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  1. Guitars
  2. Guitar Pedals

The best guitar effects pedals of all time

News
By The MusicRadar Team last updated 3 February 2020

You'll never get bored with these on your board

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The best guitar effects pedals of all time

The best guitar effects pedals of all time

What is the best effects pedal of all time? Issue 336 of Guitarist magazine was a bumper celebration of all things stompbox, with the team compiling a list of the best guitar effects pedals ever produced.

Whether for innovation, influence, sound, sheer popularity, or all of the above, each and every unit that made the cut is a tone-shaping tool worthy of a place on a pro pedalboard.

Click onwards to read about - and in many cases hear - the greatest guitar effects known to man or woman, split neatly into three categories: drive pedals, delay/echo units and modulation and filters.

Page 1 of 4
Page 1 of 4
The 42 best overdrive, distortion and fuzz pedals of all time

The 42 best overdrive, distortion and fuzz pedals of all time

Dirtbox lovers and FX addicts of the world unite!

See the 42 best overdrive, distortion and fuzz pedals of all time here.

Page 2 of 4
Page 2 of 4
The 17 best delay pedals and echo units of all time

The 17 best delay pedals and echo units of all time

From analogue and digital stompboxes to tape echoes.

See the 17 best delay pedals and echo units of all time here.

Page 3 of 4
Page 3 of 4
The 33 best modulation and filter pedals of all time

The 33 best modulation and filter pedals of all time

Flangers, chorus stompboxes, tremolos, wah-wahs and more!

See the 33 best modulation and filter pedals of all time here.

Page 4 of 4
Page 4 of 4
The MusicRadar Team
The MusicRadar Team
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Read more
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The Boss PX-1 Plugout FX is a white compact series Boss pedal with three blue dials with silver inserts, and has eight assignable presets so that it can be any one of 16 classic pedals.
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TC Electronic Plethora X1 pedal
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Electro-Harmonix Pico Atomic Cluster: the new glitch/synth mini-pedal from the storied NYC pedal brand
EHX expands its Pico series with the Atomic Cluster Spectral Decomposer – a mini-pedal that sounds so wrong its right
 
 
JHS Kilt 10 Special Edition: the silver overdrive pedal is a best-seller for the Kansas-based pedal company and has just been reissued with user-requested mods.
JHS Pedals revises the “ultimate dirt pedal” with a heap of player-requested features and more headroom
 
 
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“I turn this thing on, I don’t want to stop playing”: Keeley Electronics has made Andy Timmons fall in love with reverb with his new signature Nocturne pedal
 
 
JHS Pedals x Electro-Harmonix Big Muff 2: This limited edition fuzz pedal was created from a long-lost blueprint that was unearthed while researching the upcoming book about the NYC pedal brand.
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Crazy Tube Circuits Orama: the orange/peach coloured pedal combines classic preamp and fuzz circuits and promises a wide range of sounds
Crazy Tube Circuits squeezes out another sweet twofer with the Orama preamp/fuzz pedal
 
 
Strymon Fairfax Class A Output Drive: the first in the Series A range, this is an all-analogue pedal inspired by the Herzog unit made famous by Randy Bachman
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The DOD Badder Monkey is a redux take on the DigiTech Bad Monkey overdrive, but it adds two all-new circuits, plus a wooden barrel knob for blending them. It is painted green and has an illustration of a chimpanzee on the front of the pedal, which is an ape, not a monkey.
DOD reimagines a Gary Moore overdrive favourite as the Badder Monkey – think the DigiTech Green Monkey, only badder
 
 
The Boss PX-1 Plugout FX is a white compact series Boss pedal with three blue dials with silver inserts, and has eight assignable presets so that it can be any one of 16 classic pedals.
The Boss PX-1 is a treasure trove of classic and contemporary Boss effects pedals. Here's everything you need to know about the compact chameleon stomp box
 
 
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