I got a couple of new pedals come in this week. I ordered them back in like April. Yes, they’re a couple of those new Behringer pedals. One of them is the 69 Vibe. I’m a sucker for a good vibe, so I thought I’d give it a shot. The other one was their Centaur because I dig klones. And, yes, the one that came in is labeled a Centaur and not a Centara. As long as I waited for it, I fully expected the Centara. After all, wasn’t all that noise from like 3 months ago.
Neeways, getting these pedals made me think I should mention a few of my favorite budget pedals. I guess I’ll start with these two, but I’ll be brief about them. The vibe isn’t a bad vibe. In my playing around with it the other evening, it has a vibe side and a chorus side. And it does the things. Not a stand out, but it’s not bad. The Centaur is definitely a klone. Sounds like one. Looks like one. Kind of like most klones, stick me on a stage in a noisy venue, and there’s a good chance I may not be able to tell it from any other. In the words of Mrs Snarf, both pedals are fine.
Now for some of the ones that I really like.
First is my always-on pedal. It’s been on my board for several years now. It’s the Nux Steel Singer. It’s a D-type pedal. It does a really good job doing that light OD thing. I have no idea how much it goes for new, but Nux seems to have turned into not necessarily a budget brand, but I got this pedal for $27 shipped off Reverb when I got it, so it fits the bill.
Sticking with the Nux theme, next up is the Nux Morning Star. I bought it about a year after I got the Steel Singer. I had gotten on a bit of a Blues Breaker kick. I picked this one up for like $35, and it was definitely one of my favorites. In fact, it and the Wampler Pantheon are the two that I like better than the Prince of Tone or any of the other BB pedals. The thing about the Morning Star is that it has this Shine option. Press the pedal and hold it, and it turns on. When you do that, it adds this high end brightness to the tone. Nothing that’s fizzy or harsh. It just kind of adds some clarity up top. To me, that just sets it off and makes it sound really good to my ear.
For a vibe-y pedal, you can’t go wrong with the Danelectro Chicken Salad. It’s another one that may not be a budget pedal anymore, but I got mine back when they were still considered a cheap pedal. It’s another that I got off Reverb or from GC or somewhere for like $25. It’s a great vibe! I have one of those Tech 21 knock-off pedals stuck on a board that has an OD, delay, and reverb in it. I have the Chicken Salad sitting next to it, and I can play for days with that little setup.
Another drive pedal that I think is a stand out is the Tone City Durple. I got it shipped from Anderton’s for like $45 once you add in the conversion. It’s another one that I bought about the same time as that Nux Steel Singer and put on my original Afford-a-board. When that experiment kind of ran its course and I realized that it was back to mostly not-affordable pedals, the Durple is one that has kind of stayed on it. It comes off occasionally because it’s not the the specific sound I’m wanting, but, it’s a good sounding OD that is on the board more than it’s off. In fact, it’s on it right now. Sits in front of a Wampler Germanium Tumnus.
That’s four, so I’ll mention two more honorable mentions. I use these two occasionaly, but not on a regular basis like I do the ones above.
The Donner Dark Mouse is a great Rat pedal. It’s definitely a distortion and not an OD, but, when I want that Rat sound, this is the one that I grab even over some nicer Rat clones. Admittedly, I’ve never owned an actual ProCo Rat. It’s always been copies. The next is one that I’m not going to link. It’s a straight up copy of another pedal all the way down to the enclosure and graphics on it. It’s the Demon FX Dual Gun. It’s a copy of the Kingtone Duelist. It sounds super good to my ear. It’s got two sides. One is a BB and one is a TS. I discovered it when I was on my BB kick. If the Kingtone Duelist wasn’t so expensive, I’ve wanted to get one to see how it compares because the clone sounds really nice.
So there you have it. Six relatively inexpensive pedals that I like to use. A couple I use all the time, and some of the others rotate in and out and around. I got them all (except the Dual Gun) for under $50. I think I paid $60 for the double pedal. So they weren’t always like Amazon Basics or Caline cheap, but still priced low enough to be affordable.
What are some of your favorite affordable pedals?