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by Jim Button October 03, 2021 4 min read
Want some advice on picking the right guitar pedals for various genres, including blues, rock and metal? You've come to the right place!
Below you'll find our guitar pedal buying guide genre by genre. Although each musical genre has specific pedal requirements, there are some common pedal types used in most if not all styles of music - for example, compressors can be a useful tool in all genres to rein in any wayward volume spikes and even massaging and pumping the sound for musical effect.
Find out more below in our genre-specific guitar pedal guide. You can also check out our effects pedal buying guide, which outlines the key pedal types and what they bring to your sound.
You’ll need:
Compressor
Overdrive
Optional:
Reverb
Aaah, the blues. From the original bluesmen, through the 1960s British blues boom, to the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan's sizzling Texas blues, this is a surprisingly diverse genre.
To pull off authentic blues, you’ll need a mild overdrive pedal to push your amp into on-the-edge breakup.
Stick a compressor in the chain to wring out all the nuances of your performance: up the attack a touch for more of that sizzle and spank, and set it to deliver additional sustain for those weeping top string bends.
Reverb is optional here. It can add ambience and depth to your sound, however in a band environment you may find it unnecessary. If you do use the effect, choose a pedal which has a suitably vintage vibe rather than a pristine modern sounding one.
You’ll need:
Overdrive
Compressor
Delay
For all those fast chicken pickin' passages, a compressor is your best friend. Set the attack so that it brings out all that genre-defining twang, and ensure that it levels out your sound so that the quieter notes still stand out nicely in a band situation.
Use an overdrive for added grit and girth. It doesn’t need to be on all the time...maybe save it for lead runs.
A slapback delay will underline your picking perfectly and add dimension. Make sure you don’t set the level too high though!
You’ll need:
Compressor
If you play jazz, the most important thing is to have a decent amp and guitar combination: a hollow or semi-hollow guitar will help with those smooth, airy tones.
But if you want to up your game, try adding a compressor pedal. It can help add sustain to your sound, and if your playing is super-dynamic it will help lift those quiet parts up a notch or two.
You’ll need:
Wah
Optional:
Phaser
Wah is the quintessential funk sound – think 'Theme from Shaft' by Isaac Brown.
By controlling the filter effect with your foot, you can achieve dynamic, spiky 'wacca wacca' sounds or soulful vocal tones for the ultimate funky rhythm.
A phaser is optional, but it can add more movement and 1970s-style swirl to your sound.
You’ll need:
Compressor
Distortion or Overdrive
Reverb
Delay
Optional:
Fuzz
Wah
Phaser
Chorus
Tremolo
Yes, you can do rock with just the basics but this is a diverse genre where anything is possible, so feel free to layer up your sound.
You’ll definitely need an overdrive or distortion pedal, achieving a gamut of sounds from breakup to crunch to saturation. You can even stack a couple of pedals for more nuanced and flexible tones.
Don’t underestimate a compressor here too. It can add sustain, girth, attack and perceived volume to your sound. The latter is especially important if you’re fighting with an animal behind the drums!
Reverb will add room ambience and underline your playing. Experiment with settings to see what works for you.
From here, the possibilities are almost endless. If you favour classic rock you might want to add fuzz, octave and vibe pedals for quintessential Hendrix, while more modern, atmospheric styles of rock may call for chorus and ambient reverb.
And don't forget delay if you’re playing solos! It’s equally useful as a subtle slapback to thicken your sound, as a modulated tape-style delay to add texture, or used in precise patterns as perfected by the Edge from U2. Depending on what you’re going for, either a digital or analogue delay should be on your wishlist.
You’ll need:
Distortion
Compressor
Optional:
Fuzz
EQ
Delay
Overdrive won’t cut it here: you’ll need to get yourself a full-on distortion pedal. Pick one which can deliver the gain and tonal focus required for your specific sub-genre.
A fuzz can help you bring the pain and add girth at the bottom end. Something with LED clipping will give you a super-aggressive modern flavour, while a fuzz based on silicon diodes would suit classic sub-genres better.
A compressor can really help to emphasise low-end chug as much as it can add body and attack to high-gain tapping and bends.
If you don’t own an amp with a versatile EQ section, consider adding an EQ pedal to your board. It will really help shape your sound, from scooped Metallica-style riffage to more modern styles. You can even kick it in for solos!
An alternative to a dedicated EQ pedal is to place a distortion with a good EQ section at the end of the signal chain to help get the sound you need.
Like rock, metal uses delay in diverse ways, so experiment and see what works for you. Suffice to say, it will fill out your sound and underline your playing if set well. Digital delays come into their own for metal, keeping your sound crisp and defined and providing plenty of settings.
by Jim Button April 18, 2023 12 min read
by Guest Author August 26, 2022 3 min read
by Jim Button June 24, 2022 5 min read
I’ve just taken delivery of this beautiful pedal.
To get a first impression I’ve put it through a Simplifier DLX and straight into a FRFR speaker. Delightful.
I’m a guitarist in a Christian Church worship band, so I’m always looking for O/D that is both subtle and musical - that makes a statement without the darkness. The Forest Song, with its rich range of driven tones delivers.
Indeed, high gain plus low volume is an interesting musical mix in this pedal. It works. My complements to the DB development team, and to Boost for supporting them.
This Pedal is easy to use and has many sweet spots! Perfectly tuned combination of two legendary circuits! Highly recommended!
super fun trem, decent sound, huge volume. havent spent a lot of time messing about with it, but did have a play with the slide and drift feature which are a nice bonus. cant wait to have more time to play around with it.
Boost Guitar Pedals are great as always, fast delivery
been playing it a few days now, and have it set up so it works with with whatever i thow at it. its in my chain after OD but Before Distortion. feedback dial is great and can have it very far clockwise before it sends you in an infinity loop, mix is a bonus, i haven't messed about with the shapes much yet because i found a dreamy setting i dont want to change. would highly recommend isolated power suppy, it did not like daisy chain or cheap single wall one, but works smooth with isloated brick
Boost Guitar is great again to got it within 24 hours of shipping
Perfect for that traynor amp growl on bass. There’s a lot of scope with gain and EQ controls (which sound ace wherever you dial them in). Had the Tronographic Rusty Box before this which I regrettably had to sell; this is a perfect (and smaller, less power hungry) substitute.
I spent months searching for an affordable vibe pedal that actually sounded authentic.
Not only does this have the very sound that I was after, without a ton of tweaking, but it is priced reasonably too. It is not at the cheap end of the market, but for a hand-built pedal with dual speeds this is unbeatable.
The sound is spot on. Warm and rich with the throb missing from many of the lower-priced pedals. The second speed makes it easy to switch between chord and solo settings.
The delivery was amazing too - ordered in Friday afternoon and delivered on Sunday morning!
I can’t recommend this highly enough to anyone looking for the best univibe around.
add another 5 stars, im no pro but i know what sounds i like and the Bloom is the sound i like. ive had Boss BD2, donner dumble drive, Tumnus and Tumnus deluxe but to me The Bloom tops them all. its a well built easy to dial in. having full gain is so clear and not nosiy. only tried with my strat single coils atm. the distortion isint the best but im comparing it to the Drunk Beaver Batv2 and have a feeling that its a layer distortion for another distortion pedal. fuzz is lush. the chip and fat switch really bring it to live and gives you more options for sound. i cant believe this is made by 1 guy. To me Drunk Beaver are up there with the best pedal makers. could send hours going on about the great things. and im only useing a boss katana mk2 no tube amp but you can get some faux tube headroom with the right switch. if you like the demos, well i got good news, it sound way better in person
Boost Guitat Pedals are great too, fast delivery, great communication. couldnt ask for a better store
Bone white Davies 1611
The Bleak District Tapescape is one of the best delay and ambience style pedals ever invented. The controls are all intuitive but highly flexible, the sounds are rich and detailed, the modulation can go from dreamy to nightmarish very quickly, and all of that inside a small footprint with a low power requirement. It's difficult to get a bad sound out of it, honestly.
Add in that Boost shipped it out quickly and it arrived with a nice note written on the invoice, is there anything else you could ask for? Definitely will be buying more from both Boost and Bleak District in future.
Part came as described. Website was easy use.
very cool pedal
Awesome service and communication all along!
Will gladly order again
I ordered a set of strings from Boost, that did not initially turn up. After contacting Boost via the website they immediately sent out another set (no questions asked). Both sets arrived a few days later (Thanks Royal Mail!). Boost were prompt in dealing with the issue (gave) me a set of strings and got things sorted out. Highly recommend you use these guys.
My favourite strings, at a great price! Very reasonable postage rates and speedy service. My first purchase from Boost, but will definitely not be my last. Hassle free, excellent...
Jazzmaster happy🙏
I didn’t know that particular manufacturer from Italy, but I definitely recommend their "Vintage Vibe”. It’s simple, intuitive, it looks awesome, the build quality seems impeccable, and most importantly, it sounds fantastic.