Guitar pedals are more than a box of wires and electrical components. They're a work of art. When an engineer designs a pedal, they're no different to a classic artist, who draws inspiration from other cultural heroes but gives their creation a new twist of their own.
For the musician, selecting their dream pedal board can be an art in itself. These are the colors they choose to paint with, and to some it's as important as picking the guitar and amp.
Analog delays are all about evolving tones, and the Memory Man does it perfectly. Since delay is the basis for other modulation effects like chorus and vibrato, you actually get a lot of bang for your buck with this unit. The current edition is the Deluxe Memory Man, with a delay up to 550 ms (that's around half a second).
9. MkII Tonebender
Two simple 'level' and 'attack' controls drive your guitar signal through classic transistor distortion. The original Tone Bender was designed in 1965, but was out of production for 40 years until D*A*M Pedals started producing an emulation of the original in 2009. It's a good thing they do, because an original is going to cost you up to $1,500 on the second hand market.
8. Dunlop Fuzz Face
The iconic sound of 60s and 70s distortion, used by many of the greatest rockstars of the era including Jimi Hendrix, Dave Gilmour and Pete Townshend. The big round shape isn't exactly pedalboard-friendly, but the current model is built to the exact specifications of the original so you'll forgive the rotund shape.
7. ProCo Rat
In the mid-70s, ProCo engineer Scott Burnham was repairing so many Dunlop Fuzz Face pedals that he started to think up ways to improve it. The result of his experiments was the Rat, which became hugely popular through the 1980s (purists still swear by the mid-80s models). These days the rat looks quite different, and comes in six different variants, but the Rat2 is closest to the original sonic vision.
6. Dunlop MXR Carbon Copy
70s pedal brand MXR almost died out in the 80s, but Dunlop stepped in to save the beloved pedal line. This pocket-sized pedal packs plenty of analog punch.
5. Digitech Digital Delay
Flexibility is the name of the game here: up to four seconds of delay are available across seven different delay types, including tape, reverse and looper modes so you can layer up pretty guitar textures.
4. DigiTech Whammy
The original 1989 model was the first mainstream pedal to control pitch-shifting with a pedal, enabling a flurry of experimentation from artists like Tom Morello who pushed the pedal to the extreme. The full list of Whammy lovers reads like a list of the best guitarists of all time.
3. Electro-Harmonix Big Muff
What a name. The goal for the Big Muff was to release a huge distortion unit with plenty of sustain. One of the first production units ever went straight to Jimi Hendrix, and it's also adored by bassists where the low frequencies prompt a crushing wall of distortion which is difficult to match elsewhere.
2. Ibanez Tube Screamer
Often emulated but never bettered. Ibanez have released a faithful reissue of the original Tube Screamer, which is cited as one of the most copied overdrive pedals in history. Guitarists love the bump in the mid ranges which help push the guitar sound straight through the centre of a big rock mix.
1. Dunlop Cry Baby
Here it is: the king of guitar pedals. It's the best-selling pedal of all time, and it's iconic way-sound can be heard from artists in all kinds of genres around the world. It's so good that an award winning film has been produced about it, which you can watch in full right here. Enjoy!
Thanks for reading all about the best guitar pedals of all time.
Which are your favorites? Tell us about your pedal setup in the comments below.
top 10 worst? ohoho ok, its not like some of these pedals have been around for 40ish years, tried and tested and are still top choice for many big names or anything.
Guys, I'm pretty sure he actually meant that instead doing a Top 10 Best Pedals list (because we all know which ones are the best) it would have been more fun to see which are the worst...
I think he's trying to say that like a noise gate can be vital to a recording or performance, being in tune is just as essential, hence, the tuning pedal.
Arguable point. Most people I know who use pedals or any kind of effect or signal processor also use a noise gate. Maybe having one in the top 10 is a little extreme, but a nod to them in the article would have been nice
Alright list. Big Muffs are fantastic, especially the mk4 and mk5s. Tubescreamers are rather overrated though. I've owned a few of them, currently have a Maxon OD9 but it was replaced on my main board by a Boss SD-1 of all things. I'll get shot down for saying this, of course.
good to know that so many people speak highly of that pedal this was my first pedal some time ago and i really love it. before i bought it i just heard some demo sounds and thought "hey, this sounds cool!" i just needed a overdrive pedal for my new 1 channel marshall class 5. looks like this time i realy wasted no money, hehehe.
It does get too much criticism from gear snobs but really I've tried to replace it several times but I just end up circling back to it. It's truely a fantastic pedal.
I find Mxr's distortion +/3 pedals to be much smoother sounding and more to my tastes, although to be fair they act more like overdrive pedals than distortion in that they pretty much just give you a more driven version of your amp sound, the ds 1 isn't neccesarily bad (especially for it's price), I just find boss pedals just don't tend to complement the pure raw analog tube sound I try to go for. However if you want a good hidden gem try the bbe crusher, who needs a ****ing tube screamer when have a high gain 80s marshall preamp in your lineup?
whitestripesIII: fyi the maxon tube screamer was an entry level low-cost alternative to the ts9 and the 808. The maxon was not supposed to be as good as the others.
the whammy is a very limited pedal ( not in the sense that it cant do many things, after all the crybaby has only one use, but in the sense that it is such an " effective" pedal with so much personality that you cant use it too much or that just would be awful) , aside tom morello and Gilmour on one song, noone really made good use of it, while pedals as the crybaby are legendary
Plenty made good use of it. Yes there's the Tom Morello crazy stuff but there's also a lot of more ambient noises that were made using the whammy. Buckethead and Lightning Bolt have created some signature glitchy sounds with it. Also Muse's recent dubstep thing was pretty much just a whammy with crazy MIDI automation.
Yeah I know I'm a pretty big fan of him. Sunburn also has it, as well as the glitchy riff of Ashamed and the solo to Recess. I was just trying to get an example of someone using the automation.
Lots of radiohead songs from the bends and OK computer era use it. Jack White uses one for pretty good effect as does Muse. Dimebag used one on some songs well. In addition, you can do some other stuff with it besides just pitchbending the crap out of notes. You can make a lot of weird effects by making use of mistakes in the digital tracking or you can hook it up to a programmed midi controller to make all sorts of weird harmonized sequences.
I was confused as well, the Memory Man may not have as many options but it sounds way better IMO. I also would have picked a Strymon Timeline over the digitech.
I have both an XDD and a Memory Man myself and I love both of them. The EHX is clearly better suited to straight-up delay, but the XDD is very versatile and really fun to mess around with. I would have put them the other way around, personally, but the XDD is still a damn good pedal. I'll certainly never get rid of mine.
They can and will do different things to your tone. They should definately be categorized separately. Just because OD, Distortion, and Fuzz can/do similar things doesn't mean they can all be considered the "same."
They are VERY different. Rat is more of a high gain metal kind of sound. Fuzz Face is just, well.. listen to Hendrix. If you're looking for something versatile they're both not really what you want even though the rat covers a lot of ground with very usable filter and dirt knobs. Fuzz Face is usually used with the fuzz all the way up on the pedal and controlling it with your guitar volume knob.
Oh yeah if you're looking for a good Fuzz Face, sunface is probably a safe bet but I can assure you a lot of "normal" fuzz faces sound just as good. Try some in a shop. Check out the new mini fuzz faces. Also I'd recommend a silicon transistor version because they sound consistent with temperature changes.
I can actually play a guitar. You dont need pedals when you play well enough. Turn your amp on and go, thats how you get good. If you want to be real good, play acoustics.
Jack white has been using pedals since at least the White Stripes days. That link above shows his White Stripes pedal board if you don't believe it, including his Big Muff painted red.
I know he uses some pedals, I was just referring to how he prefers good old fashioned playing to lots of delay and whatnot. Come to think of it, I can't think of any rock guitarist who uses no pedals at all.
I never understood why some musicians intentionally limit their options by saying "no" to things like pedals. Just cause you use a pedal doesn't mean you're using it to make up for bad technique.
Best? Hmmm, that's questionable. I can think of many pedals that thrump those on the list. Just not your everyday popular brands so they dont get as much exposure.
Probably because I've offended some owners of these pedals. Well I own/have owned most of these and more too, good pedals but IMO better out there to MY ear
Great List, But replace the Digitech Delay with a MXR Phase 90, and the MXR Carbon Copy with a Boss CH-1, which was very popular throughout the 80s and 90s.
I am not someone who thinks big names pedals are necessarily worse than boutique.....but is this really best they could do? This seems like it was put together by a 16 year old who has only shopped in Guitar Center. There are 3 delays on here and what we get is the Memory man, carbon copy, and digitech? Best delays ever? Best fuzz pedals are the Big Muff and DUNLOP Fuzz Face?
There are boutique pedals with special features that are kind of unique, but let's be honest most of them are more or less copies of the big brand pedals with some mods here and there. Why don't you name some boutique pedals then that, in your opinion, should have been on this list and can be been seen as groundbreaking or must haves?
These are all pedals from big name brand companies for a reason. Lots of people have played/used them forever. whereas "Boutique" pedals, (theoretically speaking) only a hand-full of people use them. They just really have no status in the music world yet compared to the big brands.
I'm not necessarily a boutique elitist either (okay, I am) but to make a list of 'best guitar pedals) and have nothing by earthquaker devices, analogman or really any lesser known makers is absurd. It's like making a list of best beers and having budweiser, coors, sam adams, etc... and absolutely no microbrews or imports.
Carson. although Samuel`s st0rry is neat, last monday I bought a new Jaguar E-type from having made $9461 this - four weeks past and just a little over 10/k last-month. it's by-far the coolest job I have ever done. I started this 5 months ago and immediately was bringing home over $87 per/hr. I follow instructions here,, http://www.Cloud65.com
Really surprised the MXR Phase 90 isn't on here. It seems like everyone from pros to amateurs alike has that pedal, and for good reason. Its great and affordable.
I agree with this.
Some of the most iconic tones ever were done with treble boosters.
From May using one with Queen, to Iommi boosting his Laneys with one
Didn't look so much forward to the results of this poll since I'm not much of a gear guy and only specifically knew about the top 5 pedals, but it was pretty entertaining to watch the demos listed in the article. Pleasantly surprised.
Glad to see the RAT made the list. On the other hand the Digidelay IMO should of been either the MXR Phase 90 or or MXR Flanger or Stereo Chorus. MXR could have easily filled every spot in this list. It's insane all the people that use/have used their pedals and pretty much used nothing but theirs.
I think this was a dumb prompt. Pedals are completely subjective; should have been 10 Most Influential Pedals of All Time, then we could have come to a real consensus.
I too am also alarmed that a mother able! Thanks, Kyle for bringing up that point, there's really no reason that she should be able to make that much money in the kitchen.
I am also surprised the Phase 90 was not in the list. As for the DS-1 I used to use BOSS products back in the day but being mass produced in China has really affected the build quality internally ( mainly soldering ). There are some really good US built hand soldered pedals out there but I think they have been omitted because they are newer and not as iconic. IMO, some pedals are very genre specific which would probably make them irrelevant for a list like this despite the fact they are great pedals.
In retrospect maybe they could have picked the best out of each category of effects? Tuners could be included, and noise gates of which my personal choice would be the ISP Decimator.
Haha, wow, what a crapshoot. Some great pedals in that list for sure, but definitely some real jokes. Dunlop Crybaby?! HA! Try the original on for size kids, your minds will be blown.
I can see that everyone here is strangely upset about the DigiDelay... I own one, and even though it shouldnt be up as high as it is, it should still be on the list! Think of it:
It has up to 4 seconds of delay
It can do up to a crazy amount of reapeats
It has 7 completely unique delay types
One of those types is REVERSE, which is awesoeme
Another one is LOOP, where your signal gets looped over and over again
And last but not least, like every other X-Series pedal, it has 2 outputs, where they model an amp so when you plug it into a mixer (which I do!), it gives you a better sound than using a mic
this was my first pedal some time ago and i really love it. before i bought it i just heard some demo sounds and thought "hey, this sounds cool!" 
