Six of the best pedals from Summer NAMM 2019

Summer NAMM 2019 has come and gone in a flash, introducing us to a wealth of new and intriguing stompboxes. Missed the action in Nashville, Tennessee? Here are our picks of the best new pedals we spotted at the annual musical instruments show.

Fender The Trapper

If it’s bright red chassis is any indication, this pedal was designed for searing fuzz sounds. It houses two distinct fuzz voices: one’s softer sounding and the other’s much grittier. The softer fuzz can be combined with a high octave for glitched-out fuzz tones, while its dirtier counterpart arrives with a responsive noise gate.

EHX Tri Parallel Mixer

While EHX’s Dirt Road Special amp stole most of the NAMM limelight, the brand’s newly released Tri Parallel Mixer also garnered significant interest. This device functions as both an FX loop switcher – running independent FX loops in parallel – and a mixing hub. The latter feature is great for large rigs as it lets you send a single instrument signal out to three amplifiers.

Boss SY-1

The stars of Boss’ Summer NAMM were the RC-10R looper and the SY-1 synth pedal. The latter caught our eye with its sheer wealth of polyphonic analogue-style synth sounds. The SY-1 features 11 synth types that each have 11 variations, bringing the total of possible sounds to 121. Notable types include Lead 1 and 2 – for single-note soloing – as well as Bass, which can be summoned for thick synth bass sounds.

Greer Amps Gorilla Warfare MKII

This LM308 chip-powered drive box is Greer Amps take on the iconic Rat distortion circuit. It boasts a similar aggressive character as the MKI, but is stocked with better components and a new tone control designed to wring out more treble.

Dophix Michelangelo

Dophix is a boutique pedal brand from Italy that has sculpted some unique works of art. The brand’s latest creation is Michelangelo, a versatile overdrive/boost pedal stocked with JFET transistors for that warm, tube-like sound. Of note is the drive section that affords you different OD flavours based on three semiconductors: silicon, germanium and JFET.

Dunlop Authentic Hendrix ’69 Psych series

Dunlop has paid tribute to Jimi Hendrix with a new collection of MXR-sized micro pedals. The Fuzz Face Distortion, Octavio Fuzz, Uni-Vibe Chorus/Vibrato and Band Of Gypsies Fuzz are touted to cover all grounds of Hendrix’s elusive tone. Each pedal is also decorated with a psychedelic, Hendrix-themed graphics.

For more Summer NAMM 2019 news, click here.