20 Key Guitar Effects Pedal Types - Preferred Mini Pedal per Type

• alternative 1 - Sonic Research ST300 Mini - £139
• alternative 2 - D'Addario PW-CT-20 Mini - £75

I think my PolyTune Mini is only ever likely to be replaced when TC Electronic bring out an updated version. The equivalent Sonic Research Mini only does one string at a time, as does the recent D'Addario I believe - for my it has to be Polytonic tuning, and TCE is the leader of that pack currently. A really great, quick and easy-to-use tuner.

• alternative 1 - DOD Mini Volume - £85
• alternative 2 - Donner Wah Cry 2 in 1 Mini Guitar Wah Effect + Volume - £49

In my 'compact' pedal article I have selected the Dunlop Mini pedals (which I own), here I go for the even shorter Mooer equivalents. The Mooer does not do Volume + Expression, though the Donner does cover Volume and Wah in the same pedal. The Mooer is a really clever solid metal alloy pedal, and the obvious choice here really. Note that short video is in French - most suitable thing I could find!

• alternative 1 - Plutoneium Chi-Wah-Wah - $170
• alternative 2 - Donner Wah Cry 2 in 1 Mini Guitar Wah Effect + Volume - £49

Same reason as above Mooer Leveline Volume pedal really, although the Plutoneium Chi-Wah-Wah is really cool - kind of touch-and-go between those two. The Donner - which combines Wah with Volume is the same as before. Generally I will always check out Mooer and TCE first to see what's out there in mini-land! And then sweep through the broader categories.

• alternative 1 - Mooer Pure Octave - £55
• alternative 2 - ENO EX Oct-1 - £29

I already have the Sub 'N' Up's bigger brother which gives you one more sub-octave as well as a 3-way toggle for additional modes / voicings - the mini strips it down to a single TonePrint at a time. The Mooer Octave gives you 2 up and 2 down, which is double the power of the Mini Sub, but it does not have that genius TonePrint functionality. Finally, the ENO gives you a cheap 1 Up, 2 Down Octaves alternative.

• alternative 1 - TC Electronic Spark Mini - £40
• alternative 2 - Wampler dB+ - £135

My EP Booster is the Alchemy Audio modded version with exterior toggles - really warms up your core tone, gives it a slightly wider soundstage somehow and increases dynamics. The Spark Mini is almost as good - with the inclusion of a smart momentary footswitch. The Wampler adds a buffer into the mix to for extra utility. Check my article on 12 Mini Boost Pedals for plenty of options at this size. I had long thought that you really did not need to go beyond the mini size for a decent booster - which is mostly true, although the Jackson Audio Prism compact pedal does give you quite a lot more at the slightly larger size. If I ever were to swap out the EP Booster it would be for the Jackson Audio Prism.

• alternative 1 - Xotic SP Compressor - £167
• alternative 2 - Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone Micro - £128

My compressor of choice used to be the Xotic SP (Alchemy Mod), which I latterly switched for the Mini Ego which I find slightly easier to dial in. I really like mini compressors, and the Micro Philosopher's Tone is next on my list in that category for A/B trialling. Similar to the mini boosters, I can't see myself changing anytime too soon, but if I did I would go up a size for the now industry standard Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Deluxe.

• alternative = Tomsline AC Stage - £44

The Akoustikar is a pretty fine clone of the Boss AC-3, and the Tomsline AC Stage is a very slightly lower cost alternative. Otherwise there really isn't much else of quality in this category. There generally seem to be very few acoustic simulator pedals at any size. The Boss AC-3 is obviously the standard, yet Mooer always manages to dial in something special too. As on most occasions - with a mini pedal you save space and you usually save money too, often you may also prefer the specific core tone of a mini pedal - and although many, even most are clones, there is some seriously fine engineering at work here.

• alternative 1 - OneControl Persian Green Screamer - £99
• alternative 2 - Keeley Red Dirt Mini - £105

Overdrive is such a broad category - you need to decide what your core tone preference is here - whether klon-esque, screamer, OCD etc. - each has its own variation of frequency accentuation, 'transparency' and saturation. For me the Wampler Tumnus is pretty perfect and generally my most used overdrive. For a Tube Screamer -alike the OneControl Persian Screamer is my favourite, then the Keeley Red Dirt Mini and Ibanez TS Mini (£55). I also really like the £40 Tone City Sweet Cream and the Mooer Hustle Drive (£37) which is a pretty cool near clone of an OCD. The Tumnus is pretty secure in its slot in my own active pedal-chain - I am though looking to acquire a J Rockett Rockaway Archer at some stage which may be a significant threat - the Tumnus will of course still sound fabulous regardless.

• alternative 1 - Xotic SL Drive - £158
• alternative 2 - F-Pedals Edstortion - $129

As with Overdrive you have plenty of options for Distortion too, although most tend to have a preference for Marshall-esque tones, there is much in favour of going for the hugely versatile Disnortion Micro - with its six voicings and parallel/series switch. The Xotic SL Drive provides excellent Marshall tones as does the One Control Plexifier and Xvive Golden Brownie (£55). For something with a little more grit you can try the F-Pedals Edstortion or DarkLight ($119) and Rat-clone Mooer Black Secret (£42).

• alternative 1 - OneControl Baltic Blue Fuzz - £119
• alternative 2 - ZVex Fuzzolo - £109

I wrote a piece about the best 9 Mini Fuzz Pedals, and have listed 3 of the strongest of those - between them they cover most bases. If you need an octave fuzz, then the Malekko Omicron Fuzz (c£100) is your best friend. Otherwise you have the usual flavours of fuzz face, muff and more velcro-style. If you're into really weird try the Rainger FX Freakenstein Dwarf Bleep (£119).

• alternative 1 - Hotone Skyline Gate - £69
• alternative 2 - Xvive V11 Noise Gate - £40

I love my compact size Boss NS-2, and am not really looking to change that. Were I to change, I would probably move to the TC Electronic Sentry, and if space was really tight then I would make the Mooer Noise Killer do. As you can see in the above video, the Hotone Skyline Gate may even be preferable to the Mooer, but strangely I find the Skyline range a little 'too' small even and somewhat fiddly in its layout - you would really need to velcro that one down hard on your pedalboard - I also like the clearer visibility of the more standard top-loaded dials..

• alternative 1 - Fender Micro EQ - £57
• alternative 2 - ENO EX EQ7 £27

There are lots of mini EQ pedals of varying quality. The ENO's advantage is that it provides 7 bands, while most minis only accommodate 5. My mini EQ pedal of choice though would still be the Mooer Graphic G.

• alternative 1 - Ibanez Mini Chorus - £75
• alternative 2 - Mooer Ensemble King - £48

For my taste, the very best choruses are stereo, so going with a mini pedal already puts you at touch of a disadvantage. That said all three main choices here are amazing for the size of pedal - you should also include the Mooer Soul Shiver (£57) and Tone City Angel Wing (£45) in your consideration. The Corona pips it because of TonePrint - which gives you more power to dial in exactly what you want.

• alternative 1 - Mooer E-Lady - £42
• alternative 2 - Xvive V11 Analog Flanger - £44

On this occasion I've taken a preference for the TonePrint feature of TC Electronic - which really allows you to sculpt your tone, while the Mooer pedals then to have the standard 3 dials alongside a mode toggle with 2 or 3 options. There's not much between the TCE and Mooer, and Xvive provides a pretty decent alternative.

• alternative 1 - Mooer Liquid - £55
• alternative 2 - F-Pedals PhazeVibe - $139

This is the one modulation that TCE does not currently cover in a mini pedal (i.e. no Mini Helix), even if it did, it is unlikely that you would put it above the 4 mode MXR Phase 95 - which gives you both Classic and Script modes for its legendary Phase 45 and 90 pedals. Mooer Liquid gives you some interesting variations here, as does the F-Pedals PhazeVibe.

• alternative 1 - Xvive V16 Stereo Undulator - £53
• alternative 2 - Tone City TC-T14 Tremble - £40

Another modulation where TCE does not have a mini option - I don't doubt that there will be a Mini Pipeline here eventually. In the meantime I have no hesitation in recommending the optical Mooer Trelicopter, with the Xvive Undulator giving you stereo out, and the Tony City Tremble providing you with another decent alternative.

• alternative 1 = Mooer ReEcho - £55
• alternative 2 = Xvive E1 Echoman - £42

Once more you have the trade-off between the 3 toggle modes of the Mooer and the TonePrint of the TCE - which on this occasion wins it for me. If you're a fan of the EXH MemoryMan, then the Xvive uses the same chips as the current one for a very similar tone. I have frequently said that ideally delay pedals should offer easy delay mode switching between the classic short and long delay types. There are so many players who alternate between a short and long delay for most instances, and few pedal makers seem to have cracked that at this level so far.

• alternative 1 - Mooer Shimverb - £53
• alternative 2 - Xvive D1 MaxVerb - £55

Much the same as for the delay, with the HOF giving you that TonePrint advantage, while Mooer gives you the 3 directly switchable modes. Xvive once more with an excellent alternative.

• alternative 1 - Xvive D3 Duet Looper - £72
• alternative 2 - Mooer Micro Looper - £69

The Xvive is no doubt the smartest looper here with stereo out and the ability to record on two separate channels as such. I would still probably go with the TCE Ditto - just for bulletproof simplicity and reliability, with the Mooer Looper another decent alternative.

• alternative 1 - Mooer Pitch Box - £50
• alternative 2 - Tomsline Harmonizer - £39

There's no contest here really, the mini version of my well loved Mimiq is the clear winner with a cut-down version of that really clever algorithm. The Mooer Pitch Box and Tomsline Harmonizer can do a similar type of effect - obviously for a lot less money too, so reasonable alternatives at that.