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One of the most important things to look for when considering different guitar pedal brands is a reputable company. Whenever I used to look for new pedals, I always wished there would be a list of companies I could rely on. That’s why I’m here to give you that list.
The Best Guitar Effects Pedals
1. Red Panda Labs
Red Panda Labs is one of my favourite brands. These pedals are really unique, so you won’t ever get bored with the sound effects they emit. These pedals also come with a one-year warranty when you buy them new from the source.
For me, a warranty shows that a company is confident that their products won’t break easily. Red Panda pedals have really positive reviews, so you can be confident that you’ll receive a product that does what it says it does when you purchase from this company.
Red Panda Labs have a variety of different models available. If you’re looking for a bizarre sound effect, I’d recommend checking out the Red Panda Raster or Red Panda Bitmap pedal. The Red Panda Raster is a digital delay pedal that has a pitch-shifter built into it.
This means you’ll get typical delay effects, but you’ll also get to experiment with pitch-shifting to create obscure sounding melodies.
The Red Panda Bitmap pedal is a bitcrusher, meaning it will take your audio signal and cut it up into little pieces. This will create a stuttered effect.
For more traditional sound effects, you can check out the Red Panda Context pedal. This pedal has classic reverb settings, like Room, Cathedral, Gated, Plate, Hall, and Delay.
In my opinion, the Red Panda Particle pedal falls between the Context and Raster in terms of bizarreness. The Particle is a granular delay pedal, meaning the device takes your audio, cuts it into little pieces, and then delays the pitch.
This is one of the most popular pedals by Red Panda because it’s unique, but not as bizarre as the Raster pedal. This pedal will also give you unique features like Freeze Mode, where the delay is recycled instead of the device taking in new input.
2. Boss Pedals
Boss pedals are a go-to brand in the effect pedal world. Boss has been around since the early 1970’s and hasn’t been a disappointment. Many musicians rely on Boss for their continuous reliability and high-quality products.
This company has a lot of different models available, and their products can be divided into categories: Distortion/Overdrive, Delay/Reverb, Pitch/Modulation, Dynamics/Filter, Acoustic, Bass Pedals, and Miscellaneous. These pedals are great quality, so you can be confident you’re purchasing a pedal that will last when you go with this company.
The most popular Boss distortion pedal is the Boss DS-1. This model has been around for decades and is will give you a classic rock and roll sound. Additionally, you’ll also get a five-year warranty if you purchase the DS-1 new from the company’s site.
The Boss DD-3 Digital Delay pedal is a great delay pedal. This pedal is nice and simple and will give you clear articulation.
If you’re looking for a pitch/modulation pedal, check out the Boss PS-5 pedal. This pedal will allow you to create awesome tremolo arm effects and key shift settings, which will allow you to play in different keys.
There are many other Boss pedal models that are great quality.
3. TC Electronic Pedals
TC Electronic pedals are another reliable brand of guitar multi-effects pedals. TC Electronic first made their appearance in 1976. They use teams of 40 or more R & D specialists in order to design their products, so you can be confident that your pedal will have been reviewed by many pairs of knowledgeable eyes before it makes its way onto the market.
This is why TC Electronic is one of my favourite guitar pedal brands. This company has a series of great effect pedals that can be divided into six groups: Delay, Ditto Looper, Polytune, Modulation, Analog Drive, and Mini Pedals.
The most popular TC Electronic delay pedal is The Flashback Delay pedal. This pedal is really easy to use since you’ll only need to start strumming to sync the delays.
A great looper pedal from this company in the Ditto Looper. This is a really simple pedal with only one knob, but you’ll still have all your necessary features: record, undo/redo, stop, and erase.
The Polytune Classic Pedal by TC Electronic is great for musicians who want a device that will indicate which strings need to be tuned when they’re strumming. Being able to avoid tuning on stage is a definite plus.
The NM-1 Nova Modulator pedal will give you LFO trigger and LFO synchronization and will allow you to add preset settings, so you won’t have to be finicking around on stage.
The Echobrain Analog Delay Pedal is a great choice for you if you want a vintage delay sound. You’ll get up to 300 ms of delay time with this pedal.
The Mini Pedals line is great for traveling musicians who want something small and light. You can find the mainstream models in a more simplified version under the Mini line. TC Electronic offers the Flashback Delay pedal in a more smaller version called Flashback Mini Delay.
4. MXR Pedals
MXR Pedals have been around since 1972 and have maintained a great reputation over the decades. MXR is one of my favourite guitar pedal brands because their products are really user-friendly, making them good for beginners who don’t have a lot of pedal experience.
This is also a great company if you like vintage products because they have skillfully recreated long-lost vintage models in their Custom Shop. MXR Pedals come in a variety of different types: Distortion, Fuzz, Overdrive, Modulation, Boost, EQ, Custom, Script, and Gate. Let’s take a look at some of their best-sellers:
The most popular distortion pedal from this company is the MXR Custom Badass and will give you great old-school amp effects perfect for musicians who like classic rock.
The Analog Chorus effect pedal will let you create lush, textured sounds through Rate, Level, and Depth controls.
The Carbon Copy Analog Delay pedal is another popular model that will give you up to 600 ms of delay time and includes Delay, Mix, and Regen controls. Regen, or regeneration, is the same as a feedback control, which will take the output signal and send it back to the input.
The Phase 90 can be heard in some Van Halen recordings, which is a testament to its quality. This pedal will allow you to create shimmering effects, or long sweeping swoops up sound.
These are only a few of the pedals offered by TC Electronics, so I’d recommend checking out their products in more detail to find what you’re looking for. If you’re now committed to purchasing from a certain company, but aren’t sure which type of pedal to get, try reading this article for more information.
If you want more of a guitar effects pedal guide, check out this link.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article helped you decide on the best guitar pedal brands for you. With so many companies out there, it can be difficult to determine which company is reliable.
Ask yourself what type of sound you want to create and use this list as a guide to make your purchase. Let me know if you have any questions in the comment section!
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