Pedals that (far) exceeded your expectations...

[Lovep]

Mesa Subway+ Preamp - the HPF combined with the deep/bright switch and voicing knobs allows for a lot of tone shaping

Aguilar Agro - Im not a dirt guy, but this pedal with a pbass and flats makes some real magic!

Origins Cali 76 CB - best compressor that I’ve ever owned.

 

[DDXdesign]

DOD Milkbox! I didn't know what to expect of this inexpensive compressor but I just love what it does to my sound!

Honorable mention to the Little Bear BS-1, a $35 Woolly Mammoth clone fuzz. While I'm not really into the full pinched-fuzz sound, if you leave off the Pinch (by turning that kknob all the way UP, oddly) you have a nice fat almost tubey fuzztone.

 

[REV]

The Bearfoot Blueberry is a really good bass distortion pedal. It can be fairly transparent and give you either just a bit of grit or a lot of grind but what really gets it for me is when I use it with guitar. So far, after comparing it to a multitude of distortion pedals it is still my favorite.

 

[cmcbass]

Hate to do it to you, but...

Haha! That would be nice to have, but it would take up a little too much room on my pedal board!

 

[AlvarHanso]

Haha! That would be nice to have, but it would take up a little too much room on my pedal board!

For sure, but that is one hell of an upgrade. Better than the SuperEgo+, but I'm hoping for an Ocean's 12 or whatever it will be.

 

[CapnSev]

DOD Milkbox! I didn't know what to expect of this inexpensive compressor but I just love what it does to my sound!

Yup. Milk Box. It’s my favorite piece of kit.

 

[TheLowDown33]

In no particular order:

1. Fairfield Accountant - Dead nuts easy to use compressor that sounds oh so good. It has a fixed quick attack and release and a nice bit of overdrive that is just so pleasing in every situation.

2. Darkglass Alpha Omicron - this was one of those pedals where I just kicked it on and went "yep". I no longer lust for drive pedals (although fuzz on the other hand...)

3. Earthquaker Avalanche Run - the dispatch master was phenomenal, but having tap tempo, independent reverb control and a reverse mode that sounds so good was just a perfect sequel. Also, theres so many little tricks in it that make some really unique sounds. If they made a MIDI version, I'd be all over it.

4. Meris Hedra - Got this one as a gift, not really sure I'd find a use for it but I'll be damned if it doesnt make some of the most lush modulated pad sounds. Just a beautiful pedal. It also has a super awesome sub octave that is dub central with 3 detuned voices. Oh, and the delay sounds are pretty sweet too.

 

[Stranger Danger]

Source Audio c-4 I expected a bass Mono Synth Clone but got much more . So much more in Fact it kicked my Future Impact off my board.

I too am blown away by the C4. I expected it to be good but not this good.

 

[HolmeBass]

Sort of hard to say they exceeded my expectations b/c I always expect them to crush, but these are the winners, the ones I trust at any gig.

Cali 76 bass comp, MXR BEF, creation audio Grizzly Bass, Iron Ether Subterranea, Polytope, and Xerograph Dlx, Stomp Under Foot Civil War, TAFM, Dipatch Master, Moog Minifooger Analog Delay, Aguilar Octamizer.

Here are two that really did exceed my expectations: MXR Script re-issue Phase 90 and Micro Amp.

 

[Danny O Danny]

Radial Bassbone OD. I'm not a pedal guy, but this thing really brought my electric upright to life. I run my P bass through the second channel and it really livened it up too. I don't use the overdrive in it but instead use the effects function to loop in my external effects (which consists of my only other pedals: an EBS reverb and an MXR octave pedal).

 

[Planespotter]

Demeter Compulator.

 

[Somnambulance]

Broughton HPF

Broughton Josh Wah

EHX Russian Big Muff Reissue

Digitech Nautila

 

[999Brent]

Fulltone Bassdrive, Mosfet, I was expecting quite a bit of low end roll off from reading others comments, but was surprised how it kept the low end. I love the range of dirt tones I get from this thing!
It has the sound I have in my head.

 

[40Hz]

Most of the effects I ended up being impressed by (with a couple of noteworthy exceptions) were fairly expensive and landed somewhere between $200 and $350 street.

But there were also a few relatively inexpensive pedals that floored me with how good they sounded.

Hotone Eko and Phaze



Two diminutive and inexpensive pedals I bought on a lark because I liked the idea of getting a few postage stamp sized effects pedals I could just drop in a gig bag and take along anywhere. IIRC I paid less than $60 each for them brand new. And at that price point I didn’t expect too much from them beyond being acceptably serviceable.

But it turns out they ended up being two of my favorites for delay and phase shifting. Great sound, noise free, and built like they’re meant to withstand a drone strike.

One thing that’s really great about them is they play well with other effects so you can stack them with similar pedals to boost their usefulness tenfold.

Today there’s a lot of interest in dual effects. You’ll see dual delays, dual ODs, dual phasers, etc. that open up a whole new sonic landscape. These little boxes work great as half of a DIY dual effect combo. The Hotone Eko combined with the Catalinbread Montevillian Echo I already owned, and the Hotone Phaze combined with the MXR Phase 90 I bought with it (because I was always a fan of running multiple phase shifters) make for some very potent pairings.

Cool tools!

 

[2112]

Digitech Drop

I know it's just a pitch shifter, but I expected tracking problems and sadness. Not so much. Since I don't go anywhere without it... so much easier to carry around than 3rd and 4th basses.

 

[DJ Bebop]

This thing:

I found it to be a fun little pedal.

Up to 5 effects in a chain in any order, looper, basic drum machine, turner, expression pedal,
store up to 100 patches, select from 105 effects. Sounds good enough in a band setting, to me.
Fun!

 

[LSMFT6]

SA Aftershock, Ventris and C4/Spectrum

 

[rohi]

I see a lot of people mentioning HPFs. How does a filter exceed expectations? I have the same one listed a few times here, but I wouldn't say it does anything else than what I expected it to.

My Whirlwind OC-Bass (optical compressor) really surprised me. It's extremely transparent and musical, with tons of headroom, both compression and limiting modes, and doubles as a great boost when needed. Awesome compressor.

 

[40Hz]

I see a lot of people mentioning HPFs. How does a filter exceed expectations? I have the same one listed a few times here, but I wouldn't say it does anything else than what I expected it to.

I think what comes as a surprise for a lot of people isn't what it does so much as what a difference it often makes.

It’s a little like a compressor if you’ve never used one and someone very familiar with compressors sits down with you and helps you get one dialed in correctly for the first time. For many players it’s an eye opening experience.

It’s one of those things you may have dismissed as something you’d never want or need until you tried it out for yourself.

 

[dkelley]

Behringer hellbabe wah. With the required physical mod to the optical cardboard cutout, a very good spring return auto on-off wah pedal.

... with adjustable boost (with side on off button you can hit with your foot.. with its own on light! ).. variable Q (!)... variable pitch range (top and bottom adjust together downwards if you don't like the default)... adjustable center pitch, adjustable turn off delay when you leave it in heel position

My favorite wah on guitar and roll the pitch knob over and its the best bass wah I've used. 30 bucks used with psu!

Behringer bdi21. Great bass amp analog simulation, cab sim, XLR out di.... crazy good. 30 bucks new back in the day.

Bad monkey. Great guitar od pedal for cheap that I also love on bass... great, unique tone that has s very tube like gentle clipping tone and plenty of bass. Also has a nice cab sim on a dedicated second output Jack... who does that? Sooo helpful.