Reverb.com Announces its Top 10 Bestselling New Pedals Released in 2021

Controls - Volume, Sustain, Tone.

Mine has only just recently arrived - and this is straight up there with my favourite Muff pedals - here using 4 x 2N3904 Transistors and what looks like 2 pairs of 1N4148 Silicon Diodes. The tone and texture here is really quite distinct and ends up being quite a bit more versatile than any other 3-knob Muff I know. The High Frequencies are better retained through the taper - and the circuit retains a lot of low-end throughout too. Note also that the Tone control works kind of like a High Cut - in that I have it mostly set at around 9-10 o'c. Sounds magnificent though and well deserved as far as I'm concerned. Will probably get the Wren and Cuff White Elk variety now too!

Controls - Decay, Swell, Mix, Tweak, Program : Spring / Hall / Plate / Big F'ing Reverb / Refract / Air, Tune, Rate | Depth | Pre Delay, A|B|C, Lo | High | X.

I loved the look of this when it was first launched - and it went straight down not the wishlist then. While since I've picked up the more suitable (for me) Neunaber Illumine and AmpliTube X-Space Reverb Worsktations - which have quite a bit more about them. This has a great mix of algorithms for its size - and a really cool and fairly unique Swell knob. I will certainly add this to the collection at some stage.

Controls - Bass, Mid, Treb, Vol, Gain, Room, CAB A|B|C, L+R, Fullerton | London | Dartford.

This was another front-runner for me before the Boss IR-200 materialised - which has rather more about it than both Strymon's Iridium and this ACS1. This pedal obviously has the advantage of size and again like the R1 some smart controls. However it's Marshall voicing is a touch week, and it's IR's are not quite yet on par with Boss's and Strymon's. Much to commend in in most other regards - and still a likely prospect!

Controls - Vol, Sens (Filter), Range (Filter), Bright (Fuzz), Fuzz, Rate (Phaser), Sub (Octave).

There's been so much activity this year that this pedal hasn't really had a proper stint in the chain yet - meaning not a full month rotation so far. I have taken it for a spin a number of times though and this is another likely perennial favourite - sort of filed with the Beetronics Swarm - both can sound amazing, but typically are rather specialist applications versus more typical everyday tones! A lot of fun though - just sheer joy in deployment!

Controls - Volume, Distortion, Filter, Mode : OG / WHT / TRB / BRAT / DRTY / LA / GRF / CLN / JHS.

This is a wonderful execution and amazing technical achievement - and to my ears it sounds pretty spot-on too. Lots of amazing varieties onboard - where my current favourite is the slightly punchier and bassier LA Metal voicing! Every Rat fan should have one for sure!

Controls - Level, Low, High, Dist.

A long-last and deserved revival of Boss's legendary Swedish Death Metal / Chainsaw / Twin Peaks Distortion pedal. For me an improvement every which way over the original and the new Custom voicing is killer too!

Controls - Level, Tone, Drive.

The classic Boss SD-1 in inverted Yellow ON Black colourway enclosure - otherwise identical to the standard Black on Yellow enclosure pedal everyone knows and loves. This is my 3rd SD-1 - where my first was the Keeley Modded edition, and the second was the Waza Craft SD-1W. Very much Boss's Tube Screamer challenger - but with asymmetrical clipping - and slightly smoother than the OD-1 which first inspired the TS808!

Controls - Delay, Feedback, Mix, Mode : Tape EP-III / Analog DMM / Precision, Store, A|B|C, Division, Color, Mod.

There's no doubting the build and output quality of Universal Audio's new UAFX pedals - while several of us were slightly disappointed with the overall format. Just one preset onboard, no MIDI, and relatively few algorithms. So doesn't really appeal to my preferences at all. These sound great for sure - while for me it's always a combination of output, format, features and practicalities - and the UAFX pedals don't quite meet my criteria.

Controls - Decay, PreDelay, Mix, Mode : Spring 65 / Plate 140 / Hall 224, Store, A|B|C, Bass, Treble, Mod.

A great sounding Reverb for sure - and with those particular algorithms onboard very much a competitor to Chase Bliss Audio's CXM 1978. As always you can't really fault Universal Audio's algorithms - while just the one preset, no MIDI, and overall lack of certain practicalities means that it's not suitable for my own needs. I much prefer what the CXM 1978 delivers - even with its larger form-factor and somewhat loftier price-tag.