Guitar pedals are an absolute staple of every electric guitarist’s diet. There are as many pedals these days as there are guitars and building an impressive collection for your pedalboard is truly addictive! But with so many pedals on the market – all doing and offering different things for your tone – how do you choose which to spend your money on?
Worry no more – below is our comprehensive guide to what we consider to be some of the best pedals currently available. And best of all, you can pick them all up at Inta Audio!
1. Tuning Pedals
There are so many ways to tune your guitar these days – from smartphone apps to YouTube videos – but for most guitarists, nothing can beat having a physical tuner on your pedalboard. Not only does it mean having your tuner literally at your feet, but a tuning pedal also acts as the cut-off for your pedalboard’s signal chain – and even that funky YouTube video of the cool guy with twenty-inch dreads tuning his guitar upside-down can’t replace that!
Standard: BOSS TU3 – Accurate, dependable and with a bright LED screen for outdoor visibility. Special modes make drop tunings simple.
Inta Top Pick: TC Electronic PolyTune 2 – Gorgeous design. Allows you to tune all strings at once thanks to polyphonic tuning. Also available in a black Noir edition.
Budget: Behringer TU300 – Extremely affordable option with 7 tuning modes, adjustable reference tone and mute/bypass for silent tuning.
Special Mention: Korg Pitchblack – Large, bright LED display with four display modes and True Bypass.
2. Expression Pedals
A vital control, the expression pedal is a tool that offers precise, real-time control over other pedals’ effects. A lot of modern pedals offer expression control for specific parameters – so if you’re missing an expression pedal then you’re missing out on harnessing your pedalboard’s full potential
Standard: BOSS EV-30 – Smooth and precise with independent range controls to allow for two devices to be controlled independently with one expression pedal.
Inta Top Pick: Electro-Harmonix Dual Expression Pedal – Featuring independent reverse and polarity switches for both outputs.
Budget: Electro-Harmonix Single Expression Pedal – More affordable option if dual outputs are not of interest to you, or if you are seeking a slightly more budget-minded option.
3. Overdrive Pedals
The overdriven tone is undoubtedly one of the most familiar – and most desired – sounds available to an electric guitarist. It essentially recreates the effect of maxing out your amplifier’s volume dial without blowing the lights, fuse-box or neighbour’s heart rate. All of the sound without actually having to raise the volume – overdrive pedals have long been a staple of gritty blues guitar but is also at home amongst the rockiest of axe-wielders out there.
Standard: BOSS SD-1 –A highly affordable classic with warm, smooth overdriven sound and unique asymmetric circuitry for a classic, natural tube amp growl.
Inta Top Pick: Electro-Harmonix Hot Wax – A superb offering which combines two EHX overdrives into a single pedal – unbelievably playable!
Budget: Behringer TO800 – Extremely inexpensive yet effective, offering dedicated Drive, Tone and Level controls and an authentic vintage sound.
Special Mention: BOSS JB-2 – Not released at the time of writing, but definitely one to watch! Offers unmatched range and versatility from a single overdrive pedal. Very promising!
4. Distortion Pedals
Distortion is what overdrive becomes when it lets loose and starts behaving badly. The dirty, aggressive wave of fuzz that results has become synonymous with heavy metal and – as heavy metal is by far one of the most prominent genres for many a guitarist – there are almost as many distortion pedals on the market as there are guitars.
Standard: BOSS OD-1X – A staple of distortion pedals and an absolute beast! Features next generation sound, feel and response for a superior playing experience. Highly recommended!
Inta Top Pick: Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi with Tone Wicker – Fantastic recreation of the legendary rock pedal, offering a ‘rich, creamy, violin-like sustain’. The addition of a special tone wicker switch on this model allows even more control than ever!
Budget: TC Electronic Fangs Metal Distortion – Ultra-thick, high-gain distortion with super-tight response. Very reasonably priced for a smaller budget.
Special Mention: Digitech DOD Gunslinger Mosfet– Features touch-sensitivity, string-separation and saturation together with a Mosfet circuit which clips at a gradual, steady rate when overdriven. A gem of a distortion pedal and well worth trying!
5. Chorus Pedals
One of the most popular ‘filter/effect’ pedals, a chorus pedal is the guitar equivalent of a group of singers singing in unison. It essentially duplicates the note that you are playing and phases it in such a way that it sounds like you have one or more supporting guitarists playing the same as you at the same time as you. The phasing of these parts produces a cool effect that can really add incredible fullness and richness to your tone, but it’s an effect to be used with a gentle hand – a bad chorus pedal (or even a good one in the wrong hands!) can completely destroy your performance.
Standard: BOSS CH-1 – A sentinel of the pedal world, featuring clean, classic chorus sound with crystal clear highs. Highly regarded.
Inta Top Pick: Digitech Nautila – A beauty of a pedal, combining top-quality chorusing and flanging effects to provide an incredibly unique palette of sounds. Voice and Drift controls create soothing waves and tidal swirls. Highly recommended!
Budget: Behringer UC200 Ultra Chorus – Inexpensive yet providing an incredibly thick chorus with level, tone, rate and depth controls for fine-tuning your sound.
Special Mention: TC Electronic Corona – Offers expansive tonal options, from glassy shimmers to mind-boggling swirls with extensive controls to enable total control. Produces a very wide chorus effect!
6. Looper Pedals
A looper pedal, at its most basic, lets you record short riffs or chords and have them played back on a loop. Often multiple loops can be recorded and played simultaneously to create complex, interesting layers. Looper pedals are becoming increasingly popular with live musicians looking to imbue their performance with an innovative, esoteric edge thanks to the clever and mysterious layering that can be achieved.
Standard: TC Electronic Stereo Ditto Looper – A surprisingly compact pedal which allows for 5 minutes of looping time with unlimited overdubs. Certainly a solid choice if you’re in the market for a quality stereo looper. For mono looping, there is also the regular Ditto Looper.
Inta Top Pick: Electro-Harmonix 720 Stereo Looper – Up to 12 minutes of stereo recording, with a memory bank that can store up to 10 loops at a time! And all in high-quality uncompressed audio quality – a definite winner!
Budget: BOSS RC-1 – Allows 12 minutes of stereo recording with an impressive loop indicator display. The compact grandchild of the behemoth RC-30 below.
Special Mention: BOSS RC-30 Loop Station – Hugely popular and for good reason! With built-in effects, a massive internal memory allowing up to 3 hours of recording time and 99 on-board memory phrases for storing loops, this is where to go when you need the absolute maximum in looping!
7. Compressor Pedals
Ever listened back to a track you’ve recorded and been frustrated at how some bits are too loud whilst others are barely audible? Guitar playing isn’t a static process – different playing styles and moods can cause changes in dynamics during a performance. Compressors tackle this issue by taking the highest and lowest volumes in your performance and compressing the range between them by equalising the waveforms to bring them to the same volume.
There are plenty of compressors on the market and every guitarist should have one in their permanent inventory!
Standard: BOSS CP-1X – Trusted multiband compressor which makes use of Multi-Dimensional Processing to intelligently follow and adapt to your playing.
Inta Top Pick: TC Electronic Hypergravity Mini – Utilising the same dynamics algorithm as the legendary ‘System 6000’, this brilliant pedal also supports TC’s ‘TonePrint’ and is incredibly compact making it pedalboard-friendly.
Budget: TC Electronic Forcefield – Offers endless sustain with ultra-stable dynamics, all in an ultra-strong chassis and for an unbelievably low price!
8. Tremolo Pedals
Tremolo pedals work by taking a tone and repeatedly modulating the dynamics from loud to soft, back and forth – not to be confused with the confusingly named ‘tremolo bar’ found on Strats which is actually more of a pitch-bender! Tremolo is a popular effect, whether used subtly or full-on for a stuttering effect, and here at Inta, we’re lucky enough to have some top tremolos available, whatever your budget!
Standard: BOSS TR-2 – Easy to use and compact, the TR-2 has dedicated wave, rate and depth knobs which allow for precise tailoring of your tremolo.
Inta Top Pick: TC Electronic Pipeline – Controllable tap-tempo and subdivision knobs allow incredible control over your tremolo while TonePrint integration offers up near-limitless presets for easy inspiration.
Budget: Behringer UT300 – Small price, big sound! Dedicated rate, wave and depth controls allow for detailed sound shaping.
9. Delay Pedals
Delay pedals are designed to loop whatever you play at whatever interval you set on the pedal. They can be set to long intervals to provide a spacey, psychedelic effect or with shorter intervals to add extra texture to your notes and chords. A highly desirable effect, there are a whole lot of delay pedals available – and narrowing the selection down was exceptionally difficult…Here are our top four.
Standard: BOSS DD-7 – Consistently a top seller, the DD-7 offers delay time of up to 6.4 seconds with modulation delay mode for natural chorus-type sound. A classic, warm tone.
Inta Top Pick: TC Electronic Flashback 2 – A new arrival, and an incredible one! Featuring completely redesigned algorithms, a polyphonic octaver ‘Crystal’ delay and full pressure sensitive expression straight directly through this surprisingly compact pedal. A very firm favourite!
Budget: TC Electronic Prophet – A highly popular, rugged pedal which offers studio-quality digital delay of up to 1300ms in a strong metal chassis – all for a wonderfully low price!
Special Mention: Electro-Harmonix Canyon – A well-deserved runner up for Top Pick, the Canyon offers top-class delay in an impressively compact and beautiful pedal. Ten effects with tap divide and a delay time between 5ms and 3s make this a superb offering!
10. Reverb Pedals
Reverb pedals utilise presets to make your guitar sound like it is being played in a different environment. They do this by cleverly imitating the acoustic properties of that environment and applying these properties to the dry signal. Most reverb pedals will feature the standard presets (Big Room, Small Room, Concert Hall, Cathedral) though some of the more inventive ones on the market allow for far more esoteric and even downright crazy environments.
Standard: Boss RV-6 – Not the cheapest out there, but a dependable pedal trusted by many guitarists all the same! Offering studio-grade reverb algoriths and 8 sound modes, the RV-6 is popular for good reason!
Inta Top Pick: Digitech Polara – A gorgeous, compact pedal with 7 incredible studio-quality reverb settings from legendary masters Lexicon! The sound from this pedal just has to be experienced!
Budget: TC Electronic Skysurfer – Very popular at Inta, the Skysurfer offers versatile Spring, Plate and Hall reverbs without breaking the bank.
Special Mention: TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 – Beautiful, clear controls offer everything you need to dial in the perfect setting! With 8 reverb types including an incredible crystalline ‘Shimmer’, TonePrint preset functionality and full pressure-sensitivity built into the pedal. A fantastic choice and a very close rival to the Polara for Top Pick!
11. Special Pedals
Some pedals defy classification, offering something highly unusual or specialised that very few other pedals on the market offer. Below are a few such pedals – perhaps not essential purchases for every guitarist, but definitely ones that will give you an incredible edge!
Digitech Trio+ – This incredible pedal can automatically generate bass and drum parts to match your guitar chords in real time! With 12 genres with 12 song-styles apiece, this is literally a band-in-a-box.
Electro-Harmonix Synth9 – A truly unique pedal, the Synth9 allows you to play 9 classic vintage synth tones – with your guitar! Polyphonic tracking even allows you to play full chords for a true synth experience. Plenty of control knobs allow you incredible control over each tone. This is one of those rare pedals that you just have to try!
Digitech SDrum –Where the Synth9 offers you playable synths, the SDrum – as its name would suggest – turns your guitar into a drum kit! Unique BeatScratch Technology creates drum patterns by strumming your strings! With 5 kits and studio-quality samples, you get professional sounding drums with additional Kick/Snare pads for tapping in a beat. Another insanely unique pedal, the SDrum has to be played to be believed!
Whatever you’re after, be sure to check out our extensive collection of guitar pedals at Inta Audio!