Synth pedals for guitars are definitely a niche effect, altering your sound to the point that it doesn’t really even sound guitar-ish anymore. That said, as a lot of popular
The 5 Best Preamp Pedals
What is a preamp pedal, and why do you need one? In guitar amplifiers, the preamp is where tone shaping and overdrive happens before your guitar signal is sent off
The 6 Best Compressor Pedals
Compression is not the flashiest effect for your pedalboard. It doesn’t send your guitar signal into distorted mayhem, or modulate it into dreamy echos and tonal sweeps. Rather, a compressor
The 5 Best Bass DI Pedals
Whether DI stands for “direct input,” “direct injection,” or “direct interface,” it’s an essential tool for bass players. DI pedals allow you to forego a traditional amplifier altogether, plugging directly
The 7 Best Wah Wah Pedals
The onomatopoeic wah pedal is probably the best-known guitar effect to non-guitarists, thanks to ultra-distinctive sounds like the opening to Isaac Hayes’ “Theme from Shaft” and Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child (Slight
5 Must-Own Transparent Overdrive Pedals
Do you love the tone that you’ve finally dialed in with just the right combination of guitar, pickups, and amplifier, but feel that it just needs a bit more “oomph”
The Most Expensive New Pedals Today
It’s incredible what some of us will spend on our never-ending quest for the perfect tone. Not only can we drop thousands of dollars on high-end amps and guitars, but
Affordable Gems: 6 Amazing Effects Pedals that Won’t Break the Bank
Building a pedalboard can be expensive, and the more you get into fine-tuning your personal sound, the more you’ll probably be convincing yourself that you need to take out a
5 Tube Preamp Pedals
The preamp section of your amp is where the magic happens: it shapes your tone and can add gain or overdrive before sending that polished, finished sound off to the
Who’s the BOSS? 5 Iconic Stompboxes from an Effects Giant
If the ever-growing number of small boutique pedal makers these days are microbreweries, BOSS is Coors. But no matter how much some tone snobs may love to talk down the
Best Amps in a Box
The iconic tube amps of yesteryear—Vox, Marshall, Fender—each had their own unique tonal fingerprints that shaped the sounds of their players. The Beatles wouldn’t be the same without their Vox
5 Great Metal Pedals For High-Gain Mayhem
Perhaps nothing fundamentally alters your sound as dramatically as the tight crunch of a hard-clipped heavy metal sound. The sound of heavy metal music has changed a lot since Steppenwolf
Screamin’ Deals: Eight Clones Of A Classic Overdrive
Perhaps no other effects pedal is as widespread, reissued, cloned, and copied as the Ibanez TS-series Tube Screamer. If you’ve owned more than a handful of pedals in your life,
Attack Of The Klones: Current Versions Of A Rare Classic
There are a lot of great drive/boost units out there, but perhaps the most sought after is the Klon Centaur. Produced from 1994-2000, it was an overdrive pedal of sorts,
Out With The Old, In With The New: 7 Boutique Versions Of Classic Pedals
It’s no secret that the original versions of well-known effects pedals are usually the most desirable. Maybe they used hard-to-find circuits, maybe they were handwired, or maybe battered old pedals
