 1983, Pete Cornish originally created the Precision Fuzz (later named the P-2) specifically for Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. It delivers a massive, violin-like sustain and rich, creamy distortion that completely eliminates the sputtering harshness of traditional vintage fuzzes.

Players love this pedal because its proprietary, studio-grade active buffer preserves total signal integrity, keeping the massive wall of sound entirely noise-free. Combining classic-rock history with serious engineering, the P-2 cuts through a dense band mix with a tight low-end and a singing note bloom that responds naturally to your pick attack.

2. Klon Centaur

The mythical Klon Centaur is the most talked-about pedal of the boutique gear movement. Hand-built by Bill Finnegan, this transparent overdrive is famous for being incredibly rare, very expensive, and – outside of perhaps the Tube Screamer – the most cloned circuit in guitar history.

Sonically, it blends an 18-volt clean boost with overdrive to add massive headroom, a harmonically rich mid-range push, and a singing, touch-sensitive crunch. Using an internal voltage trick to unleash massive headroom and a sweet midrange push, its known for making a tube amp sound and feel alive while preserving its natural tone.

3. Menatone Red Snapper

Before "transparent overdrive" became a marketing buzzword, Brian Mena helped invent the concept from scratch. Launching Menatone in 1996, his flagship Red Snapper circuit debuted as a direct alternative to mid-heavy, tone-coloring overdrive pedals.

Engineered to preserve the natural chime and character of a player’s guitar and amplifier, it delivers an incredibly organic breakup. Its highly responsive "Bite" and "Cut" controls allowed guitarists to sculpt high-end dynamics without adding unwanted compression.

As one of the earliest point-to-point hand-wired pedals of the 1990s, it laid down the blueprint for the transparent dirt pedal movement.

4. Analogman King of Tone

The King of Tone is a legendary forefather of the boutique pedal boom. Inspired by the vintage Marshall Bluesbreaker circuit, this dual-channel pedal acts as a transparent extension of your rig.

It doesn't compress your signal or add a harsh mid-hump; instead, it stacks harmonic grit onto your existing tone while keeping your low-end intact and pick attack crisp.

It became iconic for this touch-sensitive clarity, but also for a multi-year waitlist so absurdly long it’s a running industry joke, proving that this benchmark handmade circuit is truly worth the decade-long wait.

5. Fulltone Full-Drive 2

Inspired by the thick, mid-forward crunch of a classic Tube Screamer, this heavy-duty blue box was hand-built in the mid 1990s as a rugged, premium alternative for touring players.

It featured clean true bypass switching and an independent "Boost" footswitch that pushed the circuit into a thick, singing lead tone for solos.

By delivering great dynamic touch-sensitivity without squashing your guitar's natural voice, this workhorse became a mandatory pedalboard staple and one of the forefathers of the early boutique boom.

6. Keeley Electronics Compressor

The Keeley Compressor completely changed how guitarists looked at utility pedals, proving that studio-grade compression could actually work on a pedalboard.

Prior to its release, most guitar compressors were just tone-suckers that added tons of noise and flattened your playing dynamics. Robert Keeley solved this by using high-fidelity, ultra-quiet components that smooth out your dynamics while keeping a snappy, musical feel.

It gives you great, singing sustain without coloring your core tone, making it an "always-on" essential for touring pros.

7. Paul Cochrane Timmy

Released in the early 2000s, this legendary overdrive completely rewrote the rules for the transparent dirt market.

Frustrated by pedals that aggressively chopped off a guitarist's low-end, Paul Cochrane designed a circuit featuring a post-gain clipping structure and subtractive bass and treble cuts. Instead of adding tons of mids, the Timmy pushes a tube amp into natural breakup while keeping its core tone completely intact.

It became legendary because it gave players total control over their frequencies, making it a permanent staple that helped define the early boutique pedal movement.

8. Way Huge Red Llama

Jeorge Tripps was an absolute trailblazer of the early 1990s boutique scene. Operating out of his garage, Tripps built the Red Llama using a digital CMOS inverter chip uniquely configured as a raw audio amplifier.

The resulting tone was a ferocious, touch-sensitive overdrive that effortlessly crossed the line into fuzzy, speaker-tearing saturation when pushed hard.

With just volume and drive controls, this quirky, high-output monster proved that handmade boutique designs didn't need to be overly complicated or sterile to be brilliantly effective rock and roll tools.

9. Hermida Audio Zendrive

While early pedal builders experimented with capturing Howard Dumble’s mythical amplifier tone, Alfonso Hermida’s 2004 Zendrive perfected it.

Hand-soldering the initial units straight out of his garage, the aerospace engineer built a touch-sensitive masterpiece designed to replicate the ultra-smooth overdrive of fusion guitarist Robben Ford.

Its brilliance lies in a raw, hand-wired clipping circuit paired with a "Voice" control that sculpts precise mid-range frequencies.

By offering a flawless, dynamically responsive "Dumble-in-a-box" experience built on a home workbench, this handmade masterpiece defined an entirely new genre of boutique tone-shaping history.

10. JHS Pedals Morning Glory

Josh Scott started JHS by repairing and modifying pedals by hand at a small kitchen table. That backyard grit led straight to the Morning Glory, a gold box that perfected the art of the transparent overdrive.

Acting as a transparent low-gain drive, it adds a musical layer of chime, top-end clarity, and grit without altering your amplifier's natural voice. It swaps out the muddy mid-hump of old-school overdrives for a crisp, high-fidelity response that lets your pick attack shine.

Highly responsive and incredibly touch-sensitive, this workhorse quickly became a permanent pedalboard staple and a definitive modern classic.

11. B.K. Butler / Chandler Tube Driver

Frustrated by the artificial, thin clipping of early 1980s solid-state dirt boxes, engineer B.K. Butler took matters into his own hands. Hand-soldering real vacuum tubes directly into an instrument-level stompbox circuit, Butler developed the Tube Driver.

Originally distributed via Chandler Industries in the mid-1980s, this discrete, hand-wired unit supplied authentic, high-voltage tube saturation, sag and rich low-end focus to conventional clean amplifiers.

Famously adopted by Eric Johnson for his legendary violin-like lead tone and David Gilmour for Pink Floyd’s late-era stadium runs, it pioneered the modern, premium "amp-in-a-box" boutique pedal genre.

12. Z.Vex Effects Fuzz Factory

Released in 1995, Zachary Vex’s Fuzz Factory turned the guitar world upside down by proving that boutique pedals didn’t have to just recreate the past.

Built around a pair of New Old Stock germanium transistors, this wild five-knob circuit completely abandoned traditional tone-shaping.

By giving players direct control over transistor bias and stability, it unlocked everything from Velcro-like sputter and gating to infinite, self-oscillating theremin shrieks.

It became an instant icon for players looking to push sonic boundaries, cementing Z.Vex as a brilliant, mad-scientist pioneer of the early handmade pedal movement.

Strymon may have just unveiled the pinnacle of delay pedal design with the TimeLine MX Multi Delay – an astonishingly feature-packed workstation that looks to blow the competition out of the water.

However, all that innovation comes at a cost: the TimeLine MX will cost you $679. So, not only is it perhaps the most advanced delay pedal of all time, it could also be the most expensive.

To put that into perspective, its predecessor, the TimeLine Multi Delay, weighed in at $449.

Elsewhere on the market, the Meris LVS Modular Delay costs around $599, the Line 6 DL4 MKII is priced at $299, and the Boss DD-500 will set you back $399.

But make no mistake – the TimeLine MX Multi Delay isn’t your average delay pedal. This isn’t for your standard slapbacks or springs (though, at $649, you can bet it would do those effects just fine).

Instead, this is for the delay connoisseurs out there – the pedal aficionados who make delay experimentation and layered echoes a core part of their playing style. For many players, it will be simply too much. In the right hands, though, it could be the only delay pedal you’ll ever need – and then some.

“And then some” is accurate, because this thing is jammed with features. It has 12 delay engines, two of which can be run at once for the first time. A new OLED display has been updated. Three footswitches. Nine control knobs. Did we mention the five-minute stereo looper? Yeah, it’s got one of those.

It’s a dizzying spec sheet to scroll through. Elsewhere, there are new sounds in the form of Oil Can and Drum Echo, and Spectral. The latter is a glitchy granular delay for oddball textures, while the former are vintage-y delays.

There’s also more power under the hood, courtesy of a tri-core MHz ARM processor, to keep everything ticking over, and fully expansive series, parallel, and split routing options with full stereo and MIDI support.

“It’s taken a long time, but the day is finally here”, says Gregg Stock, Strymon’s CEO and analog guru. “I’m really proud of the entire group that worked on this project and what they’ve accomplished.

“It takes a diverse collection of talented folk to create a product like this, and everyone brought their ‘A’ game to work every day.”

It’s a delay pedal built for professionals and one that has likely raised the bar for the market. But with a price tag that reaches into multi-effects territory, it's likely to pique the interest of only the most ardent delay fans.

The TimeLine MX Multi Delay is available now for $679.

Head over to Strymon for more.

A judge has granted Boss’ motion to dismiss after Behringer hit the company with a lawsuit over the use of polyphonic tuning technology.

In March, Empower Tribe, the owner of Behringer and TC Electronic, filed a lawsuit against Boss parent company, Roland, claiming the latter had produced a “knock off” version of its patented polyphonic tuner.

At the time, Boss removed the polyphonic tuner function from many of its flagship modeler pedals, including the GT-1000, GT-1000CORE, GX-100 and GX-10, pending litigation.

Boss filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that Behringer’s original patent for polyphonic tuning – first used in the TC Electronic PolyTune pedal in 2011 – fell short on key criteria.

Specifically, Boss’ motion stated that the polyphonic tuning failed to adequately show the “inventive concept”, which is required for patents.

The judge residing over the case agreed. In court documents, it was asserted that Empower Tribe had failed to justify its patent despite attempts to protect its existence. Roland therefore could not be penalized as the patent was unenforceable in the eyes of the court.

“The Court agrees that nothing in the claim limitations, considered individually and together as a whole, is sufficient to transform the Asserted Claims into a patent-eligible invention,” the court says.

“Because the Court finds that the Asserted Claims are directed to an abstract idea and lack an inventive concept to transform the Asserted Claims, the Court grants the Motion.”

The court has also said it would be “futile” to allow Empower Tribe to amend its complaint, owing to the fact that patent-ineligibility is a “defect which cannot be cured through amendment”.

As such, Behringer’s Complaint has been dismissed with prejudice, and in doing so may have just set a precedent for the open use of polyphonic tuners elsewhere. Now that the polyphonic tuning patent is unenforceable, Empower Tribe seemingly no longer holds a monopoly on multi-string tuning.

It’s the latest legal tangle for Behringer, which was sued by Klon creator Bill Finnegan last year over its $69 Centaur Overdrive Klon copy. The lawsuit was dismissed after Behringer introduced a number of name and stylistic changes to the pedal.

Boss has been contacted for comment.

Ernie Ball has made a major play in the effects pedal market by announcing the acquisition of Source Audio.

It’s a significant move from the string maker, which is set to take control of one of the most innovative effects specialists of the past few years.

The acquisition also marks the first time Ernie Ball has branched into the world of premium effects, expanding its scope well beyond its own in-house roster of volume pedals.

Founded in 2006, Source Audio has become a key player in the premium effects market, releasing a broad array of innovative drive, delay, reverb and modulation effects.

Highlights include the Artifakt Lo-Fi Elements, Encounter, ZIO Analog Front End + Boost, and Collider Delay+Reverb.

Source Audio has also earned multiple product and innovation awards over the past two decades, and as per Source Audio's website its pedals can be heard on recordings from the likes of U2, David Gilmour, John Mayer, Aerosmith and more.

“Source Audio has built one of the most creative and respected effects platforms in our industry,” says Brian Ball, CEO of Ernie Ball. “What excites me isn’t just the technology; it’s the way their pedals inspire musicians to find sounds they didn’t know they were looking for.

“Ernie Ball has always existed to help artists create, and Source Audio gives us a powerful new way to do exactly that.”

Ernie Ball’s acquisition could have a knock-on effect for the rest of the market. Source Audio’s credentials have never been in doubt. But if Ernie Ball’s connections can help put its pedals into the hands of more players, then competing premium effects firms such as Strymon, Eventide and Keeley could be faced with a rejuvenated competitor.

Going forward, it will largely be business as usual for Source Audio. It will continue operating under its own brand, but with the backing of Ernie Ball, which will look to scale the company’s profile and appeal.

Existing Source Audio pedals are expected to remain available, with an eye on developing future products and pedals mooted. Don’t expect any Ernie Ball pedals, either. This move will be about increasing Source Audio’s exposure and putting them in the hands of more players.

Roger Smith, CEO and Co-Founder of Source Audio, comments, “Ernie Ball understands musicians, artists, and the culture of guitar in a way very few companies do, and that alignment is what makes this such an exciting next chapter.

“Ernie Ball gives Source Audio the scale, support, and reach to keep growing while preserving the spirit of what we built. I am confident this is the right home for the brand, the products, the technology, and the community of musicians who have supported us from the start.”

Visit Ernie Ball and Source Audio for more.

During the late ’60s, Tom Oberheim earned notoriety among Los Angeles musicians for the ring modulators he built for everyone from the experimental electronic psychedelia band the United States of America to film composer Leonard Rosenman, who used Oberheim’s ring modulator on the soundtrack for 1970’s Beyond the Planet of the Apes.

By 1969, Gibson’s Maestro division contracted Oberheim Electronics to build his ring modulator for them, which was marketed as the Maestro RM-1A.

The ring modulator had limited appeal to the masses (especially after the U.S. government outlawed LSD in 1970), but Oberheim’s follow-up was an incredible success – the PS-1 Phase Shifter, introduced in 1971.

The PS-1 technically wasn’t the first phase shifter on the market (the Shin-ei/Univox Uni-Vibe preceded it by four years), but it was the first effect unit called a “phase shifter” as well as the first to produce the steady rising and falling sweep effect that musicians now recognize as the standard phase shifting effect.

Oberheim designed the PS-1 as a compact substitute for a Leslie rotating speaker cabinet for keyboardists. As a result, it was housed in a rather large, boxy enclosure with only three large rocker switches on the top panel for selecting slow (blue), medium (yellow) and fast (red) sweep speeds.

One especially cool characteristic of the Maestro phase shifter effect is how the LFO speed ramps up or down to the selected rate (similar to the mechanical function of a Leslie) instead of changing abruptly. The unit itself had no bypass switch, but an optional foot controller provided bypass/slow, medium and fast footswitches.

Despite its bulky, keyboard-centric design, the Maestro Phase Shifter quickly gained popularity with guitarists, who were mesmerized by the deep, trippy swirling textures produced by the six-stage circuit where six JFETs provide a cascading all-pass filter network.

Maestro produced three different versions of the Phase Shifter — the PS-1, PS-1A and PS-1B. The PS-1A is basically an improved version of the PS-1 that fixed a flaw with the input buffer amplifier that produced popping noises.

The PS-1B features a variable speed knob, which is a very useful upgrade, but because this version was introduced near the end of Oberheim’s contract with Maestro these units are very rare and command significantly higher prices on the vintage market.

Maestro sold an estimated 60,000 units to guitarists and keyboardists alike during its brief four-year lifespan. When smaller phase shifter pedals emerged around 1974 that were much more guitar rig-friendly, the bulky Maestro unit was soon rendered obsolete.

However, it still sounds great today and is great for studio applications. If you don’t want to bother with a vintage unit, Heptode Virtuoso replicates the Maestro’s vintage tones for players who want a modern pedalboard-friendly update.

Some of the most dedicated early fans of the Maestro Phase Shifter included Ernie Isley, who ran an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff in front of his to create the synth-like lead tone on Isley Brothers classic That Lady; Alex Lifeson, who used his Maestro on the first four Rush albums up to and including 2112; George Harrison, who plugged into a PS-1A on his Extra Texture and Thirty Three & 1/3 albums; Waylon Jennings on numerous mid-’70s outlaw country singles, plus John Cipollina, Steve Howe and Terry Kath.

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

Solar Guitars is the latest firm to enter the hotly contested pitch-shifting market with the Chug Capo, a no-nonsense stompbox being billed as “a digital bi-directional capo” that is set to go toe to toe with the likes of Boss and DigiTech.

The chrome pedal shifts up and down by one octave in semitone increments, has a bright display, and two key selling points.

The first is the promise of low latency performance – weighing in roughly half its rival's – so that “fast tempo right-hand picking and chugging won’t give the feel of your playing dragging.”

Beyond that, Solar says the “sonic integrity” of a player’s tone will not be harmed when shifting the signal. Its voicing has been “meticulously programmed” so that the affected sound the same as an unaltered chord sound.

That’s important for those considering a pitch-shifting pedal as a primarily practical piece of gear. Dropping by, say a whole tone, can help eradicate the need for taking multiple guitars on the road, thus slimming down live rigs.

Elsewhere, the pedal has two modes. Mix offers a “very powerful fast-tracking octave divider,” while a saved preset can be recalled via Fav mode. There’s also the option of plugging in a non-latching switch, which is not included.

Finally, there’s a Mix dial for blending the pitched signal, meaning it can double up as an octave, and a USB-C port on the back for connecting to a computer.

For a good while, the DigiTech Whammy and Drop pedals, alongside Electro Harmonix’s Pitch Fork, were the go-to for on-the-fly transposing. But in recent years, Neural DSP has impressed with the Transpose feature built into its plugins, and Boss did some serious work with its artifact-free XS-1 Poly-Shifter last year. The market has woken up to the need for high-end pitch shifters for bedroom musicians and working guitarists alike.

In certain cases, artifacts have proven a key characteristic of pitch-shifting – it’s why the DigiTech Whammy DT edges out the Boss XS-100 in my opinion – but for pitch-shifting in its purest form, Boss has proven a force to be reckoned with. That means that Solar has to meet a high bar if it is going to stage a successful content.

“This is the fastest and most transparent-sounding pitch shifter to date, especially when it comes to tight rhythm playing, chords, and pinch harmonics,” says firm founder, Ola Englund. These, he adds, “are usually the first things to expose weaknesses in pitch shifters.”

The Chug Capo is priced at $249, which makes it a chunk pricier than the $199 Boss XS-1, which has slightly more features and a wider octave range. The acid test comes down to audio quality alone.

See Solar for more.

JHS Pedals is poised to correct its biggest error after announcing the long-awaited second edition of its DIY Notadümblë pedal will be released tomorrow, Tuesday 30 June.

The second stompbox in the firm’s build-it-yourself category, the Notadümblë V1 made the headlines after JHS Pedals founder Josh Scott realized he’d dropped the ball pretty dramatically.

In short, a schematic mix-up meant the clean boost circuit inserted into the Dumble clone was actually modeled on an even rarer Dumble pedal than advertised. As such, it was discontinued after just two weeks.

With V2, JHS Pedals is not only releasing the pedal as it always meant to, but it’s also introducing some pleasing quality-of-life improvements.

It is now a true two-in-one pedal, with independent footswitches for both the Dumble-style overdrive and boost side. The Presence control has also been promoted to the top control panel.

But most importantly, the boost side now correctly draws from John Mayer’s one-of-one A Box Later pedal.

Other quirks that weren’t in the earlier version include a slider toggle to choose which side of the pedal comes first in the signal path, and an effects loop for its preamp boost circuit.

Controls on the pedal’s face include Volume, Drive, EQ, and Presence for the overdrive, and Input and Outputs for the clean boost, staying true to the streamlined controls on the A Box Later.

The first batch is limited to 6,000 units, but fear not, because this is not a limited edition release. The Notadümblë V2 will be available indefinitely; there might just be a small wait for those not quick enough to snag one from the first drop.

The first batch launched on Tuesday, June 30th at 10 am CST.

See JHS Pedals for more.

JHS Pedals has been busy of late, having dropped the ultimate pedal demo guitar in collaboration with Bilt; a curious, against-the-grain octaver; and the Fumble, which separates the wrongly copied Dumble from V1 into its own unit.

With more and more big manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon, the Amazon Prime Day sales are rapidly becoming a legitimate destination for guitar players looking for a deal. What began as an opportunity to grab cheap accessories and off-brand alternatives 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 in the Prime Day guitar deals 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. Some have dropped even further in price since first being launched, so 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 13 Boss stompboxes currently on sale for Prime Day, but act fast, they won't be around much longer!

All the best places to shop at Amazon

• Amazon: All Prime Day guitar deals
• Guitars: Save on beginner guitars
• Pedals: Cheap multi-effects
• Amps: Money off smart amps
• Strings: Stock up on essentials
• Accessories: Capos, slides, straps, and more

Today's best non-Amazon sales

• Guitar Center: Early-access 4th July sale
• Sweetwater: Big savings on guitar gear
• Musician's Friend: Up to 60% 4th July sale
• Universal Audio: Huge up to 80% off half year sale
• IK Multimedia: 50% off software coupon
• Positive Grid: Giant Spark summer sale
• Fender: Up to $200 off Tone Master
• Guitar Tricks: 1 month for $1
• B&H Photo: Money off pro audio
• Plugin Boutique: 100s of plugin discounts
• Reverb: B-stock deals
• Waves: Plugins for just $34.99

• 🇬🇧 Best UK sales
• Thomann: Huge Music Days sale, up to 60% off
• GuitarTricks: Half-price annual plan
• Plugin Boutique: Huge software savings
• Waves: Sale on studio staples

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.

• Keep up-to-date with our Prime Day guitar deals live blog
• Shop all the best Prime Day guitar deals at Amazon

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.

Shop more Prime Day deals

• All the best places to shop at Amazon
• Amazon: All Prime Day guitar deals
• Guitars: Save on beginner guitars
• Pedals: Cheap multi-effects
• Amps: Money off smart amps
• Strings: Stock up on essentials
• Accessories: Capos, slides, straps, and more

• Today's best non-Amazon sales
• B&H Photo: Money off pro audio
• Guitar Center: Save up to 30% on acoustics
• Guitar Tricks: 1 month for $1
• IK Multimedia: 50% off software
• Musician's Friend: Up to 40% off electrics
• Native Instruments: Up to 30% software savings
• Plugin Boutique: 100s of plugin discounts
• Reverb: B-stock deals
• Sweetwater: Big savings on guitar gear
• Universal Audio: Paradise Guitar studio $99
• Waves: Plugins for just $34.99

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.

• Keep up-to-date with our Prime Day guitar deals live blog
• Shop all the best Prime Day guitar deals at Amazon

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

Shop more Prime Day deals

• All the best places to shop at Amazon
• Amazon: All Prime Day guitar deals
• Guitars: Save on beginner guitars
• Pedals: Cheap multi-effects
• Amps: Money off smart amps
• Strings: Stock up on essentials
• Accessories: Capos, slides, straps, and more

• Today's best non-Amazon sales
• B&H Photo: Money off pro audio
• Guitar Center: Save up to 30% on acoustics
• Guitar Tricks: 1 month for $1
• IK Multimedia: 50% off software
• Musician's Friend: Up to 40% off electrics
• Native Instruments: Up to 30% software savings
• Plugin Boutique: 100s of plugin discounts
• Reverb: B-stock deals
• Sweetwater: Big savings on guitar gear
• Universal Audio: Paradise Guitar studio $99
• Waves: Plugins for just $34.99

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 a myriad of budget stompboxes available at serious discounts, 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 in build quality; they're fine for use 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.

Now, it's worth noting that Amazon Prime Day is coming to a close, but as we enter the final day, you still have an opportunity to score a real bargain if you're quick! So if you're eyeing any of these stomps, we suggest you don't hang around, as these deals expire at the end of the day.

Want the most up-to-date information? Keep track with our Prime Day guitar deals live blog.

Shop the full Prime Day sale

• Amazon: All Prime Day guitar deals
• Guitars: Save on beginner guitars
• Amps & pedals: Save big on fresh tones
• Accessories: Strings, slides, straps, and more

More retailer sales

• 🇺🇸 Best US sales
• B&H Photo: Money off pro audio
• Guitar Center: Early 4th of July sale
• Guitar Tricks: 1 month for $1
• IK Multimedia: 50% off software coupon
• Musician's Friend: Up to 60% off gear
• Native Instruments: Up to 30% software savings
• Plugin Boutique: 100s of plugin discounts
• Reverb: B-stock deals
• Sweetwater: Big savings on guitar gear
• Universal Audio: Paradise Guitar studio $99
• Waves: Plugins for just $34.99

• 🇬🇧 Best UK sales
• Thomann: Shop the huge Thomann Music Days sale
• Gear 4 Music: Big clearance savings
• GuitarTricks: Half-price annual plan
• Plugin Boutique: Huge software savings
• Waves: Sale on studio staples

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: ★★★★☆

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.

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.

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

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

EarthQuaker Devices

Reverb

Sweetwater

• “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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

Hands-on videos

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?

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.

Hands-on videos

Beetronics FX

The Guitar Geek

• “A tasty fuzz that’s worth making a tuna-can-shaped space on your pedalboard for”: Beetronics Tuna Fuzz pedal review
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

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.

Hands-on videos

Crumar

• Best modulation pedals: our pick of the best mod effects from subtle to spectacular
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

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?

IK Multimedia has rolled out the latest iteration of its celebrated TONEX One amp-in-a-box pedal, dishing out the tones of two Dumble combo amps and “the sound of six figures” in an affordable stompbox.

For this one, IK Multimedia has extracted 20 tones from two vintage Dumble Overdrive Special amps from its private amp vault (that's a combined value of over $300,000), and placed them inside the limited edition TONEX One Double Special pedal.

What's more, it presents a further 40 new premium tone models in the Double Special TONEX Signature Collection software package.

Buy the pedal and you unlock access to all the tones from the Double Special TONEX Signature Collection plus those of IK’s ODS Legends Signature Collection guitar plugin (that's six Dumble amps all in, but who's counting?).

The two amps modeled here represent two very different eras of the iconic tube amp. One bears the serial #0038 and is from 1978, the so-called 'Export era', when Alexander Howard Dumble’s builds delivered an open-top end, blooming mids, and piano-like cleans.

The other, a 1980 model, nicknamed 'The Don' (serial #0080), boasts a tighter low-end, faster transient response, and greater articulation when the gain is cranked. And in both models, touch sensitivity is a crucial ingredient.

The pedals deliver tones inspired by players who helped forge the amp’s legendary status, including Carlos Santana, Larry Carlton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, whose Texas Flood amp is now in John Mayer's hands.

They were captured with and without guitar cabinets “across a wide range of sweet spots, channel configurations, and gain settings.” Other tone models find the amps paired with some classic overdrive pedals, including a gold Klon Centaur, a JHS Morning Glory, and a TS-10 for even more sustain and midrange. IK Multimedia used period-specific cabs for the project.

Only 1,000 units of the TONEX ONE Double Special are being made, but the good news for those who get their hands on one is that those 20 tone models are exclusive to the pedal.

The software is priced at $149.99 apiece (or $99.99 for existing TONEX hardware users), with the pedal priced at $249.99, and there’s no mention of a discount for TONEX loyalists.

Visit IK Multimedia for more information.

Last year, IK dropped three TONEX pedals channeling Eddie Van Halen's Brown Sound, an impressive headphone amp, and a well-received Bass Edition of the TONEX One.

This is a call to all Foos fans! With the Foo Fighters back in the headlines, fresh off the drop of their raucous new single Your Favorite Toy, teasing a soon-to-land album, and currently tearing up the UK with a string of secret, sweat-soaked club shows, we thought it was the perfect time to dive deep into the stompboxes that power Grohl’s massive sound.

Now, Dave Grohl is the king of making a simple setup sound stadium-sized. He might not be the world’s flashiest pedal-tweaker, but he does regularly rely on a few stomps to achieve his signature tone. From the fuzzed-out, face-melting distortion of the ProCo Rat to the subtle modulation of the famed Phase 90 and the spacey delay of the DM-2, Grohl’s arsenal is all about simple, affordable, and reliable pedals.

In this Guitar World collection, I’ve hand-picked the secret weapons on Grohl’s pedalboard, from classic dirt pedals to the wildcards that sneak in for special songs like the talkbox used on Generator. Armed with these stomps, you’ll be able to easily recreate those legendary anthemic tones from just about every era of the Foo Fighters' massive 30-year career. So, this one’s for all the cows, get ready to breakout and play everlong with your new favorite toy.

Watch the Foo Fighters perform the new single Your Favorite Toy live below

What is it?

ThorpyFX’s latest pedal is a collaboration with British boutique guitar amp manufacturer Lazy J. And the intention here is to recreate both the sound and feel of the amp brand’s J 20, a modern evolution of the 1950’s 5E3 Fender Deluxe amp – an object of desire for many guitarists.

The J pedal offers the sound of two different amp channels – Normal and Bright – with footswitching between the two. Both channels have their own control knobs, increasing volume and gain, feeding an overall output level knob, which has a little extra headroom for a boost if required.

The option of swapping the preamp valves in the real amp is duplicated here by a toggle switch that lets you choose between the lower gain 12AY7 or the 12AX7 for more drive if you need it.

Specs

• PRICE: £329 (approx $449)
• ORIGIN: UK
• TYPE: Amp emulation pedal 
• FEATURES: True bypass, 2x channels
• CONTROLS: Output, Response, Supply, Tone, Normal, Bright, X/Y switch, Channel footswitch, Bypass footswitch 
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) 50mA
• DIMENSIONS: 100 (w) x 125 (d) x 53mm (h) 
• CONTACT: ThorpyFX

Usability and sounds

For tonal tweaks, the Tone knob is pretty standard bright or dark EQ, but you also get a Response knob, which subtly dials in the presence, all combining to carefully match the pedal to your own rig.

Further tonal variation is delivered via the Supply knob, which emulates voltage attenuation. Fully clockwise is full voltage, but the sonic and feel variations from a drop in voltage are recreated as you wind it back.

Plugged into a clean amp, The J offers all the complex harmonic texture and warm midrange expected of a tweed amp and delivers it with really nuanced control over the sound from the aforementioned array of controls. Both channels can go from clean to fully driven, but the Bright has more gain and a little extra bite.

Like the original amp, the channel knobs are interactive, so you can adjust the volume of the other channel to subtly tweak the tone and tightness on the one you’re using.

There’s great touch sensitivity here, too, with the feeling you’re plugged straight into an amp, rather than a pedal, especially so if you roll back the Supply knob for some natural compression.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★★

The fact that it took the combined talents of Adrian Thorpe and Lazy J’s Jesse Hoff several years to create The J suggests that it was always going to be something very special – and it does not disappoint.

Guitar World verdict: A vintage tweed Deluxe or the Lazy J J 20 is beyond the wallet of many guitarists, but The J can give you that essential flavour with your own amp. Instantly familiar classic tones on demand.

Hands-on videos

AndyDemos

Buddy Blues

Demos in the Dark and MAS Distro

• “No shrinking violet, this pedal will stamp its authority on your tone”: ThorpyFX Six Zero review
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

Where demand for pedal effects grew exponentially during the early ’70s as musicians sought new sounds, many stompbox designers turned to the synthesizer for new inspiration.

Mike Beigel was among the earliest engineers who realized that synth modules could easily be adapted into standalone effects. Although Guild hired Beigel to develop a synthesizer in the early ’70s, the project got canned, which inspired Beigel and former Guild chief electronics engineer Aaron Newman to form their own effects company, Musitronics, in 1972.

Beigel and Newman developed the prototype for their first product, an envelope filter called the Mu-Tron III, during the summer of 1972, and it became an overnight sensation when Stevie Wonder used the effect for his supremely funky Clavinet riff on the hit Higher Ground released in mid-1973.

The circuit consists of an envelope follower that uses optocouplers to control a voltage controlled filter. The optocouplers respond to input signal playing dynamics to sweep the EQ filter, resulting in a funky wah sound that is exceptionally expressive and responsive.

The wah sounds go well beyond those of a typical wah pedal, producing a wide variety of textures that include duck-like quacks, vowel-like vocal tones, piercing synth squeals and bowel-shaking bow wows.

Controls on the Mu-Tron III include a Mode switch with low-pass, band-pass and high-pass filter settings, a Peak (Q) knob for adjusting the resonant peak, a Gain knob and low/high Range and down/up Drive rocker switches.

Most guitarists prefer the fatter, thicker sound of the low-pass setting, which provides full bass and rolls off harsh treble frequencies. The early versions run on either two 9-volt batteries or an 18-volt power supply, while late-’70s versions (when Musitronics was owned by Arp) have a built-in power supply.

“We used a dual supply instead of a single supply so the effect could have a wide dynamic range,” Beigel said. “That way you could really smash on the guitar and not distort the whole effect.”

When combined with other effects like distortion, phase shift/flanging and pitch shifting, the Mu-Tron III can generate some dazzling, unusual sounds. Because the effect is dynamically responsive, it should be placed at the front of the signal chain and effects like compression and distortion should be plugged in after it.

Although the Mu-Tron III’s sounds are undeniably funky, and the pedal made a strong impression in the hands of funk musicians like keyboardists Stevie Wonder and George Duke and bassist Bootsy Collins, most of the guitarists known for using one hail from genres other than funk. Psychedelic jazz fusion guitarist Larry Coryell was an early adopter during the ’70s, as were Jerry Garcia and Frank Zappa.

Andy Summers and Steve Vai (taking a cue from his mentor Frank Zappa) employed a Mu-Tron III frequently during the ’80s and ’90s, and more recent, users include Trey Anastasio, Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo), Larry LaLonde, and Peter Frampton, who expertly summoned vocal-like textures from his Mu-Tron III on his 2006 cover of Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun.

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

What is it?

Long-time Guitarist readers will no doubt be familiar with the Cogmeister, a previous release from the Dinosaural brand and brainchild of designer Dan Coggins.

The triple-footswitch pedal, which featured in the Drive category in our Gear Of The Year list back in 2023, basically put three drive/boost pedals in one chassis.

Now, not all players needed three components of the pedal in one place and some folks asked for them to be made individually. Luckily, Dan was happy to oblige.

First, we saw the Cogmeister’s final boost section singled out as the Dan Solo pedal, and now it’s the turn of the central drive section – the beating heart of the Cogmeister – to be set apart with the release of the Hypoid Drive.

That section of the Cogmeister was itself derived from two previous Dinosaural drive pedals, the long-discontinued Tube Bender and OPA-101, but Dan says that the Hypoid Drive is the final incarnation of the design.

Specs

• PRICE: $279/£182
• ORIGIN: UK
• TYPE: Drive pedal 
• FEATURES: True bypass, 
• CONTROLS: Volume, Sustain, Tone, Shift switch, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V battery or 9-12V DC adaptor (not supplied) 50mA
• DIMENSIONS: 73 (w) x 121 (d) x 55mm (h)
• CONTACT: Coggins Audio

Usability and sounds

What we get is a drive pedal with the standard Volume and Sustain (gain) knob duo and a Tone knob linked to a three-position Shift switch, which brings in three distinct midrange contours, all of which seem perfectly voiced for guitar.

The central switch position can be thought of as the flat position, offering the fullest iteration of the midrange and putting us in mind of Marshall sound, while the other two positions have different degrees of mid scoop.

Between these three options and the Tone knob, to balance low and high for just the right degree of top-end presence, there is plenty of scope to get the pedal to perfectly complement whatever amp and speaker setup you may be using.

With the Sustain knob turned down, you can dial in a clean boost from about one o’clock onwards on the Volume knob, but the pedal’s most salient feature is the wide spectrum of driven tones it is capable of.

Advancing the Sustain knob takes you from a clean sound with a bit of ‘hair’ through increasing degrees of break-up and gloriously throaty driven amp-style distortion, culminating in something verging on smooth fuzz at the end of its travel. All of this with great string clarity and Volume-knob clean-up.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★★

Guitar World verdict: The Hypoid Drive offers classy sound with flexibility. It’s a stunning drive pedal that will run the gamut from boost through to fuzz-flavoured distortion, all with tonal options to match it to any rig.

Hands-on videos

That Pedal Show

• Dinosaural Cogmeister review – with three gain sections, can this triple threat cover all your dirt needs?
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

JHS Pedal owner Josh Scott has found the prototype for the Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail – a legendary reverb pedal made famous by John Frusciante, Jim Root and countless more.

Scott, who is one of the world's foremost effects pedal historians, has been hunting down the OG pedal for some time, all the while being told a prototype didn’t actually exist. That changed when he paid a visit to the Electro-Harmonix archives to research his soon-to-be-published book, Made on Earth for Rising Stars.

Created with illustrator Daniel Danger and six years in the making, the book explores the history and artistic impact of Electro-Harmonix through a series of interviews, musings on creativity, and, as Danger puts it, “the deepest of dives into guitar pedal nerdom.”

It's ironic that a pedal called the Holy Grail would, in fact, become Scott's holy grail. He sees it as the crème de la crème stompbox by what he believes is “one of the greatest companies in American history when it comes to innovation.”

It was during the research process that the prototype – which does exist – was discovered.

“We were digging in the basement at Electro-Harmonix,” Scott, speaking on a YouTube live stream dated January 26, says. “We'd always ask, but we were always met with, ‘Nah, there are no prototypes.’ At some point, you're like, ‘There has to be prototypes.’”

He can’t remember whether it was he or Danger that found it. But find it they did.

“To my memory, we were packing up one day, after interviewing some engineers,” he continues. “Then all of a sudden Owen, who’s Mike's [Matthews, founder and owner] son and works in artist relations, goes, ‘Have you been down to the basement?’

“This building is massive, it's in Queens, and it's like half a city block. The basement is for R&D and tube storage, but he means the basement basement.”

And there it was. With a stainless steel front plate, with “Holy Grail 1, handle with care” scrawled upon it in Sharpie, and “insane” wiring beneath it.

At its heart is a chip that has since revolutionized pedal making.

“In 2000, Mike Matthews goes to this trade show, and he sees this chip set, the Crystal CS4811,” Scott adds. “With it, you can essentially load in their pre-programmed algorithms, and you can mess around with it and tweak it.

“This is a big deal; it's the beginning of simple DSP (Digital Signal Processing) for guitar players. This unit, to my knowledge, is the world's first digital spring reverb unit. Mike Matthews saw the opportunity, had it in the hands of an engineer, and produced a product before anyone else.

“Now, what's funny is that the original units shipped with three reverb sounds on the outside, but some people figured out that you could hack it and have eight total sounds via the dip-switches,” Scott then says.

As he explains, though there were eight dip-switches inside, each unlocking different characters, the pedals had a simple three-way switch on their face.

What happens next, now that Scott has the lost prototype in his magic hands, remains to be seen, but the book is now available for pre-order, and it's being published by Jack White's company, Third Man Books.

Jack White and JHS collaborated on a wacky delay pedal, the Troika Delay, last year. It's well worth checking out.

See Third Man Records for more info on the book.

JHS Pedals has rolled out the Morning Glory Clean – an updated overdrive pedal that puts a small-but-mighty twist on the company's hugely popular transparent overdrive platform.

On the surface, it sure looks familiar, sharing much of the design DNA of its namesake in the Kansas-based guitar effects company’s catalog.

But it is a very different take on the much-celebrated transparent overdrive – and the idea came to JHS Pedals supremo Josh Scott when he was watching contemporary jazz guitar maestro Julian Lage at work.

Like many players, Scott was inspired watching Lage doing his thing – only in this instance, it was Lage’s soundcheck that was blowing Scott’s mind.

“I watched Ju­lian Lage dial in his tone at a sound­check in Chica­go. Vin­ta­ge Fen­der amp. Collings semi-hol­low gui­tar,” writes Scott on the JHS Pedals website. “He ad­just­ed pickup heights, moved po­si­tions on stage, chas­ing the per­fect bal­ance. It was cap­ti­vat­ing.”

Over the years JHS Pedals has unveiled four different versions of the Morning Glory. It’s the stompbox that made 'em famous, its transparent drive so versatile, so useful, that this little block o’ gold has been a ubiquitous presence on pedalboards the world over – Lage’s included.

“He's a big rea­son it end­ed up on jazz ped­al­boards world­wide,” says Scott.

Scott spoke with Lage, asking him what he looked for in an overdrive, and that got his mind racing. The Morning Glory could be reinvented once more.

Version 4, which is still in the JHS Pedals catalog, doubled the headroom, added a Gain toggle switch, and made the Morning Glory compatible with its Red Remote system.

The Morning Glory Clean, meanwhile, is a very different beast, pairing a “studio-grade” parallel clean gain stage with the drive to make what JHS Pedals describes as the best first-stage overdrive it has ever built.

Circuit-wise, this is more than a mod. It really is a two-hander between clean gain and the pedal’s drive.

Oftentimes, we see “clean” knobs that are really just mix knobs, a helpful way of preserving some of your original electric guitar signal in the mix, and ergo find nice textures that way, but this Clean knob is a dual-gang pot that scales clean gain hand-in-hand with drive.

The idea is that you get the best of both worlds; you get the drive adding compression, making your signal more harmonically flamboyant, i.e. the good stuff that happens when you turn up the drive.

But you also use that Clean control to preserve the nuances of your guitar’s signal, the low-end, the authority of your pick attack, and all of that, and JHS Pedals says it is a way for getting those studio-style clean sounds that were recorded at truly anti-social volumes in recording studios.

There are all kinds of uses for the Morning Glory Clean. “Stack a dis­tor­tion in front and the sus­tain opens up in­stead of clos­ing off. Run it af­ter de­lay for new territories of series/parallel textures,” says JHS Pedals, adding that it also works a treat with amp modelers – and with bass guitars too.

With all this clean talk, it is gratifying to know that you could run this as a clean boost pedal, too. Alternatively, turn the Clean dial fully counterclockwise and it behaves like an O.G. Morning Glory (this has the same voluminous headroom as V4). JHS Pedals suggests cranking the Drive control then using the Clean as a balance.

Feed it 9V DC from a pedalboard power supply and you are good to go. Its yours for $179. See JHS Pedals for more.

One minute, it’s a car alarm. The next, it’s a chewed-up cassette tape. And perhaps it’s that infinite capacity for metamorphosis – under the boots of players from Tom Morello to Jonny Greenwood – that has made the pitch shifter a pedalboard staple since the ’70s.

Needless to say, Boss is no newcomer to the market. The king of compacts released its first analogue pitch effects – the OC-2 Octaver and VB-2 Vibrato – in the early ’80s, before going digital with 1987’s PS-2 Pitch Shifter/Delay, and pretty much setting the pace for the modern sector with 2010’s PS-6 Harmonist.

But as global product marketing manager, Matt Knight, reflects, it still felt like there was more gas in the tank. And with the new XS-100 and XS-1 Poly Shifters – a pair of hugely expressive, envelope-pushing units dressed in sky-blue armour – the Japanese pioneer set out to deliver no less than the next generation of shifting.

What made Boss designers believe that pitch shifting could go further?

Boss has a 40-year history with pitch shifting products. But we haven’t had a new device since the PS-6 in 2010. And, you know, how much has changed in music over the past 15 years?

We’ve seen other innovations in that world, in terms of multi-effects, plug-ins, other hardware. So with our history and our vision of always asking, ‘What’s the best thing we can make for musicians now?’, we knew there was still life in this category.

What were the roots of the XS series?

This project actually started back in the mid-2010s, with a PC-based development idea. Our engineers were asking: ‘What can we do for pitch shifting in a computer realm?’

And it was quite easy to do high-speed processing on a PC but really difficult progressing that into a stompbox. So 15 years of background has developed into the XS series. I’m actually glad it took so long because we ended up with such a great product.

What would you say is at the heart of the XS series pedals?

The XS algorithm is where the revolution comes from. First and foremost, we knew it had to be polyphonic. Of course, there are other polyphonic products on the market, but the idea was to create a polyphonic algorithm where users didn’t need to change their playing to get what they wanted out of it.

And, actually, one of the things we realised during development was the possibility of using SHARC processing chips because of their processing power and power efficiency.

We took out any glitches, any hiccups, and just give you pure attack clarity and character. So the XS pedals feel like an extension of your playing, rather than an effect on top of what you’re doing.

So if you want to go half a step down, it really feels like you’re playing half a step down; it doesn’t feel like you’ve added an effect to do that. I found the oddest thing was turning it off after jamming a tone down – and suddenly the natural tuning feels like you’ve retuned the instrument.

The XS-100 offers an impressive shifting range, doesn’t it?

Yeah, it’s four octaves up or down. Some people would argue that’s too much. We’d argue that we look forward to what people could do with it. All of the famous players that have used pitch shifters created their sound from what that product offered them at the time. So that freedom of range just means something new might be born out of it.

And that’s always the great thing about bringing a product to market – actually seeing what people do with it. The maddest sound I’ve got myself is probably going down a 5th, then adding in dry signal for harmonies, then pitch shifting on top.

But I’ve seen people on Instagram almost use the XS-100 like a wah pedal because the expression pedal is so responsive and you can actually dial the feel into your playing as well. And then we’ve also added a toe switch so you can program it to have four different pitches on hand at any one time.

It’s claimed that the XS units raise the bar for lead guitar playing.

100 per cent. Improving that attack and feel just means that whether you do fast runs, legato, really dissonant notes, it just works really well. I’ve spoken to a few people who were, like, ‘I tried to trick it, I tried to break it, I tried to give it really odd things to work out – but it just works.’

They never had to think: ‘What do I need to do from a lead-guitar perspective to match the pedal?’ They could just do what they wanted and the pedal would follow along. You know, it doesn’t feel like you’re losing any connection, from your pick to the string to the effect to your amplifier.

How flexible are the XS sounds?

We didn’t want to limit people. So there’s presets onboard, but you can really dial in every sound. You can go between any range of octaves, or between a semitone down and a semitone up – then save that as a memory.

You can flick through those memories really quickly as well. I’ve already seen some people going up and down through their memories to create riffs.

We wanted a product that effectively gave complete creative freedom, not locked it down. But not everyone is going to do wild, crazy stuff with it. Some people might just go, ‘I need to play in Eb and I’m not going to have a guitar specifically for that.’ Or, ‘I’m in a covers band and I need to do something in drop D, drop C, or even with a capo.’ It’s open for you to do what you want.

How hard did Boss work to make the XS units intuitive?

I think, like any of our compacts, a pitch shifter needs to be super easy to use. So with XS-1, we basically added one big knob that determines where the pitch is, then one controlling how much effect you want – wet to dry – and on/off.

With XS-100, we said, ‘Yes, we need all of those minor tweaks to really dial in the sound. But ultimately, you need to be able to get a product out of the box, plug it in and enjoy it.’ So we knew we couldn’t lock things behind lots of menus.

Then there’s the fact that on the XS-100, you have a toe switch, so you can engage it like a wah pedal. That was one of the first things I said, like, ‘I want to turn it on like a wah because I’m used to clicking my wah in. Why can’t I click my pitch shifter in…?’

It’s said that you can still hear the raw tone of your guitar, even through the effect?

There was a conversation: how does it feel under the fingers? What’s the attack like? What’s the note clarity like? How do I still feel like I’m playing the guitar that I’ve spent all this money on?

If you’re plugging in a Les Paul, you still want it to sound like that guitar, and so much of that comes down to our work on the algorithm to maintain that attack character and tonal clarity. Without that, every instrument could be at risk of sounding similar because you’re running it through a device that’s changing its core tone.

How much scope for connectivity is there with the XS pedals?

“So, just to talk about XS-1 for a second. As a compact, we’ve added that expression input, so if you wanted to use XS-1 as an expression device, you could. But with XS-100, again, our goal was complete freedom. Believe it or not, XS-100 is a full MIDI controller in its own right. So there’s potential for MIDI sequencing and changing pitches remotely.

“It’s mad, the amount of connections they ended up putting on. Because, actually, on the back of the XS-100, you have inputs for a separate control switch or expression pedal. So if you wanted to add a second expression pedal or second set of footswitches, the option is there. I’d imagine we will start to see it as a section of people’s bigger rigs – who knows what someone might come up with?”

Were there challenges along the way?

We weren’t going to revolutionise the way a Boss compact looked. With XS-100, the hardware was developed pretty quickly, too.

It was the software and feature set that took the longest time to dial in. Lots of comparisons, lots of testing, lots of back and forth, lots of very deep analysis at an engineer level.

It went through a lot of revisions, almost weekly. Constantly changing, testing and really trying to put it through its paces to make sure, again, that we’ve achieved that core goal. Once people plug it in, I think they’ll really start to feel that.

Do you have a user in mind for the XS-100 and XS-1?

I think Boss compacts appeal to such a huge range of players, it’s impossible to put it in a box. But I think, ultimately, XS-1 will be a great, easy-grab compact for people who might be doing a covers gig and they need to do something with a capo one moment, then drop a step down, or maybe use a range of different tunings.

To me, it feels like XS-100 will gravitate towards people who are trying to experiment with their sound – you know, not as mad as a synth pedal but more creative than a chorus or a phaser.

You can really make something brand-new in terms of a riff or a style or a sound. I’d love to sit here in two or three decades’ time and look at some of the people that have made hit records with our product. That would be amazing.

Let’s say there’s someone reading this who last used a pitch shifter back in the 90s. Would you encourage them to have a listen to how things have developed?

Absolutely. Going back to the first question: is there still juice in the tank? Absolutely. What I would say is, ‘Pick up the XS pedals with no preconceptions of what it will sound like.’ Just going through the presets, to me, was eye-opening in terms of the riffs and ideas I could get out of it.

And then you need to look at what people have done on the socials. You just think, ‘There’s so much more out there.’ So I would certainly urge people to come back and give it a go.

• “Boss has worked hard to counter the DigiTech Whammy's biggest pitfalls, but whether it dethrones it outright is a matter of taste”: Boss XS-100 Poly Shifter review
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

What is it?

UK guitar-maker Manson Guitar Works has had a long history with Matt Bellamy of Muse, who is now the majority shareholder in the company.

Business matters aside, Matt and the Manson team have worked together over several years to come up with the company’s first pedal, the Supermassive Black Fuzz. Solidly constructed by fellow UK brand ThorpyFX, it certainly has a distinctive look, featuring aluminium knobs that are intricately engraved with custom artwork.

While the lack of a defined line makes it difficult to see at a glance where the controls are set, there’s no mistaking where to put them if you hit a chord and use your ears.

Specs

• PRICE: £259
• ORIGIN: UK
• TYPE: Fuzz pedal 
• FEATURES: True Bypass, optional EQ, foot switchable boost
• CONTROLS: Magnitude, Warp, Dimension, Gravity, EQ On/Off switch, Peak footswitch, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) 35mA
• DIMENSIONS: 83 (w) x 126 (d) x 64mm (h) 
• CONTACT: Manson Guitar Works

Usability and sounds

The Magnitude and Gravity knobs set the output level and gain respectively (as you’d find on most dirt pedals), but the tone can be tempered by a filter, brought into the circuit by a toggle switch.

A Warp knob adjusts the filter cut-off frequency after the fuzz circuit and has a range from 350Hz to 5kHz, while the Dimension knob adjusts the Q (bandwidth) of its response, with clockwise movement sharpening and narrowing the peak.

Without the EQ, the vibe of the pedal is full-on thick vintage fuzz from the get-go with the Gravity knob gradually ramping up the intensity. The tonal character here is well balanced across the frequency range with plenty of top-end and perhaps just a hint of midrange scoop.

It’s very usable as an everyday richly textured traditional fuzz, feeling responsive under the fingers and cleaning up nicely with your volume knob. Bringing in the EQ is a whole other ball game as the juxtaposition of the Dimension (Q) and Warp knobs unlocks myriad tones, shifting the midrange emphasis until you find your sweet spot, which may be basic fuzz with a certain tonal character like some cocked-wah stridency, or more extreme finely tweaked distortions such as really thinned-out fuzz with a crispy treble edge.

More variation and onstage flexibility is provided by the Peak footswitch, which adds a boost with a tonal element. With EQ off, it offers a practical level jump and increased presence that would work for solos, but with the EQ on, it delivers a radical tonal shift to any sound that you have dialled in.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★½

Guitar World verdict: Whether you’re a Muse fan or not, the Supermassive Black Fuzz’s radical approach to shaping the sound, along with alternative footswitched options, make it a pedal that can fulfil a host of requirements.

Hands-on videos

Manson Guitar Works

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NAMM 2026: Aiming to move beyond one-trick guitar pedals, Polyend has unveiled the Endless – a fully customizable, open-source effects pedal that allows players to continually create new effects with no coding required.

Hinging on an almost ChatGPT-like premise of “if you can describe the effect, you can make your own,” Endless boasts a custom-machined aluminum enclosure, magnetic, swappable faceplate, a stereo 48 kHz / 24-bit audio path, and, apparently, no sonic limits.

With the rise of tech like amp modelers and generously equipped plugin suites, many contemporary players are chasing more versatility from their gear than ever before – a trend reflected in TC Electronic's Swiss army knife pedal, the Plethora X1, and Boss's convertible Plugout FX. Endless aims to carry that torch even further.

In short, it's the first pedal to spew out effects from user-generated descriptions, with reverbs, overdrives, and loopers all available, right through to amp sims, or something that colors outside traditional lines.

The real creative fun takes place on its text-based generation platform, Playground, which remains in beta testing at the time of its launch. It's already populated with a slew of community-made effects, and it will continue to grow. Patches can easily be added via USB.

Some standout effects already on hand include the Multidrive, described as a multiband drive with selectable bands and multiple drive modes, the Tessera, which transforms a signal into micro-looping arpeggios, a lo-fi tape delay in the Tape Scanner, and 65’ Sparkle, an amp simulation tuned for “edge-of-breakup sweetness.”

That library is currently free to access, but there’s a token system for purchasing custom effects. To get started, Endless purchasers will get $20 of credits.

If coding is your bag, users can get really granular in C++, and the Polish firm has also released a GitHub SDK with examples to make things even easier.

The pedal itself features a trio of aluminum knobs that holds dominion over a variety of functions, and two footswitches for on/bypass and one that’s freely assignable. Its swappable faceplate system, meanwhile, doubles down on the pedal’s unbridled personalization. A blank faceplate comes in the box, and new ones can be ordered, or players can print their own.

There’s also a multicolored LED light that changes state based on the left switch’s short/long latch. Its inputs are side-mounted, and there's expression pedal capability to boot.

Considering its potentially limitless scope, its $299 / €299 asking price – with shipping beginning February 22, 2026 – isn’t crazy money.

“Endless doesn’t place limits on what you can build,” says Polyend. “Create and share effects that can’t be found in another pedal, and access an effect library that is growing daily.”

Now, you may have noticed that the love-or-hate buzzword of ‘AI’ hasn’t been mentioned here, and that’s because it simply isnt’t uttered in Polyend’s press material, but that is ostensibly what we’re looking at.

Still, if the tech works effectively (pun intended) and the pool of user creations continues to grow, it could stand as the first in a bold new era for stompboxes. Or is it just a passing fad?

See Polyend for more.

NAMM 2026: British metal heavyweights Iron Maiden are the latest to be honored with a signature Jim Dunlop Cry Baby Wah, with a special Killers edition of the iconic pedal paying homage to the band’s earliest days.

First launched in the mid-1960s and quickly immortalized by Jimi Hendrix on Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), the Cry Baby wah has long since been a pedalboard staple for many.

Over the years, everyone from Slash and Dimebag Darrell to Joe Bonamassa and Jerry Cantrell has been bestowed with signature editions as its empire has grown, and now the band that “emerged from the rough-and-gritty streets of late-’70s London” has joined the clan.

From classic Killers cuts like Wrathchild and Innocent Exile to The Number of the Beast – the wah has been a trademark effect for Maiden’s shredders. Cue this collector’s edition stompbox, emblazoned with Killers era Eddie for a pedal you won’t miss on a darkened stage floor.

Beneath that embossed tread – which looks pleasingly grippy – the pedal is essentially a redressed version of the GCB95 Cry Baby Standard Wah.

That means there are no bells and whistles with this edition, instead focusing on the classic sound that made the pedal one of the world's best-sellers in the first place. The Killers image that takes up the entire bottom plate, and the Iron Maiden logo along its side are neat touches, though.

Wah enthusiasts Kirk Hammett and John Petrucci are among the first players in the world to get their hands on the new pedal, with the pair sent mystery boxes to open for their social media followers.

While Hammett jokingly says he hopes it's food or coffee inside the box, there's an audible gasp when he sees what's inside.

“Oh my gosh, this is very special,” he purrs. “I love Iron Maiden, and I love this album. I'm getting a warm feeling in my heart right now.”

Petrucci is similarly impressed, beaming, “How cool is that?” as he holds it up to the camera.

“This collector’s edition Cry Baby Standard Wah celebrates that sonic connection with an exclusive collector’s edition finish and custom tread inspired by that record,” says Jim Dunlop.

“Whether it’s mounted on your pedalboard or standing at the heart of your shrine, this pedal is a torch held high for rock ’n’ roll.

The Jim Dunlop Iron Maiden Killers Cry Baby wah is available now for $229.99.

See Jim Dunlop for more.

The pedal’s release comes quickly after Fender launched a band-wide run of signature guitars for Maiden, meaning Janick Gers finally got his moment in the limelight.