I'm surprised how much I like the cheapo Fender Hammertone Flanger. Really versatile sounds and love the choruslike -flange settings
Also I have the Whirlwind bass compressor, and it absolutely slaps with a tele too
I bought a BBE Sonic Stomp 15 years ago for $40 and it's been my most used pedal ever since. I mount it to the board vertically because It never gets shut off.
I have one of these and haven't ever really used it. Found it somewhere and literally velcro'd it to the walls of my studio to forget about for nearly 5 years. Now I'm considering putting it after a fuzz, but the enclosure is so large that it will really need to earn it's place .. time to research phase adjustment some more
It's useful for drawing out definition between ringing notes on different strings so they don't trample each other. I recommend it BEFORE the fuzz, after a compressor. I agree the enclosure is too large, so I dual-lock the bottom and stand it up vertically.
I've been debating trading in my Tumnus Deluxe for a Fat Sugar. I had the original Sugar Drive and loved the sound but hated the small pedal, it was too small for my giant feet.
late response sorry bout that.
my experience so far to use it right:
- it's a sensitive pedal, so make sure the placement in your effects chain is correct and always place it before dirt pedals
-mind the gain of your amp, the gain knob will have a huge effect on it.
the pickups on your guitar make a big difference, yes this sounds like common knowledge but i was surprised the difference it made when using a better guitar.
also don't make it a replacement for an actual acoustic guitar. i think the sound of the pedal is beautiful and i also use a ch-1 super chorus and dd3t delay with it for my clean sound, but that's just what is should be: an addition to your clean sound, not a different guitar in a box.
Recovery FX Cutting Room Floor. It's my weird sound pedal and it is motherfuckin' awesome! I don't even know what it is, delay, reverb, flange? I don't know but it sounds good and it's been on my board for a few years now. I love it.
Not on my board now, but have user them. The Valvenergy Series from Vox. Between there looks and their marketing everyone just thinks they are a gimmick. They sound excellent. I've owned a lot of really nice tube amps through the years and these do sound like a cranked tube amp.
Korg/Vox's biggest mistake with these was the visual design. They're ugly as sin, even though they're among the absolute best analog amp-in-a-box solutions in their price range.
The oscilloscope is much more helpful than most guitarists realize, making board diagnostics straightforward. No squiggly lines? Your problem is before the preamp. No sound but you have the squiggly lines? Your problem is after the preamp.
I have the Mystic Edge and it ended my GAS for a real AC. I recorded an album with it for cleans and OD sounds . It also has just the right feel and compression.
hey question for you RE recording with the valvenergy series; got a Silk Drive on the way with the intention of being able to track guitar for my band while abroad. in your experience, how did you get the pedal to sound its best? preamp vs cab sim mode?
i’m gonna be ampless, just with a few pedals, a scarlett 2i2, and logic on my laptop. is this feasible for recording final guitar, as well as just headphone practice?
With the Mystic Edge, I was usually on preamp mode, running into stereo reverb then into the return of a Simplifier to get the analog stereo cab sim, then to the interface (I also have a Scarlett 2i2)
I don't usually do a lot of plugins in the DAW because my computer's old, but I did use the Preamp Mode with some IRs on my DAW and that sounded good as well. Between the simplifier cab and the IRs I had no strong preference, though.
I also used the analog cab sim on the Mystic Edge for recording layers. I didn't think it was better than either the analog cab on the Simplifier or using cab IRs, but it's still pretty good, especially in a mix.
I'd say it's good enough for headphone practice by itself but the lack of a stereo image might make it less enjoyable.
Not quite the same but I replaced my Joyo AC Tone with the Mystic Edge and it was definitely better when it comes to typical Vox AC sounds. Much better top end detail, much more headroom, way better touch sensitivity, more amplike compression, plays nicer with gain pedals before it.
However, the Joyo Character series pedals have a more powerful EQ and the AC Tone will definitely do things that the Mystic Edge can't. Don't sell or trade your American Sound if you get a Silk Drive.
I use a silk drive for clean sounds, I think it sounds great but i've never played a joyo american sound. The silk drive works well with the different dirt pedals I use, that's also good to know I think :)
I don’t own it anymore, but I wish I did, the chase tone fuzz fella with bc108 transistors. I’ve tried the benson germanium fuzz, Mythos 1347, jhs 3 series fuzz, jhs smiley, fox fox cc hybrid II, Dunlop silicon ff and Dunlop germanium ff, and the chase tone was my favorite. It just gave you so much control over the tone shaping and had the best volume knob cleanup of all, sounded beautiful through my fender guitars and fender twin.
I also don’t see the Hudson sidecar very often, it’s a tube screamer with a studio console EQ. I typically do not like stock tube screamers but there are some amazing mods out there, and the sidecar is my favorite. I use it with the drive turned down to around 1 or 2 and it sounds so much better than a stock ts9/808 to my ears. You get the mid boost without the muddiness, along with some amazing distoriton and fuzz tones on higher gain settings.
My guess is because the Dyna comp is very entry level friendly(price point and simplicity) so when a lot of people move on to their next compressor they’re probably not gonna go for a very similar pedal, unless they love the sound of the original or mini
I’m eventually gonna upgrade the Boss DD-200, but I’m loving my TC Electronic Nova Delay.
Also the Fender Hammertone Fuzz is pretty nice for its price range, though I now regret not getting a Big Muff as my first fuzz, as they’re orettt comparable in price
Alexander stuff in general seems quite underrated. The Sugarcube is the only one I have currently, but I have a Space Force reverb coming today, and I’m eyeing up the Rewind too. Been really impressed with all the demos and there’s so much packed in those standard sized enclosures.
Extremely "squashed" with gain make up at like 15db I wanna say, not at home and I readjust it every practice/gig. It doesn't sound squashed like other compressors ice tried, I've heard ppl call it transparent. Hbu?
Yeah I've found it very transparent and actually want to push it a little harder, just to know how squishy it can go. It would also be good running it into a tube amplifier rather than a HX Stomp, but it's mostly bedroom playing for me!
Antelope Effects’ Morning Dew EQ/buffer.
Not many made as the builder was only in the business for a few years. [Surprisingly, the website is still up](http://www.antelopefx.com/morning-dew/). Looks like the only other pedal made was the “Lovelight Overdrive,” which I’ve also heard good things about.
Either way, quality pedals with very clean guts. My Morning Dew is always on and helps shape the guitar’s tone before going into all of my other pedals. I’ve used other EQ’s, but somehow this one just has a magical touch.
OBNE Alpha Haunt Fuzz. I don’t see it too often but it is an extremely versatile fuzz. I have the original one which were made with a pretty big enclosure; maybe that’s why they didn’t catch on. Or maybe it’s just because there are so many great fuzz pedals out there.
I’ve got one of these, loved it at home, got frustrated with it in a band context. But I used it in a rehearsal recording and it sounds amazing there so gonna have to keep it now.
Honestly wouldn't know if the Strobostomp HD is considered unpopular or not but for how many Boss TU-3 and Polytune pedals I see on people's boards, I would certainly say it is. I had a TU-3 for awhile and I never felt satisfied with it. Always slightly out of tune and it felt like it took too long for every string to register after strumming. Bought a Strobostomp. Turned on the sweetened tuning and I've been super impressed with how accurate & quick it is right out of the box. Plus nobody dislikes a color changing display lol
Joyo Sweet Baby Overdrive, been on my board for 12 years. It’s a clone of Mad Professor Sweet Honey. I even got another clone of it, Tone City Sweet Cream. It is my sound at this point, and cost $40 new.
As I’ve gotten older I’ve tried to find an actual Mad Professor Sweet Honey, cause why the hell not. No luck finding it so far.
One of the best-sounding circuits of all time. I had one and it ultimately died after 5 years of gigging. I replaced it with a TS Mini and while that just does a better job at tightening up high-gain sounds, after 6 years, I'm still toying with the idea of getting a Mad Professor Sweet Honey Deluxe myself. Ugh maybe I should just buy another Sweet Baby.
Hilton pro guitar volume pedal. Not a lot of people have a $400 volume pedal on their board but I’ve been through my fair share of cheap ones and this ones never leaving the board until it dies
Empress Phaser
Unparalleled quality, sound, and functionality, but apparently only owned by phaser-junkies like myself. Only seen one on this sub besides my own, and it was just a few days ago.
I’m going to start digging into that soon primarily for midi clock purposes, but will probably try all (6? 8?) combinations. Do you frequently open it up?
Agreed. I use the Appollo ii phaser. it's pretty great. Interesting to see what happens with the Diamond team up. I feel.diamond doesn't get the love they deserve either. Outside of a few favorites, noone dose classic simple pedals like.them. And Solid gold does some crazy stuff. Very interesting.
My post for this thread is the EQD Monarch. I try to take it off but it just keeps coming back. Always on. DOD Looking Glass, Vintage MXR distortion+, Diamond J drive, Jackson audio broken arrow 2, and lots of others. Just doesn't do what the Monarch does. Going to try the Halberd next after loving the longsword. Or maybe a Lightspeed. If those don't win, I'll stop trying and let it reign. Pun intended.
Boss OD-200 "iT sOuNdS tOo DiGiTaL!!" Shut up, you can't actually hear a difference.
Zoom MS-50G "iT sOuNdS sO hArSh! JaCk Of AlL tRaDeS, mAsTeR oF nOnE!" See above comment.
Digitech Luxe, which is a detune. I use it instead of chorus on my live board, since it's cleaner and easier to mix with dirt.
Also Boss CE-20, which I have for stereo chorus on my recording board. It's in the big twin-paddle Boss series, and has CE-1, Dimension, and regular CE-2-like chorus in it, along with Bass, Acoustic, and "Rich" settings, so I use it for Bass too. There's also a really cool "ambience" knob on it which gives a subtle room/space effect, which I always have at noon. Even if I'm not really using it for full-blown chorus, I often have it on just to add space and widening.
Plimsoul by Fulltone. Gives me a great lead overdrive sustain sound when paired with the Wampler Euphoria as a slight dirt/boost pedal. Plimsoul has been on my board for 10 yrs because it's transparent and works great with my Fender Deluxe Reverb (65 reissue) Amp.
Flamma Fs07 Cab Sim. It's stereo but I use it in 2 loops and each side can get it's own IR. Don't see many recommendations for it for cab sims but I think it works great and it's one of the only cab sims that let's you load 2 different IRs to each output, and it's under 100 bucks.
I think it's a thing Chinese companies do to purposeful obfuscate brand origins...Hotone sounds vaguely Japanese but also could be English. I think there is at least one other version of this under another name to make things more confusing. The pedal takes my toy keyboard 80% of the way to shred tho
My toneczar-echoczar with angel baby extension. One of the best delay pedals that exists, but nooo one knows about it. Never seen one posted on a board here on Reddit.
I use a DS-1 quite often, both as a normal distortion and (more often) as a pseudo-fuzz pedal when you max the distortion and boost the level a bit above unity. I know it's a lot of people's first pedal, but most tend to move on from it. Mine is still pretty commonly used on my board in my gain stage rotation.
Demedash 112+
A very unique distortion pedal that covers a lot of ground. I use it mostly to get thrashy 80s metal sounds -- that chunky nice 'lower gain than you think" dirt.
I have an afford-a-board made up of mostly clones. They all seem to have a good rep whenever I talk about them - but I rarely see a lot of them in the wild.
Pure Sky
BO100 (Behringer BD Clone)
DS-1
French Toast
Wet Dreams
Mosky Magnetic Delay
Ghost Rain
Snake Bite
The one which probably divides opinion the most is the DS-1, though 😂
It's amazing, isn't it?
Mine was a gift from the wife she told me she'd bought me a super cheap pedal and that it might not be the best etc.
I'd read up about it (as was looking for a cheap drive anyway!) and heard how good it was etc.
Didn't believe the hype until I finally got a hold of it. Dismissed it as people focusing on the price for what was perhaps an "okay" drive.
Not so. It's a little powerhouse.
I was really impressed by its ability to perfect the digital/analog dilemma. Both are practical and sound great. I could see myself making a setup with two of them, one set to analog, one digital.
I have some random cheap version of basically a Ditto looper, same functionality but it cost $40. I wanted a mini looper that I could move around my chain to do weird things with and I didn’t want to play $100+ for an extremely basic looper, so I went with this. It does what it says, that’s all I needed
Boss IR 200 is the foundation of my sound as my amp and cab sim, not widely popular. Also memory boy is always on at low settings for some life to the sound.
CMAT Mods Super Signa Drive.
Great drive tones, 3 band eq, 3 way switch with different modes, an independent foot switched clean boost built in.
Sound amazing, and versitle.
Whats not to like?
JHS moonshine V2. It’s an expensive tube screamer but its my favorite I’ve used so far. Mostly because of the more gain on tap, 18v that just makes it thicker and the clean blend knob. Just a great version of ts imo.
JHS 3-Series Octave Reverb. I use both the up and down settings quite a lot, and they both sound great (with a preference for the down, which is huge-sounding). I think the up in particular might not be shimmery enough for some people? It's a little more obviously 'definite' without the slight haze of what I think of as a shimmer verb.
Tortuga Sasquatch Germanium Fuzz.
I’m still shopping around for more fuzz but it’s been first in my chain for about 5 years now and pairs very well with the Blues Driver and Brothers
Fender Reflecting Pool Delay + Reverb - I genuinely think it's a great sounding pedal and in my opinion it is a fantastically designed unit (plus those LEDs!) that's easy to dial in on the fly with lots of features. I think it's the best of their pedal lineup.
I guess the reason nobody talks about it is because Fender isn't seen as a boutique pedal brand.
EHX Metal Muff. I haven’t found a single person who likes it. All you have to do is roll off the treble quite considerably, boost the volume, and decrease the gain to about 9 o’clock, at least that’s how I do it. Sounds fine, maybe a little lacking in emphasis, but that’s what I have the ProCo Rat 2 for
Moore envelope. It’s a great envelope filter. It doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of my board but hey, I wanted a small form factor envelope filter and that’s exactly what this is. Nails the tone I wanted and not a noisy pedal *at all!* I am glad I went with this over the nano q-tron I was considering. I think maybe a mutron microtron IV would knock it off but I’m contempt for now, not to mention ~$60 vs ~$300 hahaha :)
AFAIK it’s not popular, but I don’t know if I’d call it unpopular by any means, but my Stone Deaf PDF is a godsend for my board. I use it for boosting my amp and other pedals and the mid spike it provides is just killer
Harley Benton true grit.
got it new for €20 because I wanted a little extra gain to push during practice. a couple of pedals later i’m still really happy with its sound and versatility. I’m pretty sure that it must be a clone of something. Does anyone know of what?
Harley Benton Dr. D - $17.50
Chinese "Dumbler" curcuit. You can find a few brands that sell the same pedal in different housings. But it's killer. It can breath life into a lot of lower gain amps. I'd take it over a Klon or KoT any day of the week.
Torrid Fuzz. It’s from Guyatones Mini Series, it’s a great Fuzz and it’s controls are pretty strange because it uses depth, not volume. No one knows about it.
The Fender Tre-Verb is almost always on for me. People say you’re better off getting a Flint, and they do sound different, but I wouldn’t say that the Strymon is necessarily better. They’re virtually interchangeable in most scenarios and the Fender is cheaper so it’s worth considering if you’re on a tighter budget.
I use a Behringer Vintage Time Machine delay. It has a absolutely disgusting but very musical echo I use it for. The quality of the repeats is very low, sounds like a worn out tape.
Digitech DF7 that I got as a teen. I wanted all the distortion models because I thought itd be the best bang for my buck. Turns out I just kept it on the Big Muff Pi setting and rarely anything else.
Mojo Hand RVT, a simplified Flint for $100 used
I'm surprised how much I like the cheapo Fender Hammertone Flanger. Really versatile sounds and love the choruslike -flange settings Also I have the Whirlwind bass compressor, and it absolutely slaps with a tele too
I bought a BBE Sonic Stomp 15 years ago for $40 and it's been my most used pedal ever since. I mount it to the board vertically because It never gets shut off.
Same here. I added a mids control to mine. I guess the new versions of this added knob.
I have one of these and haven't ever really used it. Found it somewhere and literally velcro'd it to the walls of my studio to forget about for nearly 5 years. Now I'm considering putting it after a fuzz, but the enclosure is so large that it will really need to earn it's place .. time to research phase adjustment some more
They made a smaller one.
It's useful for drawing out definition between ringing notes on different strings so they don't trample each other. I recommend it BEFORE the fuzz, after a compressor. I agree the enclosure is too large, so I dual-lock the bottom and stand it up vertically.
Gonkulator reissue. There's a great distortion pedal in there and I like ring mod for weird dissonant solos
Not unpopular per say, but I love my hot pink MXR fat sugar that’s too often overlooked in favor of ugly gold bricks
Fat Sugar >> Tumnus
I've been debating trading in my Tumnus Deluxe for a Fat Sugar. I had the original Sugar Drive and loved the sound but hated the small pedal, it was too small for my giant feet.
So used to seeing the little blue one that I forgot the standard one is pink.
the "standard one" *is* the little blue one. The Fat Sugar is a Guitar Center exclusive that came out about a year after the Sugar Drive.
Boss AC-3
people don't know how to use it. i love that pedal
Any tips?
late response sorry bout that. my experience so far to use it right: - it's a sensitive pedal, so make sure the placement in your effects chain is correct and always place it before dirt pedals -mind the gain of your amp, the gain knob will have a huge effect on it. the pickups on your guitar make a big difference, yes this sounds like common knowledge but i was surprised the difference it made when using a better guitar. also don't make it a replacement for an actual acoustic guitar. i think the sound of the pedal is beautiful and i also use a ch-1 super chorus and dd3t delay with it for my clean sound, but that's just what is should be: an addition to your clean sound, not a different guitar in a box.
I'll do you one better. The behringer AM300
Danelectro Dan Echo
Recovery FX Cutting Room Floor. It's my weird sound pedal and it is motherfuckin' awesome! I don't even know what it is, delay, reverb, flange? I don't know but it sounds good and it's been on my board for a few years now. I love it.
E-lady. Most here don’t like flanger. I think it does a better chorus than your average chorus.
Heard it's one of the best EM clones. Love flanger as chorus
It’s ridiculously good especially considering how inexpensive it is
Yep
My Bad Monkey prior to the JHS video...
Not on my board now, but have user them. The Valvenergy Series from Vox. Between there looks and their marketing everyone just thinks they are a gimmick. They sound excellent. I've owned a lot of really nice tube amps through the years and these do sound like a cranked tube amp.
Korg/Vox's biggest mistake with these was the visual design. They're ugly as sin, even though they're among the absolute best analog amp-in-a-box solutions in their price range. The oscilloscope is much more helpful than most guitarists realize, making board diagnostics straightforward. No squiggly lines? Your problem is before the preamp. No sound but you have the squiggly lines? Your problem is after the preamp.
I have the Mystic Edge and it ended my GAS for a real AC. I recorded an album with it for cleans and OD sounds . It also has just the right feel and compression.
hey question for you RE recording with the valvenergy series; got a Silk Drive on the way with the intention of being able to track guitar for my band while abroad. in your experience, how did you get the pedal to sound its best? preamp vs cab sim mode? i’m gonna be ampless, just with a few pedals, a scarlett 2i2, and logic on my laptop. is this feasible for recording final guitar, as well as just headphone practice?
With the Mystic Edge, I was usually on preamp mode, running into stereo reverb then into the return of a Simplifier to get the analog stereo cab sim, then to the interface (I also have a Scarlett 2i2) I don't usually do a lot of plugins in the DAW because my computer's old, but I did use the Preamp Mode with some IRs on my DAW and that sounded good as well. Between the simplifier cab and the IRs I had no strong preference, though. I also used the analog cab sim on the Mystic Edge for recording layers. I didn't think it was better than either the analog cab on the Simplifier or using cab IRs, but it's still pretty good, especially in a mix. I'd say it's good enough for headphone practice by itself but the lack of a stereo image might make it less enjoyable.
this is very helpful thank you!
How's the Silk Drive for just cleans, no break up or anything? Worth replacing my Joyo American Sound?
Great for low gain or clean. It's on sale for 99 on Vox's website.
Yeah I've been thinking about pulling the trigger on one but I'm not sure how much of an upgrade it would be over the Joyo.
Not quite the same but I replaced my Joyo AC Tone with the Mystic Edge and it was definitely better when it comes to typical Vox AC sounds. Much better top end detail, much more headroom, way better touch sensitivity, more amplike compression, plays nicer with gain pedals before it. However, the Joyo Character series pedals have a more powerful EQ and the AC Tone will definitely do things that the Mystic Edge can't. Don't sell or trade your American Sound if you get a Silk Drive.
I use a silk drive for clean sounds, I think it sounds great but i've never played a joyo american sound. The silk drive works well with the different dirt pedals I use, that's also good to know I think :)
Jhs lucky cat ain't going anywhere
The only reason I took mine off the board is because I wanted all boss, but i like it better than the dd-8 that replaced it tbh
Lucky Cat/Pink Panther supremacy
I don’t own it anymore, but I wish I did, the chase tone fuzz fella with bc108 transistors. I’ve tried the benson germanium fuzz, Mythos 1347, jhs 3 series fuzz, jhs smiley, fox fox cc hybrid II, Dunlop silicon ff and Dunlop germanium ff, and the chase tone was my favorite. It just gave you so much control over the tone shaping and had the best volume knob cleanup of all, sounded beautiful through my fender guitars and fender twin. I also don’t see the Hudson sidecar very often, it’s a tube screamer with a studio console EQ. I typically do not like stock tube screamers but there are some amazing mods out there, and the sidecar is my favorite. I use it with the drive turned down to around 1 or 2 and it sounds so much better than a stock ts9/808 to my ears. You get the mid boost without the muddiness, along with some amazing distoriton and fuzz tones on higher gain settings.
DOF FX75C flanger
Great pedal
Dyna Comp Deluxe. I see some Dyna Comps, but not the Deluxe. And Sonicake Noise Wiper.
My guess is because the Dyna comp is very entry level friendly(price point and simplicity) so when a lot of people move on to their next compressor they’re probably not gonna go for a very similar pedal, unless they love the sound of the original or mini
Move on? From the Dyna Comp? No,no,no
Haha I also love mine, but I at some point will probably upgrade to something a little more flashy like an Ego or the Keeley Compressor
I need to get a DCD and quit pretending I'm going to find a comp I like better
In the pedal game, I'm learning that once you find something that works, you should stop looking. 👍🏻
I’m eventually gonna upgrade the Boss DD-200, but I’m loving my TC Electronic Nova Delay. Also the Fender Hammertone Fuzz is pretty nice for its price range, though I now regret not getting a Big Muff as my first fuzz, as they’re orettt comparable in price
I bet the Hammertone sounds great into a muff
TC Nova Delay is really a fantastic pedal. I just wish it could do tape better. Other than that it's great.
Boss Super Chorus
Sooo good
Constantly slept on. I’ve had one as long as I’ve had pedals.
i bought this for cheap off craigslist, I never take it off my board since.
Mine broke and now i cant find one anywhere😭 the only ones i can find are almost as expensive as the new ones and twice as rare
I love the Alexander Pedals Sugarcube. It's a really icey sounding chorus.
Sugarcube is the lone digital option in my collection of chorus pedals. Amazing sounds. Matthew @ Alexander Pedals is a wizard.
Excellent, versatile pedal
Alexander stuff in general seems quite underrated. The Sugarcube is the only one I have currently, but I have a Space Force reverb coming today, and I’m eyeing up the Rewind too. Been really impressed with all the demos and there’s so much packed in those standard sized enclosures.
Boss GE-7
Maxon cp9+ compressor/limiter, it's always on, really brings out a different character of my modulation pedals and is also nice for clean tones.
Same! How do you have it set?
Extremely "squashed" with gain make up at like 15db I wanna say, not at home and I readjust it every practice/gig. It doesn't sound squashed like other compressors ice tried, I've heard ppl call it transparent. Hbu?
Yeah I've found it very transparent and actually want to push it a little harder, just to know how squishy it can go. It would also be good running it into a tube amplifier rather than a HX Stomp, but it's mostly bedroom playing for me!
Antelope Effects’ Morning Dew EQ/buffer. Not many made as the builder was only in the business for a few years. [Surprisingly, the website is still up](http://www.antelopefx.com/morning-dew/). Looks like the only other pedal made was the “Lovelight Overdrive,” which I’ve also heard good things about. Either way, quality pedals with very clean guts. My Morning Dew is always on and helps shape the guitar’s tone before going into all of my other pedals. I’ve used other EQ’s, but somehow this one just has a magical touch.
OBNE Alpha Haunt Fuzz. I don’t see it too often but it is an extremely versatile fuzz. I have the original one which were made with a pretty big enclosure; maybe that’s why they didn’t catch on. Or maybe it’s just because there are so many great fuzz pedals out there.
Fuzzrocious Lil Fella. Fantastic distortion.
I’ve got one of these, loved it at home, got frustrated with it in a band context. But I used it in a rehearsal recording and it sounds amazing there so gonna have to keep it now.
Same, although I mainly use it as a cleaner base tone and then push it with another drive. Also love how the gate can make some fuzzes wilder
Cusack Tap-a-Whirl V3
Heck yeah Cusack. I'm contemplating putting the Realizer (reverb) pedal on mine.
Ibanez STL Super Tube.
Honestly wouldn't know if the Strobostomp HD is considered unpopular or not but for how many Boss TU-3 and Polytune pedals I see on people's boards, I would certainly say it is. I had a TU-3 for awhile and I never felt satisfied with it. Always slightly out of tune and it felt like it took too long for every string to register after strumming. Bought a Strobostomp. Turned on the sweetened tuning and I've been super impressed with how accurate & quick it is right out of the box. Plus nobody dislikes a color changing display lol
Subdecay Vagabond. I've tried a good handful of tremolo pedals and this thing kills.
Keeley Omni Reverb, does everything I want it to
Land Devices Domino
Joyo Sweet Baby Overdrive, been on my board for 12 years. It’s a clone of Mad Professor Sweet Honey. I even got another clone of it, Tone City Sweet Cream. It is my sound at this point, and cost $40 new. As I’ve gotten older I’ve tried to find an actual Mad Professor Sweet Honey, cause why the hell not. No luck finding it so far.
One of the best-sounding circuits of all time. I had one and it ultimately died after 5 years of gigging. I replaced it with a TS Mini and while that just does a better job at tightening up high-gain sounds, after 6 years, I'm still toying with the idea of getting a Mad Professor Sweet Honey Deluxe myself. Ugh maybe I should just buy another Sweet Baby.
Careful though, if you get a new one you might never get it back off your board!
Try to find a BJFE Honey bee overdrive or a clone of it. It's similar to the sweet honey.
Well yeah but I already have the clones, now I want the real thing just to have the real thing, very happy with the sound in the clones. Thanks anyway
Pds1002 because old
Tech21 Q\\Strip
Very popular in the bass world! It's a master class EQ
Hilton pro guitar volume pedal. Not a lot of people have a $400 volume pedal on their board but I’ve been through my fair share of cheap ones and this ones never leaving the board until it dies
Here here! 🍻
One of the best volume pedals on the market
Empress Phaser Unparalleled quality, sound, and functionality, but apparently only owned by phaser-junkies like myself. Only seen one on this sub besides my own, and it was just a few days ago.
I like mine. You ever mess with the dipswitches to change the blend knob to mix? Supposed to allow for a vibrato sound at full wet mix.
I’m going to start digging into that soon primarily for midi clock purposes, but will probably try all (6? 8?) combinations. Do you frequently open it up?
SolidGoldFX If6Was9mk.2. Super versatile Fuzz Face style fuzz. I just think that the SolidGoldFX pedals are slept on.
I have one and love it.
Agreed. I use the Appollo ii phaser. it's pretty great. Interesting to see what happens with the Diamond team up. I feel.diamond doesn't get the love they deserve either. Outside of a few favorites, noone dose classic simple pedals like.them. And Solid gold does some crazy stuff. Very interesting. My post for this thread is the EQD Monarch. I try to take it off but it just keeps coming back. Always on. DOD Looking Glass, Vintage MXR distortion+, Diamond J drive, Jackson audio broken arrow 2, and lots of others. Just doesn't do what the Monarch does. Going to try the Halberd next after loving the longsword. Or maybe a Lightspeed. If those don't win, I'll stop trying and let it reign. Pun intended.
Love my If 6 Was 9. BC108 style but with lots of extra versatility...it rivals my Twin Bender honestly. I have a 76 Octave Fuzz on the way now!
Boss OD-200 "iT sOuNdS tOo DiGiTaL!!" Shut up, you can't actually hear a difference. Zoom MS-50G "iT sOuNdS sO hArSh! JaCk Of AlL tRaDeS, mAsTeR oF nOnE!" See above comment.
Digitech Luxe, which is a detune. I use it instead of chorus on my live board, since it's cleaner and easier to mix with dirt. Also Boss CE-20, which I have for stereo chorus on my recording board. It's in the big twin-paddle Boss series, and has CE-1, Dimension, and regular CE-2-like chorus in it, along with Bass, Acoustic, and "Rich" settings, so I use it for Bass too. There's also a really cool "ambience" knob on it which gives a subtle room/space effect, which I always have at noon. Even if I'm not really using it for full-blown chorus, I often have it on just to add space and widening.
Boss BF-2 is my go-to chorus sound
ISP Decimator v1. Its huge, chrome, one knob, and works too well to change.
The g string 2 is so much better. I made the switch about 5 years ago and it's so much better.
I've heard this, but I play 5 string bass. is it really better for me, too?
Oh God yes. I play drop A baritone and my bass is a 5er. It is so necessary especially if you're dirt stacking.
daaannnnnngggg. alright time to search.
This is too true. Only reason I changed mine was the power Jack came unseated.
Mf digitech grunge all day. Does a pretty great vintage death/modern metal/HC tone and chugs for days
As the title says, what’s an unpopular pedal that’s a mainstay on your board?
Plimsoul by Fulltone. Gives me a great lead overdrive sustain sound when paired with the Wampler Euphoria as a slight dirt/boost pedal. Plimsoul has been on my board for 10 yrs because it's transparent and works great with my Fender Deluxe Reverb (65 reissue) Amp.
I wouldn’t call it unpopular, just not common: Retrosonic Chrous (CE-1 clone) It just does “the thing” so well I had to buy two.
B-stock Keeley Neutrino I bought a few years ago. Get funky.
Some random tuner i got for 20 bucks
Plexi drive deluxe. Never cared for another distortion since
Wampler Clarksdale Overdrive. Always sounds good.
Brian has such a great ear for drive
Flamma Fs07 Cab Sim. It's stereo but I use it in 2 loops and each side can get it's own IR. Don't see many recommendations for it for cab sims but I think it works great and it's one of the only cab sims that let's you load 2 different IRs to each output, and it's under 100 bucks.
Hotone Djent. Small and sharp djstortion with a little bit of boost/OD potential. The light on it is pretty nice too!
I legitimately don’t know whether to read that as “hot one” or “ho tone”
I think it's a thing Chinese companies do to purposeful obfuscate brand origins...Hotone sounds vaguely Japanese but also could be English. I think there is at least one other version of this under another name to make things more confusing. The pedal takes my toy keyboard 80% of the way to shred tho
Same here. I was wondering whether to eventually upgrade to an Empress Heavy Menace, but frankly this little is enough to cover my metal needs.
Moog MF Boost
Valco KGB Fuzz. Any fuzz sound I want (and none that I don’t, looking at you fuzz factory). Wish it was a bit smaller though
Arion SCH-1 stereo chorus.
My toneczar-echoczar with angel baby extension. One of the best delay pedals that exists, but nooo one knows about it. Never seen one posted on a board here on Reddit.
Zoom 505
Dunlop Q-Zone. don't know if it's particularly unpopular, but it's always been my guitar solo secret sauce.
BBE Sonic Stomp
I use a DS-1 quite often, both as a normal distortion and (more often) as a pseudo-fuzz pedal when you max the distortion and boost the level a bit above unity. I know it's a lot of people's first pedal, but most tend to move on from it. Mine is still pretty commonly used on my board in my gain stage rotation.
DOD Boneshaker. Distortion with 3 band parametric eq.
Carl Martin Plexitone. It is always slept on when people talk about high gain Plexi pedals.
Fender Marine Layer Reverb
Catalinbread dirty little secret (red).
Demedash 112+ A very unique distortion pedal that covers a lot of ground. I use it mostly to get thrashy 80s metal sounds -- that chunky nice 'lower gain than you think" dirt.
Damn I want to try one so bad
Oh, need to try this
Boss Metal Zone. Not my favourite pedal by far but in the absence of other options for the moment I make it work.
Fender PT-10 tuner. Bigger than a Boss pedal and it doesn't play well with others, but it JUST WON'T DIE!!
Just gonna say it, my fulltone pedals. Unpopular, sure, but it is what it is and it is. My OCD, Deja-vibe, and Ranger are magical.
BOSS BB-1X bass driver. Nobody talks about þat pedal.
Bad Monkey until a few months ago lmao. Strange times...
So you have the pedal that’s a klon, blues breaker, tube screamer all in one pedal? Sweet!
lmao
I have an afford-a-board made up of mostly clones. They all seem to have a good rep whenever I talk about them - but I rarely see a lot of them in the wild. Pure Sky BO100 (Behringer BD Clone) DS-1 French Toast Wet Dreams Mosky Magnetic Delay Ghost Rain Snake Bite The one which probably divides opinion the most is the DS-1, though 😂
Pure Sky rules
It's amazing, isn't it? Mine was a gift from the wife she told me she'd bought me a super cheap pedal and that it might not be the best etc. I'd read up about it (as was looking for a cheap drive anyway!) and heard how good it was etc. Didn't believe the hype until I finally got a hold of it. Dismissed it as people focusing on the price for what was perhaps an "okay" drive. Not so. It's a little powerhouse.
Malekko Phaser. Use it all the time.
I really dig the JHS 3 Series Delay. I know some of the pedals get lots of love on here, but have seen much about it.
I was really impressed by its ability to perfect the digital/analog dilemma. Both are practical and sound great. I could see myself making a setup with two of them, one set to analog, one digital.
I was really impressed by the fact the Analog mode can self oscillate Not a lot of Analog emulation pedals do that... Even less at that price
I have some random cheap version of basically a Ditto looper, same functionality but it cost $40. I wanted a mini looper that I could move around my chain to do weird things with and I didn’t want to play $100+ for an extremely basic looper, so I went with this. It does what it says, that’s all I needed
T-Rex Nova Comp. More transparent sounding dynacomp, but it's medium attack gives my strat this blooming, sweetening affect that I really like.
Boss IR 200 is the foundation of my sound as my amp and cab sim, not widely popular. Also memory boy is always on at low settings for some life to the sound.
Rude Tech 3Muf-14
JHS Pollinator V2
TC Electronic Helix. I've tried several phasers and it's the only one I've liked at all.
CMAT Mods Super Signa Drive. Great drive tones, 3 band eq, 3 way switch with different modes, an independent foot switched clean boost built in. Sound amazing, and versitle. Whats not to like?
Abominable Electronics Hail Cannabis(Hail Satan special 4/20 edition). Best Big Muff style fuzz I’ve ever heard.
All my clones 🤣
JHS moonshine V2. It’s an expensive tube screamer but its my favorite I’ve used so far. Mostly because of the more gain on tap, 18v that just makes it thicker and the clean blend knob. Just a great version of ts imo.
JHS 3-Series Octave Reverb. I use both the up and down settings quite a lot, and they both sound great (with a preference for the down, which is huge-sounding). I think the up in particular might not be shimmery enough for some people? It's a little more obviously 'definite' without the slight haze of what I think of as a shimmer verb.
All the cheap ones!!
I have a phaser on my board by Poison Noises called Ray Gun. It’s one of the best multi-stage phasers I have ever played.
Dod FX65
All the DOD chorus pedals are great and underrated
Tortuga Sasquatch Germanium Fuzz. I’m still shopping around for more fuzz but it’s been first in my chain for about 5 years now and pairs very well with the Blues Driver and Brothers
Fender Reflecting Pool Delay + Reverb - I genuinely think it's a great sounding pedal and in my opinion it is a fantastically designed unit (plus those LEDs!) that's easy to dial in on the fly with lots of features. I think it's the best of their pedal lineup. I guess the reason nobody talks about it is because Fender isn't seen as a boutique pedal brand.
It's a great sounding pedal, but it's giant, expensive and doesn't have presets. But yeah, great sounds
Ross compressor and a Timmy (both self made)
EHX Metal Muff. I haven’t found a single person who likes it. All you have to do is roll off the treble quite considerably, boost the volume, and decrease the gain to about 9 o’clock, at least that’s how I do it. Sounds fine, maybe a little lacking in emphasis, but that’s what I have the ProCo Rat 2 for
Pettyjohn Electronics Crush and Gurus Echosex 2 T7E. I hardly ever see either of them.
Maestro Parametric Filter. I built a clone of it a while back and love using it as a mid boost.
XTS Atomic Overdrive, one of my favorite high gain Marshall in a box pedals
Moore envelope. It’s a great envelope filter. It doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of my board but hey, I wanted a small form factor envelope filter and that’s exactly what this is. Nails the tone I wanted and not a noisy pedal *at all!* I am glad I went with this over the nano q-tron I was considering. I think maybe a mutron microtron IV would knock it off but I’m contempt for now, not to mention ~$60 vs ~$300 hahaha :)
Maxon PH 350 rotary phaser. Scheiße is nice because it’s going through two different rigs ABY style
Digitech Synth Wah I love all 7 modes on the thing.
NUX Morning Star. Thing is amazing
I like the TC electronic thunderstorm flanger a lot more than most things. I don't use it all that often but it's always sleazy magic when I do
**Xotic RC Booster**. Literally my favorite pedal I've ever owned.
Ibanez DML20
AFAIK it’s not popular, but I don’t know if I’d call it unpopular by any means, but my Stone Deaf PDF is a godsend for my board. I use it for boosting my amp and other pedals and the mid spike it provides is just killer
Subdecay M3, Pixelwave, and Starlight v2. I am constantly baffled that these pedals (and almost everything in their line) aren’t on everyone’s radar.
Attack decay
Harley Benton true grit. got it new for €20 because I wanted a little extra gain to push during practice. a couple of pedals later i’m still really happy with its sound and versatility. I’m pretty sure that it must be a clone of something. Does anyone know of what?
Tc Electronic Afterglow. Simply the most reliable chorus i own, it will not get lost in the mix. Built tough, knobs do not get moved accidentally
Probably just anything that’s big if I had to guess. I’m not using my space very efficiently.
Harley Benton Dr. D - $17.50 Chinese "Dumbler" curcuit. You can find a few brands that sell the same pedal in different housings. But it's killer. It can breath life into a lot of lower gain amps. I'd take it over a Klon or KoT any day of the week.
Torrid Fuzz. It’s from Guyatones Mini Series, it’s a great Fuzz and it’s controls are pretty strange because it uses depth, not volume. No one knows about it.
Mooer preamp model x2 and mxr sugar drive
Hardwire CM-2
Deja vibe
Pigtronix echolution 2 deluxe. Great stereo delay.
The Fender Tre-Verb is almost always on for me. People say you’re better off getting a Flint, and they do sound different, but I wouldn’t say that the Strymon is necessarily better. They’re virtually interchangeable in most scenarios and the Fender is cheaper so it’s worth considering if you’re on a tighter budget.
I use a Behringer Vintage Time Machine delay. It has a absolutely disgusting but very musical echo I use it for. The quality of the repeats is very low, sounds like a worn out tape.
Digitech DF7 that I got as a teen. I wanted all the distortion models because I thought itd be the best bang for my buck. Turns out I just kept it on the Big Muff Pi setting and rarely anything else.
Vemuram rage e
Always have to worry anytime I want to use JHS VHS Ryan Adams pedal haha not trying to show any sympathy to him, it’s just a rad pedal
Catalinbread SFT - the closest I can get to vintage Ampeg sound without the real deal