Guitar Effects

Jump into overdrive with the DC Voltage P3 Signature Series David Barber Overdrive Pedal. Now shipping, the new pedal combines the tone of the Barber Overdrive circuit with P3 Technology and more.  

Experience the “Dark Side” of tube gain with the HT Metal / Pure Valve Filth pedal from Blackstar Amplification. Just added to the HT Pedal Series, the two-channel powerhouse is powered by 300V high-voltage vacuum tube circuitry.  

More iOS gear is coming your way -- For iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad-using guitarists, DigiTech announced the iStomp pedal. The iStomp connects to your iOS device and lets you preview, download, and play your choice of effect. You can program the pedal with whatever sound you want (as long as it's available in the DigiTech store).  

Three new Visual Sound guitar pedals are on the horizon: the Tap Delay, Time Bandit, and Pure Tone Buffer. Each new effect puts signature Visual Sound tone in a really small package. The Tap Delay, in particular, is less than half the size of its predecessor, the Dual Tap Delay.  

From now until the end of the year, guitarists have multiple chances to win autographed Boss pedals and gear via the Big Boss Giveaway competition. For the giveaway, Boss got Dave Navarro, Steve Vai, Steve Stevens, and Jeff Loomis to put their mark on these pedals: the PH-3, CH-1, TU-3, and SD-1.  

What's new from Boss? The Boss FB-2 Feedbacker / Booster, a guitar effect pedal / stompbox offering clear treble boost and advanced feedback.  

Say hello to British Boss tones -- The new Boss BC-2 Combo Drive generates classic “AC-inspired” British combo-amp tone in a compact pedal and provides you with ample knobs and settings with which you can sculpt each tone to suit your fancy.  

Guitar effects, here we come. Akai Pro is shipping a slew of new Analog Custom Shop guitar pedals: Phase Shifter, Analog Delay, Blues Overdrive, Chorus, Compressor, Tri Mode Overdrive, Deluxe Distortion, Flanger, Tri Mode Fuzz, and Tri Mode Distortion.  

Say hello to the Tap Tone, the new delay pedal to come from the collaborative efforts of T-Rex Effects and Guitar Center. To be available only from Guitar Center, the Tap Tone boasts T-Rex's warm, analog-sounding delay, plus the all-important, ever-useful Tap footswitch, and more.  

Godlyke announced the end of the original Maxon Real Tube Series models and the launch of the new Maxon Real Tube II Series of analog tube effect pedals. Produced by Godlyke, the new pedals -- the RTC600 Real Tube Compressor, the RTO700 Real Tube Overdrive, and the RTD800 Real Tube Overdrive / Distortion -- combine the sonic benefits of vacuum tubes with the convenience of a compact floor effect.  

Do you have a Flashback Delay pedal? If you do, check out the latest TC Electronic Toneprint to emerge for the Toneprint-enabled delay and looper. Created by guitarist Thomas Blug, the "Mr. Blug" Delay TonePrint will provide you with a fairly short, warm delay designed to breathe life and space into any guitar tone.  

Didn't we cover this already? I can't seem to remember. The successive repeats produced by the TC Electronic Flashback Delay / Looper are so pristine I can't seem to get a grip on reality. Michael Ross discusses whether he shared the same experience.  

My favorite loop station is Clark and Lake, but folks seem to be all about this Boss RC-30 Loop Station. Of course, I don't trust just anyone to change my mind — that's the job of contributing pro reviewers like Marty Cutler.  

Meredith Bragg has had the analog Space Echo for some time.But taking that unit out on the road is not practical. He turned to the new Roland Space Echo, which does the trick.  

Boomerang Phrase Sampler is a pedal of course but J.R. Fields of Blackfire Revelation uses it as a rhythm guitarist. He details precisely how.  

Imprint your TC Electronic guitar pedal with some tried and true "bread and butter" effects designed by none other than Guitar Center’s Barry Mitchell. For these Toneprints, Mitchell focused on designing for TC's Reverb, Chorus, Delay, and Vibrato.  

Stay tuned to 3rd Power this week, as the company announces several new products. One of them, the AB Channel Selector, is a new foot pedal switching device that provides guitar players with an easy way to switch between outputs. Like other 3rd Power gear, the new pedal sports triangles on its face.  

Sometimes you wanna wah, but you also wanna throw a fit. Since most wahs are foot-controlled, you typically have to pick one or the other. Not with the T-Rex Tonebug Sensewah. This auto-wah pedal is triggered by your playing dynamics, leaving your feet free to stomp where they please.  

Think about this: clean boost pedals are typically employed to get even more distortion out of a tube amplifier's front-end, thus yielding a dirtier tone. Shouldn't they be called dirt boosters? Now consider the fact that the T-Rex Tonebug Booster adds to its level-boosting abilities an EQ control called "Scoop" that modifies the tone even further — how is it that T-Rex couldn't come up with a better name than "Booster" for this neat thing?  

NYC-based guitarist Michael Ross knows the value of space more as well as any denizen of Gotham. That's why we asked him to review the new Eventide Space Reverb Pedal, a powerful, digital effect that crams a universe of spatial effects into a single stompbox. So is our reviewer thinking of breaking the lease on his current 'verb effects or is Space lacking? Read to find out.  

With the DigiTech iPB-10 Programmable Pedalboard, all your effects and iPad apps can work together in one integrated setup. Now shipping, the iPB-10 is a new kind of pedalboard that docks an iPad. By using the touch gestures of the iPad, you can rearrange the pedals in your signal chain, turn them on and off, adjust the settings, and more. Just be careful not to step on the iPad.  

If you hate catching static from the fuzz, dig the versatile T-Rex Tonebug Fuzz. It's got a dynamic tone control that goes from thick-and-vintage to buzzy-and-cutting and everything in between. Plus it costs less than bail.  

With a name like "T-Rex Tonebug Totenschläger" this new high-gain distortion pedal has to sound cool. But what does 'totenschläger' mean, you ask? Here, I'll use it in a sentence: to paraphrase David Cross, "I'd rather listen to the totenschläger of my only child than listen to Creed."  

TC Electronic introduced its Nova System Limited multi-effects system, which boasts a number of new presets created by Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal and Peter Thorn, plus some classic rock presets by TC Electronic's guitar product specialist and demonstrator, Russell Gray. Only 1,200 of these LE babies will be released.  

If you've got a guitar and a Zoom G3 — with its tons of effects pedal and amplifier simulations, built-in rhythm tracks, and forty-second-looper — you almost don't need any other gear. Or friends. Owen spends nigh-on twenty minutes of quality "Owen-time" with the G3 in this demo video.  

Let your iPad do all the work for you -- DigiTech introduced the iPB-10 Programmable Pedalboard, a new kind of pedalboard that docks an iPad and allows you to use it to customize and design your ultimate FX setup. By using the touch gestures of the iPad, you can rearrange the pedals in your signal chain, turn them on and off, adjust the settings, and more. Just be careful not to step on the iPad.  

Folks shopping for effects pedals get the phrase "true-bypass" thrown their way a lot. but what is true bypass, and why is it such a selling point. And, more importantly: is it a selling point?  

What can you do with a guitar, an amp, and an Electro-Harmonix POG2 Polyphonic Octave Generator pedal? A whole heck of a lot. GW Reviewer Michael Ross goes into more detail in his look at this unique pedal.  

Hardwire RV7 Stereo Reverb pedal is one of many Knights On Earth's Grey McMurray has used. He says he likes the pedal not only for its tone but its sturdiness and "integrity."  

Graphic novels, music, and cool effects come together for the DigiTech Eternal Descent Lyra, a limited-edition multi-effects guitar pedal based on the Eternal Descent comic book and music series. Now available, the pedal offers seven preset tones, from clean to moderate overdrive to crushing distortion, that match seven songs from the Eternal Descent albums.