It's all very well us throwing discounted products at you from the Black Friday guitar deals, but you need to know more before you invest – even if it's a bargain. So I have taken a look through the deals out there for pedals I have firsthand experience as a player and gear reviewer… and I didn't just find what I was hoping for, a few of these reductions shocked me!
Let's get on with it and dive into these deals.
First up is $70 off the Walrus Audio Slöer Ambient Reverb at Sweetwater. It's not even been out long and it frankly blew me away in my recent review where I gave it a rare 5/5, so I'm surprised to see such a big saving. But who's complaining?! If you're ready to go down a rabbit hole of inspiring sounds – and all in stereo – this is Christmas come early.
It really is one of the best reverb pedals I've tried for creativity, with notable additions to its predecessors the Slo and Slotva in terms of control and modes. You could spend hours just exploring the potential of the Sustain switch alone. I know I did!
Sweetwater says this price is only going to hold for eight days, or until stock runs out, so it's worth moving on. There's even a choice of the matte black or blue graphic versions.
If you've never really be convinced by fuzz pedals, or are looking for more versatility from one unit on your pedalboard, the Walrus Eons is the pedal for you. Five different modes with voltage control is akin to a hall of fame of fuzz sounds with bass and treble controls that allow you to really shape your tones so they don't get trampled underfoot in a mix.
The Eans is a Swiss Army knife of fuzz – no wonder we gave it 4.5/5 in our review. And with $50 off at Sweetwater for Black Friday, it's even more of a draw!
How many overdrive pedals does one guitarist need? Now there's a question! And the answer might be just one great overdrive pedal. The MXR Duke Of Tone is undoubtedly in a very special elite group of modern classics.
A mini version of what is essentially half of Analogman's King Of Tone pedal (it has a five-year waiting list and I think many will find the Duke's tones indistinguishable from it), the Duke's production has been overseen by the Analogman himself Mike Piera in partnership with MXR. It absolutely lives up to the hype for me by just being very good indeed.
This is a pedal that just works; as a boost, stacker with other pedals or something to tickle your clean tone subtly
It has an overdrive, boost and distortion mode to offer huge versatility in a compact form. And whether you're using single-coils or humbuckers, it excels. This is a pedal that just works; as a boost, stacker with other pedals or something to tickle your clean tone subtly, it's a tough choice between this a the Klon-like Wampler Tumnus (currently 15% off at Sweetwater BTW) for me when it comes to essential mini-pedals. This Duke's three modes are a real attraction, and in the Black Friday sales over at Thomann the difference in price has been narrowed significantly.
For US Customers, I didn't forget you either – I found an 11% saving with the MXR Duke Of Tone reduced to $138.83 at Guitar Center
The first wave of compact UAFX pedals from Universal Audio may have featured sounds already heard on its previous, larger pedals. Easy to greet them with a muted response but the sounds are so good, I just can't be anything less than inspired by them. And in my review of the UAFX Orion, it struck me as a great example of where UA's excellent Echoplex EP-III emulation really works as a standalone pedal. One that is untouchable on the market at this discounted price.
The Orion was already competitive and well-featured compared to the EP-III-inspired competition but now it's a no-brainer. One of my favourite things about it is you can switch the much-loved EP-III preamp section model on whether the pedal is activated or not.
And the echo sounds… oh the sweet, sweet sounds of tape echo. Yes, it's not real tape echo but that's completely impractical and expensive and this sounds glorious. The UAFX Orion is a great delay pedal for subtle or spacey with three kinds of tape emulations. It also has a Wonk control for adding even more character. We all need more Wonk on our lives, surely?
European and UK customers can also get on the action for £149 from Andertons and £158 from Thomann, down from the £199 RRP.
I was excited enough about this deal to write a whole separate post on it. I love the UAFX Dream '65 amp emulator pedal and with this excellent discount in the Black Friday guitar deals I hope more players can discover the accessibility it offers. Because I, like a lot of players out there, can't afford to drop $1,500 on a Fender Deluxe Reverb tube amp. The Dream '65 is our ticket in for much less, and in many ways it's better than the real thing.
I'm not a purist but this pedal really sold amp modelling to me more than anything I had tried before.
Heresy? I'm not a purist but this pedal really sold amp modelling to me more than anything I had tried before. The detail of breakup and great clean headroom were not strong points of digital modelling in the past. Univeral Audio has been at the forefront of that. But what does this offer in a package that might make it a better option than an amp in many situations?
Consider the fact you can take it with you anywhere, it has six great curated speaker emulations at the flick of a switch, the best spring reverb model I've heard on a pedal, lush vibrato and three great boost modes. It's a crazy amount of quality in a pedal. Either as a platform on your pedalboard or a very minimalist rig.
Then there's the way you can set it up with the UAFX Control app on your phone or tablet; switchable, reverb and vibrato or two completely different amp channels with their own boosts and speakers. Of all the UAFX amp emulator pedals, and they're all very good, the Dream '65 is the one that really seems to offer the most flexibility for the most players. And with Thomann's excellent Black Friday discount it's something I can't recommend enough.
For UK musicians Andertons is offering the Dream '65 with £50 off for £299 and Sweetwater has it with $80 off for $319.
