Basses

Buyer’s guide to the best compact multi-effects: sound-shifting units from Neural DSP, BOSS & Line 6

June 11, 2025

Multi-effects units and pedals used to be like those buffet restaurants that serve dozens of global cuisines. Overdrive, delay, reverb, chorus, phaser, flanger – they did it all, but with all the succulence of badly rolled sushi.
Times and technologies change, and the best compact multi-effects are now offering genuinely ear-pleasing effects, often with granular options to adjust the effect level and other parameters. They’re almost always digital, and some models known as ‘effects processors’ are essentially a pedalboard computer, with a screen and controls allowing you to combine effects, amp models, and additional elements such as a backing track.
‘Multi’ is a spectrum, and you might prefer your compact multi-effects unit to be on the simpler side. There are plenty of options that excel with a curated selection of sounds, sometimes condensing the effects into a standard stompbox format. A few examples are genuinely boutiquey, with sounds on a par with the best standalone effects.
Whichever style of multi-effects you want, this guide is made to help you unearth the best model for you. The summaries below link through to our writers’ full reviews of each unit, so you can start mapping out your own microcosm of musical possibility.
At a glance:

Our Pick: Neural DSP Nano Cortex
Best multi-effects for larger boards: Line 6 HX One
Most versatile multi-effects: Boss GX-10
Best compact multi-effects: Chaos Audio Stratus
Best boutique multi-effects: Hologram Electronics Chroma Console
Best beginner multi-effects: Donner Triple Threat
Best ambient multi-effects: Crazy Tube Circuits Sidekick Jr
Best multi-effects for lo-fi: Source Audio Artefakt
Why you can trust Guitar.com

[products ids=”B1FoUUSUyi3B2m1GQla65,6ADpQXMexHjV2MfjsPhuOS,2WuMky1iFUjk8qhee1PnNm,4g6zz247HPw8LAKuQRb9ZE,7IJLs0cwe7FX056LUW8qYH,6fMn5EGAskWI9IrgTrBCx9,5XhDU671WsEVfJdSYxTSdz,7vqgb5pLFZoZoGhVn5fxoo”]
Our Pick: Neural DSP Nano Cortex
Image: Adam Gasson
[products ids=”B1FoUUSUyi3B2m1GQla65″]
With the Nano Cortex 2.0, Neural DSP has delivered on the phenomenal hype which surrounded its original compact multi-effects unit. It’s designed to work as “a complete guitar or bass rig in an ultra-compact pedal”, allowing you modular control over a signal chain cherry-picked from over 50 effects and parameters.
We enjoyed the original Nano Cortex, but it was a little lacking in effects – especially drives. That feedback – *ahem* – has clearly been taken on board, as the 2.0 has a good range of options to sully your sound, including digital Tube Screamer, RAT and Fuzz Face clones.
Our editor was impressed with this unit’s gain-stacking capabilities, expanded bass-specific offering and chorus effects – especially the lush-sounding ‘Spacey Dream’. If you wondered how good a multi-FX unit can sound, here’s the high-water mark.
Need more? Read our Neural DSP Nano Cortex review.
Best multi-effects for larger boards: Line 6 HX One

[products ids=”6ADpQXMexHjV2MfjsPhuOS”]
The Line 6 Helix will always be a classic among multi-effects units – but it’s a hulking processor that doesn’t leave much room (physically or musically) for the other effects you might want on your board.
If you want the best of the Helix, plus ample room for your pedals, the HX One is the way to go. This neat unit gives you over 250 effects to play around with – many of them superb – including distortions, reverbs, modulations, drives and a looper. All parameters are adjustable on-pedal via user-friendly controls, and there’s a black-and-white OLED display to tell you precisely what you’re tweaking.
Above all, this is a great-sounding multi-effects pedal, with a wealth of incredibly musical, alive-sounding effects. Sometimes, smaller is superior.
Need more? Read our Line 6 HX One review.
Most versatile multi-effects: Boss GX-10
Credit: Boss
[products ids=”2WuMky1iFUjk8qhee1PnNm”]
If you want a guitar effects processor that’s rich in sounds and features but doesn’t feel brain-achingly complex to use, the Boss GX-10 could be the one. Using the unit’s colour display and mix of touchscreen and physical controls makes it a playful delight to sculpt your sound out of the GX-10’s immense library of presets.
Toggling or tweaking these (generally impressive) ready-made combinations of AIRD amp model, effects and tone parameters is a fast, fun way to transform your tone – perfect for songwriters seeking inspiration, or for function musicians who need to switch things up at the drop of a bouquet.
The completeness of Boss’s presets makes the GX-10 a great, all-in-one headphone amp solution for practising at home. Pop it on your desk, plug in and do your thing.
Need more? Read our Boss GX-10 review.
Best compact multi-effects: Chaos Audio Stratus
Image: Press
[products ids=”4g6zz247HPw8LAKuQRb9ZE”]
If you’re seeing the Stratus for the first time, you might wonder: where’s the rest of it? It’s hard to believe, but there are 14 effects presets plus capacity for many more optional additions in this tiny multi-effects stompbox. The pedal’s combination of simple layout with versatile sounds is made possible by its companion app, which is used to control the unit and manage its library of effects. And thankfully, connecting the pedal to the app is relatively painless.
You’ll love this mode of operation or you’ll hate it, but our reviewer found that his initial scepticism soon gave way to surprise at the quality of sounds the Stratus has to offer. Some of the effects – especially the reverbs – wouldn’t sound out of place in a pedal from Meris or Walrus Audio.
Need more? Read our Chaos Audio Stratus review.
Best boutique multi-effects: Hologram Electronics Chroma Console

[products ids=”7IJLs0cwe7FX056LUW8qYH”]
Multi-effects pedals cover a lot of sonic bases, which can make them great value but often means they’re a little anonymous. The Chroma Console breaks that mould by sounding just as colourful and character-packed as its enclosure suggests. Using four individual modules (each of which controls a unique choice of five effects), you can mix up a singular cocktail of off-kilter sound.
It’s incredibly easy to use – which is saying something, given it features 20 effects in total – and there are fantastic sounds to be discovered by blending effects like drive and pitch-shifting to your liking. Where other multi-FX sometimes feel like hard work, it’s nice to find one that’s built for play.
Need more? Read our Hologram Electronics Chroma Console review.
Best beginner multi-effects: Donner Triple Threat
Donner Triple Threat distortion. Image: Adam Gasson
[products ids=”6fMn5EGAskWI9IrgTrBCx9″]
If you’re new to multi-effects pedals, or if you just want a focused option with a few excellent effects, the Donner Triple Threat would make a cheap yet connoisseurial choice, with minimal complexity and maximalist sounds.
Made in collaboration with Third Man Hardware, the Triple Threat has – you guessed it – three effects: a distortion, a phaser and an echo. Co-creator Jack White’s red-and-white fingerprints are all over this pedal, and you can hear it in the lashings of gain when you push the distortion past halfway, or when you tinker with the characterful phaser – a maverick but welcome addition to a mould-breaking beginner’s multi-FX.
Need more? Read our Donner Triple Threat review.
Best ambient multi-effects: Crazy Tube Circuits Sidekick Jr
Crazy Tube Circuits Sidekick Jr
[products ids=”5XhDU671WsEVfJdSYxTSdz”]
A tiny boxful of diverse and expansive sounds, the Sidekick Jr is our boutique pick for creating ambient music. Within its unassuming enclosure are three excellent effects – delay, reverb and chorus – which you can use individually or combine to create a headier soundscape. Dig into each of these and you’ll find a wealth of sounds, with six reverbs, two delays, two choruses and a flanger (bonus!) to explore.
Even though it does so much, this is a simple pedal to use. The controls are intuitive, with roughly one third of the pedal devoted to each effect.
One downside to consider is that you’ll need to purchase an additional CTC footswitch to activate the chorus/flanger independently of the other effects.
Need more? Read our Crazy Tube Circuits Sidekick Jr review.
Best multi-effects for lo-fi: Source Audio Artifakt
Image: Jason Mays
[products ids=”7vqgb5pLFZoZoGhVn5fxoo”]
Multi-effects pedals are rarely made for leftfield tastes, so it’s extra special to discover the Artifakt’s wealth of auditory oddities. This pedal aims to deliver all the wonkiest effects found on the weirdest boards, including vinyl and radio replication, tape modulation, bit crushing and glitch.
Rather than buying lots of individual boutique pedals just for their exotic-sounding extremities, you can use the Artifakt as a sort of lo-fi greatest hits compilation. It strikes a superb balance between giving you key sounds on-tap and providing scope to create, with seven core algorithms selectable via a central rotary knob – and tweakable via controls including ‘Destruct’, ‘Vary’, and more.
Navigating the Artifakt’s plenteous effects is made easier by its on-pedal presets and companion app, which provide options to save presets with your favourite settings or pinch other guitarists’ configurations.
Need more? Read our Source Audio Artifakt review.
Why You Can Trust Us
Every year, Guitar.com reviews a huge variety of new products – from the biggest launches to cool boutique effects – and our expert guitar reviewers have decades of collective experience, having played everything from Gibson ’59 Les Pauls to the cheapest Squiers.
That means that when you click on a Guitar.com buyer’s guide, you’re getting the benefit of all that experience to help you make the best buying decision for you. What’s more, every guide written on Guitar.com was put together by a guitar obsessive just like you. You can trust that every product recommended in those guides is something that we’d be happy to have in our own rigs.
The post Buyer’s guide to the best compact multi-effects: sound-shifting units from Neural DSP, BOSS & Line 6 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.