Top 5 Guitar Pedals
Top five guitar pedals you say? The average casual guitarist doesn’t have any, let alone five. Nevertheless, I will break down my favorite five guitar effects pedals so you will have a good idea should you decide to grow your collection. Pedals should be an addition to the musical instrument accessories collection of every guitarist.
A guitar effects pedal is used between your guitar and your amp and is for colouring, enhancing, modifying (you get the picture) your tone. A lot of amps and pickups will achieve a tone that many musicians will be happy with but there are tone junkies (like myself) that strive for the absolute perfect tone for any genre of music we decide to play. So here we go…
Distortion
Distortion guitar pedals come with a few different features, most common are a drive setting and a volume or tone setting. I have owned a few of the most notable on the market but the Metal Muff is by far my favorite. When used in conjunction with the clean channel on your amp the distortion is crisp and thick. You don’t want to have a trebly and thin tone that won’t cut through the mix.
Overdrive
An overdrive guitar pedal is used to give a growly grind to an otherwise clean tone. Anyone who loves to play blues knows what I’m taking about. The good old Boss SD-1 overdrive pedal achieves all that you need. It has been a leader in this tone category for years and it is still the tops on my list. A simple set up with drive, tone and level settings that take your tone to the brink of distortion without breaking up.
The SD-1 produces the warm, smooth distortion of an overdriven tube amplifier while maintaining the subtle nuances of your…
Equalizer
Up until my latest EQ pedal I hadn’t found any that were all that different from one to the other. The MXR 10 band pedal is something special and is my pick for this category. Few guitar effect pedals achieve what this one can do. Its range of tone is one thing (being a 10 band gives it a lot of range) but it’s the boost and drive that make this one shine. When I use it with my distortion setup and crank up the gain on it, it takes my distortion from Metallica-like high gain to face melting ala Pantera. The gain is on a scale of -10 to 10 so you can scoop the gain as well. My most favorite setup ever.
Chorus
I still like a bit of chorus when I play 80’s style heavy metal and my Arion stereo chorus guitar pedal is sweet and thick and clear. It gives a good colour to a low to mid level distortion and it gives a beautiful sustain to an overdriven setup that will make your blues style come alive. This pedal is best set at the moderate to lower settings as it can get out of control.
Compression
When it comes to keeping your pick attack nice and consistent you really should consider one of Boss’ compression guitar pedals. The CS-3 is a simple pedal that will keep your heavy and soft picking in a consistent range and with the right tweak will make your sustain last for ever. This works especially well if you use distortion in your music.
Whichever guitar instruments you play, you will almost definitely enhance your experience with a few choice sound enhancing guitar pedals. The can give a colour to your tone that will help you personalize your sound, which is what every musician strives for inevitably.
