Distortion, Fuzz and Delay: How Fender's Pedals Can Expand Your Tone

Even though instruments like the Telecaster and Precision Bass have set the standard when it comes to musical expression for over seven decades, the creative minds at Fender weren't going to rest on their laurels.

The next addition to the tonal toolbox would be a line of effects pedals that could help color the sonic palette laid out by those instruments.

Fender first took a crack at pedals came in 2018, but that line expanded in 2019 with even more tonal possibilities. The Pour Over Envelope Filter, the Smolder Acoustic Overdrive, the Compugilist, the Trapper Fuzz, MGT-LA Tube Distortion and the Reflecting Pool Delay/Reverb represent six additional models that can fit into any artist's rig.

Designed in Southern California, this edition of Fender pedals were engineered with insight from professional gigging and studio musicians, artists and some of the industry’s best minds. At the helm is in-house expert Stan Cotey, who spent 25 years in professional audio, as well as 13 years designing and engineering many of Fender’s digital and tube guitar amplifiers.

“When we launched our first six pedals in 2018, we knew we’d be taking bold steps in the world of creating tone,” said Fender Director of Product Development for Accessories and Consumer Electronics Richard Bussey. “We’re going even further with our most innovative and exciting offering to-date. There’s something for everyone.”

Fender’s team of experts designed each original circuit, crafted using lightweight, durable anodized aluminum for stage ready durability. The Amp Jewel LED gives players’ pedalboards the classic Fender look while the switchable LED-backlit knobs show control settings on a dark stage at a glance. These six effects pedals all have enhanced feature sets that provide players with maximum tonal possibilities; they include:

Reflecting Pool Delay & Reverb

The relationship between time-based effects, like delay and reverb, is critical to operating them correctly. The Reflecting Pool Delay/Reverb is a true stereo pedal that combines these two classic effects into one comprehensive chassis, making it easy to integrate into any pedalboard. Utilizing cutting-edge DSP for rich and complex algorithms, Reflecting Pool faithfully recreates classic sounds, while also conjuring otherworldly new ones. Type, Variation and Quality controls make it easy to precisely shape your sound, the Time toggle adds rhythmic subdivisions, and the Tap Tempo footswitch makes sure everything stays in time.

Pour Over Envelope Filter

The Pour Over features a unique spin on the traditional envelope filter—also known as an auto-wah—the Pour Over envelope filter has a few tricks hidden up its sleeve. Not only does it react to picking dynamics, but Fender’s pedal engineers also added an onboard distortion circuit with dedicated controls that can be toggled to punch things up a bit. The comprehensive control set also includes selectable High-Pass, Low-Pass and Band-Pass filter types, as well as sweep direction control so a player can tailor the sound precisely for your musical needs.

Smolder Acoustic Overdrive

Fender’s first-ever effect pedal designed for the acoustic artist, the all-analog Smolder Acoustic Overdrive provides a convincing amped distortion tone for acoustic guitar players using traditional acoustic amps, sound reinforcement systems and recording. To soften the bright attack of a piezo pickup, Fender’s pedal designers included a Pickup Compensation control that smooths out the highs. The Drive knob controls the amount of distortion, while 3-band EQ and filter controls let you shape your sound to taste. Cabinet simulation was even included to add some flavor when plugged into a full-range acoustic amp or PA system.

Compugilist Compressor/Distortion

Compression and distortion are the one-two punch for every guitar players rig. We combined those two essential effects into one pedalboard-friendly chassis. The two discrete, all-analog effects are independently switchable, allowing you to use them solo or stacked. The straightforward controls make it easy to dial in your sound to taste.

The Trapper Dual Fuzz

Fuzz is a guitar player essential. Ranging from smooth and polite to sputtering and broken-sounding, this effect is the heart of rock and roll. The Trapper combines two discrete fuzz voices into one chassis with global Tone and Contour controls to shape your sound to taste. The softer-sounding first voice includes a switchable high octave—perfect for generating synth-like tones—while the grittier second voice includes a highly interactive noise gate.

MTG: LA Tube Distortion

Few things are as satisfying as the real-deal, tube distortion sound of glowing glass. Vacuum tubes are responsible for the tones you fell in love with, and the MTG: LA is a tube distortion pedal based around a genuine, U.S.-made NOS 6205 preamp tube. Tone, Bass, Treble and Tight controls make it easy to shape your sound, while the distinctly Fender footswitch-able Boost adds volume, gain or both to make your solos stand out.The MTG:LA’s voicing differs from the original MTG. The LA version has more bass response, and a different texture to the distortion, and also features an additional Tone control rather than the MTG's Mid control.

Shop all of Fender's effects pedals here.