Niche, but “GOOD” Pedal Thread

[MrShake]

Boss TE-2 Tera Echo. I thought it would be used on sparing occasions. It's been a year, and I still stomp on it ALL THE TIME. People say you can use it as a reverb or a delay, but I don't know how. It's more of a drippy modulation to me. You can set it for burbling murky textures, space laser battles, extended Hold drones, short stings or lingering plumes that take forever to dissipate.

And while I'm touting it's versatility, which it has, it's still a burbling, touch-sensitive swirl machine, and the way I use it, I definitely know when it's on.

[Steadyriot.]

Boss SG-1 is the first one to come to mind (I have the TC Electronics copy "Cresendo" in a box somewhere). I do not like volume pedals or pots for swells and that's exactly what this thing does. No nonsense, just swells. Slow swells, fast swells, all the swells.
Originals are crazy expensive but the copies are very affordable.

[X-Ray Spex]

Boss SG-1 is the first one to come to mind (I have the TC Electronics copy "Cresendo" in a box somewhere). I do not like volume pedals or pots for swells and that's exactly what this thing does. No nonsense, just swells. Slow swells, fast swells, all the swells.
Originals are crazy expensive but the copies are very affordable.

I actually just bought a Crescendo off of this post, I'd never really looked into auto-swell stuff before but it's actually a really complimentary effect for a lot of my playing style.

[Steadyriot.]

Boss SG-1 is the first one to come to mind (I have the TC Electronics copy "Cresendo" in a box somewhere). I do not like volume pedals or pots for swells and that's exactly what this thing does. No nonsense, just swells. Slow swells, fast swells, all the swells.
Originals are crazy expensive but the copies are very affordable.

I actually just bought a Crescendo off of this post, I'd never really looked into auto-swell stuff before but it's actually a really complimentary effect for a lot of my playing style.

I use auto-swell way more often that I'd ever expected as well! Hope it'll work for you too.

[Eljaguar]

I have been keeping an eye on Black Strap Electric for a while now. He specializes in recreating vintage fuzz pedals, such as the Maestros and Fuzz Faces. I really appreciate his aesthetics, and from what I’ve heard, his pedals truly capture that vintage feel. I have been considering having a custom pedal made by him to achieve that classic Shin-ei tone! Over the past few years, I have been gradually simplifying my rig, and the number of pedals in my life has decreased. Because of this, I’ve been hesitant to spend money on effects.

[marqueemoon]

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.

I was just messing with my treble booster yesterday, and yeah a niche pedal for sure, but for certain sounds nothing quite does that thing.

[hulakatt]

I have been keeping an eye on Black Strap Electric for a while now. He specializes in recreating vintage fuzz pedals, such as the Maestros and Fuzz Faces. I really appreciate his aesthetics, and from what I’ve heard, his pedals truly capture that vintage feel. I have been considering having a custom pedal made by him to achieve that classic Shin-ei tone! Over the past few years, I have been gradually simplifying my rig, and the number of pedals in my life has decreased. Because of this, I’ve been hesitant to spend money on effects.

Those look gorgeous! But... I did nearly choke on the price. That Zonk does look good though.

I'm a huge fan of the Shin Ei fuzzes and have the pair built from PigeonFX and have been hugely happy with them! Keep an eye out for them, they do pop up but not often. Their treble boosters are really nice too and are based on the HS design instead of the Dallas Rangemaster like everyone else.

[blacktiger]

I’ve gone through a few different pedals to make things weird (OBNE Dark Star, EHX Attack Decay, OBNE Minim) and have (for now) settled on the Pladask Elektrisk Baklengs. The description on their website says says it better than I could:

“BAKLENGS is a granular synthesizer. It can delay stuff, timestretch stuff, shuffle stuff, freeze stuff, pitch stuff upwards, pitch stuff downwards, fold back on itself through feedback and generally make lots of gnarly noises.”

It doesn’t really do “normal,” but it’s great for making weirdly beautiful sounds, especially paired with a good reverb.

[UpstairsDuck]

I’ve gone through a few different pedals to make things weird (OBNE Dark Star, EHX Attack Decay, OBNE Minim) and have (for now) settled on the Pladask Elektrisk Baklengs.

Ooh, I’ve got to check that out. The OBNE Dark Star (the new version at least) is my pick for pedal I thought would be niche but turns out I might actually like it better for more subtle stuff.

[blacktiger]

I’ve gone through a few different pedals to make things weird (OBNE Dark Star, EHX Attack Decay, OBNE Minim) and have (for now) settled on the Pladask Elektrisk Baklengs.

Ooh, I’ve got to check that out. The OBNE Dark Star (the new version at least) is my pick for pedal I thought would be niche but turns out I might actually like it better for more subtle stuff.

The Dark Star was great, but didn’t get quite weird enough. I do miss it though. The Baklengs definitely gets weirder, but always sounds good. I never really liked the in-between octave settings on the Dark Star - it was good all the way up or all the way down, anything else wasn’t my bag. Here’s one of the demo videos that sold me on the Baklengs:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hMcmHIQji7k

[JSett]

Anything Ampeg Scrambler shaped



Want your guitar to sound like it's cutting a portal to a really horrible dimension when playing lead lines? Or how about broken glass with chords?

Well, here you go! This baby does it. I've had one of these in some form or another for about 15 years, including originals. I love them, but they mostly stay in the drawer now. I currently have some Timhulio originals via his Fredric FX, which is probably the better version and more flexible, but the OG sized units are fun - the 90's reissue sounds WAY better than the '69 OG's for what it's worth.

[hulakatt]

+1 on the Scrambler! I have one that is a clone that was built into a NOS housing by someone who found a stash in a former ST Louis Music employee's garage during a garage sale.