Pedals Every Guitarist Should Own
A great guitar tone doesn’t happen by accident. Whether you’re chasing vintage blues warmth, stadium-sized rock riffs, ambient soundscapes, or complete sonic chaos, the right pedals can completely transform the way you play and sound. Building a pedal board can feel overwhelming at first, especially with thousands of options on the market, but there are a handful of tried-and-tested effects that every guitarist should experience at least once. From dependable tuners and legendary overdrives to lush reverbs, soaring delays, and wonderfully weird boutique creations, here are the essential pedals worth adding to your rig.
A Decent Tuner
It may seem like stating the obvious, but every great pedal board begins with a high quality tuner and, believe it or not, they can vary wildly. In the midst of a gig when you’re busy working the stage and bathed in swirling, coloured lights, you’ll need to figure out which tuner is easy to activate, see, and understand. This will vary player to player but here are some great options:
The TC Polytune 3
Perhaps the best known all rounder, this compact polyphonic tuner allows you to tune all of your strings at once and is built to preserve tone when running through complex rigs.
https://www.tcelectronic.com/product.html?modelCode=0713-AAJ
Peterson StroboStomp HD Pedal Tuner
A high-end option, the colour of the display can be adjusted to suit player preference. There also an anti ‘pop’ feature to avoid noise when activating the tuner.
Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner
Known for durability, the Boss TU-3 is a chromatic tuner that features a large stomp area making it easy to activate mid gig.
Overdrive
Now that you’re in tune, it’s time to add some weight to your sound. Overdrive pedals create the sound of a tube amp being pushed until the signal begins to break up. They’re perhaps best thought of as a warm, ‘classic rock’ or blues, touch sensitive sort of gain. Despite being typically lower gain in character than distortion pedals, you can still achieve the kind of high-octane rock tones every guitar player dreams of with the right overdrive pedal. Here are some classics to look out for:
Ibanez Tube Screamer (TS808)
The Ibanez Tube Screamer is an iconic overdrive pedal that now comes in various iterations with the TS808 being the most classic. Ibanez credit it’s ‘smooth’ and ‘full’ tone with it’s enduring popularity.
Blues Driver
Another classic, the BOSS Blues Driver is the epitome of an expressive overdrive. This pedal effectively behaves like a tube amp and is highly responsive to player dynamics.
Klon Centaur (Clone)
The Klon Centaur is the stuff of legends, with a real 1990’s limited run pedal setting you back anywhere from £5,000 - £10,000 - if you can even find one. However, there are numerous ‘clones’ (copies in pedal lingo) available and most sound excellent. Some options include the Wampler Tumnus V2 Drive Pedal, the Warm Audio Centavo, and the Behringer Centaur.
Distortion
It’s easy to confuse distortion and overdrive, but to make things simple, think of distortion as kicking things up a gear from the overdrive world. Where an overdrive is about the sound of a tube amp being driven to break up, distortion pedals distort the guitar signal on contact for a more extreme, and perhaps less natural, high gain sound. If you aspire to play modern rock music, metal, or grunge, then a distortion pedal is a must. Here are some to try:
ProCo RAT
A cult classic, the RAT launch in 1978 but is perhaps best described as the brash sound of the 90’s in a box. It’s a versatile pedal that shines when it’s driven to the max on thick chords and heavy riffs with in-your-face distortion.
Electro Harmonic Big Muffin Pi
The Big Muff is a fuzz pedal, a kind of extreme distortion, that gives you a ‘wooly’ and rich distortion that oozes rock attitude. It also acts as a sustain pedal so it’s the perfect thing to help you rip a mean solo.
Jim Dunlop MXR Distortion +
This is a no-frills distortion pedal that’s a great place to begin if you’re looking to buy your first distortion pedal. A total workhorse, it’s perfect for those looking to achieve an 80’s style hard rock tone.
Reverb and Delay
No pedal board is complete without a little bit of colour from a reverb and/or a delay pedal. It’s highly unlikely that you will find a totally dry guitar tone is optimal for jamming and playing live so ideally a combination of both reverb and delay is what you want. Reverb creates a sense of space by mimicking the unique character of reflective surfaces, allowing you to place your sonic self in a cave, a church hall, or a stadium, with just the click of a button. Delay can take things a step further by creating timed repeats of whatever you’re playing and can be as subtle, or as pronounced and experimental, as you like. Some reverb and delay pedals to look out for include:
Strymon BigSky Multi Reverb
The one reverb to rule them all, the BigSky multi reverb does everything from a small room sound to cloud reverb, shimmer, bloom, and more. It isn’t a cheap pedal by any means, but it’s a one stop shop that will cover a huge array of reverb sounds.
Electro Harmonic Memory Toy Analog Delay
Digital delays are great, but there’s something about the warmth of the analogue sound that just can’t be replaced. This is an archetypal delay that comes with the added bonus of an optional chorus function.
Universal Audio Golden Reverberator
This reverb pedal is built to replicate the sound of classic 60’s American guitar amps by modelling “golden unit” spring reverb tanks. It also offers plate and hall reverb capabilities to help you achieve a myriad of true-to-source vintage tones.
TC Electronic Flashback Delay
The flashback comes in a variety of editions and sizes with the classic being a compact pedal that offers 11 classic delay tones and includes a built in looper, an excellent option if you want maximal delay potentials with minimal space.
https://www.tcelectronic.com/series.html?category=R-TCELECTRONIC-FLASHBACKSERIES
Wah-Wah
There will come a time in every electric guitar players life where you want to play a part originally recorded with a Wah pedal. If this hasn’t happened to you yet - then you really should be listening to more Hendrix. Wah has such a distinct character that it’s near impossible to substitute or sidestep when it should be there. It is also very very fun. It makes your speedy licks sound speedier, your bends sound more vocal, and adds a whole new sonic parameter to your musical expression tool kit.
There are various Wah pedals on the market but you should probably just get yourself a Jim Dunlop Cry Baby, pretty much every one of the greats has.
Something Weird
Now that you’ve built your pedal board with the raw essentials it’s time to keep an eye out for some of the weirdest, whackiest, and most wonderful pedals you can find. If guitar is every feeling a little uninspiring, buying a silly pedal can reconnect you to the child-like joy of getting a new toy to play with. Exploring the world of boutique pedals and small indie pedal brands can really demonstrate the level of creativity and artistry that can be squeezed into a little metal box. You may also find that some recognisable names have released some pretty out-there products too. Here are some of the stranger pedals you can get:
Korg Miku Stomp
This is a pedal that broke the internet a while back by transforming your guitar signal into the voice of virtual Japanese pop star, Hatsune Miku.
Mattoverse FloraVolt
This is a fuzz pedal that requires you to skewer a piece of fruit or veg onto it in order to change the texture of the fuzz. Ever wondered if you prefer guitar signal sent through a banana or a cabbage? Now you can find out.
https://mattoverse.com/products/floravolt?variant=39980766330974
The Fart Pedal
A pedal that makes your guitar sound, you guessed it, like a fart. Yes really.
Third Man Hardware Plasma Coil
Slightly less odd than the others, this distortion features a Xenon gas filled tube, creating a thunderbolt visual effect that blurs the lines between guitar playing and mad scientist.
https://thirdmanstore.co.uk/products/x-gamechanger-audio-plasma-coil-5th-anniversary-pedal
With some selections from each of the above categories you should have a pretty comprehensive guitar rig and be ready to craft any tone you desire. In a world of digital profilers, the magic of the guitar pedal feels perhaps more special than ever, and building a pedal board offers you a whole new way to get creative. If you’re a Lick Library member, don’t forget to show off your guitar gear in the ‘tone and gear’ forum on the Lick Library community!
By Eliza Lee
Eliza is a UK guitarist whose playing blends rock, alternative, and metal. Picking up the guitar at 15 after discovering a love for 70s rock, she taught herself to play and quickly developed a distinctive style. She is currently the lead guitarist in alt-rock group Venus Grrrls. She has performed at some of the world’s most iconic venues, from the Royal Albert Hall to Download Festival.