28 Key Guitar Effects Pedal Types - Preferred Medium Enclosure Pedals per Type

Steve Mac put me onto this one - obviously in glamorous wood facia editions - or 'RW' designation - which occasionally is referenced as Rare Woods, and at other times Rose Wood. In any case a relatively large Tuner pedal with different coloured flamed wood front facias, This pedal is long since discontinued but was something of a hit at the time of its release - just a really decent accurate and usable tuner - albeit somewhat large. I still feel that there is no need to look beyond the Peterson StroboStomp HD Compact Chromatic Tuner - which I still believe is the best variety out there for display and accuracy. So this one only really for those vintage lovers! I could not find anything else suitable at this enclosure size!

Alt : Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork+ Polyphonic Pitch Shift Pedal - $235

A long-term favourite of mine - which I use for Octaves, Pitch-Shifting and Pitch-Shifted delay - it's currently off the board / out of the chain - so I can accommodate some different Medium-size pedals in other categories. If you go large in one area, you need to compensate with a smaller alternative in another! I still have my eyes on an EHX Pitch Fork+ which I will of course acquire and rotate in when I come across one at the right price for me!. My main Octaver pedal these days is actually the CopperSound TripleGraph - which is probably a Liver for its inherently great usability. Meris pedals alas are always a little tricky to operate as they don't properly have presets onboard without the use of other outboard gear, and all the knobs / controls have multiple functions - which gets complicated real quick. The Hedra is probably the most straight-forward and logical of all those Meris devices!

Alt : Meris Enzo Multi-Voice Instrument Synthesizer - $299

There's no Bones about it - the SY-200 is most definitely the greatest Synthesizer pedal ever beside Boss's flagship SY-1000 which is rather more a synth-builder than the SY-200's immediate plug-and-play with extensive presets. The Meris Enzo is pretty decent too - but lack of onboard presets, complexity with Alternative functions and various other usability issues - means that Boss is all-round the greater proposition!

Alt 1 : WMD Geiger Counter - $329
Alt 2 : Meris Ottobit Jr Beatcrusher + Sequencer - $299

For a long time I was in two minds over which of the Bitmap 2 or Geiger Counter was my preferred candidate - and for a variety of reason I settled on the Bitmap as my champion. I'm a huge fan of Red Panda Lab pedal.- and really should have more in my collection - where I only have the Particle 2 to-date. I will probably end up getting the Geiger counter too eventually - and possibly the Ottobit after that! For now though it's the Bitmap 2 which is the key target!

I mentioned in the intro that I was unable to find any specifically 'Medium Enclosure' Wah pedals - that is to say those that fit those dimensional criteria. Everything for Wah is either huge in size - even Morley's discontinued 'Mini' pedals are still way larger than the Medium parameters accommodate - meaning that the only candidate I can use here is a Mini Wah CryBaby variety - which is actually of 'Compact' dimensions. I'm also actually looking to acquire a Plutonium Chi-Wah-Wah at some stage that fits those same sorts of criteria!

Alt : Electro-Harmonix Cock Fight Auto-Wah + Fuzz - $126

This is another one I was in two minds about selecting my main candidate and alternative - it could be either one on the day - where the DiscumBOBulator is more pure-play and with dual footswitches - while the Cock Fight adds a really cool Fuzz option into the mix. Generally though if you have a decent Envelope Filter - like the All-Pedal Macrodose / Subdecay Prometheus DLX or Spaceman Artemis - those do everything you need too!

Alt : Spaceman Artemis Modulated Filter - $299

Both my recommendations here are superb - with the dual-footswitch Macrodose taking the honours overall. Each has its own idiosyncrasies - and these are really Pro Pedals as some significant due diligence is required for successful dial-in. While if you show either of these the right level of respect and attention you can get some really extraordinary filtered sounds. Would have been nice to have had presets here - simply because of the vast range of possibilities onboard - and each voicing required some fairly intricate knob-twiddling - where the values definitely don't stay remotely the same for different modes!

Alt : Spaceman Mercury IV Germanium Boost - $299

The Walrus EB-10 is actually a pretty handy pedal - albeit a little larger than I have use for - it's combination of Preamp, EQ and Boost is very useful to have permanently in the signal-chain - I of course use the JA Prism in that role which additionally has a buffer onboard. The Alternative pick here is my first ever Germanium Boost - which kind of defined the purpose of that slot - which is currently occupied still by the ThorpyFX Heavy Water Dual Boost.

Alt : Analog.Man Bi-Compressor Early Edition - $275

I've long said that Becos FX make the most feature-rich compressor pedals nowadays - with near studio-level control within extraordinary Compact and Medium-size enclosures. The TWAIN is easily the most comprehensive Compressor I've ever come across - where you can either apply the Dual Band function individually or stacked. The only other Medium-size Compressor that springs to mind is the early edition of Analog.Man's Bi-Compressor - another sort of dual-circuit. Latter versions come in rather huge enclosures - which are not suitable here - while the earliest editions fit right in. The Bi-Compressor has Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer style compression on the right  channel, and Ross type compression on the left. There's no shortage of great compressors out their - but both of these are pretty distinct!

There's not much competition for the NU>X Optima Air at the Medium-enclosure size - where generally there just aren't very many Acoustic Simulators about. You've got mini Hotone and Mooer varieties,compact Boss AC-3, and larger SIM1 XT-1 types - but really nothing else at mid-size bar the Optima - which also has some Cab Sim features onboard. NU>X really does have some pretty innovative pedals I should explore more - definitely down on my list to check out further - when I get to that! Very straight-forward controls here - seems to do what it needs to - all-in-all a pretty decent offering.

Alt 1 : KMA Machines Chief Disruptor Fuzz / Distortion - €199
Alt 2 : ThorpyFX Veteran (Si) Vintage Fuzz and Boost - £240

I've said many times now how incredible the Animalizzer is as an all-round gain machine - capable of the most incredibly variety of flavours through 9 really smart controls - it goes way beyond its Big Muff roots. The same is almost equally true of KMA Machines' new Chief Disruptor - which mixes up Clean Blend and Parametric Mids for another smart take on an all-rounder Muff. While the ThorpyFX does similar things for the Silicon Fuzz Face - with all the right controls and feature I like. There are a number of really smart Fuzz pedals out there at Medium Size - including options from Toneczar and Wren and Cuff's De La Riva insanely switchable circuit. Overall though the accolades must go to the Animalizzer - where that pedal is just missing a second footswitch - which RIKK will surely look to remedy fairly soon - with some interesting evolutions and diffusions of that circuit!

Alt : Pete Cornish GC-1 3-Stage Overdrive / Distortion - £549

I feel I've overlooked something on this slot - there's something nagging at the back of my mind which is still just out of touch for me. I'm so dazzled by the DSM & Humboldt Silver Linings that it's going to take a lot to get my attention away form that. The Silver Linings has to be the most versatile analog Overdrive of all time - there are just so many flavours available here via those 10 smart controls. I'm still very much in the honey moon period of that pedal - which has somewhat overshadowed my previous favourite multi-stage analog overdrive - the Pete Cornish GC-1 45th Anniversary Pedal - which combines 3 of its best loved circuits in one box - the SS-3, G-2 and P-2. With really smartly calibrated 3-Band EQ. Both those pedals are pretty extraordinary - and are great ambassadors at this level. I do weirdly feel I've somehow omitted another great variety here - but it's just not coming to the fore of the mind yet!

The Boss OD-200 has some fantastic flavours aboard - and while it doesn't necessarily replicate everything brilliantly, and its Bass EQ is somewhat hard on the Q-spectrum - where I tend to prefer slightly softer EQs - it nevertheless is a fantastic hybrid gain machine - which does particularly well for distortion - including exceptional Big Muff and Metal flavours. It's Klon and various Overdrive flavours are largely pretty got takes too. For sure the reigning champion at this enclosure size - while the GT-1000 CORE's gain engine is even more flexible and with even more flavours. This obviously misses Fuzz Face and Octave Fuzz flavours which can be found on the CORE, and the fact that the Boos cannot work independently is a major oversight. While the combination of 12 core Voicings, and no less than 15 different Voicings you can use for Boost - and then Combine those two channels in any combination - is what makes this such a formidable pedal. It's really very decent, but it could have been even better! I long tried to find something suitable as an alternative here - but most other distortions just don't come close in their capabilities - this is still pretty much out their on its own. Amplitube recently launched the X-Drive which kind of does a similar sort of thing - but I think that's entirely modelling - while the Boss is a mix of analog and modelling - also the X-Drive is a much bigger pedal - and would fall into the Large category!

Most of the Noise Gate action is at the Compact level - where I still very much love my Alchemy Modded NS-2 - and where there is plenty of competition - including 2 very formidable recent varieties from REVV : G8, and KMA Machines revolutionary Pylon Advanced Transformer Boost Noise Gate. At the Medium enclosure size only Carl Martin's Noise Terminator comes to ming - of course Carl Martin make great pro studio level gear - and the Noise Terminator is a very decent offering - but where I personally would be very unlikely to target anything above compact dimensions! Nothing else readily springs to mind at this level of enclosure size.

This is the reigning champion of multi-band EQs for me - it's format and usability are just perfect - you have direct hands-on control for immediate tweaking that you can then save as a preset. Only down-side is that it can be a little sensitive at times. I in fact use this mostly as a 'Balancing EQ' restoring high frequencies into the mix near the end of the chain, and immediately after the Noise Gate, and before the Modulation Section. I was very happy for a long time with my Alchemy Modified GE-7 - but had no facility there to save presets. The EQ-200 really is my perfect form factor for EQ. I'm not aware of any similar alternatives at this level either!

Alt 1 : ThorpyFX Deep Oggin Chorus / Vibrato - £265
Alt 2 : Analog.Man Bi-Chorus - $295

I was in two minds really about which to feature as my principal here - the Stereo Chorus Flanger or the Deep Oggin. In the end I felt that the Stereo Chorus Flanger was the more topical choice as it has just been recently re-issues in Gold edition. The ThorpyFX Deep Oggin and Analog.Man Bi-Chorus are every bit as good - and in fact slightly better in some ways with slightly deeper and richer modulations. While the TC Electronic variety is of legendary status - with its own distinct tone. That is my first choice here right now - while at other times - it would likely be the Deep Oggin!

This is a little bit of an oddity as there don't seem to be any proper stand-alone mid-box varieties of Boss's Phasey Chorus Dimension C/D effect. Said effect was a major miss on Boss's own MD-200 pedal - where GFI's Synesthesia though provides a superb modelled version of that. There are some clones of the Dimension C at the compact format factor - but nothing at any of the larger size - and certainly nothing analog. If you do know of another suitable candidate for these criteria do let me know - otherwise it's something of an overkill situation with Synesthesia's near 40 algorithms. Still by far and away the bests Multi-Modulator on the market today, but it is somewhat handicapped by its Mono-only input!

Alt 1 : Spaceman Effects Aurora Analog Flanger - $319

Since it was launched I've raved about the ThorpyFX Camoflange - how it's my favourite Vintage-inspired Sparkly flanger - it just sounds superb every which way. The Spaceman Aurora by contrast is more of Modern style of Flanger - for all those experimental and more filter-y flavours. The two together are two sides of the same coin - Vintage and Modern. I still feel these are the most formidable mid-size Flangers out there - while there are other fairly decent varieties, and plenty of alternatives at Compact enclosure too.

Alt 1 : ThorpyFX Pulse Doppler Analog Phaser / Vibrato / Pulsating Tremolo - £265
Alt 2 : Sitek Phasia Analog Multi-Stage OTA Phase Shifter - €220

When the ThorpyFX Pulse Doppler first came out I proclaimed it the King of the Phasers and thought it would likely reign supreme for many years to come. And if the criteria are entirely Analog Phasing - then that still stands true. While Strymon then launched it's killer Zelzah Multidimensional Phaser - which takes the format into many more different territories and touches on most of the key LFO-based Modulation types in one way or another. Don't overlook Sitek's super smart Phasia Analog Phaser too - which does some very clever things within a cool Medium-Slim enclosure. I currently have 15 phasers to my name - and these 3 medium varieties are undoubtedly the best of the best!

ALT : Rock Fabrik Kuek Dynamic Tremolo - €199

My favourite style of tremolo is very much Harmonic Tremolo - so the Drolo FX Twin Peaks was always likely to be my champion at this size of enclosure. While I really rate the Rock Fabrik Kuek Dynamic Tremolo too - which varies its modulation based on your playing and picking style / impact. Two of the best Tremolos at this level for sure - while hitherto I've not yet felt the need to go much beyond my favourite Compacts - while if I did - these would for sure be my two first candidates for acquisition.

Alt : Fulltone Mini Dejá Vibe CS-MDV MKII - £229

As stated recently - with my acquisition of the latest DryBell V3 Vibe Machine - I've found my perfect Uni-Vibe pedal. Before the it was the JHS Unicorn - while I always harboured intentions to get the really neat Fulltone Mini  Dejá Vibe too. That was before I encountered the newer still Berkley from Horrothia which is just another exceptional take on this magical circuit - it does everything just right - while it's sort of rather price too at £370. For sure it's good - but it's not nearly twice as good as the  Dejá Vibe. I may very well add one of these at some stage - whileI would need something of a sweetener to go for the Berkley - however good that it is!

Alt 1 : Strymon Lex Rotating Speaker Effect - $299
Alt 2 : NU>X Roctary Rotary Simulator & Polyphonic Octave Effects Pedal - discontinued - $130

For Medium size enclosure - I was unable to fit more than 28 pedal types on the visual / grid - so the Rotary category sort of missed out, while I thought I should add it in as a bonus round here - as for a long time this was one of my favourite modulations, while it's more recently been pipped by the Uni-Vibe which is properly featured, while this just misses that cut. In any case I did a lot of due diligence at the time of my acquisition - to settle on the Tech 21 Roto Choir as the best sounding example of Stereo Rotary effect. I preferred it to both the Strymon Lex and Neo Instruments Mini Vent II - where the Strymon pips that to the 2nd spot. Third spot actually goes to the really rather cool NU>X Roctary - which adds Octaves intro the mix - to help you sound even more like a Hammond organ! The Mini Vent misses out by the skin of its tech - on account of the fact that it has such minimal controls and you need to use an odd multi-press morse-code command structure on power-up to change any of the options!

Alt 1 : Drolo FX Molecular Disruptor Multi-Effects Processor - €280
Alt 2 : Pladask Elektrisk Fabrikat Granular Synthesizer / Sample Playback - $300

The Cooper FX Arcades is very much my Glitch Weapon of choice and it differs from the others in having presets onboard alongside a modular systems of cards which slot into the top of the pedal. The Molecular Disruptor is Modular too of a kind where David Roto can make up Patch Cards / Modules for you with any of the 30 to 40 varieties of algorithms - 8 per module - while you need to screw off the back-plate to accommodate that, and have no presets to save all those finicky settings which can take half a day of tweaking or more to come by. Same goes for the Fabrikat to some degree. They all have a bit of an overlap but each also does its own thing. I've also liked the look of the Hologram Microcosm - but that has always been a little large to fit into the chain - meaning that the Arcades really is the perfect Glitch Weapon of Choice for me. I have all 9 main cards including the latest Satellite card - I was promised but never received and AE card. - which is a compilation of existing effects plus two new ones - and there was also a another compilation card 'Pastiche' - which was supposed to gather most of the best algorithms onto that one card! Each card has 8 algorithms - meaning I have 72 to choose from - which is plenty. Glitch for me is very much mood based and has some inherent seasonality for me - where it tends to do bouts of several months of rotation and then by out of the chain for 6 months to a year!

Alt 1 : Red Panda Raster 2 Digital Delay with Pitch & Frequency Shift and Directionality - $299
Alt 2 : Analog.Man ARDX20 Dual Analog Delay - $265

I'm a huge fan of the Boss DD-200 - one of my favourite all-time delays for sure - and always in rotation in the chain - it has the best mix of algorithms for such a relatively compact devices and it works beautifully. I've had the Red Panda Particle in rotation on and off too - but feel that the new Raster 2 would be a more suitable pedal for me in that department. And if you want to take things in a more analog direction - then you can't really get better than Analog.Man's ARDX20 Dual Analog Delay. Each of those is quite distinct and probably all deserve to be part of the collection - while the likeliest next target is for sure the Raster.

Alt 1 : Red Panda Context 2 Reverb Workstation - $299
Alt 2 : Meris Mercury 7 Bladerunner Sci-Fi Reverb - $299

The Source Audio Ventris is still an incredible proposition with nothing really equivalent at that size - with Dual Channel capabilities - meaning the continuing absence of a Boss RV-200 is ever more noticeable. Of course the Meris Mercury 7 is exceptional too - while somewhat opaque in its usability with all those secondary functions and lack of proper onboard presets. Meaning that the Red Panda Context 2 is a more appealing choice for me - and which I will look to add to the collection next.

My own Stereo Double-Tracker tool of choice is of course the TC Electronic Mimiq which I consider fairy dust for a stereo rig. I'm a huge fan of Strymon too - so I would imagine I could be very happy with the Deco also - which has a few tricks up its sleeves in addition to its Double Tracking. The Mimiq though is pure perfection for me so there is no need to rock that particular boat! I will likely get the Deco too eventually - while there really is no pressing need for that.

My Stereo Looper with Beat Box of choice is absolutely the Boss RC-10R - which still has a vital flaw for me in that the Beats output is not quite loud enough for Stereo applications.  Other than that it's absolutely perfect for me - and I still hope that Boss will release an eventual fix for that. I thought about listing the DigiTech Trio+ Band Creator + Looper here as an Alternative while that was always particularly complex to set up for stereo applications and I did not get on well enough with it - hopefully someone can release an eventual better version of that with better connections and a screen  - time should be ripe for that kind of makeover. I'm aware that Flamma has something similar in a Compact edition - while I don't think there's anything out there which quite matches the level of the Boss - do let me know if I've overlooked anything!

Similar to the above Wah - there really aren't any other Volume pedals that fall within the Medium enclosure criteria - everything is either Huge or Compact or Mini (Mooer) - so I've selected my favourite Mini (Compact actually) Volume pedal - the Dunlop DVP4 Volume (X) Mini - which works perfectly. I would of course love to have a Lehle compact too - but they don't make on yet!

Alt 1 : Strymon Iridium Amp Modeler & Impulse Response Cabinet Sim - $399

Weirdly here I feel the Boss IR-200 is the most capable of those Mid-size and compact Cab Sim boxes - with quite a few more features and flavours onboard. Ironically the Iridium is probably the more apt solution for my rig - as it allows me to go direct Stereo In without changing anything in my signal chain. While the Boss only has Mono in - meaning I have to split off all my Modulation and Workstation pedals into a parallel channel and run them into the Boss's Stereo FX Loop. I've spent several years perfecting my rig to go into the front of an amp - so I would have to considerably re-tool and re-calibrate for the Boss solution to works. Also - while I was excited by the innovation of the Walrus Audio ACS1 - it's Marshall voicing isn't strong enough, and it's IR's aren't quite up to the quality of Boss or Strymon's. And while the Strymon is the most suitable for my rig - I would really want something with the screen and feature set of the Boss to achieve ultimate satisfaction. Meaning there isn't quite anything wholly perfect for my situation yet. The Boss IR-200 is certainly the most capable - while each of the Iridium and ACS1 also have their advantages - it's never been a better time to own pedals! Doesn't mean all are wholly perfect yet.