Have you read my article on the different types of guitar effects pedals and are getting ready to make a purchase or two? Then this guitar effects pedal buying guide is made for you. I’ve reflected on the hundreds of hours I’ve spent researching and playing different pedals and have broken down my top favorites in each of 13 different categories.
Do you need to buy a pedal from all 13 categories to find your sound? Of course not. You may only need one, two or three pedals to give you an incredible assortment of tones to dial in your sound. The variety of pedal types described below are simply there to cover all the bases and give you choices that align with the style of music that you play. For example, if you love heavy metal, then jump right to the section on distortion pedals. In that case, you can probably ignore other pedals types, such as chorus, which is generally not used by metal players.
How to Navigate the Wonderful Wacky World of Guitar Effects Pedals
There are seemingly endless mass-produced and boutique pedal makers out there with sometimes bizarre and non-descriptive names for their creative concoctions. So I’ve generally stuck with the brands and models that I can personally vouch for. Or at a minimum those that have stood the test of time. I can guarantee you that if you’ve decided to buy a pedal from a certain category, that all of the pedals listed below will work great for you.
I think the “Good, Better, Best” model works really well for pedals. And here is how I’m defining each term for use in this guide:
Good: A quality pedal that includes the basic features necessary at an affordable price. Suitable and played by amateur and professional guitarists around the globe.
Better: A more full-featured product that might have some more bells and whistles. Geared toward those whose music may rely heavily on a single pedal or two for their particular sound. In this case you might want to splurge a little bit to get the one pedal just right.
Best: These pedals are often hand-made and are going to cost you a pretty penny to get your hands on them. Cult followings have developed around many of these pedals for their legendary effects on tone.
Bring on the Haters…
Some experienced guitar players or pedal aficionados might read my list of recommendations and claim that I’ve missed certain “legendary” pedals that are truly the best. And while some of these comments may have some valid points, I have my reasons for their exclusion. The most common examples are cost and availability.
Let’s consider a much-revered overdrive pedal called the King of Tone by AnalogMan. It is indeed a superb overdrive pedal. But it also costs around $325 and has a waiting list literally measured in years. For the vast majority of players looking to learn and love the guitar, this pedal is neither affordable nor worth your time. So I’ve put an upper limit of about $150 on all pedals on the list and they’re all readily available online or in stores.
Enough with the introduction already, let’s get started!
Any list of top overdrive pedals is going to include the classic Ibanez Tube Screamer. They’ve been used on countless recordings. Tube Screamers create very warm tones mimicking those of a cranked-up tube amp.
It’s very responsive to your guitars volume control. So you can play rhythm chords with just a touch of overdrive until it’s your turn to step forward and take your epic solo. Turning up the volume knob on your guitar will immediately crank-up the grit and crunch coming out of your amp.
The full list of TS9 Tube Screamer devotees is simply too long to list here. Some of the highlights include Stevie Ray Vaughan, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Carlos Santana, John Mayer, Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day), Buddy Guy, Noel Gallagher (Oasis), The Edge (U2) and Trey Anastasio (Phish). The list could go on and on….
Don’t let the name of this brilliant pedal limit your consideration for your pedal arsenal. While it is basically a near-perfect pedal for playing the blues, it is by no means limited to that genre. Plenty of rock players love this pedal as well for its ability to provide the sound of a true vintage tube amp.
This is one of the most dynamic pedals I’ve ever played. Which means it is very responsive to playing technique, the level of attack you hit the strings and the volume knob on your guitar. You can dial in the precise amount of gain you want to apply just by adjusting the guitar volume knob. So you don’t have to constantly mess with the dials on the pedal itself.
Boss pedals are known for their tank-like construction. They will probably last a lifetime, regardless of how many times you toss it in your gig bag and onto the floor of your friend’s basement or garage.
Famous guitarists who are known to keep a Blues Driver on their pedalboard include Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day), Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine), Prince and Andy Timmons (The Police).
This built-in-the-USA pedal offers guitarists looking for that sweet overdriven tube amp sound a full-spectrum of tones from which to choose. Relatively light clean tones to harmonically rich and gritty are ready at the turn of a dial.
The circuitry inside this pedal is a faithful reproduction of the most elusive overdrive pedal of all time. I’m referring to the Klon overdrive pedal, which literally sell for thousands of dollars each. Known as “Klones” a number of pedal manufacturers have cloned the famous Klon. And this is one of my favorites.
Simple Gain, Volume and Treble controls keep the function of this pedal easy for beginners, but highly effective!
This may be the best bang-for-the-buck pedal of any on the entire list. Since its introduction in 1978, this pedal is used by both beginning and world-class guitarists from all corners of the musical world.
It’s known for a broad dynamic range of distortion. From just beyond tube break-up to full on scream, the Boss DS-1 will not disappoint any hard rocker or metal-head.
Fans of the Boss DS-1 pedal include Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Glenn Frey (The Eagles).
If the sound of a raging vintage Marshall stack is what you’re going for to play rock or metal, then this classic pedal would be a solid choice for you.
This versatile and affordable pedal can also be dialed back for great, mellow sounds reminiscent of a vintage Fender tube amp.
The Rat pedal has lots of famous users, including Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), James Hetfield (Metallica), David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) and Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains).
If you’re into more contemporary metal sounds, this powerful pedal will give you all the gain you’ll ever need. And to keep the noise that generally comes with such ultra-high gain levels away from your sound, this smart pedal also includes a built-in noise gate.
This monster metal pedal also includes dedicated EQ dials for full and precise customization of your metal tones.
Rockers and head bangers who play with the MXR M116 pedal include Wolfgang Van Halen, and Pat O’Brien (Cannibal Corpse).
JHS Pedals is growing from a boutique American builder to more in the mainstream. Part of the reason is the new 3 Series line of pedals. They are intentionally stripped-down in a streamlined, no-frills, affordable package. But amazingly, this pedal delivers incredible options when it comes to creating a reverb effect.
The EQ dial lets you sweep from bright shimmery sounds to more dark and vintage-voiced effects. It also comes with a unique Pre-Delay switch which lets you include a short delay before the reverb kicks-in.
The quirky and brilliant owner of the company, Josh Scott, has a great YouTube video where he explains the in’s and out’s of his 3 Series pedal designs.
The engineering wizards at Boss have continued to evolve their reverb pedal, and this sixth iteration does not disappoint. It’s loaded with features and offers no less than eight reverb effects ranging from subtle rooms to giant concert halls.
One of the coolest dial settings is ‘Dynamic’ mode. The pedal automatically adjusts the depth of the reverb effect based on your playing touch.
This sophisticated pedal also allows modern guitarists to choose between mono and stereo operation. There is also an input for an optional expression pedal to control the depth of the reverb effect while you’re playing live.
This pedal takes the term ‘fully-featured’ to another level! Not only does it offer eight types of reverb effects and mono/stereo switching, it also includes the ability to store three different custom effects for quick recall when playing. You can connect this pedal to TC Electronics TonePrint Editor for PC, Mac and iPad.
Another great feature of this pedal is what TC Electronic calls Mash technology. The foot-switch button that you stomp on normally just turns the pedal on or off. The Hall of Fame 2 foot-switch is pressure-sensitive. This allows the guitarist to apply a level of expression to the reverb effects that you hear. It’s like having two pedals in one.
For those of you debating on whether you prefer buffered or true bypass pedals, you don’t have to worry with the Hall of Fame 2. It’s delivered in true bypass mode but you can easily switch to buffered bypass mode to prevent high frequency loss from long cable runs and/or a full pedalboard.
Of course, Fender is legendary when it comes to electric guitars and amplifiers. They are relatively new to the pedal game, but they are making a solid first impression.
This pedal features three different delay modes to emulate clean digital, warm analog and crisp tape echo effects.
The 950 milliseconds of delay time is among the highest I’ve seen. This opens up lots of sonic possibilities to impart delay effects into your sound.
This fully analog delay pedal relies on old-school “bucket-brigade” technology which delivers incredibly natural, rich and warm delay effects.
Up to 600ms of delay time is available. And it is coupled with an optional modulation button to offer even more tonal variation.
I currently use this pedal for my delay and I’ve been very happy with the effects it provides. And I’m in good company because other guitarists like this pedal too. Famous names include John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers), John Mayer, Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day), Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Jeff Beck and The Edge (U2).
For the tech geeks out there, this pedal is for you! Over the past 4 decades, Boss has continued to make upgrades to this delay pedal’s design and features. One great feature of the new DD-3T is the ability to tap in delay tempos yourself. So when you’re playing particular song you can stomp on this box at the perfect tempo to have the delay effect match your playing. And then you can subdivide the beat into quarter-note triplet, dotted-eight note or quarter note.
In a way, this pedals kind of gives you a two-for-one. The unique ‘Short Loop’ feature allows you to capture up to 800 milliseconds of sound. This can then be played continuously allowing you to jump over the top of that repetitive loop. You can also check out my separate section for Looper Pedals. They are dedicated units to enable this effect to an even greater degree.
You’ll notice that unlike most other pedals, this unit includes two sets of input and output jacks. The ‘direct out’ plug is used to convert the main out to delay only. This allows you to send wet (effected sound) and dry (no effect) signals to different amps. This will create very a spacious soundscape.
The name Polytune was derived from this pedal’s unique ability to tune polyphonically. This is a fancy word for tuning all strings at once. So you can simply strum all the strings of your guitar together and it will give you feedback on each one.
This pedal also includes chromatic and strobe tuning for both standard and alternate tunings.
Check out the pedalboards of your favorite guitarists you will likely find a Boss TU-3 pedal on it. These road-proven tanks are fully-featured yet easy to use.
It allows tuning of several different instruments, including 6 and 7 string guitars and 4, 5 and 6 string basses.
Another interesting feature of this pedal is its ability to tune both chromatically by note letter, but also by string number. This is particularly useful when using alternate tunings, popular in rock and heavy metal music.
There are a lot of reasons to love this particular guitar tuner pedal. For starters, the high-definition LCD screen is super easy to read. This is really helpful when you’re standing up trying to tune your guitar. Especially if your in a darker place like a stage! And you can change the colors to simply personalize or to improve visibility in different lighting conditions.
Similar to the Boss Tuner, the Peterson Tuner includes a new “Guided Tunings” mode. This allows the StroboStomp HD to display numeric string values instead of traditional note names. This makes for sure-fire intuitive and rapid re-tuning to any number of open and alternative tunings.
And perhaps the most impressive feature of this pedal is its incredible tuning accuracy. The stobe tuner inside this pedal is accurate to within 1/1000th of a semitone, or 1/1000th of a fret.
This no-nonsense two-knob all-analog compressor has been solidly working well for guitarists since the 1970’s, and at an affordable price.
In addition to evening out the dynamics of your playing, it generates tremendous sustain to make your notes sing into the air.
Compressors are particularly popular with country music. And this particular compressor is very popular in the Nashville scene. Tons of famous songs have been recorded in studios that offer this Dyna Comp compressor.
But lots of other artists have used this compressor, including David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Noel Gallagher (Oasis), Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Pete Townshend (The Who) and Tom Petty.
This robust pedal includes four knobs to separately dial-in the tone and attack of compression, the level of sustain and the overall sound level.
I find this pedal really delivers on producing a smooth and balanced response to your style of playing. It automatically compensates if you have a light or heavy touch on the strings. It’s kind of a secret weapon of beginner guitarists because it evens out what might otherwise be an imbalance in playing different chords or notes.
Keeley compressors are considered some of the finest in the world. Made in the USA, this relatively new offering has received rave reviews from the guitar world. And I can personally vouch for the fanfare because this pedal is currently on my pedal board and it’s not leaving anytime soon.
It does a great job of smoothing out the dynamics of your playing and giving your notes plenty of natural sounding sustain, giving you a real polished tone.
For those that have heard that compressors are only really necessary when playing single-coil guitars, let me tell you that this pedal works great for humbuckers too. Robert Keeley has included a switch that toggles between single-coil and humbucker mode. So it automatically adjusts the level of attack to balance out the tone for you.
The Cry Baby pedal was one of the first Wah pedals and started back in 1966. It’s built in the USA and is known for its durability no matter how hard you rock it.
Current rock stars that love their Cry Baby Wahs include Slash (Guns N Roses), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Eddie Van Halen, Zakk Wylde, Jerry Cantrell (Alice In Chains) and Joe Bonamassa.
This latest offering from Vox builds on the legacy of its classic predecessors that invented the Wah-Wah effect during the 1960’s. They were created in an attempt to emulate the sounds of a human voice and that of a trumpet being muted.
The chrome top really adds a clean and sophisticated look to this pedal that won’t be missed if you’re playing in a dark room or on a dark stage.
Two famous guitar gods to play a Vox Wah Wah pedal were Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, so I’ll just leave it at that.
This is one of only two cases where I recommend two pedals from the same manufacturer in the same category. Dunlop is simply king of the way pedal. And they offer a wide variety of options. I’ve selected this particular model because of a few really cool features.
First, the famous “Q” control allows you to vary the intensity of the wah effect. Second, there is also a volume boost of up to 15 decibels of added gain. And third, it has an auto-return function that automatically engages the effect when you place your foot on the pedal.
Most of the pedals made by Walrus Audio are high-end boutique models for players with deeper pockets. But they recently came out with a line of stripped-down pedals with simple and intuitive controls. It’s called the Fundamental Series and they offer some serious bang for the buck.
Instead of traditional dials, this pedal features sliders to control gain, tone and volume. It also includes a very cool three-way switch to change pedal modes between Gate, Classic and Mid+. Gate mode reduces the voltage within the circuit to create a bit of a starved sound. Classic mode is a compressed and crunchy fuzz sound. Mid+ mode boosts the signal in the mid frequencies to flatten out the tone.
The three dials to control Loudness, Sustain and Filter already give you plenty to tonal options for a great fuzz sound. But what I love about this pedal are the two additional switches to give you even more options. By engaging the Crunch switch, this pedal introduces a nice compression. The Scoop switch removes some of the mid frequencies that helps to keep the fuzz from getting a bit too muddy. And you can engage both switches at the same time and the dial in the controls to taste.
Alternate versions of this pedal come in an oversized enclosure. I prefer this “normal” size pedal because it fits nicer on a pedalboard.
The round Fuzz Face pedal has been around since the mid-60’s and is famous for its warm, vintage fuzz tones.
This unique pedal forgoes the modern silicon based electronics and sticks with germanium transistors that are slightly mismatched to provide the legendary sound.
If you love any of the following guitar gods, then you might have fun with a Fuzz Face because they all used them: Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, Pete Townshend, George Harrison, David Gilmour and Eric Johnson.
A smaller and simpler version of the Corona Chorus pedal, this mini-sized enclosure still packs a full punch. Speed, Depth and FX Level dials let you create a broad spectrum of lush chorus effects.
It even includes a USB input to allow you to download/upload custom chorus settings by famous guitarists through TC Electronics unique TonePrint app for iPhone and Android, all for free.
Similar to the Carbon Copy Delay pedal from MXR, this chorus pedal uses all-analog bucket-brigade technology. It creates super shimmery chorus effects that sound very natural.
Basic knobs allow for control of level, rate and depth. Plus two additional knobs allowing the guitar player to cut high and low frequencies for added control of your tone.
Simple is good, right? Well, MXR certainly thinks so. And so do countless guitarists from all sorts of different genres who have benefitted from the lush sounds produced by the Phase 90.
This classic analog pedal, which has been in production for the past four decades, features a grand total of one knob to control the speed of the shimmery and swooshing phaser effects that you’ll hear, but it’s all you’ll need.
Guitar legends who have used Phase 90 pedals on their boards include Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Slash (Guns N Roses) and Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters).
Quite the opposite of the simple MXR Phase 90 is this beast from Boss. Not only does the Boss Phase Shifter include three dials to control Rate, Depth and Resolution, it also includes a dial to set three different Stage settings. The Rise and Fall modes apply a unidirectional phasing effect which has to be heard to be believed.
This advanced pedal also includes a tap tempo mode to sync the phasing effects to your desired beat.
And of course, like all Boss stomp boxes this thing is built to last!
Taking a more versatile and high-tech approach, the Helix Phaser pedal includes 4 knobs to control speed, depth, feedback and mix. Plus double inputs and outputs for mono/stereo sound and a three-way selector button to switch between vintage, smooth and TonePrint modes.
Like other high-end pedals from TC Electronic, the TonePrint feature allows digital connectivity to download/upload phaser presets from genuine rockstars that you love via Android and iOS.
The flanger pedal offers two, no wait actually three, different flanger modes. The first two modes are classic tube-type flanger and a softer sounding tape-flanger, which are fully dialed-in by the four control knobs (speed, depth, feedback and delay time).
The third flanger mode utilizes TC Electronic’s TonePrint feature. This is perfect for the guitarist who also likes to play with mobile device apps and customization. The pedal can be connected directly to your mobile device and custom presets, made by your favorite guitarists who feature a flanger sound, are available for download/upload directly to your pedal!
An additional set of inputs are included to allow for full stereo effects.
This third-generation flanger from Boss includes three different flanger modes (standard, ultra and gate/pan). Plus a fourth option called Momentary which turns flanging on instantly, all of which are controlled by three knobs for rate, depth and resonance.
A tap tempo, which is usually only found on delay pedals, is also included in this impressive pedal.
An additional output plug is included to allow for full stereo effects.
If you’re striving for that legendary Eddie Van Halen tone, then this pedal is for you. And with the black EVH stripes, it’s got the look too!
In addition to the four knobs controlling speed, width, regeneration and manual, this special pedal includes an EVH button to activate the “unchained” tone.
The only downside of this pedal is that it goes a little bit beyond my $150 targeted upper range. But for true EVH fans out there, this is worth it!
In a simple and space-saving design, the one-knob Ditto looper only does one thing. But it does it very well for a good price.
The one knob and foot-switch controls allow you to perform all basic looper tasks: record, undo/redo, stop and erase. And it will store your loops even when you power down or disconnect the pedal.
Up to 5 minutes of recording time is available and all loops are recorded in 24-bit uncompressed high-quality audio.
Like most pedals from Boss, you get a lot of bang for the buck. And the latest version of their simple-to-use Loop Station is no different.
This unit allows you to record, playback, overdub and undo/redo loops with a total of 12 minutes of stereo recording time.
Dual inputs and outputs allow you to use this pedal as a mono looper with a single amp, or in true stereo when connected to more sophisticated sound rigs.
Truly the best of the best. This amazing Loop Station packs an incredible number of features into a standard stomp-box enclosure. Most other loopers with this many options are sold as rack-mount units and cost way more money.
In addition to stereo operation, this pedal allows for 13 hours of onboard recording and loop storage. An incredible 99 onboard memory slots are available for storing your loops for later recall.
This powerhouse pedal also includes 7 different drum kits and 57 preset rhythms with A/B variations.
While it is a bit pricey, you get a ridiculous amount of power and features for such a simple enclosure.
This simple but very effective pedal only has one dial to control the Trigger Level. Used in conjunction with three selectable noise suppression ranges (Full, Mid, Hiss) you can have full control of your noise gate parameters.
One noise suppression process that this pedal does very well is to let longer notes sustain and react very quickly to shorter notes.
The advanced circuitry inside this noise suppression pedal is intended to target only the unwanted hiss and noise of the signal chain without negatively affecting your natural playing dynamics.
I particularly like the LED light that indicates when the reduction effect is taking place. It helps you finely adjust the threshold and decay knobs to keep the unwanted noise out and the good stuff in.
Also included are send and return input jacks for silencing of an entire effects loop. This feature is especially handy if your amp does not include a built-in FX loop.
This pedal features two modes, a classic hard-gate and a hiss-mode that zeroes in on specific frequencies that are associated with unwanted hissing sounds.
Like other high-end TC Electronic pedals, the Sentry utilizes the TonePrint tool. This lets guitarists connect the pedal directly to a computer to download custom presets created by an incredible listing of famous guitarists.
Also included are send and return input jacks for silencing of an entire effects loop. This feature is especially handy if your amp does not include a built-in FX loop.
