Sweetwater has the biggest pedal sale around this Memorial Day – here are 5 top picks from a stompbox expert

Three guitar pedals on a purple gradient background

(Image credit: Ross Pedals/Catalinbread/Walrus Audio)

There are few words as tempting to me as ‘pedal sale’ popping up on my feed or inbox, so when I saw that Sweetwater is offering up to 40% off pedals this Memorial Day, I just had to go check it out. With big savings on a variety of popular pedal brands like JHS and Earthquaker Devices, as well as some more arcane offerings like Catalinbread and Red Panda, it’s my pick of today's sales if you’re a pedal lover like me.

I’ve reviewed loads of stompboxes over the years and have owned (and sold) more than I can remember. Just recently I offloaded a whole secondary pedalboard that was living in my home studio and getting zero use, so of course I had to go shopping for more pedals with my recently acquired funds! The Sweetwater sale has got absolutely loads of pedals on offer and I’ve looked through the lot, so here are my top 5 pedal buys.

J.Rockett Archer Ikon: Was $199.99, now $159.99
A top pick from our best Klon clones guide, I love the J.Rockett Archer Ikon for its masses of headroom, making it a great pedal to use as a clean boost. The incoming power is doubled from 9V to 18V in the pedal which is what gives it such ginormous amounts of clean headroom and with $40 off in the Sweetwater sale, it’s great value if you’re missing a Klon from your pedalboard. At low gain, the Archer Ikon is lovely and warm and when you start cranking it you’ll get into that well-known Klon territory, with plenty of energy in the low end.

Catalinbread Belle Epoch: $359.99, now $287.99
Most famously utilized by Eric Johnson, the Catalinbread Belle Epoch is an Echoplex-style delay stompbox that delivers a fantastic array of analog delay tones. It’s a pricey pedal but a $72 discount takes it below the $300 mark and if you want tape and analog-style delays, it’s one of the best in the business. The different modes cover tape and bucket-brigade delays and it’ll also add rotary, chorus, and vibrato-type effects to your pedalboard.

JHS Emperor Chorus: Was $219, now $175.20
The JHS Emperor Chorus is a super versatile modulation effect that does chorus but can also cover vibrato duties for your pedalboard. The chorus effect can go from subtle thickener to full warble, and although it’s not quite as washy as other chorus pedals you can buy unless you really love that seasick sound it should suit you just fine. The $43.80 discount makes it exceptional value for money in the Memorial Day sale at Sweetwater, and the three waveform types make it super versatile.

Walrus Audio ACS1: Was $399.99, now $299.99
The Walrus Audio ACS1 has been out for a while but I still rate it as an excellent amp and cab modeler. Having recently gotten a free firmware upgrade it’s gotten a new lease of life, with amp models redesigned from the ground up and the pedal now being able to operate at significantly higher gain levels. It’s got a huge $100 discount in the Sweetwater sale the option to have separate cabs on the left and right sides of the stereo spectrum is an awesome feature of this pedal, one that often gets overlooked in the busy world of compact amp modelers.

Shop more Memorial Day sales

Amazon: Today's top deals on Fender, more
Fender: 30% off Player, Affinity, more
Fender Play: 50% off w/code guitarworld50
Guitar Center: Up to 35% off Memorial Day sale
Guitar Tricks: Get 1 month of lessons for just $1
IK Multimedia: Up to 67% off Total Studio 4
Musician's Friend: Up to 40% off Gibson, Martin
Native Instruments: 50% off Guitar Rig Pro 7
Positive Grid: Savings on the OG Spark
Reverb: Like-new, used, and vintage gear
Waves: Bag 3 plugins for 60 bucks
Yamaha: Shop the huge Spring Sale

Matt is a Junior Deals Writer here at Guitar Player. He regularly tests and reviews music gear with a focus on guitars, amps, pedals, modelers, and pretty much anything else guitar-related. Responsible for over 60 buying guides, a large part of his role is helping guitarists find the best deals on gear. Matt worked in music retail for 5 years at Dawsons Music and Northwest Guitars and has written for many music sites including MusicRadar, Guitar World, Guitar.com, Ultimate Guitar, and Thomann’s t.blog. A regularly gigging guitarist with over 20 years of experience playing live and writing and recording in bands, he's performed everything from jazz to djent, gigging all over the country in more dingy venues than you can shake a drop-tuned guitar at. When he's not holed up in his practice space jamming new songs or ogling yet another guitar, you’ll find him making a racket with Northern noise hounds JACKALS.