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10 Downsized Versions of Great Pedals
Many years back, building a pedalboard meant squeezing in four or five effects together or crowding half the stage with stompboxes and a messy sprawl of cords. Fortunately today, size is no longer a problem, and building an affordable and lightweight pedalboard is within easy reach. Technology has managed to shrink holy grail pedals, including the Fuzz Face and Tube Screamer, to seamlessly fit in the palm of your hand and created units such as the Mooer ModVerb, which packs a trio of modulation effects into a candy bar-sized chassis. Compact pedals are the perfect choice for those who wish to cram new effects into an existing setup or are looking to build a whole micro-sized pedalboard. They are a fantastic way to get all the necessary sounds with the tiniest possible footprint on stage. Below are some downsized versions of well-loved pedals that players can easily incorporate into their setup and will help them maximize their pedalboard real estate.
Wampler Mini Ego Compressor
The Mini Ego Compressor by Wampler boasts the same transparent performance that has made its bigger counterpart a gold standard among musicians. The best part is that it comes in a portable, pedalboard-friendly design. The Mini Ego Compressor features an intuitive five-control layout that is convenient to dial in and incorporates the famous Blend knob for balancing the dry signal and compression effect. It has been constructed from only the finest components for a superb tone that makes anything the user play sound better. The original Ego Compressor can be spotted on numerous pedalboards worldwide. It now comes in a smaller variant that dishes out the same transparent performance in a stompbox that will easily find a home in even the most crowded pedalboards. The Mini Ego Compressor comes in handy because compression is a must-have effect. Its true bypass switching ensures that the dry signal stays unaffected and pristine. That allows the user to determine the amount of headroom they need. Mini Tone and Attack toggle switches provide simple tweaking of the Mini Ego Compressor’s overall tonality. Bassists and guitarists alike are sure to swarm to this compact compressor.
Suhr Riot Mini
The Suhr Riot is an ultra-versatile high-gain distortion pedal boasting the touch sensitivity and sonic characteristics of an excellent 100-watt tube amp. It is capable of transforming a clean amp into an authoritative rock tone. The Riot Mini squeezes all the treats of its larger sibling into a more compact and pedalboard-friendly chassis. A distortion stompbox created by amp builder John Suhr, the pedal is designed to mimic the feel of playing through a high-gain, sensitive, and Marshall-style amp. Like the original Riot, the Riot Mini comes in a roadworthy power coated die-cast chassis for years of reliable performance. This tiny yet mighty stompbox is heavily armed with Level, Tone, and Distortion knobs, an On/Off effect status indicator, true bypass, and a two-way Voice switch. The Riot Mini can be powered via any -9Vdc power supply.
Diamond Comp Jr
When Diamond started work on the original Diamond Compressor in 2004, the aim was to create a flexible “guitar channel”—a dynamics and tone sculpting tool to front-end the effects chain—similar to the compression, gain, and EQ channels utilized in conventional recording studio mixers. The Diamond Compressor, unveiled at MusikMesse 2005 in Frankfurt, has found its way onto countless pedalboards around the world. Since its inception, Diamond has released a special audiophile edition called the Comp SE as well as a variant designed for the bass, the Bass Comp. During that time, Diamond has received tons of requests for a smaller version of the original Diamond Compressor, so it introduced the Diamond Comp Jr. The Diamond Comp Jr packs studio-quality compression into a compact stompbox chassis. This optical compressor provides straightforward yet powerful command over the tone and dynamics for smooth attack and enhanced sustain. Top-grade components make for a beautiful sound that leaves nothing to chance. A post-compressor EQ on one dial gives a swing from dark, mellow tones to an extremely musical jangle.
MXR Dyna Comp Mini Compressor
The clarity and sustain compressor pedals bring to a tone make them must-haves for modern guitarists. Fortunately, the MXR Dyna Comp Mini stompbox comes in at almost half the size of a standard Dyna Comp. Therefore, this tone-enhancing machine will easily fit into even the most cramped pedalboards. When the original Dyna Comp pedals burst onto the scene, they immediately found their way onto innumerable records and stages across the globe. These units have enabled players to improve their guitar rig’s natural tone without needing to use an overdrive. The Dyna Comp Mini has been meticulously engineered to dish out the same transparent squash as the coveted script-logo stompboxes of the 1970s. Amalgamating the best of classic tone with modern convenience, the Dyna Comp Mini is the most convenient take on one of the most legendary compressors of all time. Credits to its elusive CA3080 metal can integrated circuit (IC), the Dyna Comp Mini yields an increased dynamic range, greater transparency, and quieter operation. It also features an all-new Attack switch that moves between fast and slow attack times.
Bogner Ecstasy Blue Mini
Packing Bogner’s famed overdrive into a pedalboard-friendly chassis, the Ecstasy Blue Mini is perfect for those who wanted an Ecstasy Blue stompbox but could not carve out space among their pedals. It serves up an expansive gain range and touch-sensitive character identical to its larger sibling but is compact enough to fit on crowded pedalboards. It lets users craft their ideal tone with an active three-band EQ that incorporates a sweepable mid-frequency. Similar to its predecessor, the Ecstasy Blue Mini is spec’d from Bogner’s revered Ecstasy amp. Individuals can now own a stompbox that features the trademark sound of the Bogner Ecstasy’s Blue channel. The Ecstasy Blue Mini’s three-band EQ has been voiced to mirror the amplifier, featuring an arsenal of toggle switches for sculpting the overall tonal character. A Pre-EQ switch manages the presence and openness of higher-range harmonics, a Variac on/off switch gives dropped-voltage dynamic compression, while a Gain switch operates the whole gamut between full-out saturation and vintage gain. Reinhold Bogner is famous for designing some of the most revolutionary rock amps in recent history, and the list of artists utilizing his amps reads like a who’s who of rock ‘n’ roll.
**Dunlop Cry Baby Mini Bass Wah **
The 105Q Cry Baby Bass Wah has long been regarded as the most renowned bass wah. The world’s best bassists have employed its deep, expressive tones to impart texture and groove to their bass lines. Enter the Cry Baby Mini Bass Wah, bassists can now capture that functionality and sound without consuming much more pedalboard real estate than a Phase 90. At half the size of its larger sibling, the Cry Baby Mini Bass Wah may be tiny, but its thunderous presence is undeniable. Unlike the original 105Q, this mini pedal comes in a lightweight aluminum enclosure. The Cry Baby Mini Bass Wah has been meticulously designed to preserve and complement the user’s low end. It carries Q and Volume controls for further fine-tuning the wah sound. This little beast also sounds fabulous with the rigs of players of extended range and downtuned guitars. The Cry Baby Bass Mini Wah is tuned to provide bassists with smooth wah effects that will not mess with the low-end tone. Convenient auto-return switching makes stomping in and out of the wah effect to sweeten up solos and fills seamless and effortless. With such a tiny footprint, this Cry Baby will surely find a place on downsized travel boards.
Amptweaker TightRock JR
The Amptweaker TightRock JR high gain distortion pedal features a Tight attack switch and a noise gate, and may also be employed as a preamp. It shares most of the tone-shaping features available on its big brother and leverages the same circuitry. To shrink down its size and weight, Amptweaker eradicated battery switches, lit controls, effects loops, and boost features that are unnecessary to some players. Derived from the Amptweaker Pro series, the Fat switches and Tight control have been re-configured into a three-way Fat/Normal/Tight switch to set the attack of the notes from heavy and thick to chunky and aggressive. An EQ switch offers Plexi/Normal/Smooth tone settings, which lets the stompboxes cover much of the range of its TightRock, FatRock, and BigRock Pro parents. Besides the Volume, Gain, and Tone controls, the TightRock JR carries a manually-adjustable Noise Gate that can be cranked to stop notes fast and hard. Also, the nice thing about an inbuilt noise gate is that it goes away when the pedal is off, so the clean tone stays unaffected. The TightRock JR incorporates 9-18VDC operation, true bypass switching, and a thumbscrew-removable bottom plate.
Pigtronix Philosopher Bass Compressor Micro
Pigtronix takes its heralded Philosopher’s Tone compressor circuit and loads it into a micro-sized stompbox for bassists, the Philosopher Bass Compressor Micro. The Sustain knob varies the compression threshold to serve up anything from mild peak limiting to endless clean sustain, all with an exceptional low-end response. The Blend control enables an instrument’s clean sound to be heard together with the optical compression. Per Pigtronix, “Blending some clean signal into the mix restores the instrument’s natural string attack, while simultaneously providing the musical benefits of additional punch and sustain.” Besides the broad-range analog compression circuit with unprecedented sustain and parallel blend, the pedal sports a Grit control that adds a harmonic distortion specially tuned for low-frequency domination. Paired with a solid state or tube amp, the Philosopher Bass Compressor Micro provides bassists with a different level of power and control at a reasonable price. It incorporates true-bypass switching and operates on standard 9VDC power with an internal, voltage-doubling circuit offering 18VDC power rails for exceptional performance with active basses. As Pigtronix puts into words, “Never before has so much bass friendly compression been squeezed into such a small package.”
Keeley Red Dirt Mini
Legendary pedal authority Robert Keeley is famed for, among many things, his TS9 Tube Screamer mods, which he has been doing ever since the early 2000s. Keeley has witnessed the likes of Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, among others, utilize his modded pedals. Keeley’s mods enabled the TS to possess a fine-tuned tone control, increased bass response, higher gain, and greater cleans when turned down. These mods have been collected in the Red Dirt, together with one fundamental addition—the JFET input buffer for an incredibly dynamic sound. The Red Dirt Overdrive was an instant hit, thanks to its ability to function as a standalone drive or a boost to suit your setup to your liking. Now, you can get the circuit in a compact pedal form. The Red Dirt Mini follows the standard TS configuration. It carries a gigantic center knob for the drive as well as tinier ones on either side for level and tone. It has four modes of operation (Amp, Crunch, Overdrive, and Distortion), and you may alter the clipping diodes by removing the bottom plate and tweaking the DIP switches for either a more open tube amp-esque sound, a more compressed sound, or variations in between. The outcome is a little pedal that provides flexibility and a huge tone, everything from extremely high gain to bolder, cleaner sounds.
Electro-Harmonix Nano Big Muff Pi
The Electro-Harmonix Nano Big Muff Pi crams everything lovable about the iconic Big Muff into a compact stompbox that is perfect for any pedalboard. “We took the Big Muff Pi circuit and simply shrunk it without changing its rich, creamy, violin-like sustain and sound. The Nano Big Muff Pi works and sounds identical in every way to our classic NYC Big Muff Pi,” Electro-Harmonix details. The Nano Big Muff Pi dishes out an extensive array of aggressive tones, which have been loved by Pink Floyd, Santana, and Jimi Hendrix, among many others. The Tone knob covers an expansive sonic territory, while Sustain allows users to dial in how huge their sound is. The Big Muff Pi has been a staple of rock music since the 1970s, and now, it is available in a more convenient compact size with the Nano Big Muff Pi.
