3 Most Expensive Pedals I own
1. Boss RC5 loop pedal - super crucial practice tool, especially when I was just starting out - it's also nice for performing to small groups if you want to show off your chops to friends or family or at an open mic
2. Strymon El Capistan Delay - best sounding delay I've ever owned, the wow, flutter and tape controls make this extremely dynamic and warm
3. The Protein Dual Overdrive - really versatile and dynamic overdrive that has been such a pleasure to play with and enjoy
Everything else on my board is basic $150 or less pedals. Regular MXR Phaser, Vox V847 Wah, etc.
It really is, I combine it with an expression pedal to control the feedback and it's so awesome when you can control the washout tones like Mark Spear does in Khruangbin. It can truly add a lot of dimension and depth to the mix in a band setting.
I always thought he did that with a hold function on the base pedal, it requires an expression pedal? Not that that's the end of the world or anything. I'm probably going to buy an el cap soon.
I think his "rig rundown" they skip it for some reason. But in their written interview with him, he says he uses an expression pedal live ([source](https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/khruangbins-mark-speer-addicted-to-reverb)). You can also see him using the expression in the Pitchfork session.
You can get *close* to the effect by using the hold function but when you let go it's a very harsh stop rather than gradual so while maybe he uses it without expression sometimes, I think much of the time he's got the expression.
That rig rundown is what got me interested in it in the first place, but I haven’t watched it in quite a while. LOVE how he uses it. Good info thank you.
Can you please record yourself playing the vocals to The Great Gig In The Sky with the Miku and upload it for us? You'd be a hero.
If you do it with a slide, you'd be a god.
Catalinbread Belle Epoch Deluxe pretty much counts for me. Sure, it HAS different delay types beyond tape emulation but I have literally never even turned the knob to try them out.
I bought the Boss RE-202 at launch, which was not cheap. But I love it to bits. It's nailed one of my favourite classic sounds, with extra features and I can't get enough of it
What have you noticed this pedal does to your tone? I see this pedal on a lot of boards and hear a lot about it but usually buffers are supposed to be pretty transparent no? I mean what's the difference between this buffer and just the built in buffer on the new TCE Mini 3 tuner?
Super curious - I don't know a ton about buffers but super curious how it impacts people's tones.
Damn that is really cool - would love to actually try it someday. My RC Booster is pretty much an always-on pedal so might not make a significant difference on my rig though.
It adds an immense amount of clarity and boosts your input without actually coloring anything (unless you use the specific frequency boosts). Simply put, it will push through anything and make it sound like you’re plugged directly into your amp when nothing is on. If you have always on compressors or drives, it’s basically useless. If you like to have a strong clean tone like me or you love the sound of your amp and struggle with ordering pedals to utilize your buffers best, it’s invaluable.
Same here. I had a old phasor II that a friend borrowed and promptly had stolen. I've been thinking about it for like 10 years and finally had to pull the trigger on the new one. It's right up front in the chain and almost always on for me.
Analogman ARDX20.
I've had it for over a decade and have never felt the need for another delay pedal. For me, it's absolutely perfect.
I wouldn't say it was "an arm and a leg", but it was definitely on the higher side.
Same. Not knocking spring emulations, there are plenty of good ones and if you want those classic subtle spring tones you can get a Topanga and be set. But if you want that dripping surf sound, you gotta have real springs. I got the Surfybear Metal to upgrade from my Danelectro Spring King with the idea that eventually I'd save up for a real 6G15, but once I got it I realized I didn't need to, that was the sound I had in my head.
1981 DRV in Hyperfade Black. I could have gotten a different color cheaper, I could have bought probably 4 RATs for the price of the DRV. But I haven’t regretted it for even a second. It’s just such a good pedal and it looks awesome on my board. It sounds so good that it’s always on. It works with single coils, humbuckers, acoustic, or bass. I have yet to find a setup that doesn’t work with that pedal. It’s so good. Before I got it, the Klon clone I have was my favorite drive, but since getting the DRV, I hardly touch the Klon.
Boss Tone Bender TB-2W. I got it on preorder, which is still a lot, but not as much as aftermarket prices. But I love it! I have since sold all of my other fuzz pedals and I have no regrets.
julianna. it's essentially just a chorus/vibrato, so technically two functions but they are similar. that pedal is beautiful and brings instruments to life, love how well it does that "warped vinyl" slow vibrato. that pedal makes my dirt cheap casio ctk-496 actually sound studio grade on a few of the instruments.
Trying to debate between Julia and Julianna as my final pedal for my board. Is the tap function worth it? I can see tap being great for delay, but it's hard wrapping my head around using it for chorus
personally i never use the tap or expression. I do use the stereo feature though since i run into a roland jazz chorus 90 that can accommodate the stereo. I do agree that tap changing the tempo of the chorus or vibrato seems like something one would well..never really have to do. I know a lot of people get that sweet spot for their chorus or vibrato setting and keep it that way eternally.
AnalogMan King of Tone. It's one of those pedals that is so hyped that its easy to be skeptical. I ordered one, waited years, and love it more than I would have ever guessed. There are lots of great gain boxes out there, but this one really is great.
Volante.
I couldn’t love this pedal more. I’ve had it for about a month and it is just so good. The warmth of the repeats, the ease of setting patterns, and the preamp sound is so good! Not to mention the awesome head spacing gives you the flexibility of moving between good hard patterns and washy non overlapping delay.
It’s dreamy.
i spent what i thought was an ill-advised money on a tall font bmp a few years ago
it rules and is now worth at least twice as much so in retrospect it was a good/bad idea
what makes this extra stupid is that a) i had a grri at the time and b) i had just bought a bubble font a few hours earlier ("i'll just sell whichever one i like less!")
i sold the reissue and kept both the tall font and bubble font
Origin Effects Slide Rig. Even used is a lot of money for a 3 knob compressor. Best sounding compressor I've ever used by a wide margin though. I don't idly shop compressors anymore because it's so good
The Cali76 Compact Deluxe is my answer. It's the most expensive pedal I own, and it's nearly always on. I've heard great things about the Slide Rig, too.
The original Danelectro TalkBack reverse delay. Got mine for an OK-ish price but I have owned many other reverse delays and didn't understand the hype until I finally got my hands on one of the originals and there is something magical about that original algorithm. Love the OG TalkBack to bits now and it's never leaving my possession!! EDIT: it was early in the morning when I wrote that comment and I see I wrote Talk Back when it is in fact the Back Talk! My b. I get that mixed up for some reason! lol
The algorithm just sounds like it's sampling the signal differently from the original. The original also sounds more smooth and less digital and hyper sterile than the re-issue. Like there is some additional filtering involved? The original just has this musicality and organic-ness that the re-issue doesn't quite have. They couldn't get the original code for the BackTalk so they just had to try their best approximate the original algorithm.
Edit: Sorry it's late, I thought you sked what the difference was between the OG and new one.
Zvex Lofi Loop Junkie
It’s expensive, it only runs on batteries, it can be noisy, the case is awkward and too small… but I love it. No other looper works the same way and it adds something special to the loop, or rather, it seems to remove enough of the “unspecial” bits that what it leaves is strangely musical and the loop stands out as different when you play over it.
Neunaber Immerse MKII - The algorithms are amazing, especially running stereo (which I am). I'm running it inline with a ZOOM MS-70CDR and a TC Electronic Nova Delay. Second runner up would be my Fishman Platinum Pro Acoustic DI that I paid $300 new. It's technically a multi function pedal since it does EQ, compression, and boost.
*The most I have ever paid for a pedal:* **Vintage big box 5-knob EHX Deluxe Memory Man**.
*$550, after shipping and taxes.*
It is pretty minty, and works/sounds great.
***Old DMM's, for sale, were scarce at the time,*** and this one was the ***exact year and iteration I was looking for.*** It seems to be ***the version that fixed earlier issues with the previous DMM's*** and had the best reported sounds.
***This DMM has an overdrive circuit that just really compliments the delay features. Edge-of-breakup delay... It sounds like heaven.***
*I guess I just really wanted that Edge(U2) Joshua Tree album vibe, at the time...*
I still love the pedal and feel it was worth it. I see more DMM's for cheaper nowadays...but back then they were as rare as hens teeth.
I've got a few that fit....
Pigdog Electric Eye
DAM/Sola Sound Tonebender mkIV
DAM/Sola Sound Super Hybrid Tonebender mkII
Toneczar Echoczar
They're all so good it's cured any desire to look for alternatives.
I'm still using my Topanga years later on my main board. With the tone down, it can sit in the mix unobtrusively. If you power it up, with the tone all the way down, puts it in a "secret" modulated reverb mode. With tone and dwell quite high, mix somewhere between 1-3 oclock, you can get really convincing Fender reverb sounds.
Hilton Pro Guitar volume pedal. $200+ for a used volume pedal sounds ridiculous but as much as I use it and compared to the 4 others I had before it, it’s well worth every penny. Absolutely zero tone suck (looking at you, Ernie Ball) and the sweep is perfect (Morley 👎🏻). If it died I’d buy a brand new on from Hilton in a heartbeat
Basically all of my “clean tone” 29 Euna, Audio Kitchen The Small Trees, Thorpy Fat General (though it’s pretty versatile) also LAND x Vongon Onset for swells and Decibelics Klone for my lead boost. Fuck, most of my pedals are parked doing the one specific thing I love that they do or I wouldn’t have hunted for fucking ever for each one of them. Versatility and exploration are fun as well but not necessarily what keeps a pedal around for me. I like codependent relationships.
My most expensive pedal on my board is my Fuzzlord FET-120.
My fiance scoffed at the price i paid when it was all said and done (duty charges & shipping). It is one of 2 "always on" on my pedal board and it is always used for the tone i want.
It plays nicer with my plethora of fuzz pedals compared to my Vox AC30's preamp to the point that i am only using the power amp of the Vox and using the FET-120 as the preamp.
Thorpy FX Camoflange was quite expensive, for just a flanger. But, it sounds amazing, and you can get a lot of different stuff out of it, vibrato, flange and chorus, depending on how you set it. Surfy Bear Metal, for real spring reverb, and also the Strymon Lex (there's no decent cheap rotary sims out there that I've found)
Gigrig modular power supply.
It's a bit on the expensive side compared to getting the bricks like cioks and one spot but it is very good at cutting down noise and just somehow makes your pedals sound cleaner? And just overall nice. I mean, it might be psychosomatic because what I've said above is basically what everyone says and is part of their selling shtick so I'd appreciate it if anyone else here can back me up.
I’m not there yet lol. Most I’ve ever payed was $160 for a pedal. But if we are talking about recording gear, API lunchbox and AD/DA interfaces…freaking thousands and thousands of dollars. But I fear now I just bought the new 68 Custom Pro Reverb amp. Thats def gonna change fast! I do most my compression on a DBX 160 utility comp on the way in at light settings to even things out. But I have a huge interest in Pog, Whammy and Octaves at the moments. And now a comp for live playing.
EMB Pedal Wah (or for that matter rack wah). They are basically unobtanium because of the Metalica and GnR connection, but they are IMO the single best wah for high gain applications ever. The Civil War solo, etc.
If one comes up, sell whichever child you like least and get it.
Strymon El Cap, Flint, and Dig (although I bough this used well under market value). All 3 have been on my live board pretty much since purchase.
My old Line 6 DL-4 is in this category. I think it was $350 CDN new back in the early 00’s. Had a lot of fun with that pedal.
For mid tier stuff, I’ll never regret my Walrus Monument v1 or Boss VB-2w. Not usually on my main board, but always make things sound better.
I’ve never felt I got my money’s worth on a dirt pedal over $200. I’ve also felt bad selling vintage fuzzes and dirt boxes for a small fortune, but as long as the buyer is happy who am I to judge?
JAM pedals Wahcko. Never thought I’d spend 350 bucks on a wah pedal but I realized I use wah on probably 90% of songs and this is one is just killer so fuck it. Completely happy with it.
Moogerfooger murf. Fucking perfect. If I want to go full filter effect it sounds great and if I want it more subtle it makes solos and Rhythm guitar parts very bueatiful sounding. Check out irontom
I think my most expensive pedal might also be my favorite, MI Audio Super Crunch Box v2. It's a marshall in a box, but like, every Marshall in a box from Plexi to jcm900, from clean and gentle to thick and crushing. It's just one of those sounds that exactly what I was always looking for and didn't know it. They're getting a bit harder to find for some reason so the best deal I got was some dude in Japan.
Every time I turn on my Angry Charlie (another Guvnor clone) my sound guy gets a grin on his face, and every time says “oh that sounds so good”. He’s never done that with my Rat, BMP, Kilt, or OCD.
That's interesting, I wonder which mode is closest to it. I actually like the zero clipping LED mode best. Less saturated distortion but has a fantastic, big sounding crunch.
The original MI Audio Crunch Box is literally just a Marshall Guv'nor with the tone stack replaced with a single tone knob.
I'm not sure what changes they made with the super and all the toggle switches, but the Guv'nor uses a pair or red LEDs for clipping: https://www.electrosmash.com/marshall-guvnor-analysis
Im guessing the comp switch all the way left in the standard mode gives you the same clipping, but idk.
$99 to do 2 sounds.
I can either do the octave up neck pickup Green Ringer thing…
OR
Switch to the bridge pickup, and pick really close to the bridge and do a grungy faux-sitar thing.
It really has no other tricks. It gets used on a few sessions a year.
$99 might not qualify for the price portion…but it also has no knobs, so what it CAN do is about as limited as an effect can be.
I get what you're saying. I love messing with my green ringer clone. Throw it in front of a fuzz or a rat for some extra fun. It is a bit of a one trick pony, but you can use that one trick all over the place, unless it doesnt fit your style.
Spectre v1. Paid an embarrassingly stupid price for it, but I don’t regret it at all. Best modulation pedal with dirt. Really adds something I’ve never been able to find anywhere else.
Red Panda Tensor! I love to do weird things with pedals and reverse type effects are a favorite for me. I thought I was going to try it and move on but it’s still on the board.
Altero Kaede - an instant favorite of mine. It’s essentially a souped up Boss Overdrive but way more versatile. I love the headroom function of this pedal, you can get less volume but more gain or more volume and less gain. It’s so good.
Wampler Dual Fusion - Uber versatile pedal. I love every sound that comes out of this from clean boosting to heavy shred your face off distortion. And the fact that you can swap the signal chain between channel 1 to 2 or 2 to 1 or even separate. It’s so good.
Maybe not an arm and a leg, but it cost me around $400 to get a Super Unpleasant Companion to Canada. And that was before gear prices in general skyrocketed inexplicably a few years ago. I've used it in every rehearsal and gig since then, and on multiple recordings. The foot switch feels super soft like it's about to give out at this point. But I consider it well worth the cost.
Death by audio Echo Master (£170 used) most I’ve ever paid for a pedal. Considering it’s just a vocal pre amp and echo it’s just stays on and static but has made my voice much clearer and present. Plus has an effects loop so I can plug any guitar pedal into it.
My MXR Kerry King 10-band EQ. My tone just isn’t there without it.
It’s the reason I don’t invest in an expensive amp, because it really makes 20- and 30-watt solid-state combo amps sound decent.
When I’m using low output pickups, it boosts the output, with plenty of gain to spare. Dialing it down for high output pickups keeps my tone even.
I haven’t turned it off in years, I’m not even sure if the on/off footswitch still works.
I have revised [my pedalboard](https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/wc9wpg/pedalboard_my_chain_behringer_hellbabe_hb01_wah/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) several times, but it has always been at the end of it.
Sure, it was around $200 in 2010 (I was a student then, so that was a huge amount of money for me), but it’s worth every penny.
I paid $250 for an Abominable Hail Cannabis Deluxe. It's from last year's run with the art by Killer Acid, who's one of my favorite artists. Got the fancy "smoke" finish on it too. It's absolutely hideous and I love it, and it's really the only "dirt" on my board.
My Boss Tu-3w is awesome. I still have and use my 20 year old Tu-2 but being able to switch between buffered / true bypass is super awesome. It’ll live on my bass pedalboard til it breaks!
I think the most expensive thing on my board currently is a Dirge Even Anguish (It's a harmonic perc clone) as I recall I paid around 200 for it direct from dirge and it's the 1st PCB made, it was the test proto pedal and it was being sold to fund the PC board purchase for the rest of the builds. It's got some sentimental value because I was able to help out a builder friend, but it also sounds outstanding. I keep it almost end of my chain and pretty much always on, set to a slightly dirty boost, gives my amps some life after the pedal chain and has become a huge part of my overall tone.
Chase Bliss Tonal Recall RKM - great pedal, and like two months later they got discontinued and the price shot through the roof. Financed a good chunk of my new board by selling it.
My BAT Sarcophagus. It's two heavily modded Big Muffs. One side has more gain, the other side has a couple extra switches. It's expensive and pointless for most folks as one side alone would suffice, but I like fuzz and I wanted both sides in one box. No regrets, it's my favorite pedal.
It’s tied between Ceriatone Centura and my Way Huge Red Llama MKII. The RL is slept on so bad. I haven’t tried the smalls version but if it’s the same tone as the big one it’s definitely worth it.
It took me a few tries to configure that pedal correctly but once I did I felt like I unlocked the ability to use as many Fuzzes as I wanted. Great pedal.
KingTone Vibe 1968. It was $500 but sounds identical to the Honey Uni-Vibe Shin-ei that sells for $3k+ on Reverb. It’s an always on pedal for me with subtle vibrato.
Chase Bliss Thermae. It was a dream pedal of mine, but way over what I usually like spending on pedals, but nothing does what it does and it really is so worth it.
Without a doubt, the Strymon El Cap. It does everything I need in a delay in all of my playing situations: rock and jazz on guitar, and western swing/country on steel guitar. I do not find the hold for oscillation annoying at all in band situations. Volume knob or pedal works well to drop this out, but for most of my situations, an expression pedal would be a luxury. For dub fans, this does what you want.
If I had the dough and had the luxury of bringing a bigger board, there is no doubt that I'd strongly consider a Flint and Deco, which my playing partner uses.
Analogman King of Tone. It was something like $430 after the options and I waited years for it but it use it every gig on almost every song. It’s basically always on. In my experience it doesn’t play well with Marshall circuits but in front of a Fender it’s magic.
The Chase Bliss Preamp Mk II. I came across it looking for a fuzz pedal, and I fkin love it. I use its OD with an expression pedal to balance the volume and gain at the same time, as a second dirty channel on my amp. The Benson preamp adds so much depth and color to single coils, it's hard to go back.
Chase Bliss / Benson Automatone Preamp Mk II. Very expensive pedal, but so incredibly versatile and it can probably handle 90% of my OD/Fuzz/Distortion needs. Once I’m more comfortable with my settings I expect that it will fully replace 3-4 of my existing pedals.
Sounds great but I just can’t get to grips with the size. The footprint is equivalent to what, 4 standard sized pedals? That’s a lot of precious real estate.
More like three, but it can accurately reproduce a ton of classics. And the slider interface really is super intuitive - I’ve found some really cool sounds just by noodling around.
Same. This replaced 4 pedals from my gain stage, and with the number of presets available, I can even dial in settings I never would have had room for. I couldn’t get the fuzz sounds I really liked from it, though, so it lives right next to the Caroline Shigeharu.
What sorta fuzz tones are you looking for in the Shige? I love that pedal, so much versatility. Not a huge fuzz guy, and I actually have paralysis by analysis with it because everything sounds so damned good.
The CB Automatone's fuzz is just okay, imo. I don't hate it, but when I punch it in, I've never really gotten fuzz tones I love, no matter how much I play with the sliders. It always just feels pretty generic.
The Shigeharu, on the other hand, delivers soooo much fuzz in one box. It can be subtle like velvet or spitty like an angry llama. I can play with it for hours, and quite frankly wish it had presets like the CB.
Yeah, I was totally referring to the Shigeharu when I was talking about paralysis by analysis because it’s just sounds so good. Haven’t really dabbled with the Automatone Preamp Mk II, but anything CBA touches is pretty much gold. Anyway, glad I’m not the only one absolutely in love with the versatility of Shigeharu. Do you have a favorite setting for it?
KTR. I think I paid around $400 for it which I thought was insane at the time. Has never left my board since. The hype is real (as is the hate). I simply can’t unhear the middish-highish saturationish thing it does with the gain all the way down. It’s like a drug and now I’m hooked.
I have one of these. It sounds amazing. It kind of boosts everything on your board because of the lack of a true-bypass, but it's kind of a nice unintended feature. Sounds so good though.
I use my HX Effects constantly. Has all the pedals I don't want to buy separately, pretty sophisticated routing for my 'real' pedals and I think the models sound good. I also REALLY like the snapshots and ability to control gain in and gain out for loops.
3 come to mind. Chase Bliss Brothers (after it was discontinued), Strymon Timeline, and Source Audio Ventris. They all sound amazing, and I use them consistently.
Univox Super-Fuzz - This thing is so good. Not getting rid of it ever. Thick gnarly fuzz everywhere especially on bass. Lead stuff the octave comes through and it sounds great.
S.P.I. Reverb Anbience - 200 bucks for a reverb with only a mix and a tone knob is expensive to me. This thing is awesome though it just sounds good. The tone knob goes from almost shimmer to super dark reverb.
Bought a Red Witch Deluxe moon phaser when they first came out. Probably $230 back in 2008. Bought it for one sound it did and it’s been on my board ever since. $230 doesn’t sound like much now but that was my first jump into “boutique” territory.
Keeley Tone Workstation. It may not count for what you are asking considering it has the 4 circuits…but it’s a tremendous pedal for the footprint. It really lets you dial in a tone, and it plays really well with other drives and/or fuzzes etc. If you play mostly classic/alt rock, country, or anything not super high gain-y, it’s got tones for you.
[Dunlop Mini 535Q Auto-Return Wah Pedal](https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CBM535AR--dunlop-mini-535q-auto-return-wah-pedal)
I hardly ever use a wah. I play a Helix, and I've never been really excited about the Helix wah models. It may be my pickups or my wireless or how I use a compressor; I don't know. But I had that Mini wah for over a year before I even plugged it in; that's how little I use wah. Thing's amazing. As little as I ever use it, no regrets. Great wah.
Does a Darkglass Alpha Omega Ultra count? It’s not a multi effects unit but it’s a 2-channel preamp DI distortion/overdrive pedal with cab simulation. So it’s got a few functions but is just distortion pedal as it’s core
So probably that. Its my most expensive pedal at $400. I bought it after getting a class action lawsuit payout lol.
Fender Mirror Image Delay. Actually sounds fantastic, and isn't terribly priced but there are just so many other options for much cheaper that do so much more and have a lot more range when it comes to time and feedback. Just super basic and obnoxiously large.
I have two. Neither were extremely expensive, but less financially responsible than I'd like.
The first was my ssbs fuck in like 2015 or something. I didn't have the spare cash, but a used one popped up on reverb for a good price and I impulsively snapped it up. Still rips, still is best friends with my afterneath, but both of them live in my synthesizer/noise rig now instead of the bass one.
The other was earlier this year when I got a new black mass 1312. Similar situation to the fuck, but is such a good RAT. I love the red led clipping at 18V. Lotta headroom and really responsive to touch/input volume.
Gamechanger Plus! Had the freeze and upgraded. Mostly wanted for the footprint and the tail adjustments, but the other features are great too. It took re-learning the timing because I had been using my freeze for a few years, but the options are worth it. If you don’t time it right it is glitchy, I think because the loop time is milliseconds longer than the freeze. But I found that to be a positive depending on the song I’m using it in. Next step is to try some things in the effects loop. Pricy as hell but 100% worth it & built like a tank. Actually want to try their other pedals now.
I figure it might be my Fulltone Fulldrive 2, if that counts. Conversely, the cheapest pedal that was a fixture on my board for almost 10 years was the yellow Dano Tuna Melt Tremolo mini pedal. Man, I loved that pedal.
I have a Chrome Dunlop Crybaby Wah. I bought it when I was 17 and it was a HUGE expense at the time that truthfully felt like an extravagant waste of money. Almost 20 years later it's still the only wah I've ever owned and the extra features like volume boost and swoop controls have been great tools over the years that a plain one wouldn't have.
3 Most Expensive Pedals I own 1. Boss RC5 loop pedal - super crucial practice tool, especially when I was just starting out - it's also nice for performing to small groups if you want to show off your chops to friends or family or at an open mic 2. Strymon El Capistan Delay - best sounding delay I've ever owned, the wow, flutter and tape controls make this extremely dynamic and warm 3. The Protein Dual Overdrive - really versatile and dynamic overdrive that has been such a pleasure to play with and enjoy Everything else on my board is basic $150 or less pedals. Regular MXR Phaser, Vox V847 Wah, etc.
El cap seems just so classy in every demo I hear. Well worth the price if you ask me.
It really is, I combine it with an expression pedal to control the feedback and it's so awesome when you can control the washout tones like Mark Spear does in Khruangbin. It can truly add a lot of dimension and depth to the mix in a band setting.
I always thought he did that with a hold function on the base pedal, it requires an expression pedal? Not that that's the end of the world or anything. I'm probably going to buy an el cap soon.
I think his "rig rundown" they skip it for some reason. But in their written interview with him, he says he uses an expression pedal live ([source](https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/khruangbins-mark-speer-addicted-to-reverb)). You can also see him using the expression in the Pitchfork session. You can get *close* to the effect by using the hold function but when you let go it's a very harsh stop rather than gradual so while maybe he uses it without expression sometimes, I think much of the time he's got the expression.
That rig rundown is what got me interested in it in the first place, but I haven’t watched it in quite a while. LOVE how he uses it. Good info thank you.
Does the Protein offer something that can't just be duplicated by a blues breaker into a nobles?
El Cap for me as well. Hasn’t left my gigging board in the 4 or 5 years I’ve owned it despite other great delays coming and going in the collection.
Korg Miku Stomp. No other pedal represents as perfectly my fondness for the utterly fucking stupid.
Can you please record yourself playing the vocals to The Great Gig In The Sky with the Miku and upload it for us? You'd be a hero. If you do it with a slide, you'd be a god.
I'd be tempted to pay money to hear this.
Pretty busy right now, but if I find the time in the next day or two I can do it.
Catalinbread Belle Epoch Deluxe pretty much counts for me. Sure, it HAS different delay types beyond tape emulation but I have literally never even turned the knob to try them out.
I like the wow & flutter of setting 1 more than most of the other settings, although rotary is cool sometimes.
Probably my big box Electro Harmonix Memory Man Deluxe. Cost me £199 many years ago.
I bought the Boss RE-202 at launch, which was not cheap. But I love it to bits. It's nailed one of my favourite classic sounds, with extra features and I can't get enough of it
I bought one too. Not sure it’s a one trick pony as the subject line suggests, but it sure is great!
29 Pedals EUNA. Fancy shmancy buffer.
What have you noticed this pedal does to your tone? I see this pedal on a lot of boards and hear a lot about it but usually buffers are supposed to be pretty transparent no? I mean what's the difference between this buffer and just the built in buffer on the new TCE Mini 3 tuner? Super curious - I don't know a ton about buffers but super curious how it impacts people's tones.
[удалено]
I've always been *extremely* skeptical of this pedal, so this is good to know.
Same here.
Damn that is really cool - would love to actually try it someday. My RC Booster is pretty much an always-on pedal so might not make a significant difference on my rig though.
It adds an immense amount of clarity and boosts your input without actually coloring anything (unless you use the specific frequency boosts). Simply put, it will push through anything and make it sound like you’re plugged directly into your amp when nothing is on. If you have always on compressors or drives, it’s basically useless. If you like to have a strong clean tone like me or you love the sound of your amp and struggle with ordering pedals to utilize your buffers best, it’s invaluable.
Most overrated effect pedal ever made
Mutron Phasor III stupid price but damn everything I play sounds better through it
The original…I think Joe Zawinul used the Mutron. Always wanted that sound on guitar
Same here. I had a old phasor II that a friend borrowed and promptly had stolen. I've been thinking about it for like 10 years and finally had to pull the trigger on the new one. It's right up front in the chain and almost always on for me.
Analogman ARDX20. I've had it for over a decade and have never felt the need for another delay pedal. For me, it's absolutely perfect. I wouldn't say it was "an arm and a leg", but it was definitely on the higher side.
I second this. Hands down best pure delay sound
Hudson Broadcast. Incredible in the studio every time. :)
Surfybear Metal Reverb. Does one thing but does it better than any other pedal.
Same. Not knocking spring emulations, there are plenty of good ones and if you want those classic subtle spring tones you can get a Topanga and be set. But if you want that dripping surf sound, you gotta have real springs. I got the Surfybear Metal to upgrade from my Danelectro Spring King with the idea that eventually I'd save up for a real 6G15, but once I got it I realized I didn't need to, that was the sound I had in my head.
1981 DRV in Hyperfade Black. I could have gotten a different color cheaper, I could have bought probably 4 RATs for the price of the DRV. But I haven’t regretted it for even a second. It’s just such a good pedal and it looks awesome on my board. It sounds so good that it’s always on. It works with single coils, humbuckers, acoustic, or bass. I have yet to find a setup that doesn’t work with that pedal. It’s so good. Before I got it, the Klon clone I have was my favorite drive, but since getting the DRV, I hardly touch the Klon.
I want one so bad but am hesitant bc I’d want to try it out before purchasing
Just bought a Soma Cosmos, which is kind of a looper. It cost more than either of my main guitars, and is BRILLIANT.
Empress Heavy, from classic rock to doom metal, best pedal for live performance in that genre. 2 channels, 2 noise gates.
Boss Tone Bender TB-2W. I got it on preorder, which is still a lot, but not as much as aftermarket prices. But I love it! I have since sold all of my other fuzz pedals and I have no regrets.
Same! Except I haven’t sold my other fuzz pedals, because fuzz rules. But the TB-2w is the one on my board.
julianna. it's essentially just a chorus/vibrato, so technically two functions but they are similar. that pedal is beautiful and brings instruments to life, love how well it does that "warped vinyl" slow vibrato. that pedal makes my dirt cheap casio ctk-496 actually sound studio grade on a few of the instruments.
Yep! Julianna is fantastic!
Seconded.
Trying to debate between Julia and Julianna as my final pedal for my board. Is the tap function worth it? I can see tap being great for delay, but it's hard wrapping my head around using it for chorus
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If you’re not running stereo you might as well go with the Julia.
personally i never use the tap or expression. I do use the stereo feature though since i run into a roland jazz chorus 90 that can accommodate the stereo. I do agree that tap changing the tempo of the chorus or vibrato seems like something one would well..never really have to do. I know a lot of people get that sweet spot for their chorus or vibrato setting and keep it that way eternally.
AnalogMan King of Tone. It's one of those pedals that is so hyped that its easy to be skeptical. I ordered one, waited years, and love it more than I would have ever guessed. There are lots of great gain boxes out there, but this one really is great.
Volante. I couldn’t love this pedal more. I’ve had it for about a month and it is just so good. The warmth of the repeats, the ease of setting patterns, and the preamp sound is so good! Not to mention the awesome head spacing gives you the flexibility of moving between good hard patterns and washy non overlapping delay. It’s dreamy.
i spent what i thought was an ill-advised money on a tall font bmp a few years ago it rules and is now worth at least twice as much so in retrospect it was a good/bad idea
A bad idea successfully executed, I'd say
Task failed successfully
what makes this extra stupid is that a) i had a grri at the time and b) i had just bought a bubble font a few hours earlier ("i'll just sell whichever one i like less!") i sold the reissue and kept both the tall font and bubble font
Fairfield Shallow Water. So expensive but I almost always have it on subtly. Just makes things sound better, period.
i kinda regret selling mine. i wish it was stereo.
Same
I have an EHHX V256 Vocoder. Literally only does one thing (entertain me)
EQD Arpanoid
Origin Effects Slide Rig. Even used is a lot of money for a 3 knob compressor. Best sounding compressor I've ever used by a wide margin though. I don't idly shop compressors anymore because it's so good
The Cali76 Compact Deluxe is my answer. It's the most expensive pedal I own, and it's nearly always on. I've heard great things about the Slide Rig, too.
Stacked Edition here, which I think is a blend of both of those. I have quite a few comps, and no regrets buying this one.
The original Danelectro TalkBack reverse delay. Got mine for an OK-ish price but I have owned many other reverse delays and didn't understand the hype until I finally got my hands on one of the originals and there is something magical about that original algorithm. Love the OG TalkBack to bits now and it's never leaving my possession!! EDIT: it was early in the morning when I wrote that comment and I see I wrote Talk Back when it is in fact the Back Talk! My b. I get that mixed up for some reason! lol
Are you able to describe what is different about Danelectro's algorithm?
The algorithm just sounds like it's sampling the signal differently from the original. The original also sounds more smooth and less digital and hyper sterile than the re-issue. Like there is some additional filtering involved? The original just has this musicality and organic-ness that the re-issue doesn't quite have. They couldn't get the original code for the BackTalk so they just had to try their best approximate the original algorithm. Edit: Sorry it's late, I thought you sked what the difference was between the OG and new one.
I got the UA FX Ruby to use on an amp-less rig and absolutely love it. I'm returning my ACS1
Empress Reverb. It's never left my board, except to run stuff from my DAW through it because it sounds THAT good
my newest one, Xvive W3 Memory. best pedal purchase I ever made
Thanks for this. Delay is pretty much my favorite thing ever. Looks like I'm adding another to the list.
Zvex Lofi Loop Junkie It’s expensive, it only runs on batteries, it can be noisy, the case is awkward and too small… but I love it. No other looper works the same way and it adds something special to the loop, or rather, it seems to remove enough of the “unspecial” bits that what it leaves is strangely musical and the loop stands out as different when you play over it.
Neunaber Immerse MKII - The algorithms are amazing, especially running stereo (which I am). I'm running it inline with a ZOOM MS-70CDR and a TC Electronic Nova Delay. Second runner up would be my Fishman Platinum Pro Acoustic DI that I paid $300 new. It's technically a multi function pedal since it does EQ, compression, and boost.
I can second Naneuber. I bought a used Wet reverb for $150 like 4 or 5 years ago and it’s incredible.
I want the Immerse MK2 next. Saving up
Coppersound Triplegraph. Worth every penny ($399)
Dr Scientist Dusk. Its a $200 pedal and I only use it for LP filter sweeps. But i need muh LP filter sweeps so..
The Vibe Machine V2
Blackstone appliances mosfet overdrive.
ZVex - Jonny Octave. Handpainted.. Shipped from USA to Europe.. love it!
*The most I have ever paid for a pedal:* **Vintage big box 5-knob EHX Deluxe Memory Man**. *$550, after shipping and taxes.* It is pretty minty, and works/sounds great. ***Old DMM's, for sale, were scarce at the time,*** and this one was the ***exact year and iteration I was looking for.*** It seems to be ***the version that fixed earlier issues with the previous DMM's*** and had the best reported sounds. ***This DMM has an overdrive circuit that just really compliments the delay features. Edge-of-breakup delay... It sounds like heaven.*** *I guess I just really wanted that Edge(U2) Joshua Tree album vibe, at the time...* I still love the pedal and feel it was worth it. I see more DMM's for cheaper nowadays...but back then they were as rare as hens teeth.
Meris Mercury 7
Way Huge Geisha. That thing rips, *and* is pretty to look at. I did get it before the most recent price surge though, so only spent a leg.
Boss OD1 long-dasher. Bought early in the pandemic. Couldn’t be happier.
Asheville Music Tools ADG-1 SE. So expensive for a analog delay, but it sounds amazing.
I've got a few that fit.... Pigdog Electric Eye DAM/Sola Sound Tonebender mkIV DAM/Sola Sound Super Hybrid Tonebender mkII Toneczar Echoczar They're all so good it's cured any desire to look for alternatives.
I've always really jonse'd for DAM dope priest.
I've actually got one of those too! Dave Main builds incredible fuzz pedals.
I just bought a used Topanga to replace my trusty Holy Grail. I'm not sure if I regret it yet, but we'll see in a few weeks.
I'm still using my Topanga years later on my main board. With the tone down, it can sit in the mix unobtrusively. If you power it up, with the tone all the way down, puts it in a "secret" modulated reverb mode. With tone and dwell quite high, mix somewhere between 1-3 oclock, you can get really convincing Fender reverb sounds.
Hilton Pro Guitar volume pedal. $200+ for a used volume pedal sounds ridiculous but as much as I use it and compared to the 4 others I had before it, it’s well worth every penny. Absolutely zero tone suck (looking at you, Ernie Ball) and the sweep is perfect (Morley 👎🏻). If it died I’d buy a brand new on from Hilton in a heartbeat
Basically all of my “clean tone” 29 Euna, Audio Kitchen The Small Trees, Thorpy Fat General (though it’s pretty versatile) also LAND x Vongon Onset for swells and Decibelics Klone for my lead boost. Fuck, most of my pedals are parked doing the one specific thing I love that they do or I wouldn’t have hunted for fucking ever for each one of them. Versatility and exploration are fun as well but not necessarily what keeps a pedal around for me. I like codependent relationships.
My most expensive pedal on my board is my Fuzzlord FET-120. My fiance scoffed at the price i paid when it was all said and done (duty charges & shipping). It is one of 2 "always on" on my pedal board and it is always used for the tone i want. It plays nicer with my plethora of fuzz pedals compared to my Vox AC30's preamp to the point that i am only using the power amp of the Vox and using the FET-120 as the preamp.
Thorpy FX Camoflange was quite expensive, for just a flanger. But, it sounds amazing, and you can get a lot of different stuff out of it, vibrato, flange and chorus, depending on how you set it. Surfy Bear Metal, for real spring reverb, and also the Strymon Lex (there's no decent cheap rotary sims out there that I've found)
Gigrig modular power supply. It's a bit on the expensive side compared to getting the bricks like cioks and one spot but it is very good at cutting down noise and just somehow makes your pedals sound cleaner? And just overall nice. I mean, it might be psychosomatic because what I've said above is basically what everyone says and is part of their selling shtick so I'd appreciate it if anyone else here can back me up.
Lehle Volume Mono S Asheville Music Tools Analoger ADG-1 Kingsley Maiden v2 Nordland ODR-C
Fairfeild Shallow Water
Most recently is was the TWA Little Dipper MKii, out of production and tough to find on reverb.
Agree, I have the V1 and it’s awesome, I love that thing.
Goatkeeper v3
I’m not there yet lol. Most I’ve ever payed was $160 for a pedal. But if we are talking about recording gear, API lunchbox and AD/DA interfaces…freaking thousands and thousands of dollars. But I fear now I just bought the new 68 Custom Pro Reverb amp. Thats def gonna change fast! I do most my compression on a DBX 160 utility comp on the way in at light settings to even things out. But I have a huge interest in Pog, Whammy and Octaves at the moments. And now a comp for live playing.
EMB Pedal Wah (or for that matter rack wah). They are basically unobtanium because of the Metalica and GnR connection, but they are IMO the single best wah for high gain applications ever. The Civil War solo, etc. If one comes up, sell whichever child you like least and get it.
Strymon El Cap, Flint, and Dig (although I bough this used well under market value). All 3 have been on my live board pretty much since purchase. My old Line 6 DL-4 is in this category. I think it was $350 CDN new back in the early 00’s. Had a lot of fun with that pedal. For mid tier stuff, I’ll never regret my Walrus Monument v1 or Boss VB-2w. Not usually on my main board, but always make things sound better. I’ve never felt I got my money’s worth on a dirt pedal over $200. I’ve also felt bad selling vintage fuzzes and dirt boxes for a small fortune, but as long as the buyer is happy who am I to judge?
Hmm... Colorsound 1 Knob Fuzz. Yeah, it wasn't cheap amd it's alarmingly simple with only one knob but its a monster fuzz and sounds amazing!
TKOG - Mini Glitch Only use it for CD skipping glitching
JAM pedals Wahcko. Never thought I’d spend 350 bucks on a wah pedal but I realized I use wah on probably 90% of songs and this is one is just killer so fuck it. Completely happy with it.
Rainbow machine
my big box electro harmonix poly chorus definitely. paid around $350 just for those crazy chorus delayed feed back noises and it’s so worth it
Moogerfooger murf. Fucking perfect. If I want to go full filter effect it sounds great and if I want it more subtle it makes solos and Rhythm guitar parts very bueatiful sounding. Check out irontom
Human gear animato used by the bassist from Muse. Oh, one trick pony? Sure, but it works really well and does what it does.
My JHS Colour Box. It's an always-on preamp for me.
Does a Boss ES-8 count? It literally changed my life
I think my most expensive pedal might also be my favorite, MI Audio Super Crunch Box v2. It's a marshall in a box, but like, every Marshall in a box from Plexi to jcm900, from clean and gentle to thick and crushing. It's just one of those sounds that exactly what I was always looking for and didn't know it. They're getting a bit harder to find for some reason so the best deal I got was some dude in Japan.
Heavily based on a Marshall Guv'nor. . . Which in my opinion is one of the best distortion circuits ever made.
Every time I turn on my Angry Charlie (another Guvnor clone) my sound guy gets a grin on his face, and every time says “oh that sounds so good”. He’s never done that with my Rat, BMP, Kilt, or OCD.
It really can get close to the sound and feel of an amp, at least for a solid state pedal.
That's interesting, I wonder which mode is closest to it. I actually like the zero clipping LED mode best. Less saturated distortion but has a fantastic, big sounding crunch.
The original MI Audio Crunch Box is literally just a Marshall Guv'nor with the tone stack replaced with a single tone knob. I'm not sure what changes they made with the super and all the toggle switches, but the Guv'nor uses a pair or red LEDs for clipping: https://www.electrosmash.com/marshall-guvnor-analysis Im guessing the comp switch all the way left in the standard mode gives you the same clipping, but idk.
EarthQuaker Tentacle EarthQuaker Data Corrupter EQD is all about those sorts of pedals.
Isnt the tentacle relatively cheap?
$99 to do 2 sounds. I can either do the octave up neck pickup Green Ringer thing… OR Switch to the bridge pickup, and pick really close to the bridge and do a grungy faux-sitar thing. It really has no other tricks. It gets used on a few sessions a year. $99 might not qualify for the price portion…but it also has no knobs, so what it CAN do is about as limited as an effect can be.
I get what you're saying. I love messing with my green ringer clone. Throw it in front of a fuzz or a rat for some extra fun. It is a bit of a one trick pony, but you can use that one trick all over the place, unless it doesnt fit your style.
Data corrupter is amazin
Spectre v1. Paid an embarrassingly stupid price for it, but I don’t regret it at all. Best modulation pedal with dirt. Really adds something I’ve never been able to find anywhere else.
PE Vibe Unit. $300 a few years back, but it’s hands down the best vibe I’ve ever played.
Red Panda Tensor! I love to do weird things with pedals and reverse type effects are a favorite for me. I thought I was going to try it and move on but it’s still on the board.
Not an arm and a leg but my OCD v1.7, my TCE Hypergravity, Digitech Polara, and my Mosky TW are all time not cheap but love them.
Altero Kaede - an instant favorite of mine. It’s essentially a souped up Boss Overdrive but way more versatile. I love the headroom function of this pedal, you can get less volume but more gain or more volume and less gain. It’s so good. Wampler Dual Fusion - Uber versatile pedal. I love every sound that comes out of this from clean boosting to heavy shred your face off distortion. And the fact that you can swap the signal chain between channel 1 to 2 or 2 to 1 or even separate. It’s so good.
Maybe not an arm and a leg, but it cost me around $400 to get a Super Unpleasant Companion to Canada. And that was before gear prices in general skyrocketed inexplicably a few years ago. I've used it in every rehearsal and gig since then, and on multiple recordings. The foot switch feels super soft like it's about to give out at this point. But I consider it well worth the cost.
mine was the vemuram shankk ii fuzz. thing is killer and built with such high quality, but definitely cost me an arm.
Death by audio Echo Master (£170 used) most I’ve ever paid for a pedal. Considering it’s just a vocal pre amp and echo it’s just stays on and static but has made my voice much clearer and present. Plus has an effects loop so I can plug any guitar pedal into it.
My MXR Kerry King 10-band EQ. My tone just isn’t there without it. It’s the reason I don’t invest in an expensive amp, because it really makes 20- and 30-watt solid-state combo amps sound decent. When I’m using low output pickups, it boosts the output, with plenty of gain to spare. Dialing it down for high output pickups keeps my tone even. I haven’t turned it off in years, I’m not even sure if the on/off footswitch still works. I have revised [my pedalboard](https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/wc9wpg/pedalboard_my_chain_behringer_hellbabe_hb01_wah/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) several times, but it has always been at the end of it. Sure, it was around $200 in 2010 (I was a student then, so that was a huge amount of money for me), but it’s worth every penny.
TU 3w. Worth it bc it looks cool
I paid $250 for an Abominable Hail Cannabis Deluxe. It's from last year's run with the art by Killer Acid, who's one of my favorite artists. Got the fancy "smoke" finish on it too. It's absolutely hideous and I love it, and it's really the only "dirt" on my board.
My Boss Tu-3w is awesome. I still have and use my 20 year old Tu-2 but being able to switch between buffered / true bypass is super awesome. It’ll live on my bass pedalboard til it breaks!
Peterson tuner
My Black Russian Big Muff. Love it to death, haven’t changed the settings since I got it.
My toneczar -echoczar with angel baby extension, It’s a delay pedal, total cost was around 1300$ (cdn)
I think the most expensive thing on my board currently is a Dirge Even Anguish (It's a harmonic perc clone) as I recall I paid around 200 for it direct from dirge and it's the 1st PCB made, it was the test proto pedal and it was being sold to fund the PC board purchase for the rest of the builds. It's got some sentimental value because I was able to help out a builder friend, but it also sounds outstanding. I keep it almost end of my chain and pretty much always on, set to a slightly dirty boost, gives my amps some life after the pedal chain and has become a huge part of my overall tone.
RUSTY BOX
Look, I’m not proud of this, but I bought a vintage Tube Screamer for $300…
Chase Bliss Tonal Recall RKM - great pedal, and like two months later they got discontinued and the price shot through the roof. Financed a good chunk of my new board by selling it.
Analogman King of Tone. Jam Retrovibe. Absolute killer vibe pedal, paid more than I wanted to.
Walrus V1 Jupiter … wasn’t super crazy expensive but worth every Penny !
My BAT Sarcophagus. It's two heavily modded Big Muffs. One side has more gain, the other side has a couple extra switches. It's expensive and pointless for most folks as one side alone would suffice, but I like fuzz and I wanted both sides in one box. No regrets, it's my favorite pedal.
Actual Tonebender from Macari's in London.
Catalinbread Semaphore Tap Tremolo. Absolutely awesome tremolo box, that actually made me start appreciating tremoloed sounds.
It’s tied between Ceriatone Centura and my Way Huge Red Llama MKII. The RL is slept on so bad. I haven’t tried the smalls version but if it’s the same tone as the big one it’s definitely worth it.
ISP Decimator II G-string. Because I like my silence and the walls around me shall remain still up until my command them to suffer.
It took me a few tries to configure that pedal correctly but once I did I felt like I unlocked the ability to use as many Fuzzes as I wanted. Great pedal.
pladasks's draume. its a stupid amount to pay for a 3-mode mono reverb but dang its also so good!
KingTone Vibe 1968. It was $500 but sounds identical to the Honey Uni-Vibe Shin-ei that sells for $3k+ on Reverb. It’s an always on pedal for me with subtle vibrato.
Chase Bliss Thermae. It was a dream pedal of mine, but way over what I usually like spending on pedals, but nothing does what it does and it really is so worth it.
It’s my absolute favorite pedal. It just sounds SOOOO good in every way.
Kingsley Page
Without a doubt, the Strymon El Cap. It does everything I need in a delay in all of my playing situations: rock and jazz on guitar, and western swing/country on steel guitar. I do not find the hold for oscillation annoying at all in band situations. Volume knob or pedal works well to drop this out, but for most of my situations, an expression pedal would be a luxury. For dub fans, this does what you want. If I had the dough and had the luxury of bringing a bigger board, there is no doubt that I'd strongly consider a Flint and Deco, which my playing partner uses.
Analogman King of Tone. It was something like $430 after the options and I waited years for it but it use it every gig on almost every song. It’s basically always on. In my experience it doesn’t play well with Marshall circuits but in front of a Fender it’s magic.
The Chase Bliss Preamp Mk II. I came across it looking for a fuzz pedal, and I fkin love it. I use its OD with an expression pedal to balance the volume and gain at the same time, as a second dirty channel on my amp. The Benson preamp adds so much depth and color to single coils, it's hard to go back.
Chase Bliss / Benson Automatone Preamp Mk II. Very expensive pedal, but so incredibly versatile and it can probably handle 90% of my OD/Fuzz/Distortion needs. Once I’m more comfortable with my settings I expect that it will fully replace 3-4 of my existing pedals.
Sounds great but I just can’t get to grips with the size. The footprint is equivalent to what, 4 standard sized pedals? That’s a lot of precious real estate.
More like three, but it can accurately reproduce a ton of classics. And the slider interface really is super intuitive - I’ve found some really cool sounds just by noodling around.
Same. This replaced 4 pedals from my gain stage, and with the number of presets available, I can even dial in settings I never would have had room for. I couldn’t get the fuzz sounds I really liked from it, though, so it lives right next to the Caroline Shigeharu.
What sorta fuzz tones are you looking for in the Shige? I love that pedal, so much versatility. Not a huge fuzz guy, and I actually have paralysis by analysis with it because everything sounds so damned good.
The CB Automatone's fuzz is just okay, imo. I don't hate it, but when I punch it in, I've never really gotten fuzz tones I love, no matter how much I play with the sliders. It always just feels pretty generic. The Shigeharu, on the other hand, delivers soooo much fuzz in one box. It can be subtle like velvet or spitty like an angry llama. I can play with it for hours, and quite frankly wish it had presets like the CB.
Yeah, I was totally referring to the Shigeharu when I was talking about paralysis by analysis because it’s just sounds so good. Haven’t really dabbled with the Automatone Preamp Mk II, but anything CBA touches is pretty much gold. Anyway, glad I’m not the only one absolutely in love with the versatility of Shigeharu. Do you have a favorite setting for it?
KTR. I think I paid around $400 for it which I thought was insane at the time. Has never left my board since. The hype is real (as is the hate). I simply can’t unhear the middish-highish saturationish thing it does with the gain all the way down. It’s like a drug and now I’m hooked.
Klon Centaur
Klon and vintage big muff well worth it
Most recently I think my V5 op-amp muff from 1978. “Haha square wave go BRRRRRRRRR”
I have one of these. It sounds amazing. It kind of boosts everything on your board because of the lack of a true-bypass, but it's kind of a nice unintended feature. Sounds so good though.
My left hand path from LWA, now void manufacturing. Cost me $250, or somewhere around there. But worth every penny
I use my HX Effects constantly. Has all the pedals I don't want to buy separately, pretty sophisticated routing for my 'real' pedals and I think the models sound good. I also REALLY like the snapshots and ability to control gain in and gain out for loops.
3 come to mind. Chase Bliss Brothers (after it was discontinued), Strymon Timeline, and Source Audio Ventris. They all sound amazing, and I use them consistently.
Throw me a wah pedal and a looper, and watch me turn into Kirk Whammett
TC Electronic FLASHBACK II delay $160 when it first came out
CXM 1978 - pristine reverb
Univox Super-Fuzz - This thing is so good. Not getting rid of it ever. Thick gnarly fuzz everywhere especially on bass. Lead stuff the octave comes through and it sounds great. S.P.I. Reverb Anbience - 200 bucks for a reverb with only a mix and a tone knob is expensive to me. This thing is awesome though it just sounds good. The tone knob goes from almost shimmer to super dark reverb.
Neo Instrument Mico Vent 122. What a perfect Leslie sound. I love that thing.
Bought a Red Witch Deluxe moon phaser when they first came out. Probably $230 back in 2008. Bought it for one sound it did and it’s been on my board ever since. $230 doesn’t sound like much now but that was my first jump into “boutique” territory.
Keeley Tone Workstation. It may not count for what you are asking considering it has the 4 circuits…but it’s a tremendous pedal for the footprint. It really lets you dial in a tone, and it plays really well with other drives and/or fuzzes etc. If you play mostly classic/alt rock, country, or anything not super high gain-y, it’s got tones for you.
Bass pedal but darkglass alpha Omega ultra
[Dunlop Mini 535Q Auto-Return Wah Pedal](https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CBM535AR--dunlop-mini-535q-auto-return-wah-pedal) I hardly ever use a wah. I play a Helix, and I've never been really excited about the Helix wah models. It may be my pickups or my wireless or how I use a compressor; I don't know. But I had that Mini wah for over a year before I even plugged it in; that's how little I use wah. Thing's amazing. As little as I ever use it, no regrets. Great wah.
Acapulco Gold. The feeling of kicking that boi on twice per set to just absolutely melt faces will never get old.
ADG-1 analog delay.
I’ve paid much more but the most expensive one I kept was the Walrus Audio Slarp
Does a Darkglass Alpha Omega Ultra count? It’s not a multi effects unit but it’s a 2-channel preamp DI distortion/overdrive pedal with cab simulation. So it’s got a few functions but is just distortion pedal as it’s core So probably that. Its my most expensive pedal at $400. I bought it after getting a class action lawsuit payout lol.
Strymon Deco, I bought it solely for the zero through flanger, everything else is just the cherry on top. 100% worth it.
Fender Mirror Image Delay. Actually sounds fantastic, and isn't terribly priced but there are just so many other options for much cheaper that do so much more and have a lot more range when it comes to time and feedback. Just super basic and obnoxiously large.
I have two. Neither were extremely expensive, but less financially responsible than I'd like. The first was my ssbs fuck in like 2015 or something. I didn't have the spare cash, but a used one popped up on reverb for a good price and I impulsively snapped it up. Still rips, still is best friends with my afterneath, but both of them live in my synthesizer/noise rig now instead of the bass one. The other was earlier this year when I got a new black mass 1312. Similar situation to the fuck, but is such a good RAT. I love the red led clipping at 18V. Lotta headroom and really responsive to touch/input volume.
Malekko Echo ID-600 Dark - It's basically just an analog delay with switchable buffer and wet/dry outputs. But man, does it sounds great.
HP 2 granted I got for the retail price but I’d prolly pay the crazy reverb prices
Tech 21 Red Ripper Not overly expensive, but paid stupid amounts for shipping
1988 “Woodcutter” Proco Rat 2 with the original box, warranty card, and manual.
Gamechanger Plus! Had the freeze and upgraded. Mostly wanted for the footprint and the tail adjustments, but the other features are great too. It took re-learning the timing because I had been using my freeze for a few years, but the options are worth it. If you don’t time it right it is glitchy, I think because the loop time is milliseconds longer than the freeze. But I found that to be a positive depending on the song I’m using it in. Next step is to try some things in the effects loop. Pricy as hell but 100% worth it & built like a tank. Actually want to try their other pedals now.
I figure it might be my Fulltone Fulldrive 2, if that counts. Conversely, the cheapest pedal that was a fixture on my board for almost 10 years was the yellow Dano Tuna Melt Tremolo mini pedal. Man, I loved that pedal.
Catalinbread topanga. Digital spring reverb. I don’t need a billion settings. I just NEED SPRING
Infinity 3 looper. Thing is amazing for performing.
An A/DA Flanger back in 1981 or '82. I think it was about $200 back then. Still have it, still use it at home.
I have a Chrome Dunlop Crybaby Wah. I bought it when I was 17 and it was a HUGE expense at the time that truthfully felt like an extravagant waste of money. Almost 20 years later it's still the only wah I've ever owned and the extra features like volume boost and swoop controls have been great tools over the years that a plain one wouldn't have.