Classic Pedals & Brands

Most guitar pedals on sale today descend from a handful of classics. Learn those and you can decode almost any pedal description, spot the "-style" clones, and buy with your ears instead of the hype. This chapter is a tour of the best guitar pedals of all time and the brands behind them.

You start with the drive icons: the Tube Screamer and its famous mid hump, the Klon Centaur, the RAT, the Big Muff, the Fuzz Face and the Maestro Fuzz-Tone that started it all. Then come the modulation and wah classics, from the Cry Baby and Phase 90 to the CE-2 chorus and the Uni-Vibe, followed by tape echoes, analog and digital delays and spring reverb. A tour of the major brands, from Boss, Electro-Harmonix and MXR to boutique makers and budget-friendly ones, shows who makes what. The last lesson compares single pedals with multi-effects and amp modelers.

Along the way you'll hear which players each pedal is commonly associated with, and why guitarists keep coming back to them.