It’s one thing to know how to play your favorite classic rock songs, but it’s quite another thing to be able to actually mimic their overall tones and sounds.
You can have the right guitar and the right amp, but if you don’t have the accompanying classic rock effects pedals that you need, the sound can be quite frustrating to achieve.
In this article, we narrowed down the best 6 essential classic rock effects pedals that you will need if you’re trying to sound anything like Jimi Hendrix, Queen, Aerosmith, The Police, or Van Halen.
The list goes on and on when it comes to classic rock bands that used the same types of pedals, but one thing is certain: their tone and sound were helped by some pretty awesome effects.
Table of Contents
Best Overdrive Pedal for Classic Rock
People often get distortion and overdrive pedals mixed up, but an overdrive pedal is actually different.
The job of an overdrive pedal is to mimic the sound of a tube amp that’s been pushed to its limits.
The Fulltone OCD overdrive pedal is popular with many classic rock bands such as Aerosmith, ZZ Top, and Billy Idol just to name a few.
We picked the Fulltone OCD as the best overdrive pedal for classic rock because it’s one of the greatest sounding overdrive pedals ever made. And just like the other Fulltone guitar pedals, this one is also built like a tank.
Best Distortion Pedal for Classic Rock
A distortion pedal is made to do one thing and that is to distort the sound coming from your amplifier.
It is a more extreme version of an overdrive pedal, and definitely packs more of a punch.
Many many famous bands use this guitar pedal, and it is popular throughout most genres, not just classic rock.
With that being said, some of the more popular classic rock bands that use this pedal are bands like Skid Row, Whitesnake, and Steve Vai just to name a few.
We chose the Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal as the best pick for classic rock because it just sounds amazing. It’s also one of the most widely used effects pedals on the market.
Boss pedals are solidly built and were made to last an eternity. They are also popular with people that like to mod their pedals with unique add-ons.
Best Wah Pedal for Classic Rock
Wah pedals are very unique pedals in that they mimic the human voice with a wah wah sound, which is where the name comes from.
It gets this cool sound by altering the tone and frequencies of your guitar signal.
The wah pedal became a popular staple among many classic rock bands such as Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and Van Halen.
One of the most popular songs that use the Wah pedal is “Voodoo Child” by Jimi Hendrix, just to give you an idea of what this pedal sounds like if you don’t already know.
We chose the Dunlop Crybaby Wah pedal because it was actually the original Wah Pedal, thus it’s the granddaddy of all wah pedals. You can change the effect that this pedal has on your tone by rocking your foot back and forth.
Best Fuzz Pedal for Classic Rock
Fuzz pedals are very similar to overdrive and distortion pedals, except that fuzz pedals are a more aggressive form of distortion.
To get the fuzz sound, the pedal heavily saturates and clips your signal.
Just like the other pedals on the list, this pedal was also commonly used by numerous bands.
A few of the classic rock bands that used this pedal include Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, and John Lennon.
We chose the Electro-Harmonix Little Big Muff Pi pedal because it sounds like a real true fuzz pedal compared to some so-called fuzz pedals that are a bit newer in the music industry.
It’s also important to note that there are actually several versions of this pedal available. And there’s also a special fuzz pedal they make that is exclusively for bass guitar.
Best Delay Pedal for Classic Rock
Simply put, a delay pedal records the sound that you’ve already played with your guitar.
And then it quickly plays it back while you have already moved on to the next few notes of whatever it is that you were playing.
It’s similar to an echo-like sound.
Some of the classic rock bands that have utilized the delay effects pedals include ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Queen, and Pink Floyd just to name a few.
The delay effect is quite popular in many songs throughout the years, but you might not even notice it unless you’re really listening for it.
We chose the MXR Carbon Copy delay pedal as the number one pick for classic rock music because of its popularity and overall sound quality. It’s also a very easy pedal to figure out which makes it perfect for beginners as well.
Best Phaser Pedal for Classic Rock
A phaser pedal is a type of synthesizer pedal that uses an all-pass filter that takes your guitar signal and splits it into two different paths. It delays based on what “phase” it’s on.
Popular classic rock bands that used a phaser pedal in their songs include Queen, Pink Floyd, The Sex Pistols, Van Halen, and The Police.
The reason we picked the MXR Phase 90 is because of its overall phaser sound and its warm analog tone.
Also when you’re playing some of your favorite classic rock songs, it’s almost identical to the same sound they get.
