Best New Guitar Effects Pedals of 2017

By Best Guitar Effects –

The Pedals of the Year are here!

There is no shortage of guitar effects pedals in the world. Every year thousands of pedal builders release countless new stompboxes for guitarists to obsess over. And likewise, there are plenty of guitar magazines and pedal blogs to find info about the latest and greatest, let alone the many enthusiastic voices on Instagram, YouTube, and in forums who seem to present every shiny new pedal they can get their hands on as if it’s the best thing since [insert your favorite pedal here].

But as strong as the hype may be sometimes, it’s important to not let yourself get carried away by the viewpoints of other people. At the end of the day your music will be better by following your ears and instincts and choosing the tools for tone that suit your needs. When researching pedals (or anything for that matter) it’s best to read widely and critically. Find views that are contrary to the norm and try to understand why someone else sees things differently. Keep an open mind, and you’ll often learn something new. Take this approach in pedal land, and you just may discover a whole new approach to making music.

Your Picks & Our Picks

We wanted to broaden everyone’s horizons with this roundup of Best New Guitar Effects Pedals of the Year 2017. We surveyed our readers and cross-referenced their votes with our own perspectives on the pedals released in 2017 to determine which ones are the overall best.

We’ve split our list into two parts. First, you’ll see 9 of the top picks based primarily on reader voting & public opinion. Then we’ll show you 8 BGE Team Picks that showcase some of our other personal favorites. Since this article is a collaborative effort written by 4 members of the BGE team (Jake, Paul, Anda, & Gabe), we’ll each present you 2 pedals in the Team Picks section.

And we’ll wrap things up with a special shout-out to the Best New Pedal Builder of 2017. Now here are the Best New Pedals of the Year 2017!

First up is the pedal that received the most votes from our readers…

Empress Effects Echosystem

Builder: Empress Effects, Pedal: Echosystem, Effect Type: Delay

No one knew for sure that this was coming, but everyone was hoping it was. The Empress Reverb was a strong contender to replace all those big multi-algorithm reverb pedals out there, and many of us were soon looking at our multi-algorithm delays and wondering if our time together was also running out. The very first time I heard that Empress Effects was going to build a delay pedal on the platform of the Empress Reverb I was like, “OMG. This is going to be HUGE!” Not to mention the Echosystem is the successor to beloved Empress Superdelay. I first got to play with the Echosystem at Winter NAMM 2017, in fact, I got to take the NAMM prototype home to begin beta testing. I recall being immediately intrigued by the dual-delay engine. “Wait… you mean this is actually TWO delays and they can work together in perfect unison??” Right away, I knew we had a winner.

The Empress Echosystem is based on nearly the exact same layout of the Empress Reverb. Nearly all the same knobs, switches, and ins and outs are here. If you love the Reverb, adding the Echosystem to your board will be easy as pie. The Echosystem has a dozen different modes/delay types with 36 different sub-modes at the time of this writing. The dual-delay engine allows any two of these sub-modes to be paired together and ran A into B, B into A, or in parallel (split left/right when using the pedal in stereo). That alone is enough reason to stop reading this and just go buy one. If you need more than that, allow me to continue. The EchoSystem has all the usual controls like TIME, MIX, OUTPUT, FEEDBACK, and TONE. Empress adds a couple more exclusive controls with THING 1 and THING 2; these do very interesting and different things in each mode. You also get stereo ins and outs and a Universal Control Port that uses a 1/4″ jack to handle expression, external tap, voltage, and MIDI. Full MIDI implementation (via the Empress Midibox, sold separately) and expression/CV control are at your fingertips with the EchoSystem. A speaker cabinet Simulator keeps things sounding right when you don’t have an amp around and want to just go direct into your DAW. Thankfully, with all of this you will be able to save and recall to 35 preset slots. One of the greatest features of the Echosystem is the fact that you get the latest and greatest of everything for many years to come with the ability to update the firmware. What does this mean? Well, if you want to be involved, you can join the Empress Voting Forum and actually make suggestions and join in on discussions about fixing bugs and adding features to your pedal. If you don’t want to be involved, you can simply go to the Empress website and download the latest firmware at any time. The pedal actually has an SD card slot allowing for the easiest firmware updates in the industry. There is something really cool about not being left out in the cold, and this pedal truly gets better with age.

The Empress Effects Echosystem makes the list because this thing is a game changer, and game changers always move to the front of the line in our book. This pedal also became the main delay for both my live board as well as my studio board. Just everything about it was superior to the other multi-algorithm delay I was using at the time. None of this fancy stuff matters without great tones/sounds, and what I was hearing coming out of the EchoSystem was just the best delay sounds ever. Not only do you get these pristine digital delay tones (they’re all digital, of course), but you also will find some of the best tape and analog emulations in the industry. My preference is for the odd, nasty, lo-fi sounds and, this is where it really shines for me on a personal level. You have a mode called Lo-Fi, but you also have some other very interesting modes that can be tweaked in ways that inspire and take your music in directions that are sure to satisfy your craving for “something different.” The other multi-algorithm delay I was using had too many limitations for me. For starters, I’ve been using that one since 2010b and since that time we have never seen anything new in the way of modes/sub modes. No new sounds. Just the same old, same old since its release. The desire to push things further made it a no-brainer for getting the Echosystem onto my boards. And likewise, a majority of Best Guitar Effects readers voted more for this pedal above all others, crowning the Empress Effects Echosystem as 2017’s Pedal of the Year.

Chase Bliss Audio Brothers

Builder: Chase Bliss Audio, Pedal: Brothers, Effect Type: Overdrive/Boost/Fuzz

Are you looking for a new and unique way to add gain to your tone? Shut up, of course you are. The only problem is, there are a million different pedals and a million different ways to add gain, so which one do you choose? For your consideration: the Chase Bliss Brothers adds that gain in all the ways. It’s got two complementary, all-analog drive circuits, each with a Boost, Overdrive, and Fuzz voicing, paired in two-way serial or parallel, full midi functionality, presets, expression/CV input, and 16 dip-switches for all sorts of expression goodness. Woof.

I have to make a concerted effort to not get sentimental when I talk about this pedal. We’ve just had so many good memories together; I’ve had it acting as the only gain source on my board since May and it’s only gotten deeper as I’ve grown more attached to it. While Chase Bliss‘s signature dipswitch fleet can be intimidating, the Brothers is best grasped by starting at the knobs and getting comfortable with it through the mindset of playing through two very simple drive pedals. On Side A we have a warm JFET circuit, but for the readers to whom that classification makes any difference, “JFET” doesn’t quite do the tone justice. I still can’t get over that the circuit is based on an old projector amplifier, the progeny of Resonant Electronic Design’s Field Effects line of inventive drive pedals. Side B is Joel Korte’s IC design and harkens to a modern-feeling, “updated Screamer” vibe. The tonestacks on both sides focus on different facets of the frequency spectrum; Side A emphasizes transparency, letting more of the inherent tone of your guitar shine through, while Side B boosts the mid-range, further balancing out the mid-high, tight nature of the IC circuit.

Of course, we can’t ignore the more unorthodox features of the Brothers; they’re a big part of why it made the list! Namely, the ability to route the Brothers’ gain stages from A to B, B to A, or simultaneously in parallel, makes for incredible tonal flexibility. Want some ear-blasting riffbait that doesn’t obliterate your notes? Try Side A’s dense fuzz into Side B’s super clean boost. Want to warm up your overdrive tone with a gain that kinda-sorta cleans up? Pop overdrive B into a rolled back fuzz A. Need dirt but want to keep your high-end clarity? Run Side A’s overdrive parallel to Side B’s boost. Couple that with the back-mounted dip-switches that allow for pinpoint selection of which parameters you’d like controlled by your expression pedal; crossfading the tones of the two circuits simultaneously via expression is my favorite thing. It’s no surprise the Brothers was one of the most popular pedals of 2017: it’s a damn masterpiece.

Are there any drawbacks? The only thing I’ve experienced that I know is a deliberate built in feature to the Brothers is that when you engage either circuit when the pedal is fully bypassed there’s a few milliseconds of complete signal loss. This was designed into the Brothers to prevent any sudden voltage-change “pops” when the analog circuits are activated. In a band context you don’t even notice it, and this design choice is more than likely adding to the lifespan of your speaker by sparing it the jarring experience of having to disperse all that extra energy. Of course if it bothers you, you can bypass the mute entirely by just leaving the Brothers on for the rest of your life and adding dirt to taste with the expression in or automating it with your favorite DAW.

Read the Chase Bliss Audio Brothers review

Hologram Electronics Infinite Jets

Builder: Hologram Electronics, Pedal: Infinite Jets, Effect Type: Guitar Synthesizer

My first impressions of either of the strong offerings from Hologram Electronics hover somewhere between massively impressed and somewhat overwhelmed. I have thought of Hologram as kind of “smart effects for players that are smarter than me.” In other words, I felt they were over my head. I decided to tackle the review of the Infinite Jets last month and decided to just lock myself in a room until I either needed more water or I understood this incredible little box inside and out. The first few times I sat with this pedal I was just amazed at what was coming out of it. I was putting in very minimal effort as far as what I was playing, yet out the other end was just a symphony of incredible awesomeness. And who doesn’t want that?

The Infinite Jets is a dual-channel synth with all the bells and whistles and complete control you’d ever hope for. You will find four effects, Blur, Synth, Glitch, and Swell, with a total of 10 sub modes. There are three ways of sampling: Mono, Poly, and Manual. In Mono mode, the sampling engines work independently of one another and never overlap. This is useful for creating more clarity. Think of dialing back the feedback on a delay – same idea. In Poly mode, the sampling engines will overlap in the most beautiful way, creating a seamless wash of your signal. In Manual mode, you’re in control. You decide when to trigger the sampling engines using the foot switches. Those switches can also be set up in momentary, latching, or toggle. Plenty of “have it your way” is found on this pedal. Thankfully with all of this you have the ability to save a couple of presets. This was super useful when tinkering around. Additional control can be found in the LFO and Envelope controls. You have control over the LFO depth, shape, and frequency. You also have control over the Envelope shape and control over the effects duration with envelope times all the way out to infinity. The Dimension control is the magic knob on this pedal. It allows for interesting manipulations of parameters unique to each effect type. Sometimes it’s a high pass filter, sometimes it’s a sample playback length (which feels like a delay time). It really is the magic. You can also record up to 10 seconds of movement or automation of knobs. This is super handy since twisting that Dimension knob is super fun and musical but kinda hard to do while you’re playing. You also, of course, have the option for full expression control over knob movements. The signal path, including the drive and tone controls, is all analog, but you have digital control over them. This really is the synth pedal you are looking for, and then some.

It was a fairly simple decision to put this on the Pedals of the Year list. There have been so many posts about this pedal having a similar effect on people as it had on me, personally. My friend, Darren Jackson, released an album last week and the Infinite Jets is so obvious on one of his songs that I correctly identified it immediately. That says something when you can do that, when a pedal as a voice all its own. I have a studio of my own and the Infinite Jets is going to have a permanent place there as the “go-to” box for when I am stuck in a creative rut and I just need help finding a better way. Another bonus is the fact that this pedal has a wet/dry blend knob. I have bought and then sold so many pedals over the years that were freaky in a good way and did things that I just LOVED, but without a blend knob to make the effect more subtle, there was often no way for me to use them in a practical band setting. The Glitch mode is probably my personal favorite. Something about chopping up that incoming signal into the most incredible delay/tremolo kinds of sounds is something that I love. Another strong point is the ability to calibrate this pedal to the incoming audio signal. I used it on guitar, bass, and electric piano, and it shines across the entire spectrum. I went from knowing almost nothing about the Infinite Jets to having it as a staple in the studio. Infinite Jets, we easily crown thee, one of the best of 2017.

Read the Hologram Electronics Infinite Jets review

Keeley Electronics D&M Drive

Builder: Keeley Electronics, Pedal: D&M Drive, Effect Type: Boost/Overdrive

At a glance the Keeley Electronics D&M Drive may look like just another boost and overdrive combo pedal (with a beautiful sparkly orange finish), but it’s so much more than meets the eye. A collaborative effort between Keeley Electronics and Dan & Mick from That Pedal Show, the D&M Drive boasts 2 separate drive channels: a clean boost/mild overdrive on the right and a mid to high-gain overdrive on the left.

The Boost side is akin to a Keeley Katana boost on steroids, providing plenty of ultra high-headroom clean boost on tap. With the Gain rolled all the way down, the signal remains clean. There’s some subtle added definition to the mid-range, and the top end gains an almost high-definition quality. There’s plenty of output volume on tap as well. You could use this channel to add a little magic to your clean tone or balance your guitar sound when switching between single-coils and humbuckers. But of course, that’s not as fun as using this channel a slam into a preamp on the verge of or just starting to breakup. Use the Tone to mellow out the highs of a Strat or Tele or brighten up a Les Paul. Not to mention as you boost the Gain, the Boost side has a whole range of light to mild overdrive of its own to impart on your sound.

Yes, the Boost side alone is enough to make a very solid pedal, but the Drive side is a whole ‘nother monster that greater extends the D&M Drive’s versatility. Kicking on the Drive engulfs your guitar in a rich, full-bodied (sounds like we’re talking about beer) saturation that harkens back to the thick overdrive sounds on your favorite classic rock records. Now try kicking on the Boost in front of the Drive sound to kick it up into a higher gain lead solo tone. Harmonics practically scream from your speakers, and the raunchy swagger of this ordering is great for an 80’s LA rock ‘n roll vibe. Flip the order to feed the Drive into the Boost, and you’ll got yet another flavor of grit on tap.

The D&M Drive has several other nifty features and design efficiencies going for it. Labeling the order flip-switch positions “Drive First” and “Boost First” ensures first timers know what they’re hearing when experimenting with combinations. The foot-switches are adequately spaced to avoid accidentally stomping on both at once yet close enough so that you can do so when needed. An optional TRS I/O mode lets you route each channel to different loops on an effects switcher, a brilliant addition for professional guitar rigs. Thankfully, Keeley Electronics also uses non-relay bypass switches, so the D&M Drive’s channels can be set to always be active when powered up, another boon for guitarists who rely on an effects switcher. All the jacks are top-mounted as well to ensure that the wider form factor takes up as little ‘board space as possible. The power jack might be a little too close to the audio jacks when using some brands of cable, but it’s worth upgrading your patch cables for a pedal that sounds this good.

Read the Keeley Electronics D&M Drive review

EarthQuaker Devices Data Corrupter

Builder: EarthQuaker Devices, Pedal: Data Corrupter, Effect Type: PLL/Fuzz

The mad scientists in Akron have done it again. The Data Corrupter is one of the latest offerings from Earthquaker Devices and is one of the best pedals of the year for 2017. We have seen some great offerings from Earthquaker Devices of late, and this is no exception. The Data Corrupter is loosely based on the Electrax Sythax and the “Basic Frequency Synthesizer” by Ray Marston, only with better tracking and sustain. Earthquaker Devices have created their spin on the familiar PLL-style pedal with an incredible fuzz/modulation/octave/oscillator machine that is sure to corrupt everything you feed into it and will destroy everything in its path. If you have a pair of stiff new speakers to break in, this may be the ideal way get that done and have lots of fun at the same time!

According to the manual, The Data Corrupter is an analog PLL harmonizer with modulation that takes your input signal and brutally amplifies it into a crushing square wave fuzz, multiplies it, divides it, then modulates it into a three-voice synthesizer. Need I go on? They pretty much had me at “brutally amplifies”. At the heart of this signal destroyer is the Master Oscillator. The three-position switch on the oscillator control feeds your input into either Unison, -1 Octave, or -2 Octave. Use this to fine tune the tracking response for your preferred instrument. From here, the Data Corrupter will do the science and split off a synthesized frequency. Further controls allow you to select the octave/interval as well as the volume of this voice. The Frequency Modulator applies pitch-bend modulation to the Master Oscillator. A Glide Mode gives you a smooth portamento as each note slides into the next. In Vibrato Mode, the pitch modulates up and down in a retro sci-fi effect. The Subharmonic assimilates the input into one of eight lower octave programs between one and three octaves below the input. The Square Control blends in a great sounding square wave fuzz which I thought sounded great on its own! And all this is barely scratching the surface of all the options this pedal has.

Those not familiar with a PLL (Phase Locked Loop) will be surprised by how interesting and finicky these things can be! A PLL takes your input signal and compares its phase and frequency against an oscillator, generates an output proportional to their difference then feeds it back into the oscillator. This causes the oscillator to lock onto the input signal and generate a synthesized frequency. Serious science going on here. So what does that sound like? Well, it’s a super thick, nasty undertone with funky octaves and harmonics all over the place. Tracking inconsistencies will make things feels pretty loose and random as you noodle around the fretboard. The Data Corrupter is semi-controlled chaos in pedal form and is ready to take your guitar to spontaneously fragmented new places.

Boss/JHS Pedals JB-2 Angry Driver

Builder: Boss/JHS, Pedal: JB-2, Effect Type: Overdrive/Distortion

What happens when the legendary Boss teams up with US builder, JHS Pedals? Guitarists get angry. That’s right, we’re talkin’ about the JB-2 Angry Driver.

The JB-2 combines Boss’ classic BD-2 Blues Driver with a variation of JHS Pedals’ own Angry Charlie. The Boss BD-2 first debuted in 1995 and quickly became renowned for its clarity and note definition, an amp-like overdrive character, and a dynamic playability that overdrives your guitar signal in proportion to the strength of your pick attack. The JHS Pedals Angry Charlie has also become popular in recent years due to its ability to produce great high gain British style overdrive and distortion tones. Pair the two in one box and you get a highly formidable rock ‘n roll machine capable of igniting your guitar sound with a wide palette of drive tones.

Each circuit has 3 adjustable controls (Drive, Tone, & Level) spread across a trio of dual-concentric knobs. The far right Mode knob is a 6 position rotary encoder that selects the drive circuit(s) in use, alters the routing when using both at once, and affects the functionality of the onboard foot-switch and any external switch connected via the Remote jack. The 6 Mode options in counter-clockwise order are: JHS Angry Charlie by itself, Boss JB-2 by itself, a Toggle mode that lets you flip back and forth between the circuits by pressing the foot-switch, Series JHS → Boss, Series Boss → JHS, and a Parallel mode for playing through both circuits side-by-side. This feature set gives you a huge amount of flexibility for creating familiar and all-new overdrive and distortion tones along with a few different ways to conveniently access these sounds during a live performance.

As for the sounds in action of this unique collaborative pedal, the BD-2 and Angry Charlie are indeed a rock solid combo that pair well together. The Boss circuit produces an excellent range of lower-gain to moderate drive sounds, accurately reproducing the results that its predecessor is known for. Whether you’re just adding a touch of grit to your clean sound, pushing a slightly overdriven amp over the edge, or saturating your tone for a searing solo, the Boss circuit has it all covered. The JHS ciruit takes it from there and kicks everything up a notch, specializing in “angry” drive tones with a warm growl. Whereas the Boss circuit seems to have a broader spectrum of tonal response, the JHS circuit is darker in character and has a pleasing smoothness across the low-end and midrange, giving it muscle and a menacing aggression. Both circuits are great for creating an amp-like drive response and cross perform well at mid-gain settings, albeit with different colors.

Things get more interesting when you pair the circuits. A recommended setting is running the BD-2 on lower Drive settings into the Angry Charlie, like a drive pedal hitting the front of a roaring Marshall amp. Also, you can’t go wrong with running both circuits in parallel for massive drive tones that retain a surprising amount of definition on the low-end. Boss and JHS Pedals have a winner with the JB-2 Angry Driver, and it’s a solid entry among our Pedals of the Year for 2017.

Electro Harmonix Canyon Delay & Looper

Builder: EHX, Pedal: Canyon, Effect Type: Delay/Looper

The Electro Harmonix Canyon Delay & Looper was an early release for 2017, but it remains one of the year’s very best. This affordable compact multi-algorithm delay pedal is packed with features and sounds that offer value well beyond its very reasonable price point. Do not mistake this for a beginner’s throw-away delay. If you haven’t played this pedal yet, put the Canyon at the top of your must-try list.

The Canyon’s big draw are it’s 11 different modes. Echo & Mod give you variations of a digital style delay; Echo is just a simple dry delay while Mod adds some smooth modulation to your wet signal. The Multi mode is a multi-tap delay that adds a series of taps at even spacing and consistent volume level. The Canyon’s Reverse delay is a standout with an “intelligent” reverse echo that tracks your playing to help create optimal reverse delay sounds. The DMM setting is another favorite, emulating the iconic EHX Deluxe Memory Man analog delay pedal. You can even access secondary knob functions to activate DDM style Chorus & Vibrato modulation. When I first played the Canyon, the Tape mode is where I initially spent most of my time. This setting has a nice saturation and modulated sound, and these parameters can also be accessed as secondary knob functions. There’s also a versatile Reverb mode that can put a plate reverb on your delay repeats or be used as a stand-alone reverb when you cut the Feedback all the way down. A secondary low-pass function is very useful for dampening your high-end to suit your guitar sound.

The following trio of “weird” delay modes are all top-tier. The Octave delay does the ascending octave sound better than any other pedal I’ve heard, probably due to EHX’s excellent pitch-shifting as seen in pedals like the Pitch Fork, POG2, & HOG2. The Shimmer mode is yet another strong mode with a modulated octave cloud that floats along with your playing. These rich sounds are achieved by emulating a chain of 4 pedals: compression, pitch-shifter, delay/mod, and another delay/mod. But don’t worry about how it’s happening; just enjoy the beautiful sounds produced. The S/H setting is a Sample-and-hold mode that grabs a note or chord you play and repeats it until you play something else. This mode is a ton of fun for controlled glitchy sounds. Turn the Delay time knob while a held note is repeat to speed it up and slow it back down without changing the pitch.

As if all that wasn’t enough, the Canyon gives you a 62-second Looper as well. Plug in an external tap-switch to tap in your tempo with a choice of ¼ notes, dotted 8ths, or 8th notes. The Canyon has offered a big serving of multi-delay excellence. Until EHX enters the arena of big-box multi-delays, the Canyon will likely remain their best overall delay pedal. The amount of great delay tones the Canyon offers is hard to beat in this price range.

Chase Bliss Audio Tonal Recall RKM

Builder: Chase Bliss Audio, Pedal: Tonal Recall RKM, Effect Type: Analog Delay

Here’s another pedal that made the list due to a very high vote count from our readers. The original Chase Bliss Audio Tonal Recall was one of last year’s best pedals without dispute. CBA engineer, Joel Korte, managed to take reissued MN3005 bucket brigade delay chips and stuff them into a reasonably small enclosure with more features than any other analog delay pedal that came before. 2017’s Tonal Recall Red Knob Mod, or “RKM” for short, doubles the original unit’s 550ms delay time to 1100ms courtesy of 2 extra MN3005 chips.

The Tonal Recall RKM’s massive feature-set also includes an all analog signal path, 2 onboard presets, 122 presets available via MIDI, deep MIDI functionality, tap tempo, hold for oscillation, modulation, CV/EXP input, Ramping for automating parameter movement, buffered & true bypass operation, and 16 dip-switches for further augmenting how the pedal behaves.

Any other differences to note? Well, the original Tonal Recall was one of the quietest analog delays around. The RKM is slightly noisier due to the 2 extra BBDs, but the repeats stay cleaner longer before breakup than the original Tonal Recall. The RKM also has a more musical oscillation than the original. But for many guitarists, the big decision comes down to whether or not you need the extra long delay time afforded by the extra MN3005s and $100 cost difference. More good news: if you’re already an owner of the original tonal recall, you can upgrade it to RKM specs through Chase Bliss Audio. Whether you choose the original or the RKM, BGE readers loved the Tonal Recall in 2016, loved the RKM in 2017, and will likely still love all iterations of this instant classic analog delay pedal in 2018 and beyond.

DigiTech FreqOut

Builder: DigiTech, Pedal: FreqOut, Effect Type: Feedbacker

Always on the hunt for the most interesting and super complicated pedals I can find, I often step back and just make sure I have the basics covered, too. The less exciting things out there like tuners, boosts, and buffers can also be the most important parts of the rig. Sometimes the least complicated effects yield the greatest results. Most players would think “What’s so exciting about a feedbacker?” I mean, it’s not like it does a lot, and how often are you really even going to be using it? I recall jamming a lot in the early days on these high-gain rigs in the basement blowing out my ears and loving the easily conjured natural feedback tones. Throw in that whammy bar and AH!! Guitar heaven! Then reality set in… Maturity and playing shows at “stage volume” pretty much killed the natural feedback. It wasn’t until I borrowed my buddy’s Gretsch hollow body that I found that sweet heaven again, if only for a moment, but I wanted MORE! The DigiTech FreqOut is the answer for instantly summoning natural sounding feedback tones in an unprecedented seven different harmonic tone options. This ensures you will always find the right feedback tone that works perfectly for the moment at hand.

The FreqOut’s control surface is nicely laid out with two knobs, two toggles, and one on/off switch adorning the pedal. It’s a very simple design yet is loaded with plenty of options. The Range knob is a center/ring arrangement with the center knob adjusting the gain. This is more of a “mix” knob controlling how much of the feedback signal is mixed with the dry signal. The ring adjusts the Onset, or rise time of the feedback signal. The Type knob allows you to select one of seven different feedback harmonic types. Options here include Sub (-1 octave), 1st (first harmonic/unison), 2nd (second harmonic), 3rd (third harmonic), 5th (fifth harmonic), NAT LOW (natural lower harmonic), and NAT HIGH (natural lower harmonic). The Momentary toggle lets you toggle between momentary and latching options for the switch. This is handy for using it quickly, activating the effect only a choice note during a solo. Or you can use Latching mode to let the pedal remain on until you manually bypass it. I prefer momentary mode, sneaking it in and out at will. The Dry switch allows you to toggle between having your dry signal off or on while the feedback is enabled. Possibly the coolest part of this pedal is the array of nine LED’s to the left of the pedal that give you real-time feedback of the feedback signal showing the rise time as it comes in. Single input and output jacks are located on the right and left side of the pedal with a top-mount, 9v (235mA) power jack.

Using the FreqOut is fun and simple. The results are exactly the way you would expect them to be with no surprises. For something really interesting set the toggle for momentary off and dry off. Then use an ebow and a slide. You still get the same ebow-type tones, but with interesting results when you select different harmonic tones. I plan to put this into a recording sometime very soon. If you have ever been a fan of feedback tones and you wish to have that on command even at a low-gain, “stage volume” situation, at home, or in the studio, the DigiTech FreqOut is definitely a must-have pedal of 2017.

Pedals of the Year – BGE Team Picks

In addition to the pedals listed above, here are a few of our other personal favorite pedals of 2017. When we polled our readers, the mainstream didn’t vote as highly for some of these pedals, most likely because they simply weren’t aware of them. It’s our job to change that. We think these pedals deserve to be on your radar because they offer new innovations and sounds worth exploring. Best Guitar Effects’ contributing writers, Jake, Paul, Anda, and Gabe, are each covering 2 pedals for the list. And we put our team “pics” on “picks”. Couldn’t resist… Sorry, not sorry.

Boss MS-3 Multi Effects Switcher

Builder: Boss, Pedal: MS-3, Effect Type: Multi-Effects/Effects Switcher

When I first heard about the Boss MS-3 Multi Effects Switcher coming down the line, I thought, “What a cool idea.” But like a lot of guitar players who are skeptical of multi-effects systems, I also had my doubts. Still, I was VERY curious. I picked up my first MS-3 with some level of skepticism. One of those things where you don’t rip the box, and you don’t remove the plastic film from the display, and you don’t even put any velcro on because you don’t wanna kill the resale value. I plugged in and started poking around. “Wait. What?? That sounds really good.” Still a bit skeptical, I added a bit of velcro to the bottom and built a small mock-up board around this thing. I did my best for the next week or so to try and make it suck in some way. I had already been using the Boss ES-8 for the past year, so much of this was picked up easily and, in fact, I felt like some of the switching and MIDI performance of the MS-3 exceeded that of the ES-8. Then, one day, it hit me. I didn’t really even want to admit this because it meant a LOT of work was headed my way, but I realized that my pedalboard life had just been turned upside down. The next morning I took my very large, beautiful, pedalboard apart. In a matter of minutes it went from absolute perfection to a pile of near-useless cables and wood. As much as I hated to see it go, it was time to build the future with the MS-3 and, man, was I looking forward to that!

The Boss MS-3 Multi Effects Switcher is much like the now very familiar ES-8 in style and general appearance, with a much smaller footprint like the ES-5. It also includes nearly all of the functionality while boasting an incredible collection of 112 different effect types, each having several sub groups of effects. For example, one of the 112 effect types is “OD/Distortion”, and within that effect type you will find 21 different varieties of boost, overdrive, distortion, and fuzz. I’ve never counted each and every single option, but it’s staggering. That alone would put this thing on my board as a multi-effect. But it doesn’t end there. The MS-3 gives you full control over MIDI compatible pedals via its MIDI Out as well as 3 audio loops for patching in standard non-MIDI pedals. I know what you’re thinking at this point. “Only 3 loops??” But I have an MS-3 on two of my pedalboards, and I’m only using one loop in one MS-3 and two in the other. The MS-3 will set you free. You can control up to 8 MIDI devices at a time, a limit I have also not even closely reached. I have one MIDI pedal on one board, and I have four MIDI pedals on the other. The idea is to use the internal effects when and where possible. Boss has included many of its legendary classics in variations of Chorus, Flanger, Compressor, and a slew of Delay and Reverb modes as well as some less common goodies like Slow Gear, Defretter, Feedbacker, and Slicer among others. With all of that at your feet, the MS-3 would actually work well as a stand-alone pedalboard on its own for most of you out there. Where I personally needed a little reinforcement was in the weird kind of Lo-Fi dirt selections and to some degree the delays. The weakest link, for me, is the reverb. With everything the way it comes, the MS-3 would work very well for MOST of us. I just need a little help with the weird sounds that I need for my own personal enjoyment. Each foot-switch on the unit can be programmed to do any multitude of tasks. The intuitive and sophisticated graphics display makes it easy to know where you are at any given moment. The Boss MS-3 really does the job of being a catch-all, do-all for guitar effects. The needs of every player are thoughtfully considered here for sure, and when you include the incredible editing software, it’s just an obvious choice.

When I began playing guitar it was just an old Ibanez Iceman into a pawn shop Peavey Backstage. No pedals. Sadly, it was that way for years. Then around 1999, I picked up a brand new Boss GT-3. I was simply amazed, and I recall playing the first show with that thing and all these older musicians were all looking at it like it was a spaceship or something. For years I stuck with the GT series. It wasn’t until I bought one of the very first Strymon Timelines that the spell was broken. From then on, it was individual pedals all the way, and it stayed that way until this year… until the MS-3. Pedalboard insanity is cool and all, but for the past 7 years, I just kind of felt like I was fixing a problem that never existed in the first place. Many of the effects within the MS-3 are from some of the older GT Series units. Many of them we loved, and many we could do without. I was told by a Boss insider, the engineers at Boss went back into the lab for this one. They re-tooled each and every effect by giving them greater sonic characteristics as well as giving them greater control options to make them easier to dial in. When you give the MS-3 a chance, you’ll likely find something here that really changes things AND is something that you actually love the sound of. After all, what good is any of this tech if it doesn’t sound good? I think we can all agree that we’ve spent years where the tech exceeded the tone. Like anything, these things take time to get right. Well, Boss has gotten it right with the MS-3. If you ask me for my personal Pedal of the Year, this is it, hands down.

Effectrode LA-1A Leveling Amplifier

Builder: Effectrode, Pedal: LA-1A, Effect Type: Guitar Compressor

The Effectrode LA-1A Leveling Amplifier is a guitar compressor pedal inspired by the Teletronix LA-2A, the famous rack unit often regarded as the greatest compressor of all-time. And this isn’t the first time Effectrode has interpreted the optical tube classic; Effectrode’s PC-2A was already one of the best compressor pedals around. So what more could be done?

Well, the PC-2A offers a distinct edge over the LA-2A in terms of potential performance improvements for guitar and other instruments (aside from the obvious benefit of it being a small pedal and not a giant piece of rack gear). Within the PC-2A are dedicated Attack & Knee trimpots that allow you to perfectly calibrate the pedal to your instrument of choice. Eventually, musicians started asking for mods to make these controls external. David Gilmour of Pink Floyd is a noteworthy user of a modified PC-2A with external Attack & Knee knobs. And so a big mission of the LA-1A was to put Attack & Knee controls on the surface of the pedal. But that’s not all…

In deciding to initiate the LA-1A project, Effectrode also set out on a new mission: to create the quietest compressor ever built in any format. Low quality compressor pedals are often notorious for adding unwanted background noise, and thus the intent of achieving clean sustain, more volume, and a smoother audio signal is often compromised. To achieve the LA-1A’s incredibly low noise floor, Effectrode equipped the pedal with a parallel tube plate design that uses 4 identical input tube stages to achieve the highest possible signal to noise ratio. Audiophiles familiar with high-end phonograph preamps may be familiar with this technology. It’s an expensive form of noise reduction which has never before been implemented in a stompbox guitar pedal. What does this mean in layman’s terms? For preserving low-noise signal integrity during audio compression, the LA-1A is second to none.

There are a few other features and aspects of the LA-1A worth noting. The pedal also offers a foot-switchable boost section providing up to +6dB of real tube boost. There’s a Dynamic EQ switch that introduces a musical emphasis on the upper frequencies as you increase the compression of your audio signal. An external TRS foot-switch can be used for remote switching of the bypass & boost functions. There’s also a transformer isolated TRS balanced output for connecting to a mixer or audio interface and a gain pad (+6dB, +12dB, or +18dB) for matching output with any line or instrument level signal. And as another performance difference compared to the PC-2A, the LA-1A removes the Compress/Limit switch (a legacy feature from the LA-2A) since the Knee control on the LA-1A provides a more responsive and variable response between compression and limiting performance. In summary, the Effectrode LA-1A is the quietest, most featured packed, and most versatile iteration of this legendary style of photo-optical tube compressor.

Alexander Pedals Syntax Error

Builder: Alexander Pedals, Pedal: Syntax Error, Effect Type: distortion/ring mod/frequency shifter

Despite its ‘80’s arcade theme, the Alexander Pedals Syntax Error is not your dad’s effect pedal; unless of course your dad is a Galaga cabinet. Those of you who haven’t done much research on this lovely little time machine may see the Sample knob and think, “oh jeez, another bit-crusher,” and you’d be about… seven percent right. Thanks to the 32-bit micro-controller in this bad boy, the Syntax Error is more of a tiny computer than most pedals its size. The power contained in the un-ironically named “Audio Computer System” lends its users four different modes (Stretch, Ring, Cube, and Freq) controlled by six expression-enabled digital pots in a lean, four-knob form factor. Alexander’s cleverly-implemented omni-jack next to the output offers MIDI control and presets, CV, and expression pedal control if that’s your thing. There’s also a USB jack on the back of the pedal, and while there is no editor software up on Alexander’s site as of yet, it’s a pretty safe bet that a long-term goal could be to allow deeper user customization and/or firmware updates.

Let’s talk about the Syntax Error’s different modes. Stretch runs your signal through a variable-speed buffer, warping and repeating the notes played. By dialing the Code knob, you change the speed of the buffer which changes the direction in which the signal is played back. It ranges from normal speed to complete reverse. This creates some seriously glitchy dragging effects that at times seem to operate entirely independently from your playing. Next is Cube which is an algorithmic distortion run through a low-pass filter. If that concept confuses you, just think of it this way: (abs(INPUT3))3. That’s math for crazy cubic distortion. Cube is MEAN, and the tones in its wheelhouse range from angry distorted filter to pissed off distorted synth to irate distorted… distortion. Ring is a sample-and-hold/ring-mod combo that can do normal ring modulation sounds and spontaneous, glitchier sounding ring mod with the sample-and-hold kicked in. Finally, Freq is a bode-like frequency shifter with delay, opening up cascading dissonance.

The Syntax Error is a versatile pedal for guitarists wanting to dig in with many shades of weird. Thanks to the additional functionality like presets and MIDI control to make use of its many different sounds in a live performance, Alexander Pedals has ensured that the Syntax Error is more than a mere novelty, it’s one of the year’s best pedals.

Read the Alexander Pedals Syntax Error review

TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 Reverb

Builder: TC Electronic, Pedal: Hall of Fame 2, Effect Type: Reverb

The TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 Reverb expands on its predecessor with addition of the in-demand Shimmer reverb effect, a new Mash expression foot switch, and two more TonePrint slots, for a total of 3.

The onboard Shimmer effect is quite lovely, more choral than sparkling. The Tone knob intuitively opens up the shimmering high end. It was a great move of TC to add this. The onboard Tile, Ambient, and Gate effects have been removed to make room for the Shimmer and additional TonePrint slots. While I suspect those won’t be sorely missed, if you really want those types of sounds, use the TC Electronic TonePrint Editor app to experiment with gating and other adjustable parameters.

Up to three parameters can be assigned to foot-switch’s Mash function. It doesn’t take much pressure to engage Mash, but you have to mash it pretty hard to nudge the effects into their mid and top range. The feel of it could take some getting used to at first. For those who like more hands-on tweakability, up to three parameters can also be assigned to the Decay and Tone knobs in the TonePrint Editor. In the future, it would be great to have a wider Hall of Fame (X2 or X4?) that allows for more knobs and knob assignment, rather than stacking three parameters on top of each other. If the Flashback and Ditto Loopers can get bigger and more feature rich, so can the Hall of Fame.

The TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 is still a great all around reverb pedal due to its combination of onboard classic reverb emulations, stereo chain, compact design, and how adventurous and customizable it is through the TonePrint editor and growing library of artists’ presets. The sound and tone of the Hall of Fame are solid. I’ve use the Hall of Fame on vocals, guitar, synths, and drum machines, and it works well in any situation where quality sounding reverb is called for. With the addition of Shimmer and Mash and more encouragement to use the TonePrint slots, the TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 raises the bar over the previous version.

Gamechanger Audio Plus Pedal

Builder: Gamechanger Audio, Pedal: Plus Pedal, Effect Type: Sustainer

The Plus Pedal is a new kind of audio processing engine that offers piano-like sustain effects for guitars and other instruments. The distinctive, sophisticated appearance and ergonomic design puts the Plus pedal in a class by itself and is sure to invite stares from all the gearheads. Now, of course, there will be some comparisons to things like the EHX Superego and Freeze, but the Plus is decidedly different. Some things are obvious; the actual “switch” is very different. Instead of a stomp switch, you get a great piano-like sustain pedal. This pedal works similar to an expression pedal in that a “half-press” makes it behave differently than a “full-press.” Can’t do that with a stomp switch. You get real-time feedback of half-press vs. full-press by watching the LED brightness. There are some things that are also different under the hood. The actual technology within the pedal is much different than that of other pedals on the market. The Plus pedal is based on a new method of digital sound processing called Real Time Audio Sampling and Looping (patent pending). Instead of creating tones using an oscillator and filter based synth engine, Real Time Audio Sampling and Looping works by creating a smooth, circular loop out of a source signal that is recorded as you go, sampling only the last segments of your incoming notes or chords. These tiny bits are sampled in real time and looped together to create a seamless, warm and responsive sustained tone. On the surface you have a hand-crafted, solid brass piano-style sustain pedal. There are four knobs on the face with rather self explanatory controls for Blend, Sustain, Rise, and Tail. There are several useful ins and outs on the pedal. These include top-mounted input and dual output jacks and a 9v power jack. On the right side, you have options for a separate effects loop as well as two switches that allow for additional control. One switch allows for Group or Single mode. In Group mode, the pedal will collect whole groups of audio layers. In Single mode, it will focus on the most recent note. A second switch allows for Mix or Split on the output. In Mix mode, the more common mode, your wet and dry signals are mixed together on the output. In Split mode, only the isolated wet signal is generated by the Plus Pedal. There is even an option for the Clean Out/FSW output to harness your unaffected dry signal at all times. I can see this being extremely useful in a recording studio setting. A note regarding the size of the Plus. It’s about 2/3 the size of a standard volume or wah pedal. In my efforts to keep my pedalboards really small these days, I was struggling to figure out where to put the Plus. I then learned that it’s best to put it first in your chain. Therefore, I don’t put it on a board. I just carry it with me and plug it in between my guitar and my board. It draws 130mA so it can’t use a battery, which would have been convenient, so I just keep a longer power lead available on the board and plug it in that way. I like it next to my board like that. There’s also an option to split your wet and dry signal output. This is great for recording, and it makes it very handy that it’s first in your chain, splitting off that signal before it goes through anything at all. I usually do that with a DI box anyway.

This little guy is an easy choice to be among the Pedals of the Year for 2017. The very first time I used the Plus pedal, I realized something had changed in my life. I struggle to even refer to it as a “pedal.” it’s more like a piece of musical equipment. I’ll get right down to it. The meat and potatoes of what makes the Plus so great is a two-fold answer. First, the most obvious thing is the actual pedal/switch/damper. The big brass thing that you step on. It’s just brilliant. This would not be a Pedal of the Year pick for me without that. The operation and the feel of using it… There is no other way to say this; it’s simply PERFECT. The most intuitive thing ever. Everyone knows what a piano sustain pedal is and what it does. The way the pedal is constructed, and the shape of the enclosure makes it very easy to use. I was up and running exactly the way I wanted to be in less than a minute. The second point that makes this a Pedal of the Year is the sound. I have used other “similar” pedals, and the Plus just has more of an organic, warm sound. Just the way it naturally rises and falls, it just sounds exactly like what it does to a piano. As you’re playing, you get this nice washy sustained sound. The first time I plugged it in, I ran a Les Paul into the Plus into a crappy little amp with a 2.5” speaker. Point is, nothing good in the line to make it sound nice, however, it sounded incredible! I always like to have a reverb in my chain no matter what and using the Plus Pedal kind of had that sound. It was like a reverb, and not like a reverb at the same time. It was as if I’d just bought a new kind of a reverb pedal. Something fresh and cool sounding. Using it this way was kind of fun and inspiring. One of my favorite ways of using it is to set the sustain and tail for infinite sustain. You get this beautiful drone sound and you can control the level of that drone with the Blend knob.

It’s easy to understand why the Plus Pedal is one of my top picks for Pedals of the Year. It’s a completely new concept, well executed, with beautiful sounding results. After all, in the end, that’s exactly what we’re looking for. I don’t plan to ever part with my Plus Pedal, and I have a feeling that I am just brushing the surface with all that I can do with this thing. I’m fairly certain that it will continue to inspire new ways of making my speakers dance.

Chase Bliss Audio Warped Vinyl HiFi

Builder: Chase Bliss Audio, Pedal: Warped Vinyl HiFi, Effect Type: Chorus/Vibrato

The original Warped Vinyl MKI was Chase Bliss’s first innovative take on chorus and vibrato, featuring waveform “ModuShape” toggles, expansive parameter expression via CBA’s signature dip-switches, and a musical Ramp knob, which in an industry saturated with modulation, truly pushed the Warped Vinyl to the top of the hill. The Warped Vinyl MKII was a respectable improvement on the original with the addition of its Tone knob, expanded MIDI control & preset bank, and upgraded cleaner tone. Both were not just well received but indeed have become coveted artifacts that had every show-going gear nerd pointing ‘boardward mid-song, mouthing “yes!” whenever those glorious warbles spilled out eldritch into the world.

So, why remake the Warped Vinyl yet again in this new, burnt orange enclosure? For starters, we should recognize that the HiFi isn’t exactly a reissue. The new Hold switch, the once-Volume-now-Lag knob, and new dip-switch parameters set the HiFi far enough away from the previous iterations to be considered a piece all its own. On the subject of those dip-switches, CBA has dropped the Lo-Fi dip-switch to accommodate a switch that expands the function of the inarguably more interactive Tap/Hold switch, and obviously the volume dip-switches have been repurposed to now control the Lag. The HiFi also sports a cleaner signal path, allowing for much more transparent tones than its Warped kin, limiting it’s spook factor but increasing it’s usability across genres. Fans of the previous iterations of the Warped Vinyl might be missing the tremolo vibes that MKI & MKII were capable of when ramping the Volume knob, but don’t fret dear readers. What we lose in trem prowess we gain in much more direct control over the delay time which means a much broader spectrum of chorus/vibrato tones. Still, some owners of Warped Vinyl MKI and/or MKII who have grown attached to the volume control may not find enough reason to make the switch, which is understandable, but I have to put this out there: the ideological split between the darker black and white WVs and the newer, brighter model is palpable enough that, if I were to play Devil’s Advocate, I might suggest making the switch and making up the difference with a Gravitas or some other specialized tremolo. At any rate, I for one plan living on that Hi life for as long as possible.

Keeley Electronics Caverns V2

Builder: Keeley Electronics, Pedal: Caverns V2, Effect Type: Delay/Reverb

The Keeley Electronics Caverns V2 is a combination delay and reverb pedal. It’s updated from the V1 with better laid out controls, wider foot-switch spacing, an optional buffer for delay/reverb spillover, and a Mod selection switch. It’s also now a much prettier pedal; the design is clean, modern, and airy with abstract triangle art that serves as a metaphor for the complex sound possibilities and interactions between the delay and reverb. The Caverns V2 encourages you to turn knobs and get creative as the delay and reverb work well together, creating lush and complex sounds.

The tape style delay is a monster. The trails are very warm and analog sounding with a bit of lo-fi grit. At a relatively high Blend with high Repeats, turning the Time knob gives a sense of how much this delay can feedback and mangle into new and intense drone-like sounds. The Rate switch controls whether the modulation is off, deep, or light. When switched on, the Rate knob dials in the speed of the modulation. It adds more to a retro analog vibe and wobbly feel. The longest delay time is 650 milliseconds for deep cavernous echoes. The shortest delay times provide a quick slap-back echo and can go into self-oscillation territory with higher settings of the Repeats knob. It doesn’t have tap tempo, but I think it’s meant for those with a ‘set and forget’ approach or to be tweaked by sound explorers. A small warning that out of the box, the delay and reverb are in trails mode, so there could be some unintended sound artifacts when switching it back on if you’re not careful. Open the back-plate and switch it to True Bypass if that’s your preference.

The reverb exalts the sound coming into it. It doesn’t tend to muddy, dull, or completely wash out the tone even at full blend. Only in Shimmer mode, at higher knob settings, do the subsequent reverb tones and harmonics potentially blend into an ambient choir that masks your original signal. Shimmer mode is a lovely rendering. It has a ‘particles ascending and spreading out’ pattern to it. The Warmth and Rate knobs act together to dial in the strength and tone of the shimmer. Spring mode is emulated well and is reasonably convincing. Dialing in the Warmth and Rate adds a more pronounced spring modulation. With a continuous tone, the effect is more like a small wobble of pitch modulation. Modulation mode adds a choral effect and can achieve reverb closer to room, hall, and church by dialing the Warmth and Rate up or down.

Overall, I was really impressed with the sound of the Caverns V2. It’s expressive and can veer between peaceful ambience to potentially unruly soundscapes. I recommend it for guitar, bass, and monosynth. For what this pedal can do and the current $179 price, it’s a top pedal and deal for 2017.

Neunaber Iconoclast

Builder: Neunaber, Pedal: Iconoclast, Effect Type: Speaker Emulator

The Neunaber Iconoclast is a bit of an outlier among the rest of the pedals on this list. It seems like more of a utility tool or jam companion at first glance than something that will revolutionize your pedalboard, but it has been quite an essential addition to my personal setup in 2017, being one of the most viable options available that facilitates the transition to an “amp-less” guitar rig.

I was initially intrigued by the fact that the Iconoclast is a high-definition “stereo parametric speaker emulator” that was designed to exceed the level of sonic detail and articulation found in traditional loudspeakers. The engineer who designs Neunaber’s acclaimed effects algorithms, Mr. Brian Neunaber, previously worked with a company developing high-fidelity loudspeakers. This experience gives him a unique expertise in the area of speaker acoustics. Combining a distinct knowledge about speaker design with the renowned DSP programming seen in pedals like the Immerse, Neunaber created a tool that offers arguably superior results in many ways over what can be achieved from miking traditional guitar speaker cabinets.

Guitar speakers are essentially analog filters. Their jagged, unbalanced frequency characteristics give them their distinct sounds. But even though your ears may not notice it at first, the various dips and troughs of a speaker’s response are removing frequency content from your audio. The Iconoclast uses a smoother parametric equalization to simulate a speaker with a more balanced response. An Iconoclast app for Mac & PC provides immense flexibility by giving you deep control over the EQ curve of the simulated speaker effect. You can even load a favorite speaker impulse response file into the app to see the filter curve and use the EQ to create an approximation of the IR but with a much smoother response. The pedal’s Low, Mid, and High knobs then let you make further adjustments to the EQ as needed; they’re not simple amp-style tone controls, instead shifting the cab resonance, response, and high-end attenuation to simulate different cabinet types with ease.

The Iconoclast also has a dedicated Gate which is useful since it’ll most likely be at the end of your signal chain. (I like to use the Iconoclast before my delay and reverb pedals which is similar to adding those effects in post production after you record a miked amp and speaker cab.) There’s a stereo headphone jack with level control for silent jamming or warming up before a gig. The stereo I/O features balanced outputs which are ideal for running directly into front-of-house, a mixing console, or recording interface. The Dynamic Power Compression parameters found within the Iconoclast app help create a realistic speaker-like sag response that helps the Iconoclast pair with preamps and “amp-in-a-box” drive pedals for a convincing amp-style playability. Latency is well under half a millisecond, so there is no noticeable sacrifice in feel. You can also trade speaker presets in the Neunaber forums. The Iconoclast is not to be missed if you’re looking for quality speaker simulation, and/or if you’re considering leaving the amp at home when gigging.

Now there’s just one more thing before we go…

Best New Pedal Builder of 2017: Meris

Many new pedal builders come on the scene every year, and sometimes a few of them bring innovative new perspectives and inspiring new pedals. This year we wanted to give a special shout-out to a promising new builder, and we invited “aBunchOfPedals” to write a feature piece on a new builder that we also think deserves your attention.

Read about the Best New Builder of 2017: Meris

While the aforementioned pedals are the ones that made our list, there was no shortage of great pedals released this year. A few other fan favorites and interesting looking pedals of the year were the Catalinbread Belle Epoch Deluxe, EHX Green Russian & Op-Amp Big Muff reissues, EHX Synth9, Wampler Tumnus Deluxe, Dwarfcraft Grazer, Strymon Sunset, and Source Audio Ventris Reverb.

Did we leave out your favorite pedal of the year? Let us know in the comments!

And that concludes our Best New Guitar Effects Pedals of the Year 2017. Thanks for reading!

Best Guitar Effects

COMMENTS

1. Adrian Loh

   February 28, 2018 at 11:42 pm

   Awesome write up for an awesome list of pedals!
   
   Can’t wait to try em out! 🙂

2. Matt

   February 28, 2018 at 11:51 am

   Can I have just one of each? Sites like this are destroying my pocketbook.

3. Seth Keil

   February 28, 2018 at 11:22 am

   Too many great pedals this year to pick a favorite. The echo system does have me extremely excited though.

4. Eric Lussier

   February 27, 2018 at 2:59 pm

   Really nice dual delay with plenty of options, it could one of the best for big ambiant sound and drone stuff!!

5. Patrick M.

   February 27, 2018 at 1:53 pm

   Great list! Good inputs!! Always nice to read you

6. Jesse Bateman

   February 27, 2018 at 4:31 am

   Just heard about empress last year, picked up their heavy pedal. Sounds so good. I want to replace most of my pedals with their stuff, haha

7. Isuru Ranawaka

   February 26, 2018 at 10:42 pm

   Ecosystem is a good pedal to start with. Awesome reviews and great pedals!!

8. Frankie Gibson

   February 26, 2018 at 11:57 am

   Oooh, they rock!

9. Jodie Gillespie

   February 26, 2018 at 10:11 am

   There’s not one on the list I couldn’t make use of

10. Rich Smith

    February 25, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    Really love the Green Russian Big Muff reissue. Nothing fancy but it does exactly what I wanted it to do!

11. Johannes Hauser

    February 25, 2018 at 3:51 am

    Thank you very much for your informative and inspiring work!

12. John Mountford

    February 25, 2018 at 12:39 am

    Lot of lush pedals there

13. Sus Rodriguez

    February 23, 2018 at 3:45 pm

    I wish i have them all !!!!! But i would start with the Echosystem.
    
    Awesome reviews, very usefull.

14. Tin Sacer

    February 23, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    My favourite pedal of the year is always a classic fuzzface, can be a diy or a brand doesnt matter, would love to have an echo pedal tho, big pink floyd fan.

15. Ryan Edwards

    February 23, 2018 at 11:42 am

    Great article. Here’s hoping lucks on my side.

16. Hugo J. Reis

    February 23, 2018 at 4:24 am

    I’ve been craving to get the Chase Bliss Audio Brothers in my collection. From all I’ve read and heard on videos, the sound is absolutely what I need. Fantastic pedal.

17. Mark Taylor

    February 22, 2018 at 6:20 pm

    The Brothers is calling my name so hard… can do so much in one small enclosure.

18. Dawson

    February 22, 2018 at 2:27 pm

    I absolutely loved the Canyon, but it’s just too complex for it’s limited controls.

19. Chris

    February 21, 2018 at 2:11 pm

    they all look great!

20. Stian

    February 21, 2018 at 2:08 pm

    Not only a great reference and great looks, tonal recall is easily my favourite

21. Tommaso

    February 21, 2018 at 7:14 am

    Great Article! Thanks. The Empress Echosystem seems incredible, would be a dream to have it 😉

22. Mason

    February 21, 2018 at 6:28 am

    Thanks for the info!

23. Manuel

    February 21, 2018 at 2:16 am

    Amazing pedals all of them!

24. Chris Vogt

    February 21, 2018 at 1:41 am

    oh i wish i could be lucky and use finaly 8 seconds of delay time

25. Philipp Kürten

    February 20, 2018 at 3:28 pm

    Very good choice of pedals. Wish I could have ’em all…

26. DriesF

    February 20, 2018 at 2:24 pm

    I’d love to win the lottery just to buy all this stuff!! Thx for sharing all these gems!

27. Graham S

    February 20, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    Yall are causing me to empty my wallet on a monthly basis with these writeups… but send me the Echosystem and all is forgiven forever 🙂 xoxo

28. Jacob Tolstrup

    February 20, 2018 at 8:35 am

    Te EchoSystem sounds great in all the demos I’ve heard. Hope to get it one day.

29. Lervin John Obando

    February 19, 2018 at 9:44 pm

    Awesome pedals! love them all, eyeing now on Empress Echosystem and Caverns!

30. Ben Hardy

    February 19, 2018 at 9:03 pm

    Too many good things here.

31. Cam McKay

    February 19, 2018 at 8:24 pm

    That echosystem is a beast!

32. Shane

    February 19, 2018 at 8:16 pm

    Empress yes

33. Juan Sebastian Fernandez

    February 19, 2018 at 4:41 pm

    Proud owner of the
    
    Keeley Electronics Caverns V2 and it’s just mind melting

34. megan a.

    February 19, 2018 at 4:14 pm

    thanks for the list fellas! cheers!

35. Mark A Van Der Linden

    February 19, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    So many guitar pedals, I need a board that goes across the whole stage!

36. John Reppion

    February 19, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    Great list. Some really incredible looking pedals.

37. Clark Brown

    February 19, 2018 at 11:22 am

    What a great line up of pedals

38. Dain Johnson

    February 18, 2018 at 10:45 am

    I MUST TRY ALL OF THE PEDALS!!!!!

39. pierre clavier

    February 18, 2018 at 8:54 am

    Bon article jesper que 2018 sera aussi complet

    • pierre clavier

      February 18, 2018 at 8:56 am

      Pierre clavier

40. Tim Ward

    February 17, 2018 at 11:16 pm

    So many pedals…. so little time. Glad I found this informative site.

41. Giovanni Maldonado

    February 17, 2018 at 7:46 pm

    Thanks for the great reviews. Can’t wait to try the synthax error.

42. Dante André-Kahan

    February 17, 2018 at 2:08 pm

    I truly believe that Empress are inheriting the title of top digital pedals for the late 2010s. We had Line 6, and then Eventide, and then Strymon, but now I’m really happy to see that Canadian builders are finally integrating the digital world around us into guitar technology. The Echosystem and Reverb really feel ‘of their time’, and as much as I love Strymon, I can’t help but be very excited about what Empress is doing!

43. Luis Flores

    February 17, 2018 at 12:40 am

    I can agree with the praise for the Keeley Caverns V2. Awesome pedal.

44. Chris V

    February 17, 2018 at 12:07 am

    There are some stellar pedals listed in this article. They all look to be worthy contenders for best of the year. Tyre one that takes the cake for me this last year is the Meris Polymoon. It brings a unique voice and has quite a depth of functionality, while still intuitive and quite approachable in its interface.

45. Mike

    February 16, 2018 at 7:50 am

    Can’t wait to try the Echosystem!

46. Rob Herriman

    February 16, 2018 at 4:54 am

    Some really great pedals here. Thanks for the hard work guys

47. Rob Herriman

    February 16, 2018 at 4:52 am

    Great job! There’s things sound amazing. Really into the Polymoon right now

48. René Rutten

    February 16, 2018 at 2:34 am

    The reviews are great! Was looking for a new reverb pedal, now I know I need a Space from Eventide for my doompop band. Thanks!

49. Vincent Fragapane

    February 15, 2018 at 4:27 pm

    Thanks for the chance to win free excellent gear!

50. Derek

    February 15, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    Definitely the Ventris

51. Staszek

    February 15, 2018 at 1:38 pm

    Echosystem rocks! 2018 = waiting for sth new. I mean really. Thx for your job!

52. Staszek

    February 15, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    Echosystem rocks! 2018 = waiting for sth new. I mean really.

53. Fred Parks

    February 14, 2018 at 5:26 pm

    He provided all the information I needed to make a decision on what would be the best pedal for me. Thank you!

54. Nick Buckley

    February 14, 2018 at 1:02 pm

    This is by far the best source for pedal info that i have found. So good in fact that I may have to get a second mortgage to pay for all the hardware I want to get after reading your reviews!!
    
    I love the fact that you guys get down and dirty with your reviews – not only do I learn about the pedal, but I learn about what makes them tick. Words like modulation and “impulse response” which weren’t in my lexicon before are now understood and appreciated!

55. Paolo

    February 14, 2018 at 9:45 am

    Echosystem and infinite jets… must have!

56. Aaron

    February 14, 2018 at 9:38 am

    Epic list, thanks for all the helpful reviews!

57. Mick Dann

    February 14, 2018 at 8:22 am

    The Neunaber Iconoclast looks very interesting, will have to check one out I think.

58. Chris

    February 14, 2018 at 6:58 am

    Empress has impressed me so much with their quality. Great pedals!

59. Yves Eggenberger

    February 14, 2018 at 4:27 am

    I’d love to try out some of the Chase Bliss Pedals, they look really awesome. A pedal that I really liked this year and that didn’t make this list is the Walrus Audio Monument. It made me appreciate Tremolo a lot more.

60. Nicho

    February 14, 2018 at 12:23 am

    Keep the hits coming!

61. Tony A

    February 13, 2018 at 3:23 pm

    I’m continually amazed at the evolution of the humble device we know as the stomp box. With the seemingly constant advances in the technology that can fit inside these small metal enclosures, it looks like a change of name to magic box may be required:)

62. Kiryk

    February 13, 2018 at 3:07 pm

    Wow, always was a fan of Empress!!

63. Larry

    February 13, 2018 at 2:21 pm

    Sooooooooo many pedals and so many companies to sift thru!!!!!! So nice to have resource to save time and MONEY. thank you for doing the hard work to sort it all out. (hehe tough job)

64. jose

    February 13, 2018 at 12:48 am

    great pedal !!!

65. Aaron F.

    February 12, 2018 at 11:08 pm

    I want to say a “thank you” to the guys (and gals) at Best Guitar Effects.com This site is a true leader in reviewing and creating buzz for great products. Keep up the great work!
    
    Picking the pedal of 2017 is really difficult. There are so many great choices. If I had to decide the Boss/ JHS Angry Driver. Just can’t go wrong with two names that are leaders in the industry. It has some attitude too.
    
    It would be cool to see more gear like multi effects, power supplies, buffers and even patch cables would be great. I am looking forward to seeing what dual effects pedals, like reverb/delay or chorus/tremolo pedals will come out in 2018.

66. Pierre Bibault

    February 12, 2018 at 7:44 pm

    The Echosystem is clearly one of the best delays on the market, if not the best. The most remarkable thing on it is the possibility to use two delays at the same time, which makes almost infinite possibilities in terms of creativity. The happy one who will receive it from BGE will spend some nice winter evenings;)

67. Phillip Dahir

    February 12, 2018 at 5:12 pm

    Hologram infinite jets ftw! 🙂

68. Rafael

    February 12, 2018 at 11:45 am

    The Echosystem just nail every single sound and finally became THE contender for Strymon. Hopefully this competition can bring out more of the big players!

69. John Mountford

    February 12, 2018 at 10:29 am

    Great review of tasty pedals

70. Soren Paris

    February 12, 2018 at 9:59 am

    dang!! so many pedals. how can I get YOUR job?

71. Sytse

    February 12, 2018 at 5:48 am

    2017 was an awesome pedal year! Fantastic options presented here. Can’t wait to see what 2018 will bring!

72. Bill

    February 12, 2018 at 5:05 am

    I would choose the Echosystem based on the sound and features.

73. Jennifer M Wilson

    February 11, 2018 at 11:32 pm

    Would love the chance to play with this!

74. linus

    February 11, 2018 at 4:31 am

    Good selection of pedals. I would choose the Echosystem. It nails it all, digital, tape, analog and that ins tereo…beautiful!!

75. Jeff

    February 11, 2018 at 4:30 am

    The Empress Echosystem looks to be the most versatile delay pedal in the market

76. Zachary B Klein

    February 10, 2018 at 10:22 pm

    I was impressed with the Canyon and the Caverns. Both great ambient tools, sound great. Chase Bliss has been making some crazy stuff as well. Empress seems to be killing it right now, they seem to sound a bit more “real”/analog than Strymon’s stuff, from my experience. Those Echosystem’s sure are pretty…

77. Mary Lloyd

    February 10, 2018 at 2:27 pm

    Excellent review. Thanks for the info!

78. Alex Burton

    February 9, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    From the listed pedals that I have played around with, the Keeley caverns and the echosystem are my favorites. Both very useful.

79. Patrick Ryan

    February 9, 2018 at 12:38 pm

    Pre-ordered the Plus Pedal and am loving it! Also got the Pigtronix Mothership 2 early which is also great

80. Ronald Porter

    February 9, 2018 at 8:46 am

    Great pedals great website love to promote some of your product while playing out

81. Cesar T.

    February 9, 2018 at 12:06 am

    The ultimate pedal board

82. Michael

    February 8, 2018 at 8:28 pm

    Bring on the synths!

83. Chris Bradfield

    February 8, 2018 at 8:16 pm

    Empress effects does it again. Best delay pedal i’ve ever seen!

84. Anthony Laing

    February 8, 2018 at 2:25 pm

    There’s not one of those pedals I wouldn’t want on my board

85. EJay Gerth

    February 8, 2018 at 10:16 am

    What a good year for pedals

86. Laura Lyn

    February 8, 2018 at 8:56 am

    I think that you guys should do more reviews that compare the best of the best pedals instead of reviewing one. For example you could review several delay pedals in one review comparing the pros and cons of each one.

87. Em Kaplan

    February 8, 2018 at 8:52 am

    I think the digitech Polara is an awesome pedal. A video demo of it would be awesome

88. Dan Newman

    February 8, 2018 at 8:51 am

    I love your website. There is nothing I would want to change. I just want to win the echosystem!

89. Jacob Scott

    February 8, 2018 at 8:50 am

    I would love to see more in depth video demos.

90. Daniel Davinchy

    February 8, 2018 at 8:45 am

    From what I have seen the echosystem is the best new pedal right now. I would love to win it

91. theyod

    February 8, 2018 at 7:07 am

    my pedal want list just grew
    
    Empress Effects Echosystem – help a brother out would you?

92. Mehdi

    February 8, 2018 at 1:23 am

    Empress echo system dream pedal

93. Derek M Stark

    February 7, 2018 at 7:40 pm

    How in the world does Chase Bliss cram so much pedal in such a small enclosure? I mean, just…how?

94. Jeff Axelrod

    February 6, 2018 at 11:00 pm

    Great article, wish you did more youtube videos and reviews/demos!

95. Aiden Stevenson

    February 6, 2018 at 9:45 pm

    Agreed 100% on Meris and the Echosystem… Love my Ottobit and would love to get my hands on the latter.

96. Ahmad Nur Septianto

    February 6, 2018 at 5:08 pm

    I’m looking forward to Empress Echo-System, not because I want to win the giveaways… but man, I really want that one… :v
    
    I mean, look at that thing ! Great look, many knobs… usually versatile you know, and goddamn elegant !
    
    Adding one to my pedalboard must be great and surely expand my pedalboard versatility.
    
    Right now, what I need is delay and reverb, I think this one is enough, maybe exceeding my expectations.
    
    Chase Bliss and Caverns looks so promising too. Oh God…

97. Joe Greiner

    February 6, 2018 at 2:40 pm

    I love all these pedals! But I’m most intrigued in the Meris pedals. Looking into getting a polymoon soon!

    Great reviews, as always. Thorough and honest.

98. David Burch

    February 6, 2018 at 1:38 pm

    I bought the EarthQuaker Devices Data Corrupter and it gives so many new textures to my lead and harmony lines.
    
    I have a huge delay systems choice in the Mod Duo but the new features of the Empress Effects Echosystem make it a fun add to my board in the future

99. Phil P.

    February 6, 2018 at 12:27 pm

    Thanks for taking the time to review these pedals for those of us out here in the ‘wasteland’. So many great pedals. After going to the makers sites, I’m enjoying an endorphin float! The Empress and the Iconoclast has my attention. Thanks again!

100. Marty Meadors

     February 6, 2018 at 11:31 am

     Great pedals, they just keep getting better. Everyone pushes the limits and improves upon their designs. Awesome stuff!

101. William Otto

     February 6, 2018 at 10:19 am

     These pedals look so cool. I need one!

102. Roland Ashdown

     February 6, 2018 at 8:30 am

     Thanks for the info. And the chance to win some gear!

103. Robert Friedrich

     February 6, 2018 at 6:30 am

     Empress Echosystem ist the best pedal for synths!

104. Juli

     February 6, 2018 at 6:15 am

     Echo system + Infinite Jets =✨

105. Risto Venäläinen

     February 6, 2018 at 6:09 am

     The Echosystem dual engine sounds cool and clean.

106. Grizzly

     February 6, 2018 at 1:27 am

     it looks soooooo amazing, I’d love to delay with the Empress

107. Chris

     February 6, 2018 at 1:23 am

     I would love to win sometimes 🙂

108. dean cramer

     February 5, 2018 at 10:49 pm

     Always looking for new pedals!

109. Luke Jackman

     February 5, 2018 at 1:48 pm

     This year there were so many great pedals it is really hard to choose a favorite. Echo System was up there for reverb/delay style pedals. I really like the sound of Elektrons Analog Heat for a distortion pedal . I also like the Data Corrupter from EarthQuaker Devices. I also like trying out all the smaller companies effects, I’m in love with idea of DIY. However my go to for great sounding effects is always Strymon’s line of pedals,the whole line is stunning.

110. Mateusz

     February 5, 2018 at 12:34 pm

     Looking at my Timeline – so lonely without Empress Echosystem…

111. Samuel

     February 5, 2018 at 9:51 am

     The empress echo system is one of the best effects on the market

112. James Cashin

     February 5, 2018 at 9:36 am

     Wow! Some real gems here. I will save my pennies for the EHX Looper. It will take up75% of my pedal board, but it looks like it will be worth it.

113. Jacob West

     February 5, 2018 at 9:00 am

     Man, I’d love to see a demo of somebody tastefully playing several of these pedals at the same time. So many possible amazing combinations!

114. mark mendoza

     February 5, 2018 at 7:54 am

     Great review. Encore!

115. Morten Sigurd Westgaard Brua

     February 5, 2018 at 4:26 am

     Empress Echosystem and Gamechanger Plus Pedal look really interesting!

116. David Gortych

     February 5, 2018 at 2:14 am

     So many great pedals this year my wallet can’t handle it ha! Echosystem is on my radar and that Hologram Electronics Infinite Jets. Oh how could I forget the Polymoon because to me that’s a must buy type of pedal. It’s lookin like 2018 is going to be another great year too.

117. Taras

     February 5, 2018 at 12:00 am

     So many great pedals

118. Michael Conner

     February 4, 2018 at 9:04 pm

     Thanks for all the work you guys are doing here. I look forward to your reviews and coverage and look forward to future goodines.

119. Henrik lahdenmaki

     February 4, 2018 at 6:26 pm

     Man i wish i had the chance to play with these things, its like these pedals might open a new creqtivr window

120. Dave

     February 4, 2018 at 5:20 pm

     Awesome list. I can only vouch for the HOF. So much originality and innovation here. My wish list is getting way to long.

121. Ryan

     February 4, 2018 at 3:47 pm

     So many pedals pulling my attention

122. Mark Anderson

     February 4, 2018 at 3:44 pm

     The Brothers has my vote. It’s replaced three pedals on my board. I haven’t tried the Echosystem yet though so my opinion may change.

123. Justin Stanislawski

     February 4, 2018 at 1:31 pm

     Hologram Electronics is cool. Wish it were a bit smaller though.

124. Joseph Perroni

     February 4, 2018 at 12:54 pm

     Empress for the win!

125. Amon Wong

     February 4, 2018 at 12:18 pm

     My favorite has got to be the Echosystem! It’s been a long time since we heard so much good stuff from Empress and this finally brings them into the big boys league with Strymon and Eventide!

126. Ethan Park

     February 4, 2018 at 12:01 pm

     Polymoon is probably one of my favorite releases from this year, so dreamy! Really I just love everything Meris does, but the Polymoon was where they really nailed it I thought.

127. Jon Zaloumis

     February 4, 2018 at 11:42 am

     Happy to see Meris get a shoutout. I picked up their Polymoon and have been blown away by the sounds I get from it. It’s really a unique take on the classic delay formula. I still have yet to try the echosystem though!

128. Jeff Walker

     February 4, 2018 at 11:21 am

     Thankyou for making out my next letter to Santa

129. Dave McManis

     February 4, 2018 at 10:43 am

     Chase Bliss has some amazing engineers along with Empress. I just wish I could afford them both.

130. Nathan Migge

     February 4, 2018 at 10:27 am

     So many good pedals… Level’s getting higher when it comes to stuff like guitar effects !

131. Brian Kretschman

     February 4, 2018 at 10:26 am

     For those who like to repeat themselves the echo system is desirable…For those who like to repeat themselves the echo system is desirable…For those who like to repeat themselves the echo system is desirable…For those who like to repeat themselves the echo system is desirable…desirable…desirable…

132. Ben Acree

     February 4, 2018 at 7:06 am

     Love the Tonal Recall, but the Empress takes the cake
     
     for sure!

133. Marc

     February 4, 2018 at 2:09 am

     A pedal with a setting called ‘whisky’ is a winner, period. Form the demos I heard it sounds out of this world too, but c’mon, whisky! Badass.

134. Rafael Lázaro

     February 3, 2018 at 6:32 pm

     Trying to win something here. Let´s do it!!

135. Nicolas Kauffmann

     February 2, 2018 at 7:49 pm

     Site just keeps better and the reviews more complete, better written, and more variety on your pages and channel. Lookin’ forward to what you guys/gals bring in 2018. Cheers!

136. sarah

     February 2, 2018 at 7:32 pm

     the chase is a good contender but the echosystem sounds like the bees knees

137. Steve

     February 2, 2018 at 4:54 am

     Excellent article.

138. Andy

     February 2, 2018 at 2:25 am

     Yes the Echosystem. Radness in a pedal

139. stavros

     February 1, 2018 at 11:11 pm

     Thank you for the opportunity to win pedals monthly!

140. Joseph Bertucci

     February 1, 2018 at 3:30 pm

     Thank you for the opportunity to win pedals monthly!

141. Joel

     February 1, 2018 at 2:39 pm

     I want to own everything Empress makes so bad!

142. Nick

     February 1, 2018 at 1:03 pm

     Wow, it’s amazing to see how creative companies are to make new sounds for rockers of all styles!

143. mark s mendoza

     February 1, 2018 at 8:10 am

     Wow, the Empress Effects Echosystem looks so great!

144. Jezer Urena

     February 1, 2018 at 6:34 am

     I’m The best reviews on the best gear. Based on your reviews I went out and got the Canyon and Data Corruptor. Thanks for always keeping us current in the world of effects.Keep up the good work.

145. Jezer Urena

     February 1, 2018 at 6:32 am

     I’m The best reviews on the best gear. Based on your reviews I went out and got the Canyon and Data Corruptor. Thanks for always keeping us current in the world of effects.

146. Jezer Ureña

     January 31, 2018 at 11:12 pm

     I rely heavily on your reviews as a starting point for exploring effects. I haven’t been steered even one time. Several pedals on your best list inhabit my pedal board. In my opinion,you produce the best reviews of the best products.

147. GFG

     January 31, 2018 at 2:24 pm

     Chocolate cake…I sleep – This list… REAL SHIT

148. Bryce

     January 31, 2018 at 2:11 pm

     D&M Drive for days!

149. Maya

     January 31, 2018 at 11:29 am

     This is pure heaven!

150. Louis Nicolas

     January 31, 2018 at 10:50 am

     Best GAS list of 2017 for sure.

151. Jeff Walker

     January 31, 2018 at 10:02 am

     So many great pedals

152. Jeff Walker

     January 31, 2018 at 10:00 am

     Got a EHX Canyon a few weeks ago and love it.
     
     plan on a few more on this Best of List

153. Martin Smith

     January 31, 2018 at 8:45 am

     Really surprised when recently playing the Boss MS3. It sounded fantastic.

154. Dan Saulpaugh

     January 31, 2018 at 8:08 am

     It’s nice, with pedals like the syntax error, seeing ring mod as a viable guitar sound right now. There’s so much tonal possibility with pedalboards if each pedal is viewed as a stage of a modular synth.

155. jMB

     January 31, 2018 at 4:22 am

     Empress Echosystem. Want.

156. Art

     January 30, 2018 at 2:23 pm

     D&M Drive FTW!

157. John Rawling

     January 30, 2018 at 12:42 pm

     Everyones a good one

158. David Ashfield

     January 30, 2018 at 11:57 am

     More classic reviews 🙂

159. Henrik lahdenmaki

     January 30, 2018 at 5:45 am

     Man i wish i could get all of these, they all look so interesting to play and tinker with

160. Oliver Books

     January 29, 2018 at 11:43 am

     I want all of them so bad… Man, this year is full of fun!

161. Norman Strong

     January 29, 2018 at 11:00 am

     If I had all of those pedals, then my GAS would be cured… Well curtailed… Well it’d give me a direction for the next pedalboard anyway

162. Matt Haswell

     January 29, 2018 at 9:12 am

     Just played the Canyon yesterday, which is one impressive pedal (especially in such a small size!). But, the Empress Effects Echosystem has been on my must-get list since it came out – the sonic possibilities of that seem endless.

163. Emmett Stinson

     January 29, 2018 at 4:28 am

     Very happy to see Meris recognised. I have an M7 and it’s great!

164. Bryce Shelton

     January 29, 2018 at 2:26 am

     All great choices indeed! Gaah I need to try them all!

165. Andrew Wilhelm

     January 28, 2018 at 7:31 pm

     Want to try and Echosystem against my Timeline.And I NEED an Infinite Jets.

166. Sean

     January 28, 2018 at 7:09 pm

     Great list! Will still need some time to try them all. One question… no analogman choices? KOT?

167. Sean

     January 28, 2018 at 7:08 pm

     Great list! Will still some time to try them all. One question… no analogman choices? KOT?

168. Paul Gibson

     January 28, 2018 at 11:16 am

     A great selection of pedals, If I was to come up with a list, it wouldn’t be very different than yours

169. Edward Fulton

     January 28, 2018 at 6:34 am

     Though I like have options on my pedals I prefer those that leave me with only a few tweakable knobs. In other words have 10 types of delay is cool but don’t give me 37 ways to tweak each of them.

170. Dan

     January 28, 2018 at 12:02 am

     Definitely looking to pick some of these up

171. Brad

     January 27, 2018 at 1:00 pm

     No Drybell!?!

172. Jeremy Peralta

     January 27, 2018 at 10:28 am

     Proud owner of a number of pedals that made your list!

173. gricko

     January 27, 2018 at 1:11 am

     at the moment, i am, kind of, bored by huge and super complicated all-in-one pedals. that are on offer by everybody, their brother and few neighbors as well. guess ADDA converters, DSPs and programmers got cheap enough and everybody build some all-in-one monstrosity in the last year or so.
     
     if you are to place two [three???] of these on your pedalboard, you are better off with a laptop [or an iOS device] and a MIDI controller. might even be cheaper.
     
     if a pedal is that size, and digital, then it must have stereo path and full MIDI support before i even consider thinking about it.
     
     and why is everybody jumping on the digital bandwagon!? no pedal manufacturer can generate the bright new idea that can be packaged in a compact and analog format. 2-3 dials and 9V <50mA….

174. CJ

     January 26, 2018 at 6:07 pm

     Great list of Pedals!

175. Jean LLerena

     January 26, 2018 at 1:39 pm

     I think one day ill own all chase bliss pedals and the syntax error. those things are cool

176. MTN

     January 26, 2018 at 12:56 pm

     The Gamechanger Plus Pedal is indeed a game changer! Looking forward to put my hands on it!

177. James White

     January 26, 2018 at 12:44 pm

     yes

178. Max

     January 26, 2018 at 8:55 am

     Very cool!!

179. Pato

     January 26, 2018 at 4:14 am

     The Empress SuperDelay is the best-sounding delay pedal I’ve ever owned. I haven’t had the chance to try the Echo System in person but it seems like the managed to surpass it.
     
     I am impressed.

180. David Krauss

     January 26, 2018 at 3:31 am

     The Echosystem is an impressive pedal. Please send it my way!

181. Bruno Afonso

     January 25, 2018 at 8:19 pm

     Man it is so hard to pick one out of all of these. Just so many great pedals! The empress ones are on top of my list for sure

182. Bruno Frey Nascimento

     January 25, 2018 at 6:36 pm

     All of them are very tempting! There’s at least one in the list that I’ve got and loving every feature of it: TC’s Hall of Fame Reverb! Amazed!

183. Tim Ferguson

     January 25, 2018 at 6:32 pm

     Thanks so much for this article.
     
     I find and learn about more pedals here than anywhere else on the interwebz.

184. Richard Knight

     January 25, 2018 at 4:15 pm

     All of the chase bliss pedals are so unique. Live the tonal recall.

185. Rew

     January 25, 2018 at 2:01 pm

     Very cool pedals! I look forward to hearing one up close. For now I can only compare the appearances, and these are head-bobbin’, knob-twiddlin’, COOL beasts!

186. Kobediah Miller

     January 25, 2018 at 1:54 pm

     Thank you for all that you do! I would love to try all of these out!!!

187. Oliver Seiffert

     January 25, 2018 at 1:43 pm

     helpfull.

188. Lisa Scott

     January 25, 2018 at 12:15 pm

     I’d love to be able to road test that lot!!!

189. Nicholas Hansen

     January 25, 2018 at 2:28 am

     The Empress system and the FreqOut look like tons of fun.

190. Mike

     January 24, 2018 at 4:31 pm

     Such a great year for gear! I loved the Whammy Ricochet, BOSS MS-3 and Rainger Pulsar.

191. Peter Grey

     January 24, 2018 at 3:19 pm

     Some tasty pedals there

192. Jeff Rogers

     January 24, 2018 at 12:53 pm

     I am lucky enough to have a couple of the above mentioned pedals. I have found Digitech to be on a roll and the FreqOut is just amazing and unique. It would be my choice due to sound, creativity, ascetics and engineering, plus it’s funner than a barrel of monkeys. Lastly….it’s not a copy of anything really, it is pat.pending as I type.

193. Jon Ryan

     January 24, 2018 at 11:32 am

     Yeah Empress Echosystem! This pedal would hopefully be the last delay pedal I acquire for a long, long time.

     -Jon R.

194. Daan Romein

     January 24, 2018 at 5:42 am

     It’s not fair that every year new pedals are being made, how can I ever keep up with all the good stuff happening? I’m still discovering how, when and if to use my Digitech XP-300 Space Station!
     
     This doesn’t mean I don’t need new pedals, I always need new pedals, and new pedal boards and then some. I’m absolutely sure though that whatever next pedal I will have in my set-up will make me famous and respected. And if not, then I can always just annoy the neighbourhood with it!

195. William penn

     January 24, 2018 at 5:10 am

     The digitech line of pedals has been impressive of late. The Ricochet is very useful since it’s seems a smaller format of the whammy.

196. Andrew

     January 24, 2018 at 2:23 am

     My fav is the empress echo machine. The stompbox is great!! I must win it

197. gary marra

     January 24, 2018 at 12:26 am

     That empress echosystems delay and the caverns seem so rad. I want to make space sounds.

198. Christian Tudon

     January 24, 2018 at 12:11 am

     Wow great article! Can’t wait to get the D&M!

199. CJ Johnson

     January 23, 2018 at 10:18 pm

     I NEED to try out the Angry Driver. I think it would be awesome if collaborations between pedal builders became more popular. Pedal builders have been successfully collaborating with artists for a while now, lets move the trend a step further!

200. Trish Ramundo

     January 23, 2018 at 5:21 pm

     The pedal board looks like something I would use for my pedals.

201. sandy declercq

     January 23, 2018 at 4:28 pm

     hopefully i wil win

202. Philip Ramundo

     January 23, 2018 at 4:26 pm

     All great players

203. Jerzy Synycja

     January 23, 2018 at 2:37 pm

     a great choice for each effect its fine..

204. Michael H.

     January 23, 2018 at 1:45 pm

     Empress Echo is like a dreaammmmm. But no Joke, that neunaber is also powerful.

205. Jeremy L

     January 23, 2018 at 1:20 pm

     I’m torn between the ehx freeze and that cool plus sustainer, but all of these look so good

206. Pierre Desaulniers

     January 23, 2018 at 1:17 pm

     My favs are the empress echo and the D&M Drive not revolutionary but so good sounding!

207. Daniel Arganda

     January 23, 2018 at 1:13 pm

     Great article, amazing list of pedals. I’d love to try them all.

208. Manfred Ganswindt

     January 23, 2018 at 12:52 pm

     Thanks. They are all great!

209. Stephen

     January 23, 2018 at 12:30 pm

     So many great pedals came out this year. I recently got the Brothers and it has changed my whole board! Hoping to get the Empress Echosystem soon!

210. Oshin

     January 23, 2018 at 12:04 pm

     This is a great list. I love all the pedals!
     
     Thanks.

211. Chris Price

     January 23, 2018 at 11:45 am

     Empress Echosystem Holy Grail of Delay

212. Roberto Alaniz

     January 23, 2018 at 10:39 am

     This is a great service. So many pedals out there, Best Guitar Effects helps me to find what I am looking for.

213. john j pioli

     January 23, 2018 at 10:01 am

     My favorite pedal of the year is the EHX Superego Plus.

214. Gijs Coolen

     January 23, 2018 at 9:28 am

     Someof this stuff looks amazing. Curious about the Empress delay pedal and the sustain pedal-pedal!

215. Mal

     January 23, 2018 at 9:20 am

     Chase Bliss has had a very good year for pedals

216. Michael Berndt

     January 23, 2018 at 9:17 am

     The Data Corrupter is just incredible…if you like to make noise, go get one NOW.

217. Henry Reinach

     January 23, 2018 at 9:05 am

     The Empress looks phenomenal, and is 100% my favorite release of the year. I think it will compliment their Reverb unit really well and make an unbeatable pair!

218. Zane

     January 23, 2018 at 8:57 am

     Definitely gunna need an effects switcher soon…

219. Jordan Pankratz

     January 23, 2018 at 8:56 am

     Great list, really love what I’ve heard of the Ecosystem, and Empress stuff in general. Can’t wait to see what the Zoia is capable of!

220. Zach S.

     January 23, 2018 at 8:40 am

     Good year for pedals!

221. Nathan Schneider

     January 23, 2018 at 8:31 am

     Comprehensive list! Of the ones listed, I’ve had the Tonal Recall RKM, Brothers, Syntax Error, EchoSystem, Infinite Jets, and Ottobit Jr. I sadly had to depart with the RKM, Ottobit Jr and Syntax Error, but every single one of those pedals are awesome! Nice review.

222. Matt

     January 23, 2018 at 8:27 am

     Thanks for giving all of us crazies the info we need. We are living in the Golden Age of effects (especially for us delay lovers). Keep up the great work, please.

223. Tassos

     January 23, 2018 at 8:22 am

     I wish i could afford any of these

224. scott

     January 23, 2018 at 8:18 am

     thanks for the great revues. Keep up the good work

225. Chris

     January 23, 2018 at 8:11 am

     Empress giveaway hopeful!

226. T

     January 23, 2018 at 8:10 am

     Warped Vinyl Hi-Fi is a great great example of a paradox.

227. Razvan Lazea-Postelnicu

     January 23, 2018 at 8:05 am

     I really like Mercury 7.

228. Menno

     January 23, 2018 at 8:02 am

     I would vuile a completely new pedalboqrd to fit thuis stuff on it, it I had the money!

229. Albert Solano

     January 23, 2018 at 8:02 am

     Man, can I not wait for my new Empress Echosystem 😉

230. Scott

     January 23, 2018 at 7:55 am

     Source Audio Ventris crushed it for me this year.

231. Luke

     January 23, 2018 at 7:54 am

     Great selection

232. Erik aagard

     January 23, 2018 at 7:48 am

     Alexander pedals continue in their quest to fit as much functionality into as small packages as humanly possible. Amazing!

233. Matt Bell

     January 23, 2018 at 7:47 am

     This is a very accurate list.

234. John Rice

     January 23, 2018 at 7:43 am

     It doesn’t seem to get a lot of attention, but Digitech’s CabDryVR is a pretty incredible tool. Obviously very similar to the Iconoclast in some ways, but I’m not crazy about effects that require a computer for editing.. (And being able to split the L+R signals between two different IRs is great – my only complaint is that you can’t use the guitar and bass modes at the same time.)

235. Lewis Bell

     January 23, 2018 at 7:40 am

     Keeley pedals are rock solid choices for the gigging or budding musicians. I have several pedals both modded and originals. Glad to see they are in the article!

236. Gabe Searles

     January 23, 2018 at 7:39 am

     This is a GREAT list. My personal favorite (SO hard to pick) would be the Keeley Caverns!

237. paul torbert

     January 23, 2018 at 7:39 am

     Ramen diet is how i afford gear….. i have Meniere’s Disease, so i dont work, i exist barely on Social Security Disability…. music is the only “thread” keeping me from “taking myself out”….

     my Vox Night Train 15w head just died…. things arent looking great…..

238. Dany

     January 23, 2018 at 7:39 am

     TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 Reverb: un classique qui s’est réinventé de la meilleure façon possible.

239. Nils Olsson

     January 23, 2018 at 7:37 am

     ekkosystem. the last piece of the puzzle. would change my game, and make the world a better place.

240. Masashi

     January 23, 2018 at 7:33 am

     Thanks for the thorough list!

241. Joel

     January 23, 2018 at 7:32 am

     Where was I in 2017?!?! Man I’ve been focusing too much of my browse time on shrewder videos. Should have been researching your page for these pedals!!!

     I have a boss feedbacker but it colors the tone a lot … hard to use. I wonder if the freq out sounds more transparent.

     Great article!

242. Lucas Van Lenten

     January 23, 2018 at 7:31 am

     Yes please!

243. John

     January 23, 2018 at 7:30 am

     The Empress Echosystem is way over my head. However if I won it I’m sure it would raise my playing up a few notches.

244. Richard

     January 23, 2018 at 7:22 am

     Would love to finally have an Empress pedal. Very pricy here in the Netherlands. My favourite pedal of the year so far? Meris Ottobit Jr and Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl.

245. Tomáš

     January 23, 2018 at 7:21 am

     I would love to win ! Thanks for the chance !

     T

246. Dzmitry

     January 23, 2018 at 7:21 am

     Hands down the Empress Effects Echosystem

247. damian

     January 23, 2018 at 7:17 am

     Data Corrupter and Syntax Error made my list this year. Really want to get the Ottobit Jr.

248. Denise Sitton

     January 23, 2018 at 7:17 am

     Would be a great start to my pedal board. Thanks for the chance!

249. Josh

     January 23, 2018 at 7:16 am

     I’ll vouch for the Chase Bliss Brothers and Tonal Recall. I have both and love them. A band mate of mine also has the Boss MS-3, and it’s pretty impressive. Modulation especially sounds great on it.

250. Michał Nowak

     January 23, 2018 at 7:16 am

     I really like how TC Electronic updated Hall of Fame. Finally, there is a shimmer effect and that “Mash” system rocks!

251. Tim Berg

     January 23, 2018 at 7:03 am

     So many good pedals to try. We’re truly living in the golden age of guitar pedal design. Thanks for the nice and helpful reviews.

252. Thomas Duck

     January 23, 2018 at 6:29 am

     So mayn awesome pedals, I would never be able to choose only one as the #1 of the year!

253. Thomas Duck

     January 23, 2018 at 6:28 am

     So many awesome pedals, I would never be able to choose only one as the #1 of the year

254. Bill Davis

     January 23, 2018 at 6:10 am

     Ok I’m a pedal junkie.

255. Paul Hogue

     January 23, 2018 at 5:50 am

     I’ve got to get the Iconoclast and the Syntax Error. And the Meris pedals. And Caverns. And…

256. Christopher Kemp

     January 23, 2018 at 4:43 am

     Great year for pedals!

257. Steve Comeau

     January 23, 2018 at 4:34 am

     The D&M drive is a brilliant pedal.

258. Nick Meyer

     January 23, 2018 at 4:06 am

     Empress is just too cool for school

259. Rd

     January 23, 2018 at 3:39 am

     the echo system just blew me away with its intuititive functions and clarity of sound. Drooling over that beauty!

260. Anton

     January 23, 2018 at 3:19 am

     Very good selection of effects! Some of them are the real art of engineering.

261. Jimmie Atchley

     January 22, 2018 at 6:09 pm

     The empress echo system is incredible. I had the chance to play with one for a few hours and was absolutely blown away by the possibilities.

262. Jaap Kalkman

     January 22, 2018 at 5:58 pm

     Love Empress effects. Super quality and Canadian!

263. Marc-Olivier

     January 22, 2018 at 4:43 pm

     Nice pedals! The hologram and the empress are awesome!

264. Poko Janssen

     January 22, 2018 at 3:18 pm

     Such great pedals in 2017! Can’t wait for 2018. Keep up the great work 🙂

265. Mitch

     January 22, 2018 at 6:48 am

     Wow the canyon has so much to offer for the price.

266. Al

     January 22, 2018 at 6:08 am

     Man, I’m gonna go broke this year! LOL

267. Brett Rockwell

     January 22, 2018 at 5:41 am

     Incredible stuff!!!

268. Wolfgang Schneider

     January 22, 2018 at 12:49 am

     what a year for pedals it’s been!

269. Eric

     January 21, 2018 at 6:25 pm

     Data Corrupter has held my interest ever since I heard about it. Interested in getting that one.

270. Paul Farrior

     January 21, 2018 at 4:49 pm

     This list is a clear sign that I didn’t buy enough pedals in 2017. Of all the videos I’ve watched, this list certainly does seem to be the best.

271. Luís Marujo

     January 21, 2018 at 1:15 pm

     amazing pedals, the empress is definitely one of the best although i can’t quite compare it to others as it is in such a different league 🙂

272. jim thompson

     January 21, 2018 at 12:54 pm

     Soooo many awesome effects. Great list. Inspired a chunk of time set aside for a youtube tunnel. Thanks!

273. jo

     January 21, 2018 at 11:21 am

     bookmarking this page!

274. Terbo Ted

     January 21, 2018 at 10:25 am

     So far I have two of these, Data Corrupter and Syntax Error. Already waiting for NAMM 2018 announcements…

275. John Rosar

     January 21, 2018 at 9:49 am

     I cant wait to try the one I will be winning. The reviews are great and it looks incredible. Keep up the terrific work.

276. Rick Moore

     January 21, 2018 at 8:15 am

     I need ’em all, and about a year to check ’em all out thoroughly.

277. Thaddaeus Davidson

     January 21, 2018 at 8:12 am

     I LOVE all of these pedals! I don’t know how to fit them all on my board. Lol

278. Joshua

     January 21, 2018 at 4:30 am

     Fun article. Now I just want to sell stuff to buy all of these. The echo system has me wat excited though. This last weekend I five into my empress reverb and decided to push since if the more unique features and loved it even more. The sustain is insane. I want to feel and experience the echo system with it so bad now. Like its my new favorite Netflix binge, I keep watching and reading about it. I hope my dream can come true and I can just win one. Thanks for the fun article.

279. Neville

     January 20, 2018 at 7:16 pm

     Great list! I love the thorough descriptions and hope to check some of these out soon!

280. Arkeine

     January 20, 2018 at 11:46 am

     Love the Data Corruptor, EQD always manage to come up with something new

281. Thorsoreleg

     January 20, 2018 at 11:32 am

     I would try any of these, the chasebliss sounds interesting

282. Enda Russell

     January 20, 2018 at 8:55 am

     The echosystem makes my heart a little warmer!

283. Chris Reed

     January 20, 2018 at 6:49 am

     Amazing pedals but the Empress Echosystem is top of my list

284. Garett Barr

     January 20, 2018 at 5:19 am

     So many awesome pedals… so little cash

285. Sam McBride

     January 19, 2018 at 9:27 pm

     Awesome list!

286. Nathan

     January 19, 2018 at 2:15 pm

     The empress is an awesome pedal! I also really love the new TC Electronic Tailspin vibrato! It’s not super fancy or complicated, but it’s a beautiful analog vibrato!

287. Mike

     January 19, 2018 at 1:30 pm

     I’m pretty sure my family is planning a GAS intervention for me. This article doesn’t help.

288. Tom Ren

     January 19, 2018 at 12:06 pm

     Too many good pedals to choose from!
     
     Wish they were categorized.

     Great selection still though.

289. Mason

     January 19, 2018 at 11:27 am

     Tonal Recall is definitely one of the most innovative delays I’ve ever seen… Great list, guys!!!!!

290. toddg

     January 19, 2018 at 9:41 am

     great list, gotta try the empress

291. Alan

     January 19, 2018 at 6:46 am

     The Caverns covers a lot of ground, but can also be used as a fire-and-forget baseline delay and reverb. And, like all Keeley pedals, is built like a brick!

292. Christian Olsson

     January 19, 2018 at 2:47 am

     What the h***, the Empress Echo System has eeendless possibilities!! Also a big fan og the Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl HiFi and Alexander Syntax Error! The pedal game is changing so much in the last recent years :)) Thank you for bringing great reviews of all these units Best Guitar Effects.

293. Vid

     January 19, 2018 at 1:45 am

     Love the looks of the Warped Vinyl HiFi pedal. Especially the knobs.

294. Willem Z

     January 19, 2018 at 1:11 am

     Well, I already wrote off the Syntax Error for the BitQuest!, due to the “you can’t have all presets without MIDI”-thing, but it seems I have to once again put it into the ever growing list of contenders!

295. Francois Bringuier

     January 18, 2018 at 10:29 am

     They are all great pedals.
     
     My favorites are the echosystem, the warped vinyl and the syntax error. Would love to get my hands on one of those.
     
     Keep up the great work bestguitareffects, we love you !

296. Gary H

     January 18, 2018 at 5:00 am

     Great giveaway!

297. Uli Steimer

     January 18, 2018 at 2:39 am

     No doubt the echosystem deserves the victory!
     
     2017 brought a lot of good stuff, let‘s enjoy 2018!

298. Josh Petermann

     January 17, 2018 at 10:46 pm

     Empress Echosystem by far!

299. Cameron Breithaupt

     January 17, 2018 at 10:43 pm

     Straight up, the Echosystem is so brilliant. Would LOVE to run it into my Empress verb. What a great Canadian company.

300. Neil Gallimore

     January 17, 2018 at 2:06 pm

     Great selection

301. Markus Notter

     January 17, 2018 at 12:57 pm

     Sometimes I would just love to have your job…testing all these amazing pedals the whole day 😀

302. NMA

     January 17, 2018 at 12:38 pm

     So glad Empress spelled “whisky” correctly, especially so given the “Nebulous” fiasco!

     Would be great to have an Empress “whisky” delay followed by a “beer” reverb chaser!
     
     ;~D

303. Daylon

     January 17, 2018 at 11:53 am

     I love this website

304. Tawny Close

     January 17, 2018 at 10:57 am

     Thanks, I have so many pedals on my “must try list” now

305. xoomeizhi

     January 17, 2018 at 9:39 am

     i can’t help but wonder if the plethora of options and tweaks on some of these pedals make them a bit unwieldy.
     
     Guess i’ll have to try them out and find out!
     
     🙂

306. Matthew

     January 17, 2018 at 4:58 am

     My wallet cannot handle the dang lists and the tones do not help my will power to try and preserve it.

307. Gordon McLaughlin

     January 17, 2018 at 4:51 am

     I’ve always been a fan of the Boss blues driver so the JB-2 Angry Driver is something I definitely want to try out! That empress pedal is something else though.

308. Dave

     January 16, 2018 at 6:17 pm

     No Ventris reverb?!?!?!

309. Jesse

     January 16, 2018 at 4:01 pm

     Chase Bliss Audio deserves all the praise. The quality and tweakability that is put into a reasonably sized stomp box is so above and beyond anyone else.

310. Nicholas W Merz

     January 16, 2018 at 3:46 pm

     I’d love to have any of these>

311. Lukas Guyader

     January 16, 2018 at 2:23 pm

     Just here for my weekly gear fixin’s! <3

312. Tyler Santinelli

     January 16, 2018 at 10:42 am

     I do ambient guitar, so the Plus pedal and the Echosystem have been on my radar for a while, I’d love to sit down with either. The Avalanche Run is my favorite pedal I actually own, and I’d love to stack some good stereo delay before and after it for some immensity.

     …This comment is really for the giveaway for the Echosystem.

313. Richard Cantle

     January 16, 2018 at 9:55 am

     Would love to test drive all of those, however I couldn’t describe them other than falling on the usual cliches which you manage to avoid

314. RYan

     January 16, 2018 at 9:24 am

     looking forward to trying out the Echosystem!

315. Kostis Pyrenis

     January 16, 2018 at 2:27 am

     Some very cool stuff was released in 2017!
     
     The Sustainer from Gamechanger audio will definitely find it’s place on the studio pedalboard while the Echosystem and the Angry Drive on the gigging one! Have a nice 2018!

316. George Lambadis

     January 16, 2018 at 2:02 am

     awesome!

317. Frank Wortham

     January 15, 2018 at 9:27 pm

     Great article. Infinite Jets is at the top of my list. Here’s to 2018.

318. Mark

     January 15, 2018 at 7:41 pm

     I’m gonna need a second income stream…

319. Ken Meldrum

     January 15, 2018 at 4:24 pm

     The Empress Echo System is the bees knees!

320. Stephen Prentiss

     January 15, 2018 at 3:52 pm

     I hope you guys get the chance to really check out the Source Audio Ventris. Just got one and it’s incredible. Super simple interface on the top of the pedal but can get really in depth with it through the app. Plus it’s shimmer and e-dome algorithms are fantastic. I’d definitely say it’s a contender with the BlueSky.

321. Ken Meldrum

     January 15, 2018 at 1:24 pm

     Totally agree with the Empress Echo System! Their Reverb should be here as well. They make incredible pedals that cover almost everything in the sonic spectrum.

322. Kevin Henderson

     January 15, 2018 at 12:44 pm

     What a great selection of pedals

323. Chris Wright

     January 15, 2018 at 12:06 pm

     All of these pedals are amazing!!!

324. marco melis

     January 15, 2018 at 5:44 am

     Yo brò.

325. charles mertens

     January 14, 2018 at 10:02 pm

     bought the chase bliss brothers and the gamechanger and both are amazing pedals…drooling over the infinite jets and the empress!! Great picks!

326. Gordon McLaughlin

     January 14, 2018 at 7:11 pm

     Every time I read one of these articles, I wish I had thousands of non existent dollars to buy every pedal. Going to have to take a second mortgage out on my house.

327. Joel Thomas

     January 14, 2018 at 2:24 pm

     The echosystem is definitely a real leap forward in dual delay.

328. Matthew

     January 14, 2018 at 1:47 am

     I hope Empress will come with modulation multieffect this year and we will can also say it is the best. 😉

329. Charlie

     January 13, 2018 at 8:10 pm

     Tonal Recall totally should’ve been #1

330. Slawomir Bilanicz

     January 13, 2018 at 5:04 pm

     Hey, the OCD is an incredibly versatile and intense pedal.

331. Joseph Silva

     January 13, 2018 at 12:28 pm

     I preordered the syntax error and it’s fantastic!

332. jo

     January 13, 2018 at 11:50 am

     i am just entering the wonderful world of pedals. i am gonna need a second job to support my future pedal buying habit!

333. Ingrid Ruddick

     January 13, 2018 at 8:27 am

     That has just risen to the top of my must try list

334. Neil

     January 13, 2018 at 8:07 am

     Great article!

335. Debbie Moss

     January 13, 2018 at 1:27 am

     Loving those reviews

336. Nick

     January 12, 2018 at 10:39 pm

     The Data Corrupter nearly takes the lead for me just for its extreme synth sound not found anywhere else, but the Empress Echosystem’s practicality and genius dual delay system are just impossible to beat with the pedals from last year.

337. Jeffrey Immer

     January 12, 2018 at 6:30 pm

     I feel like the freqout is going to be hitting my rig soon.

     Oh and pick me! My pedal board could use some new blood!

338. James Thain

     January 12, 2018 at 5:14 pm

     I want this thing!!!

339. NIck Pagoulatos

     January 12, 2018 at 5:03 pm

     The D&M drive is just as great as everyone says and the FreqOut is incredibly fun for low-volume settings and has more versatility than I imagined it would.

     Haven’t tried the Echo System yet but…man, those demos…that look…pick me!

340. Rachel Hart

     January 12, 2018 at 4:26 pm

     Pick me! Pick me! This pedal sounds so rad!! <3

341. Gabriel

     January 12, 2018 at 11:00 am

     Great article, guys and gal. Thoroughly enjoyable. I have yet to try many of the pedals on this list, and with so many new pedals coming out weekly, frankly, it’s hard to keep up. So many pedals, so little time, you know? I’d really love to win the Echosystem so that I could try it out sooner rather than later, haha. Anyway, keep up the great work, and it’s nice to see you all back at it, spreading good tone. Cheers!

342. Gabriel

     January 12, 2018 at 10:55 am

     Great articles, guys and gal! There’s quite a few effects on this list that I have yet to try, but with so many new effects coming out weekly, frankly, it’s a tad overwhelming. It feels like I can’t keep up. So many pedals, so little time, you know? But I do hope to get a chance someday to sample every pedal on this great “best of” list…and then some! Keep up the great work, and glad to see you all back at it. Cheers!

343. Janosch

     January 12, 2018 at 7:57 am

     Thanks a lot for the roundup. Need to check out the Echosystem asap.

344. Janosch

     January 12, 2018 at 7:55 am

     Great article. Echosystem is my personal number 1 in 2017.

345. Byron

     January 11, 2018 at 10:32 pm

     I seriously need more money. From this list, I only have the Canyon (which I absolutely love), but now need to find a good replacement for the El Cap I just traded off.

346. nes

     January 11, 2018 at 8:54 pm

     warped vinyl hifi, canyon, and data corrupter really caught my eye

347. Kory Stevens

     January 11, 2018 at 8:08 pm

     Its been an amazing year for pedals! I’d say my favorite of the bunch is the Echosystem. It blows most of the other big box delays out of the water(as does the Empress Reverb, granted released earlier) And anything that Chase Bliss puts out seems to be made of pure gold. They don’t have a bad pedal. It’s a wonderful time to be a guitarist!

348. Ray

     January 11, 2018 at 5:06 pm

     That Empress Echosystem is where it’s at!

349. Calum Lightfoot

     January 11, 2018 at 3:37 pm

     Definitely the EHX Canyon delay/looper

350. Dan Labrie

     January 11, 2018 at 1:44 pm

     Man, what an awesome year for pedals! I think the EchoSystem, the GameChanger, and the Hologram synthesizer are my top 3.

351. Teodor

     January 11, 2018 at 1:17 pm

     Awesome roundup

352. Rick

     January 11, 2018 at 9:53 am

     Great article, pedals are only getting better, my wallet is getting lighter!

353. Louis

     January 11, 2018 at 6:00 am

     Many many great pedals, but for me it has to be Meris and their Ottobit Jr – so innovative and inspiring!

354. Matt Cowling

     January 11, 2018 at 4:43 am

     Like, yeahhhhhhhhh.

355. David Burch

     January 11, 2018 at 2:34 am

     I am impressed by the sound of the Empress Effects Echosystem
     
     I hope I win the January contest

356. Justin Slojkowski

     January 11, 2018 at 2:32 am

     I will agree that LA1A is in the best effects of the year. It came out late in the year and not that many people got to experience it but I’ve been on a compressor kick for a least a half decade. Not kidding, I’ve had every Origin, including the G-P (I miss that one), RM58, Ross variations, VCA, LA2A etc… currently my favorite has been the Cornish OC-1 & using a Cali76TX as a limiter. the LA1A kicked the Cali off the board in a second. This is a very accurate description of the LA1A and there is more… you can change the tubes! Drop in a few NOS Mullards, try some different gain levels. I’ve found I actually like a nos Millard ECC83 in the V3 (the output buffer spot) as it raises the gain level a bit it adds a little bit of noise but you can sacrifice that because the LA1A is whisper quiet even at high makeup gain.
     
     I entered this contest because I noticed Best Guitar Effects blew up my Insta in likes this morning. I thought, hey I wonder if they are doing a new year contest! turns out they are! Especially for a pedal I was super interested in as Daniel Steinhardt was smitten over it. I will say, if I win, I won’t be the guy who’s flipping it on Reverb the same week it arrives.
     
     Happy New Year Best Guitar Effects!

357. Jacob

     January 11, 2018 at 1:35 am

     Meris audio is by far the most interesting thing to happen to me this year. I’ll compare my Mercury 7 to any other reverb ever!
     
     Great picks!

358. Giuseppe Divella

     January 11, 2018 at 12:06 am

     Well, the most interesting is sure TC HOF 2. The previous version was very famous because of its great quality/price rate, but lacked of shimmer and was a little subtle. This article gives a boost to my GAS sooo much 🙂

359. Jono

     January 10, 2018 at 10:12 pm

     yep

360. Daniel M

     January 10, 2018 at 9:42 pm

     The empress, data corrupter, and the infinite jets are all crazy fire!!

361. Daniel M

     January 10, 2018 at 9:37 pm

     That data corrupter, the new hologram pedal, and the empress all look amazing!

362. Jason

     January 10, 2018 at 9:26 pm

     For me, it’s the Ventris Reverb from Source Audio.

363. Zach

     January 10, 2018 at 6:42 pm

     The empress has got me wondering if robbing a bank can be justified by killer tones..

364. Seth

     January 10, 2018 at 6:02 pm

     So many awesome pedals!

365. Matthew Rempes

     January 10, 2018 at 4:02 pm

     All of these are pretty amazing tbh.

366. Frank

     January 10, 2018 at 2:03 pm

     Did you know there’s a beta firmware with a looper mode? Great pedal! Great articles!

367. Ethan Keffer

     January 10, 2018 at 1:30 pm

     I absolutely love Empress effects! The Empress reverb is killer but as is the Echosystem!!

368. Kirill Prusov

     January 10, 2018 at 12:47 pm

     Empress echosystem is the best pedal of 2017. I wish I could get it.
     
     And the Neunaber iconoclast is amazing cabsim.

369. Jason Vanwynsberghe

     January 10, 2018 at 12:41 pm

     So many great pedals out there!

370. Ryan Fiegl

     January 10, 2018 at 9:46 am

     Empress Echosystem…I love their pedals, still wish it had a looper. Also, very surprised at how much I want a Warped Vinyl HIFI!

371. Eduardo Ferreira

     January 10, 2018 at 9:38 am

     Hello!! I just wanna a chance to win the Echosystem. Thanks!!

372. William Thompson

     January 10, 2018 at 8:15 am

     wonderful

373. Benjamin Jones

     January 10, 2018 at 8:05 am

     The Boss JB2, and the echosystem were my favorite pedals that came out this year. Empress put out a timeline killer, and boss’s collaboration with JHS hopefully sparks more collaborations between pedal manufacturers.

374. George Tuxbury

     January 10, 2018 at 7:32 am

     I would love to add many of these to my rig!

375. Carlos Gandarillas

     January 10, 2018 at 6:41 am

     Boss MS 3 look like the looper/multi fx i need and I’ve always drooled over the chase bliss tonal recall RKM, but the next pedal on my list is the Iconoclast, I just wonder if it would work well for bass.

376. John McCormick

     January 10, 2018 at 5:01 am

     I need a dee lay

377. George Berry

     January 10, 2018 at 3:34 am

     Empress doing absolute bits. bloody game changing. Chase Bliss are my boiz. BGE 4 lyf yo

378. JB Salé

     January 10, 2018 at 1:44 am

     The Echosystem has me drooling all over the place ! What a beast of a pedal ! The Gamechanger Audio Plus is very intriguing. I can’t help but wonder what marvelous soundscapes those two might produce… 🙂

379. John Mazzocchi

     January 9, 2018 at 11:42 pm

     Best pedal of the year? I say the Chase Bliss Audio Brothers. Fantastic pedal, does everything it should and more.

380. Maria Jose Napoleon

     January 9, 2018 at 10:50 pm

     If I were rich. ….. doo be doo be doo be doo be doo be doo be doo ……….I would buy really all of them ♡♡♡♡♡

381. Ethan Jasinski

     January 9, 2018 at 7:09 pm

     The warped vinyl is legit

382. Michael

     January 9, 2018 at 6:34 pm

     Someday I’ll be like “nah that EQD looks gimmicky and i don’t crave one” but not today I guess

383. Ryan

     January 9, 2018 at 5:05 pm

     My 1st delay pedal was an Arion dds4, bought in the mid 80s, which is now falling apart. Plastic shell. I like the way it could layer samples, and 4 seconds was nice back in the day. I still use it sometimes. Need a replacement soon though.

384. William Vogt

     January 9, 2018 at 4:40 pm

     This is my favorite place to find out about new gear. Awsome and informative reviews. Great job. Keep up the good work. Thanks.

385. Jason Sheffield

     January 9, 2018 at 3:33 pm

     Out of the pedals I’ve tried on this list, really liking the EHX Canyon!

386. jason hubner

     January 9, 2018 at 3:12 pm

     Thorough article!

387. Grumbly Nublins

     January 9, 2018 at 2:56 pm

     What a great article. I need one of these

388. Joe Rom

     January 9, 2018 at 1:41 pm

     Great article, all these pedals are awesome

389. Brett Walston

     January 9, 2018 at 1:34 pm

     A pedalboard with all of these on it would be heavenly!

390. Derek Doss

     January 9, 2018 at 12:38 pm

     I love my Chase Bliss Tonal Recall RKM.
     
     Would love to try out any of these. The pedal industry is really going through a golden age.

391. Bob ‘Skippy’ Blechinger

     January 9, 2018 at 11:57 am

     The plethora of prodigious pedals presented here are nothing short of AMAZING!!!

     Thinking back, it’s amazing how the state of the art has progressed; so much so, in fact, that I can’t really choose ONE as being ‘best’…

     They’re ALL great!!!

392. richard locke

     January 9, 2018 at 11:46 am

     cool article

393. Kitty Lang

     January 9, 2018 at 11:21 am

     Love your reviews, and any of those pedals would suit me fine

394. José Navarro

     January 9, 2018 at 10:38 am

     Greats reviews

395. Joseph Bertucci

     January 9, 2018 at 10:30 am

     The Boss MS-3 Multi Effects Switcher is an outstanding multi-effect system that I would love to have as the center of my pedal board for bass and/or guitar!

396. Javi Ayala

     January 9, 2018 at 7:55 am

     I thought the Infinite Jets pedal was a shoe-in for Pedal of the Year, but the Empress Echosystem is still a great pick. Guitar Pedals – the best part of 2017!!!!!!! (Seriously).

397. Frank Slattery

     January 9, 2018 at 7:43 am

     The best pedal, and the one I’d really love to get my hands on, is the Tonal Recall RKM. That thing just sounds amazing.

     There were a ton of crazy innovative pedals that came out in 2017 though. Huge year.

398. JC

     January 9, 2018 at 6:22 am

     It seems that 2017 was the year of the drive… lots of new dirt pedals saw the light. Meanwhile, I’m still discovering the many possibilities of the Compressor-Boost combo… interesting how different placement of these two yield different sounds. Currently placing a compressor after dirt whilst clean boosting the guitar natural tone…

399. Ted Gomez

     January 9, 2018 at 5:13 am

     So many pedals, so little time to actually try them all out in a live performance situation! But give me the chance and I will gladly be the one to find placement and use for any one of the these!

400. Mel Jones

     January 9, 2018 at 3:43 am

     This review is great! There are so many pedals that I’d like to try……especially a few of the pedals by Meris. I’ll start following Meris on Instagram and Facebook.

401. Grant Marshall

     January 9, 2018 at 12:51 am

     Hall of fame is one of the most underrated pedals around. So useful and such great tone. Tone prints are a bonus. And the MASH tech is a great step forward

402. Derek Sasaki

     January 8, 2018 at 11:44 pm

     Would really like to get my hands on the TC Hall Of Fame ! But all these pedals are awesome and would find a place on my pedal board !

403. Patricia Napoleón

     January 8, 2018 at 11:15 pm

     Beautiful pedals. ……

404. Javier Alcalde

     January 8, 2018 at 11:09 pm

     Lovely pedals……I want them all !!!!!

405. Vincent GARRETT

     January 8, 2018 at 10:28 pm

     Great review indeed ! I’m quite impress by the echosystem and the meris’ pedals !

406. Ronnie Morris

     January 8, 2018 at 10:21 pm

     Great list.

407. Eric Hager

     January 8, 2018 at 10:10 pm

     This List is on point! So I have been holding out on the Chase Bliss Brothers well because bills and such, but then I said, “To heck with that!” and i bought it. I wholeheartedly agree with the write up on the Brothers in this article! I do not regret spending the money on this one! It is so much fun, I constantly change the order of the drives and continue to unlock the best dirt tones with each experimentation. Hands down, the BEST!!!!

408. Tim Cunnane

     January 8, 2018 at 9:23 pm

     These are all terrific pedals and worthy of the best of.

409. Brian Goldberg

     January 8, 2018 at 8:40 pm

     Great List! Keep up the great work Best Guitar Effects. My favorite pedals of the year were Source Audio’s Ventris Reverb and PettyJohn Effects Crush Compressor.

410. David Howard

     January 8, 2018 at 8:09 pm

     Some great pedals we have coming in 2018, and some great ones from 2017 are on my shopping list!

411. Dave Brookes

     January 8, 2018 at 7:31 pm

     Awesome lineup!

412. Mauricio Mallmann

     January 8, 2018 at 7:02 pm

     Empress Echosystem is one of the best pedals ever!

413. Juanfer

     January 8, 2018 at 4:42 pm

     My keyboard player got the Echo System… It sounds unbelievable.

414. Stephane Dery

     January 8, 2018 at 4:35 pm

     Great list! The echo system looks so great, and it’s built only a few kilometres from where I live! I’m at really glad to have discover the game changer, especially since I use my ehx superego all the time but this layout seems so natural.

415. Eric Sams

     January 8, 2018 at 4:09 pm

     Very informative. Alot of things I need to apply.

416. Neil

     January 8, 2018 at 2:33 pm

     nice!

417. Paul

     January 8, 2018 at 2:23 pm

     So many choices, so little time

418. Rafael Manoeli

     January 8, 2018 at 1:24 pm

     All this pedals in one pedalboard for shure will be the best pedalboard of the century. All of them have some special, it´s a shame this pedals in my country be so expensive. Fantastic page. Always with the best informations. Thanks dude!!!

419. Clint norwood

     January 8, 2018 at 1:17 pm

     The only pedal I have is the digitech Drop and I love it

420. John Nickell

     January 8, 2018 at 1:10 pm

     Pretty awesome pedals on this list , just got the Tonal Recall RKV & it’s fantastic, like all Chase Bliss. Would love to win a pedal today.

421. Jacob Mckeel

     January 8, 2018 at 1:10 pm

     So many great pedals, but that data corruptor looks gnarly!

422. Marshal Tofte

     January 8, 2018 at 12:54 pm

     The Data Corrupter is gnarly. Very excited to eventually get my hands on some Meris gear.

423. Dirk Florence

     January 8, 2018 at 12:42 pm

     Would love to add this to my pedalboard!

424. Tony Dines

     January 8, 2018 at 12:32 pm

     The favourite addition to my own pedalboard in 2017 makes no sound at all! The Boss ES-8 really is a game changer as far what can be achieved with sound sculpting. There is the usual ability to change the order of pedals and manipulate multiple loops with a single button press of course, but parallel loops, wave form parameter changing are just two of the unique features that bring new methods of control to the party.

425. Ian

     January 8, 2018 at 12:11 pm

     I really want to drive the Chase Bliss brothers. Seems like a great pedal. My favorite pedal I got was the walrus monument. Not sure if it came out last year, but it’s a great harmonic trem sound.

426. Noah Hackbarth

     January 8, 2018 at 12:05 pm

     Really need to check some of these pedals out.

427. Michael Conner

     January 8, 2018 at 11:59 am

     Most of these pedals would work magic amongst the others in my system. However, the TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 Reverb feels the right choice to replace an older outdated reverb unit I have. Looking to add depth to the ambient realm of my sound.

428. John Williams

     January 8, 2018 at 11:48 am

     Hmm, guess I’ll have to buy one or two of these. I need more guitar pedals like a need another hole in my head.

429. Calvin Batley

     January 8, 2018 at 11:44 am

     All of those pedals are simply amazing. It is as if there has been a new dawn for sonic love in the world of guitar- inovation, respect of the tried and tested and a vigorous movement towards great, long lasting materials. Pedal manufacturers have found their pride! I like it. I like it alot. I, for one, want them all!

430. Ernest Furnari

     January 8, 2018 at 11:31 am

     The echosystem Is a mind-blowing collection of sounds!

431. MOONRAKER

     January 8, 2018 at 11:07 am

     i would go for Empress Echosystem, hope to win it here….

432. Christopher Williams

     January 8, 2018 at 10:06 am

     Honestly, I don’t know how any one pedal was picked as best this year. What a great time to be alive! Besides impending nuclear war..

433. Andy

     January 8, 2018 at 9:57 am

     I love the Thing 1 and Thing 2 knobs on the Empress, and I don’t even know what they do. If it’s like the Dr. Seuss Things, we should all be mildly worried.

434. Alex Li Gayoso

     January 8, 2018 at 9:54 am

     Boss ms3 is a great tool for musician. It has everything you need. Is not the best pedal in quality sound, but it does the job very well.

435. Graham

     January 8, 2018 at 9:27 am

     I cover the Echosystem, the Reverb, and the Chase Bliss pedals in particular…

436. Robert Schramer

     January 8, 2018 at 9:03 am

     Love the D&M Drive!

437. David Sutherland

     January 8, 2018 at 8:55 am

     I would love to get my hands on the Empress Echosystem!

438. Adam Legros

     January 8, 2018 at 8:52 am

     Echo System was my favorite. I like that you can send two different delays to two different amps.

439. Chris Davies

     January 8, 2018 at 8:24 am

     Love this, hopefully I can add some more delay to my board this year.

440. Hugo

     January 8, 2018 at 7:58 am

     Nice!

441. Ronnie Broch Sommerfelt

     January 8, 2018 at 7:56 am

     Best buy for me in 2017 : Digitech Freqout

     Probably best buy in 2018 : Gamechanger Audio Plus Pedal

     Stupidest pedal bought in 2017 : Ibanez echo shifter.
     
     Not Ibanez fault just my montly pedaljunkie purchase.

442. Jeremiah Lind

     January 8, 2018 at 7:39 am

     It was a great year for New pedals and for new concepts. I love how much the pedal world is changing.

443. Enrico

     January 8, 2018 at 7:39 am

     Empress Echosystem, such a wonderful pedal…but it would be perfect if it had a display too.
     
     Thank for you article

444. Damon Palyka

     January 8, 2018 at 7:35 am

     I dont know if it came out this year or Last, but the Sub N Up was a game changer for me.,..

445. Beau Osland

     January 8, 2018 at 7:34 am

     The Echosystem is easily my number one dream pedal right now. The dual delay engine is incredible, and Empress makes such great stuff.

446. Matt Collins

     January 8, 2018 at 7:30 am

     Next year can we get a red carpet?

447. Ryan Stewart

     January 8, 2018 at 7:29 am

     Spot on. This was a great year for non-traditional or innovative effects. The Infinite Jets, Plus Pedal, Data Corrupter, and FreqOut in particular are deserving entries. Looking forward to seeing what crazy stuff 2018 brings.

448. Scott L Wilson

     January 8, 2018 at 7:29 am

     This past year may have been a golden age of pedal manufacturers.

449. Jaktip Poonyathalung

     January 8, 2018 at 7:26 am

     one of my reference website

450. Marc Brule

     January 8, 2018 at 7:14 am

     It all just keeps getting better! That Empress Effects Echosystem would put me in a place of bragging rights over my son’s much superior pedal board setup. Single and unattached means he can buy the pricey stuff. Attached guys — you know what I’m talking about!

     I wish I could pick up at least three of these pedals on the list: Echosystem, Chase Bliss Brothers, and Freqout. Oh yeah!

451. Kate Frazier

     January 8, 2018 at 7:05 am

     Thanks for the pedal review. The Echosystem sounds amazing!

452. Markus Opel

     January 8, 2018 at 6:52 am

     Very helpful Article. And even more interesting pedals that I didn’t know up to now. Especially the Effectrode LA-1A Leveling Amplifier. But I am missing one: the BluGuitar BluBOX Impulse Response Speaker Emulator.

453. Nerijus

     January 8, 2018 at 5:52 am

     Empress effects echosystem that is what makes music even more beautiful

454. Raul Navarro

     January 8, 2018 at 5:35 am

     The Empress Effects Echosystem is awesome!
     
     Great post about lost of pedals. Thank you

455. Felipe Devicaro

     January 8, 2018 at 5:34 am

     Really incredible pedals! I’d change some, but wouldn’t complain if they were on my pedalboard!

456. JimP

     January 8, 2018 at 4:55 am

     Thanks for the article. As always — so many cool pedals, so little time (and funds to divert to said pedals 🙂

     The D&M Drive looks and sounds like a pretty cool pedal.

457. Daniel Arifin

     January 8, 2018 at 4:52 am

     Great list !! I’m interested on the empress echosystem.

458. Andreas

     January 8, 2018 at 4:48 am

     Building a board with all these pedals would be amazing!

459. Gregory

     January 8, 2018 at 4:42 am

     nice article, lots of pedals i didn’t know about

460. Theo Nt

     January 8, 2018 at 4:16 am

     Wow, what an article!

461. hektor misplon

     January 8, 2018 at 4:03 am

     I wish I could have a strymon BigSky pedal, I would love to try one!

462. Peter Hristias

     January 8, 2018 at 3:13 am

     Would love the Empress Effects Echosystem for the New Year

463. Tulio Andrade

     January 8, 2018 at 2:39 am

     Great article. Congrats.

464. TomiM

     January 8, 2018 at 2:22 am

     Thanks for these guys! Personally I’d love to try out Brothers and Tonal Recall. Should find a lot of use for those. Cheers!

465. Ruary

     January 8, 2018 at 2:21 am

     I thought that i had moved beyond my compulsive, pedal fancying obsession.
     
     Clearly i was wrong.

466. Ed Lefebre

     January 8, 2018 at 1:52 am

     Echosystem looks badass, have my eyes on the MS-3 first

467. Ben Clapton

     January 8, 2018 at 1:24 am

     Absolutely looking the echosystem and many of the pedals featured on this list! (I have to win haha) Canyon is also a nice little delay

468. Dieter Pirner

     January 8, 2018 at 1:11 am

     The Echosystem Looks like a very interesting pedal, but will it be able to compete with such delay Monsters as the Timeline, TimeFactor etc.?

     I would like to believe it.

     My pedal of the year (though not a new pedal) was the strymon deco – best buy this year! what a simple idea amazingly accomplished!

     And of course nearly every pedal that Electro Harmonix put out is interesting and most of them earn a place in this list.

469. Su-Ann

     January 8, 2018 at 1:08 am

     Oh god, I don’t need see their rankings to know that I want them all!

470. Matt Taylor

     January 8, 2018 at 12:50 am

     Not sure I agree with some of these as a few just seem to be more of the same just with a different label on, but I do have to say that I love the way that pedal manufacturers are really caring about the graphics on their pedals; some of these look amazing!

471. Johnny

     January 8, 2018 at 12:26 am

     Should be good to try these one day

472. Victor Crisen

     January 8, 2018 at 12:17 am

     This is a superb collection of pedals. Haven’t seen the piano pedal yet!

473. Simon Denivry

     January 7, 2018 at 11:56 pm

     I got myself the Reverb from Empress last year, and it is awesome.
     
     Couldn’t test the Echosystem so far, but I have no trouble believing it earns its Pedal of the Year 2017 title !!

474. Saul

     January 7, 2018 at 10:22 pm

     Awesome!

475. David

     January 7, 2018 at 8:59 pm

     Wow, so many great pedals! I’m trying to convince myself I don’t need them all.

476. Steve Danielson

     January 7, 2018 at 8:41 pm

     Echo system must incredible to win pedal of the tear. There were a lot of great pedals to choose from. I own the Effectrode la-1a, so to says it’s better than that great pedal then that is high praise indeed. I’ll need to check it out.

477. Dan

     January 7, 2018 at 8:23 pm

     Very detailed article. Happy to see the D&M on the list, and the Pedal of the Year sounds awesome

478. Pierre Desaulniers

     January 7, 2018 at 8:17 pm

     Great article lots of hard choices for me

479. Mack

     January 7, 2018 at 7:46 pm

     Fantastic article. I love my Tonal Recall and really feeling all of Earthquakers pedals! Looking forward to trying a lot of these.

480. B

     January 7, 2018 at 6:52 pm

     Honestly, I have used single effects pedals in the past and I am a huge fan of Danelectro pedals, but this Echosystem pedal looks awesome!

481. Cris

     January 7, 2018 at 6:42 pm

     The echo system looks like more than a delay. How does it compare to a tc flashback? Should sound empressive.

482. Christopher Duke

     January 7, 2018 at 6:30 pm

     I agree the Echosystem was the best. The FreqOut is great too.

483. Dylan

     January 7, 2018 at 6:07 pm

     Love that Brothers

484. Michael Bowlin

     January 7, 2018 at 5:52 pm

     Excited to spice up the gear with the new effects out there!

485. Bob

     January 7, 2018 at 5:47 pm

     I really dig the reviews….like I need another stomp box. Discovered the Keeley Dark Side early in 2017, so it must have been a 2016 release not eligible for this year? Didn’t pop up on a site search either….friggin’ awesome though….missing my Systech flanger….another lesson to pause before selling off good stuff just because you only use it on one or two tunes.

486. derrick mcnew

     January 7, 2018 at 5:15 pm

     Hologram Infinite Jets is absolutely my fave of 2017. Gorgeous circuitry and beautiful paint job.

487. derrick mcnew

     January 7, 2018 at 5:06 pm

     Hologram Infinite Jets is absolutely my top pick of 2017. Gorgeous circuitry, great paint job.

488. Ian

     January 7, 2018 at 5:01 pm

     Really impressed with the Empress stuff this year. Doing Canada proud!

489. Gwen

     January 7, 2018 at 4:48 pm

     The Echosystem capitalized on the success of the Empress Reverb and knocked it out of the park. Can’t wait to see them do modulation!

490. Jamie Kelly

     January 7, 2018 at 4:19 pm

     Awesome list!!!

491. Isabel Napoleon

     January 7, 2018 at 3:55 pm

     Greats pedals and greats reviews…

492. Brent Baron

     January 7, 2018 at 3:43 pm

     This has indeed been a killer year for effects and the ones who build them. From killer delays like the ecosystem to endless reverbs and fuzzes. I can I lay wish I am lucky enough to be able to have even a pedal or so from this amazing list and the honorable mention section.

493. Jacob Reda

     January 7, 2018 at 3:06 pm

     Echosystem is my number one for sure, just for the fact that they have pushed delay pedals into unbelievably versatile territory. If you can’t do it with Echosystem, it probably can’t (or shouldn’t) be done! As far as usability, I’d go with Hall of Fame/Flashback 2. Genius and elegant solution to a universal issue (expression pedals).

494. chris au

     January 7, 2018 at 3:00 pm

     Brothers, EchoSystem, and the Plus Pedal are all top tier gamechanging pedals.

495. Cole Friesen

     January 7, 2018 at 2:21 pm

     An amazing year for pedals! The Brothers and the echosystem are game changers for me. Would love to get on some of the hologram effects pedals.

496. gabriel pleska

     January 7, 2018 at 1:47 pm

     Ready to be their slave

497. Sage Fuentes

     January 7, 2018 at 1:42 pm

     Great year for pedals. I really want to try the Echosystem and am definitely hoping for a few more PLL style pedals next year (please CBA, make a PLL with presets!).

498. Scott

     January 7, 2018 at 12:59 pm

     I have not yet tried the TC HOF2 but was curious about it, still running a tc delay and verb

499. Marshall Conn

     January 7, 2018 at 12:51 pm

     Neunaber is one of the most exciting companies around right now, and I look forward to all their releases. Their new chorus pedal didn’t make this list, but I think it’s a contender for best of last year!

500. Mike G

     January 7, 2018 at 12:26 pm

     Really awesome time we live in with all of the pedal choices. I am always GASsing after visiting this website. Happy 2018, can’t wait to see what’s coming out next…

501. Steven Yernberg

     January 7, 2018 at 12:21 pm

     I want them all.

502. Patrik

     January 7, 2018 at 12:03 pm

     Can’t wait for the Echosystem giveaway! Cheers

503. Stuart

     January 7, 2018 at 11:12 am

     Hologram – wow and wow and wow. Love that stuff, just can’t get enough!

504. Stephan Nordgren

     January 7, 2018 at 11:04 am

     Empress is my favorite pedal company. I would love to win the Echo System to give it to my brother as a best man gift for being in my wedding!

505. Stew Guernsey

     January 7, 2018 at 11:00 am

     These lists have become a roadmap to testing new gear for the coming year. There are at least a half a dozen that I’ll be testing and, if history proves correct, buying in the coming year. My needs as a working musician are constantly in a state of flux various boards serving various needs at any given time so I use this list as a primary guide for exploring. Thank you!

506. Mark Miller

     January 7, 2018 at 10:45 am

     The echo system is so awesome. Empress is so awesome. I loved my super delay and this thing is that on steroids. I’ve barely scratched the surface of this thing but I love it!

507. Luke Jackman

     January 7, 2018 at 10:41 am

     I’m a fan of everything Chase Bliss has been putting out lately. They have a nice selection of really different sounding effects. Very cool Chase Bliss

508. Wim

     January 7, 2018 at 10:37 am

     Just great stuff! I would love to win this pedal!

509. Rob May

     January 7, 2018 at 10:36 am

     The Plus Pedal is where it’s at. Something completely new and impressive execution. Echosystem and Infinite Jets are awesome too!

510. Steph

     January 7, 2018 at 10:35 am

     Out here in the middle of nowhere … San Francisco? … I turn to Best Guitar Effects first to direct me to the winners when it comes to effects. They haven’t failed me yet. And from what I’ve seen on the latest demos, they appear to have struck gold here. Sure, the Empress Effects Echosystem has a bit of a learning curve, but that’s a fair trade for the versatility and breadth that this baby promises.

511. henry whitmer

     January 7, 2018 at 10:20 am

     Have the Empress Reverb, which is amazing. The Echosystem looks like it needs to go on my board as well. Great company.

512. Richard

     January 7, 2018 at 10:00 am

     awesommeeeeeee pedal sure like to own one

513. Mohammed Ashraf

     January 7, 2018 at 9:24 am

     Must say I definitely agree with both the pedal of the year and pedal manufacturer of the year winners. The Echo System seems like the perfect all round delay and it sounds incredible in every demo i have heard of it. As for Meris’ pedals, I just love how well thought out they all are and they all seem like they can do the subtle and the extreme really well.

514. Claudio Pianini

     January 7, 2018 at 9:09 am

     Bought a few of these pedals -> Chase Bliss Audio Brothers, Alexander Pedals Syntax Error, Meris Ottobit, Hologram Infinite Jets, EQD Data Corrupter. Almost kept all of them stayed except the Data Corrupter (was too noisy)!

     Hologram Infinite Jets is just a fantastic divine creative tool.
     
     I’m very impressed by the Meris Ottobit (soundwise, build quality)

     One of your listed pedals I’d really like to have is the Gamechanger Audio Plus Pedal, but it’s quite pricey.

     Didn’t have the opportunity to witness the Echosystem in real time action. It looks like super powerful tool, limitless!

     Looking forward to what 2018 will have to offer!

515. Stefan van Jole

     January 7, 2018 at 8:55 am

     So many good looking pedals! Really digging that Empress Echosystem!

516. David Butler

     January 7, 2018 at 8:05 am

     Great lineup of fascinating pedals…if only I had the scratch to get them all! To quote the old song: “If I were a rich man….”

517. Mike J

     January 7, 2018 at 8:04 am

     The Empress Echosystem looks like the comeplete package, I want one.

518. Howard Gill

     January 7, 2018 at 8:02 am

     Can’t wait to try out the whiskey setting!

519. Kevin

     January 7, 2018 at 7:56 am

     Awesome pedals, want the echosystem!!

520. Anthony Juniper

     January 7, 2018 at 7:47 am

     Although I’m a fan of the Keeley Caverns, the Empress Effects Echo is unparalleled!

521. Laurent de C

     January 7, 2018 at 7:44 am

     the Echosystem and the DM drive are 2 great pedals of 2017.
     
     they complement well. I believe i won t need more than this to have fun !!! 🙂

522. Colin Johnson

     January 7, 2018 at 7:38 am

     Why is it the moment I’m ready to jump on a used Warped Vinyl, they make a new on that’s better at what I’d use it for and in my favorite color?

523. Douglas

     January 7, 2018 at 7:10 am

     I’d love to win the Echosystem to get me and my gear back in the game.

524. Sean

     January 7, 2018 at 6:51 am

     The Echosystem really does sound pretty incredible.

525. Jonathan

     January 7, 2018 at 6:50 am

     I once had the Empress Effects Superdelay Vintage. Amazing pedal. I’m just blown away by their new Echosystem.

526. Joseph Bugg

     January 7, 2018 at 6:33 am

     Awesome line-up! I’ll have to check several of these out for sure! Was looking for a stereo cab sim pedal to replace my mono! Thanks for the reviews

527. Jon Landers

     January 7, 2018 at 6:19 am

     I just started using pedal this past year after having bought a Rhodes piano and Fender Twin Reissue. This site has the best reviews and demos I’ve found. I def have used the input from Best Guitar Pedals to make informed purchases. Thanks!

528. Chris Johnson

     January 7, 2018 at 5:48 am

     glad to see Chase Bliss so well represented! alsoo good to see weird pedals all over the place. Data Corrupter, Infinite Jets & Syntax Error seem like incredible toys.

529. Silas Garrett

     January 7, 2018 at 5:47 am

     Interesting choices!

530. Luca

     January 7, 2018 at 5:28 am

     I love this chart! Especially want the echosystem and so curious about the earthqauaker data corruption and the syntax error!! thank you!!

531. Manfred Ganswindt

     January 7, 2018 at 5:14 am

     Love it. Great versatile pedal.

532. Simen Andersen

     January 7, 2018 at 4:50 am

     The Echosystem seems amazing. SO.MANY.OPPORTUNITIES.

533. Peter

     January 7, 2018 at 4:48 am

     I want that Echosystem so bad!!!

534. quentin

     January 7, 2018 at 4:47 am

     Nice!

535. Remi Quenin

     January 7, 2018 at 4:44 am

     For me the best pedal of 2017 is definitly the Infinity Jet, it is pure gold and open many many possibilities !

536. Pedro Branco

     January 7, 2018 at 4:40 am

     Where’s the Meris Ottobit JR? Groundbreaking 🙂 cheers everyone!

537. Samuel King

     January 7, 2018 at 4:37 am

     m/

538. Matthew Martin

     January 7, 2018 at 4:33 am

     Jackson Prism surely worth a mention too?

539. Lukas

     January 7, 2018 at 4:32 am

     Echosystem looks great!

540. Giuseppe Galato

     January 7, 2018 at 4:31 am

     <3

541. Renner

     January 7, 2018 at 4:27 am

     I´m here to win the echosystem, aha h aha ha

542. Paul

     January 7, 2018 at 4:23 am

     Thanks for the great reviews guys, it sure does help when making a purchase for what can be a lot of money.

543. Jim Mangino

     January 7, 2018 at 3:57 am

     Wow! And I was happy years ago when the SuperFuzz came out.

544. dario molinari

     January 7, 2018 at 3:52 am

     i hope to win!

545. Jared Johnson

     January 7, 2018 at 3:45 am

     That’s more information than I was ready to take in but I’m glad I did. a lot of cool stuff

546. Urban Sever

     January 7, 2018 at 3:44 am

     Great collection guys!!!

547. Francisco Desviat

     January 7, 2018 at 3:33 am

     Greats pedals …. great selection!!!

548. JN Lercher

     January 7, 2018 at 3:05 am

     great pedal, boys!
     
     looks rather interesting, and if it sounds so – it must be mine 🙂

549. andrej

     January 7, 2018 at 3:01 am

     very good gear!

550. Filip

     January 7, 2018 at 2:58 am

     Really glad to inform about these effects, one of these will improve my sound and sound of the band, for sure.

551. Jorge

     January 7, 2018 at 2:48 am

     That’s a lot of cool gear..

552. Matthew Martin

     January 7, 2018 at 2:13 am

     Jackson Prism also worthy of a mention surely…?

553. David López

     January 7, 2018 at 2:00 am

     I’ve been considering to get a Chase Bliss Brothers to substitute all of the overdrives and fuzzes in my pedalboard, but the price tag is a little bit beyond me. The major GAS-attack that I got after reading this list doesn’t help…

554. John Inge Melve Ellingsæter

     January 7, 2018 at 1:59 am

     So many exciting and fun effects here! Wish I could own all of them!!

555. Eoin Jennings

     January 7, 2018 at 1:20 am

     Nice review. Boss MS-3 sounds great value

556. Timothy Hillman

     January 7, 2018 at 1:02 am

     The Top pedals for 2017 – Great articles! so much for me to learn, thank you all for sharing your experiences with these pedals.

557. Max

     January 7, 2018 at 1:02 am

     Really great pedals. Definitely a few of the best 2017

558. Alex

     January 7, 2018 at 12:39 am

     Empress builds great pedals. Owned some.
     
     Once seeked for a Vintage Modified Superdelay but the analog emulations sounded too digital.
     
     But for sure I would give the Echosystem a chance 😉

559. Zoltan

     January 7, 2018 at 12:39 am

     Semms awesome.

560. Dave

     January 7, 2018 at 12:35 am

     What a fantastic year for pedals! Of the demos I’ve watched, these pedals definitely outshined others; great list!

561. Braeden Rangno

     January 7, 2018 at 12:32 am

     Love the infinite Jets, really want to add that to my sax rig for extra weird stuff

562. Tim Miller

     January 7, 2018 at 12:16 am

     A free pedal, yeah sure, why not

563. Marco

     January 6, 2018 at 11:55 pm

     The Meris Ottobit Jr., is my favorite pedal of 2017! I would love a nice digital delay though… The Empress Echosystem looks so rad!

564. Kovács Pál

     January 6, 2018 at 11:53 pm

     Nice!

565. Dan

     January 6, 2018 at 11:16 pm

     So many knobs!!

566. Fred St Clair

     January 6, 2018 at 10:57 pm

     So many pedals, what a great job.

567. Paul

     January 6, 2018 at 10:04 pm

     I love reading all the reviews, but that’s about as close as I can get. I wish I could afford to buy some of these pedals.

568. JP

     January 6, 2018 at 10:04 pm

     Thanks for the great reviews!
     
     I have the Brothers, which is amazing! The Chase Bliss Faves switch, or other midi switching device is however a must to get the most out of it.
     
     Now I just need an equally amazing delay like either the Empress or the Tonal Recall…

     • Marco

       January 6, 2018 at 11:57 pm

       Currently selling a Tonal Recall on Reverb… Mint Condition. (Excess in the Nest)

569. Aaron Halverson

     January 6, 2018 at 10:03 pm

     Great list! Gotta love that Echo System!!

570. Jonathan Smith

     January 6, 2018 at 9:52 pm

     I want to try the warped vinyl and echo system.

571. Jonathan Smith

     January 6, 2018 at 9:48 pm

     I want to try the warped vinyl!

572. Jacob Mreen

     January 6, 2018 at 9:28 pm

     I agree with giving Meris as a company recognition. So much amazing stuff from them this year.

573. Phil Doughty

     January 6, 2018 at 9:20 pm

     The Echosystem, D&M Drive, MS-3 Multi Effects Switcher would get me through most gigs

574. Joe Bush

     January 6, 2018 at 8:54 pm

     So many cool pedals coming out these days. Wish I could try them all!

575. Daniel Arganda

     January 6, 2018 at 8:43 pm

     I’d vote for the canyon delay

576. Terry Johnson

     January 6, 2018 at 8:35 pm

     I have been a Electro Harmonix guy for a long time , but Pigtronix has become one of my favorite companies recently . Mothership 2 rocks !

577. Sash Kosovic

     January 6, 2018 at 8:19 pm

     I’m so interested in trying all the mk of the warped vinyl. Chase bliss makes great pedals (I have the spectre purple knob). I would love to get my hands on that Empress echo someday too.

578. Sean Edwards

     January 6, 2018 at 8:15 pm

     I was getting a bit worried that Meris wasn’t going to get a mention. I’m glad they did! Great stuff right there! And Chase Bliss! Some great stuff coming out there! The empress delay looks like the perfect next step in delay evolution. That looks amazing!

579. Patrick Kammerer

     January 6, 2018 at 8:14 pm

     That Echosystem looks like some full featured jazz! Love it!

580. Andrew Hay

     January 6, 2018 at 8:05 pm

     I bought a Boss MS3 and honestly its an unsung hero. Combining a switcher with many programmed effects is genius (such a small footprint too). The Echosystem looks really cool although its a little out of my budget (definitely GASsing). The Tumnus Deluxe I thought was also a pedal that deserves a lot of credit.

581. Chvad SB

     January 6, 2018 at 7:57 pm

     I wanna winnnn!! Also great work reviewing this stuff all year!

582. Adam Ritchie

     January 6, 2018 at 7:40 pm

     Pretty excited for the Echosystem as I love the Superdelay pedal on both guitars and synths so an upgrade on that would be divine I’m sure! Some of those Chase Bliss pedals sound great too.

583. Todd novak

     January 6, 2018 at 7:28 pm

     The Warped Vinyl has my tail for sure. It is one that I will be looking to purchase this year. Chase Bliss is some of the best stuff out there but it does cost a pretty penny, totally worth it but not a spontaneous buy for me. I love getting sound that does not feel prescribed. love this pedal

584. Nick Duba

     January 6, 2018 at 7:27 pm

     The Echosystem seems completely amazing but I’m curious about the Iconoclast too. Pretty elegant solution. Can’t go wrong with anything on this list though!

585. John McElroy

     January 6, 2018 at 7:26 pm

     Really excited about this list. I had a feeling the syntax error and data corrupter would be on the list since everyone loves square wave fuzz and 8 bit noise. Was really epic hearing andy Martin play the castlevania theme on PGS/reverb/tone report The Empress looks super baller. It looks like it could replace 4 pedals on my board and make it a lot easier to get the good ambient wash and epic shimmer as well as other things I don’t even know about with less footwork. I definitely would have to vote for the DOD rubberneck as a good contender with all of its cool functions as well.

     If it weren’t for buying a used boss DM-2 when I worked at a music store I may not be as obsessed with the effect.

     Currently been working with solo delays like the MXR carbon copy regular and bright, Caroline Kilobyte, Strymon El Capistan, and of course my BOSS DM-2 when I need the OG. I’m to this day surprised at how many different variations of delays come out. Would love to see a shootout between the Strymon Big Sky, Timeline vs the Empress Echosystem. Happy New Year

586. Robert Connan

     January 6, 2018 at 7:21 pm

     I wish the hologram was all stereo. it would clearly replace my old Boss Slicer.
     
     Maybe there is more in the future!

     Thx for the article!
     
     Rob

587. Andrew Willson

     January 6, 2018 at 7:17 pm

     Though it didn’t come out in 2017 I did get the blue knob version of the Tonal Recall and I’m loving it. So many different interesting sounds in that thing. Phaserish stuff, chorus, tape-y. All in addition to a great sounding analog delay.

588. Dany

     January 6, 2018 at 7:15 pm

     Boss/JHS Pedals JB-2 Angry Driver is my favorite, great sound! TC Electronic HOF2 too, a classic is born!

589. Morgan Earendil

     January 6, 2018 at 7:04 pm

     Compressor was very interesting! But echosystem is totally best.

590. Chris C.

     January 6, 2018 at 7:02 pm

     Although it’s not from this year, I got it this year – the Catalinbread Katzenkonig. I love it.

     But from 2017, I would pick up the Boss MS-3 because of its versatility.

591. David Ramirez

     January 6, 2018 at 6:51 pm

     Amazing year for pedals 2017 was, love to Chase Bliss tho

592. Tom t

     January 6, 2018 at 6:49 pm

     Those meris pedals and the game changer plus are all on my list of to get pedals but for me JHS haunted mids top the charts this year, and I actually got one. Simple pedal that cuts and boosts the mid range but damn it’s good at changing your sound to something new.

593. Kacper

     January 6, 2018 at 6:49 pm

     My favourite pedals of 2017 are EHX Canyon and Alexander Pedals Syntax Error. Long, psychey reverbs/delays and weird modulation effects are my game 🙂 And these two are just perfect. Would love to hear them in combination, for example on some organ or synth.

594. Dan

     January 6, 2018 at 6:41 pm

     My vote would have to go towards the DigiTech FreqOut. Cool piece of gear.

595. JamesB

     January 6, 2018 at 6:30 pm

     Pedal industry seems to be expliing new limits, but I’m a big fan of simple and innovative, so my preference out of this list would be the Canyon Delay. Cheers

596. Steve King

     January 6, 2018 at 6:27 pm

     Empress Echosystem and Effectrode Levelling Amplifier are at the top of my list, but would add the Source Audio Ventris as a late entry to the list.

597. Gonzo

     January 6, 2018 at 6:26 pm

     My vote goes to the Plus Pedal, it is truly a Gamechanger !!

598. Carlton

     January 6, 2018 at 6:23 pm

     I want them all

599. Michael

     January 6, 2018 at 6:15 pm

     Have definitely been wanting to try the Syntax Error for quite some time

600. Caleb Martin

     January 6, 2018 at 6:11 pm

     I haven’t tried the rkm yet, but the tonal recall has been a game changer!

601. Michael Hill

     January 6, 2018 at 6:03 pm

     H9 all the way

602. William Gould

     January 6, 2018 at 6:03 pm

     Would love to own a pedal of the year one day

603. Creighton J Tamerius

     January 6, 2018 at 5:55 pm

     Loved the delays that we got this year. I would say my favorite of all the demos I heard was the rv500. Great to see good pedals become great pedals!

604. Adam

     January 6, 2018 at 5:47 pm

     Boss ms-3 all the way 🙂

605. Calvin Phua

     January 6, 2018 at 5:44 pm

     The syntax error is incredibly inspiring!!

606. Edward Loo

     January 6, 2018 at 5:43 pm

     Empress effects has never disappointed. Owned some of their effects. Well made and good tone.

607. Lex

     January 6, 2018 at 5:41 pm

     These all look like crazy fun. But the The Empress Echosystem would be my first pick.
     
     Fingers crossed for the contest. Good luck to the winner.

608. John Voyles

     January 6, 2018 at 5:32 pm

     Hey! For pedal of the year, it’s a 4-way tie for me between the Canyon, MS-3, FreqOut, and Syntax Error, have all of them and they’re amazing!

609. John Voyles

     January 6, 2018 at 5:30 pm

     Hey! For pedal of the year, it’s a 4-way tie for me between the Canyon, MS-3, FreqOut, and Syntax Error, have all if them and they’re amazing!

610. Lee Morse

     January 6, 2018 at 5:15 pm

     Does anyone agree that the trend in the last few years appears to be two pronged: 1) the addition of extra parameter controls (lots of knobs), and secondly cramming two different effects together in a single housing (a slightly sardonic example that I have dreamed up is a univibe plus fuzz pedal).

     I am not saying that these are bad things, I am just asking whether that seems to be the marketing angle that is catching our attention?

     All I know is that I don’t yet have enough pedals on my board.

611. matt

     January 6, 2018 at 5:15 pm

     My favourite for the year was the ottobit jr and the Empress Echo, Both are on my wish list.

612. JD

     January 6, 2018 at 5:13 pm

     Ventris!!!

613. Sean O’Donbell

     January 6, 2018 at 5:12 pm

     Love.

614. wayne risner

     January 6, 2018 at 5:04 pm

     Looking forward to the D&M pedal, like the idea of a 2 in 1.

615. Javier

     January 6, 2018 at 5:03 pm

     I just love versatile delays. Also I always stack overdrives. Nice to see they are making one box of good combinations

616. Jaosn Wilcox

     January 6, 2018 at 5:03 pm

     Id love to try the Echosystem ! Looks amazing !

617. MikeM

     January 6, 2018 at 4:59 pm

     Great list!

618. Drew Harper

     January 6, 2018 at 4:56 pm

     My favorite pedal of 2017 was the Data Corrupter. That pedal does crazy disgusting things to your guitar signal, but in the most amazing way! Plus it’s something different from the “usual” effects that most of us guitar players use all the time. Sometimes change is good!

619. Arjen

     January 6, 2018 at 4:54 pm

     Some of these effects I want to hear myself!

620. Michael

     January 6, 2018 at 4:54 pm

     Great pedals this year. I will be shopping from this list hopefully.

621. Alex Moran

     January 6, 2018 at 4:48 pm

     Empress has been making fantastic products and this one is no exception. Versatile and musical really makes it stand out.

622. Jason

     January 6, 2018 at 4:32 pm

     Great stuff. Truly dream pedal board material.

623. Jens-Peter Axelsson

     January 6, 2018 at 4:25 pm

     Super exited to try the bucket brigade delay from Joel and the leveling amp. Great articles!

624. Blake Kibby

     January 6, 2018 at 4:24 pm

     All awesome selections! I want them all!!!!

625. Taylor Jacobs

     January 6, 2018 at 4:23 pm

     I can’t wait to try the Echosystem and the Freqout! This article just makes me want them all the more!

626. Tanner Hopfauf

     January 6, 2018 at 4:18 pm

     Echosystem looks awesome. So many features! Would be fun to experiment with.

627. Matt

     January 6, 2018 at 4:16 pm

     Meris is definitely the MVP for 2017!

628. Ted Fetherstonhaugh

     January 6, 2018 at 4:15 pm

     love the d&m drive and the infinite jets – cant wait to get them on my board

629. Robert Koch

     January 6, 2018 at 4:15 pm

     I like this hope I win

630. Javi

     January 6, 2018 at 4:14 pm

     I thought the Infinite Jets pedal was a shoe in for Pedal of the Year, but the Empress Echosystem is still a great pick. Guitar Pedals – the best part of 2017!!!!!!! (Seriously).

631. Kevin L. Gibbs

     January 6, 2018 at 4:12 pm

     Thanks for the run down.

632. Bam Rodriguez

     January 6, 2018 at 4:11 pm

     Echosystem! Great pedal!!!

633. Bill Siepierski

     January 6, 2018 at 4:11 pm

     Send it my way

634. Steven

     January 6, 2018 at 4:09 pm

     Very informative website, and i need the Empress Echosystem here in Indonesia …. 🙂

635. John

     January 6, 2018 at 4:05 pm

     Not enough made of my fave 2017 pedal to name it. Not until I can get hands on my own.

636. Derek Sasaki

     January 6, 2018 at 4:04 pm

     I tried the Empress Effects Echosystem and I love it ! I can see why everyone raves about it ! I tried my friends and he will not let me borrow it ! Hope I win this awesome pedal ! Because right now I can not afford it !

637. Sarvasaha

     January 6, 2018 at 3:56 pm

     So many great pedals in 2017. Bank account is in danger.
     
     The one that I have that has been the most inspiring is the D&M drive.

638. David Carlsson

     January 6, 2018 at 3:56 pm

     Nice list! The Infinte Jets became an instant favourite! 🙂

     /Dave

639. Jen

     January 6, 2018 at 3:55 pm

     I never knew there were so many! I found this site after watching Dan & Mick, and now I’m lost in the weird world of sonic alchemy!

640. Steve Bilodeau

     January 6, 2018 at 3:55 pm

     dopenesssssss

641. Jameson Allen

     January 6, 2018 at 3:47 pm

     The Chase bliss brothers is just a work of genius and engiuity. Can’t wait to get my hands on one for good – the presets and analog combo is GAMECHANGER.

642. Ricardo Santos

     January 6, 2018 at 3:41 pm

     The echosystem was in my opinion the best pedal of 2017

643. Erik

     January 6, 2018 at 3:38 pm

     Ottobit Jr. was the biggest revelation to me in 2017.

644. Joel Wolfe

     January 6, 2018 at 3:35 pm

     Warped vinyl hi fi is my no 1

645. john j pioli

     January 6, 2018 at 3:33 pm

     WOW with pedal like these, even I could sound good.

646. Andrew

     January 6, 2018 at 3:32 pm

     Thanks for the awesome reviews!

647. Leon Zurawski

     January 6, 2018 at 3:30 pm

     I‘m soooo close to buying the D‘n‘M Drive

648. John Seetoo

     January 6, 2018 at 3:22 pm

     Empress Echosystem and the Keeley Caverns are 2 of the most versatile sounding delays to come out in the last year

649. Kiml

     January 6, 2018 at 3:22 pm

     All great pedals but cant wait for the ottobit jr and some more echo pedals for sure!

650. taras24

     January 6, 2018 at 3:14 pm

     Perfect pedals!

651. Austin

     January 6, 2018 at 3:09 pm

     Got the empress reverb and was so impressed I had to get the echosystem. Both amazing pedals, empress knocked it out of the park with the echosystem though

652. Andy

     January 6, 2018 at 3:09 pm

     Awesome list! The Echosystem really looks amazing, and the D&M Drive too actually.

653. RON

     January 6, 2018 at 3:05 pm

     Brothers! What a pedal definitely a must stay on any pedalboard…

654. Jonathan Neighbors

     January 6, 2018 at 3:04 pm

     Tonal Recall!

655. William

     January 6, 2018 at 3:04 pm

     Fantastic pedals!

656. William Penn

     January 6, 2018 at 3:02 pm

     The echosystem seems like another cool empress effect

657. Keith Stone

     January 6, 2018 at 3:01 pm

     Great tone!!

658. Brandon Billings

     January 6, 2018 at 2:56 pm

     The CBA Brothers is absolutely mind blowing!

659. Robert Farrese

     January 6, 2018 at 2:49 pm

     Best guitar effects blog on the internet!

660. Josh

     January 6, 2018 at 2:45 pm

     So many great pedals—the Echosystem and Warped Vinyl look awesome—but I am most intrigued by the PLUS pedal. I would love to play with that and see what sounds could be created.

661. Shawn Dennis

     January 6, 2018 at 2:42 pm

     I’d buy that for a dollar!!!

662. Adam Jensen

     January 6, 2018 at 2:37 pm

     I LOVE Empress and the Echosystem would make a great addition to my collection.

663. Spencer

     January 6, 2018 at 2:30 pm

     You guys rock! Great article.

664. Ignacio Gomory

     January 6, 2018 at 2:23 pm

     Great article!

665. Álvaro Ramos

     January 6, 2018 at 2:22 pm

     want so badly the empress reverb but the Echosystem would be super mega good too 😀

666. Juan Hernandez

     January 6, 2018 at 2:20 pm

     Great article. I have used a few Empress Pedals, and their feature set, sound, and reliability have all been great so far.

667. Geoff Grauer

     January 6, 2018 at 2:19 pm

     Surprised there was no MD/RV500 on the list. The DD-500 is still the best delay pedal on the market.

668. Daniel Garcia

     January 6, 2018 at 2:18 pm

     Echosystem… I guess it doesn’t get more clever than that.

669. Alec Carper

     January 6, 2018 at 2:17 pm

     Excited to hear more demos of the Echosystem! My favorite pedal of 2017 would go to the NRG Purrer. Amazing drive, and the a very nice example of craftsmanship on the inside!

670. Philippe Bouchard

     January 6, 2018 at 2:17 pm

     I can already see a Neunaber stereo speaker emulator with an MS-3 and maybe a preamp pedal on my board in the future…

671. Ryan Donegan

     January 6, 2018 at 2:17 pm

     I’ll take one of each please. Thank you.

672. michael

     January 6, 2018 at 2:16 pm

     All the pedals for me

673. Anthony Childs

     January 6, 2018 at 2:16 pm

     Lol, fave quote: “…unless of course your dad is a Galaga cabinet”. Will have to give Syntax a closer look/ear. Chass Bliss had quite a good year in 2017. Let’s hope 2018 is even better. Will also be interested to see who can come up with the best sub $200 pedal in 2018 (which would assist me in acquiring a more diverse pedalboard!). Thanks for all the in-depth reviews and frequent giveaways.

674. Dan

     January 6, 2018 at 2:14 pm

     There are so many great pedals of 2017 I can’t even begin to mention the ones I need, let alone want!! Empress echo system would be one of the greatest additions to my rig, that pedal looks incredible!

675. Marc Schirwing

     January 6, 2018 at 2:13 pm

     The Echosystem is a great Pedal and I need someone ;). Cheers

676. Kevin Stephens

     January 6, 2018 at 2:12 pm

     I’m gonna be broke!!!

677. Bill A.

     January 6, 2018 at 2:11 pm

     So many options with that Empress…

678. Torgrim Vaagan

     January 6, 2018 at 2:10 pm

     I have owned the empress phaser for a couple of years now and really like the sound and possibilities. I would easily have bought the Echosystem if money was not an issue, so it is nice to have an opportunity to win it!

679. Razvan Lazea-Postelnicu

     January 6, 2018 at 2:10 pm

     2017 was a bit slower than previous years.

680. Jack Feerick

     January 6, 2018 at 2:08 pm

     Hurrah for effects that help guitars sound like guitars

681. Harry Gann

     January 6, 2018 at 2:05 pm

     Comment!!!!!

682. Tristan

     January 6, 2018 at 2:04 pm

     I’m a big fan of Empress in general, and then they knock it out of the park with the echo system and their reverb. I was a Strymon fanboy, and while I still enjoy their pedals, I ended up selling all of mine, and have been contemplating a Helix, but I’m always GASing for regular stomps. Such a dilemma!!

683. gregb

     January 6, 2018 at 2:01 pm

     The Data Corrupter, yep

684. Kyle Loskamp

     January 6, 2018 at 1:59 pm

     Fantastic list! Thanks

685. max

     January 6, 2018 at 1:57 pm

     echosystem is great but i want all of them. GAS

686. TE

     January 6, 2018 at 1:56 pm

     I haven’t tried the winning pedal, but the Freqout is very cool! Sustain that turns into feedback… I always have it activated on my solo channel.

687. Malhomme

     January 6, 2018 at 1:54 pm

     This is so much potential trouble for my account…

     I love the Infinite Jets, the Empress Echosystem, the data corrupter, the syntax error, The… The…
     
     AAARGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

688. Quincy steely

     January 6, 2018 at 1:46 pm

     I need them all

689. Chris

     January 6, 2018 at 1:45 pm

     Great list this year, looking forward to checking out a Plus Pedal soon.

690. Peter Teipe

     January 6, 2018 at 1:45 pm

     I really love the empress echo system- it’s fantastic

691. Brad C.

     January 6, 2018 at 1:44 pm

     I’m VERY excited to try some of the Meris offerings! I have been loving my Keeley Caverns. Keep up the awesome reviews.

692. GN

     January 6, 2018 at 1:43 pm

     I want things for free, that’s all.

693. Anton

     January 6, 2018 at 1:43 pm

     Gotta compare Echosystem with Timeline

694. Nick Walker

     January 6, 2018 at 1:43 pm

     Lots of great pedals this year! I especially like the Empress Echosystem and Keeley D&M Drive!

695. Luke Borley

     January 6, 2018 at 1:40 pm

     This is a valid and entertaining comment in its own right and not anyway just posted here to enter any pedal givewaway

696. Micah Berlow

     January 6, 2018 at 1:36 pm

     So happy the echosystem made it! I’m always happy to see a fellow Canadian’s amazing ideas come to be appreciated and loved by everyone! I’ve never owned a big box Delay and this one seems like THE pedal!

697. Cesar Pinilla

     January 6, 2018 at 1:36 pm

     that ecosystem seems like the perfect pedal

698. TE

     January 6, 2018 at 1:36 pm

     I haven’t tried the winning pedal, but the Freqout is cool! Sustain that turns into feedback… I always have it activated on my solo channel.

699. Benjamin Lebofsky

     January 6, 2018 at 1:32 pm

     Have some, want the rest…Argh!

700. Travis Tad Russell

     January 6, 2018 at 1:29 pm

     Flat out the best!!!!

701. Grzegorz Giedrys

     January 6, 2018 at 1:29 pm

     Good selection.

702. Devin Applegate

     January 6, 2018 at 1:27 pm

     A lot of pedals that I chose were on this year’s list (Echosystem, Brothers, Angry Drive, Canyon…). The editors had some interesting choices though. Some were not what I was expecting (but should have, such as the Gamechanger Audio Plus Pedal) while others were pedals that I wasn’t aware of (Effectrode’s LA-1A Leveling Amplifier immediately comes to mind). I will definitely check out Meris’ delightful selection of audio bliss in the time to come. If this is just the beginning for them, then the future of guitar-pedals is looking very bright indeed.

703. Mark McKeever

     January 6, 2018 at 1:26 pm

     Totally agreed on the Brothers, FreQout and Angry Driver. All three are killer.

704. Tyler

     January 6, 2018 at 1:23 pm

     Great list! Some awesome pedals!

705. Mario

     January 6, 2018 at 1:22 pm

     We’re in a Golden Age of Guitar effects for sure, pedals in particular, but all this choice is causing as much paralysis as desire. Very conflicting time indeed. Increasingly intrigued by the Eco System, the FrqOut and PlusPedal have a future on my board and will have to checkout the Effectrode compressor. Great shout for Meris!!

706. Justin m Chrosniak

     January 6, 2018 at 1:21 pm

     Love the Data Destroyer! Would buy right away if I had the cash. I got a meatbox on the cheap BRAND NEW instead! I’ll take it. Repost. My OG comment did not post?

707. Andy McCauley

     January 6, 2018 at 1:20 pm

     Love my warped vinyl!!

708. Justin m Chrosniak

     January 6, 2018 at 1:19 pm

     Love the Data Destroyer! Would buy right away if I had the cash. I got a meatbox on the cheap BRAND NEW instead! I’ll take it. 🙂

709. Chris Keledjian

     January 6, 2018 at 1:18 pm

     If the Empress Echosystem beat out the Freqout, the D&M, and the Angry Driver, it must be special. Love to get my hands on one!

710. Andy Kauppinen

     January 6, 2018 at 1:18 pm

     Hmmm, all of these pedals would definitely be on my “love to own/try” list, but surprisingly I have NONE of them! I better get busy. I was aware of all the products already, but that was a nice read anyway. Thanks!

711. Justin Miller

     January 6, 2018 at 1:18 pm

     Great work keep it up!

712. Robert

     January 6, 2018 at 1:11 pm

     I love the D&M drive! So simple and great! Dual pedals are amazing!

713. albert ceva

     January 6, 2018 at 1:09 pm

     Thank you BEST GUITAR EFFECTS for the chance to win the echo pedal.

714. Sue

     January 6, 2018 at 1:09 pm

     Echosystem and brothers are my two favorite picks.

715. Andrew Harrison

     January 6, 2018 at 1:07 pm

     What a glorious time to be alive that pedals like these are being dreamed up for us to enjoy! Can’t imagine what next year’s list will look like?!

716. Adam Altman

     January 6, 2018 at 1:07 pm

     Indeed 2017 was a good year for pedals

717. Hamish Michael

     January 6, 2018 at 1:06 pm

     A truly great year for pedals. A terrible year for my wallet.

718. Dillon Russell

     January 6, 2018 at 1:04 pm

     Amazing picks! That echo system though

719. HANS LATUPERISSA

     January 6, 2018 at 1:04 pm

     Really keen to try out empress echosysten.
     
     I have a nemesis delay at the moment and had tried my friend’s timeline but empress echosystem really intrique me.

720. Carl Kirby

     January 6, 2018 at 1:01 pm

     my favourite is the data corrupter and echosystem for sure

721. Will Sapanaro

     January 6, 2018 at 1:00 pm

     I still think the TWA Dynamorph is my favorite pedal to come out this year… or any. ;-P

722. Bruce Sezler

     January 6, 2018 at 12:59 pm

     The echo system is my favorite.

723. Evan Kostalek

     January 6, 2018 at 12:59 pm

     Great read, I need to add an Echosystem to my board asap!

724. Moises Alanis

     January 6, 2018 at 12:59 pm

     Awesome list!

725. Luis Javier Campos

     January 6, 2018 at 12:58 pm

     I’m crazy about delays, I’ve owned about 10 different pedals, from straight, simple ones to really interesting ones with additional effects. When I saw and heard the Empress Echosystem in action I couldn’t believe what an amazing pedal it was.
     
     It has everything (and more) than I could need. And the fact that it can store presents and has updatable firmware makes it even a better choice.
     
     If I can get one, I will surely say goodbye to a bunch of pedals I’m using right Now

726. Ryan Edwards

     January 6, 2018 at 12:58 pm

     Such a good year for the pedal nerds! Hears hoping I win that Echo System.

727. Jason Sanders

     January 6, 2018 at 12:55 pm

     I have one of them, but I need them all!

728. Mark Bordwell

     January 6, 2018 at 12:55 pm

     Love all these effects!

729. James

     January 6, 2018 at 12:55 pm

     Another great year for pedals!

730. Chris Muir

     January 6, 2018 at 12:53 pm

     Good list. The only one I have is the Freqout, which is really fun.

731. AlkEsh

     January 6, 2018 at 12:53 pm

     Echo System for the win!!!! Was one of my favorites the moment I saw the first demo. Lots of other amazing pedals on this list!! Thank you for feeding my gear hunger!!

732. Luke

     January 6, 2018 at 12:52 pm

     ehx canyon is a good one, surprised me

733. Colin G Friel

     January 6, 2018 at 12:51 pm

     That Empress Echosystem is amazing!! It would look great on my pedalboard and sound great to my ears!!!

734. David

     January 6, 2018 at 12:49 pm

     The Empress seems like a pretty worthy winner but the Meris are really exciting pedals.

735. Sean Fear

     January 6, 2018 at 12:49 pm

     Nice article about awesome pedals!

736. Jonno

     January 6, 2018 at 12:49 pm

     I didn’t know much about the Empress Echosystem, but after reading the article above, and checking it out further, I’m very intrigued! Would love to win one! The only pedals I’ve had the pleasure of trying from the above lists are the D&M Drive (very nice), the Iconoclast (it was good, but I was underwhelmed) and the Plus Pedal (I own this, and I’m still getting to grips with it…but it is cool!)

737. Byron Wilmoth

     January 6, 2018 at 12:47 pm

     I love multi switch pedals like this one where important parameters are controllable by feet on the fly!!

738. Hunter Borowick

     January 6, 2018 at 12:47 pm

     All fantastic choices! I especially love the Iconoclast!

739. Justin Cross

     January 6, 2018 at 12:47 pm

     Love the MS-3! Also, here to win that Echosystem!

740. Matt Garner

     January 6, 2018 at 12:45 pm

     No source audio ventris? Man that thing deserves to be in this list.

741. Bob

     January 6, 2018 at 12:43 pm

     Meris – either , and the ECHOSYSTEM!

742. phil

     January 6, 2018 at 12:43 pm

     All great choices! amazing year for pedals.

743. Elijah Jeffery

     January 6, 2018 at 12:42 pm

     Strong list! I’m really wanting to try out the d & m drive.

744. Dave Mc Manis

     January 6, 2018 at 12:42 pm

     An Empress Echo is definitely on my bucket list for sure! I’ve been carving out a space for it on my pedal board. But actually winning one? Wow! Now that would be cool! To be honest tho, I’ve never won anything in my life cept a few well earned butt whoops. Aw what the heck, I can hope right?

745. Daniel West

     January 6, 2018 at 12:42 pm

     It’s great to see Empress back with another behemoth. The SuperDelay, while I liked it, it had a lot of flaws and was seriously outclassed by the likes of Strymon, TC, Eventide, Source Audio, even Boss. The Echosystem looks fantastic.

746. Ross Slater

     January 6, 2018 at 12:42 pm

     The best pedal I bought this year was a boss GP10.

747. Hiram

     January 6, 2018 at 12:40 pm

     OMG! Can’t decide what to buy next!

748. Sterv

     January 6, 2018 at 12:40 pm

     Any one of these would make me happy

749. Ben

     January 6, 2018 at 12:39 pm

     Great pedals, great reviews
     
     Want them all!

750. Jordan Chulski

     January 6, 2018 at 12:39 pm

     I think the Hologram Infinite Jets might be the winner for me.

751. Eric Mok

     January 6, 2018 at 12:39 pm

     I am loving my Matthews Effects Architect

752. The Blessed Prophet Crow

     January 6, 2018 at 12:38 pm

     Good picks. I’m *empress*ed with your abilities to *Chase* these down.

753. Keith Stacey

     January 6, 2018 at 12:36 pm

     I’ll have to check out Meris. They look a bit like the newer Source Audio pedals. I’d love a crack at the Echosystem.

754. Lee Westwood

     January 6, 2018 at 12:35 pm

     eeeeecccchhhooosssyyyyyssstttttteeeeeeemmmmmmm

755. Andrew Gay

     January 6, 2018 at 12:34 pm

     I love delays and the Empress Echosystem seems to have it all, I may have to break down and buy one lol

756. James Knowles

     January 6, 2018 at 12:34 pm

     A lot of really stout pedals on this list. We truly live in a prime era for effects pedals. Good luck to everyone with the Echosystem giveaway, that is some sweet loot that I know we would all like to have on our pedalboard! 🙂

757. Ryan Willison

     January 6, 2018 at 12:34 pm

     All great pedals!!

758. Robert Blackmere

     January 6, 2018 at 12:33 pm

     The echosystem is an amazing pedal I must own it one day! Three big things holding me back.
     
     -$
     
     -When I have enough money I will want a different amp/guitar.
     
     -That new Tonall Recall. Too many choices! Poor me.

759. greg montgomery

     January 6, 2018 at 12:31 pm

     I like the looks of the Empress pedal. I do get concerned with these one way selection switches to move between modes. It is easy on a darkened stage to accidentally hit the wrong button and turn on an incorrect setting and not be able to get back to where you need to be… I often put my number one setting in the default position so I can unplug the delay and have it go back to the correct spot…

760. Jan-Paul campeau

     January 6, 2018 at 12:29 pm

     It’s interesting that the staff picks are all different from the main list! I personally wouldn’t have picked the echosystem as number one, it has its issues. I will happily take a free one though 🙂

761. George Grydkovets

     January 6, 2018 at 12:29 pm

     The Best Guitar Effects got right into the bull’s eye, because Empress Echo System is my favourite pedal of 2017. Not to mention the amazing Chase Bliss Audio pedals, Freqout, new EQDs, Infinite Jets and lots of great cabsims.

     In 2018 I’m waiting to see the Modulation System by Empress with the nearly infinite sonic (two independent effects at once) possibilites, as in Echosystem, and an upgraded version of their Reverb, with these features added. Also I would be very happy to see Stereo versions of Chase Bliss Audio pedals, that would make already one of, if not the best, pedals even better.

     Thank you Best Guitar Effects!

762. Chris

     January 6, 2018 at 12:29 pm

     HEEELLLLOOOOO

763. Pavlo

     January 6, 2018 at 12:28 pm

     My favourite pedal (and the only one I bought in 2017) is Fairfield Circuitry’s Shallow Water.

764. Mark Walsh

     January 6, 2018 at 12:27 pm

     Fantastic that one of us has a chance to win this amazing effect 😀 Good Luck all. Great list by the way.

765. Dale L

     January 6, 2018 at 12:27 pm

     Love the Chase Bliss Brothers.

766. Jim

     January 6, 2018 at 12:27 pm

     The Empress Effects Echosystem is one of those pedals that can do it all for one money. It only makes sense that so many people voted for it to be the best.

767. Kevin Ball

     January 6, 2018 at 12:27 pm

     I’ll be checking out the Empress at NAMM in a couple weeks. Can’t wait to see what it does in my hands

768. Paul Borovay

     January 6, 2018 at 12:27 pm

     I also loved the DROP by digitech. They are really killing it

769. Ryan Keller

     January 6, 2018 at 12:27 pm

     I never win anything

770. Peter Boysen

     January 6, 2018 at 12:24 pm

     What a great selection of pedals. Would love to win the Echosystem by the way.

771. Robert H

     January 6, 2018 at 12:23 pm

     Empress Reverb is amazing, want to play with delays

772. Seth

     January 6, 2018 at 12:20 pm

     I had to sell my delay on the acoustic side of my pedal board so if I won that would be dope. I would send you sweet photos of me smiling with the pedal and testimonial videos of me swooning the ladies and hitting the road with my new empress effects echosystem, so pick me pls.

773. Antonio Maggiore

     January 6, 2018 at 12:20 pm

     I agree with your pedals of the year choices. You guys are quickly becoming the go-to resource for guitar effects! Keep up the great work!

774. David

     January 6, 2018 at 12:19 pm

     Three way tie for me between the Data Corruptor, Boss Ms-3 and Suoerego +, it’s been a good year for fx!

775. David Ribe

     January 6, 2018 at 12:18 pm

     We are truly in the golden age of guitar effects; today’s guitarists have a huge selection of superlative effects no matter how trad or rad they want to sound!

     The most interesting pedals for me this year are the Infinite Jets and the Gamechanger Plus volume pedal, but so far those have been objects of unrequited desire for me.

     Personally the pedal that has changed everything is the Neunaber Iconoclast – at last this apartment dweller can wail away into the early hours while enjoying the full benefit of stereo pedalboard.

776. Patrick Huerta

     January 6, 2018 at 12:17 pm

     Really stoked about the Empress Echosystem! I’ve been a Strymon TimeLine rocker for years now and when I played my friend’s Echosystem, I was blown away! The only thing I would change about it is an led screen to see your presets/bpms/parameters/etc… Not that it needs it, but I feel it could benefit from it. I will mos def have one on my board sometime in the future. If I had to replace my TimeLine with anything, the Empress Echosystem is the obvious pick!

777. Bryce Hamels

     January 6, 2018 at 12:17 pm

     Zoinks Scoob! That Empress Effects Echosystem sure is spooky!

778. john

     January 6, 2018 at 12:17 pm

     We are in a golden age of pedals

779. Alexandre Gendreau

     January 6, 2018 at 12:17 pm

     They all have they’re strenght and weakness.
     
     The list is right on!

780. Leon Goodenough

     January 6, 2018 at 12:17 pm

     DataCorrupter speaks to me!

781. Ryan

     January 6, 2018 at 12:16 pm

     Solid list. Couple of meh’s. But solid overall!!;)

782. Peter S

     January 6, 2018 at 12:15 pm

     D&M drive is the only one on this list I bought and held onto. Great pedal. Echo system is very intriguing though. Great write up!

783. Ryan

     January 6, 2018 at 12:14 pm

     Tough to narrow down a “POTY” from this crop. I want to play everything that Meris puts out, and the noisemakers from EQD and Alexander make me want to quit guitar altogether and put together a synth rig.

     The Empress, though, managed to make an impression to an audience of gearheads obsessed with the SA Nemesis. Empress’ famous attention to detail in both sound quality and usability made the Echo System a serious contender. I’ve been listing After it since its release.

784. Trey Klemczewski

     January 6, 2018 at 12:14 pm

     I’d say this is a fair list

785. Scott Quinn

     January 6, 2018 at 12:14 pm

     So many ridiculous picks but the one I feel I have to YouTube after my exams is the Plus Pedal :0

786. Brian W

     January 6, 2018 at 12:14 pm

     After losing all my gear in the california fires that echosystem is what I need

787. Carl Martin

     January 6, 2018 at 12:13 pm

     The Empress Effects Echosystem is an awesome pedal!

788. Evan

     January 6, 2018 at 12:13 pm

     Need all of them!

789. Sean Harold

     January 6, 2018 at 12:12 pm

     Awesome picks all around!

790. Brian Steinseifer

     January 6, 2018 at 12:11 pm

     Let’s throw these all on one board and let ‘er rip!

791. John

     January 6, 2018 at 12:11 pm

     The Empress Echosystem would give my pedals an inferiority complex.

792. patrick redford

     January 6, 2018 at 12:11 pm

     Meris polymoon for me. Such a deep pedal. I’ve lost hours of my life to it.

793. Kevin

     January 6, 2018 at 12:10 pm

     Gotta love the Canyon for the price point and versatility.

794. chris

     January 6, 2018 at 12:10 pm

     oh dreams, sometimes they come true

795. Jase Ginkel

     January 6, 2018 at 12:09 pm

     Great Year for pedals!

796. Joao

     January 6, 2018 at 12:07 pm

     What a great year…

797. Yves Feisel

     January 6, 2018 at 12:06 pm

     Lovely collection! Unfortunately I don’t own one yet!

798. Dominic

     January 6, 2018 at 12:05 pm

     They all look amazing! Keep up the good work and fingers crossed I win something for once!

799. David lawrence

     January 6, 2018 at 12:04 pm

     The empress echo system is the one that got away (due to other obligations) in 2017 😉

800. Thomas Howard

     January 6, 2018 at 12:04 pm

     Echosystem is my personal fave, but the new Warped Vinyl comes close!

801. Erik Bolstad

     January 6, 2018 at 12:03 pm

     Lots of great pedals here that I need to try for myself.

802. Albert Casan

     January 6, 2018 at 12:02 pm

     Definitely a great year for pedal nerds XD!!

     I would love to get hold of the Empress Echo System indeed.

     Looking forward to be the winner … heheheeheh

803. Aaron

     January 6, 2018 at 12:02 pm

     If only I could afford any of these

804. Daniel Hunt

     January 6, 2018 at 12:02 pm

     Solid list. Brothers, Syntax Error & the Echosystem are @ the top of my wantlist right now. Was also very impressed with pedals by Ezhi & Aka this year if your tastes happen to lean more toward the weird.

805. Annabelle Thomas

     January 6, 2018 at 12:02 pm

     I think the chase bliss brothers was a total flunk. Wayyyy too much high end fizz for me and it seemed to lack definition. Just not a good enough sound, especially for a nearly 400$ overdrive/fuzz. Big disappointment.

806. Russell Tanenbaum

     January 6, 2018 at 12:01 pm

     Ecosystem pedal looks awesome! Would love to have one on my board.

807. Fred

     January 6, 2018 at 12:01 pm

     Love these pedals. Can’t wait to try the echosystem

808. Michael woods

     January 6, 2018 at 11:59 am

     I would love to try to the Boss MS-3 Multi Effects Switcher

809. NB

     January 6, 2018 at 11:59 am

     Seeing these all hooked up at once could create some insane soundscapes.

810. Billy

     January 6, 2018 at 11:57 am

     The Meris stuff looks great but, like Chase Bliss, quite pricey.
     
     I guess it’s not that bad if you live in the US, but over here €375 is a bit steep…
     
     But really, great stuff.

811. Ja’Maul A Redmond

     January 6, 2018 at 11:56 am

     ABout 5 of them I want to get but can’t afford 🙁

812. J

     January 6, 2018 at 11:55 am

     Kewl

813. David Ramirez

     January 6, 2018 at 11:55 am

     I’m in love with the Empress Echosystem

814. Spencer Krips

     January 6, 2018 at 11:54 am

     Picked up the angry driver, and it definitely deserves its place on this list! It blew my mind, and is definitely one of my faves this year.

815. Eric

     January 6, 2018 at 11:53 am

     I picked up a couple of these pedals this year, but would love to pick up all of these.

816. Nick L Hilderbrand

     January 6, 2018 at 11:53 am

     It just keeps getting harder to stay happy with your board! Totally new level of G.A.S.!

817. Mark

     January 6, 2018 at 11:52 am

     I loved the EHX Canyon!

818. Enrique Mancía

     January 6, 2018 at 11:52 am

     I don’t know if I’d be able to pick a “best” pedal, but I’m just super happy the Infinite Jets and the LA-1A made it to the list! =)

819. John Cho

     January 6, 2018 at 11:52 am

     The Empress Echosystem seems to be a pretty good contender for the best delay in the market. Although it’s not as tweakable as something like the Boss DD500 it still offers numerous presets and settings that allow it to excel as a delay pedal. I find the toned down complexity to be somewhat easier to deal with and less overwhelming. I’ve never tried the Timeline, so I don’t know how it would compare to that one

820. Rob Borody

     January 6, 2018 at 11:52 am

     Great article. The Empress Echo System is pretty awesome. Fits nice on a board too. Would love to be an owner of one someday.

821. Billy Croce

     January 6, 2018 at 11:51 am

     Awesome pedals. Much enjoy.

822. Alexander Popov

     January 6, 2018 at 11:48 am

     The Empress makes amazing pedals, I would like this one on my board!

823. Danny McNamara

     January 6, 2018 at 11:48 am

     Chase Bliss was on fire last year. I’d say meris was too. My favorite pedal brobably goes to the Brothers but followed closley by the Polymoon.

824. Josh Cowdrey

     January 6, 2018 at 11:48 am

     These are all great. Freqout and Data Corrouptor are too cool, and the Echosystem is at the top of my want list. I want the Infinite Jets and Canyon a lot too! Hope to try them all out sometime and looking forward to seeing whats coming out at NAMM 2018!

825. Antoine Ricoux

     January 6, 2018 at 11:47 am

     Always loved delay and empress’s take on the ultimate delay totally blew my mind

826. Jonathan Miller

     January 6, 2018 at 11:47 am

     2017 saw me add the Chase Bill Brothers and Tonal Recall RKM from this list. The Echosystem would be a welcome addition

827. Eric Manwiller

     January 6, 2018 at 11:45 am

     I’m gonna need a bigger pedal board for ‘18!

828. Carlo Tiedge

     January 6, 2018 at 11:45 am

     The Empress Echosystem is amazing and would definitely fit best next to my empress tremolo pedal on my board!

829. Mark Hampton

     January 6, 2018 at 11:44 am

     These all look sweet! Looking forward to trying some out soon.

830. Shiv A

     January 6, 2018 at 11:44 am

     Fun list to look at. Always interesting to look back and see how pedal companies are trying to innovate and make better tools for guitarists.

831. Andrew Estes

     January 6, 2018 at 11:44 am

     The Meris Ottobit Jr. and the Earthquaker Data Corrupter are my favorites of this past year!

832. Bill Silva-Breen

     January 6, 2018 at 11:44 am

     Parameter overload on that winning pedal.

833. Richard

     January 6, 2018 at 11:43 am

     Lots of cool pedals came out in 2017. Would love to try out the empress echosystem and the chase bliss warped vinyl.

834. Ronan

     January 6, 2018 at 11:42 am

     The infinite Jets is awesome. It changes the way you play and open new horizons.

835. J.D.

     January 6, 2018 at 11:42 am

     I have a pretty excellent board, but this list makes me want to start figuring out what to replace.

836. Cameron Paxton

     January 6, 2018 at 11:41 am

     Fingers crossed!

837. Alex Siniari

     January 6, 2018 at 11:40 am

     Great year for pedals!

838. Jeremy Ryser

     January 6, 2018 at 11:40 am

     I want that Empress pedaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAL!!!!!
     
     Please.

839. Erik aagard

     January 6, 2018 at 11:40 am

     Alexander pedals are some of the most amazing and unrecognized pedals out there.

840. Michail Skar

     January 6, 2018 at 11:39 am

     One more vote for the HOF v2.
     
     And yes, I have the Data Corruptor (EQD) and all I can say is that it absolutely rocks!

841. Wamatron

     January 6, 2018 at 11:38 am

     Amazing list of pedals!

842. Jens

     January 6, 2018 at 11:38 am

     Fantastic list, keep ut the good work!

843. Jesse Comstock

     January 6, 2018 at 11:37 am

     I would love to win the 2017 pedal of the year!

844. Kieran Devlin

     January 6, 2018 at 11:37 am

     Top qual pedals my dudes

845. William Craver

     January 6, 2018 at 11:37 am

     Great list, looking forward to getting to play through some of these.

846. Aaron

     January 6, 2018 at 11:37 am

     Best guitar effects always bring the best info!

847. Nick

     January 6, 2018 at 11:36 am

     Stoked to see the D&M Drive on this list (and seemingly every other Best Of list for 2017).

848. Clark Yost

     January 6, 2018 at 11:36 am

     Coolness!

849. Johannes Holmen

     January 6, 2018 at 11:36 am

     Nice list!
     
     Wanting to incorporate a switcher on my pedalboard in 2018, MIDI-controlled modulation, delay and reverb as part of it. I already own the Big Sky (which is brilliant!), but the Echosystem would be a great addition. Still torn between the Mobius and the MD500…

850. Benjamin Casale

     January 6, 2018 at 11:36 am

     Great list guys. Some real gems.

851. Michael Caprio

     January 6, 2018 at 11:35 am

     Would love to win that Empress Echosystem

852. Quinn Dahl

     January 6, 2018 at 11:34 am

     This Empress Echosystem looks sick! I would love to have the chance to try it out!

853. Gary Plaus

     January 6, 2018 at 11:34 am

     That Empress Effects Echosystem is one elaborate stomp box.

854. Jim Lipscomb

     January 6, 2018 at 11:33 am

     This is like a pedal board Holy Grail list to me.

855. Alec A. Head

     January 6, 2018 at 11:33 am

     I am always looking for new ways to expand the atmospheric quotient of my sound. I could make use of any of these pedals for my own band. You may recall Ghostbound – we are officially releasing our full-length record in the summer. We have two new songs up on our bandcamp page.

856. Richard Trump

     January 6, 2018 at 11:32 am

     These pedals are the bomb, I sure would like to win one

857. Dan Kyle

     January 6, 2018 at 11:32 am

     Empress Echosystem is in my future. I’m also still blown away by the Keeley 30ms from years before, I can’t turn it off it doesn’t sound right without it.

858. Jon Layton

     January 6, 2018 at 11:32 am

     Is there an Echo in here?

859. Fran Prado

     January 6, 2018 at 11:31 am

     Hope to try the Empress Effects Echosystem. It looks very good

860. Kevin Swartout

     January 6, 2018 at 11:31 am

     I think EHX is doing a great job these days, releasing a pile of new pedals. I’m not necessarily thinking it’s Pedal of the Year material, buy I recently picked up their Blurst and Platform pedals. I like them both, but the Platform Compressor in particularly is really cool, with the swell feature adding a nice and usable extra.

861. Shawn

     January 6, 2018 at 11:30 am

     Let’s go empress echosystem

862. Markus Sundén

     January 6, 2018 at 11:30 am

     Great list of pedals!
     
     I got myself the Iconoclast this year and it’s a great pedal for playing at home when the kid’s asleep. The Echosystem seems really interesting, especially the dual delay feature.

863. Justin Mariner Daley

     January 6, 2018 at 11:29 am

     Agree 100% with the picks! Empress rules!

864. Daniel Horne

     January 6, 2018 at 11:29 am

     Great article thank you. For me my pedal of the year (although not released this year) is the Keeley Red Dirt. Just blown away by its Tubescreamer goodness.

     Love this website
     
     Thanks for awesome reviews
     
     Dan Horne
     
     UK

865. Gregory Lauer

     January 6, 2018 at 11:29 am

     Empress Echosystem Cant Be Beat!

866. Michael

     January 6, 2018 at 11:29 am

     Can I please have a free pedal <3

867. Aaron

     January 6, 2018 at 11:28 am

     Glad to see the FreqOut made the list… such a great pedal!

868. Bruce Fontaine

     January 6, 2018 at 11:28 am

     The Empress Effects Echosystem is amazing!

869. John Saylor

     January 6, 2018 at 11:28 am

     Thanks for all this

870. Sam Thomas

     January 6, 2018 at 11:28 am

     Lots of heavy hitting stuff in 2017!

871. Claire Tucker

     January 6, 2018 at 11:27 am

     Lots of cool gear came out this year! Thanks for the rundown!

872. Phil Campbell

     January 6, 2018 at 11:27 am

     A neunaber iconoclast would be perfect for my setup. So would an empress effects echosystem.

873. John Niespodzianski

     January 6, 2018 at 11:27 am

     So many cool new pedals – I want ’em all!

874. Nat Lekeu

     January 6, 2018 at 11:25 am

     Would love to see how that Echosystem stacks up to the El Capistan

875. Glenn

     January 6, 2018 at 11:25 am

     I had the pleasure of picking up both the data corruptor and the infinite jets pedals in 2017. Love them and some other great stuff in here – now if i only had unlimited cash…. 🙂

876. Mike Carpenter

     January 6, 2018 at 11:24 am

     Didn’t h lave pedal money in 2017. Thanks for keeping me in the Chase Bliss loop! They look like amazing pedals!

877. Dean Datre

     January 6, 2018 at 11:24 am

     Brothers is incredible! Love that thing.

878. Colton Bacu

     January 6, 2018 at 11:24 am

     I don’t have a delay. Any of these would be awesome to own.

879. John Newlands

     January 6, 2018 at 11:24 am

     Fantastic list!

     I would love the Echosystem along with the Empress Reverb, awesome pedals, if only I could afford them! Maybe I’ll get lucky on the giveaway!

     I was also happy to see the D&M Drive on there, Keeley & Dan&Mick have done a great job on that one!

880. Jason

     January 6, 2018 at 11:23 am

     Awesome list!

881. John

     January 6, 2018 at 11:23 am

     You could make a killer board with just 2017 pedals, would be unreal.

882. Dimitrios Lachanis

     January 6, 2018 at 11:23 am

     Been following the Plus Pedal news since it surfaced, looks and sounds amazing, it would be a valuable and inspirational addition to many a musician’s rig (not only guitar players 😉 )

883. Ian

     January 6, 2018 at 11:22 am

     So many new pedals!

884. deheuvels

     January 6, 2018 at 11:22 am

     my new wishlist

885. Evgenii K.

     January 6, 2018 at 11:21 am

     Cmon guys! I wish I could afford Echosystem or Eventide Space but your are my only chance in this year!
     
     Space even would be better =(

886. Brent Stewart

     January 6, 2018 at 11:21 am

     Just looking at this list of pedals… gear envy, indeed.

     We live in a time of seriously great effects, and more cool ones

     coming out all the time.

     Thanks for the reviews, and the giveaways, of course

887. Jim Richardson

     January 6, 2018 at 11:21 am

     I have a few of these – want to play them all!

888. jose

     January 6, 2018 at 11:21 am

     here’s to hoping the trails last until next year

889. Jang-Woo Park

     January 6, 2018 at 11:19 am

     I would love to try the Echosystem.

890. Graham Twibell

     January 6, 2018 at 11:19 am

     So many good releases in 2017. What a year.

891. Byron Hori

     January 6, 2018 at 11:19 am

     Loved the new “MASH” expression button by TC!

892. Sean McCarthy

     January 6, 2018 at 11:19 am

     Love the Empress pedals! The Echosystem would be a great addition to my setup.

893. Dacid ernst

     January 6, 2018 at 11:18 am

     I don’t own any of the pedals listed but I love my electro harmonix products

894. Elliott Moe

     January 6, 2018 at 11:18 am

     Seems like every year the more and more insanely brilliant pedals are coming out. Echosystem was one of the most beautiful inside and out, can’t wait to see what 2018 holds in store.

895. Martin

     January 6, 2018 at 11:18 am

     Need the Polymoon and Echosystem to satisfy my G.A.S.

896. Andy Baird

     January 6, 2018 at 11:18 am

     Would love to win the ecosystem. It would pair well with my Empress Reverb.

897. Bryan Lopez

     January 6, 2018 at 11:18 am

     Great list guys! Couldn’t agree more

898. Luke Sital-Singh

     January 6, 2018 at 11:17 am

     Brothers is my pick for best pedal of the year

899. Lukas

     January 6, 2018 at 11:17 am

     Yaaaassss! These pedals look great.

900. Mike Sharp

     January 6, 2018 at 11:17 am

     Killers, all. Great list

901. Bret Alexander

     January 6, 2018 at 11:17 am

     Can’t argue at all with this list. Played almost all of them and they are top notch!!

902. Tyler

     January 6, 2018 at 11:17 am

     I would love any of these. They are all so expensive.

903. Daniel Flynn

     January 6, 2018 at 11:16 am

     The infinite jets really shook up the gear world and had the biggest “splash.” However, finally getting more multi-reverb effects pedals really was the highlight for me (Ventris, Boss, etc)

904. David Mednick

     January 6, 2018 at 11:16 am

     EMpress Echosystem giveaway would be something I really want to win and would use!

905. Tobias

     January 6, 2018 at 11:14 am

     EHX Pitchfork for me.

906. Ben Dobberstein

     January 6, 2018 at 11:05 am

     So for me, the Echosystem is definitely the pedal of the year. The market is saturated with multi-delay pedals, so when something new and original comes out, I sit up and take notice. This will one day take the place of my current delay pedal. Also, Chase Bliss. Everything by Chase Bliss is on my wish list. They are knocking it out of the park. And lastly, the Data Corrupter is the first new pedal in a long time that made me say “I’ve GOT to have that!!!”

907. T

     January 6, 2018 at 11:00 am

     I know it is sort of a one-trick pony, but the freqout really did something I have never seen and is very cool. I think it would be my vote.

908. Mattson

     January 6, 2018 at 10:58 am

     All amazing pedals and the Echosystem is sweet. Not the sexiest, nor the best, but the Magnetic Effects Midphoria was great. Keep up the good work!

909. Steven Brenner

     January 6, 2018 at 10:54 am

     Thanks for great article!.

910. Em

     January 6, 2018 at 10:50 am

     The only reason im still keeping my Timeline is because of the easy save feature (with preset numbers and names). Saving looks like a hassle on the empress….

911. Joaquin Mecklenburg

     January 6, 2018 at 10:30 am

     Nice review!, i love almost all the new pedals of this year

912. Tom

     January 6, 2018 at 10:26 am

     Empire has really killed it with their delay, and at this point unless you’re buying a timeline or an especially unique boutique pedal this is the golden standard for big box delays.

913. Steven Tijerino

     January 6, 2018 at 10:19 am

     Dopest dope

914. Ryan Prevost

     January 6, 2018 at 10:15 am

     I really enjoyed this article. It was very informative.

915. Jason

     January 6, 2018 at 10:11 am

     Got a Hall of Fame 2 this year because of the Mash function. Would love to get all the pedals on your list.

916. Lee Bouchard

     January 6, 2018 at 10:02 am

     I want too many of these. NEED to check out that Data Corrupter

917. Seth Oyer

     January 6, 2018 at 9:57 am

     Great thank you so much!

918. Damon Campagna

     January 6, 2018 at 9:55 am

     That Gamechanger Audio Plus sounds like a really cool device. I can’t wait to check it out!

919. BRIAN BURGER

     January 6, 2018 at 9:54 am

     The Empress and the Corrupter are definitely my favorites on the list. They both make for some very unique sounds.

920. Jason M. Bennett

     January 6, 2018 at 9:52 am

     Awesome Pedals!! Thanks for the in depth reviews.

921. Simon Weeks

     January 6, 2018 at 9:49 am

     Great review

922. Trevor Owen

     January 6, 2018 at 9:47 am

     This may push my Superdelay off board!
     
     Any chance of a Polymoon giveaway next?
     
     Cheers

923. Erik

     January 6, 2018 at 9:47 am

     Awesome go-to list

924. Greg Piotrowski

     January 6, 2018 at 9:45 am

     They all sounds like great pedals. Thanks for the contest.

925. David Gortych

     January 6, 2018 at 9:41 am

     Really want to try the echosystem. Looks freaking cool and two engines at once is killer. The Ventris I grabbed needs a delay buddy to go along with it.

     • Maneshwar Singh

       January 6, 2018 at 10:10 am

       I caved and got it, the echosystem… It’s so worth it

926. Kane Janowsky

     January 6, 2018 at 9:38 am

     Great list, some truly inspiring gear

927. Kane Janowsky

     January 6, 2018 at 9:36 am

     Great picks . Wish I could afford em all !

928. Sean Walker

     January 6, 2018 at 9:36 am

     Looking forward to trying the Empress Echosystem soon!

929. Rob

     January 6, 2018 at 9:30 am

     Sweetness, a really outstanding pedal

930. Jolan Lewis

     January 6, 2018 at 9:28 am

     Holy sh*t that Empress looks amazing

931. Grayson

     January 6, 2018 at 9:21 am

     Minnesota represent! Awesome to see Chase Bliss so well represented! Really cool to see the trends (routing different dirt/boosts or reverb/delay; and signal manipulation like with the Freqout and Gamechanger). Only disagreement I have is switching the Iconoclast for DSM OmniCabSim Deluxe, though to be fair that wasn’t released in 2017. Still my favorite analog cab sim pedal in it’s price bracket though

932. Tony Samperi

     January 6, 2018 at 9:18 am

     The D&M Drive is the one I would like to try the most. I love Dan and Mick and they’re amazing work at TPS. Great article!

933. Seth Okrend

     January 6, 2018 at 9:17 am

     All very cool pedals!

934. Daniil

     January 6, 2018 at 9:17 am

     Canyon is really great.

935. Rob Evans

     January 6, 2018 at 9:16 am

     Great list, the Brothers and Infinite Jets are amazing. Thank you for the Echosystem giveaway!

936. Dave Roberts

     January 6, 2018 at 9:16 am

     Some great info here. Love their echo system and the caverns. Awesome gear.

937. Lorenzo Paoletti

     January 6, 2018 at 6:18 am

     Love the Echosystem! Really interested about the Infinite Jets too, i heard Ed o Brien from Radiohead got one!

938. Søren Made

     January 6, 2018 at 5:20 am

     Great list, inspirational. Have to disagree with the Hall of fame though, i don’t know if the HoF2 sounds different than the first one, if it does it may be good 😀

939. Mitch

     January 6, 2018 at 5:04 am

     The canyon is nice if you have multiple delays, but I feel like I’m never going to use most of the settings because it’s my primary delay pedal

940. Ariel rodriguez

     January 6, 2018 at 1:30 am

     Man that echosystem pedal is just incredible!

941. Fred Otten

     January 6, 2018 at 12:47 am

     What a great bunch of amazing pedals. The echosystem is worthy of pedal of the year. I would love all of these pedals 🙂

942. Jerry

     January 5, 2018 at 3:38 pm

     I think the tonal recall beats the echosystem…And I would take one of the strymon boxes instead as well

943. Dave

     January 5, 2018 at 2:18 pm

     Some amazing pedals on here. I love the stuff that Chase Bliss do and the D&M drive sounds great too. Wouldn’t mind an echosystem myself…

944. Eric Hadap

     January 5, 2018 at 2:10 pm

     New to this site, don’t know why I haven’t looked before. Good articles. This is not going to help my wallet.

945. Matt Stutts

     January 5, 2018 at 10:39 am

     The bigger our pedal boards get and the more options each box offers, I feel like MIDI / memory banks just become necessary. That’s a reason I ended up trying out the Brothers OD this year.

946. Brett Aungst

     January 5, 2018 at 9:29 am

     Great picks!
     
     I would love to buy some of them but I need to save money to buy a better amp to use them with.

947. Daniel Davinchy

     January 5, 2018 at 7:15 am

     I would love for you guys to do some reviews of some wild effects like ring modulators and other things of that sort. Your reviews are awesome and accurate as well.

948. Chris

     January 4, 2018 at 10:31 pm

     That echosystem sounds so creamy.

949. Jacob Lacayo

     January 4, 2018 at 10:16 pm

     I need to get a syntax error! Next pedal forsure. And the leveling amp pedal looks awesome. Oh boy these pedals are taking the money right out of my wallet.

950. John

     January 4, 2018 at 10:09 pm

     Echosystem sounds incredible. I have the Strymon Timeline but I want this one too! Thanks for great coverage of all the best of 2017!

951. Sean

     January 4, 2018 at 8:56 pm

     Love the echosystem! Excellent top choice. Now I need more money…

952. David

     January 4, 2018 at 7:32 pm

     Hologram Electronics’ Infinite Jets is probably my most favorite on this pretty damn well chosen List!
     
     The’ve clearly taken guitar tone to another dimension

953. Andrew Hartwig

     January 4, 2018 at 6:40 pm

     Glad to see the Syntax Error mentioned here!

954. Thomas

     January 4, 2018 at 2:36 pm

     Empress Echosystem looks awesome, a worthy competitor to Timeline, etc.

955. David

     January 4, 2018 at 1:08 pm

     What about the Shallow Water by Fairfield Circuitry 😮

956. M C

     January 4, 2018 at 12:21 pm

     The Caverns V2 is next to explore in my own wall of sound

957. Marc

     January 4, 2018 at 4:53 am

     Empress EchoSystem vs. the Strymon TimeLine – it’s a whole new ballgame. Can’t wait to get it!

958. pbumbum

     January 4, 2018 at 3:26 am

     So many eff and every piece of them so far away from me

959. Albert Chiochon

     January 4, 2018 at 3:00 am

     so many pedals so little time
     
     if I had to pick one I would say the Keeley D&M Drive
     
     Iam an overdrive kind of guy,Love the way the Keeley sounds and the ease of use

960. Guyaume Robitaille

     January 4, 2018 at 2:24 am

     The effectrode looks really intriguing but the empress echo seems really nice too!

     I’d love to win one! 😉

961. Chris Parry

     January 4, 2018 at 1:29 am

     I love my D&M Drive by Keeley. Changed the way I play!
     
     Outstanding piece of kit!

962. Kevin Oliver

     January 4, 2018 at 12:10 am

     The echosystem was definitely high on my list all of 2017. I love how it can do the Ct5 stuff but also has really strong classic delay sounds. That’s a strong list. Definitely would make a dream pedalboard. This was a great year for pedals, no doubt.

963. Caleb Johnston

     January 3, 2018 at 9:49 pm

     The Echosystem seems like everything anyone could possibly want in a delay pedal, such a great giveaway choice! Wouldn’t mind getting my hands on the Resynthesiser either mind you.

964. Brett

     January 3, 2018 at 9:27 pm

     What a collection of pedals! I would love all of them but adding anyone of these to my pedal board would be great.

965. Gabe Miller

     January 3, 2018 at 8:28 pm

     What I’m hoping for in 2018 is more pedals that offer something you can’t get in software or in a cheap boss box – mainly to continue in the direction of the Hologram Infinite Jets or the Gamechanger Audio Plus pedal – The best set I’ve seen recently was Slowdive using Rv-7’s, basic fuzzes/OD, and JC-120’s. Although I do love new delays, fuzzes, etc, what I really need is not something that’s 5% better or different than what’s already on my very full pedalboard, but things that let me approach the guitar in different ways and let me create different tones in terms of both sound and how I play the instrument. Just my 2c. Happy Shredding Everyone.

966. Ryan Worthley

     January 3, 2018 at 6:59 pm

     Meris for best new builder foooooor sure! The Mercur 7 play so beautifully. Can’t wait to try the other two eventually. The RKM Tonal Recall is the new gold standard in analog delays, and probably will be for a long time. And last but not least the Infinite Jets is one of the most creative tools I’v ever had the pleasure to mess around with. Can’t wait to see what 2018 comes up with!

967. Allan

     January 3, 2018 at 6:30 pm

     I’m going with the ottobit jr. Meris is a shining beacon of future forward thinking and design. Ordered my first today and I’ll be getting the whole line if it’s half as good as I think it is. Being a pedal nut, as we all are, i feel almost the same about this company as i did Apple back when the iphone was released. Guitar effects have had a boon in the last 10 years or so, and we live in the golden age of innovation in the guitar effects world. Meris will be at the forefront along with the big boys that Terry helped get there.
     
     With the onset of more analog synth based pop music and the decline of rock in its traditional sense, it’s nice to see the guitar world try something different and love it.

968. daZoner

     January 3, 2018 at 4:44 pm

     Honestly, anything/everything that comes from Empress should win every year. Plus they’re Canadian! Gotta support the home team!

969. Jay Brown

     January 3, 2018 at 3:16 pm

     These pedals are really pushing the sonic boundaries exciting times!

970. Jay Brown

     January 3, 2018 at 3:15 pm

     These new pedals are really pushing the sonic boundaries exciting times!

971. Joost

     January 3, 2018 at 2:03 pm

     So many great pedals coming out lately. Empress echo system and hologram electronics infinity jets and the Meris pedals are all on top on my wish list. Hopefully my wallet agrees.:)

972. Ben Jones

     January 3, 2018 at 1:13 pm

     I love the Infinite Jets pedal so this gets my vote. It gets a bit silly once you stick it in amongst the aux send of another, or put it in after the Count To 5. But good fun. Completely unusable, but good fun….

973. Trent Adams

     January 3, 2018 at 12:27 pm

     Just got the red Witch Fuzz God II but all of these would be a nice addition. The Echosystem looks awesome too though. I would absolutely love to have some delay. Just need to save some more money!!!

974. Maheshwar Singh

     January 3, 2018 at 12:20 pm

     The pedal I want the most right now is the Echosystem. There are so many crazy sounds available in this pedal and I think it is a very versatile. It has every delay sound I could think of built into it. What really sold me on this pedal was how easy the interface is to interact with. I’m not a fan of pedals that require me to menu dive to tune in the sounds I want. I love the fact the all on the parameters are visible on the outside of the Echosystem.

     My pedal of the year so far has to be the Meris Audio Mercury 7. The reverb on this pedal is nuts! I haven’t played with a reverb pedal that gets a lush as this one does. The shimmer setting on this pedal is very warm and pleasing to the ears. My favorite function on the Mercury 7 has to be the auto swell control. It is super responsive to your playing and makes volume swells really easy to do without a volume pedal.

975. Norman Marshall

     January 3, 2018 at 12:02 pm

     Really great list! 🙂

976. David Peatfield

     January 3, 2018 at 10:23 am

     So many pedals to choose from – it’s been a great year for sure! Either Echosystem or Merris Ottobit Jr in my opinion as both are versatile, able to do ‘normal’ subtle effects or wacky and weird

977. mark mendoza

     January 3, 2018 at 10:23 am

     thank you! such a useful guide.

978. Darrick H.

     January 3, 2018 at 9:02 am

     Also worth a nod for best of this year: the Stone Deaf Tremotron.

979. Nathanial Mendenhall

     January 3, 2018 at 8:04 am

     What an awesome list of pedals. Id be happy with any of them.i hadn’t heard of the echosystem before i saw this list and man am i impressed with how it sounds!

980. paul c. torbert

     January 3, 2018 at 7:47 am

     i am on social security disability for meniere’s disease….. music is the hobby that keeps me from stepping into rush hour traffic on hwy55…..

     i would like to win some nice gear, because i cant afford to buy any, even on a ramen diet….

981. Fabio Shkurtaj

     January 3, 2018 at 7:40 am

     Gotta catch em all!

982. Marc Schirwing

     January 3, 2018 at 2:18 am

     The Echosystem Pedal is a great Effect. I hope I win one.

983. Martin Normandeau

     January 2, 2018 at 11:26 pm

     I want ´em all!

984. Joshua

     January 2, 2018 at 11:13 pm

     Dear GOD, that Echosystem…

985. Simon Häger

     January 2, 2018 at 10:28 pm

     Best of 2017: Def Shallow Water by fairfield circuitry. I have been waiting for that orsak since 2009.

986. Simon Häger

     January 2, 2018 at 10:28 pm

     Best of 2017: Def Shallow Water by fairfield circuitry. I have been waiting for that orsak since 2009.

987. Sofía Chiquiar

     January 2, 2018 at 10:25 pm

     Love this!

988. Tyler Brady

     January 2, 2018 at 7:31 pm

     It’s gotta be the Empress Echosystem for delay. Nice to see it getting love as it was strangely snubbed in a lot of other year end lists.

989. Stephen Solitro

     January 2, 2018 at 7:11 pm

     Empress EchoSystem and the D & M Drive are amazing, but today my vote would be for the Chase Bliss Brothers. This will probably change tomorrow though.

990. Eric Logeman

     January 2, 2018 at 7:06 pm

     I absolutely love my Mercury 7, RKM Tonal Recall, and Infinite Jets. Totally out of this world sounds to be had with them. Would love to try the rest on this list too, especially the Plus Pedal

991. Matthew King

     January 2, 2018 at 6:43 pm

     I think my fav has been the DOD Rubberneck. Great sounds and flexibility. Killer pedal.

992. Rob

     January 2, 2018 at 6:22 pm

     I kinda thought I had long since picked my favorite couple of drive pedals but the D&M Drive has me thinking about buying it. Nice job Keeley.

993. Joel Wilde

     January 2, 2018 at 4:46 pm

     Glad to see Chase Bliss got some love in the list. So many pedals so little time.

994. Myles Dunne

     January 2, 2018 at 4:08 pm

     The infinite Jets is my personal favourite. Its changing the way I approach my instrument and I haven’t even tapped into half the possibilities. Ive never heard of the Plus pedal! It looks awesome. Great picks.

995. David Bagyo

     January 2, 2018 at 4:06 pm

     It looks the guys at Keeley had a decent year tho! Also, credit goes to Ehx and Wampler as well for giving as so much amazing gear last year! That Empress Echosystem looks incredible, I thought both the superdelay and tape echo were good enough to be the headliner delays of the market, but probably this one will win it by miles!

996. Stuart Bond

     January 2, 2018 at 3:39 pm

     So many good pedals atm. I’m gonna have to sell my house, my van – everything – if I’m ever going to be able to fund my obsession. Gotta love Chase Bliss and Hologram. Ooh and double delay from Empress and the Data Corrupter and the Plus Pedal….

997. Maureen Vargas

     January 2, 2018 at 2:48 pm

     Solo habia visto el Bigmom y el Polara, gran lista, hay cosas demasiado interesantes.

998. Matt Sanford

     January 2, 2018 at 1:37 pm

     Such a great list. I ended up buying an Infinite Jets and I’m totally blown away by it. Only just scratching the surface of what I’m sure it can do. Played a Freqout earlier in the year and honestly, was not impressed. To me, it always sounded brittle and inorganic. Very cool idea though. Most excited to try the WV HiFi, Data Corrupter, and of course, the Echosystem. I have the Empress Reverb and I’m certain it will never leave my board, so cant wait to try the delay. Nice nod to the DM Drive too, it’s a sweet little dirt box!

999. Nicholas A. Rhoades

     January 2, 2018 at 12:42 pm

     Love your articles and great reviews. These have swayed my buying decisions with great outcomes.

1000. Gabriel Bustamante

      January 2, 2018 at 12:34 pm

      Vinyl Hifi was by far my favorite, reminiscent of walrus audio’s julia, but with much more tweakability.

1001. Nigel Estea

      January 2, 2018 at 11:49 am

      Great list, I want them all.

1002. Eric Kembo

      January 2, 2018 at 11:46 am

      They will empty your wallet but, somehow, will bring a smile to your (y) ears !

1003. Jonathan

      January 2, 2018 at 11:16 am

      All the pedals above are great! Looking forward to trying the ones I haven’t yet in 2018. I would add the Source Audio Ventris Reverb to your list. Best sounding reverb pedal I’ve ever tried.

1004. Kieran

      January 2, 2018 at 10:58 am

      Class reviews as always

1005. Francesc Bombi Vilaseca

      January 2, 2018 at 10:50 am

      Great article! Found some new pedals to think of!

1006. Aleksandar Markovic

      January 2, 2018 at 10:03 am

      Now really want a data corrupter…

1007. Louis

      January 2, 2018 at 9:50 am

      infinite jets for the win!! That Empress echo looks so awesome too!

1008. Maneshwar Singh

      January 2, 2018 at 8:25 am

      The Meris Mercury 7 was the pedal of the year for me (That I bought). The reverb is luscious and can be in your face or subtle without losing the strength of your original signal. The shimmer on there is beautiful with high fidelity, kinda like the neunaber immerse shimmer. Those two shimmers are the best shimmers in pedal form hands down! Other ones are kinda like a “standard octave reverb” rather than a shimmer.

      The mercury 7’s swell mode lets you create pads and ambient tones easily that sound great. Perfect for adding in vibe or space to your music. I’ve never seen a slight pitch shift up or slight pitch shift down in a reverb before, and they are a lot of fun to play with.

      The pedal of the year that I’m wanting to own the most is the empress echosystem. It’s simply amazing, so many high quality algorithms and a tape and bbd delay that don’t sound digital. I prefer this sound to my boss dd-500, but I’ve only been able to play with one at the store. Simply a great product.

      Something to think about is how you interface with pedals. I liked having the deep editing parameters on the boss dd-500 available to me, but I’m finding that I don’t really like to menu dive and never find myself digging deep to get what the boss can get for me. If you play around with it enough, there’s so much you can do, but I’m more of a knob turning guy that likes to have well tuned pedals. Either of these delays are amazing, but I’m oogling over that echosystem…

1009. Kurt loewen

      January 2, 2018 at 8:19 am

      Canyon Delay Looper for the win!

      Love the blog, happy new year!!

1010. John haycock

      January 2, 2018 at 8:16 am

      Empress has got to be serious contender for best pedal maker, first the reverb and then the ecosystem they are set to take over the throne of top shelf boutique effects pedals! I can’t wait to see how thia spurs innovation from thier competition

1011. Payne

      January 2, 2018 at 7:52 am

      The Echosystem isn’t my favorite pedal of ’17, much of that goes to a series of pedals – The Wombtone Mk ii and it’s fantastic pulsating phaser, and the Empress Reverb, which gives you an atmosphoric liftoff in any setting. the Echosystem is groundbreaking much like Reverb is in the world of echo and delay with the potential looper mode that’s been in the works, as well as all the individual patches in the memory so far, which can be updated via SD card in patch updates via Empress, who also appreciates feedback from users on their online community forum, giving you a direct voice into the engineering and say pf the pedal, which makes Empress a quality company in the music industry.

1012. Jack D.

      January 2, 2018 at 7:37 am

      Great selection.

1013. Josh

      January 2, 2018 at 7:18 am

      This list is a dream pedal board!

1014. Joe

      January 2, 2018 at 7:18 am

      I feel like this past year was a good year for guitar effects.

1015. Jonas Nielsen

      January 2, 2018 at 7:12 am

      Ohh, the Warped Vinyl is high on my wish list.

1016. Martin Villeneuve

      January 2, 2018 at 6:37 am

      Great pedals on here! Hoping to try some of these out in 2018!

1017. Antoine Franqueville Roy

      January 2, 2018 at 4:59 am

      Excellent article. Also, here for the giveaway.

1018. Dave grimes

      January 2, 2018 at 4:49 am

      Freqout all the way

1019. Nat

      January 2, 2018 at 4:11 am

      I have been wanting to try some of these for a while.

1020. Iain

      January 2, 2018 at 4:01 am

      The only one from your list I’ve been lucky enough to try is the Tc Hall of Fame 2 which I think is incredible, so from that alone I would have to say HOF 2. Hard to pick just one from your list though, a lot of cool pedals that I would love to get my hands on

1021. José Miguel Ocón Espinar

      January 2, 2018 at 4:00 am

      Earthquaker for me!

1022. Van Kapeghian

      January 2, 2018 at 3:19 am

      Meris is making some amazing stuff. The Ottobit Jr is next on my wish list for my pedalboard.

1023. Didier

      January 2, 2018 at 2:58 am

      It was a nice year for pedals, it set the stage for this year.

1024. Seth

      January 2, 2018 at 2:17 am

      That Empress Echosystem looks & sounds amazing. It’s insane how much versatility these multipurpose delay pedals now carry!

1025. Anastasios Vogiatzis

      January 2, 2018 at 1:12 am

      I assume that they are great, but I never had a chance to play any of the them

1026. Peter Homoki

      January 2, 2018 at 12:25 am

      the Best Guitar Effects is a best guitar effects blog

1027. Thomas

      January 2, 2018 at 12:19 am

      Meris is awesome!

1028. Ben

      January 2, 2018 at 12:01 am

      Some great pedals

1029. Peter Semple

      January 1, 2018 at 11:55 pm

      Bunch of amazing sounds

1030. chad Bartel

      January 1, 2018 at 11:05 pm

      What a stellar lineup of killer pedals.. 2017 has been a banner year for boutique effects builders

1031. Dilip Venkateswaran

      January 1, 2018 at 10:52 pm

      So good.

1032. Jonathan M

      January 1, 2018 at 10:50 pm

      Great list. So many worthy candidates for pedal if the year, but I can’t be mad about the Echosystem taking it. What a brilliant year it’s been for guitar pedals. 🙂

1033. Max

      January 1, 2018 at 9:34 pm

      Great list,, I’d love to give these pedals a try!

1034. Logan Alford

      January 1, 2018 at 9:20 pm

      From everything I’ve seen of this pedal as well as my Empress Reverb, the empress delay has to be my choice of the year. I can’t even imagine what running both in stereo would sound like…
      
      Keep up the great work empress and BGE team!

1035. Ayden

      January 1, 2018 at 8:39 pm

      Dayum. All of the good pedals. I need to put more money into my pedal fund! Haha onya Best Guitar Effects

1036. Noah Parrish

      January 1, 2018 at 8:38 pm

      The ms3 is my personal favorite. I love it.

1037. William Gould

      January 1, 2018 at 8:15 pm

      I would love to have any of these, as I am just putting together a pedal board.

1038. Mike Spencer

      January 1, 2018 at 7:49 pm

      I really need TC Electronics HOF Reverb to go with the TC Electronics delay that I have

1039. Harold Carl

      January 1, 2018 at 7:43 pm

      So many great pedals!

1040. Damon

      January 1, 2018 at 6:29 pm

      All great pedals! Love my Plus Pedal!

1041. Damian

      January 1, 2018 at 6:28 pm

      I read the article yesterday but forgot to leave comment. It was very tedious to scroll again to enter the contest. And yet, here I am.

1042. Justin Cross

      January 1, 2018 at 6:12 pm

      Love the Echosystem! Also curious about the Iconoclast. Heard a lot of great things from some pretty stellar players.

1043. Tony Abbott

      January 1, 2018 at 6:12 pm

      Quite simply this list is mind bogglingly brilliant. There’s enough here to keep everyone twiddling knobs until the next years best of or beyond.

1044. Ronald Olszewski

      January 1, 2018 at 6:06 pm

      So many good pedals! I’d need to be a millionaire to afford all the ones I want :).

1045. Austin Blocksidge

      January 1, 2018 at 6:05 pm

      Such unreal gear this year!

1046. Kyle

      January 1, 2018 at 6:03 pm

      Great list. I learn a lot from y’all but I must say it makes me feel much more indecisive knowing there’s so many great options out there that might fill the pedal-shaped-hole in my heart. The possibilities are boarder-line paralyzing… that said, winning that Ecosystem sure would solve at least one of those problems. I’m having a terrible time deciding on which delay is right for me. If one fell into me lap, well, that would settle it for the time being.

1047. Jeff Gottlieb

      January 1, 2018 at 6:03 pm

      Winning an Echosystem would be sick! I think I’d have to spend a week trying to get my head around using two delays at once but that would be an awesome week!

      Excellent list! Can’t think of anything I’d change.

1048. Daniel Schreiber

      January 1, 2018 at 5:54 pm

      Wish I could have all of these.

1049. Teodor NG

      January 1, 2018 at 5:49 pm

      These are really high end pedals and very in-depth reviews. I’m doing gear reviews and would love to be able to review a bunch of these! Instagram: @teodornguitar

1050. Michael Perkins

      January 1, 2018 at 5:41 pm

      Want a FreqOut soon, love a lot of the new pedals out, so many so little budget

1051. Miguel Pereira

      January 1, 2018 at 5:39 pm

      Very curious to see what Chase Bliss Audio will put out in 2018!

1052. Nic Saxton

      January 1, 2018 at 5:25 pm

      Oh yeah!

1053. Ed Hanson

      January 1, 2018 at 5:15 pm

      Empress became one of the top builders in the industry this year. I really look forward to what they have in store for us in 2018!

1054. Deven Archer

      January 1, 2018 at 5:11 pm

      The tonal delay and warped vinyl pedals are my 2 favorites from thi year. I get that warm fuzzy feeling when I hear them. Ha

1055. Alexander Gustaw

      January 1, 2018 at 4:51 pm

      Yes to so many of these! Great gear all around this year!

1056. Angel Alicea

      January 1, 2018 at 4:41 pm

      The Echosystem has completely mesmerized me.
      
      I can’t wait to try it on my synth!

1057. Todd S

      January 1, 2018 at 4:41 pm

      Would love to try the syntax error

1058. JR

      January 1, 2018 at 4:36 pm

      Bought the CBA Brothers and currently deciding between the Meris Polymoon or the Source Audio Nemesis. Thanks for your excellent reviews and pointers.

1059. Kyle Tippin

      January 1, 2018 at 4:34 pm

      Great list! I was lucky enough to try a few of these monsters

1060. Aaron Goldberg

      January 1, 2018 at 4:32 pm

      Super excited for the new Op-amp big muff. The echosystem is definitely a pedal I dream about! That and the Empress Reverb have been on my list have lost since they released. So any awesome effects came out this year. I know it’s cliche but I’m genuinely excited for effects in 2018

1061. Cody Brougham

      January 1, 2018 at 4:27 pm

      Such an incredible time for guitar effects, can’t wait to see what 2018 brings.

1062. Rami Wohl

      January 1, 2018 at 4:19 pm

      100% going for the Echosystem!

1063. Jarrod

      January 1, 2018 at 4:16 pm

      Caverns, infinite jets, and game changer audio plus pedal have seemed like some of the more influential pedals for this year. Haven’t updated my board in 2 years, but this article is showing me its time to get back in the game.

1064. Ron Podovich

      January 1, 2018 at 4:11 pm

      Been dying to try the Echosystem and this review definitely helped!

1065. Ron Podovich

      January 1, 2018 at 4:11 pm

      Been dying to try the Echosystem and this review definitely helped

1066. Pauly

      January 1, 2018 at 4:06 pm

      Great article, thanks! The thing I’m lusting after most (rightly or wrongly) is the Meris Ottobit Jr. EchoSystem and/or Data Corrupter would suit me fine, too!

1067. Andy Simmons

      January 1, 2018 at 3:57 pm

      Hologram electronics coming up with some genius there, but the echosystem is a worthy winner for me. Amazing.

1068. Gary

      January 1, 2018 at 3:56 pm

      I wish for bigsky..

1069. Don Erhardt

      January 1, 2018 at 3:55 pm

      All fantastic pedals and it would be nice to explore then all. My have to haves are verb and delay so the Empress gets my vote. Great company standing tall amongst towers.

1070. Derek Stark

      January 1, 2018 at 3:50 pm

      I would love a D&M. AND I think I’d need a month of Sundays to ever exhaust the Ecosystem. So many possibilities.

1071. John Rosan

      January 1, 2018 at 3:49 pm

      The Brothers and Mercury 7 both came home with me and have revolutionized my rig! What an amazing year for effects! Thanks to Best Guitar Effects for amazing content and reviews. You’ve helped me make informed decisions about how to invest in Tone, wisely! Mahalo Nui!

1072. Carlos

      January 1, 2018 at 3:47 pm

      Echosystem wins here for me. It gives an unique approach no other pedal does.
      
      Good luck on the giveaway to me!

1073. Carlos

      January 1, 2018 at 3:42 pm

      The echosystem is simply the best one. It gives a new approach no other pedal does. Good luck to me!

1074. G.O’Brien

      January 1, 2018 at 3:42 pm

      I think it has been a banner year for pedal makers and enthusiasts such as myself. The Echosystem would be the “I don’t think I’ll need another pedal for a while” pedal. Potentially, any effect on this list could have the potential to fit this bill. But I’d love to give an Echosystem and get lost in time. 😀

1075. Bob

      January 1, 2018 at 3:42 pm

      Been using a super delay for around 7-8 years now, hard to imagine needing much more! Interested to try the echo system as all Empress effects I’ve had have been fantastic.

1076. Michael Matteo

      January 1, 2018 at 3:40 pm

      Something about Strymon, they sound gorgeous. Source Audio are doing some interesting things.

1077. Josh

      January 1, 2018 at 3:39 pm

      I dream of that echo system, as well as their reverb offering. Loving the creativity folks have been bringing to guitarists’ hooves!

1078. Viktor

      January 1, 2018 at 3:39 pm

      Data Corrupter the most unique one

1079. Elliot Gacke

      January 1, 2018 at 3:38 pm

      I didn’t get to try out the Echosystem but the Knobs video makes that dual delay sound so amazing! My favorite pedal of the year definitely has to be my CBA Brothers, which was such an innovative pedal. I tried out the Infinite Jets, but it honestly didn’t strike the right chord and I sold it.

1080. Bertram Dhellemmes

      January 1, 2018 at 3:38 pm

      2017 was a good year for effects – I’m amazed by the creativity of these engineers who find new improvements on classic pedals. Keep the spirit up!

1081. Michael Matteo

      January 1, 2018 at 3:37 pm

      Echosystem looks and sounds lovely!

1082. Matthew Halvatzis

      January 1, 2018 at 3:31 pm

      There’s so many wonderful pedals on this list that really provide some excellent inspiration with loads of tweakability – infinite jets, echosystem, plus pedal, CBA offerings. All of them feel like they bring out something special and unique in your playing.

1083. Arno Metral

      January 1, 2018 at 3:28 pm

      Great article !
      
      Makes me discover some really cool new gear

1084. Thanos Eleftheroudis

      January 1, 2018 at 3:19 pm

      Ok, thanks guys for fueling my GAS. Now, let’s see if I can get some Chase Bliss Audio goodness (after the H9 max).

1085. Brandon Brown

      January 1, 2018 at 3:16 pm

      Xotic B.B. Preamp Andy Timmons rerelease is an amazing pedal. Tone and sustain like an amp!

1086. Sami Szeklinski

      January 1, 2018 at 3:16 pm

      Data Corrupter is the coolest!! So unique!

1087. Carlos

      January 1, 2018 at 3:16 pm

      I find interesting how time-framed lists reveal design directions in the industry. I really like where this is going: in one hand, we have teams coming up with great and almost self-defined processors in terms of categories they belong, as they are pretty unique, or complex enough to lead sound shaping to completely unexpected and fresh results, or even become intruments by themselves. Great examples here are EarthQuaker Devices’ stuff or the Infinite Jets, and regarding this last one I’ll recall my friend’s response when I asked him what was he looking for when investigating about the Jets: “it seems to make beautiful accidents of whatever you feed into it, it’s like endless exploration”. That ‘vibe’ sounds really close to all the focus nowadays in modular devices and it’s great to see what the spontaneity can bring to the guitar world. In the other hand, I’m seeing lots of takes on compressors (like the LA-1A), tube stuff and trasformer based processors chasing the always loved “vintage” character or colour, and I think that can bring great access to small home recording setups to really great tones and educational sound exploration as well.

1088. brett black eagle

      January 1, 2018 at 3:14 pm

      great reviews!

1089. Jolan

      January 1, 2018 at 3:12 pm

      Well Infinite Jets and the new Warped Vinyl just jumped straight to the #1 and #2 positions on my wantlist

1090. Dan Miller

      January 1, 2018 at 3:10 pm

      Don’t forget the Pigtronix Mothership 2! Really cool pedal there.

      Just recently acquired the Infinite Jets, man its so unique. Heard nothing like it before.

      Would like to win the Echosystem!!!

      Keep up the great articles in 2018.

1091. Serafini Gianluca

      January 1, 2018 at 3:08 pm

      Echosystem seems very amazing, I’ve never heard about a pedal as it!!!

1092. Robert Herrmann

      January 1, 2018 at 3:06 pm

      Someone wanna loan me a couple grand?

1093. Tomasz Litra

      January 1, 2018 at 3:05 pm

      Wow, just such a good year in music gear industry!
      
      I’m very lucky to say, that I did manage to try and play some of the stuff from the list: Infinite Jets, Brothers and to get my TR RKM. I’m, honestly, a delay junkie with a list of the pedals I’ve owned and played and I own now. Sadly to say, I did not have the chance to get my hands on the Echosystem. Stuff by Empress is really hard to find in my country, even to come by it. I don’t have to tell, how much it would be of a pleasure to try one or even have one! Especially if it’s the pedal of the year.
      
      PS My personal 3 cents about favorite pedal and a gamechanger for me is the Broadcast from Hudson Electronics. I’ve heard about this company in 2017, got the Broadcast and don’t even need any extra OD/preamp/clean boost/fuzz pedals at all. I know it’s a pedal from year(s) before, but man, it does it all and does it just great.

1094. Nick

      January 1, 2018 at 3:00 pm

      Digitech have been making some decent pedals recently. I got the Obscura a few months ago, and it’s a nice bit of gear, especially for the price. The Freqout looks pretty cool

1095. Marc-Antoine Pelletier

      January 1, 2018 at 2:56 pm

      Wanna wanna

1096. Stephen

      January 1, 2018 at 2:55 pm

      Unfortunately I haven’t managed to try any of these in person, although there are several I’d like to.

      I’ve been into whacky sounds lately, so top of my interest list would probably the data corruptor or the syntax error, although I’m sure the whisky mode on the echosystem would get me there too.

1097. M.Emin Kendirci

      January 1, 2018 at 2:54 pm

      Nice read. I’d also add Source Audio Ventris to this list. You have mentioned it at the end but it definitely deserves a nice spot near the top since it is a totally new thing with 2 dsps and dual reverb capabilities. Also, Echosystem definitely deserves to be on top. That thing is amazing!

1098. Adam DZ

      January 1, 2018 at 2:45 pm

      Best Guitar Effects allows my imagination run wild with possibilities. Without their insider knowledge, I’d never know what new and innovative effect systems to go out and demo first. Thanks gang!

1099. Cal Glendenning

      January 1, 2018 at 2:45 pm

      The opportunities for guitarists to experiment just get better each year, can’t wait to see what wonderful and whacky effects are released. Some other great pedals released in 2017 were the breakers by Bondi and the Soul Driven by Xotic, both banging drives!

      • Kenneth dave Angeles

        January 1, 2018 at 2:46 pm

        and for me effectrode leveling amplifier is amazing..

1100. Kenneth dave Angeles

      January 1, 2018 at 2:45 pm

      I want this a Chorus Delay effects/DigiTech FreqOut/Hologram Electronics Infinite Jets.any of the 3 effects. :)Thankyou..

1101. Kevin Li

      January 1, 2018 at 2:44 pm

      Lots of innovative stuff on the 2017 list: plus pedal and freqout being prime examples. That effectrode is just gas inducing though..

1102. Paul

      January 1, 2018 at 2:43 pm

      Killer list.. they’re mostly all crazy expensive tho!

1103. Luis Barrera

      January 1, 2018 at 2:40 pm

      The echosystem is an amazing piece of technology. She will be mine.

1104. Dave V

      January 1, 2018 at 2:39 pm

      Stoked to have another shot to win one of these babies!

      • Paul jarrett

        January 6, 2018 at 11:03 am

        Lovely piece o metal!

1105. Franz Hutterer

      January 1, 2018 at 2:37 pm

      Oh yes..
      
      The Echosystem seems amazing, but other than that the D&M Drive is my pedal of the year. Especially the boost side continues to amaze me night after night with my Les Paul.
      
      And the drive side with singelcoils.. Holy cow!

1106. Slawomir

      January 1, 2018 at 2:36 pm

      I think the Canyon is definitely amongst the best. The Angry Driver also is quite versatile.

      • Deke Roberts

        January 7, 2018 at 2:15 pm

        I don’t think the Angry Driver is versatile enough. It needs two buttons. I don’t want to have to bend down and twiddle a knob to jump between them. As things stand I think it would be better to have the two pedals separately.

1107. Maxime Fosset

      January 1, 2018 at 2:35 pm

      I’ve got the Empress Superdelay, great delay with really good sounds, I’d love to try the Dual Delay !

1108. Carlos Rodriguez

      January 1, 2018 at 2:33 pm

      The infinite jets pedal is insane! Love it!

1109. Bruno Salheb

      January 1, 2018 at 2:32 pm

      For me effectrode leveling amplifier is my main dream. Awesome pedal!

1110. Mark Ruark

      January 1, 2018 at 2:30 pm

      Some great choices on your list. I’ve got the Empress Effects Reverb so I’ve got an idea of what makes the Echosystem so wanted.
      
      I would recommend checking out the Adventure Audio Demogorgon v2 if possible. My new favorite!

1111. Brian Swindle

      January 1, 2018 at 2:28 pm

      Love the Hall Of Fame 2. Can get simple natural reverb sounds or get completely spacey with it.

1112. Eric Ahart

      January 1, 2018 at 2:25 pm

      Tonal recall is amazing. Chase bliss? Get this pedal and you’ve CAUGHT it!

1113. Davi Morimoto

      December 28, 2017 at 5:17 am

      I honestly love the TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2. Simple, intuitive controls, three TonePrint options, and the added shimmer effect is more than enough for me. Mateus Asato did a video with one of these pedals (and I LOVE his tone).

1114. Deke Roberts

      December 27, 2017 at 6:50 am

      Interesting. I saw the first pedal and thought ‘Oh no, tell me they’re not all going to be programmer’s pedals!’. Fortunately they weren’t. It seems to have been a good year for Chase Bliss, I’ve often thought I’d like a separate board of just their pedals (Plus an Ayahuasca, which is sort of an honorary Chase Bliss pedal) but, well, I’m not rich, I’m a musician.

      Everyone’s going to have their own opinions, but one thing that I’ve noticed while reading the reviews seems curious to me. I have a Freqout pedal, but I could do with at least two. I don’t buy pedals so I can be constantly twiddling knobs between (And sometimes during) songs. I set a pedal to the sound I want and there it stays, and in the case of the Freqout I could also do with setting it to everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink mode (You made a mistake in the review by the way, the final option isn’t a repeat of the previous one, it’s the aforementioned EBTKS option). The possibility of duplicating pedals doesn’t seem to have occurred to anyone. The idea that if you buy a Warped Vinyl Mk lll you don’t have to ditch your earlier iteration, or that if you happen to like your Mk l or Mk ll then you can still buy and use the new one doesn’t appear to be an option.

      What can I say? You’d HATE my pedalboard!

1115. john long

      December 24, 2017 at 11:59 am

      was hoping the GFI Tempus would be here so i can get a smaller board.

      • T

        January 6, 2018 at 10:58 am

        I have the Tempus, it is fantastic.

        • Andrew Murray

          February 14, 2018 at 3:35 am

          Looks awesome