Electro Harmonix pedals (EHX) are some of the oldest and most respected effects for guitar and bass. Founder Mike Matthews is crazy in all the right ways and having come from a keyboard background he has a unique perspective on sound and music that normal guitarists might not think of.
Since EHX made their first release with the LPB-1 in 1969, they have continued to release distinct pedals with signature sounds.
So what’s the catch? EHX releases a LOT of pedals, and sometimes multiple versions with slight changes. I’ve done the work to sort through all that.
Below is my list of the MUST HAVE Electro Harmonix pedals.
These are my top “get ’em while their hot” pedals. This would make a killer pedal board too. Best of all, everything is designed and assembled in New York City. Amazingly, EHX pedals have some of the lowest prices for guitar effects making them an amazing deal.
1: Micro POG (check prices)
EHX rewrote the rules when the Micro POG was released. This is the smaller and simplified version of the larger POG2 and the huge HOG, both a crazy pair of powerful guitar synths, the Micro POG creates beautiful glitch free octave down and octave up versions of your guitar tone. This allows you to expand your sound in a way that was previously not attainable. From church organs and celestial choirs to dark metal riffs that burn a hole in your amp, the Micro POG does it all. Users include everyone from Jack White to Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age.
EHX also makes the Nano POG, an even smaller and less expensive version.
This technology has also been used in the recent series of EHX pedals designed to make your guitar sound like dedicated organ or keyboard such as the:
- B9 – Classic (Hammond) organ sounds
- C9 – Clavinet sounding tones
- KEY9 – All those electronic keyboard sounds we love.
- MEL9 – Mellotron tape style keyboard sounds (Think “Strawberry Fields Forever”)
2: Soul Food (check prices)
Have you heard of the Klon Centaur? If not, the Klon was/is a guitar overdrive pedal that Bill Finnegan developed and hand built between 1990 and 1994. The Centaur is characterized as a “transparent” overdrive, meaning it adds gain without significantly altering the tone of the guitar. Oh… And they sell on E-Bay for THOUSANDS of dollars.
Hundreds of third party manufactures have tried to clone the original. You often see these “Klones” running $200-$300.
In Classic Mike Mathews fashion, EHX released there own version of this pedal and priced it less that $100.
Oh… and people LOVE it. Enough said. Done. Get one. Enjoy.
And to make things even more fun, Continue reading