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
Electro-Harmonix Effects Interface
Tech EHX’s new Effects Interface is a stompbox-shaped device that lets you integrate your pedalboard with your DAW
Boss GX-1 Guitar Effects Processor
Guitars Boss tackles budget rivals head-on with feature-packed entry-level GX series multi-fx pedals for guitar and bass
Jared James Nichols turns up the heat during his 2025 UK tour as he plays fingerstyle blues on his split-V headstock Gibson Explorer
Artists Jared James Nichols on why he took his Klon off his pedalboard – and what players get wrong about drive pedals
Strymon Fairfax review
Guitar Pedals "Like a good valve amp, it responds to your pick attack and guitar volume with proper character": Strymon Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive pedal review
Man wearing black hat playing the Roland TD716 electronic drum set
Electronic Drums Best electronic drum sets in 2026: Top picks for every playing level and budget, tested by drummers – plus video and audio demos
Universal Audio Paradise Guitar Studio
Plugins “A one-stop shop for almost everything a guitarist might need”: Universal Audio Paradise Guitar Studio review
A Fractal Audio VP4 Virtual Pedalboard multi-effects pedal on a concrete floor
Guitar Pedals Best multi-effects pedals 2026: Our pick of the best all-in-one guitar FX modellers
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
Sennheiser in ear monitors on a lit up dj controller
Studio Monitors Best budget in-ear monitors 2025: My pick of cheap in-ears for every type of musician
EarthQuaker Devices ZEQD-Pre Tube Pre Amp
Guitars EarthQuaker Devices and Dr Z team up for a tube-driven preamp that might just be the cure for whatever ails your tone
Deals of the week
Gear & Gadgets MusicRadar deals of the week: It's all about guitars with hundreds slashed off Gibson, Fender, Strandberg, and more
Funny Little Boxes Caught By The Fuzz: inspired by Supergrass, this two-knob fuzz has a white enclosure, blue dials, and a comic graphic of someone being apprehended in a police car.
Guitar Pedals "Its simplicity is a selling point": Funny Little Boxes Caught By The Fuzz review
Music technology gear of the year 2025
Tech Music technology gear of the year 2025: Our favourite new synths, drum machines, plugins and more
Status Quo
Artists “I remember saying to Clapton, ‘You try playing that one riff for eight minutes!’”: The secret to Status Quo's riff power
Close up of a Yamaha FG800 acoustic guitar
Acoustic Guitars Best cheap acoustic guitars 2026: Top picks for strummers on a budget
More
  • NAMM 2026: Rumours, predictions and live updates
  • Mad World
  • The Cure's "happy land"
  • 95k+ free music samples
  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

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

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
Social Links Navigation

MusicRadar is the internet's most popular website for music-makers of all kinds, be they guitarists, drummers, keyboard players, DJs or producers.

GEAR: We help musicians find the best gear with top-ranking gear round-ups and high-quality, authoritative reviews by a wide team of highly experienced experts.

TIPS: We also provide tuition, from bite-sized tips to advanced work-outs and guidance from recognised musicians and stars.

STARS: We talk to artists and musicians about their creative processes, digging deep into the nuts and bolts of their gear and technique. We give fans an insight into the actual craft of music-making that no other music website can.

Read more
A Fractal Audio VP4 Virtual Pedalboard multi-effects pedal on a concrete floor
Best multi-effects pedals 2026: Our pick of the best all-in-one guitar FX modellers
 
 
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
 
 
Great Eastern FX Obsolete Devices Distortion Filter D312A
Great Eastern FX finds stash of NOS germanium diodes and makes a distortion with a cocked-wah twist
 
 
TC Electronic Plethora X1 pedal
Just £99 for 14 effects pedals in one? Surely this TC Electronic Plethora X1 compact multi-effects deal makes it the most value-packed stompbox this Black Friday
 
 
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
 
 
Jared James Nichols turns up the heat during his 2025 UK tour as he plays fingerstyle blues on his split-V headstock Gibson Explorer
Jared James Nichols on why he took his Klon off his pedalboard – and what players get wrong about drive pedals
 
 
Latest in Guitar Pedals
Boss GX-1 Guitar Effects Processor
Boss tackles budget rivals head-on with feature-packed entry-level GX series multi-fx pedals for guitar and bass
 
 
Strymon Fairfax review
"Like a good valve amp, it responds to your pick attack and guitar volume with proper character": Strymon Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive pedal review
 
 
Electro-Harmonix Effects Interface
EHX’s new Effects Interface is a stompbox-shaped device that lets you integrate your pedalboard with your DAW
 
 
EarthQuaker Devices ZEQD-Pre Tube Pre Amp
EarthQuaker Devices and Dr Z team up for a tube-driven preamp that might just be the cure for whatever ails your tone
 
 
Funny Little Boxes Caught By The Fuzz: inspired by Supergrass, this two-knob fuzz has a white enclosure, blue dials, and a comic graphic of someone being apprehended in a police car.
"Its simplicity is a selling point": Funny Little Boxes Caught By The Fuzz review
 
 
Keeley Electronics Nocturne: this new stereo reverb is the latest signature pedal for Andy Timmons and has a dark metallic blue enclosure with a similar control surface to his Halo Core pedal.
“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
 
 
Latest in News
Paper Craft Music Audio Equalizer on Beige Background Directly Above View
“It does not have the right to be on the top list”: Sweden bans AI-generated song from its charts
 
 
THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON -- Episode 1889 -- Pictured: Musical guest Tate McRae performs on Tuesday, December 12, 2023 -- (Photo by: Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images)
Producer Ryan Tedder on the classic '00s drum sound and Omnisphere preset he used in Tate McRae's Greedy
 
 
celemony
“No AI, no loops, no MIDI”: Celemony’s Tonalic puts a world-class session player in your DAW that intelligently adapts to your arrangement
 
 
nord
Clavia unveils Nord Electro 7 with fully-fledged synth section, redesigned interface and much more
 
 
Moby and Jacob Lusk sat in front of a grand piano
“An obscure song with no drums or bass”: Moby is happy and “surprised” his 1995 album track has gone viral
 
 
Deals of the week
MusicRadar deals of the week: It's all about guitars with hundreds slashed off Gibson, Fender, Strandberg, and more
 
 

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
  • 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...