6 Mighty Mini Pedals for Touring Musicians

With the ever-expanding variety of excellent guitar effects, gig bag space and pedalboard real estate are at an all-time premium. Fortunately for this generation, technological innovations have allowed circuits to become more compact, which, as a result, has ignited a revolution in mini pedals for touring musicians. Mini pedals have become extremely popular because players can enjoy double the quantity of pedals before since they usually come at half the size of a standard unit. While guitar effects pedals are shrinking in size, there is no need to worry about them skimping on usability and tone. Bonafide classics such as the Tube Screamer and Cry Baby have already undergone circuit board liposuction. Players can find virtually any type of guitar effect in a mini pedal format, including a variety of distortion and overdrive pedals, and even standard modulation effects such as flanger, phaser, and chorus. The more complicated reverb and delay pedals are not quite as readily available, but players can still find them. Mini pedals are usually not battery powered, which is pleasant, especially when it comes to caring for the environment. They are a fantastic way to capture all the necessary sounds with the tiniest possible footprint on stage. They have taken over the guitar world by letting players fill up their boards with beautiful-sounding, space-saving pedals. Considering all that, mini pedals are certainly not going anywhere except under players’ feet. Continue reading to see some of the mightiest mini pedals available, as well as what they have in store for player’s sound.

MXR Mini Phase 95

The refined sound, excellent construction, and compact size of the Phase 90 have put MXR on the map. The Phase 90 established the benchmark by which other phasers are judged. For well over four decades, it has been a staple on the pedalboards of millions of players worldwide. This tiny orange box continued to become the only icon of its effect category, and numerous legendary riffs have benefitted from its sonic characteristics. No matter the instrument or genre, the Phase 90 has been present to impart its unique lush voice to a musician’s tone palette.

Two years after, MXR introduced the Phase 90’s elusive little brother, the Phase 45. It is a mellower variant of the effect loved for its capability to blend into a band’s mix. Now, MXR has made it possible to enjoy both legendary circuits within one pedal, while also tightening up the pedalboard. The Mini Phase 95 loads the Phase 90 and Phase 45 circuits into a tiny enclosure with around half the footprint of a standard MXR pedal. Its compact chassis is a brilliant move considering how often phasers get the bump when the pedalboard gets cramped. It is merely over half the width and nearly an inch shorter than a Bud Box Phase 90 or 99, which is a relatively small enclosure. The Mini Phase 95 carries a 45/90 switch that lets users toggle between the Phase 90 mode’s pronounced four-stage phasing and the Phase 45 mode’s subtle two-stage phasing. It also incorporates a Script switch for changing between two phasing styles (vintage and modern), as well as a familiar Speed knob for setting the rate of the effect. The pedal is set to modern style phasing by default. The Mini Phase 95 may come in a small package, but it is filled with rich phase tones and will take a beating on the road.

Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini

Ever since its debut in 1979, Ibanez’s iconic Tube Screamer has become among the most revered, recognizable, and employed overdrive pedals in the market. It is well-known for its dynamic touch sensitivity and rich midrange growl. Now, the often-imitated Tube Screamer sound is back in a downsized version, the Tube Screamer Mini.

Staying true to its name, the Tube Screamer Mini measures approximately 3 1/2 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Ibanez has pulled out every stop to build this solidly constructed, complete analog stompbox in miniature design while preserving the sonic integrity of its famed TS808 Reissue. To accommodate its tiny size, it incorporates an internal surface mount JRC4558M chip identical to the well-loved JRC4558D chip available in the full-sized TS808 unit. The Tube Screamer Mini necessitates an external 9V adapter for power. It consists of controls for Overdrive, Tone, and Level, as well as features true bypass switching. Performance-wise, the Tube Screamer Mini sounds so exceptional it is difficult to tell the difference between it and its big brother in a blindfold test. It has inherited the sonic tenacity that made the original a staple in numerous guitar rigs. It is recommended to use the Tube Screamer Mini in front of a tube amp. It is capable of making single notes sound beefier and softening the low-end register with clarity and warmth, all while maintaining the amp’s tonal nature. When the user rolls the Overdrive past 12 o’clock, it gives a wicked squeal to pinch harmonics and allows coaxing out some decent musical feedback. With the Tube Screamer Mini, touring musicians get all the punch and warmth of Ibanez’s legendary TS808 overdrive within a chassis that easily fits on even their crowded pedalboard.

Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face Mini Distortion

Over the years, the pedal world has seen different Fuzz Face variations by several creators. Dallas Arbiter created the original Fuzz Face. The unit comes in an enclosure inspired by a mic stand mount and consists of Volume and Fuzz knobs. Later, Fuzz Faces were manufactured by Crest Audio and then by Dunlop.

Fuzz Face enthusiasts have long debated whether germanium or silicon is the more fit candidate for the pedal’s transistor. For music icon Jimi Hendrix, his love for both germanium and silicon Fuzz Face pedals comes as no surprise. Based around the 1969-70 Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face behind several classic albums, including Electric Ladyland, the Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face Mini Distortion from Dunlop faithfully captures similar sonic characters, thanks to the toneful BC108 silicon transistor. It boasts classic Hendrix tone with modern modifications such as a bright status LED, true bypass switching, and a convenient battery door. One of the nuisances of adding a vintage Fuzz Face pedal in a pedalboard is its incredibly huge chassis size. On several occasions, bassists and guitarists would need to sacrifice one or more pedals that they enjoy to incorporate a plate-sized Fuzz Face into the signal chain. Fortunately, that is no longer an issue with the improved, pedalboard-friendly footprint of the Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face Mini Distortion. The Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face Mini Distortion puts the same circuit as the JHF1 Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face pedal into a more compact enclosure. It serves up the thick, smooth Fuzz Face tone popularized by Jimi Hendrix in a size that easily fits any pedalboard. The Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face Mini Distortion is housed in a groovy circular chassis consists of tooled clones of the original Fuzz Face knobs. It is the perfect choice for Fuzz Face and Hendrix fanatics alike.

TC Electronic Hall of Fame Mini Reverb

TC Electronic’s reverbs are known to be among the best of the best. They have been utilized in numerous movies, records, and by guitarists worldwide—in fact, everyone from bedroom shredders to rock stars all swears by them. Given that, the HOF Mini Reverb comes pre-loaded with TC Electronic’s iconic hall reverb. All the exceptional reverbs from the legendary Hall of Fame Reverb are also available as TonePrints, which are conveniently loadable into the HOF Mini Reverb.

The ultra-compact HOF Mini Reverb pedal is among the most versatile and smallest reverb pedals available in the market. It loads a world of killer reverb tone on a pedalboard. TC Electronic combined infinite space for reverbs with a pedalboard-friendly footprint. This amazingly streamlined unit is petite in size but huge on reverb tone and features a straightforward single-knob layout. With the utilization of the company’s TonePrint smartphone app, users can beam any of the full-sized Hall of Fame settings as well as artist-programmed TonePrints, including Cathedral, Plate, Room, Hall, Spring, and more styles, into the pedal. On top of that, the free TonePrint Editor software allows users to connect the stompbox to a computer and craft unique TonePrints by adjusting several hidden parameters. They may also assign which parameter the knob will control. While the HOF Mini Reverb appears diminutive from the outside, it boasts an abundance of verb options, enabling sending the sound into the furthest reaches of space while conserving plenty of it on the pedalboard real estate. If the HOF Mini Reverb came proportionate to the abundance of tone possibilities it contains, it would probably have a moon orbiting around it. Built on the famed mini platform, which also spawned the Polytune Mini and Ditto Looper, it will easily fit on any pedalboard, and the amount of tone options is endless. The HOF Mini Reverb is evocative of yesteryear’s most heralded guitar amps.

**Dunlop Cry Baby Mini Wah **

When the original Cry Baby Wah hit the scene in 1966, it added a different layer of expression to electric guitar players, including the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, who utilized the Cry Baby Wah to craft several of the most timeless sounds in rock. Now, players can enjoy the “most iconic guitar effect in music history” at roughly half its standard size with the Cry Baby Mini Wah from Dunlop.

Do not be fooled by its diminutive size, the Cry Baby Mini Wah serves up all the well-loved Dunlop tone in a more compact, convenient package. This wah is suitable for gigs with small stage room and congested pedalboards. It packs a trio of fantastic wah tones into a tiny package. Internal switching lets users choose between three voicings—vintage, low, and the more contemporary GCB95—so they get all the tonal control they would expect from a full-sized wah. Behind the iconic 60s wah sounds stood Italian-made Fasel inductors, which had been instrumental for the pedals’ trademark sound but were unavailable for so long. Now, Dunlop has successfully brought them back and incorporated them into the Cry Baby Mini Wah, so users can capture the rich vocal sweeps and lush harmonics that defined numerous timeless recordings. While the Cry Baby Mini Wah includes true-to-vintage Italian-made inductors, Dunlop maintained its time-tested, heavy-duty design, guaranteeing that it will remain incredible-sounding stomp after stomp.

Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone Micro

Pigtronix manufactures highly customizable effects and boutique pedals, including the Disnortion, the Echolution, and the famed Philosopher’s Tone compressor. Acclaimed for its noiseless clean sustain, the Philosopher’s Tone shines as an incredibly powerful guitar effect within the stuffed world of compressor pedals. The Philosopher’s Tone Micro lets users “Turn Lead to Gold.” It squeezes all the unparalleled sustain and optical compression of its larger namesake into a compact chassis.

Besides the controls for Sustain and Volume, the Philosopher’s Tone Micro carries a parallel Blend knob, which enables users to mix the natural tone of their instrument with the compressed sound effect. That technique restores the natural pick-attack and permits extreme sustain settings to stay musical. The Treble knob delivers as much as 6db boost or cut at 2KHz for fine-tuning the effect’s frequency response. The Philosopher’s Tone Micro includes true bypass switching and 9V operation, plus internal 18V power rails for optimum clean headroom, even when utilized with line-level signals and hot pickups. With such a blend of compression, boost, and added top-end, the Philosopher’s Tone Micro has a role to play beyond merely a compressor, particularly as a tone conditioner or driver capable of upgrading the sound for solos. Practitioners of the ancient and mystical art of alchemy have long searched for an element known as the Philosopher’s Stone, in the hope that if found, it could make lead gold and bestow immortality upon anyone who wielded it. The Philosopher’s Tone Micro is depicting an analog musical equivalent to that mythical element in the guitar world. Whether touring musicians are in the market for a more compact variant of their favorite pedals or a travel-friendly, miniature wah, reverb, fuzz, distortion, or delay pedal, they will surely find one that caters to their needs, and they can conveniently bring anywhere they go.