Niche, but “GOOD” Pedal Thread

[Unicorn Warrior]

Basically, I’m bored with all these really versatile pedals that cover a large pallet of sounds.

Sometimes, maybe you don’t want a feature laden pedal, but just one quality pedal that does the “thing” (whatever the thing is).

I want to hear more about pedals that may not be very versatile. Pedals that may not do a lot, but the one thing they do, they got it right. Maybe it’s something that’s hard for others to replicate. Maybe it is slightly versatile, but it does that “one” something else that’s just more unique than anything else you’ve heard. It’s all subjective. Doesn’t matter if it’s weird or just really excels.

I think of the rainbow machine from EQD, or maybe a lot of offerings from EQD and also death by audio stuff come to mind. Hard to make them work in many contexts, but in the right context they’re exactly the thing. There’s so many pedal makers now since the time those companies came into the scene. I can’t keep up with them all. I wanted to hear about something anyone has came across that has stood out.

What pedal is it? Or maybe it’s a brand? What is it designed to do? What does it do well?

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

Both makers have been around for quite some time now - so you might already know them. But both have grown as brands andso have their offerings both in quality and versatility.


Surfy Industries make as the name suggests - surfy stuff: like 6G15 outboard Reverb units with JFETs instead of tubes and they do it very very well.
They also make a Fender amp like Tremolo that is switchable between 61-63 Brown Panel (harmonic vibrato) and the classic Black/Silver Panel sound.

(I have both as the DIY kits from 2018 - they are now available as full functional pedals that also „eat everything“ polarity and voltage wise (in the beginning they were 12V+ only.

And a very special unit that doesn‘t do much but does this thing very well is their „Blossom Point“ that is like a „Presence“ knob (with added attenuator). It „turns every amp in a Brown panel amp on the edge of breakup“ if you want it to.

I haven‘t fully dived into their new stuff (Surfy Fuzz and Stereo Maker (ABY with width function), Surfy Vibe (Magnatron), Surfytrem Deluxe,…) but I love the stuff I have so far.

JPTR FX more experimental stuff in the spirit of DBA. But many of the old units don‘t exist any more.
The Super Weirdo caught my eye and ear and the demo back then was so weird that I had to have it - but I couldn‘t use it for my band so I sold it again.

The Jive is a Reel Saturation machine - with switchable gain stages would be the „doesn‘t do much but does a great job pedal“ - I use it to „tidy up/give some boost/some extra gain“ at the end of my chain. Their „Fernweh“ is a cool Dual Echo and „Kaleidoscope“ is a nice let’s say Shoegaze Reverb. They also have a „Bleach - Seattle Sound in a Box“ pedal and some Fuzz/Gain boxes.

[JackFawkes]

My favorite little-known pedal maker is Sushi Box FX; he's an electronics engineer by day and bass-playing pedal enthusiast by night. His schtick is using preamp vacuum tubes at full-voltage in compact stompboxes. To be perfectly honest, I'm probably slightly biased to his work since it gives me something useful to put my tiny collection of vintage valves into...
Anyways! He's got a pedal called the Black Eye which is basically an improved Soldano GTO and it's one of my favorite dirt pedals. There's also the More which is surprisingly good; just a single knob, it's basically the input section of the LA-2A leveling amplifier (i.e. a boost that adds beautiful depth). And finally there's the Finally, a gorgeous sounding DI that can also add in some tube saturation if desired.
I always feel weird when I start talking about Sushi Box (or Mazdas), because I don't want to sound like a fanboy, I just really love the product

Shoutout to some of my other niche favorites:
For me (as a Muff lover) Drunk Beaver's Ivan Mazepa is a great muff-adjacent FUZZ.
Speaking of the one-sound-pony that are Muffs, I always seem to come back to Wren & Cuff's White Elk.
And lastly, Fredric Effects' almost lo-fi sounding Regent 150 only has like one or two sweet spots in its knobs, but I weirdly love it.

Jack

[marqueemoon]

I wouldn’t say Bananana makes un-versatile pedals, but they make pedals that do things you didn’t know needed to be done.

I have their Matryoshka bass synth pedal and really like it. A great little chaos box.

[s_mcsleazy]

gamechanger audio plasma came right to mind. like, it's an AMAZING pedal. but it's a one trick pony imho.

mxr bluebox is a great pedal but kinda just good for lofi synthy bloop fart fuzz tones.

[JVG]

My whole pedal collection is comprised of fairly simple pedals. I realised a long time ago that (for me) more knobs only results in more faffing, not more creativity. Others manage to get good sounds from complex pedals, but I seek simplicity wherever possible.

The pedal style that most characterises the idea of “just doing one thing” (from my collection) is probably the Treble Booster. That said, I like the modern variants that have a switch to select the accentuated frequencies (eg Beano, Java).

TB before a mildly distorted amp or overdrive pedal = happy lead sounds (admittedly somewhat retro, but I like that).
TB after a tonebender or fuzzface = a focussed and more distinct fuzz, especially for chords.

[OffYourFace]

idk how niche you wanna get but I think the VB-2 fits. It does one thing and it's not a star player. I've used it for years just to add a bit movement. But I have to say that I've replaced it with the JHS 3 Series Chorus in Vibrato mode for two reasons.

A) it can get slower
B) since it's digital, it doesn't distort when I have a pitch shifter before it. Idk why but the VB-2 always crunches up with a pitch shifter in front of it (WH-5 or EHX PF Plus)

[interceptör]

You can't get more bare bones than one knob fuzz. Super fat chainsaw fuzz with guitar volume at max, vicious treble boost with guitar volume backed down. Or at least that's how my DIY pedal works.

[B.T.]

MXR Micro Flanger - With two knobs it does what I mostly end up using from its big brother MX-117 in a smaller and more pedalboard power supply friendly package. Looked like they discontinued them for a bit but gladly seeing they are back available again. Cool glow in the dark knob indicators, you can't beat that.

MXR Deep Phase - Idk wtf this is supposed to be based off of but when I was looking it was the only micro pedal phaser that nailed my Mu-Tron Phasor II. I really only use like two settings. One of which brings the "Golden years, gooooooold, whop, whop, whop".

Digitech Mosaic - 12 string in a box. I've been playing Ric's and Dano 12's for ages and ended up selling my last after I picked one of these up. I've heard Digitech is pretty much over with so I hope this will take me into the future where there's something comparable if and when it dies. As one trick as it gets but man does it do an insanely good job at that one trick.

[X-Ray Spex]

I wouldn’t say Bananana makes un-versatile pedals, but they make pedals that do things you didn’t know needed to be done.

I have their Matryoshka bass synth pedal and really like it. A great little chaos box.

+1 for Bananana effects, I have their Mandala for guitar and it absolutely rips.

The reverse delay and square wave trigger functions are the two I find myself using the most, but there's loads of other cool sounds in it

Really versatile pedal on my live board, I always get people asking me ''what is that?!?''

[therizzla]

DOD Vibrathang: It does its thing and I dig it. It's different from any other pedal or amp trem/vibrato I've ever used before. It always reminds me of a 50's UFO take off/landing movie sound effect.

Surfy Industries Blossom Point: This pedal just adds something. I use it mostly with my Quilters and it really makes my fuzz pedals sound like they're playing through an actual tube amp. On my Twin it sort of works like having an instant different amp flavor on hand.

Anything by Broughton I've tried just does what it does VERY well.

[cestlamort]

MXR Micro Flanger - With two knobs it does what I mostly end up using from its big brother MX-117 in a smaller and more pedalboard power supply friendly package. Looked like they discontinued them for a bit but gladly seeing they are back available again. Cool glow in the dark knob indicators, you can't beat that.

I’ve grown really fond of my micro flanger. It does a good impression of what I like from its bigger sibling (although not all, but most of what I want), is way cheaper and way lighter too. (The big one is a brick)

Not sure if it really fits but the Eventide Rose does great digital delay stuff and things I never thought a delay could do. (Like some cool flanger and chorus stuff). I feel I need to woodshed with it for a few months to really get my head around what it can do. (DD-2 impression plus so much more)

Ibanez ad80. Analog delay. Doesn’t go very long but sits perfectly

Boss DC2 / DC2w. Press button no 3 and you’re done. (Or at least I’m done).

[B.T.]

MXR Micro Flanger - With two knobs it does what I mostly end up using from its big brother MX-117 in a smaller and more pedalboard power supply friendly package. Looked like they discontinued them for a bit but gladly seeing they are back available again. Cool glow in the dark knob indicators, you can't beat that.

I’ve grown really fond of my micro flanger. It does a good impression of what I like from its bigger sibling (although not all, but most of what I want), is way cheaper and way lighter too. (The big one is a brick)

And the OG is noisy as fuck.

[OffYourFace]

MXR Micro Flanger - With two knobs it does what I mostly end up using from its big brother MX-117 in a smaller and more pedalboard power supply friendly package. Looked like they discontinued them for a bit but gladly seeing they are back available again. Cool glow in the dark knob indicators, you can't beat that.

I’ve grown really fond of my micro flanger. It does a good impression of what I like from its bigger sibling (although not all, but most of what I want), is way cheaper and way lighter too. (The big one is a brick)

And the OG is noisy as fuck.

The vintage ones? There's an easy fix, usually. Although, everyone has a different opinion of what 'noisy' is.

You gotta replace the main filter cap and the little tantalum caps. Sometimes the trimmers need to be re-calibrated too. It's still the best Flanger IMO. I don't use mine much but when I do it's rewarding.

[cestlamort]

My OG one isn’t noisy but an early reissue I tried out was unusable. Speaking of, the clone theory fits under this topic and one I got (as a backup) was more noise than signal. Thankfully, my laziness with having it fixed meant that I was able to sell it as is for more than I got it for originally.