PEDAL
ROUNDUP
“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-stomp-ing 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 meander-ings. 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 unex-
pected 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 Profes-
sor—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.
174 PREMIER GUITAR NOVEMBER 2011
