Think pedal effects are just for guitar players? Here are a dozen that made us think again.
In a world of workstations that have a studio’s worth of effects built in, why use pedals? Maybe to spice up a synth, electric piano, or Clav that doesn’t have all those effects. Pedals are also more fun for the same reason analog synths are: Grab a knob, hear a change. But it comes down to personality. Pedals are designed to do one or two things well, so combining different ones from different makers can take your sound, and hence your ideas, places a virtual rack might not. Here are a dozen we like, with more to come in future issues and on video at keyboardmag.com.
BBE TWO TIMER
Dual Analog Delay
BBE’s pedal line is durably built, with a metal casing and knobs that feel more than up to the rigors of the gigging life. This “bucket brigade” analog delay is clean, and the Repeat knob gives you an ample range of feedback time. The unique feature on the Two Timer gives the pedal its name: Two separate delays can be set to different times and switched with the left footswitch. Say you want a short delay for rhythm parts and a longer one for your soaring synth solo — the Two Timer makes it easy, and sounds great. Things got really interesting when we cranked the Feedback knob and let the signal overdose on itself. It was a ton of fun, if a bit impractical for melodious solos. However, sometimes just making alien sounds can be an invigorating for the ears and mind, so don’t knock it ’til you rock it!
PROS Sturdy construction. Clean sound. True hardware bypass.
CONS None significant.
STEREO? No.
UNIQUE FEATURE Dual delay settings.
MAKES YOU SOUND LIKE Pink Floyd at Pompeii or Vesuvius at Pompeii, depending.
$209 list/approx. $150 street, bbesound.com
BEHRINGER VM1 VINTAGE TIME MACHINE
Delay, Echo, and Chorus/Vibrato
This pedal is modeled fairly close to a vintage Electro-Harmonix Memory Man, but in classic Behringer fashion, brings in similar features at the lowest possible price. It feels well-built enough, and looks cool, but the proof is in the sound. The VM1 has a true analog delay and up to 550ms of echo at hand — and is really two pedals in one. On one hand, it’s about straight modulation, i.e. delay plus chorus or vibrato. But crank the Feedback knob more than halfway and the VM1 becomes a sound-shaping feedback and noise generator that can make some ungodly sounds. Provided you’re in the right band playing the right sort of music at the right time, you may blow some minds!
PROS Affordable. Cool classic look.
CONS On the noisy side.
STEREO? No.
UNIQUE FEATURE True analog circuitry at a low price point.
MAKES YOU SOUND LIKE Alien spacecraft attacking the planet. $69.95 street, behringer.com
BOSS RE-20 SPACE ECHO
Tape Echo Simulator with Reverb
A re-imagining of the classic Roland RE-201 Space Echo from the ’70s, this is a much smaller unit, but they didn’t shrink the sound. It’s structured as a double pedal, with the left side for bypass and the right side for tap tempo — great for syncing with bandmates or backing tracks. An input gain knob lets you optimize the RE-20 for whatever signal you’re running into it, but the main attraction is the Mode knob with its 12 varied settings for reverb, echo, or both. As with most pedals with stereo I/O, running in stereo puts mono to shame. You can also connect a continuous pedal (such as Roland’s EV-5 expression pedal) to control the intensity and rate on the fly. BOSS and Roland take their “heritage” pieces seriously, and with the RE-20 they do great justice to its predecessor.
PROS Nails the vintage Space Echo sound. Tons of control.
CONS Eats batteries (6 AA) if you don’t use the separately- sold AC adapter.
STEREO? Inputs and outputs.
UNIQUE FEATURE Tap tempo.
MAKES YOU SOUND LIKE You’ve set your controls for the heart of the sun, into which you’re flying like an eagle. $339.50 list/approx. $250 street, bossus.com
DIGITECH HARDWIRE CR-7
Stereo Chorus
This pedal looks, feels, and sounds . . . serious. The construction is superior, with a clean look and easy-to-grok interface. Just as much care has been put into the sound, and its stereo dimension is where it rises to greatness. Besides the requisite Level, Speed, and Depth knobs, there’s a choice of seven chorus presets. Each preset has a distinct personality, and you can get a whole range of “sounds like” choruses, from sweet and smooth (think Al Jarreau’s “Morning” Dyno Rhodes) to dirtier and vintage. A rubber cap (the perfectly-named Stomplock) fits over all four knobs to prevent accidental adjustments. The CR-7 is bulletproof and worthy of a place in your pedal arsenal, especially if you want to take an older keyboard and thicken it up beyond belief.
PROS Rugged construction. Cool look. Rich sound.
CONS None significant.
STEREO? Inputs and outputs.
UNIQUE FEATURE Sheer variety of presets.
MAKES YOU SOUND LIKE There are two or more of you. $189.95 list/approx. $140 street, digitech.com
ELECTRO-HARMONIX MICRO POG
Octave Generator
POG means “Polyphonic Octave Generator,” polyphonic because it can add an octave above and below whatever tone you put through it. Though there are only three knobs, the functionality and creative possibilities are great: Sub Octave adds a meaty low end while Octave Up adds a higher mirror of your sound. You can mix both to dial in the perfect sound. Plus, a separate dry output is useful not just for sending wet and dry signals to separate tracks in a recording session, but for live tricks like panning the two outs differently at your mixer — or sending them to different pedals in your chain. The Micro POG adds beef in a way that’s not unlike bringing in a sub-oscillator, or just more oscillators in general, on a synth. It’s most effective on a monophonic synth bass and lead parts, but worth trying on anything.
PROS Simple to use. Thick, chewy sound.
CONS None significant.
STEREO? No, though you could pan wet and dry outs using a mixer.
UNIQUE FEATURE Can add both high and low octaves simultaneously.
MAKES YOU SOUND LIKE Your synth has more oscillators than it actually does. $279 list/approx. $210 street, ehx.com
FISHMAN AFX CHORUS
Stereo Chorus, Phaser, Flanger, and Tremolo
Fishman pedals have long been associated with acoustic guitars, but until you hook this creamy beast to your keys, you don’t know what you’ve been missing. Because acoustic guitar effects aim to preserve the full spectrum of sound that goes in (as opposed to messing it up in ways that are desirable on electric guitar), they’re ideally suited for keyboards as well, and the Fishman’s sound is as deep as it is pristine. This is really a multi-modulation pedal, as a dial chooses between three choruses of varying degree (the third is so thick it’s almost a doubler), two tremolos, a flanger, a phaser, and a rotary setting. Above them are level, tone, and speed knobs, giving you considerable finetuning of your sound. Try the tremolo on Rhodes for that “Riders on the Storm” effect; dial up Chorus 2 on an acoustic piano patch, and you’re hitting So-era Peter Gabriel. Surprisingly good.
PROS Beautiful, high-fidelity, low-noise sound. Built like a tank.
CONS None significant.
STEREO? Inputs and outputs.
UNIQUE FEATURE Variety of presets.
MAKES YOU SOUND LIKE Pick a great pop recording with chorused Rhodes or piano. Like that. $389.95 list/approx. $250 street, fishman.com
GUYATONE ULTRON
Optical Multimode Wah
If there were ever a contest for King of the Wahs, it’d be hard to beat the Ultron, a name that evokes Transformers — as does the faceplate! It covers the three major ways of creating wah: Envelope- following (responding to note attacks), an internal LFO which repeats the wah automatically, or manually if you connect a standard expression pedal. Keyboards usually refer to the first way as “auto-wah” because the harder you hit, the more quack you get. On the Ultron, though, it means the second way — think of the LFO as an invisible hand on a filter cutoff knob. You get six choices of waveforms for this, with tap tempo. The Peak knob sets how far the filter can open at maximum; the Frequency knob and Range switch determine where the overall cutoff sweeps. Very cool is a three-position toggle for how auto-wah responds to tap tempo: in straight, cut, or double time, essentially. Plug in an expression pedal, and the same switch chooses three response curves, adjusting Ultron to your leadfoot factor. Bells, meet whistles. This thing is deep, and learning it may take longer than the average wah, but the smoothness of the optical effect coupled with the tweak-factory interface make it worth mastering.
PROS Smooth, quiet, audiophilegrade sound. Extreme adjustability.
CONS Expensive.
STEREO? No.
UNIQUE FEATURE Optical circuitry.
MAKES YOU SOUND LIKE You’ve gone beyond “Higher Ground” to a whole new plane of existence (not Nirvana). $525 list/approx. $450 street, guyatone.com
LINE 6 ROTO-MACHINE
Rotary Speaker Simulator
Line 6’s ToneCore series is revolutionary. The metal chassis, which houses the pedal switch, takes interchangeable modules you can swap as the need arises. The pedal switch toggles between slow and fast rotary speeds, which you adjust with separate knobs, and a Ramp switch gives you three choices of transition time between the two. Drive adds anything from a Rolie-era Santana edge to Jon Lord distortion, and Blend balances the bass and treble rotors. A Filter switch alters the tone to mimic three classic Leslie models (122, 145 and L16, based on the Fender Vibratone that started out as a Leslie model 16). This is one pedal you’ll spend some time playing with to dial in your perfect spin, and an ideal companion if you get your organ sounds from an allpurpose synth or older clonewheel and are out of love with the built-in rotary sim. Running the Roto in stereo makes all the difference — the swirling is much more realistic.
PROS Wide range of Leslie effects.
CONS None significant.
STEREO? Inputs and outputs.
UNIQUE FEATURE Swapability with other ToneCore modules into housing.
MAKES YOU SOUND LIKE You have a Leslie. Pedal with module: $165.99list /approx $120 street; module only: approx. $40 street, line6.com
MALEKKO B:ASSMASTER
Harmonic Generator and Fuzz
The B:assmaster earned its rep on bass guitar, but we heard what it can do for a Minimoog Voyager. The pedal has three knobs: Ass Volume, Bass Volume, and Sensitivity; and two switches: Ass and Harm. Ass Volume is the fuzz channel while Bass Volume is the clean signal. Sensitivity controls the intensity of the fuzz, which the Harm and Ass switches sculpt by adding or subtracting octaves and other harmonics. While the pedal added some fuzz, it didn’t get sloppy-fuzzy. Rather, it gave the signal a nice boost with a biting effect. Knowing that it is mainly a fuzz effect is key; from the name, I expected more of an, erm, bottom-end booster. Dialed in moderation, this pedal gives synth leads and basses, and Clavs, a body and attitude adjustment that most overdrive and fuzz pedals either overshoot or plain don’t achieve. Get the Germanium version, not the Silicon. Its gain structure is what you want for line-level keyboards.
PROS Signal boost is ideal for solos. Harmonic fuzz effect is unique and works on keyboards.
CONS Knob names are more amusing than instructive.
STEREO? No
.
UNIQUE FEATURE Separate knobs for mixing clean and effected tones.
MAKES YOU SOUND LIKE The parallel you that hangs out with those people you’re too scared to party with. $260, malekkoheavyindustry.com
MOOGERFOOGER MF-105 MuRF
Step-Sequencing Filter Bank
Incorporating key concepts from Bob Moog’s synth designs, every Moogerfooger has become an overnight classic, but the MuRF is in a class by itself. Eight filter bands are controlled by sliders set up like a graphic EQ, but make no mistake, these sound like bandpass synth filters, not EQ. When a slider is at zero, its filter output is silent. The big deal is that you can animate the filter bands rhythmically, changing your keys’ frequency spectrum to a beat. In the Animation section, the central knob selects 12 preset patterns in each of two banks. These patterns control a sequencer that triggers volume envelopes for the filters in the bank. You can’t sync the rate to MIDI, but a footswitch input lets you use any cheap sustain pedal for tap tempo. Before I tried the MuRF, I had no idea how badly I needed one. This is a one-of-a-kind effect that will add another dimension to your musical creativity.
PROS Sounds like no other stompbox. Beautiful design. Rocksolid build.
CONS Expensive.
STEREO? Mono input, stereo outputs.
UNIQUE FEATURE Filter automation sequencer with tap tempo.
MAKES YOU SOUND LIKE A sound design genius by just holding down a chord. $449 list/approx. $420 street, moogmusic.com
MXR CUSTOM SHOP 1974 PHASE 90
Classic Phaser
Invariably, a phaser is a go-to pedal for keyboard players, and the folks at Jim Dunlop have reissued an MXR classic. They did a “block logo” one a few years ago, but this is different, and I’m not talking about just the “script” logo. Inside are hand-wired discrete components based on a mint specimen from 1974, and if you’ve been lusting after that “Babylon Sisters” or “Minute by Minute” sound for your Rhodes, look no further. This is the genuine article, and the sound is as creamy as ever. For comparison’s sake, I also plugged in the EVH Phase 90, a “newer” model painted to look like Eddie Van Halen’s guitar. That model’s rate goes higher if you need fast psychedelic warble, but for that Fagen sheen, nothing touches this magic orange brick.
PROS Classic sound with original specs.
CONS Rate doesn’t go as fast as EVH or block-logo model.
STEREO? No.
UNIQUE FEATURE Handwired discreet circuitry.
MAKES YOU SOUND LIKE Steely Dan. $216.60/approx. $120 street, jimdunlop.com
TC-HELICON VOICETONE HARMONY-M
Vocal Harmonizer and Processor
The VoiceTone provides two synthesized harmony voices that back up what you sing, plus doubling and effects such as reverb, echo, and slapback, all adjustable separately. Ten memory locations let you customize and save presets. On top of this, the “Live Engineer” effects — compression, EQ, and de-essing — do everything for your vocal that the stressed-out club engineer at your next multi-band showcase probably won’t. The main attraction, though, is that the harmonies adapt to notes you play on a MIDI keyboard, and you don’t have to play the precise notes you want. Sing and accompany yourself normally, and the Harmony-M factors it all in and picks the sweetest harmonies. It sounds surprisingly natural. This is an unprecedented step in making harmony technology more responsive, particularly for solo performances where any virtual harmony is highly audible and therefore has to sound professional.
PROS Very natural-sounding harmonies. Also a “vocal strip” with mic pre, EQ, and dynamics.
CONS There’s a learning curve to get the most out of it.
STEREO? Mono mic input, stereo outputs (switchable to mono wet and dry outs).
UNIQUE FEATURE “Smart” MIDI-controlled vocal harmony.
MAKES YOU SOUND LIKE You travel with two hotsounding backup singers. $395 list/approx. $300 street, tc-helicon.com