For all things guitar – the ultimate guide to effects pedals
You can be chasing that ‘sound’ in your head forever – even the late, great BB King admitted he hadn’t ever found it!
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However, guitar effects pedals (FX or Stompboxes) can help you find and develop your tone and there are literally thousands of them to choose from.
Here, we highlight everything you need to know about guitar effects pedals to help you make an informed choice.
Guitar effects pedals are everywhere, and most guitarists (even acoustic players) will no doubt have a few that they use covering the basics from tuner, chorus, overdrive, delay and EQ. Some will own hundreds and have a very extensive pedal board that shapes and defines their sound.
Most of the pedals of today can trace their roots back to the rise of the electric guitar in the 50’s and 60’s when artists and groups ‘discovered’ sound effects, probably by accident, and thought ‘wow’ we can use that.
The earliest dedicated effects pedals were probably the tape echo (1953), fuzz (1961) and the wah-wah (1966) with the golden age of innovation in pedals being the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Pedals are great
Want to replicate the sound of a famous guitar track? No problem. There will be a pedal out there that does this or a forum that tells you what gear – and pedals – were used to get that sound.
For your music style and genre – rock, blues, metal, pop and jazz – there will be a few pedals that you must have that will help define that sound.
Makers range from the garden shed brigade, hand making a few a week, to the global manufacturers such as BOSS. We have over 160 makers profiled on our site.
Another great thing about pedals is that there is a great market out there for used stuff – check out Reverb and eBay – so if you buy a pedal and don’t get on with it you can sell it on and try something else, without losing your shirt.
Iconic pedals
This is a list that could be argued over for ever but we think these few pedals have real iconic status, are still around today and can be heard on countless classic songs:
- Ibanez Tube Screamer
- Dunlop Fuzz Face
- Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
- BOSS CE Chorus
- BOSS OD Overdrive
- EHX Memory Man
- Klon Centaur
Overdrive & Distortion
Looking for an Overdrive pedal?
Overdrive and distortion pedals are probably the most used effects – we all love that sound – and every maker has one (or plenty) in their catalogue.
You have a vast choice from a £20-£30 budget pedal, such as those from Joyo or Behringer to the made to order and very expensive Analog Man King of Tone, which has a waiting list of around six years!
Check out our Guide to the Best 25 Overdrive Pedals you must try
What can pedals do?
Categories of effects pedals include:
- Overdrive/Distortion
- Fuzz
- Reverb
- Delay
- Boost
- Compression
- Modulation – chorus, flanger, phaser
- Pre-amps
- Wah-wah
- Loopers
- Synths
The list is endless and now includes sophisticated MultiFX pedals where you can add and store different combinations of effects together to create specific sounds.
Effects pedals can be analogue or digital (or a combination), true bypass or not and some can be temperamental depending on where you sit them in your chain – so go experiment!
But what does each pedal do?
Chorus
A delay based effect designed to simulate what happens when two instruments play the same part – makes your six-string sound like a twelve string!
Compressor
Using a compressor boosts quiet notes and reduces heavy signals such as chords, averaging out the natural differences. This makes finger picked passages sound smoother and gives more flow to clean lead passages.
Delay or Echo
Echo-units copy the natural effect of a sound being deflected from a distant surface using analogue or digital means. This makes your guitar sound fuller and alive, rather than flat and monotone.
Distortion, Overdrive, Gain or Fuzz
This should do what it says on the tin and add a grit, and grin factor, to your sound! Think ‘I can’t get no satisfaction’ a fuzz pedal, or classic Led Zeppelin – overdrive. A fantastic array of different types of pedal are available giving you a massive choice of sounds – you could spend years and thousands of pounds, finding the right sound for you. Classic pedals include the Ibanez Tube Screamer, EHX Big Muff and Klon Centaur – most pedal companies make a ‘copy’ of a classic and some, copies of copies!
Flanger
A delay-based effect that originated with tape recorders (listen to some of the 70’s rock records to hear it) where the sound produced is mixed with the normal sound.
Phaser
Mixes slightly out of phase identical signals giving colouration to the sound.
Reverb
A reverb unit mimics the natural effect of overlapping sound reflections that may occur in a large room making it sound less flat or dead – you can get plate reverb, spring reverb, room reverb and hall reverb and all points in between giving you a great choice. A basic reverb pedal can cost £30 or you can spend £500 on one offering every reverb under the sun.
Tremolo
The volume of the signal is modulated producing a rhythmic pulsing effect. Don’t get confused with the tremolo arm on your guitar – technically that is a vibrato!
Vibrato
Here the pitch of the signal is modulated rather than the volume of the signal.
Wah-Wah pedal
A foot operated pedal – when the pedal is flat a high treble sound will be produced and when you raise the pedal gradually the bass is increased. Used in funk and blues a lot.
Other pedals include Booster, Octave, Pitch and many more. You can of course plug many pedals in at once to shape and form your own sound. A word of caution though – the great BB King spent all his life trying to produce the sound he ‘could hear in his head’ which wasn’t the sound we could hear!
Building a pedal board
The best thing about pedals is that for a few hundred pounds you could build a fully functioning pedal board with all the ‘classic’ pedals on it.
The size and scope of your pedal board will depend on the type of music you play, what sounds you need, whether you gig, record or play at home and your budget.
You can buy a pedal board for less than £50 that will take 5 or more pedals, up to custom made ones from The GigRig, for example, which will take 20 or more and have custom switching options – everything is possible.
Whatever you do you will need a power supply and cables to connect it all together.
What order should your pedals be in?
Well, the order you put them in is up to you and how many overdrive and distortion pedals you have also, but really, you can do whatever works best for your sound.
However the ‘default’ is acknowledged to be:
From the input end: Tuner – Wah – Compression – Distortion/Overdrive – Fuzz – Modulation (chorus, flanger etc) – Delay – Reverb – Looper
Check out our Guide to Effects Pedals you need on your board
Multi-effect pedals and Floor processors
If you can’t be bothered with all of this then you can always buy a MultiFX pedal or a Floor Processor where you can add and store different combinations of digital effects together to create specific sounds – all in one box!
Check out Helix, Neural DSP and Headrush, EHX Pog, BOSS and Kempler.
The software is incredible nowadays and they are getting ever close to the sound of the real thing. You can also add in amplifier and speaker cab simulations enabling you to twiddle to your hearts content. Most allow you to download new sounds and combinations…
Biggest Pedal Companies
The top makers include BOSS, Line 6, EHX, MXR, Strymon and Walrus Audio. Read our Guide to the Top Makers.
Even the guitar and amp companies have their own line of pedals now, including Fender, Gibson, PRS, Marshall, Blackstar, Orange and Vox, which is testament to the demand and popularity of FX.
UK Makers
Think overdrive, fuzz or distortion, delay, reverb, chorus or phaser and a well-known pedal will spring to mind (usually US centric).
However, here in the UK we have some great FX makers, from the hand built, three a month in the shed or workshop to the production line, volume boys. Notable makers include ThorpyFX, Fredric Effects and Origin Effects but we have plenty of top makers to choose from here.
Most offer a range of pedals that compete with, or are, the best in the business. Some make just one style of pedal; some are dedicated effects makers; whilst others also make amps, guitars and accessories.
Read our Guide to British Effects Makers