Finding the best arpeggiator pedal that will give your guitar that arpeggiated effect isn’t easy. There are only a few pedal companies that even make arpeggio effects and even fewer that make ones worth using.
That’s why we scoured the pedal market to find the sickest pedals that actually give you a vibrant arpeggio sound without all of the unwanted noise that many others have. These things are super fun to play around with and add texture to any style.
So let’s check out some stompboxes! These are the top-rated arpeggiator effect pedals that you need to add to your pedalboard and rig.
Compare the Top 4 Best Arpeggiator Pedals in 2020
Contents
Here is a list of the best arpeggiator guitar effects pedals that will transform your guitar sound.
- EarthQuaker Devices Arpanoid V2
- Dwarfcraft Devices Pitchgrinder
- Hologram Electronics Dream Sequence
- Eventide H9 CORE
EarthQuaker Devices Arpanoid V2
Specs, features, and benefits
The Arpanoid V2 by Earthquaker Devices is a polyphonic pitch arpeggiator pedal – it tracks the notes that you are playing, and it creates sequences. The pedal has five control knobs and a three-way toggle switch. With the three-way switch you can set the directions of the sequence – up, down, and both at the same time available.
The pedal’s controls are Rate knob, Step knob, Mode rotary-switch, Wet knob, and Dry knob. The Step control knob sets how many steps you’ll have in the arpeggio. The Rate control knob controls the speed of the arpeggio. The Mode rotary switch lets you set one of eight progression modes – there are four major and four minor available. The Dry control knob and the Wet control knob control the levels of your dry signal and effect.
Pros and Highlights
- Amazing sound – If you are into psychedelic or experimental music, you will absolutely love this pedal!
- Great performance – The Arpanoid V2 tracks chords and single notes without any problem.
- Handmade – Earthquaker company make their products by hand, which of course, ensures build-quality and longevity of the pedal!
Cons and Potential Flaws
- No cons!
Bottom line
If you like to experiment with pedals, you must check out the Arpanoid V2! It is an amazing Arpeggio pedal. It is a sturdy, versatile, and inspiring pedal. EarthQuaker knows how to make this kind of pedals!
Dwarfcraft Devices Pitchgrinder
Specs, features, and benefits
The Dwarfcraft Pitchgrinder is a versatile Arpeggio (pitch-shifting sequencer) pedal, with easily controllable parameters. It has two footswitches, Engage, and Tap.
With the Tap footswitch, you can tap it with your foot, or you can hold it during a sequence – either way, it controls some interesting effects. The pedal has eight separate stage controls. It also has a Length control knob and Volume control knob. On the left side, you can also find a Glide switch – which creates interesting effects too!
The pedal has a range from -1 to +2 Octaves.
Pros and Highlights
- Very musical – The Pitchgrinder can inspire you to make new, interesting, experimental music!
- Versatile – Just turn around the knobs, and play with the pedal. You will be amazed by how many different sounds you can get out of it!
- Easy to use – Just tweak around those knobs!
Cons and Potential Flaws
- No cons!
Bottom line
The Pitchgrinder is a very interesting pedal. It is a very easy-to-use pedal, and it creates amazing sounds. It is a versatile pitch-shifting sequencer pedal (Arpeggio) that can inspire you to make totally new and fresh music. All you need to do is tweak around the knobs, and experiment with the pedal’s controls.
Hologram Electronics Dream Sequence
Specs, features, and benefits
The Dream Sequence pedal by Hologram Electronics can create tons and tons of new sounds. It is a sequencer, a pitch-shifter, a sampler, an arpeggiator, and envelope-shaper put in one single box. How cool is that?
It has three footswitches, Tap-tempo, By-pass, and Hold. The Hold footswitch let’s you sample a sound, and then play it infinitely while playing with the parameters on top of it.
Pretty interesting! The Dream Sequence has a Presets bank three-way toggle switch and two rotary switches, Subdivision, and Presets. With the switch, you can choose User, Factory, or Saved presets.
With the rotary switches, you can access the twenty-four built-in presets, tweak them, and make your audience meet with the aliens. There are also control knobs for Shape, Dry Mix, Drive, and Tone. The Shape control knob lets you choose your preferred wave-shape. The Dry Mix lets you set-in your Dry/Wet preferences. The Drive and the Tone control knobs dial-in the built-in distortion circuit at the end of the pedal – they will add saturation and texture to your alien sounds.
On the back of the pedal, you can find Midi In and Output jacks, and an Expression pedal port.
Pros and Highlights
- Unique – The Hologram Electronics Dream Sequence pedal is a very unique pedal! You can’t hear this pedal every day at your local venue… Only the chosen-ones can play a pedal this cool!
- Oh, the versatility – Don’t let me even start on the topic of versatility when speaking of this pedal. It is amazingly versatile! Even the sky is not a limit… You can get some sounds from it that is never-heard before!
- Great sounding – The Dream Sequence pedal sounds vintage, yet modern at the same time!
Cons and Potential Flaws
- No cons!
Bottom line
If somehow you find yourself on the weird side of music, you would probably want to check out this beast of a pedal. The Dream Sequencer is a very versatile pedal, and it is guaranteed that it will inspire you. The limits with this unit are pretty much non-existing, as you can create totally new, never-heard-before, cool sounds. Your audience will be amazed. Just beware of one thing – aliens. They might want to steal this machine from you!
Eventide H9 CORE
Specs, features, and benefits
The Eventide H9 Core is a modern digital pedal, based on the Eventide H910 and H949 effects. The H9 Core has a delay, modulation, pitch-shifting, and reverb effects. It is a multi-effects pedal, but it can do arpeggios pretty well too! The Eventide H9 Core has twenty-five factory presets. The pedal has two footswitches, Active, and Tap.
For adjusting the parameters of the effects, there are five push-buttons (Hot knob, X, Y, Z, and Presets), and one big control knob on the pedal. All of the push-buttons have two functions, and you can access them with a single push on them, and with holding them down for more than two seconds.
On the back of the pedal, you can find two inputs, two outputs jacks, a Footswitch port, and USB port. Through the USB port, you can connect the H9 with Windows, OSX, or iOS device. The H9 Core has built-in two algorithms, but with downloading the Eventide H9 Control app, you will have access to a lot more algorithms.
Pros and Highlights
- Compact – The H9 Core is very compact, and due to its size – it is pedalboard-friendly!
- Versatile – There are a lot of different presets in this little fella, and with tweaking the parameters there is a huge number of effects you can get out of it.
- Clean, great sound – The Eventide, due to modern technology sounds great and incredibly clean!
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Completely digital – If you are just like me, and you want to have a knob for every parameter on the pedal, this pedal is not for you. It is very modern, digital pedal. And if you are a bit older, you might find it hard to control it.
Bottom line
The Eventide H9 Core is capable of delivering many different sounds, including arpeggios, pitch-shifting, delay, reverb, etc. It is a highly-modern unit, and due to that, it is a great sounding one too. However, it is not for everybody – I, for example, like to have a separate knob for every parameter on the pedal.
What We Recommend and Why
We recommend the EarthQuaker Devices Arpanoid V2 pedal! It is a great sounding, easy-to-use, built with a great attention to detail Arpeggiator pedal that can inspire you to make new music, and blow your audience’s brains away! Great pedal. Great job once again, EarthQuaker!