Updated Dec. 8, 2021 | by Paolo De Gregorio

12 New Buzzworthy & Creative Boutique Pedals

It’s always fun, towards the end of the year, to look back at what pedal lovers searched on our site to get an idea of what pedals fires people’s imagination.

In this article, we are going to highlight twelve pedals by very boutique builders sharing the following characteristics:

  • New releases
  • Lots of controls
  • Not purely gain circuits
  • Creative design

After a little bit of research, we came up with this list of 12 new, buzzworthy & creative boutique pedals – it’s a selection of incredibly inspiring and unconventional devices by small builders for the most adventurous among you!

Interactive gallery instructions: mouseover or first tap opens pedal description; click or second tap open a video.

2823016931
Glou Glou Loupe`
A tiny envelop filter delivering a mix of vintage and modern sounds, with just one knob to control the filter range, from classic funky auto-wah to growling lo-pass tone that works great before a fuzz.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
4046807336
Old Blood Noise Sunlight
$209 | A creative reverb with 3 algorithms that react dynamically to your performance and freeze the reverb trails. Each mode adds to the reverb different extra effects (wobbling vibrato, stacked resonant delays or step filtering). Decay controls the reverb's length, while the Rate and Depth knobs are mode-dependent, controlling the parameters of the non-reverb effect.
Perf. Circuit | Reverb | Amazon
801666335
Demedash T-60
$295 | an analog, stereo, compact, lo-fi modulation with tap tempo delivering stereo Vibrato, Chorus & Flange, voiced after the worn-out effect of stretched tape. Two LFOs operate at once: a Random LFO and a Periodic LFO (a mix of Sine and Triangle waves). The Random knob sets the ratio of the two LFOs, while Chop makes the random wave less smooth. Ramp can be fine-tuned through the alt functions.
Perf. Circuit | Reverb | Amazon
3191242432
Champion Leccy swan hunter
$275 | A lo-fi echo interacting with an ambient reverb (in parallel or in series, or anywhere in between). Mysteriously named knobs yield results that may vary from the unexpected to the inspiring. The delay gets grittier at longer settings, and the combination of low pass filters on both effects and borderline self-oscillation capabilities can create dark and spaced out tones.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
2112390723
Hungry Robot Borderland (Tap)
$266 | A complex, creative reverb pedal with a modulation section controllable via Tap Tempo and a resonant low pass filter. The modulation modes include vibrato/chorus, tremolo, three octave tremolo, and a mode that crossfades between a processed signal an octave up from the input signal. An internal dip switch allows the algorithm to be changed from reverb to delay!
Perf. Circuit | Reverb | Amazon
10229469
Geckoplex EP5 Delay/Reverb
$529 | a high-end Echoplex-inspired pedal with reverb and a motorized time fader. Features include Sound on Sound mode, 3 presets, Tap Tempo, Warp knob for worn tape character, and a FET input with up to 11db of gain. Shift makes the echo time fluctuate when a note is played, causing variations in pitch.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
795529272
All-Pedal Macrodose
$325 | a striking attempt at delivering the ultimate envelope filter pedal. It can produce auto-wah with selectable waveforms, sample/hold functions, step filter, random sample/hold, and even a pixelated filter function. You can pick from 9 envelope shapes (which can be modified by several modifiers), 3 filters (Low, High and Band-pass) and control every aspect of the effect via 6 knobs and two footswitch.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
1810262168
Pine-Box Crooked Teeth
$300 | It feeds your guitar's signal into a raw and heavily saturated preamp and then routes it into a highly configurable dual tremolo. The two tremolo can have separate, synchronized or inverted speeds, and can be configured in mono, stereo or dual (each with its own output).
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
Shift Line Prism II
Shift Line Prism II
$289 | A Stereo Filter-Pad that combines elements of subtractive and additive synthesis, reverb, frequency, time and space modulation, in a way that feels “organic” so that they all work together, with each knob simultaneously controlling several parameters. Tap tempo, tails, USB connectivity, presets and momentary effects round up the features.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
2631588530
TEFI Vintage Lab Golden Era
~$275 | Developed in conjunction with James Edward Bagshaw of British psych revival band Temples, it puts at your fingertips a sonic time machine built to send your tone back in time to the days of gramophones, phonographs and cassette tapes. Vinyl warp and pops, low bandwidth (aka phone-like nasal sound), hiss and flutter are some of the effects delivered.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
169698849
Pladask Elektrisk Baklengs
$~300 | A 2nd generation granular pedal with greater dynamic control through footswitch options. It includes delay, time-stretch, pitch transposer, modulation, forward-reverse and a granular looper, with a footswitch that can be configured to deliver two momentary effects.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
4004277426
Intensive Care Pedals Vena Cava
~250 | a unique distortion circuit with an auto-filter and ring modulation. There are 8 LFO waves for the autofilter, with the various controls concocting rather complex interactions between the three effects. Watch the video to get a better idea!
eBay | Reverb | Amazon

If you want more, don’t miss this other article from earlier in 2021, featuring 12 more pedals, now not so new anymore:

12 Creative, Unusual, Inspiring Guitar Pedals by Small Boutique Builders

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