Being a prepared session guitarist means having the right tools to serve the song. Whether serving means finding your slice behind the mandolin and pedal steel or stepping out when it’s time to shine, pedals are a great way to increase your reach.
If you’re chasing that elusive country sound, then you’ve come to the right place. Sweetwater has polled the industry’s top session guitarists to come up with the definitive list of first-call country guitar pedals. Here’s the gear that’ll keep your rhythms in check and have your leads sounding hotter than a two-dollar pistol.
- Best Volume Pedals for Country
- Best Overdrive Pedals for Country
- Best Compressor Pedals for Country
- Best Modulation Pedals for Country
- Best Delay Pedals for Country
- Best Reverb Pedals for Country
Best Volume Pedals for Country
A volume pedal may not seem like top priority for country tones. But there are two reasons they’re indispensable: utility and ornamentation. Utility because the option to pull back for verse sections and to step out for lead breaks will get you far on a callback list. Ornamentation because a volume pedal makes getting those classic country pedal-steel swells much easier than working your guitar volume with your pinky (a la Greg Koch).
Lehle Mono Active Volume Pedal
The Lehle Mono is one of the most sensitive volume pedals on the market. Unlike traditional volume pedals, it uses no strings or pots; rather, it employs a twin-magnet Hall sensor to precisely control the output voltage based on your foot position. This gives the Lehle Mono a resolution that traditional designs can’t match. There’s even an optional +10dB boost on tap to help drive your amp input for lead breaks. Be aware that this pedal requires power via a standard 9V–15V power supply.
Xotic XVP-250K Volume Pedal
Handwired in sunny California, the Klon-colored Xotic XVP-250K is one pedal that country session guitarists swear by. Top-quality components and a rack-and-pinion treadle give every centimeter of this pedal’s sweep a nuanced response underfoot. Its solid aluminum chassis even boasts a slightly reduced footprint to maximize space on a travel board. The XVP-250K also packs a high-quality buffered tuner output for precision tuning between songs.
BOSS FV-500H Volume Pedal
The tough-as-nails FV-500H is built from die-cast aluminum to give volume sweepers peace of mind on the road. Tonally, it’s extremely transparent and results in zero signal loss. Top-mounted jacks make this pedal a favorite at the head or tail of any pedal chain. And features like an adjustable minimum volume setting make the FV-500H as subtle as can be for anything from country ballads to all-out bangers. Bonus: this pedal pulls double duty as an expression pedal for compatible vibe and chorus pedals.
Best Overdrive Pedals for Country
When it comes to overdrive pedals, country players are looking for a tube-emulated tone that cleans up easily — either through playing dynamics or their guitar’s output control. You also want a pedal that can kick into turbo for lead breaks. Here are the overdrives that can do it all for any session.
Nobels ODR-1 Natural Overdrive Pedal
This mid-gain cult classic is the undisputed Nashville standard. Don’t let its green tint fool you. The ODR-1‘s unique German circuit mimics the touch and coloration of a loaded Fender Bassman. Its saturation is smooth and neutral, taking on heft and sparkle as you roll up the Spectrum knob. Nobels’s latest ODR-1 includes a bass-dip switch inside the battery compartment to shed poundage for slim and trim country leads.
Danelectro Roebuck Distortion Pedal
This pedal’s biting tones and road-worn livery give it a place on any country artist’s pedalboard. The Dano Roebuck‘s three clipping modes pay tribute to the MOSFET-loaded Ibanez MT10 Mostortion of the early ’90s favored by session superstars Derek Wells (Kenny Chesney) and Tom Bukovac (Keith Urban). A versatile gain and EQ range suit this dirt box to single-coils as well as humbuckers. So, even if you’re moonlighting playing rock gigs on the weekends, the Roebuck is one pedal that’ll give you mileage.
MXR Custom Shop Timmy Overdrive Mini Pedal
Paul Cochrane’s original Tim caused a massive stir in the Nashville guitar community when it was first released. MXR partnered with Paul himself to bring this touch-sensitive boutique treat to the masses. The MXR Custom Shop Timmy slips easily onto any pedalboard and gives players a broad palette of drive tones for stacking or single-ending. From light harmonic enhancement to full-on crunch, the Timmy packs a surprising amount of variety in its slim housing.
Best Compressor Pedals for Country
The quintessential country tone is a Tele bridge pickup fed into copious amounts of compression. This results in a highly pronounced attack accompanied by a lush, velvety sustain. If you’re searching for ways to get that classic-country chomp, squeeze, bite, and buck, then a compressor’s a great place to start.
Wampler Ego Compressor Pedal
To say the Ego is based on a Ross Dyna Comp wouldn’t be inaccurate, but it’s only part of the story. Brian Wampler’s highly modified Dyna adds controls for Tone and Attack along with a Blend control for finding the right alchemy of wet and dry sounds. Together, these make the Ego a valuable tool for enhancing snap and lengthening note leads. The Ego’s Tone control has a special sweetening mojo that makes it a killer always-on pedal whether or not you’re engaging its compression circuit.
MXR M102 Dyna Comp Compressor Pedal
What can we say about the pedal that’s been featured on thousands of country recordings since the ’70s? The spank, the snap, the pump — if you can’t make a country guitar part sound great through the original Dyna Comp, then you probably shouldn’t be using a compressor at all. This two-knob tone wonder is (in)famous for its simplicity with just two knobs for controlling compression amount (Sensitivity) and overall level (Output).
Origin Effects SlideRIG Compact Deluxe MK2 Compressor Pedal
What used to be a studio-only trick — slamming a slide guitar into a pair of daisy-chained 1176s for buckets of sustain — is now available to live players in Origin’s SlideRIG Compact Deluxe MK2. This comp’s dual studio-grade FET compressors and Class A circuitry are capable of compression so fast you’ll wonder where your transients went. Simplified controls make dialing in the perfect sustain a snap. Meanwhile, the SlideRIG’s hand-polished brushed stainless-steel enclosure and tour-grade aluminum knobs ready this comp for the road.
Best Modulation Pedals for Country
Country guitar’s modulation roots begin with the tube-based tremolo of classic combo amps and culminated in the anything-goes era of ’80s studio rack effects. Modulation effects help soften transients while adding those crucial country textures, even when you’re just holding single notes.
Fender MTG Tube Tremolo Pedal
The MTG Tube Tremolo blends old-school amp trem with modern conveniences such as on-demand waveform adjustment and a tap-tempo switch. The secret to the MTG’s authentic tube tone is an internal NOS 6205 pencil preamp tube. Real tube gain is introduced with output levels set past nine o’clock, so players can enjoy a natural-sounding tube boost even with the waveform intensity set to zero. Best of all, the MTG is powered straight from your pedalboard power supply — no external wall warts or special power supplies are required.
BOSS CE-2W Waza Craft Chorus Pedal
What do country icons Waylon Jennings and James Burton have in common? A shared love of the BOSS CE-1 Chorus Ensemble, for starters. The juicy pulse of this vintage icon is faithfully preserved in the Waza Craft CE-2W (sans the noise). Like the original CE-1, the CE-2W seeks to bring the stereo-widening effects and vertigo-inducing vibrato of the classic Roland JC-120 to a portable design. Players can also access subtler shades of ’80 chorusing by setting the CE-2W to Standard mode.
MXR M107 Phase 100 Phaser Pedal
Another Waylon-approved country outlier, the MXR Phase 100, has seen a massive resurgence in cosmic country in recent years. The Phase 100’s recursive throb can be just the thing a solo needs to stand out in a mix. Just listen to any lead break in Jennings’s Live at Opryland ’78 set to hear the subtlety and texture this pedal can bring to even the most classic of country and western music.
Best Delay Pedals for Country
There are two types of delay tones you’ll need to survive most country gigs: a slapback delay for rockabilly rhythms and a longer delay to glue lead lines together. Here are the most popular delay pedals you’ll find on country guitarists’ pedalboards today.
BOSS DD-8 Digital Delay Pedal
BOSS’s digital delay (DD) pedals have remained workhorses since their ’83 introduction. The DD-8 is the culmination of everything players love about these compact echo machines. A 20ms–800ms repeat range unearths echoes from nearly imperceptible slapbacks to full quarter-note delays at a tempo of 75 bpm (“Before He Cheats,” for reference). And, thanks to a tap switch, even dotted-eighth delays can be dialed in with studio accuracy. The DD-8’s 10 modes give you plenty of ways to color a riff. Meanwhile, an onboard 40-second looper aids in solo practice and idea preservation.
J. Rockett Audio Designs Clockwork Echo Delay Pedal
The standard in vintage BBD delay pedals gets a 21st-century reboot in the J. Rockett Clockwork Echo. All the woozy, boozy goodness of the original is faithfully preserved. But some new features — including a tempo tap and switchable modulation — make this delay the only “deluxe” you’ll need on a pedalboard. For analog purists, you just can’t beat the Clockwork Echo’s real analog warmth. Factor in stereo outputs and an analog boost to push the internal preamp, and the Clockwork Echo is a veritable Swiss Army knife on any session player’s board.
Keeley Memphis Sun Lo-Fi Echo/Reverb/Double Tracker Pedal
This handy all-in-one pedal from Robert Keeley brings the tracking tricks of Memphis’s Sun Studios (Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty) to your travel board. It’s a gas and a half for rockabilly and country guitar. From the punchy room reverb to the gritty tape-emulated delay, the Memphis Sun will have you sounding like Danny Gatton in no time. An additional feature live players will enjoy is the ADT (automatic double tracker) function, which emulates the time-honored tradition of country players doubling their parts to thicken up tones. Nifty!
Best Reverb Pedals for Country
While it’s true that many modern country players prefer their tones on the drier side, a good number of country standards still call for a healthy dose of ambience. The classic is a spring-emulated drip based on amp spring tanks. For longer decays, you’ll want to reach for a hall or plate wash. Here are our top picks.
Keeley Omni Reverb Pedal
The Omni Reverb is destined to go down as one of the greats in pedal history. Circuitmeister Robert Keeley found a way to cram three delightfully distinct reverb vibes into a single 1590B enclosure. Dialing in an acoustic space has never been quicker. Toggle your type, adjust your mix, and bask in the Omni’s reverberant splendor. Splashy springs, lively rooms, and rich ‘140-style plates — great tones abound in this silver bullet.
Universal Audio UAFX Golden Reverberator Pedal
Analog giants Universal Audio (UA) have been virtualizing hardware studio effects for years. UAFX’s Golden Reverberator pedal brings five studio-based reverb effects to your feet along with full controls for tweaking tones. The Spring 65 setting bathes your twang in country tube drip while the Hall 224 setting imparts a modern ambient edge. Need quick access to particular reverb tones? Presets can be saved and accessed for instant recall via the pedal or UAFX’s companion app.
J. Rockett Audio Designs Mr. Moto Tremolo & Reverb Pedal
If you’ve never experienced the joy of reaching back onstage and tweaking reverb and tremolo effects directly from your amp’s front panel, then the Mr. Moto pedal welcomes you to a simpler time. The Mr. Moto’s spring-emulated reverb punches up with the twist of a knob. Its tremolo section adds a continuously variable wave shaper to standard Depth and Speed controls to give your trem the swing and pulse of any classic amp.
Searching for Essential Country Guitar Tones? Call the Experts!
We hope this article has sparked some ideas for your next country pedalboard build. If you’re chasing a particular sound, then call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700. We’ll help you find the pedals you need to access the country tones you’re after.
