Earlier this year, we highlighted 5 Totally Underrated Pedals. Now, we’re back with a new selection of sleeper stompboxes that have won us over. From a double-serving of studio compression to a modular fuzz box and beyond, let’s check out nine more totally underrated pedals that may deserve a spot on your pedalboard!
Analog Alien Rumble Seat
Rockabilly in a box and so much more, the Analog Alien Rumble Seat is packed with three vital effects — overdrive, delay, and reverb — optimized for super-sweet tones. The Plexi-style overdrive serves up a harmonically rich crunch that runs the gamut from smooth saturation to blistering, tube-flavored high gain. With a range of 25ms to 650ms, the delay section is ideal for twangy slapback and classic echo effects. Finally, a meticulously emulated spring reverb offers all the drip, splash, and wash you would expect from a real-deal vintage tank!
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Origin Effects Cali76 Stacked Edition
Recording engineers have known for decades that the secret to shimmering cleans and punchy distorted tones is a high-quality compressor. With their Cali76 line of pedals, Origin Effects takes studio-grade dynamics processing out of the rack and drops it onto your pedalboard. And the Origin Effects Cali76 Stacked Edition offers not one, but two, UREI 1176-inspired FET compressors, wired in series for the ultimate in countrified spank and singing sustain. Simple but flexible controls let you dial in the ideal attack and release settings on each compressor for any application. Plus, you can blend as much or as little of the original signal back in to retain top-end clarity and articulation. Get a big studio guitar sound on stage with the Cali76 Stacked Edition from Origin Effects!
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Strymon Deco
Hailed by Sweetwater-favorite YouTuber Rhett Shull as one of the best under-the-radar guitar pedals, the Strymon Deco brings lush tape saturation and double-tracking effects to a pedalboard-friendly format. The Deco enriches your tone with the characterful non-linearities and odd-order harmonics of old-school analog tape, adding instant vibe and dimension. Plus, it grants access to several taped-based effects, including Beatles-era double-tracking, slapback delay, chorusing, and flanging, and a Wobble control mimics tape wow and flutter — great for creating subtle movement or warbling, detuned sonic chaos. Not just for guitars, the Deco accepts instrument and line-level signals, meaning you can use it with keyboards, drum machines, and as a mixing effect for processing recorded tracks.
Danelectro 3699 Fuzz
In the 1970s, Danelectro’s Steve Ridinger created the Foxx Tone Machine, a literally fuzzy fuzz pedal — housed in a colorful, furry enclosure. The Danelectro 3699 is Steve’s updated version of his now-legendary original design, upping the ante with a more-pronounced, foot-switchable high octave, an overall beefier tone, and a mid-boost toggle to punch up the 3699’s searing, sputtering fuzz assault. From vintage zipper tones to fat, modern fuzz sounds, the Danelectro 3699 is a sleeper pedal that shouldn’t be missed!
Jackson Audio FUZZ
Tone chasers and gear tinkerers will delight in the Jackson Audio FUZZ pedal! The first of its kind, the FUZZ is a modular pedal, which allows you to physically change the voice of the pedal using any of Jackson Audio’s “analog plug-in” modules, which represent some of the greatest hits of fuzz past and present. FUZZ comes pre-installed with a Modern Fuzz analog plug-in and includes a Classic/Vintage Fuzz module, featuring smiley-face-type fuzz tones. On top of its cool modular design, FUZZ presents a host of flexible controls, including a 3-band fully parametric EQ, blend control, and a stompable octave-up effect.
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Darkglass Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine
Now something for the 40Hz crowd! Designed in collaboration with Adam “Nolly” Getgood, the Darkglass Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine is a sonic foundry for bass players, equipping you with five distortion modes, five compression modes, a 6-band EQ, and a cab sim loaded with five of Nolly’s favorite IRs. As its name implies, the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine excels at extreme distortion, but it’s equally capable of helping you shape clean sounds for enhanced clarity and definition. Additionally, it can be used as an audio interface for easily capturing ideas in your DAW or for use as a portable recording solution. What’s more, the included Darkglass Suite app opens even more tone-shaping possibilities and permits Bluetooth audio streaming for jamming along to your favorite tracks.
Source Audio L.A. Lady
Another pedal for the tweakers, the Source Audio L.A. Lady is an ultra-versatile overdrive and much more. Equipped with three overdrive engines drawing inspiration from classic tube amps and dirt boxes, the L.A. Lady is a superb, straight-ahead overdrive. However, when used with Source Audio’s Neuro Editor, it becomes an infinitely adjustable Swiss-army effect. With it, you can access more overdrive engines and effects and numerous additional parameters — it’s like having 40 pedals housed in a single enclosure! For ultimate on-stage control, connect the L.A. Lady to a MIDI controller via the Source Audio Neuro Hub (sold separately) or tap into the expression control input to manipulate up to three parameters in real time.
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Catalinbread Topanga Burnside Reverb
Sporting a Sweetwater-exclusive custom finish celebrating Portland’s Burnside skatepark, the Catalinbread Topanga Burnside is a visually stunning stompbox filled with the flutter, cluck, and clang of ’60s outboard spring reverb tanks. Use the mix control to take your sound from bone dry to dripping wet; twist the dwell knob to alter the length and character of the decay; and hone your tone, from dark and brooding to sweet and shimmering. Plus, the Topanga Burnside includes a slick tremolo mod that affects just the reverb tail for additional movement and texture.
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Pigtronix Gatekeeper Micro
Usually, we’re Team “Bring the Noise” at Sweetwater, but, sometimes, you just want to tell your rig to keep the noise down! When that’s the case, we recommend the Pigtronix Gatekeeper Micro. Built with high-headroom JFET circuitry, the Gatekeeper strikes down unwanted hum, hiss, and buzz, while leaving your tone intact. The simple threshold and release controls make it easy to dial in the right settings for your rig, and the Gatekeeper works equally well at the front of your signal chain or patched into your amp’s effects loop. Plus, its compact form factor is a blessing for crowded pedalboards.
Take a Chance
Here at Sweetwater, we carry more than 60 guitar-pedal brands. Each brand offers unique and musical designs that often don’t get enough credit. So, take a chance and try an underrated pedal! You never know when you’ll find a new favorite. You can demo all of the pedals we mentioned here at the Sweetwater showroom, or call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700 and try them out in your own rig.
