Skip to main content
MusicRadar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
UK EditionUK US EditionUS AU EditionAustralia SG EditionSingapore
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Artist news
  • Music Gear Reviews
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Controllers
  • Drums
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Guitar Amps
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About us
Don't miss these
The JHS Pedals Coyote is a replication of the Moonrock Fuzz, a cult classic made by G.S. Wyllie, and it comes in a gold enclosure with artwork featuring a black Coyote howling.
Guitars JHS Pedals’ turns loose the Coyote – a fuzz pedal tribute to a “lost” cult classic and its maker
Electro-Harmonix has teamed up with MixWave to offer some of its most-famous pedals as plugins.
Guitars Electro-Harmonix launches six of its most-famous pedals as plugins
Arturia KeyStep mk2
Midi Controllers Best MIDI keyboards 2026: Find your perfect match for the home studio
Korg MiniKorg 700Sm
Analogue Synths “A stunningly creative and beautiful sounding synthesizer”: Korg miniKORG 700Sm review
Source Audio Pathways is a reverb and tremolo twofer which arrives in a brown housing with a green cactus, and it offers full MIDI operation and comprehensive control over its sound.
Guitars Source Audio’s Pathways is a state-of-the-art reverb and tremolo pedal for vintage enthusiasts and modern tone-seekers alike
timbre wolf
Tech "Boy, do people hate it": 10 of the most divisive products in music tech history, from iLok to the Akai Timbre Wolf
Roland TR-1000 Rhythm Creator
Drum Machines Best drum machines 2026: Top beat boxes for all budgets and skill levels
An UDO Super Gemini synthesizer on a white table
Synths Best synthesizers 2026: Top analogue, digital, mono and polysynths
Neural DSP Quad Cortex
Guitar Pedals Best multi-effects pedals 2026: Our pick of the best all-in-one guitar FX modellers
A PRS McCarty 594 on a hard case
Electric Guitars Best electric guitars 2026: Our pick of guitars to suit all budgets
A pair of KRK GoAux studio monitors on a studio desk
Studio Monitors Best small studio monitors 2026: Compact studio speakers
Close up of a Taylor GS Mini acoustic guitar lying on a wooden floor
Acoustic Guitars Best acoustic guitars 2026: Super steel string acoustics for all players and budgets
Roland Pedal
Tech Exploring the new industry of AI-integrated hardware effects pedals
Headphones next to electric guitar
Headphones Best guitar amp headphones 2026: My top picks for practicing your guitar quietly
Beetronics Pollinator Hazee Delay
Guitar Pedals “It feels more like a DIY creator building something weird for themselves”: Beetronix Pollinator Hazee Delay
More
  • Sly and Survivor
  • In My Life
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • One chord Diamond
  1. Guitars
  2. Guitar Pedals

Six of the best: mini effects pedals

News
By Guitarist published 25 December 2013

Good things in small packages

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Mooer ElecLady

Mooer ElecLady

The Chinese pedal builder has an exhaustive range of compact Micro pedals, featuring oddities such as EQs and acoustic guitar simulators among the usual suspects.

The EHX Electric Mistress is clearly the ElecLady’s muse, but this is a much tidier flange than its 70s predecessor. If it’s still a little on the large size for your tastes, marvel at the company’s forthcoming Zippo-lighter-esque Spark range...

We said: “70s-style flanging at about one-sixth of the usual size.”

Read our full Mooer ElecLady review

For more information visit the official Mooer website

Page 1 of 6
Page 1 of 6
Bigfoot Engineering Octo Puss

Bigfoot Engineering Octo Puss

This UK-made octave effect is passive, meaning it has no LED and requires thoughtful placement in your signal chain.

However, its original germanium diodes do a convincing job of creating the classic octave effect, adding a faux sitar character to clean tones and an extra dimension of vintage goodness to fuzz and distortion.

We said: “It really comes alive in conjunction with an overdrive, distortion or fuzz pedal, or a driven amp.”

Read our full Bigfoot Engineering Octo Puss review

For more information visit the official Bigfoot Engineering website

Page 2 of 6
Page 2 of 6
Dunlop Fuzz Face Mini

Dunlop Fuzz Face Mini

Since 1966 - when Jimi blew our minds with one - guitarists have resented the Fuzz Face’s mic- stand-base dimensions.

Now Dunlop has enclosed the Fuzz Face’s legendary circuitry in a ’board-friendly housing in three flavours - Silicon, Germanium, and Jimi - while promising meticulously faithful tones.

We said: “The versatility of the original Fuzz Face design with a few modern twists to the recipe.”

Read our full Dunlop Fuzz Face Mini review

For more information visit the official Dunlop website

Page 3 of 6
Page 3 of 6
Hotone Liftup Boost

Hotone Liftup Boost

Hotone’s 10-pedal range takes tiny to the limit: each effect is around a third of the size of a standard enclosure, which would make them difficult to see (let alone stomp on) on stage if it weren’t for the thoughtful inclusion of glow-in-the-dark controls.

The pedal’s format, with multiple dials and buttons on the front and a rotary on the pedal’s top, is space-saving design at its most ingenious.

For more information visit Gear4Music

Page 4 of 6
Page 4 of 6
Lovepedal Babyface Tremolo

Lovepedal Babyface Tremolo

Tremolo is a great effect, but you may only need it once or twice in your set. Enter the Babyface Tremolo, with set-and-leave controls inside the chassis, providing three tremolo variations (sine, sawtooth and square wave). A great example of why the format is here to stay.

We said: “It gives you three different tremolo variations in not a lot of real estate.”

Read our full Lovepedal Babyface Tremolo review

For more information visit the official Lovepedal website

Page 5 of 6
Page 5 of 6
TC Electronic PolyTune Mini

TC Electronic PolyTune Mini

The Danish audiophiles at TC Electronic have been using their miniaturising ray on quite a few pedals of late, and the HOF reverb, Ditto Looper and Spark Booster are all one-button wonders worth checking out.

But it’s still the PolyTune Mini that gets our vote, thanks to its single-strum polyphonic or regular tuning with Capo and Drop D modes in a Twix-sized wrapper.

We said: "The cutest, best-value tuner for the price."

Read our full TC Electronic PolyTune Mini review

For more information visit the official TC Electronic site

Page 6 of 6
Page 6 of 6
Guitarist
Guitarist
Social Links Navigation

Guitarist is the longest established UK guitar magazine, offering gear reviews, artist interviews, techniques lessons and loads more, in print, on tablet and on smartphones
Digital: http://bit.ly/GuitaristiOS
If you love guitars, you'll love Guitarist. Find us in print, on Newsstand for iPad, iPhone and other digital readers

Read more
Neural DSP Quad Cortex
Guitar Pedals Best multi-effects pedals 2026: Our pick of the best all-in-one guitar FX modellers
 
 
Neural DSP Quad Cortex Mini
Guitar Pedals "It’s the full power of the Quad Cortex, just in a smaller box": Neural DSP Quad Cortex mini review
 
 
Electro-Harmonix has teamed up with MixWave to offer some of its most-famous pedals as plugins.
Guitars Electro-Harmonix launches six of its most-famous pedals as plugins
 
 
The JHS Pedals Coyote is a replication of the Moonrock Fuzz, a cult classic made by G.S. Wyllie, and it comes in a gold enclosure with artwork featuring a black Coyote howling.
Guitars JHS Pedals’ turns loose the Coyote – a fuzz pedal tribute to a “lost” cult classic and its maker
 
 
A pair of Boss Waza-Air guitar amp headphones
Guitar Pedals As a pro guitarist, I think Boss makes the most reliable pedals around, so with 26% off everything from the DD-8 to the Waza Metal Zone in Amazon's Spring Deal Days sale, it's time to stock up
 
 
Roland Pedal
Tech Exploring the new industry of AI-integrated hardware effects pedals
 
 
Latest in Guitar Pedals
Catalinbread CB Paint
Guitars “Six room sizes, a gated reverb patch and a reverse reverb patch for your consideration”: Catalinbread launches compact reverb pedal with inspired by the Neil Young and Daft Punk-approved Alesis Microverb
 
 
Beetronics Pollinator Hazee Delay
Guitar Pedals “It feels more like a DIY creator building something weird for themselves”: Beetronix Pollinator Hazee Delay
 
 
The JHS Pedals Coyote is a replication of the Moonrock Fuzz, a cult classic made by G.S. Wyllie, and it comes in a gold enclosure with artwork featuring a black Coyote howling.
Guitars JHS Pedals’ turns loose the Coyote – a fuzz pedal tribute to a “lost” cult classic and its maker
 
 
Electro-Harmonix has teamed up with MixWave to offer some of its most-famous pedals as plugins.
Guitars Electro-Harmonix launches six of its most-famous pedals as plugins
 
 
Source Audio Pathways is a reverb and tremolo twofer which arrives in a brown housing with a green cactus, and it offers full MIDI operation and comprehensive control over its sound.
Guitars Source Audio’s Pathways is a state-of-the-art reverb and tremolo pedal for vintage enthusiasts and modern tone-seekers alike
 
 
Roland Pedal
Tech Exploring the new industry of AI-integrated hardware effects pedals
 
 
Latest in News
Catalinbread CB Paint
Guitars “Six room sizes, a gated reverb patch and a reverse reverb patch for your consideration”: Catalinbread launches compact reverb pedal with inspired by the Neil Young and Daft Punk-approved Alesis Microverb
 
 
Kanye West wearing sunglasses and wearing a black shirt
Artists Wireless Festival cancelled and tickets refunded after UK Government blocks Kanye West’s entry to the UK
 
 
Music Studio
Music Production Tutorials 5 creativity-enhancing studio workflow tips
 
 
Sky Ferreira holding a microphone on stage with red light on her and blue lights on the background
Artists Sky Ferreira expresses frustration on Twitter and tells a fan on X that her music was used in Wuthering Heights without credit
 
 
jimmy douglass
Producers & Engineers "This guy pops out of a trash can – it was Ginger Baker!": Jimmy Douglass on his early days working for Atlantic Records
 
 
Gary Numan in 2024 playing a live show dressed in black with red stage lights behind and holding a Les Paul guitar
Artists Gary Numan claims to be “90% deaf”
 
 

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google
  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...