Guitar Summit 2026: these are the new effect pedals we are keeping an eye on.

From September 25 to 27, 2026, the Congress Center Rosengarten in Mannheim will once again be completely dedicated to guitars, amplifiers and, of course, effects pedals.

Guitar Summit has now grown into one of Europe’s most important guitar shows, with hundreds of brands represented again this year. Naturally, we are particularly interested in the effects pedals, and there will be plenty to discover in 2026. Well-known names such as EarthQuaker Devices, JAM Pedals, Walrus Audio, Death By Audio, Darkglass, DSM & Humboldt and Crazy Tube Circuits will all be present in Mannheim. In addition, a variety of smaller boutique builders will be exhibiting, while several completely new products will be unveiled during the show.

The Guitar Summit organization has already announced the first new products. We take a look at the most interesting developments for pedalheads.

JAM Pedals Tiny Amp Destroyer: Like Your Amp Is Falling Apart

One of the most interesting new pedals announced ahead of Guitar Summit 2026 is the JAM Pedals Tiny Amp Destroyer. JAM developed the pedal together with Stu Mackenzie of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.

The story behind the Tiny Amp Destroyer is at least as interesting as the pedal itself. The starting point was a setup in which two JAM Pedals Boomsters were used to drive a small Cash Converters practice amp far harder than it was ever designed to handle. The result was a raw, gritty and almost broken amplifier sound.

JAM Pedals decided to develop that idea into a standalone effect. As a result, the Tiny Amp Destroyer ranges from a gritty boost and ragged overdrive to aggressive, almost exploding distortion. Rather than trying to reproduce the sound of a perfect vintage tube amplifier, the pedal deliberately recreates the sound of an amp being pushed far beyond its comfort zone.

That makes it one of the most interesting new pedals of Guitar Summit 2026 as far as we’re concerned.

DOD Drag Analog Delay: Turning Analog Delay into an Instrument

DOD is also introducing an unusual new effect: the DOD Drag Analog Delay. At its core, this is a true analog delay based on BBD technology. That means familiar warm echoes, short slapbacks and repeats that become progressively darker. But that is only the beginning.

DOD specifically designed the Drag to turn the normally somewhat unpredictable characteristics of analog delay into a creative tool. Delay time and pitch can be manipulated while playing using the multifunction footswitch.

This makes it possible to create pitch bends, drifting modulation effects and increasing feedback that can eventually develop into self-oscillation. The Drag can therefore be used as a conventional analog delay, but almost as a standalone instrument as well. That makes the concept particularly interesting for guitarists who enjoy experimenting with ambient music, noise and soundscapes.

EarthQuaker Devices: What’s Hiding Under the Cover?

Perhaps the most exciting news concerns a pedal we currently know almost nothing about. EarthQuaker Devices will unveil a completely new product at Guitar Summit on Friday, September 25 at 11:00 AM. The Guitar Summit organization has officially announced the premiere, but the product itself remains a mystery for now. At the show, the cover will literally be pulled off.

Naturally, that makes it especially interesting to us. EarthQuaker Devices is a brand we have carried at Pedaltown for a long time and it is also one of those manufacturers that regularly comes up with highly distinctive designs.

Its range stretches from relatively traditional fuzzes, distortions and overdrives to much more experimental combinations of delay, reverb, pitch and modulation. That makes it difficult to predict what EarthQuaker will present in Mannheim. A new fuzz? A modulation pedal? A completely new digital effect? We’ll know on September 25.

Death By Audio: Controlled chaos

Death By Audio will also be present at Guitar Summit 2026. Anyone familiar with the brand will know that “subtle” is rarely the first word that comes to mind when describing its pedals. Death By Audio specializes in effects that push traditional boundaries considerably. Fuzz, distortion, delay and filtering are regularly combined with oscillation, extreme gain and unconventional routing.

Another remarkable release is the Death By Audio Amp Crash, developed in collaboration with Rainger FX. Instead of electronically simulating the sound of an overdriven amplifier, the pedal actually contains a small 3-watt amplifier, a 2-inch speaker and a microphone. The amplifier drives the speaker and the microphone then captures its sound.

Using the DI OUT and MIC OUT controls, you can blend the direct amplifier signal with the miked-up speaker sound. The result ranges from raw overdrive and distortion to massive fuzz, harmonic feedback and some seriously unpredictable sounds. The Amp Crash therefore fits perfectly with one of the most striking current trends: rather than recreating the perfect amplifier sound, it focuses on the sound of equipment being pushed far beyond its normal operating limits.

The trend: Broken and Imperfect Sounds Are Back

Together, the JAM Pedals Tiny Amp Destroyer and DOD Drag Delay highlight an interesting development. For years, a large part of the pedal market revolved around reproducing classic equipment as accurately as possible: the perfect Tube Screamer, Klon, Plexi, Fender amplifier or analog delay.

Those pedals certainly aren’t disappearing, but alongside them there is growing interest in devices that deliberately do something strange or imperfect. The sound of an amplifier being driven far too hard. An analog delay running out of control. A fuzz that makes your original signal almost unrecognizable. Unstable modulation. Damaged cassette tapes. Overdriven mixing consoles.

Technical perfection is not the goal here. Instead, it is precisely the imperfections that matter. It is a development that fits brands such as EarthQuaker Devices and Death By Audio particularly well.

Walrus Audio: From Creative Effects to Complete Pedalboards

Another brand we’ll be keeping an eye on in Mannheim is Walrus Audio. Over the past few years, Walrus has developed from a boutique effects builder into a manufacturer capable of supplying almost an entire pedalboard. In addition to overdrive, fuzz, delay, chorus and reverb, the company now also produces MIDI solutions, DI boxes and its extensive Canvas range of power supplies.

Especially when it comes to reverb and delay, Walrus often combines accessibility with experimentation. Its pedals need to remain practical for live performance while still offering enough possibilities for ambient and more experimental sounds.

Walrus also continues to develop products surrounding the pedalboard itself. The Canvas Power series, for example, demonstrates just how important power supplies have become now that an increasing number of digital pedals require hundreds of milliamps of current. Walrus is therefore an interesting example of a wider development: manufacturers are no longer simply selling individual effects, but increasingly trying to create complete ecosystems around the pedalboard.

Darkglass: Effects Pedals Are No Longer Just for Guitarists

Of course, we shouldn’t forget bass players in an overview of effects pedals at Guitar Summit. Darkglass Electronics has become one of the most important manufacturers of modern bass pedals and will also be present at Guitar Summit 2026.

Darkglass made its name primarily with bass overdrives and distortions that allow the clean signal to be blended with the distorted signal. This helps retain low-end and definition while still adding seriously aggressive distortion. Pedals such as the Microtubes B3K and B1K are good examples.

But here too, we are seeing the same development as with guitar pedals: individual stompboxes are increasingly evolving into complete rigs. Preamps, distortion, cabinet simulation, IRs and extensive routing can now all be incorporated into a single device. As a result, Guitar Summit 2026 will be every bit as interesting for bassists as it is for guitarists.

DSM & Humboldt: Amplifier and Pedalboard Are Moving Closer Together

DSM & Humboldt fits perfectly into this development as well. The Chilean brand will also be represented in Mannheim and operates right on the border between traditional effects pedal, preamp and complete amplifier solution. It is a category that has become enormously important in recent years.

More and more guitarists no longer automatically take a guitar amplifier to a gig. Instead, the entire signal chain sits on the pedalboard, with the final signal going directly to a mixer, audio interface or active monitor.

Brands such as DSM & Humboldt respond to this with compact analog solutions that combine the dynamics and controls of a traditional amplifier with the convenience of a pedalboard. That makes it particularly interesting to see which direction DSM & Humboldt will take next at Guitar Summit 2026.

Crazy Tube Circuits: Boutique Pedals from Europe

Alongside the major American brands, Guitar Summit remains an important show for European boutique manufacturers. A good example is Crazy Tube Circuits from Greece. The brand produces pedals that are often clearly inspired by classic equipment, but then adds multiple functions or circuits around that original concept. As a result, they are rarely simple copies of a single vintage pedal.

The Sidekick is a good example: several classic modulation and ambience effects are combined into a single pedal. At the same time, it demonstrates why a show such as Guitar Summit remains worthwhile. Boutique pedals can sometimes be difficult to judge purely from their specifications. Only when you plug them in yourself and compare them with other pedals does the true character of the effect become clear.

Nobels REV-mini: Plenty of Reverb in Very Little Pedalboard Space

One of the more practical new pedals at Guitar Summit 2026 is the Nobels REV-mini. Most guitarists will of course know Nobels primarily for the legendary ODR-1 overdrive. With the REV-mini, however, the German brand turns its attention to reverb.

Despite its compact enclosure, the pedal contains three essential reverb types: Spring, Plate and Hall. That puts the most commonly used reverbs into a single compact stompbox. More interesting are the hidden extra functions. Holding down the footswitch activates a Freeze effect in Spring and Hall modes. In Plate mode, the same function adds Shimmer.

Stereo operation is also possible via TRS, while users can choose between true bypass and buffered bypass. It is a good example of just how much functionality manufacturers can now fit into a mini pedal.

JCA Vector Boost: A Treble Bleed for Your Pedalboard

One of the strangest new concepts comes from JCA. The manufacturer describes the new Vector Boost as the first “treble bleed for the pedalboard.” The idea behind it is interesting.

When you turn down the volume control on a guitar, it often changes not only the volume but also the tone. High frequencies in particular can disappear. That is why guitars are often fitted with a treble-bleed circuit across the volume potentiometer. JCA is attempting to solve a similar problem externally.

The Vector is designed to preserve liveliness and clarity when the guitar volume is rolled back. According to JCA, this is particularly useful with digital modelers, where the interaction with the guitar’s volume control can sometimes feel different from a traditional tube amplifier. In addition, the pedal can provide up to 18 dB of clean boost. It is a remarkably simple idea, and we are especially curious to hear how it works in practice.

And Then There Are the Digital All-in-One Solutions

At the completely opposite end of the spectrum, we find devices such as the new XRecer XR1. The XR1 can barely be described as a traditional effects pedal anymore. It is a multi-effects processor, amp modeler, profiler and audio interface all in one.

Inside are, among other things, an octa-core CPU, quad-core GPU and dedicated AI processing. Add to that a 10-inch touchscreen, twelve footswitches and extensive connectivity options. It illustrates just how incredibly broad the playing field has become.

At one end, you have a manufacturer producing a simple analog fuzz with two or three controls. At the other, you have a device with more processing power than entire studios had a few decades ago. And both can be found at the same guitar show.

Analog vs. Digital? That Discussion Is Becoming Less Relevant

Perhaps that is the most important development visible at Guitar Summit 2026. The old “analog versus digital” discussion is becoming less and less relevant. Many guitarists now combine both technologies without giving it a second thought.

An analog fuzz can easily sit in front of a digital modeler. An analog preamp can be combined with digital cabinet simulation. MIDI controls both analog and digital pedals, while an entire pedalboard can be connected directly to the PA through a digital interface.

The question is therefore no longer which technology is best. The more interesting question is: what does the pedal do to your sound, and does it inspire you to play differently? And that is precisely where an enormous amount seems to be happening right now.

The Biggest Guitar Summit Reveal Is Still to Come

Although dozens of new products have already appeared on the official Product News page, we will probably have to be patient a little longer before we know what the most exciting pedal news will be. Manufacturers are increasingly using Guitar Summit as the stage for genuine world premieres.

EarthQuaker Devices has announced that it will be unveiling a new product, and we wouldn’t be surprised if more manufacturers are saving their biggest news until just before the show.

Guitar Summit 2026: Pedaltown Keeps an Eye on the Latest Pedal News

Guitar Summit 2026 will take place from September 25 to 27 at the Congress Center Rosengarten in Mannheim. For effects pedal enthusiasts, this year’s edition once again looks set to be a particularly interesting one.

As far as we’re concerned, the JAM Pedals Tiny Amp Destroyer and DOD Drag Delay are among the most interesting pedals announced ahead of the show. Meanwhile, the Nobels REV-mini demonstrates just how much functionality can now be packed into a compact enclosure, while manufacturers such as Death By Audio, Walrus Audio, Darkglass, DSM & Humboldt and Crazy Tube Circuits each show in their own way just how diverse the world of effects pedals has become.

But there’s one date and time we’ve already marked in our calendar: Friday, September 25 at 11:00 AM. That’s when EarthQuaker Devices will unveil its latest product in Mannheim. As soon as we know what it is, you’ll of course be able to read all about it on Pedaltown.

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