The beauty of playing around with effect pedals is that the boundaries are constantly being stretched, warped and even broken. If you're looking for a sound or tool that just can't be categorised - one that just doesn't slot into the overdrive, distortion, modulation or ambient box - then you're in the right place.
Effect Pedals as Band Members
A stompbox that you can actually back yourself up with is always going to be a valuable addition to any pedalboard. These often smart tools don't just provide accompaniment to your playing but actually help you to train and hone your playing. This can include a classic looper pedal, but can also include a drum machine or band-emulator neatly packed away in a pedal. Set the tempo, select a stomping beat and jam, improvise and even write complete tracks with nothing but an electric guitar and a couple of pedals. Then there are pedals that hand you the power to create backing tracks in real-time by doing nothing more than hitting a few footswitches - a great gigging tool for singer-songwriters and solo acoustic guitarists.
Power Amplifiers in a Stompbox
The technology of guitar-based gear is better than ever, to the point where you don't even need to lug a hefty guitar amplifier from rehearsals to gigs if you don't want to. Instead, you could just pick up a much-more-manageable power amplifier pedal. These magic boxes are particularly valuable for guitarists that can't do without effects like distortion. A power amplifier pedal literally replaces the guitar amplifier, so it's planted at the end of the signal chain to provide the final amplification, so all you'll need to do is plug in your go-to speaker cabinet.
Switches & Controllers
Some effects pedals come loaded with a mass of functions and options, so to gain real-time control over them, you can plug in a dedicated external footswitch, setting you up with extra switching options so you don't have to bend down to scroll through menus or perform complex tap-dancing routines to trigger the right effect at just the right moment. For gigging guitarists, it can be a life saver. Next to dedicated external switches, you can also get simple, more universal switches that can be set up to do a range of different jobs: think mute switches that can silence your setup at the literally push of a button.
