Best Effects Pedals 2014: SonicState Gear Of The Year Awards

See which pedals our panel chose as the top pedals this year   30-Dec-14

It's time for the SonicState Gear of the Year Awards, and in 2014 we kick it off by announcing the best pedals from 2014.

As always, a panel of writers, reviewers and Sonic bloggers help pick the top five pedals released onto the market in this calendar year.

So let's take a look at the results...

5) Electro Harmonix Soul Food//JHS Soul Food mod

This is a first for SonicState; we're giving fifth place to two pedals.

When EHX say they've set out to make an affordable version of the legendary (and partly mythical) Klon Centaur, then you sit up and take notice (and wait patiently).

The pedal was unveiled at the Winter NAMM show in January and instantly won people over with the sub £50/$75 price point.

It sounds remarkably close to the Klon Centaur, especially in a room full of people, with your amp going through a microphone and a mixing desk and coming out of a PA system.

In close-mic tests/isolation tests, you can hear that it does lack a tiny bit of those Centaur low mid-range guts, but in terms of that oh-so annoying word 'clarity' that everybody seems to associate with the Centaur, it's up there with it.

Of course what people mean by that is that the Klon Centaur has a beautifully balanced high mid-range and will rarely ever get your amp spitting out any unnecessary spikes that frequency range.

For the price, buy yourself a Soul Food and stick the test of the money you'll save into a savings account... or buy a guitar.

OR, buy yourself the JHS modification of the EHX Soul Food; because as usual the guys at JHS have done an amazing job of taking an already great pedal and making it even better.

A three-way toggle switch gives three different types of clipping, while the "meat" knob allows you to contour the bass.

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