Delay & moDulation

This year’s finest space, shimmer and shake pedals...

electro Harmonix Canyon Delay anD looper £132

Mike Matthews has a genius knack for bringing useful (and sometimes bonkers) effects together in colourful packages that don’t cost an awful lot. And what could be more useful than 10 powerful Electro-Harmonix delays, encompassing reverb and sample-and-hold functions, plus a 60-second looper? Unlike some of EHX’s compact multis, the interface is intuitive to use, while the more extreme settings offer greater scope for sonic experimentation than most pedal companies dare build. EHX remains committed to earopening effects that have solid utility at their core. The Canyon is a fine example of that – and it’s tap-tempo capable too. www.ehx.com

Supro 1310 Tremolo £229

Supro have been on a roll in the past year and it’s the fact they bothered to do something interesting with the design of a mere tremolo that first turned us onto this pedal – followed by its top-drawer sonics. Amplitude mode offers the conventional tremolo sounds typically generated by bias-modulating an amp’s power valves, while Harmonic mode apes the more phaserlike tremolo associated mainly with Fender ‘brownface’ amps. The coolest thing about it, though, is the Gain knob, which sets the amount of preamp gain in the pedal offering various degrees of grit and texture to the trem’s voice. Not cheap, but hugely atmospheric and stands up well against boutique competition. suprousa.com

meriS merCury 7 £318

Rackmount-quality ’verbs for your board are becoming a bit of a thing – witness Free The Tone’s recent Ambi-Space Digital Reverb – and, if ultra-lush ambience is your bag, we urge you to plug into the Meris Mercury 7. A relative newcomer to the world of guitar effects, Meris has made a real jewel in the Mercury 7. The core reverb algorithms generate rich, detailed ’verbs while additional Pitch Vector controls for adding harmonic overtones help evoke new, ethereal soundworlds, and the welcome EQ controls give extra tone-sculpting power. There are tonally competitive rivals out there, but it was the hands-on, guitarist-friendly control interface and stellar sonics that give the Mercury 7 such appeal. www.meris.us