Even before the boutique pedal market exploded, there were enough pedal brands out there to make your head spin.  From dirt to modulation to time-based to emulators, there are so many options to choose from. Here are my humble recommendations.

A Note About Price

When you shop for effects pedals in a store or online, you’re going to see some pedal options under $50.  Some manufacturers even offer some pedals that are under $25! I completely understand the urge to pounce on them if you are unsure if a pedal is for you, but if you can afford to spend more like $75 to $175 you’ll get a better quality piece of equipment that will have great resale value.

GAIN PEDALS

Gain pedals tend to be divided into overdrive, distortion, and fuzz pedals.  Depending on the amp you have, the way you set up the amp, and the kind of music you play, you may need all three kinds of pedals or you may just need one or two.

Overdrive Pedals are the least aggressive members of the gain pedal family.  For the most part they are used to give your tone the sound of an amp naturally distorting.  These kind of pedals are helpful to have if you have a solid-state amp and you’re looking for a more natural tube amp overdrive sound.  They’re also ideal if you play a lot of clean tones through your amp and you don’t have a second channel for an amp-overdrive option.

A great entry overdrive option with an impressive pedigree of folks who swear by them is the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver.  Like most Boss pedals, it can take a beating and still function at a high level.  If you have a little more budget to play with, the Fulltone OCD V2 has fans all over the world, including Ketih Urban, Don Felder (fmr. Eagles) and Joey Santiago (the Pixies).

Distortion Pedals are the next level in gain pedals.  Distortion pedals add more edge to your tone than you can get with just an overdrive pedal. They’re more focused than  fuzz pedals.

A legendary, distortion pedal, the ProCo RAT 2 is budget-friendly and delivers a well-known sound.  If you’re looking for more EQ options, look no further than the latest from MXR (the company that helped shape the distortion sounds of legendary players like Randy Rhoads and Zakk Wylde), the MXR M75 Super Badass Distortion.

Fuzz Pedals give you highly colored, high-gain tones.  The great-granddaddy of them all is the Big Muff Pi.  To get started exploring this historic lineage of fuzz, I’d suggest the ElectroHarmonix Green Russian Big Muff Distortion/ Sustainer Pedal (if you can’t find the Big Black Russian Big Muff).  

Just like IPAs, fuzz pedals have benefitted from the proliferation of smaller companies who aren’t afraid to push the boundaries.  If you’ve got the money to spend on something more exotic, go for the Catalinbread Karma Suture Harmonic Fuzz or the ZVex Fuzz Factory Verter.  Just be careful when getting to know the ZVex.  This is one of the only pedals I’ve ever been truly afraid would damage a speaker.

Boost Pedals are a perfect way to make your regular tone cut through the rest of the band when you’re taking a solo and you want to keep the tone you’re currently using.  I personally use the Electro-Harmonix LPB-1.  I bought this when I started playing lead in a band and I wanted to start with a reputable boost pedal.  Five years later I’m still using this pedal and very happy with it. If you have more budget to throw at a boost, or if you’re the type that wants to know exactly how many extra dB you’re pushing into the signal chain, I’d suggest a Jim Dunlop MC401 MXR Boost/ Line Driver. Finally, if you’re after a boost with more options like EQ, there’s the TC Electronic Spark Booster Guitar.

Compressor Pedals are very handy for  funk and country, or any genre where clean tones are used.  They help even out the peaks and valleys in the signal you’re sending to your amp and they increase sustain.  The go-to pedal in this category is the Boss CS-3 Compressor/Sustainer. This is a full-size Boss pedal with Level, Tone, Attack & Sustain controls.  If you’re looking for a simpler, mini-pedal, the MXR M291 Dyna Comp Mini Compressor Guitar Effects Pedal is a solid option.  Finally, if you’re looking for even more control in your compression settings you can’t go wrong with a Pigtronix Guitar Compression Effects Pedal.

Volume Pedals are useful if you use a lot of dynamics in your playing and you want more ways to control it than just the intensity with which you play and your volume knob.  Volume pedals are the perfect way to get that violin-like sound of volume swells — especially if the volume control on your actual guitar does not have that wide of a range.  So get yourself an Ernie Ball VP and start adding more volume textures to your playing.

MODULATION PEDALS

Modulation pedals make subtle (to extravagant) changes to the pitch or frequency of the signal that you are sending from your guitar to the speakers.  These changes can be simple and shimmery to wild and sweeping. Eddie Van Halen and Robert Smith of the Cure, while being very different players, are examples of musicians whose signature tones feature a great deal of modulation.

Chorus pedals are indispensable to some players, while to others they sound very dated.  I’ve personally had a love-hate relationship with chorus over the years. Ultimately, though, I’ve come around to realize that chorus is a useful tool for your guitarist toolkit as long as the effect isn’t over-used, like it was in many Christian-rock recordings in the 1980s.  The MXR M234 Analog Chorus Pedal is a solid first chorus pedal that will retain its value over time.  The EarthQuaker Devices Sea Machine V2 is a reliable option for a player that uses a lot of chorus and wants as much control over the effect as possible.

Flanger pedals create effects that are very familiar to fans of bands like Van Halen and Smashing Pumpkins.  A flanger pedal commonly creates a sweeping effect and can be employed at a fast rate or a slower sweeping rate.  A workhorse intro flanger is the MXR M152 Micro Flanger.  Fans of Eddie Van Halen with an ample budget who want to get as close to his tone as possible should check out his signature model, the MXR EVH117 Flanger Guitar Effects Pedal.

Phaser pedals create similar effects to flangers and choruses; however, they are more subtle and tend to give off a more sci-fi vibe (as the name suggests to Star Trek fans).  A good budget option to get you started with phasers is the MXR M101 Phase 90.  If you’re looking for more options in a phaser / phase shifter, you should check out the Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter Guitar Effects Pedal.

Vibrato pedals are often confused with tremolo pedals, but they are more similar to chorus pedals as they change the pitch of the signal rather than the volume.  Vibrato gets its name from the classical guitar/violin technique where the player creates a modulation either through shaking their finger as a note is played or by actively bending the string while playing it.  A solid vibrato pedal for you to consider is the TC Electronic Shaker Vibrato Pedal.

Tremolo pedals change your sound by rhythmically modulating the volume of your signal.  Because of this method of modulation, it is important that a tremolo pedal does not come before a compressor pedal in the chain — otherwise the effect will be minimized.  While I usually stay away from budget pedals, a great way to get started with this kind of effect is the Joyo JF-09 Tremolo Guitar Pedal.  If you’re looking for more options in a tremolo in the usual price range, go with the Boss TR2 Tremolo.  Finally, if tremolo is your thing check out the Fulltone Supa-Trem ST-1 Tremolo, which offers all of the usual controls you’d see in a tremolo with a half-speed option and a hard/soft option for maximum control.

Time-Based Effects

Technically modulation pedals are also time-based effects, but for ease of understanding I find it helpful to split out the modulators and reserve the time-based descriptor to pedals that provide an obvious manipulation of time, such as delay/reverb/echo.

Reverb pedals take what can be a pretty dry tone coming out of your amp and make it sound like it is naturally bouncing off the walls of a room.  There are a variety of kinds of reverb tones such as plate, hall, and chamber, and most reverb pedals allow you to pick between them. A reputable reverb pedal that gives you options to spare is the TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 Reverb Pedal.

Delay pedals allow you to repeat a signal (sometimes infinitely).  I could go into detail about what delay is as an effect ,but instead let’s just use a practical example.  You know the sound that U2’s The Edge is famous for? Yep. That. That’s delay. Delay pedals can get expensive quickly, depending on the options you’re looking for.  A good starter delay unit is the JOYO D-SEED Dual Channel Digital Delay.  If you’re looking for pre-programmed options plus real-time tap-tempo I’d suggest the Line 6 DL4 Stompbox Delay Modeler but fair warning, this will occupy a considerable amount of your pedalboard real estate.

Frequency Effects

Frequency effects alter the actual frequency of the signal that is coming from your guitar and ultimately coming out of the speakers.  

Wah Pedals serve an essential function in genres as varied as hard rock and funk.  Whether you’re looking to emulate the wild solos of Jimi Hendrix or Cream-era Eric Clapton, a wah pedal is something you absolutely need.  Depending on your budget and how much you’ll be using your wah, my recommendation is that you start with the classic Dunlop Cry Baby Wah.  If you’re an experienced wah player looking for the top of the line, the Fulltone Clyde Standard Wah Pedal is the way to go.

Equalization Pedals are a way to add another dimension to your playing with just the tap of a pedal.  These pedals, within the confines of the other settings at play in your signal chain, allow you to have a completely different set of 7-band (or more) EQ at your disposal.  The Boss GE-7 7-Band EQ Pedal is a good entry-level option.  If you’re ready to make a significant investment, though, the Empress ParaEq with Boost gives you excellent EQ control and a boost option.

Octave / Harmonizer / Pitch Shifters are pedals that allow you to fundamentally change the notes that are coming off your guitar and out through the speakers.  While there are many inexpensive octave pedals that will give you one or two octaves down, I prefer the ones that will give you an octave up so you can simulate the sound of a 12-string guitar.  These don’t come cheap, but I find that the Electro-Harmonix Nano POG Polyphonic Octave Generator or its big brother, the Electro-Harmonix POG2 Polyphonic Octave Generator, are totally worth it.

If you’re looking for more wild options, the Boss PS-6 Harmonist will give you seemingly endless options for manipulating your tone and can be combined with an expression pedal to give you complete control.

Other / Specialized Pedals:

Now that I’ve gone over the most common kinds of stand-alone units, let’s talk about the less common, highly specialized pedals such as emulators, modelers, loopers, and more.  

Emulators can be everything from a full amp to a rack-mounted unit to a stomp box.  When I met up with Connor Vance from the Dustbowl Revival a while back, I really enjoyed how he was able to employ the Palmer Pocket AMP MK2 to give his acoustic violin the sound of a rhythm guitar run through an amp (even though it was going straight into the house PA).  The other weapon he employed was the Audio Sprockets ToneDexter.  This killer unit saves a variety of pre-set microphone simulators, allowing him to simulate complicated microphone setups mid-set.  While both of these units came to my attention from a fiddle player, their usefulness with guitar is clear.

In case you missed our post on using effects pedals on a violin/fiddle, here’s a clip so you can see and hear what I’m talking about.

Instrument Modeling is a great way to get more on-stage mileage out of your rig.  It’s very common to see a player have an acoustic simulator in their chain so they can get an acoustic sound live without having to carry a second guitar.  I’ve personally had good experiences with the Boss AC-3 Acoustic Simulator Pedal.  

Another neat trick I picked up from Connor was how to use a pedal to simulate the tone of an organ with a violin/fiddle.  Connor uses a Electro-Harmonix Lester G Deluxe Rotary Speaker Pedal with his violin bow to perfectly impersonate an organ.  Check it out below.

In addition to the Lester G, Electro Harmonix has a whole line of emulators to suit a variety of your needs from tape replays to sitar emulators.  Even if these aren’t in your musical wheelhouse, it’s worth your time to check out some demo videos just to get an idea of what’s possible with the right pedal.

Looper pedals, when played by someone who knows what they’re doing, can open up a whole new world for solo musicians.   From looping a rhythm part to solo over, to building complex real-time compositions, loopers are powerful tools. To get your feet wet with loopers, I’d recommend the Ammoon Stereo Looper Pedal.  Once you’ve decided that loopers are for you, I’d suggest checking out the Electro-Harmonix 720 Stereo Looper Pedal, which comes with significantly more options such as reverse and half-speed.

Channel Selectors are used by players with very complicated setups to essentially create a pedalboard within a pedalboard.  Using a unit like the Electro-Harmonix Switchblade + Advanced Channel Selector allows you run a signal only through a specific set of pedals, which can give you greater control and eliminate unwanted interference from pedals that are not in use.

Voice Effects You know that effect you hear in tunes like “Do You Feel Like I Do,” “Sweet Emotion” and “Livin On A Prayer” where it sounds like the guitar is talking?  That tone is created using a unit called a talk box. Using a unit like the MXR M222 Talk Box allows the player to use the opening and closing of their mouth to change the tone of the note that they’re playing.  If this kind of tone manipulation is appealing to you, you can take it up a notch with the BOSS VO-1 Vocoder Effects Pedal, which gives you even more options to use your voice and guitar together to create different sounds.

Multi Effects Units are ordinarily units that I advise against.  I think it’s important for players to know how to use their pedals to create their own sounds, so I do not recommend that players, especially beginners, purchase units that come with preloaded tones.  

That being said, if you are looking for a way to be able to use just a little of this but also have a little of that, units like the Keeley Super Mod Workstation are a great way to give you the capacity to go from project to project without creating the world’s largest pedalboard.

Thanks for taking the time to go through my gear recommendations.  Happy playing!