One Knob Wonders! - 17 of the Best One Knob Pedals

The Destroyer is actually a consolidation of two fairly high gain one-knob BAT fuzzes - the Ritual, based in turn on the Colorsound One Knob Fuzz (A sort of high gain Fuzz Face), and the Oath which is a one-knob version of the BAT Revelation Superbass Fuzz. Both of these are combined into one chassis, each can be activated by its own respective footswitch or both together - Left/Right, while there is only a single output level control knob.

This One Knob Sunn Model T Amp-in-a-Box has been on my wishlist for a number of years now - I just never quite get around to acquiring it - but I do still really want it. As an example I got the significantly more tweakable Coda Effects Black Hole PreAmp (also Sunn T) - which has six dials and a voicing toggle and which I of course also love. I guess I just haven't encountered the Acalpulco Gold yet with my name on it. The one knob here is output volume and you user your guitar Volume and Tone to adjust degree of gain and tonality by dialling back each control as required.

The concept here is similar to the Acapulco - just a single control 'Bias' in this case while the typical Volume + Fuzz/Sustain parameters are internally dimed as is mostly how you would use a vintage Fuzz. This is a highly tuned Silicon Fuzz Face style Fuzz where the only and all the control on the pedal is applied by the solitary Bias knob. You use your guitar Volume and Tone knobs separately to engage further tone-sculpting characteristics.

This sort of Fuzzstortion pedal is similarly set up to the Acapulco in that the gain is already maxed out, and the only control you have is the output Volume. This is a very Fuzz-like distortion and you dial in progressively more harmonics as you sweep to the right. This is highly textured distortion that I am actually really tempted by at the moment- may well end up in the collection before long.

The simplest of Spring Reverbs here with the single dial solely controlling Effect Level - spin to left for Less Reverb, and to the right for More Reverb - that's about all there is to it. By the nature of how it is tuned it naturally gets a touch brighter as you turn it up - otherwise you have no further control over it. All these single knob circuits live or die by how well they are tuned in.

Lone Wolf Audio is probably the most famous make of Boss HM-2 Clones in all guises from the simplest here to the most complex in its Deluxe large format edition and all kinds of in-between variations. The classic HM-2 setup requires that all 4 dials - Volume, Lows, Highs, and Distortion all be dimed or set to max. The Lone Wolf Audio Dictator saves you all of that by having just the one dial to control them all - which ends up a more of a Output Level dial. I still feel Lone Wolf could engineer this into a smaller enclosure - but it's a cool addition to their Left Hand Wrath range, while this edition is fairly few and far between nowadays as possibly discontinued. Note that demo if of standard full-knobs and switches version.

This is a really lovely Tweedy style amp in a box where the one knob is really just an output level control, but there is some very slight gain added too - much like with a slightly gainey booster pedal. This has a loverly nasal sort of small amp quality and sounds wonderful to my ears. A really great Tweed option for sure.

There are a number of mini one knob compressors around but relatively few compact sized ones like this is. The Clementine is a very smooth compressor with single external volume knob and internal bias trim-pot. This was a limited edition 100 unit run which sold out relatively quickly. You do get occasional examples on Reverb.com but they're fairly few and far between because of the small number of units made.

The legendary simple 1970's phaser in its original format produces that well-loved swirly effect excellently used by luminaries Jimmy Page and Eddie Van Halen. This orange box is still the world's most iconic phaser effect. Funnily I went for the more diminutive Phase 95 Mini which gives you Scrip and Block Letter modes from both Phase 90 and Phase 45 circuits. So single knob will rarely give you the ultimate versatility, it rather brings you unadulterated flavour in the simplest of formats.

Mythos are a little cryptic about which circuit this is supposedly a sort of clone of - Update! - now confirmed as a clone of the Alan Yee Fuzz Nuts. In any case I have this one knob wonder which gives you that perfect mix of drive and fuzz - which gets louder and fuzzier as you crank it up. This is just a really useful beautifully balanced / textured fuzzy-drive!

I've actually just recently pre-ordered this soon to be released miniaturisation of Joey Landreth's Signature Spitty Silicon Fuzz. It's essentially a Silicon Fuzz Face which has been biased to give it that slightly spitty voltage-starved tone when fully cranked. You have just the single Output dial here which is mostly about the volume, but the tone does get more progressively broken up too as you spin the dial. Note that the above demo is for the older discontinued compact model - the circuit is the same though.

Skreddy supremo Marc Ahlfs's latest pedal is the updated Cephalopod Octave Fuzz - just beautifully textured as all Skreddy Pedals are really - and even better than the original by the sounds of it. The pedal is so new that it is still no way near reaching UK distribution (Joe's Pedal and Luck Fret Music Co). If you want it you'd better go direct! It only just missed the cut on my recent best of Octave pedals - on further consideration, I would probably include it had I done the article again more recently - just a wonderful sounding octave fuzz.

I actually really like both of Skreddy's Phasers and I thought I should have one at one stage, but could not come to a decision as to which one I preferred - so still sort of in option paralysis. These phasers are very much period correct with just a single speed dial and a deep rich tonality that you would be familiar with from music of that decade. The Little Miss Sunshine is a touch more swooshy, while the Swirl is a more delicate watery vibey tone. I really like both - but they are relatively pricey for you to own both!

The second of the Skreddy Phaser pair is slightly more psychedelic, and closer to the Zvex Vibrophase which I have, but which can be a touch tricky to dial in on occasion - it suffers a little from the same condition as the Fuzz Factory - whereby 5 dials need to be pretty much cranked in unison. So this is a very elegant solution to that problem - not as versatile as the Vibrophase for sure - but really delivers that beautifully watery vibey swirl - it sound gorgeous. Decisions decisions...

Another classic Silicon Fuzz Face style circuit using BC109 transistors. Again beautifully tuned right out of the box - lovely thick and powerful fuzz where other circuits of this type can be rather sharper and more piercing. I have so many Fuzz Face style pedals that I'm really not sure I need one more - but the one would certainly be up there on the list of considerations - just sounds beautifully textured and tuned.

The Raise The Dead is another sort of Silicon Fuzz Face style Fuzz - rather aggressive and a little more strident in the upper range when cranked than many similar - but still gloriously rich and powerful - and can go very loud! I had this on my wishlist for a while - and when the new Lime Scream edition came out I had to have one. Just as well really as that first batch of Lime disappeared really quick. This is a rather high gain version of this circuit, and I love it for that - while other similar don't go quite so aggressive. Again reacts nicely to you guitar's Volume and Tone dials.

This is just the best mini looper around - most pros have one, and Pete Honoré absolutely loves these. This is not a permanent fixture in my chain, but typically gets used when I acquire a complex new pedal where I need a looped signal to really dial in the tones properly. With my Stereo rig this can only go at the front really; I have the Ditto Stereo X2 as the end of my chain for capturing the entire stereo-separated output, but when I get the Empress Effects Zoia - I will likely relegate that for a while - I'm not really using the larger looper a whole lot at the moment. This Mini Looper really is the industry standard in its category - with record / overdub / playback and stop all on the same footswitch, and just that one output level control.