10 Reviews: Best Guitar Pedals for Beginners (Apr 2024)

The Boss DS-1 is an even older and more recognizable distortion pedal. If you want to obtain a rock or punk guitar tone, this is a wonderful first distortion pedal to get. This was the greatest option for “budget choice” at a hard-to-beat price point. If you want to add some distortion to your tone on a budget, this is a great option. The DS-1 is a timeless design.

"When you look up distortion in the dictionary there is a picture if this pedal. It sounds like rock and roll. My only nitpick would be I would like a little less crunch at its lowest setting."

by j. thiele

The ProCo Rat is a popular and economical guitar pedal that claims to be an overdrive, distortion, and fuzz pedal in one. The Pro Co RAT2 preserves the pedal’s signature half-fuzz, half-distortion tone while also including some user-friendly enhancements to the vintage original’s construction. Because of its unusual sound, which falls in between a typical distortion pedal and a fuzz pedal, the RAT has become legendary.

"This pedal has some great sounds without the big name brand pedal prices. Very pleased."

by Henry J.

One of those guitar effects that has nearly mythological status is the Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer overdrive pedal. It’s a simple green stompbox with three little knobs, but it delivers a punch in the right hands. It has been used by guitarists as different as blues superstar Stevie Ray Vaughan and Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett. It has a crisp, warm, midrange, and smooth tone. When you push a tube amp just over the breaking point, you get this wonderful overdrive sound.

"When you can't get that smooth sustaining whail out of your dirt channel for a solo it's great. Tune to your desired tone with one knob. Adds harmonics as well. Gives a good amount of grit to the clean channel too."

by Violin dad

The OCD from Fulltone is one of the most popular overdrive and distortion pedals on the market. It has a simple design with only three knobs, yet it provides a lovely, warm, crunchy, and gritty tone. The pedal sounds like the natural distortion of a tube amp, and the tones vary significantly depending on how much voltage you put into it. It does, however, have enough power to produce a complete distorted sound on its own, and it has an HP (High peak) and LP (Low peak) for varied levels of distortion and presence.

"I was looking for a way to get rock sounds without too much saturated distortion. Great rhythm tones and I run it through a different overdrive pedal for leads."

by Brian

Wampler Pedals’ Brian Wampler is known for making some of the best boutique pedals on the market, and Wampler Sovereign is no exception. The Wampler Sovereign has four knobs and two switches and is designed to give musicians a wide spectrum of distortion directly from a clean amp sound. Aside from the volume, tone, and gain knobs, it has a ‘Mid Contour’ knob that allows you to choose between a creamy tone and an aggressive distortion tone that can cut through a thick layer of sound.

"Does everything I was looking for it to do. Sounds amazing at low or high gain. Absolutely my highest recommendation for anyone looking for a good, solid, and versatile overdrive."

by User01

Boss is regarded as one of the most well-known stomp box producers in the world. The Boss RV-6 adds to becoming one of the most outstanding pedals in terms of performance. The inclusion of four reverb settings and four classic reverb sounds is essential for creating extra ambience and extraordinary effects. Adding reverb to the pedal board is a fantastic idea. It employs cutting-edge technology to create sophisticated and fantastic musical reverb effects, including the hall, room, and plate algorithms, as well as immersive and diverse modern-sounding textures.

"Well made, dynamic and modular are cool as well. Spring sounds great, nice and wet."

by C

The HOF Mini is a very affordable reverb pedal with excellent sound quality. It’s also ideal for anybody looking for a tiny reverb pedal that fits on their pedalboard and can be controlled using TC Electronic’s TonePrint technology. From your phone, you can access an infinite library of reverb presets as well as your personal settings, and all you have to do is load it up to the pedal.

"It works great especially if your amp does not have reverb or you need a separate reverb. Works great!"

by asa walker

The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan and James Iha inspired the Op-amp Big Muff, producing a gorgeous fuzz tone at an inexpensive price. There are three knobs on the pedal: volume, sustain, and tone, as well as an OPAMP switch for a more aggressive fuzz effect. This fuzz pedal is ideal for any guitarist wishing to add some vintage FUZZ to their tone, especially if they want a sound similar to the Smashing Pumpkins’ characteristic fuzz sound. This fuzz pedal is difficult to beat because of its affordable pricing.

"Although this pedal was a little on the pricey side, it’s worth it. It sounds quite good in my chain, and when stacked with a TS it’s another level. I definitely recommend it"

by Silver Lightfoot

ZVex’s Vexter Fuzz Factory is a flexible and entertaining boutique fuzz pedal. Vexter Fuzz Factory creates a filthy, almost obnoxious fuzz tone. Moreover, the five knob system allows you to swing from a cautious and filthy fuzz tone to a really insane (almost synth-like) sound. As the name implies, the pedal is a factory for fuzz noises. This pedal is for you if you want to play around with various fuzz tones.

"Very versatile fuzz, you can get many normal fuzz tones as well as extreme, experimental sounds out of this, so you definitely get a lot for your money."

by Parker P.

The Tre-Verb Tremolo from Fender is a fantastic little pedal. On the ‘Tre’ side, you may choose from optical, bias, or harmonic tremolo, all of which sound great. The sensitivity control lets you make the modulation go crazy with every new note, then progressively drop-down in-depth and rate as it decays, while the second footswitch allows you to drift between two distinct speeds.

"Awesome box. Does a huge variety of effects from subtle to bold and beyond. If you like reverb AND tremolo then I 100% recommend this pedal."

by mike@carter-jones.org