Best Guitar Pedals For Worship (2024 Update)

I wanted a high-quality transparent OD and have tried a few different varieties. I had seen a ton of good reviews and watched Josh's YouTube vids about this many times, so I decided to try it out. I tested this with some random Tele + Marshall combo amp in the store and I thought it was pretty nice. I got it home and tested with my own Tele and Fender Bassbreaker 007 (my main recording amp, which they did not have in the store) and it was…awful. It had gritty, annoying tone, even with the high-cut filter on. I tried tweaking the controls for a what seemed like hours and simply could not get a good tone out of it. I A/B'd this with my current favorite OD, an old (vintage?) Danelectro Daddy-O, and much preferred the Daddy-O. So while this pedal has great features, looks cool, and is built well, what matters is the tone, and that tone might not fit your guitar/amp combo. Sorry Josh!Seth

Believe the hype. This is the first gain stage in my chain and gives the wonderful chime and sparkle transparency it's known for regardless of what amp I'm using. I more or less have the MG's controls all set at 12 o'clock and I always like to have my amps set of the edge of breakup. I stack the pedal into my RYRA Klone (set as a clean boost) and the tone is amazing, and the MG is especially versatile when I use the red remote to switch between it's two gain settings. It can achieve some searing lead tones/nice saturated heft for chords while still retaining definition and clarity in this context – ideal for my uses. I'm currently waiting on an EQD Plumes to arrive and I can't wait to stack it with the MG and see what tones I can dial in, but I image the MG will work extremely well with any drive/distortion/fuzz you care to mention. 10/10Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I actually sold my original Holy Grail and ended up buying the Holy Grail Neo because of the plate reverb – it's just so lush! I had looked at so many other reverbs (not wanting to repeat myself) but as a gigging musician who loves to tweak their sound mid-set, there is nothing better in this price range. I have to say I also tried the Oceans 11 pedal and was not impressed by the physical quality of the pedal. Also, the text on the pedal was barely readable because it is so small – maybe the Oceans 11is more suited to a home studio or someone who is still looking for their sound…Garry

Pedal has a small foot print which is good for saving pedal board space. one knob for the amount of reverb and a 3 way toggle switch (Spring, Hall and plate). Reverb range is really good and all 3 sounds are really usable. I use spring and plate for blues / classic rock and the hall for deep ambient sounds, when combined with other effects. overall very happy with this pedal, spent ages researching before splashing out the cash for this, but genuinely for me i'm happy with the return for the price on this unit. it;s one of those pedals that offers you insparation when you play due to the wide tonal range it has. overall very happy with purchase.Derek A.

Let me confess right up front, I'm a reverb lover. Some love it, some don't. I especially like a good reverb pedal when I play outdoors to add some of that room sound that I'm missing. This pedal is so direct and to the point. Three reverbs to choose from, all quite usable I might add, and the Reverb knob which controls the wet/dry mix. I don't have the time or patience to experiment all day long to get the right sound. I work full-time and gig on weekends. I need something like this Holy Grail Neo that is simple but effective. An added bonus is that it kind of matches my EHX Neo Clone. Right now I'm in love with the plate reverb but that could change next week. You can't go wrong with this pedal.Larry

This pedal is so versatile and can create literally and reverb sound you're looking for. Plus being able to save presets basically means you have 4 reverbs at your foot in one pedal!Gavin

There are a lot of full-featured reverb pedals on the market today, most of them with some sort of shimmer/octave/pitch-shifting mode. A few things set this pedal apart from its counterparts. First off is just the amount of control you get over the processed signal. Being able to mix the signal heading into the reverb circuit, the reverb unit itself, and then the final blend, lets you get sounds that are just not possible on 4-knob units. Everything from subtle to watery to full-on church-organ psychedelia. Next, you get three memory banks to save your creations. You could use Red for no-frills reverb, blue for slight modulation, and red for the crazy stuff. Or just save different flavors of crazy stuff in all three, it's up to you. Lastly, you've also got the option of running it in stereo if you'd like (which really amplifies the effect), plugging in an expression pedal for realtime control of the reverb, and also plugging in a two-button controller to make the buttons more accessible if the Descent finds a home at the back of your pedalboard. How thoughtful!donfarfisa

I like the selection of reverbs offered here, the blend control is great for keeping my signal mostly analogue and the decay setting allows for some deep sounds.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

This a great pedal. I was using a digitech hardwire reverb before this. I like this one much better. The reverse setting is actually usable unlike the hardwire. Also this pedal has a blend knob which is great for 100% wet settings to dial in some post rock sounds. Plate setting is just as good or better than other pedals I have used. The blend & time knobs work very well & give a wide range of reverbs to dial in. Every setting on this pedal is usable. Its a keepertcaldn

Got it for the reverse reverb. Affordable, user-friendly pedal that does the job without the expense of boutique pedals.rober_bresh

Great pedal and easy to use. Very versatile and can be changed quickly with the touch of your foot to any one of 4 positions. I use this box at church to give a nice wavy tremolo chorus sound with my guitar.forhisglory7

This is an excellent chorus pedal, maximizing the most fluid, lush tones desired. Pluse you can have two settings for added dynamics. Love it!narf-bike

The product is nice and works well, the paint is a little worse than what it looked like in the pictures but it doesn't affect the performance at allperei.ignac

I purchased this one pedal to be all the pedals I don't want to buy as single units. I have an extensive pedal collection but I have grown tired of hauling around a pedal board filled with effect units I only use every now and then. I decided that a good way to remedy that would be to add a pedal that could function as simple delay, reverb, boost, and modulation. I have greatly reduced the amount of pedals on my board thanks to this unit. The weakness of the VOX Stomplab IG is in the distortion/overdrive/amp selection. I didn't find any that I found pleasing to my ears but I didn't expect to. I did find a few low gain overdrives that were acceptable but nothing I loved. I intended to keep my overdrive and distortion pedals my board anyway, so I wasn't worried about it. The compressor is solid, but a bit noisy. The delays and reverbs are quite good and I consider those alone, worth the price tag. my pedal board is now just a few choice pedals and the VOX stomplab IG serving as single and multi effect pedal. Overall I am very happy with it.Mesa Ari

I am trying really hard to like this. With regards to the preset effects, some 9fnthe sound pretty good. But some of them, it's like they are non existent or pretty horrible sounding. The other issue is you are supposed to bypass the effects. But of you do, your volume reduces so significantly that I either have to turn up the volume on the amp, or disconnect this thing all together and connect directly to amp. The last issue is that creating your own defects is pretty hard to understand. The instructions are not very helpful and it is pretty hard to understand the abbreviations used on the box to figure out what effect you are working with. Oh btw, you have to hold the power button down for a couple of second for it to turn on. If you don't it will seem it is not working. So, this thing is not horrible, but the verdict is out as to whether it is something that will end up collecting dust in a cornerJohn, G

Actually if you play with the balance knob and harmony knob that control how much high octaves and low octaves and keys of various harmonies with the blend in guitar you can get this thing to sound kinds like Brain May's 3 part harmonies. You have to fiddle with it for days by your self and write down your settings….there a lot of bad ones and tracking can get loss if you add to much octaves or balance…play with it and experiment. I got at least 4 great harmonies. Example – I have it in F mode for instance and play in the C position on guitar and can get this to play a convincing double lead on one guitar in Bad company's "Cant get enough of your love" …it will work with things like "the boys are back in town"…etc. Work with it and take your time .Remember the trick is in the first knob and then find the best other settings that holds the harmonies in the best keys you choose. Not all of them will work great but like I said you can get steady 3 note and even two note harmonies to sound convincing enough to get by easy. Listen to alotta Queen for a starting point and try to match some of those harmonies and experiment in the different keys and minor and major positions …and then write down the settings that sound good to you. Being patience is the trick here. It took me a couple of weeks to get nice things out of it. But it was worth it. P.S. if you haven't got the patience to give this pedal…then it's not gonna work for you.perfect_christian.123

I decided to go with this lens after owning my previous Nikon f2.8 telephoto zoom lens basically because it is way lighter and more portable and I found myself usually struggling to take my f2.8 zoom with me just because it was huge and super heavy. Moreover I also found out that I was only rarely actually using the lens at f2.8 but mostly at f5.6 to f11 and sometimes at f4, so no big reason to carry the extra weight of a f2.8 one. The f4 aperture can still blur enough the backgrounds. Besides when I want fast apertures I always prefer my faster primes. And finally IS adds a very nice bonus to that for when you need to shoot at lower light or just be sure that you won't end up with a shaky image even by using medium shutter speeds like 1/250 for instance that can stiil be shaky especially at the longer end of the lens. The Canon EF 70-200mm f4L IS USM is a great option at an affordable price. I think it is a good upgrade to the original non IS version and a good alternative to the bigger f2.8 ones. I find the lens super sharp across the image at every aperture, super fast focusing and the IS is performing quite well. Being an L lens also means it is very well made and with weather sealing. I highly recommend this lens to anyone who doesn't really need f2.8 for action shoots and anyone that wants to carry this lens around without having second thoughts about it. By getting this lens you are not sacrificing any of the optical performance compared to the f2.8 lenses. You get the same lens only smaller and way lighter. It also works amazingly well with both Canon DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.georgeworst

Wow!!! Just Wow!!! I have had this for a few weeks now and i can't stop playing with it. There is a lot packed into this little effect and you really need to spend some time getting to learn all the little nuances of the pedal. I'm still finding new things with it. Individual effects can change drastically depending on the guitar used and the pickup/volume/tone control settings so you really need to experiment. It's very versatile. For an interesting use try running each output through it's own set of effects and amp. It truly sounds like two individual guitarists rather than one person playing through a single pedal. Having an Expression pedal input adds a lot to this already great pedal as well. Playing at moderately fast to fast speeds creates some tracking/latency problems. I found a few other minor annoyances but there is not enough space here to list them in detail. All in all this is a nice little addition to any pedal board and I would recommend it.Jim9k

Isn't quite a traditional delay but it has settings that gets it close. That being said it isn't supposed to be a traditional delay. Has amazing sounds and tones and is not hard to use. I have yet to get a walrus pedal I didn't like and will be adding more to my board.SCOTT

I had a DD 20 for the longest time that I left in Alabama when I moved to Maine a few months ago. After much deliberation and video watching on YouTube, I decided to buy the ARP-87. I am so happy with my decision! The versatility and sounds that I can create from this pedal are amazing. The tap tempo is consistent and it doesn’t affect the trails at all. I had previously purchased the EHX canyon and I tried to love it but I just couldn’t. Very very pleased with this purchase.Pastor V

The ARP-87 is just what I needed on my gig board after abandoning the way-too-complex-for-me Timeline. It's simple but sounds great and fits nicely on my board because of its compact size and top jacks. Highly recommended for gigging.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I tried this one out at a guitar store because the price sort of had me intrigued. Spending some time with it erased any doubts. This thing will do subtle, 80s pop, Hagar era EVH, trippy Black Hole Sun, you name it. The switch is sort of counter intuitive as it is clickless, and the effect comes on during release. But, once you get past that, the all analog tones, true bypass, and quiet operation sell you on it. Is it boutique? No. But once upon a time, nobody cared as ling as it sounded good, was durable, and didn't break the bank. Personally, I would rather spend WISE money and get a couple of quality pedals than break the bank on one that only impresses other players who ALSO spend too much on gear, and forget PLAYING speaks to people, and effects are just tools to add color. If you're looking for a chorus that works, sounds more expensive than it really is, and doesn't cost a fortune, then this ticks of those boxes.Guitar74

It's very well-engineered in build quality – quieter at high gain than most, but…the LEDs are too bright (on a dark stage you can't see beyond them to the controls), the 4 wiring option cuts out the amp reverb (Fender Supersonic) when the V4 is kicked in, and although Channel 2 is good for solo's the Ch1 is a bit fizzy for crunch. Overall disappointing, and does not sound as good to me as my HT Dual pedal made by a certain company from Northampton.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Initially I struggled to find a sound that I liked from this pre-amp, probably because I am not a great Marshall fan but I persevered and by knocking back the mids a bit and playing with the bright switch, I eventually found the sound I was looking for. I am using this in a 4-cable configuration with a V4 'The Jack' amp, which is itself a fantastic piece of kit.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Very well built. Overall sounds excellent with some issues. Single set of tone controls doesn't work well as the 2 channels are distinctly different. Doesn't do clean well at lower gain; you need plenty of headroom and it then cleans up OK. Will probably need a clean preamp of some sort to switch to for clean. Noticeable audio pop when switching channels. If you want that Plexi-type sound this will do the trick.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

The addition of the Boss style adaptor plug was a very welcome modification. The indicator light is cool as well. Both were absent in earlier versions of this classic overdrive. I've owned all versions of this pedal, including the original grey and yellow pedals. This is a nice take on them and the lighter weight casing appears to be aluminum. The originals and later reissues used a cast material that was heavy and was a bit of overkill for such a simple circuit. This is a great alternative to those. The circuit has a tendency to be a little bassy especially as the gain is increased. It lends itself to single coil guitars very well(yngwie) but works great with humbucking pickups as well. One of my all time favorite over drives, and I own them all. Stacks well with other pedals. Everyone should try this one, it rips.Duke

I'm in an acoustic jam group and needed some extra punch for my vintage Guild D-40 so it didn't get swallowed up when taking solos. Running a Fisher soundhole pickup through a 25W Danelectro solid state amp just didn't do the trick, but adding this does. I set it very clean with the gain dial at its lowest setting and the level up, using the eq on the Danny to brighten up the highs. A very natural sound, not like through the mic, but good for my purposes. With the gain up a bit, the added sustain on the low end was a pleasant surprise. The LED light is so bright, I'll never forget and leave it on. My one complaint so far is the changing the battery involves unscrewing four screws and taking the back off — why not build it with a slide-open compartment? When I hooked it up to my Tele, it took a little tweaking to get the setting right, but it produces a nice gritty sound. For the price, I'm happySwampy

First, let me say I have been a huge Trower fan since 1974 and just had to check the Robin Trower overdrive pedal ( RT-OD) out myself. I tried this with using a Strat with Texas special pups through a Marshall vintage/modern 2×12- 50 watt combo amp. Its a nice pedal, but I already have 2- OCD's and a Fulldrive- 2 so in the end could not justify keeping the RT-OD for the higher price. In a shootout with the OCD, the RT-OD does have more gain much sooner as you turn the drive knob from min to max and seems to have more mid range tone but I just like the harmonics and versilitility of the OCD better, for me. The RT-OD is not exaclty the same as an OCD but has many similar qualities but lacks the HP/LP switch. From what I read while researching, Fulltone developed this pedal for Robin so he would not have to switch back and forth from the OCD and Fulldrive pedal setups but I saw he still uses an older Fulldrive prior to this RT pedal on You Tube. I did not find the RT-OD to be an OCD + Fulldrive in 1 pedal. Buy if you do not mind spending the extra money over other products and/or are a collector of signature pedals and just have to have it. Skip if you want a pedal with more than the basic 3 knob configuration ( check out a Wampler Ecstacy instead, same price), or if you are already happy with your OCD, Fulldrive setup. In the end I returned it and I'll just go with the set up Robin used prior to this pedal coming out in 2008, OCD and Fulldrive. Standard 3 knob controls – (for the price should have more features) Great Fulltone quality, all componets are heavy duty. If you have or are familiar with an OCD its the same type of enclosure minus the HP/LP switch.J blues

I loved this pedal. I think it sounded on par with the Zendrive, if not better. I used it in front of my Fulltone OCD occasionally, and got a nice, thick distortion. On it's own, it has some serious growl, a great overdrive tone, and even a great distortion. It sounds similar to my HBE Powerscreamer, but not too similar. I love the tone, I wish they could have added more versatile features, but it definitely rocks out of the box.Wes-.xIjP

Preface, I use this with an acoustic violin fitted with a BTS pickup (dual piezos/string), OR with a Greek steel stringed laouto to immediately change from standard tuning to a 5th lower (Cretan, Southern Aegean tuning). Pros – This is a mentality saver. You can be a fantastic musician, able to transpose well, yet regardless of the instrument you are using, and still get a little tripped up when you need to switch course and play in some oddball key. Voila! Drop! I learned about this pedal from a class A1 violin player from Greece (composer, lyricist and recording artist who has recorded with just about every big name- this person is no joke, message me for his name if interested). This person can transpose to any weird key you throw at him, why use it? His response? "Because when I'm on stage and I need to switch quickly to an odd key, I can simply hit the button and not have to think about it". So I gave it a try, and have been using it for 2 years now… it's a life saver. I'm just a fiddler, but this saves me from stressing out and I can play free and it sounds GREAT. It tracks so well I can't tell if there is any latency at all. Cons- With my current setup, I find that I need to either play in front of a monitor or near a speaker or use IEM's, as when playing through the pedal with an acoustic instrument, obviously you are going to hear the natural AND the modified sounds and you ARE going to think it sounds like garbage, then attempt to junk it. DONT DO IT! Unless your pedal is defective, your sound from the speakers is clean. This pedal is meant to be used with mainly electric instruments. During sound check, as loud as you can be, you'll still hear the acoustic sound of your instrument, yet once you are playing with the full band (depending on what your band consists of), it will eventually drown out the sound, and you'll be able to focus on your modified tone, but this is not consistent. Just be aware. If you can, I suggest using some sort of IEM system, wired or wireless, or a monitor. My next step is getting an electric violin body to use this tool even more effectively, but moreso in order to truly utilize my pickup. In a nutshell: Do it!pazarinyc

Sound: Unbelievable how well this pedal track's notes and cords with no noticable latency, IMO it sounds better than tuning down. Features: It's a tank ! Sturdy , Solid , Heavy for it's size , no instructions needed , plug and play Ease of Use: This is simple , Standard tuned guitar , twist the knob to earth shaking low's. Quality: As mentioned , it's a tank , solid construction. Value: I hesitated on this purchase because of the price for a one trick pedal , Worth every penny ! Manufacturer Support: I have several DigiTech products , I still have the old RP-1 and it function's like new , I have no doubt this pedal will give me many year's of service. The Wow Factor: I prefer to play my guitars in standard tune , it's always been a hassle to get the right string tension when drop tuning , this pedal just ended that problem for me Overall: Just unboxed this pedal, been playing it for 2hrs , bar none the best pedal I've ever played ! Keeping the guitar in standard tune and dropping it to two whole steps , the notes and cords track perfectly ! No more floppy strings and no more switching guitars, the pedal is a must have for anyone who plays multiple drop tunings. This pedal is a tank solid heavy construction.Dennis

A great tube boost!! Extremely clear crunch through highs and lows. It's awesome through clean channel and brings the amp overdrive to an awesome level without getting mushy.roboharagraff

This pedal is subtle or nice and lush. One of the few chorus effects I can play leads through. Sounds great on my bass! Great versatile chorus, a classicaboutagirl4894

for the price you can't beat it. sounds great with my strat. the speed is a little limited in terms of range and the input jack is sticky on mine, but the sound is excellent.. if it really is handmade, it's an incredible deal. would recommend. thanks for the great pedal!iamacaula-6

Deep, lush, perfect range, and not bright in a good way. This sounds like the real deal because it is! Turn it on and its instant gratification. Think Claptons Pretending. Buy it and be happy foreverpatrickjohn3411

How odd. This review was flagged for writing Big Mu** using the two F's 🙂 For the money, this is a really hard pedal to beat. It goes from mild and laid-back to wild and intense. The controls feel great…like as in excellent quality. This is a reissue of the original Big Mu** PI. I tried a Big Mu** PI with Wicker and forget about it. It hissed so loud in Wicker mode that I couldn't even here myself think and it got even worse with the tone switch off. And even in the so-called Big Mu** PI mode, it didn't sound anywhere near as good as this Rams Head does. And, the Rams Head is quiet compared to the BM PI with Wicker. One more thing, The BM PI with Wicker does not say anywhere on it nor in the included paperwork where it's made, whereas the RH BM PI clearly says New York City on the face of it…Vincent

Overall: Floats like a stone and stings like a nest of angry hornets! This box has the buzzsaw sound down pat. The fuzz is a thick, smooth, and consistent. I like this kind of fuzz in particular because it’s less fuzzy and little more distortion-like. The Tone knob has a really wide sweep from boomy bass to mid-range Hades. It has plenty of gain on tap and even sounds pretty good with the guitar’s volume rolled back a skosh.I’ve never used the original Green Russian Muff and have only heard them compared through videos online, so I can’t speak as to how they’re different/alike. I got it because I didn’t want to haul my vintage Black Russian Muff around from gig to gig anymore because it’s getting valuable and since it was a pretty jenky design to begin with, it’s liable to break with heavy use. That being said, the reissue Green Russian Muff has a different sound than an original V8 Black Russian Muff. It doesn’t sound as good to me, but it’s not so different that I wouldn’t use the Green Russian live in lieu of the Black Russian for the aforementioned reasons. One huge plus for the Green Russian is its pedalboard friendly size. The Black Russian is the size of an 80s metal lunchbox and took up an awkward sized chunk of the pedalboard. Now there’s more room for other unnecessary boxes (gulp)! One noteworthy ding for this pedal is how difficult it is to see the script on the top of the pedal. The words are printed right underneath the knobs, so if it’s kinda dark (which it usually is) and the lights are all in front of you (which they usually are) the words are impossible to see. Overall it’s a nice fuzz especially for the price. It’s noisy, but once the music gets rolling you won’t even notice it.Brad

AMAZING tones. Super versatility. Probably the best drive pedal in the world… The only criticism is the tiny silence between switching the effect on or off. It is MIDI compatible so perhaps there will be a hardware update.paddy126guitars

Initial plug and play left me with the impression that this pedal adds a lot of volume to your guitar without coloring over the tone. The EQ is very responsive to inputs and really help me dial in the tones I have in my head. Of the Drive Clipping options like the Blue (Timmy/King of Tone) and Amber (Marshall) options best. The Green (tube screamer) and Yellow (treble boost) are to harsh for my liking however paired with the Drive, I like the Boost on Yellow, which has the least body, as it doesn't get in the way of the Drive's EQ. What I like most was being able to alter the Internal Presence Trim Pot, I left the internal tone trim pot alone. From the factory the Presence and Tone are at 12 o'clock buy the Pedal is a little harsh and rolling off the Presence sweetened the Tone and now, it's perfect. I don't MIDI, yet, so only having CC rather than PC does not really affect me. If you want a great Over Drive Pedal with Boost, this Pedal is a must try. Also, the Gain Cycling is very intuitive and I set the gain do I'm on the 3rd cycle, that way I can gain up once and have 2 lower gain options. It cleans up well.David