Pedal Vs Amp [Difference & Which is Better Performing]

Music nowadays does not limit itself and pedals and amps-like devices ensure this very fact impressively. To enhance the sound quality of your electrical musical instrument, many manufacturers come with amps. And amps come with built-in effects.

Pedals are also meant to serve almost the same purpose of enhancing tone but with more effects. That’s why people want to learn more about these two devices and a perfect comparison of both Pedal vs amp. In the comparison, the first thing that comes to the chart is the difference in the effects of the devices.

Main Difference in Short –

Whereas a pedal is solely meant to provide versatile effects on an electric musical instrument, an amp is not entirely made for providing effects to the instrument. Only some manufacturers of updated decades provide effects to tube or built-in amplifiers and they are less versatile than the former one.

Apart from effects, there are some other features like distortion, overdrive, gain, watt power, and many more that come into account when you compare these two music enhancers.

Comparison Table:

Review of Pedal and Amp:

Effects pedals are now growing in popularity just like tube amplifiers. They are solely at their service to make the sound of your musical instrument better. An amp can come with pedals only if it is pedal-friendly. So, you can get the advantage of effects pedals from an amp as long as it has built-in effects in them. But you cannot get the advantage that an amp provides if you buy individual pedals. So, things are a little considerable here.

The Details About Pedals –

Pedals are effective because they come with effects to make twisted sounds. They give you more scope for experimenting with new sounds. Effects pedals offer numerous options. And with their help of them, you can easily and quickly switch the effects in the middle of the song.

This proves how much versatile a pedal is. You can bring distortion, preamp, and overdrive pedal too to cover up a hell of music styles. They might sound unnatural and fake to a little extent, but definitely worth a try. At least they ensure better sound than cheap solid-state amps.

They can operate smoothly and won’t cause trouble if you want to switch or add more effects pedals together. The best fact about pedals is that they offer you different “channels”. These are also known as “modes”. With the help of that mode,s your instrument can attain several types of gains too.

Things We Liked About / Pros –

• Sounds better more realistic and more natural than any cheap solid-state amp.
• Comes with an easy operating method and offers easiness in turning them on and off instantly.
• You can use different effects pedals simultaneously at a time without any hassle.
• Provides modes so you can control the shape of the sound precisely as per your desire.

Things We Didn’t Like About / Cons –

• Sounds artificial compared to a tube (valve) amplifier.

Details About The Amps –

Amps are a rather ancient device that enhances music quality but they still come with built-in features. We see solid-state amps and tube amps come with built-in effects to expand the experimental sector for musicians to the greatest extent.

But between a solid-state amp and tube amp effects, the latter excels in providing an authentic and smooth sound than the former. Sadly, the former is packed with more effects than the latter. However, tube amps provide better sound in terms of gain effects like distortion, overdrive, and reverb effects.

It is easy to set up built-in effects in your amp. They also save up space. More importantly, the whole process costs very little. But you might find amp effects a little complicated to tune perfectly. For this problem, you can adopt footswitches to dial different effects.

Things We Liked About / Pros –

• The built-in effects in an amp provide effects that are cost-effective and awesome to use.
• Tube amp effects sound more realistic and genuine than any other device.
• It is easy to control built-in effects on an amp as they come with 2/3 controls for different purposes.
• The built-in effects on the amp are easier to conduct for beginners.

Things We Didn’t Like About / Cons –

• The built-in effects are not so much versatile in an amp.
• Solid-state amps cannot come with desirable tones with their built-in effects.
• Difference between Pedal and Amp.

There is actually a hell of differences between pedals and amps in terms of effects. You will find differences in many sectors. To find the best one it is important to compare them from those aspects. Only then we can get to a conclusion.

Usefulness Between Overdrive Pedal Vs Amp Gain:

In terms of effects, overdrive pedals are less useful than the gain of an amp. Overdrive pedals help the tone to distort and it is just a form of distortion. On the other hand, the gain of an amp determines the amount of signal clipping or distortion of the tone.

Though their usefulness varies from player to player as per their music taste, the gain of an amp is more aggressive and better for saturated tones. Even between a high-gain amp and pedal, the former is versatile and more effective.

1) Ease of Use –

A player knows what it means to have an easy operating device to play music. In this case, your individual stompboxes or pedals are more beneficial to use. But for beginners, controlling this huge amount of effects might cause confusion.

However, many pedal effects come with the easiest way to be controlled. On the other hand, the built-in effects on an amp come with 2 or at best 3 channels, so you can control them properly. But not all the amp carries such options, so this might also seem puzzling to you as beginners.

2) A Sequence in the Signal –

Pedal effects come with features using which you can simultaneously conduct more than one effect at a time. With this supremacy of placing multiple pedal effects according to your desired order, you can experiment with their versatility to the greatest extent.

But this feature is restricted by the built-in effects of an amp. They just come with preordered signals and you have to go along with the chain. You cannot adjust the order as per your wish.

3) Availability of Effects –

We have already mentioned pedals are packed with effects and then come solid-state amps and then tube amps. Because pedals are specially made to offer effects, you will get the maximum desirable effects from them.

In the case of amps, built-in effects are filled in solid-state amps. And for tube amps, cannot stand many effects, but their reverb effect is pretty much famous.

4) Sound Quality –

Of course, sound quality matters when these devices are all about sounds. Pedal effects sound pretty much artificial yet they are better than the built-in effects of solid-state amps. But even though tube amps do not carry more built-in effects, they sound natural and authentic.

5) Price –

It depends on what pedal or amp you are adopting. Individual effects pedals cost you a lot. The standard one starts from 50$. Then again, an amp is cost-effective but because it has built-in features and you can install new features like a “footswitch” to it, they might cost 50$ or more than that.

So, Which one is better?

From the aspect of versatility, pedals win for sure. But from the aspect of saving up space, and money, and facing less complication, amps with their built-in effects win too. In the end, it depends on the player according to his budget, desire, genre of music, and so on.

FAQs –

Question 1: Are pedals better than amp effects?

Answer: There are versatile effects in pedals so you can say them better than amp effects. Then again, between a clean amp with pedals and a dirty amp, there are not many differences.

Question 2: Do you need a pedal if you have an amp?

Answer: Not necessarily need a pedal if you have an amp. Pedals come with several effects and if your amp does not have them, only then you can adopt pedal effects.

Question 3: What does a pedal do on an amp?

Answer: A pedal boosts up your amp and helps it to have more effects. It is to let the player make more twisted sounds.

Last Updated on March 31, 2023 by Perry Garner