Perceptions: The FX pedal to end all pedals?

Monday, February 09, 2026

The FX pedal to end all pedals?

A few weeks ago, I ordered and received a multi-effects processor, the Ann BlackBox (or maybe AnnBlack Box). This cost me 233 NIS - your price may vary. Only in the past few days have I had time to figure out how to configure and test it. This unit is made by the same people who made the multifunctional guitar effects pedal¹ that I removed² from the pedal board a year and a half ago. Amongst the criticisms that I made of the original pedal were:

The idea of presets is very good, but the way that it is implemented is poor - to my mind. Just getting into preset mode is difficult. Two foot switches have to be pressed simultaneously, but I can never remember which two, and anyway I have difficulty pressing two at the same time. Should I manage to enter preset mode, I have no idea of what the current values for the different parameters are. Should I wish to reduce the volume for preset 3 (the chorus), I have to redefine all the parameters and so probably end up with something else from what I wanted. It would be good if there were little displays next to each parameter - or that the knobs are automatically turned to match the saved values - but I understand that such improvements would probably cost no small amount of money, thus jacking up the price of the unit and making it less attractive than individual pedals. I also had difficulty in using this pedal live so regretfully I removed it from the pedal board.

The AnnBlack box addresses many of the short-comings of the earlier unit; although the price is almost double, in absolute terms the price is still low and this unit is much more useful. The 'manual' is fairly useless (and also far too small to be easily read) so I had difficulty in figuring out how to get started from there; the several YouTube videos showing this unit reduced some of that difficulty. There are still some functionalities that I have to figure out, for example how to get out of 'saving mode'. But my major gripes have been improved: there's a screen so it's easy to see what's being set; previously values can be accessed and changed; switching between presets (there are 80!) is very easy.

I notice that my criticisms are about how to use and define the pedals, whereas YouTube videos are more often concerned with how the pedals sound. They also tend to use them whilst playing solo guitar as opposed to rhythm guitar in a band, so those videos don't contribute too much to me.

Why do I consider this pedal to possibly be "the pedal to end all pedals"? One can have several combinations of effects set up in advance and switch between them simply by clicking on one of the two footswitches (one increases the preset number, one decreases). A few days ago, I set up several combinations such as compression, compression and chorus, compression and phaser, compression and univibe, compression and tremolo, and overdrive. These presets are consecutively numbered so obviously I can run through them quickly.

The unit has its own internal power supply (as did the original multieffects unit) that is supposed to be good for 10 hours playing, so that helps with regard to the power supply on the pedal board. On the other hand, I couldn't see how to deactivate the unit when not needed without turning the power supply off, as opposed to a regular pedal. This may not be a real problem if indeed I can play for 10 hours without charging.

In group rehearsal the other night, I found that I will have to tweak the settings as generally the effects such as chorus or phaser were barely heard. Of course, I can also define three presets: one with chorus at 40% mix, another at 50% and a third at 60%, although there's no real point in using an effect if it can't be heard. Compression on everything is good.

There are, of course, downsides. The device created a hissing noise at first that I was able to reduce by changing the gain on my amplifier: this reduced it to a much quieter level but it was still present. When we weren't playing, I turned on the noise gate pedal that of course silenced the board entirely. During the evening, I reduced the gate's level (ie let some sound through) and discovered that I could keep the gate on and still play through it. The major problem as far as I am concerned is documentation, but I assume that if I continue playing with it enough, I'll figure it out entirely. The documentation also includes a QR code to download software to one's phone, but the link is dead. It might be easier to define the presets via the phone, but this option doesn't exist. I did find a very useful Reddit page.

In order to make room for the unit, I removed two pedals from the pedal board: the tremolo and the simpler multifunction effects pedal³. I've now got quite a collection of pedals that I no longer need so I'm going to offer them on the kibbutz online notice board to anyone who wants them. The pedal board now looks quite bare.