Guitar Multi Effects Pedals are sophisticated, realistic and modern. These user-friendly units boast dozens - if not hundreds - of different effects. Multi effects pedals are not only a great entry point for introducing effects into your rig, many professional guitarists now prefer Multi FX units over individual pedals and a traditional pedalboard. With a huge selection to pick from, the best multi effects pedals match everything a large pedalboard can do, but with the ability to easily change models, including wahs, whammy and volume effects thanks to the expression pedal, and without the extreme cost of buying individual boutique pedals.

If you’ve never used pedals before, the world of signal chains, buffers, voltage and current can be a bit overwhelming. Guitar multi effects pedals can be a fantastic way of experimenting with new sounds without having to put a pedal board together. The ability to quickly mimic your favourite guitar tones is one of the most thrilling aspects of playing guitar. Multi effects pedals make this incredibly easy! They are also brilliant for songwriters chasing inspiration in a huge palette of sounds.

For live use, players can save custom presets or ‘patches', enabling instant recall of guitar tones, whether on a song by song basis, or even during a song. This allows multiple effects to change in the chorus, for example, something which would be impossible with traditional analog pedal boards.

A guitar multi effects pedal like the Neural DSP Quad Cortex delivers simply jaw dropping tones that rival traditional pedals sonically and offer realistic amp simulation and amp modelling as well as a huge array of stompbox emulations that can be chained together into your own presets. The ability to save and recall your own presets and signal chains, plus other features like audio recording to your computer via usb port, or easy home practice thanks to the headphone output, or the ability to choose a fast reactive noise gate really make multi fx units hard to beat for the guitarist who wants lots of effects with minimal effort and risk of things going wrong.

Players tend to run multi effects pedals into a clean amplifier. However, depending on whether the unit also models amp and cab sounds, it is also common to plug straight into a PA. Multi effects pedals range from professional quality to entry level. The most popular professional quality units are the Line 6 Helix, Kemper Stage and Neural DSP Quad Cortex. The most popular entry level units are the Boss GT1 and Zoom G5N.

Why Should I Choose a Multi Effects Pedal?

• Portable and easy to work with
• Can be packed full of effects to suit everything you need
• Great value for money
• A great way to find out which effects suit your style
• Beginner friendly
• All-in-one solution for recording and live performance