Single Pedals or Stompboxes
Single pedals represent the simplest way to get a standalone effect. The pedal market is flooded with stompboxes and with modern innovation, a lot of these analogue effects will actually have more than one effect, but strictly speaking – a single stompbox gives you a single sound.
Pros of using single stompboxes
- Stompboxes are easy to mount onto a pedalboard.
- Single stompboxes are easy to move around within a pedalboard chain. For example: If you want compression before or after your drive pedals, it’s easy enough to change the order of your pedals by physically swapping them around.
- The ‘single-effect’ nature of stompboxes means that they do what they say on the tin, and you won’t suffer from option-paralysis by having too much choice.
- There aren’t any small, pesky screens to navigate. You can use the knobs available and your ears to find a sound you like with ease.
Cons of using single stompboxes
- Stompboxes need to be individually-powered. Often, you’ll need a costly power brick to power multiple pedals properly at once.
- If you want a different type of effect, even to experiment, you’ll need to go out and buy one.
- Pedalboards can get big and heavy and you’re limited by the effects that you have on your board.
- Buying individual pedals can become costly.