Updated Feb. 13, 2018 | by Paolo De Gregorio

Best Guitar Pedals 2018 (NAMM)

Is there a rigorous way to determine what were the best products among the new pedals presented at NAMM 2018?

We doubt it, firstly because “Best of” lists are and always will be entirely subjective. Secondly, it’s worth noting that NAMM “Best of” lists tend to be skewed toward pedals that sport intriguing new features rather than those that “sound great,” simply because it’s downright impossible to tell what sounds good in an insanely noisy environment like NAMM.

However, it is possible to create a chart that shows which stompboxes got the best response from experts in the field, simply by aggregating the opinions of the pedal pros who tried a lot of them at the Anaheim convention. Although this approach isn’t 100% foolproof (it’s impossible for any human being to go through all the new pedal releases!), we think it’s the most sensible.

To that end, we sifted through the NAMM stompbox picks selected by five gear sites and gave every pedal one point each time it was selected. The sites are:

Affino
BestGuitarEffects.com
Eric Merrow
Music Radar
Tone King

Here are the results as of February 2!

And remember, we are committed to updating this post whenever new “Best of NAMM 2018” articles or videos are posted online!

#1: JHS Bonsai (4 points)

JHS Bonsai top Web1

Best New Guitar Pedal at NAMM: JHS Bonsai, BUY IT HERE!

Just a few weeks ago, we pointed out that the Ibanez Tube Screamer is still a huge-selling pedal in all its many incarnations. JHS Pedals came up with the idea of creating a pedal, called the Bonsai, that faithfully replicates the nine classic versions of the most-cloned pedal on the planet. This was the only pedal that was selected by four of the five aforementioned sites.

#2:  Alexander Pedals, Chase Bliss Audio, Empress FX,
Gamechanger Audio, Keeley, Neunaber, Rainger FX (3 points)

736269213
Alexander Pedals Colour Theory
$199 - It combines a versatile eight-step sequencer with a powerful effects processor that gives you from tremolo and pitch shifting to synthy octave and oscillation, creating rhythmic combinations seldom heard outside of a rack of synths. Each step in its sequence is a new pathway to adventure.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
2892659533
Chase Bliss Audio Thermae
It digitally manipulates an analog signal path created by 4 re-issued versions of the bucket-brigade delay chips. This creates the ability to change delay time in interesting intervals which allows for innumerable harmonizing options. Intervals can be sequenced through automatically, or triggered manually. It can also be used as a more standard analog delay with modulation.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
3494931475
Chase Bliss Audio Condor
$500+ Used - An EQ swiss army knife with an analog signal path and digital controls. The EQ offers parametric mids control from 150Hz to 5kHz with 3 “Q” settings. The Bass boost/cut control has 3 intensity settings and a Low Pass Filter with 3 settings: normal, slight resonant, very resonant. A switch transforms it into an overdrive, and Ramping/Hold functionality creates LFO filter tremolo effects.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
2900494497
Empress Zoia
$499 | A compact, stereo grid of musical anything with virtual modules that can be used to construct instruments, effects, utilities. Save patches as supermodules to speed up creation or randomly create functions. Ongoing updates (new modules!) keeps it fresh. It includes MIDI i/o, CV & clock in and can send CV out on the ring of a TRS. There's also a Eurorack version of it.
Perf. Circuit | Reverb | Amazon
4232234544
Gamechanger Audio Plasma Distortion
$299 - It uses a new method for achieving signal clipping. Instead of using LED circuits, transistors or vacuum tubes to produce overdrive, the PLASMA PEDAL transforms your instrument’s live signal into a series of continuous high-voltage discharges within a xenon-filled tube. In essence – you are playing a bolt of electricity. This produces an extremely heavy distortion with a unique character!
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
More
Reverb Amazon
691172555
Keeley Electronics Aria Compressor + Overdrive
Few things sound as good as compression and overdrive. You can craft endless sounds with the Aria's order switching and highly versatile controls. From roots music to blues, classic rock to jam band legato journeys, the Aria lets your guitar sing with this power duo of tones.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
120094377
Neunaber XD-1 eXperimental Drive
A prototype of a new, two channel drive to be released later in the year.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
2640913530
Rainger FX Reverb-X
$193 - Subverting a pedal routing commonplace, the Reverb X places an overdrive and a gate AFTER a reverb, rather than before. Both effects only affect the reverb sound, not the clean signal. The results are very intriguing, in particular when operated with the Igor expression controller to momentarily trigger the gate open. There are two reverb modes (bright and dark).
Perf. Circuit | Reverb | Amazon

The nine pedals in the gallery above were mentioned in three of those five “Best of” lists and tied for second place. Click on the thumbnails to see the videos.

#10: Death By Audio, Electro Harmonix, Epigaze, Mooer, MXR, Seymour Duncan, Walrus Audio, WMD (2 points)

601768724
Death By Audio - Deep animation
This crazy goofball responds to how you play, enveloping and filter sweeping and overdriving. Moves with how hard you hit your strings. It multiplies your dynamics into a hyper, exaggerated dance. Or it adds just the right amount of movement to punch through the mix. Or it moves around with an external trigger to lock you in.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
1751365155
EHX Super Looper 95000
6-track looping station which functions almost as mini on-the-fly studio. Each track features an individual volume slider and panning knob for live mixing and manipulation. The 6 footswitch control Loop Up and Down, Stop/Start, Record/Overdub, Undo, and Track toggle. Fully Midi-capable.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
891242888
Epigaze Audio - Ascension Reverb
A unique stompbox with three different modes (Hall, Shimmer and Trem+Reverb) featuring also an intriguing drone generator, whose volume is controlled by the side knob. The latter plays organ sounding notes in any of the 12 (western) keys, creating a tasteful, "ambienty" sonic carpet under the player's performance. The drone's key can be changed using the central footswitch.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
1120065995
Mooer Preamp Live
Preamp Live lets you load up to 12 of the company’s acclaimed Micro Preamps for total tonal versatility. It has three banks, each with four channels that are selectable with the footswitches on the unit. Set and save Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Gain and Boost (Pre or Post), and use the master controls to adjust Volume, Presence, FX Blend (with the built-in effect loop) and Cabinet Simulation.
eBay | Reverb | Amazon
1603014146
MXR Sugar Drive
$120 - One of the few mini-klones available on the market. Its simplicity is deceptive. The drive knob in this circuit blends the clean guitar signal with the overdriven one as you turn it up, while the circuit's headroom in increased through what is referred to as a "Charge Pump." A switch lets you choose between bypass or MXR's buffered bypass.
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
More
Reverb Amazon
2017123257
Seymour Duncan Silver Lake
Fully programmable stereo reverb workstation combining high-quality reverb algorithms with unique dynamic control and powerful tone shaping options. The Dynamic Expression feature allows the pedal to react to your playing in real time, for example controlling the prevalence, or overall mix, of the effect through their pick attack—how hard or soft you play. 
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
More
Reverb Amazon
2293838890
Walrus Audio Fathom
Featuring four modes (Hall, Plate, Lo-Fi and Sonar, which is a reverb with added octaves for that famous “shimmering” effect), Walrus Audio's Fathom Reverb is a stompbox packed with features that can deliver both classic and edgy sounds.
Zzounds | Sweetwater |
More
Reverb Amazon
3300631926
WMD Geiger Counter Pro Bit Crusher
$449 - The bigger brother of the Geiger Counter, it features 256 new wavetables (512 wavetables in total), and extra functions like Wavetable "Morphing," 16 foot switchable and MIDI switchable Presets. It can also be controlled via computer through a VST plugin. Features full MIDI control over all parameters and 2 assignable CV inputs, plus Dry/Wet Mix
eBay | Reverb | Amazon

Tied in the 10th position, these eight pedals scored two points in our aggregated chart.

If you want to dig deeper, check out our comprehensive list of pedals announced at NAMM (organized by kind of effect!).

 

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