Updated Jul. 6, 2021 | by Paolo De Gregorio

Best New Guitar Pedal Releases

The time has come for a glance at the best new guitar pedal releases of the previous month (in this case, June 2021). We organize these monthly article in two lists: gain and non-gain releases. Lists from previous months can be found here.

We organized the pedals in the interactive galleries below according to how exciting they seem to us.

As usual, mouseover or first tap on the thumbnails will open a description of the pedal, while a click or a second tap will open a video of the pedal.

Best New Non-Gain Pedals released in June 2021

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gamechanger Bigsby Vibrato
$TBA | A stompbox that shifts the vibrato action of the Bigsby lever from hand to foot.
https://amazon.to
Pigtronix Infinity 3
$419 | An update to this flagship, stereo (double) looper that improves latency and offers recording quality that matches the one of a tape recorder.
Sweetwater | Reverb | Amazon
1426226119
J Rockett Clockwork Echo
$399 | An analog stereo echo + modulation with Tap Tempo designed by the original creator of the Deluxe Memory Man. The modulation section has its own footswitch and can deliver chorus, rotating speaker and even flange sounds with very short delay settings. Expression pedal inputs can control Time and Repeats.
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
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Reverb Amazon
1133296930
KMA Machines Tyler Deluxe
$299 | Designed to bring new life to other pedals, it splits your signal into two parallel loops that let you create separate FX chains for your high and low frequencies. Each loop has its own footswitch. The two loops' signals are then remixed into a mono one. A Mix knob, a Clean knob, and three-phase switches allow to fine-tune the results.
Alt Seller | Reverb | Amazon
1428938792
Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail Deluxe
$229 | A deluxe version of this popular analog delay + modulation. 3 presets and digital controls. and 4 Modes: Micro Delay (fast repeats and rotary); Pitch Sequence (upper/lower octaves in 8 customizable, sequences); Pitch Bender (adds a glissando momentary effect); Runaway (great for self-oscillation). The Wet Insert loop is a nice add-on.
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
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Reverb Amazon
2230182166
Foxgear T7E Baby
$219 | A smaller evolution of the Gurus Echosex that reproduces all the functions offered by the original unit, with a full 4 Heads combination, stereo engine, and three modes (Echo, Repeat, and Swell). It has the ability to recall the Swell mode as a “preset” with a dedicated footswitch. Motor Speed lets you increase the overall delay time, emulating a slowed-down speed of the magnetic drum. 
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
84353519
crazy tube circuits time
$209 | A delay + modulation inspired by the early digital rack units., which hid artifact through a carefully calibrated use of filtering. It delivers from 130ms to 720ms of delay through the Time knob or up to 1" with Tap Tempo. A 3-way toggle allows to dial in quarter note, dotted eights, and triplets subdivisions. The Tap Tempo footswitch doubles as a Momentary Feedback trigger.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
2161799736
hotone soul press ii
$99 - A multi-mode, multi-function pedal in a compact size with two wah modes (Warm and Classic), that can act as Volume and Exp pedal (it can also do Volume and Wah at once). Q knob adjusts the frequency width of the wah and a four-light system on the side indicates the pedal's position in real-time. Tuner and Expression Outputs for extra routing options.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
78647275
Retroactive Pedals Diving Bell
$215 | A compact, digital delay pedal optimized for self-oscillation and hands-free analog-style pitch-bending. The Tune footswitch allows the player to alter the delay's speed hands-free, creating the classic pitch-bending effect produced by analog delays. The initial delay's speed can be controlled via the Spacing knob.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
1544697142
LPD Pedals Cascade Reverb
$TBA | A simple 4-knob digital reverb (featuring a useful pre-delay knob). It's all in the sound.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
2344969120
TC Electronic June-60 V2
$59 | A supersimple stereo chorus inspired by the chorus section of the Roland Juno synth, V2 offers line in compatibility (thanks to an internal switch), and two internal dip switches that allow to assign a faster LFO rate to each of the two pedal presets, with the "Slow" setting matching the speed of the original Roland Juno keyboard. No knobs, only 3 settings are possible.
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
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Best New Gain Pedals released in June 2021

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Catalinbread DREAMCOAT/SKEWER
$299 | Two pedals inspired by Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore. Skewer is a 3-knob replica of the Hornby-Skewes Treble Booster. Dreamcoat is an overdrive/fuzz based on the Aiwa TP-1011 reel-to-reel microphone preamp with additional features (saturation and frequency boost). It can be tweaked to sound unruly, velcro-y, and sputtery but at low levels behaves more predictably.
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
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Reverb Amazon
2529180247
Redbeard Effects Angry Rhubarb
$249 | An analog overdrive featuring a parametric EQ between two overdrive circuits. The EQ circuit can boost or cut by 6dp any frequency between 80Hz and 4kH, opening up all sorts of tone sculpting possibilities, furtherly enhanced by the two drives, a low to medium one in front of the EQ and a medium-high after it.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
2122938114
Intensive Care Audio Death Drive
~200 | An original, analogue overdrive and distortion pedal that can deliver vintage-sounding tube-like overdrive/distortion or, at higher Destruction levels - a pleasantly compressed and saturated distortion. A 2nd gain knob interacts with the Destruction one for the perfect amount of saturation. The Mood knob provides a useful range of EQ coloring.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
1962896832
BOSS HM-2w
$179 | A "Waza" reissue of the classic Heavy Metal HM-2, discontinued in 1991. Compared to the original it has a better noise floor and +3db volume, and also adds a new mode ("Custom") which sounds slightly more polished and modern and has more gain.
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
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Reverb Amazon
1981103482
JD Analog Tone of the Gods
$399 | A four-footswitched, twelve-knobbed gain pedal with four separate circuits: 1. A replica of the Schaffer Preamp which works as a colored boost to an optical compressor 2. A high-gain Boost with a three-channel Plexi Style EQ section. 3. A two gain stages section based on a Timmy overdrivewith a Bass and Treble knob. 3. A Master knob.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
3360238801
Tsakalis AudioWorks Room #40
$292 | Using jfet technology, this dual mode overdrive that can recreate the tones of several older Plexi amps and the more modern JMP and JCM800, also recreating Van Halen's "Brown Sound" through the Variac knob. A 3-band EQ section + presence allows for ample tone-sculpting. An extra boost circuit can be controlled via a dedicated footswitch and a separate knob.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
2339392276
Aion FX Quantum
$12-86 | A DIY kit low-to-mid-gain mosfet overdrive/distortion with 3-band EQ based on the rare Ibanez MT-10 Mostortion, a pedal adored by tone connoisseurs. A 3-way switch not present in the original gives you three clipping diode voicings. It's possible to buy only the PCB only for a fraction of the cost.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
156925667
ProCo Lil Rat
$69 | Same as the classic RAT 2 in a mini enclosure.
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
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Reverb Amazon
4153426906
Wrought Iron Effects Sting
$249 | A JFET-based overdrive with a warm and crunchy voice, and a usable Tone control that progressively cuts the high frequencies.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
40876628
BJPRESS Blue Tonic Bluesdrive Overdrive
$233 | A hand-build, high-0end three-knob overdrive with a toggles switch that tightens up the sound and delivers more gain in the right position. Built for blues guitarists, it offers a wide range of punchy tones.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
584549554
Fulltone PlimSoul mkII
$207 | A tube amp-voiced drive updating the popular original with higher gain and impedance, top-mounted jacks and increased separation between the soft-clipping (gain 1, asymmetrical) and hard-clipping (gain 2, symmetrical) stages. The latter features two Germanium diodes instead of LED. The EQ has now a sweeter treble action and a new loss-less Bass switch, allowing for tight, mud-less percussive distortion.
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
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This is it for now, see you again in a month!

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