Updated Jan. 3, 2022 | by Paolo De Gregorio

Best New Pedals of 2021 | December Edition

December, in pre-pandemic times, used to be a month full of new pedal releases because builders unveiled their new designs before the January NAMM show. However, in the last two years, without NAMM, it’s been a rather slow time for stompbox news (and audio gear in general).

Here’s our usual recap of the best pedals released last month (December) 2021  – previous monthly editions can be found here.

There were hardly any non-gain pedals released, so we decided to organize the lists in “Creative Pedals” and “Traditional Gain Pedals.”

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 Creative Pedals released in December 2021

2827503974
Pine Box Customs Fever Dream
$300 | a thick and heavy fuzz feeding a modulating, resonant filter, and featuring a CB mic input for extra craziness. It can produce a variety of tones from regular fuzz to cocked wah sounds to crazy distorted tuned helicopter noises, but also more expressive and musical modulated tones. Extra nasal/noisy live sounds can be added through the CB mic in.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
2326023989
Rainger FX DFST-1 Stealth Distortion
$229 | A two-mode fuzz + resonant filter. Envoelope mode works with your performance's dynamics to create anything from synthy squelches to full-range low-voiced thick distortion. Step Modulation mode delivers some kind of auto-wah effect, with the filter being controlled by an LFO that follows a quirky modulation pattern that alternates high and low frequency steps.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
775432084
Intensive Care Fideleater V1
~$250 | A multi-LFO chorus/vibrato with Tap Tempo that can also do modulated delay (Untie toggle on). The Depth knob sets the intensity of the LFO and Freq the speed, while the Contract switch controls "a feedback path within the delay path," adding luscious warbling in the open position. Dry/Wet progressively removes the chorusing, for pure vibrato when "Dry".
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
3852323740
Horrothia Berkeley
~$400 | A classic, 3-knob take on the Uni-Vibe,  with a signal path almost identical to the original. Some small changes were made to open up the low-end and add more liquid movement. Three internal trim pots alter the effect's behavior to match the player's tastes: Input Imedance, Phase Notch Depth and the complex Voicing control which, at extreme settings, gives it a modernb or vintage character.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
1499177506
Keyztone WahouWah
$249 | A pedal that connects to your regular wah and extends its range and sonic possibilities, changing its tone into the one of other models, transforming it into a boost pedal, or recreating other effects normally not within a wah's range, like Autowah and Auto-Volume. It sports 4 Wah Analog Filter Modes and controls for Frequency, Q Factor and Level, plus a Dry Level fader.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
4288908829
Idiotbox Deathray Frequency Mangler V2
$129 | an update to this extreme square fuzz circuit featuring a Freq knob that controls the main pitch of the square wave divider and a Cycle knob that affects the cycle of the square wave, producing more lo-fi sounds at lower levels. A Glitch toggle adds an extra variable to the oscillator, resulting in brighter or darker tones. It boasts more than enough volume to get any amp to break up.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
1187561872
ground FX Keto
$254 | Hailing from Germany, this is a "character device" that delivers a lo-fi style chorus inspired by the units from the '80s with Rate and Depth controls followed by a spring reverb whose amount can be set via the Room knob. The Level dial controls a preamp that makes up for the gain loss you get whenever you apply a reverb to a sound.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
1396166490
Mason FX Love Bender MK 1.5
$TBA | Strictly for collectors, this is a beautiful Tone Bender MK 1.5 clone in a old-style tall box. It adds a Bass control to the usual 2-knob configuration of the Tone Bender (Volume and Attak - i.e. Gain) to tame the effect's low end.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon

 

Best New Gain Pedals released in December 2021

2660924522
MXR Power 50 Overdrive
$189 | it employs MOSFET technology to recreate the preamp stages of Tom Morello's setup. It can be used as an amp in a box direct to a speaker simulator, or as an overdrive in front of your amp, and features an effect loop configured just like it is on Tom’s amp, with the return placed before the EQ and Presence sections – that’s where he places his wah, for a more aggressive edge.
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
More
Reverb Amazon
3531338952
Wampler Dual Pantheon
$269 | It doubles down on the original, with stereo and MIDI I/O and other useful features. Each channel sports the same controls as the single version (4 knobs and two 3-way switches for gain and voicing options) but the Presence knob is shared, at the end of the chain. The second channel has a slightly different voice, and their order can be changed via a toggle switch.
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
More
Reverb Amazon
3359283208
Mooer Cab Model X X2
$TBA | a compact, dual-channel cab simulator offering 14 editable presets, dual footswitches, headphones out, dual input with dual or stereo out, and free editing app. It has 11 pre-installed impulse responses and the ability to load your own. Its flexible stereo configuration allows to bypass the cab sim pedal itself for each of the two channels and connect to an external amp, soundboard, PC, or pedalboard.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
643382296
mooer Preamp Model X X2
$TBA | a dual digital preamp in a compact case with 14 preset slots, two footswitches, three cab sim options and IR loading. Each preset can load two channels, which can be switched using the footswitches. A 3-way EQ allows for tone sculpting, but a lot more can be done via the free software, which can load third party Impulse Responses and sample files of actual amps.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
356316915
Crazy Tube Circuits Crossfire
$290 | a "Tube Screamer into a Fender Blackface" combo - as used by Steve Ray Vaughan. A series of toggles broaden the sonic and dynamic palette: High/Low controls the headroom of the Blackface side, while the B toggle is for brightness. The TS (left) side features two popular mods: C toggle offers symmetrical and asymmetrical clipping and G toggle adds more gain.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
410012360
DSM & Humboldt Silver Linings
$299 | a tweakable 3-mode original drive/preamp engine with an extra dual boost circuit. In Normal mode it's a transparent drive, with sparkly highs and solid lows. Preamp mode lets you plug directly into a power amp without losing the high end pushing plenty of volume. Mid Boost mode boosts the 800hz range and tames the highs. A 3-way toggle switch gives you Soft, Vintage and Hard clipping.
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
More
Reverb Amazon
1404443615
Great Eastern FX Small Speaker Overdrive
~$295 | an original discrete transistor circuit that captures the most desirable characteristics of small vintage valve combo amps: punch, upper mid focus, earthy breakup and expressive dynamics. At low levels it can act as a boost, preamp or tone sculpting device, while when pushed it can deliver the honky punch of small amps.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
1203288750
Gtown Amps 335
$185 | Built “along the lines” of the classic Dumble amps, this hand-built yet quite affordable drive offers from clean boost to mid-gain overdrive tones with a transparent, natural and woody sound. Three clipping modes (Hard, Open and Soft) allow to taylor it to varying styles and amp/guitar combinations.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
3897411240
Joyo Splinter JF-21
$39 | an extremely affordable stompbox that recreates the sound of the FAT RAT, with all the same exact options of the original. The Stock/Fat toggle switches between the classic RAT distortion or the bassier but also brighter version of it associated with the Fat Rat, while the Mosfet/Stock switch gives you, respectively, the softer-sounding Germanium or the more brittle Silicon clipping.
Alt Seller | Reverb | Amazon
138297364
Wilson Effects FUZZ MKII
$155 | A NOS Germanium Tone Bender evolution with a 6 position rotary switch (Squish) that activates different capacitors, delivering a variety of voicings, from tight, overdrive-like to a more loose and bassy fuzz tone, and everything in between. A Line control brings back the clean signal, while separate Treble and Bass knobs facilitate extra tone sculpting.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
3425436908
SNK Pedals CMOSludge
$225 | an overdrive pedal voiced after the Sunnn Beta Lead from the '70s, beloved by hard/alt rockers. It packs a lot of gain, and although it shines when pushed hard, it delivers usable tones at all gain levels, both on guitar and bass. Its interactive, 3-way EQ section broadens the tone palette even further, in particular thanks to its Mids knob, which allows to dial in mid-scooped or cutting midrange tones.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
1356389696
Rook Audio Hydra
~$430 | A very high end, gorgeous-looking PTP Civil War Muff-style box that's hand-made in the UK and sells for a small fortune. It features the three classic knobs for Gain, Volume and Tone, and two toggle switches for mid-boost and low cut. Together with top-notch components, sound and circuitry, you also get a unique case, because the final finish may differ very slightly from one pedal to the next.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon

Happy New Year and see you next month! Also, look out for our usual Best Pedals of 2021 Aggregate List within a week!

The Folks at Delicious Audio

Related Delicious Audio Posts: