Using Overdrive Pedals as Clean Boosts (And the Ones That Do It Best)
A clean boost adds punch, girth, and tone to your guitar signal. Here’s why I reach for certain overdrive pedals instead of a dedicated boost, and the ones that do it best.
Effects Pedals
SixStringSensei articles dedicated the the wonderful world of guitar effects pedals. We’ve got reviews, tips and comparisons. Since guitar pedals are so fun and inspire us to play more, you’ll find a lot of time goes into this section.
Greer Lightspeed Review: Truly Transparent & Organic Overdrive
The Greer Lightspeed Organic Overdrive is the transparent boutique drive that earns its name, keeping every note clear even at higher gain and shining as an edge-of-breakup boost in low-gain settings.
Empress Echosystem Delay Review: Potent, Quirky, and Still Worth It
The Empress Echosystem is one of the most inspiring big box delays ever made, and it has quietly become one of my favorites. To my ears it sounds better than a Strymon Timeline and more musical than a Meris LVX, while still being deep enough to keep you experimenting for years.
Jackson Audio Golden Boy Hype: Is It Still Worth It?
The Jackson Audio Golden Boy arrived a few years ago to a serious wave of hype, a lot of it built on the idea that one of its modes could get you into Analogman King of Tone territory. Years later the hype has cooled and plenty of players have moved on, which is a shame because the pedal is genuinely great.
Why I Sold My Meris LVX Delay Pedal
I recently sold my Meris LVX, one of the most inspiring delay pedals I have ever owned. It went during a season when I needed the cash flow more than I needed another deep dive into sound design, but that decision was always temporary. The LVX is coming back, and this is the story of why it left and why it has to return.
Eventide H9 Gen 2 Colors: Why Going Straight to Black Changes Everything
Guitar pedal manufacturers have quietly turned limited colorways into a sales strategy — and the Eventide H9 Gen 2 launching straight in black shows just how much that strategy has evolved. It makes one wonder what the next color will be.
Eventide H9 Gen 2 Review: The Original H9 Harmonizer Gets the Update It Deserved
Eventide has announced the H9 Gen 2. Some of us thought the H90 would be replacing the original H9 forever. Turns out, some of us were wrong. The original H9 will get the update it deserves.
Universal Audio Starlight Delay Review
The Universal Audio Starlight Echo Station is one of those rare pedals that genuinely earns the premium it commands, delivering studio-calibre delay tones in a road-worthy stompbox — though a few quirks keep it just short of perfection.
The Legendary BOSS SD-1 Super Overdrive Pedal
I was doing a little cleanup in my computer and ran into this vector diagram of a BOSS SD-1. I guess I had used this to lay out a pedalboard diagram for a build a while back. It inspired me to write a little something about this amazing classic that every guitarist should own.
