After rolling out a number of “amp-in-a-box” pedals final 12 months, Common Audio is again with a recent line of stompboxes to assist guitarists groove.

The Max Preamp/Twin Compressor offers fashions of well-known compressors, with three compressor circuits – the basic DynaComp pedal able to squashed, chicken-pickin’ sonorities, and two studio favorites, the LA-2A and FET 1176, which you’ve heard on one million platinum albums. In rackmount type, the latter two price hundreds of {dollars} every. There’s additionally a mannequin of the LA-610 preamp accessible by way of devoted smartphone app that connects with Bluetooth.

For guitar or bass, the Max offers you ample compressor tones to play with, from squashed and funky to pure and respiratory, in addition to a strong preamp (the orange knob) for dialing up a surprisingly sturdy overdrive. So, in a single housing, you will have a military of compressors for dwell guitar and bass, together with the choice of bringing it into your property studio for significantly heavy-duty sonics. There aren’t XLR ins/outs for conventional engineering, however the stereo 1/4″ jacks ship wonderful audio.

For pure jamming enjoyable, the Del-Verb Atmosphere Companion is a blast. It’s mainly a delay and reverb in a single field, however with UAFX’s fashions including tons of dimension. On the reverb aspect, you get classic reverb fashions (Spring, Plate, and Corridor), whereas there’s a full cadre of echo sounds, together with Echoplex, analog bucket-bridge delay, and clear digital bins. The Coloration knob modifications the character of every mannequin, whereas Mod presents just a little tape wiggle, vibrato, refrain or flanger. The reverb footswitch doubles because the delay’s tap-tempo and you’ll alter deeper parameters with the UAFX app.

Plugging your axe straight into the Del-Verb brings oodles of ambient pleasure, with deep and shallow reverbs, and highly effective delays. Surf-twang is a breeze, however an actual shock is combining it with distortion for genuine ’70s area rock. You need some Humble Pie or Queen thump whereas sitting at residence? This field delivers the Echoplex items with commendable accuracy.

Each UAFX pedals deliver high-end audio to the pedal scene, including welcome tweaks just like the app and USB-C connectivity for updates. Stomp ’em!

This text initially appeared in VG’s August 2023 challenge. All copyrights are by the writer and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.