“Stompbox.” The word just sounds
fun. But, of course, it’s what you
do with pedals that matters. And
we sure as heck wouldn’t be cramming
37 reviews of the latest, greatest pedals
into a single issue of
Premier Guitar if
stompboxes weren’t, well, a foot-stomping
good time.
It’s little wonder that most of us
guitarists and bassists are addicted to
these things, because they can be downright
magical, too. Put your foot down
and BAM!—the whole world changes: A
smoky roadhouse becomes a desert expanse
at sunset … a dusty country road
becomes a vast and eerie underwater
expanse … a thunderstorm becomes
an apocalyptic alien invasion. Pedals
can transform our playing and inspire
songs and/or new stylistic meanderings.
And at their best, they are musical
instruments in very same way that a
bass or a guitar is.
The world of stompboxes you’re about
to enter is wild and varied. Here you’ll
find reinterpretations and refinements
of pedals that have long been enshrined
in the stompbox pantheon, wild beasts
that can barely be tamed, keys to unexpected
adventures in expression, and
portals to sounds you didn’t know you
had at your fingertips. They come from
legends in the guitar effects world such
as Electro-Harmonix, Boss, and Vox, as
well as established boutique builders
like Strymon, Z.Vex, and Mad Professor—
but you’ll also discover boxes from
rising stars like the guys at EarthQuaker
Devices, Skreddy Pedals, and Stomp
Under Foot, all of whom are building
beautiful wares that stretch boundaries
and take classic sounds to new heights.
It’s a wild world that can leave you
dizzy with possibilities. But we wouldn’t
have it any other way—and we don’t
think you would, either. In fact, we hope
you’ve saved your pennies and dimes
since last year’s pedal spectacular, because
we’ll be flabbergasted if you don’t
find a reason to bust open your piggybank
in these pages. So take a load off,
take your time, sit back and enjoy this
trip through the boundless land of magical
music-making implements.
First review: Burriss Boostiest 2.5>>>
Pedals Reviewed
Black Cat Bee Buzz
Boss RC-30 Loop Station
Build Your Own Clone Scrambled Octave
Burriss Boostiest 2.5
Carl Martin Blue Ranger
Catalinbread Naga Viper
Celestial Effects Virgo Overdrive
Earthquaker Devices Bit Commander
Electro-Harmonix Neo Mistress
Empress Effects Compressor
G&L Buckshot
Jacques Stompboxes Black Mamba
Juliet Collective Circadia
Levana Mellow-D
Lotus Yellow
Mad Professor Stone Grey
Mid-Fi Electronics Demo Tape Fuzz
Mojo Hand Colossus
MXR Noise Clamp
Pigtronix Tremvelope
Providence Chrono Delay DLY-4
Skreddy Pedals Lunar Module Deluxe
SolidGoldFX Surf Rider
Stomp Under Foot Red Menace
Strymon Timeline
Subdecay Octasynth
T-Rex Tonebug Sensewah
Tech 21 Roto Choir
VHT V-Drive
Vox VDL1 Dynamic Looper
Way Huge Ring Worm
Z.Vex Instant Lo-Fi Junky
Bass Pedals Reviewed
Fishman Fission Bass Powerchord FX
Fuchs Plush FX Jersey Thunder
Ibanez TS9B Bass Tube Screamer
Ruppert Musical Instruments Basswitch IQ DI
Tech 21 Bass Boost Chorus