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Good guitar pedals are great investments. While there a ton of different pedals around, we will cover the top guitar pedals. You should know about these pedals and have them as a part of your rig. To make things easy for you, we will also leave recommendations on what we feel are the best models.

Let’s get started

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The Signal Chain

Before we get to the guitar pedals, first we need to understand what is a Signal Chain. Simply put the signal chain is the signal originating from your guitar which either goes straight or through different effects and ends up at the amp from where you hear the output.

Understanding the signal chain is important. Different guitar effects (pedals) are best positioned in certain areas of the signal chain (between the guitar and the amp or in the Fx loop) to produce the best sound. The order of the effect in the signal path is very important to shape your tone. In reality, there are no hard and fast rules on how to stack the effects in the signal path. It is entirely dependent on the kind of sound you wish to achieve.

Have you ever wondered why Eric Johnson’s or Brian May’s tone stands out from the rest and easily recognizable as a signature tone? The answer lies in the effects and how you dial them in.  There is some conventional wisdom on the positioning of the effects which could be a great starting point. But you need to experiment with the effects yourself to suit your style and craft your signature tone.

Effects Groupings

There are certain types of effects that have similar characteristics and are thus grouped together.

Dynamic – These are effects which change the waveform shape vis a vis volume. Good examples are compression, noise gate, and the volume pedal.  

Frequency – These guitar pedals help to tweak the frequencies to meet your tonal requirements. These effects do not filter any noise or manage any variance of volume like the Dynamic group does. Instead, they boost certain frequencies to give specific tonal characteristics. Good examples are Wah, EQ, Pitch shift, etc

Gain – These effects affect the gain, boost, and grit of the tones. Good examples of these are Boost Pedals, Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz, etc.

Modulators – This group of guitar pedals modulates the waveform of the guitar to affect the tone. Good examples of these would-be Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Tremolo, etc.

Time-Based – These effects alter the signal timing. Time-based pedals create a small or long-time gap repetition with reducing volume per cycle. These are essentially the Delay and the Reverb Pedal.

Others – These are guitar pedals that do not fit into any of the above but have very specific characteristics of their own. Good examples are Tuners, Loopers, Amp modulators, etc

Effects Loop

Some amplifiers have effects loop functions. Here you can loop the time-based or the modulation pedals and remove them from the front of the amp chain.

Amplifiers have a preamp section and a power amp section. The preamp section is where the EQ, gain, etc are based. The signal from the guitar enters the preamp section, then after getting processed the signal enters the power amp section. Here the signals are amplified for us to hear.

In an am amp with an effects loop, there is a loop in between the preamp and the power amp. So, this helps in separating the gain channel from the time based or modulation effects through the effects loop. Some musicians prefer this, as they feel this sounds more natural.

The loop has a send and a return jack. The signals from the guitar with effects hits as usual the front of the amp while the modulation or the time-based effects are dialed in the Fx loop.

The signal chain from the preamp hooks up to the input of the modulation or the time-based effects. The output of these guitar pedals in the Fx loop chain returns the signal back to the amp. From there the signal goes to the power amp for output.

Pedal Order

As shared before, there is no rule for the placement of guitar pedals in the signal chain but there are some general guides.

• The first pedal in the chain is recommended to be the tuner. This is to get the direct signal from the guitar before it being colored by any of the effects.
• The next is compression. You can also put a volume pedal after the compressor if you want to use it to control the signal from the guitar just like you would do with the volume knob on the body.
• The Wah pedal comes next and leads to the gain stacks.
• The next are the gain pedals and you can put the boost, overdrive, and distortion here. If you want, you can have a noise gate here as well.
• The next are the modulators like Chorus, Flanger, etc. You can also consider putting the volume pedal here before the time-based ones. The volume pedal here can create lush sounding landscapes when used with reverb and delay.
• Last are the time-based pedals – reverb and delay. In the case of the effects loop, you may want to loop the time-based ones with or without the modulators.

Example 1: Without Effects Loop

Guitar – Tuner – Compressor – Wah – OverDrive/ Distortion – Chorus/ Flanger/ Phaser – Volume – Reverb – Delay – Amp

Example 2: With Effects Loop

Guitar – Tuner – Compressor – Wah – OverDrive/ Distortion – Effects Loop (Chorus/ Flanger/ Phaser – Reverb – Delay) – Amp

A few considerations:

• Keep your cables as short as possible.
• Use quality patch cables to reduce noise in the signal chain.
• Use isolated power supply and not daisy chain power supplies. Isolated power supply ensures your guitar pedals have an individual power source and not shared between all. Isolated power supply reduces noise in the signal chain and daisy chain power supplies create noise.

Below are some good recommendations.

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With this understanding now let’s get into the must-have pedals for your guitar rig.

Tuner

Guitar tuners are perhaps the most important pedal. To start with if you are in the middle of a gig and your guitar goes off-tune, no matter what guitar, amp, or effects you use it will not sound good. So, when you look for a guitar tuner, you should have a few consideration in addition to it enabling you to tune your instrument.

• A guitar tuner should be able to fit into your rig nicely.
• It should have a clear and bright display for you to see the tuning in different light conditions.
• It needs to pick up the frequencies quickly for a fast tuning experience.
• And most importantly it needs to be accurate.

Boss TU-3

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The Boss TU3 is perhaps the most common pedal tuner (in fact this is true for all Boss pedals as they had the advantage to enter the market when there was virtually no competition!). Most of the pedalboards across the world would have or have had this iconic tuner at some point in time.

Just like any Boss product, this is built like a tank and perfect for touring guitarists where the guitar pedals go through a lot of knocks and bumps. It comes with a 5-year warranty. The tuner is extremely precise and the tuner is accurate to + / – 1 cent.

The tuner is bright and provides a clear display on stage. In addition, this also comes with a high visibility mode which helps in reading when it is used outside. It has different modes of tuning by which you are can tune 7 string guitars and 6-string bass. It features true bypass and provides a silent tuning option.

TC Electronic PolyTune 3

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This is perhaps one of those tuners which helps you to tune in a jiffy. The Polytunes have the ability to check the tuning of all the 6 strings at one go. When you are plugged into this tuner, you can strum all the open strings together and the tuner can tell you which string is off tune. This is incredibly helpful for any guitarist on stage who wants to quickly check which string is off. Gives a very accurate reading.

Secondly, the Polytune 3 has an integrated buffer in it. This is very helpful when you are using a long cable. You tend to lose some part of the frequency when you use a long cable. Having a buffer helps to recuperate from that loss. This not only makes it more accurate but also saves space on the board and dollars in your bank as otherwise you would have had to purchase a buffer separately.

The Polytune 3 can help you to toggle between a drop D and a standard tuning mode by pressing and holding the switch for a few seconds. You can also toggle between Guitar and Bass and Capo tuning mode with the click of a button. This is a great little accurate tuner and is correct to +/- 0.5 cents. It has a bright display and a true bypass and can tune in the silent mode. It provides incredibly fast tuning.

I must say that Polytunes are slowly taking over the Boss tuners. TC electronic is a wonderful company. Bringing new technology and integrating with their guitar pedals. The result is much more than what the standard guitar pedals can offer. This is one of my favorites.  

Compressor

The role of a compressor is to set a limit. It reduces the dynamic range of the audio signal. It in a way makes a quiet signal louder and a loud signal quieter and as a result, produces a signal which is even and sustaining.

There are a few controls which you will find in any compression pedal.

Sustain/ Threshold – It is essentially the threshold that controls how much guitar signal is required to trigger the compression effect. The higher you dial this in the more compressed the signal becomes.

Attack & Release – This is the time taken on how quickly the compression kicks in and how soon the signal leaves compression.

Ratio – The ratio determines how much compression to apply to a signal that goes over the threshold. Every signal that goes over the threshold gets compressed according to a certain ratio.

Blend – This allows you to mix the compressed and the dry signal.

Level – This knob allows you to bring the signal up when the compressor quietens the overall sound.

Just remember that compressors bring up quieter signals, so if you are placing a compressor after a gain pedal then you will invite a lot of hisses. As a rule of thumb always put a compressor before the gain pedals.

The below compression guitar pedals are the best that money can buy.

Keeley Compressor Plus

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The Keeley Compressor Plus is an upgrade to Keely’s industry-leading compressor circuit. This model expands its features to accommodate all types of players. The sustain of the Compressor Plus is enhanced by adding an expander circuit to the backend that increases the gain proportionately without any decay for extra note length.

A specific switch is included in the pedal to adapt to single coils or humbuckers by changing the attack and release times. The Blend control adapts to what kind of compressed and dry signal you want – anything from a 50/50 to full compression.

The tone control is a new addition to the Keeley Compressor. Past the halfway this restores high frequencies or rolls it back for smooth jazzy compression.  Hands down the best compressor pedal around.

Boss CP -1X Compressor

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The Boss CP1X keeps the same blue finish as the earlier compressors but added the metallic chrome finish to the top making it look great. The CP1X uses Boss’ MDP (Multi-Dimensional Processing) technology which uses complex signal routing.

The MDP is an innovative feature that does most of the technical dial-ins like threshold, EQ, etc. for you under the hood. With this technology, Boss has taken multi band compression out of the studio and put it in this pedal on your pedalboard. So, when you change a dial, the backend circuit intuitively takes care of the other aspects to produce a brilliant tone.

The pedal has an interesting decibel reduction level display LED on the front. The CP 1 X converts the 9V power internally to 18V for a higher headroom compression effect. The noise level of the pedal is very low. When you dial the compression in, the core element of your tone remains identical. A fantastic option for guitarists and a brilliant pedal from Boss.

Wah Wah Pedal

We all love the box on the pedalboard with a footrest that can go back and forth and can provide some iconic rock sounds. The interesting thing about the Wah is that it kind of gives a sort of a vocal quality as you rock back and forth. It brings the best out of a guitarist for both lead and rhythm and gives the guitar a unique sound.

The pedal is essentially a variable EQ boost pedal. As we play the Wah and sweep it back and forth, it is essentially boosting the frequencies across the range. You can also select the Frequency spectrum in certain Wahs. Perhaps the most iconic Wah sound that every guitarist is familiar with is the intro of Jimi Hendrix’ Voodoo Chile. Modern guitarists like Slash, Kirk Hammett, John Petrucci, and Zakk Wylde are the other guitarists who use Wah extensively.

John Petrucci Signature Wah JP 95

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We all know the modern-day guitar maestro John Petrucci and how incredibly detailed he can be when it comes to his sound. The good folks at Dunlop worked with John and came up with a signature sounding Wah as per John’s requirement.

It has a gorgeous black chrome finish which looks absolutely stunning, to say the least. When you sweep the Wah from the heel to the toe, the Wah shows off this deep and throaty character which is close to a talk box sort of a sound. This wah sounds deeper than many of the other models around. It screams like an angry monster.

Attention to detail shows in the making of the Wah. Seemingly insignificant but in reality, the two LEDs on either side of the pedal can ensure that you are sure that the pedal is engaged irrespective of how dark the stage is.

This Wah emulates Johns Rack Wah set up. The JP 95 is essentially John’s favorite settings in one pedal. You can control the volume and can choose the spectrum of the frequency where you want the wah to play. There are 6 internal EQ settings that can control the lows, the mids, and the highs. The Wah comes with JPs signature settings and plays great, you need not mess around with the settings if you want John’s signature tone.

Dunlop SC95 Slash Signature Cry Baby Pedal         

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The SC95 is designed to Slash’s specifications. The Wah sounds of Slash’s wider dynamic range and frequency sweep. So, this cry baby when you rock back and forth provides a much wider spectrum of sound. Due to the large dynamic sweep, you get a great pull back as well as pushed forward when you go toe to heel and return.

This pedal comes with a custom resonance inductor which emulates the tone that Slash uses in his solos.  This pedal is a true bypass and just like the Petrucci Wah, has two blue LEDs on either side of the pedal to guide you on a dark stage setting. When you are running the pedal on the battery you have the flexibility of engaging these LEDs or saving power.

The body of the pedal is typical Cry Baby except the foot pedal has a customized Slash logo and the color is rugged-looking red and black. The built quality is great with a standard amount of sweep play. This like any other Wah this can last for hours on a battery.

With a solid dynamic sweep and frequency range, this wah produces a wide range of sound. Perfect for both overdriven sounds and as well as clean tones for funk sort of rhythms. A versatile pedal to own and try out some of the legendary solos of Slash. Tonally very good indeed.

Noise Gate

When you use a high gain stack or use single coils then you are likely to get the dreaded hum or buzz in your signal. This could be very annoying. The noise gate comes here to your rescue. In simple terms as per the threshold you set for the gate pedal, it will allow signals which are above that to pass through and shut the gate when it falls below that.

There are a few things can add to the noise in your signal chain.

Amps– High gain amps, be it valve or solid-state will create some sort of noise. Tube amps are more notorious for creating noise.  

Gain – The level of gain dialed in. The higher the gain the noisier the signal chain.

Pickups – Single coil pickups produce “hum” in the signal chain. If you want to reduce the hum you need to choose silent single coil pick-ups like the  Yngwie Malmsteen signature YJM Fury. These are super powerful and silent.

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Power Supply – Isolated power reduce the hum while daisy chains are notorious for creating noise. Given below are two great options of isolated power supply for your rig.

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The most common controls in a Noise Gate Pedal

Threshold – This is the threshold that you create for the gate to open or shut. The lower the threshold, the more it will cut noise and a high threshold can be more selective to reduce noise.

Decay – This controls essentially acts how soon the gate shuts after the desired threshold is achieved. A low decay means it will shut immediately after the signal hits the threshold while a high decay means it gives the signal time and slowly fades off and more natural sounding.

Reduction – This comes to play when the gate is shut, i.e when the signal is below the threshold. It ensures how quiet the sound is when the gate is closed. A low reduction produces a quieter noise.

For most, the noise gate is used to reduce the noise from the gain effects and thus best placed at the beginning of the gain effects.

• The signal from your guitar (or through any other dynamic pedal) goes into the input of the noise gate.
• The signal from the “send” output of the gate goes to the gain pedals.
• The output from the gain pedals gets into the “return” loop of the Gate.
• Then finally the output from the Noise Gate goes to the next line of guitar pedals which could be modulations like Chorus or time-based ones like Reverb or Delay.

Hope this helps to reduce the sound of your rig. Below are some recommendations.  

Boss NS 2

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From the good folks at Boss, we have the NS2 and perhaps like many other guitar pedals from them, this one is also one of the best in this segment. it does a brilliant job of quietening the noise from the signal chain and allowing the frequency which you want to pass through.

Just like any Boss pedal, this one is also built like a tank and comes with a 5-year warranty. The main issue with Noise Gates are that they tend to suck the tone and reduce the natural sustain, which guitarists hate.

The Threshold and the decay functions enable you to set how much of the noise you want to cut to let through the signal chain. When you put the pedal on the reduction mode, it stops all hums and noise when the gate is closed and keeps absolute silence.

It perhaps might need some adjusting and it is a good idea to play around to get your sweet spot on the threshold and the decay. In the hands of a good guitarist, this NS2 can work wonders in reducing noise significantly and at the same time have the tone and sustain that you require.

No wonder you will see this on the pedalboards of metal players like Yngwie Malmsteen and James Hetfield and many more. A brilliant product (again) from Boss.

ISP Technologies Decimator II G String

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The ISP Decimator II G String is a premium Noise gate pedal and is an upgrade on the Decimator II. This pedal is designed for players who would want to have the ultimate performance from the noise gate pedal including the noise from the Amp channel through an Fx loop.

The pedal has 3 slots on the right – guitar IN and OUT and a Decimator IN. On the left of the pedal, you have the Decimator OUT. At the back of the unit, you have a Link IN and OUT and the 9V power input. On the top, you have an ON/ OFF switch and a single control knob. This single-dial combines all functions of decay, threshold, and reduction into one.

This pedal uses the Guitar input to control the noise reduction from clean to high gain without changing the threshold. The G String is used in the Fx loop of your amp. The Guitar channel goes into the Guitar IN. The Guitar OUT connects to the input of whichever gain pedal you want to use and goes to the input channel of the amp. The Fx send from the amp goes to the Decimator IN channel and the Decimator Out goes to the next chain of guitar pedals in the signal chain and to the Fx return of the amp.

What this does is that it also cuts down the noise from the amp channels in addition to the gain pedals. Tube amps can produce a significant amount of noise which can be eliminated with this. The Linear Time Vector Processing (LTVP) offers a very smooth ripple free control of long sustained notes. All these could be achieved with the single master control knob on the pedal.

This pedal can also be linked to another Decimator II in the pedal chain if required through the link IN/ OUT options. A premium but very well thought out pedal and perhaps the best in the current market today.

Boost

A boost pedal can make a huge difference to your tone. These are not overly complex to include in your signal chain. They are essentially amplifying pedals that give a volume boost to your guitar sound. They can also be used to drive your amps to saturation for creamy lead tones and chunky rhythms.

A clean boost pedal can provide a boost across a very broad range and are also great options to use in conjunction with overdrives to get a meatier tone out of your amp. We all know of the Brian May tone and we know that comes from his VOX AC 30 but you should know that he also uses a boost pedal to saturate the valves of the AC 30 to get that tone.

Chase Bliss Audio Condor

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If you want to go for the best boost pedal in the current market, then here it is. It is not inexpensive but it does a bunch of things that others don’t. An incredibly versatile pedal.

This is an all-in-one tone shaper of a pedal. This pedal works as an overdrive, preamp, EQ, and filter pedal.

It allows sophisticated control over a wide range of effects. It has powerful parametric mid controls along with 3 low pass filters. You can sculpt your guitar tones with the switchable overdrive circuit, gain, and volume knobs. The settings you dial-in can be stored and controlled via an expression pedal. Nothing can be said negative about this incredible pedal and a must-have for tone connoisseurs.

Xotic EP 3 Boost Pedal

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The circuit of the EP Boost is based on the preamp circuit of the legendary EP 3 Echoplex. Though it was a classic delay unit but many players like Page, EVH or Eric Johnson used the preamp section to saturate the tone and drive the amps.

What Exotic has done is marvelous. In this small little pedal, Exotic has brought the tone and character of the classic EP 3 echoplex and brought it right on your pedalboard.

On the surface, this pedal looks unimaginably simple. We have one knob and that’s it. If you bring it to the middle it will give a nice boost and volume nudge to your tone. Cranking all the way up can give a saturated driven tone.

The inside of the pedal has 2 DIP switches – a bass boost and a brightness boost. You can use the DIP switches to sculpt the tone of your instrument. You can perhaps give a bass boost if you are playing a single coil or a brightness boost if you are playing humbuckers. But the standard setting the pedal comes with is just fine, and probably fine for most guitarists.

Overdrive

Distortion and Overdrives as terms used quite interchangeably but they are different effects.

Overdrives originally meant the sound from a tube amp where the channel of the amp is maxed out giving a creamier and crunchier tone. This would mean that the gain and the volumes to be cranked up to saturate the tubes. This is not always possible and thus we now have guitar pedals that can create overdriven sounds. Combining these guitar pedals with a tube amp provides outstanding overdriven amp tones.

Given below what we feel are the best.

Full Tone OCD Overdrive Pedal

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The OCD is a huge sounding pedal and stands for Obsessive Compulsive Drive. This is a great sounding overdrive pedal with huge tones. When you crank the gain up, you get a wonderfully warm and creamy guitar tone where you can do your pinched harmonics, etc.

At the face of the pedal, it is very simple. It is a true bypass, has an on/off switch, a tone, volume, and gain. The tone control can give a lot of flexibility which can brighten up a dark amp or can tame a really bright amp.

Excellent voicing control can be achieved by the tone knob. The volume provides lots of headroom. It also has a low peak and high peak toggle switch. The high peak gives you a British kind of sound with boosted volume, gain, and mids. One of the best overdrives in the market now.

Mesa Boogie Flux Five Overdrive Pedal

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The Flux Five adds Mesa’s classic Five Band Graphic EQ into a power-packed overdrive pedal. The classic Five Band EQs are seen in Mesa’s most famous Amps, and now in the pedal equipping the players with huge control on the sound. This pedal can offer you a lot more than a conventional overdrive pedal can. It can provide you with precise and accurate control over your tone. This pedal has Mesa’s powerful Flux Drive overdrive circuit.

The pedal has a LO/ HI gain switch for rhythm or playing lead solos. You have an overall Level, Bass, Treble, and Gain. There is a high TRIM pot as well which allows you to adjust the volume of the HI in relation to the LO. The 5 band EQ can be activated by hitting the toggle switch next to the EQ.

The LO mode is perfect for Rhythm and the HI perfect for screaming solos. The 5 band EQ can be applied to both the LO and the HI mode. Engaging the EQ gives a solid boost to the sound and in the HI mode is perfect for high-intensity solos for which Mesa sound is known for.

Overall a delight for any hard rock player and is super versatile. This now offers players to have the same control over frequency response on a footswitch which Mesa’s Legendary amps are known to have. A brilliant overdrive and must-have for all Mesa lovers.

Distortion

A distortion pedal offers a lot more harmonic saturation, sustain, and grit than what an overdrive can produce. Overdrives are low gain and are combined with tube amps to drive the channel to saturation in order to get the grit and crunch.

Distortion on the other hand is way heavier and can deliver a highly saturated distorted tone without a tube amp. For instance, if you are having a solid-state amp with a single clean channel, a distortion can provide you more than the grit, sustain and crunch that you would otherwise get from a combination of overdrive and tube amp.

MXR Super Badass Distortion

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This is one of the best distortion pedals available in the market now and offers incredible versatility in terms of sound. The pedal is solidly built with a sparkle finish.

The Super Badass provides a more tailored EQ section than most of the others in the same space. This distortion provides you with a separate Bass. Mid and Treble. The other 2 knobs on the pedal – distortion and the output can dial in any distortion from high saturation to clean boost. The pedal offers a true bypass.

The EQ section provides fantastic voicing and an impressively vast range of tones. Once you play around with the EQ, you will see that you can dial in tones from blues to rock to metal. By cranking the distortion all the way up, you will get super saturated distortion used in Metal. A super incredible pedal to have on the pedalboard.

Suhr Riot Reloaded

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When Suhr launched the Riot original, it was immediately liked by countless musicians. A very powerful distortion with a wide range of tonal possibilities. After the success of the Riot, Suhr came up with Riot Reloaded which is even better than the original Riot and provides 30% more headroom for distortion.

The Riot Reloaded delivers a broad spectrum of hi-gain tones with amp-like feel in a small pedal. It is a very sensitive pedal and reacts well to signal from the guitar. Turning the volume down of the guitar can provide you nice bluesy tone which can transform into a screaming monster when the volume of your guitar is fully cranked up.

Just like the earlier model, this one comes with a voicing switch too for Classic, Modern and Scooped EQ settings. The pedal offers true bypass circuit and offers an FX link connector by which you can control the pedal from an external interface. A great pedal to have and highly recommended.

Chorus

Chorus as the word means includes more than one sound source. So, it essentially takes a single sound signal and doubles it with a millisecond gap. It puts the doubled sound slightly out of sync with the original. It gives the impression that there are 2 instruments that are playing together like a Chorus of instruments but not in perfect unison providing a textured effect. 

As discussed earlier, the chorus is grouped under the modulation category of effects. In a signal chain, this ideally comes after the gain pedals and before the time-based effects like Reverb and Delay.

Mostly Chorus Pedals will have 3 controls  – Level, Rate and Depth.

Level – This gives you either a thick or a thin sound. This essentially is the mix of the wet against your original dry signal from the guitar. When the level knob is turned up will produce a thicker sound than when it is rolled down. Rolling down provides a thin and transparent sound.

Depth – This controls the amount of pitch shift the effect will produce. Part of what gives the chorus its distinct ‘wobbly’ quality. It is essentially the slight detuning of the doubled audio signal.

Rate – this essentially affects the speed of the chorus A high setting gives a vibrato like sound.

BOSS CE 2W

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In 1976 Boss released the CE 1 but due to the size of the effect, there was an overwhelming amount of request to condense the size of the pedal so that it can fit into a regular pedalboard. So came the CE 2. To improve on that Boss released the CE 2W as a part of the 40^th anniversary Waza Craft Series made in Japan.

The pedal like any other Boss product is superbly built. It has 2 simple controls – Rate and Depth. There is a three-way switch that gives you the option to choose between three settings. The standard position is the Standard CE 2 Chorus, the middle position is the CE 1 and the last position is the vibrato version of the CE1.

This is an analog circuit producing great sound with a bucket bridge delay line. This pedal offers the most iconic chorus sounds now in a small pedal. This pedal also comes with a 5-year warranty.

TC Electronics Corona

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TC Electronics Corona is a simple pedal with 4 knobs and a three-way switch and features selectable effects. The product is very intuitive with the ability to change sounds fast.

TC electronic guitar pedals come with Tone Print. It is a feature by which you can import a tone and save it in your pedal in the Tone Print position of the three-way switch. These are basically tones created by the best guitarists and you can download them via the tone print website. Quite remarkable.

Besides the Tone Print, the pedal has incredible tone otherwise. The pedal sounds brilliant like all TC electronic guitar pedals. The Tone Print is a game-changer here where you can get the signature tones of your favorite guitarist and make it your own. Simply brilliant.

Volume

Volume pedals are in the simplest terms a potentiometer that helps you to control the volume of your guitar just like what you can do with the volume pot on the body of the guitar. But there are more usages of the volume pedal in a signal chain.

Keep in mind when you are reducing the volume from the guitar volume pot, you are essentially sending a weak signal to the signal chain. That will have a different tonal characteristic as compared to the volume pedal being placed in different locations in the signal chain.

The effects and the sound can have different characteristics depending on the placement of the volume pedal in the signal chain. For example, you can put the volume pedal before the gains, after the gains, and before the time-based effects, or at the end of the chain as a master muter. All these have different tonal implications.

By the use of a volume pedal, a good guitarist can create a lush sounding sonic landscape when used along with the delay and reverb. The dynamics of guitar playing can be favorably improved by the use of a volume pedal in the hands of a seasoned guitarist. As one matures in his or her guitar journey, the volume pedal becomes a must to be part of the rig. 

Ernie Ball MVP

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The MVP in this pedal stands for Most Valuable Pedal and if Ernie Ball says so, there should be a reason. This is an active and buffered pedal with a minimum volume adjustment function and a +20dB gain boost option. It has a tuner output and is built like a tank.

The buffered nature of the pedal makes it a very versatile tool. Irrespective of the pedal being placed at the beginning, middle, or at the end of a signal chain, it does not affect the sound quality at all. This is an active pedal and is operated by a 9V power, either from a battery or from a power source.

The tuner output of the MVP is isolated from the signal chain and does not create the infamous “tone suck” which the EB VP Jr pedal is notorious for. The additional headroom for 20dB gain is a very welcome option and along with the provision of minimum volume adjustment. This makes it one of the most versatile guitar pedals on the market.

If you are serious about getting a volume pedal in the signal chain, then you should consider this. Play with it, placing it in various positions to see where you like it the best. Highly recommended.

Boss FV – 500 H

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The H in the 500H stands for high impedance. For guitars, the Volume pedal used should be High Impedance while for other instruments like keyboards you can use a Low impedance model. This also is true for other equipment like the audio interface where the guitar input should go into a Hi Z or Hi Impedance input.

Like any Boss pedal this is built like a tank. Unlike the MVP, the FV 500H is a passive pedal, meaning it does not need a power input for it to work. It comes with a minimum volume knob to adjust the lowest volume that you want to pass through. The pedal has a tuner out jack as well and there is no fear of “tone suck” here.

Overall being a Boss, is great in quality, usefulness, and durability. A standard volume pedal that will last you a lifetime unless you put it under a metal compressor to crush or destroy it. It has its list of followers among the best guitarists around. You cannot go wrong in getting this.

Reverb

Reverb and Delays are clubbed together in the time-based effects. You cannot have a guitar rig without any of them. Without having at least one of them, the sound will be very dry and without much of a character, and not pleasing to the ears.

Reverb in the simplest terms is the reflection of sound waves from a hard surface back to the listener at varying times and amplitudes. This creates an echo that gives the feeling of a large space. Reverb pedals simulate these sounds, giving the sound of the guitar more continuity by filling up the empty spaces between the notes and amplifying the presence of the instrument.       

There are various kinds of reverb sounds and effects which the guitar pedals can emulate. Hall, Room, Church, Spring, Plate, etc are a few examples. These different reverb effects have specific uses in different musical compositions. Most reverbs are placed after gain and the modulation effects in a signal chain.

Hall of Fame 2

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TC Electronic is known for its time-based effects and Hall of Fame 2 hands down is one the best Reverb in the market today. It is an extremely versatile piece of equipment in a small case.

The HOF 2 is essentially an upgrade on the original HOF. This new version adds a Shimmer mode and an expression pedal technology called MASH.

This pedal has stereo in and out. The on-off switch on the pedal also doubles up as an expression pedal and is called MASH. When you press this switch hard, a LED on the front of the pedal lights up showing MASH being activated and you can use it as an expression pedal for a continuous loop.

It offers 8 different Reverb types and covers the most used ones. In addition to this, TC electronics have the Tone Print feature where you can import a tone created by one of the guitar gurus. Overall a very beautiful sounding versatile pedal and a must-have. You cannot go wrong with this.

Strymon Big Sky

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The Strymon Big Sky offers 12 studio-quality reverb effects in one package. The pedal comes with simple controls which makes the use of this pedal simple, though the combination it offers are many and can be complex.

There are seven control knobs on the front panel of the pedal for Decay, Pre-delay, Mix, Tone, Parameter 1, 2, and Modulation. It has 300 preset memories where any of the new settings can be saved. The pedal has stereo ins and outs, an optional expression pedal, MIDI, and a mini switch for cabinet emulation.

This pedal offers incredible sound with exceptionally smooth reverb tails. The special effects included in the pedal are of top quality and found on very expensive studio equipment. Though at first look it might look daunting to operate in reality, the operations are quite simple. A fantastic option for a reverb pedal that can offer a lot more possibilities than the standard ones.

Delay

In simple terms Delay is a playback of an audio signal within a certain interval. This is also called feedback. You can set the interval of the feedback and the number of feedback in the pedal. The volume of the sound decreases over the feedbacks with it finally fading away.

When the feedbacks are set to be rapid, it produces a slapback effect like an instant reverberation to a signal. Delays create atmospheric landscapes when long and extended feedbacks are used. It creates ethereal cascading curtains of sound.

In digital delays, you can keep very specific delay times. One of the best uses of this feature is seen in U2s “Where the Streets Have No Name”. Edge from U2 is perhaps one of the guitarists who leveraged the potential of delay in most of the U2 compositions. In a different way, if you listen to Pink Floyd, you will see how David Gilmour creates lush and atmospheric landscapes with the use of reverb, delays, and volume pedals. There are limitless possibilities if used properly.

TC Electronic Flashback 2 Delay

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The Flashbacks are popular among the guitarists as they bring incredible tones in a small form that fits in your pedalboard easily, easy to use, versatile, and of course, comes at a great price point. The Flashback 2 has retained the size of Flashback 1 and most of the controls except the footswitch which now includes the MASH feature.

Most of the effects are the same except the Crystal effect which is similar to the Shimmer in HOF 2, but more refined. The pedal comes with three-tone print slots. We have covered Tone Prints in the previous TC Electronic guitar pedals as well. These are importable tones created by the best guitarists around that you can import and store in your pedal in the tone print slots.

This is done via the special access to the Tone Print website of TC Electronics. You can download via your phone or via USB. Tone Print gives you the possibility to tweak and create your own delay sound tweaking the very minute details to your satisfaction and then saving in the tone print slots for your use. Very innovative and helpful indeed.  

The pedal comes with the usual controls of Delay time, Feedback, Level, and Type of Delay. You can also select quarter notes, 8^th notes, and dotted 8th notes. Just like the HOF2, the on-off switch can work as an expression pedal by pressing it slightly harder and longer. This technology is called MASH and has a LED indicator on the pedal which shows when MASH is engaged. This can give an infinite loop if the MASH is kept pressed down. This also has a looper function with 40 seconds of looping capability.

Very clean and accurate tones from the delay selections. You cannot possibly get better quality and versatility at this price point. A must-have delay pedal (even if you have one).

BOSS DD -500

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The unit comes with two mono input and output, an expression pedal input, MIDI in and out, and a USB 2 connection which you can connect with your computer DAW. The expression guitar pedals allow you to control the delay hands-free in real-time.

The pedal comes with a large clear display with adjustable features by a bunch of buttons on the front panel. There are 12 different delay types, tones, Feedback, Time, Effect Level, and Modulation controls.

Keeping the tone at 12 o clock gives a flat frequency response. Turning it clockwise boosts the lower frequency and anticlockwise the opposite. You can adjust the delay time with the time value dial in small increments by just turning the dial. If you want to make changes in larger increments, you need to press the dial-in and then turn for larger changes.

The feedback dial like any delay pedal controls the number of repeats, the effect level is basically the volume, and the modulation controls the depth of the modulation depending on the effect that you have chosen.

There are 3 switches A, B, and CTL by which you can move banks up or down and select the patch you want to use. By just pressing the button you can either engage the patch or disengage. This pedal comes with a looper function as well. The CTL switch works as a default tap tempo switch but you can also assign other functions to it as well.

Editing a patch is super simple by the use of the edit button and then going to the patch and changing the parameters by the up or down buttons.

Again, just like any Boss pedal, the built is superb with very clean and accurate sounds. A very versatile delay pedal that offers a lot more control to the delay than most others in the market.  

Conclusion

This must be a long read for most but this is important for you to understand the signal chain and the position of the guitar pedals if you are new to it. Hope this article helps you to understand the different effects and possibly help you to choose some of them.

In my opinion, if you have this rig, you will be able to support 99.5% of your playing needs. Of course, some compositions will need some additional effects and if you choose to go that way, you need to invest in those.

But no number of effect pedals are enough for a guitarist. Most of the guitarists build their collection over a period of time. We love gears and love to have them around. Happy playing!.

Last update on 2024-12-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API