Updated Feb. 12, 2019 | by Paolo De Gregorio

Best Pedals at NAMM 2019 5

NAMM 2019 has come and gone, and it’s time to take stock of what stompable devices left a mark on our collective mind!

To do that, we gathered all the “Best Of” articles and videos focused on the guitar pedals released at NAMM and we created an aggregate chart of them! We only found five list this year, but nonetheless we think the results reflect quite accurately the general consensus.

Here’s the list of the Best of NAMM list we took into consideration, in rigorous alphabetical order:

[If you are looking for a more comprehensive list of the new pedals released at NAMM 2019, don’t miss our two pages covering gain pedals and non-gain pedals – they are organized by kind of effect!]

The method we used to aggregate these lists and create this “final” Best Of NAMM chart was very simple: we gave 1 point to each pedal when it was mentioned in one of these lists. We didn’t include pedals by companies that didn’t exhibit at NAMM 2019 (GuitarPedalX’s list had a few).

Here we go then!

BEST TWO PEDALS AT NAMM 2019 (5 points)

1. Beetronics Swarm
Strymon Volante

http://amazon.to
Beetronics Swarm
23. A wild sounding "fuzz harmonizer" with mysteriously named controls. WORKER Bee is your fuzz guitar tone. QUEEN and DRONE bees are the two harmonies. The SPECIES gives you 9 different pitch options for the harmonies. The FLIGHT and STING both control the way the harmonies react.
Sweetwater | Reverb | Amazon
https://amzn.to
Strymon Volante
$399 - A stereo delay/looper that emulates three of the most sought-after vintage delay devices: tape echo, drum, and reel-to-reel. Controls allow you to fine tune the character, fidelity, brightness, saturation and age of the repeats, for more or less vintage-sounding results. Presets, Tap Tempo and spring reverb are some of the many extras.
Sweetwater | Reverb | Amazon

These two pedals got 5 mentions out of five! Strymon’s return to the stompbox world with the new delay Volante (after two years spent focusing on their first Eurorack product) was welcomed by pedal lovers with with infinite hype and praise, but the real surprise of NAMM 2019 was Beetronics’ Swarm, a very original take on the “pitch-shifted” fuzz, presented at the Anaheim convention with through an (unbelievably under-reported) uber-cool video station.

BRONZE MEDAL (4 points)

3. Chase Bliss Audio Automatone Series Preamp MKII

894039073
Chase Bliss Preamp MKII Automatone
$749 - The Preamp MKII Automatone is a collaboration between Chase Bliss Audio and Benson Amps, giving you robotic controls and a digital brain behind one of the best preamps in the business.
Perf. Circuit | Reverb | Amazon

Considering its uniqueness, forward-thinking design, and build quality (also thanks to the Benson Amps connection), the Chase Bliss Audio Preamp Mk II probably deserved to be up there with the other top contenders. The Wisconsin based company announced that this pedal is the first device of a series named Automatone, which has sparked excitement about what’s in store for the upcoming months and years.

TOP PERFORMERS (3 points)

4. Wampler Terraform Modulation Pedal
Neunaber Neuron Distortion/Overdrive
Eventide Rose Delay
ThorpyFX Deep Oggin Chorus

2958906700
Eventide Rose
10. A delay that marries digital precision with the lush sound of analog. With six knobs and delay multiplier, phase invert/reverse playback and shape buttons offering five modulation sources, Rose inspires petals of creativity to bloom. Five presets, MIDI control and a fully assignable aux switch/expression pedal input offer flexible versatility. Plug in and experience botanical bliss!
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
More
Reverb Amazon
4259595661
Neunaber Neuron Overdrive
A versatile digital overdrive based on a multistage, dynamic gain architecture that delivers very amp-like tones from sparkling clean to heavy distortion and anything in between. An integrated soft-knee compressor constrains the drive level for smooth, consistent tone, and an adjustable noise gate keeps it quiet. Can used with a cab sim, amp, or direct (with internal cab sim).
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
3646286121
Thorpy FX Deep Oggin
$320 - Designed in collaboration with legendary British designer Dan Coggins of Lovetone Pedals, The Oggins is a fully analog effect designed to provide a 3 dimensional chorus sounds with a level of versatility to meet the needs of all guitarists. The five knobs control Depth, Rate, Blend, Volume and Treble. It has both Dry and Wet outputs.
Perf. Circuit | Reverb | Amazon
2011000300
Wampler Terraform
3. A multi-mode, stereo, digital modulation pedal from Wampler, with Tap Tempo and Presets.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon

Gathering three points out of five lists, these are pedals that should be on everybody’s radar, from a nice blend of heavyweight manufacturers and top notch boutique shops. It’s interesting to notice how a rather traditional but high quality chorus (the ThorpyFX one) can still receive high marks from the community of stompbox reviewers.


OUTSTANDING DEVICES (2 points)

8. Alexander Pedals Radical Delay DX
Chase Bliss Blooper Looper
Ernie Ball VPJR Tuner
Ibanez Vemuram Overdrive Pro TSV808
Rainger FX The Drone Rainger
Red Panda Particle V2
Seymour Duncan Dark Sun
SolidGoldFX Lysis (prototype)
Spaceman Mission Control
Tsakalis Audio Works Six B.O.D.

356703795
Alexander Radical Delay DX
$199 - The NEO version of this ‘80s flavored delay packs extra features like Preset, Morph function, Trails and Ramp, with six delay modes from pitch-shifted to dynamic and arpeggiating delays. and the more ordinary dual and Modulated. The Tweak knob controls mode-specific parameters.
Alt Seller | Reverb | Amazon
3044824506
Chase Bliss Audio Blooper Looper
A collaborative looper that lets you do crazy things to the sampled audio.
Perf. Circuit | Reverb | Amazon
28740617
Ernie Ball VPJR Tuner - Volume Pedal
A volume pedal with a tuner in it, and visible through a screen embedded on top of the surface of the pedal it.
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
More
Reverb Amazon
2378093514
Ibanez-Vemuram TSV808
$1,000+ | Billed as a “Next Generation Tubescreamer” the TSV808 is a marriage of the Tubescreamer and Vemuram’s Jan Ray overdrive. Aesthetically it looks fairly similar to the standard Tubescreamer, but underneath the hood it combines the familiar mid-boost EQ curve of the Tubescreamer with the expanded dynamic and frequency range of the Jan Ray.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
3690738468
Red Panda Particle V2 Granular Delay
18. V2 of Red Panda’s Granular Delay sports completely rewritten firmware, as well as high-performance 32-bit processing and conversion,. It runs at a higher sampling rate, with more headroom and lower noise than the original. Interactive controls mean a small change can make a huge difference in tone. It offers features like presets, tap tempo, and freeze.
Perf. Circuit | Reverb | Amazon
3154456041
Rainger FX Drone Rainger Digital Delay
12. From the mad science lab of Rainger FX comes the most feature-packed digital delay any of us have seen, including two secondary drone voices that play along with you.
Perf. Circuit | Reverb | Amazon
576095681
Seymour Duncan Dark Sun Delay - Reverb
2. The Dark Sun encompasses everything there is to know about spatial effects with a multimode delay and reverb in one unit.
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
More
Reverb Amazon
2098288874
SolidGoldFX Lysis Fuzz + Modulation
SolidGold's filter/synth/fuzz pedal inches closer to a proper release---this one's a doozy!
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
2779160908
Spaceman Effects Mission Control
5. Through some clever routing, Spaceman's Mission Control sits front and center on your board, giving you a blank canvas of tone sculpting.
Alt Seller | Reverb | Amazon
4139790802
Tsakalis AudioWorks Six
$239 - This versatile overdrive, distortion and boost gives you the option of selecting one of six different dirt circuits, all controllable with global knobs.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon

These are pedals that were mentioned in two out of the five lists we considered. This list is a nice blend of traditional and edgy designs by both established and emerging manufacturers.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

This is the list of pedals that were mentioned only once in the five Best of NAMM lists:

Anasounds Elements Spring Reverb
Caroline Guitar Company Megabyte
Catalinbread Coriolis Effect
Danelectro The Breakdown
Dunlop Billy Gibbons Siete Santos Octavio Fuzz
EarthQuaker Devices Swiss Things
EHX Mono Synth
Empress Effects Zoia
Fender Tre-Verb
Foxpedal Quiver Harmonic Tremolo
Free The Tone Future Factory
Fuzzrocious Knob Jawn
GFI System Synesthesia
Hotone Ampero
JHS Clover ’Edge’-style PreAmp / EQ
Keeley DDR
Keeley Eccos Stereo Vintage Tape Flanger Delay
Keeley Electronics Fuzz Bender
Laney Secret Path
MXR Dookie Drive
Old Blood Noise Endeavors Rêver
Origin Effects RevivalDRIVE Compact
Pigtronix Resotron
Poly Effects Digit
Rainger FX Dr Freakenstein Chop Fuzz
REVV G4
Source Audio Spectrum Intelligent Filter
Supro Delay
TWA Mini Morph Modulated Fuzz/Distortion
Two Notes Torpedo C.A.B. M
Walrus Audio Lillian

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