5 Modulation Pedals You Didn’t Know You Needed

The MXR Phase 90 is a stable for anyone looking to get that classic phaser sound. But it only has one knob! What if you want to unleash the ‘70s with a bit more tonal control? That’s where the JHS 3 Series Phaser comes in.

The JHS 3 Series Phaser is a part of JHS’s 3 Series, which means it has THREE knobs. That’s triple the fun! Control Blend, Rate, and Width to get the phaser sound exactly where you want it. And when you want to take the fun into overdrive, flip the feedback switch and see where the tones take you.

This will definitely get you that classic phaser sound you’re looking for but with a few extra options to really dial in your perfect sound.

Electro-Harmonix has been making awesome pedals since the ‘70s, many of which have become highly collectable — and therefore, highly expensive… But this one isn’t!

The Electro-Harmonix Andy Summers Walking on the Moon brings that classic flanger sound you know and love from the Police to your pedalboard without needing Andy Summers’ bank account. And it even comes with a “Walking on the Moon” poster. Great tones and rock memorabilia? What’s not to love!?

It might look like a classic Dunlop wah, but that’s about where the similarities end. Zakk Wylde has been working with Dunlop for decades. So when it came time for him to create a new “wylde” modulation pedal, he knew exactly where to turn.

The Dunlop Wylde Audio Rotovibe is basically what would happen if you could jam a Leslie rotating speaker cabinet into an expression pedal. You can swap between Chorus and Vibrato with the toe switch on the side and control the “rotation” using the pedal.

It’s a Leslie you don’t need to lug around. And that’s why you need it.

Back in the ‘60s, all the kids wanted to play guitar like the Beatles. And if they scraped together enough allowance money, they could get themselves a Silvertone guitar and amp from the Sears catalog to practice on. These old guitars and amps came with some cool modulation effects — specifically the tremolo — that people loved.

Fast forward to today, and Jackson Audio decided to team up with Silvertone to recreate those lovely tremolo effects of yesteryear with the 1484 Twin Trem. It has all the classic controls you’d find on the old amps, wrapped up in a vintage-inspired casing, ready to bring that unmistakable tremolo sound to your pedalboard.

Even in extreme settings this pedal still sounds musical. If you want classic Tremolo, this is the pedal for you.

Gamechanger Audio never does things “the way they’ve always been done.” They have to get funky with it. So needless to say when they wanted to create a modulation pedal, they took it to a new level.

The Gamechanger Audio Motor Pedal is an electro-mechanical synth engine. And if that doesn’t sound crazy enough, they added a mechanical brake that slows the mechanical motor. Yes, it has a brake.

Spin up the motor and control the synth engine with ten knobs to create billions of different tonal effects — I didn’t do the math, but I’d imagine it’s pretty close. You could spend an entire weekend with this pedal and still barely scratch the surface of what it could do.

This is like the mod pedal final boss. And it’s so much fun.