What Pedal "blew you away" this year?

MagicPigDetective

Source Audio Gemini Chorus; plus phaser, flanger, vibe and rotary settings available via an app, has certainly blown me away, sounds amazing and is super versatile. Digitech Obscura has also proved to be an excellent pedal. Also very pleased with the DOD looking glass overdrive. 

ChrisCox1994

carpe diem, hype = justified for me. 

Niallseroreilly

Got a Tanabe Zenkudo, sounds splendid..

Sporky

It's a twofer; the Helix is magnificent - really straightforward to put patches together, yet incredibly powerful and flexible, some really amazing possibilities in there.

Secondly the Source Audio Reflex - the ability to use its LFOs to drive pretty much any parameter on the Helix opens it up even further.

ThePrettyDamned

For me, without doubt, the @juansolo cmos overdrive. It's a dual band overdrive with separate gain and volume for high and low frequencies - I like fuzzy, but quieter low strings and a slightly driven treble that's louder. Basically gives single coils huge, fat chords with tons of clarity. 

It's one of those where you think, "why does no one release this for real?!".  Truly useful, and not just another overdrive. 

TTBZ

^that sounds really interesting, got any more info about it?

juansolo

It's a pedal designed by Bengt Vallhagen (master of umlouts). You can buy one as a kit now it seems along with a couple of his other designs here: https://moodysounds.com/en/produkt/blue-monster-kit/

Manual for the kit is here which also explains how it works: https://moodysounds.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Blüe_Monster_MS_Build_instruction_20131112.pdf

57Deluxe

ROWIN (Ammoon)  'Analog Tape' echo - not only is it wonderfully cute and purple, but adds tinsel to every tone - love it to bits!

http://i66.tinypic.com/2100ytg.jpg

Bucket

Haven't actually bought one (yet... muahahaha) but the JHS Andy Timmons drive knocked my socks off when I tried one a few months ago. That's top of the very short list of pedals I am currently GASsing for.

dogload

I think my biggest pedal 'wow!' this year has to be the Fender Classic Phaser that I got after finding myself using the virtual one in Amplitube in preference to any other (even in preference to the emulation of the MXR Phase100, which has always been my fave real phase pedal).

I'd had one before but because it is so stupidly massive (the size and weight of a landing craft), I never really bothered with it and sold it on. After getting a large PT board and finding a super-bargain Fender Phaser I decided to give it another go. And it is awesome - not only does it have a marvellous pulsating LED ring, but it can do super-deep swooshes. Into a Boss PN-2 on square wave setting and then into delay, it can melt your brain. Running it in a parallel loop on a Boss LS-2 gives you all that skull-fuckery without loosing the original guitar too. 

UnclePsychosis

juansolo said:

It's a pedal designed by Bengt Vallhagen (master of umlouts). You can buy one as a kit now it seems along with a couple of his other designs here: https://moodysounds.com/en/produkt/blue-monster-kit/

Manual for the kit is here which also explains how it works: https://moodysounds.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Blüe_Monster_MS_Build_instruction_20131112.pdf

---I really fancy trying one of these, but having seen your cookie monster version I wouldn't settle for building one myself! 

AxeWieldingBastard

ThePrettyDamned said:

For me, without doubt, the @juansolo cmos overdrive. It's a dual band overdrive with separate gain and volume for high and low frequencies - I like fuzzy, but quieter low strings and a slightly driven treble that's louder. Basically gives single coils huge, fat chords with tons of clarity. 

It's one of those where you think, "why does no one release this for real?!".  Truly useful, and not just another overdrive. 

You should check out the Four Eyes Crossover Fuzz. Same idea, but with separate gain controls for low, mid and hi; with a parametric sweep filter to control the relative frequency bands for each; and a 3 way toggle to control the qualiy of the gain increase in the mids.

You can even use an expression pedal to control the frequency knob which can give you some cool wow-wow and wah-wah sounds as well as slow phasey shenanigans. It's pretty cool anyway.

richardhomer

I'm not big on pedals - I have a small board which hasn't changed in years (though I really fancy a Dunlop Echoplex to replace one of my delays) - but I've just bought a Boss RC-3 Looper.

It has (fairly limited) drum patterns built in and has been a revelation. I've spent hours working on various grooves - suddenly practice time has become fun again. Kind of bought on a whim - but one of those things I didn't realise I needed until I got it.

ChrisCox1994

Carpe Diem, totally lived up to the hype in my head. Love it. 

JCA2550

Dunlop Echoplex with tap switch (Bright Onion) sold the Carbon Copy for the second time and the TC Flashback x4 is now my backup, I like the sound that much. 

nickb_boy

My Castledine MK1 Pro fits this category.  It manages to retain the character of a MK1 Tone Bender yet gives it more useability with the way Stu tuned it to allow better clean up off the guitar volume and a neat Filter control

jeztone2

Of the ones I've tried. Probably the Friedman BE-OD & the Carpe Diem. I just thought they were brilliant. I'm in the process of planning a bigger board & I suspect at least one of those
will be on it. 

But this year I've bought a lot of older pedals back. An original mk1 Guv'nor & the Sansamp TriAC, which I think is so underrated & again neither are in production. 

jacksparrow

http://i.imgur.com/hV930sn.jpg       This One D*A*M Blue Meanie.

ThePrettyDamned

AxeWieldingBastard said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

For me, without doubt, the @juansolo cmos overdrive. It's a dual band overdrive with separate gain and volume for high and low frequencies - I like fuzzy, but quieter low strings and a slightly driven treble that's louder. Basically gives single coils huge, fat chords with tons of clarity. 

It's one of those where you think, "why does no one release this for real?!".  Truly useful, and not just another overdrive. 

You should check out the Four Eyes Crossover Fuzz. Same idea, but with separate gain controls for low, mid and hi; with a parametric sweep filter to control the relative frequency bands for each; and a 3 way toggle to control the qualiy of the gain increase in the mids.

You can even use an expression pedal to control the frequency knob which can give you some cool wow-wow and wah-wah sounds as well as slow phasey shenanigans. It's pretty cool anyway.

That sounds cool. I tried the boss xtortion, which is a crossover distortion fuzz, and it was awesome for garage rock lead sounds. Surprised its not more popular... 

I don't really use that sound much, but that four eyes sounds like a really good idea. I wonder if the boss could be modded for expression pedal... 

peaches

AxeWieldingBastard said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

For me, without doubt, the @juansolo cmos overdrive. It's a dual band overdrive with separate gain and volume for high and low frequencies - I like fuzzy, but quieter low strings and a slightly driven treble that's louder. Basically gives single coils huge, fat chords with tons of clarity. 

It's one of those where you think, "why does no one release this for real?!".  Truly useful, and not just another overdrive. 

You should check out the Four Eyes Crossover Fuzz. Same idea, but with separate gain controls for low, mid and hi; with a parametric sweep filter to control the relative frequency bands for each; and a 3 way toggle to control the qualiy of the gain increase in the mids.

You can even use an expression pedal to control the frequency knob which can give you some cool wow-wow and wah-wah sounds as well as slow phasey shenanigans. It's pretty cool anyway.

Also check out the SS/BS Pretty Years, it's basically the Four Eyes on steroids with a far more flexible and insane filter section. It's. Crazy. I have both and fed into each other with a particularly resonant reverb. 

And also incidentally my pedal of the year!