The Best Guitar Pedals for 2024 - a Buyer’s Guide

How deep are you into the world of effects pedals? Just starting out or is your collection the envy of your friends? Learning the difference between reverb and delay or looking to add some shimmer to your swell? Whatever stage you’re at, guitar effects pedals can be incredible tools for finding inspiration and developing your sound. 

Choosing between pedals and effects can be tough though. So before we get into some of the best guitar pedals for 2024, it’s a good idea to think about what you want to get out of them. 

The most important thing to think about is what you want a guitar pedal to do for your tone. 

Are you after a gnarly distortion pedal to add even more dirt to an amp that’s already breaking up? Are you looking to lose yourself in sweet ambient trails? Maybe you want a do-it-all multi-effects pedal or a looper to play along with yourself. 

Whatever it is, having a clear idea of what you want to sound like is key. From compressors, overdrives and octaves to boosts, flangers and chorus, get to grips with all the different guitar pedal types before you do anything else. 

And if you’re a little unsure about what to get or just looking for some great value, check out pre-owned pedals where you can make great savings on new prices.

If you’re still developing your own sound, you might want to take inspiration from some of your favourite guitar players. Like Jimi Hendrix, who was famous for his wah, fuzz and univibe combo. Grab an S-style guitar, plug into a Marshall amp and away you go.

Maybe you’re after something that has everything you need in one box, in which case a multi-effects pedals like the Line 6 HX One could be for you.

Or if you’d like a modulation pedal that covers a lot of ground, check out the Boss MD-200.

Want to avoid the waiting list for the King of Tone overdrive pedal that takes several years? Don’t miss the MXR Custom Shop Duke Of Tone.

Whatever sound you’re after, lots of us find that we quickly have more than a few stompboxes before we know it. To avoid a messy pile of pedals and wires on the floor, a pedalboard is a good idea. It’ll keep things neat and tidy at home and on the road.

And from patch cables to cases, there are lots of other accessories you can get to take your board to the next level.

From Hendrix’s Voodoo Child (Slight Return) to Rage Against the Machine’s Bulls on Parade and Isaac Hayes’ Shaft Theme, wah wah pedals span so many different genres. But why are they called wahs?

Well, try playing one without mouthing the word. The Dunlop GCB95 Cry Baby Standard Wah is a bona fide classic, based on the original 1960s unit but with decades of improvements encased within its robust shell.

It’s that man again. To get the mythical Hendrix tone, you need a fuzz. A Fuzz Face, to be precise. And there are few better around than the spiritual successor to Jimi’s iconic stompbox, the Dunlop JHF1 Hendrix Fuzz Face. 

A faithful recreation of the legendary Dallas Arbiter pedal from the 60s, you get the look and the feel with the vintage turquoise hammertone finish and BC108 silicon transistor. And don’t forget to roll off your guitar’s volume knob for that beautiful clean-up. 

First released back in 1982 and sharing its lineage with one of the most famous pedals to ever exist, the Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer is still one of the best guitar pedals around. From John Mayer and Gary Clark Jr. to Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Edge, you follow in some pretty serious footsteps when you plug into a Tube Screamer. 

The TS9 offers everything from smooth, creamy overdrive to a lovely clean boost and comes in a rugged and road-ready chassis. Which comes in the unmistakable classic Tube Screamer green, of course. 

From one icon to another. The Boss DS-1 Distortion is another of the most recognisable guitar pedals around. It may have debuted all the way back in 1978, but it still stands the test of time. For a more modern take, you may want to try the DS-1W Waza Craft version. 

The original still delivers a tight and focused distortion that’s full of rich harmonics, while the DS-1 keeps the character of your guitar and amp even when you turn up the dirt. If it’s good enough for Kurt Cobain, it’s good enough for us!

Sticking with Japanese giant Boss, our pick for the best booster pedal to buy this year is the Boss Bp-1w Booster/Preamp. Boosts are brilliant for giving you that extra little bit of oomph, especially when you’re about to rip a solo. 

Boss is famous for its value and build quality, producing guitar pedals and effects that are almost indestructible. The BP-1W gives you access to the revered preamp tones from both the CE-1 Chorus Ensemble and RE-201 Space Echo, as well as a pristine clean boost that adds volume without colour.

Electro Harmonix is another innovative brand that comes with a big reputation. The Canyon Delay and Looper packs plenty of that innovation into a tiny package for what you get inside, which you can access using the 11-position rotary switch. 

Options include digital, tape and reverse delays, along with a modulated delay, octave delay and shimmer that gives you a beautiful wash of ambient harmonies. The loop function offers over a minute’s worth of playback, while there’s tap tempo and divisions for that U2-esque dotted eighth sound. 

Whether you’re just adding a little bit as a safety net or you’re drenching your tone in a long ambient decay, there’s nothing like a good reverb. And there’s a good few different reverbs in the Big Top Juggler Mini Reverb. 

You get nine different reverbs to choose between, including plate, room and hall. You can also move into more modulated territory with the flanger and chorus effects. All in a super compact and super affordable package.

Multi-effects pedals are popular for lots of different reasons. They give you access to a huge palette of sounds in one neat package, which makes them great for gigging musicians and bedroom players alike.

The Boss ME-90 Multi-Effects Processor came out in 2023 and builds on the success of its predecessors. You get awesome audio quality, amp models, impulse responses and an effects loop, as well as eight programmable footswitches to control everything from your overdrives and distortions to your delays, reverbs and modulation effects.

One of the most inspirational pedals you can get does nothing to your sound at all – except play it back to you. Whether you’re into rock ’n’ roll, jazz, blues or creating ambient soundscapes, loopers are great for endlessly jamming out on riffs, chord progressions and changes. 

The Boss RC-5 Loop Station is a compact, class-leading looper that puts limitless creativity at your feet. It packs 99 phrase memories with 13 hours of recording time, along with seven drum kits and 57 rhythms – all delivered with pristine sound quality.

No matter if you’re rocking a huge gig, jamming with your mates or playing on your own, staying in tune is key. You may be able to tune by ear, but electric guitar tuners are super precise and an absolute must for most players. 

Most of us don’t want to take up much space for a functional pedal like a tuner though. Enter the Big Top Chromatic Mini Tuner. Super compact, super affordable and super easy to use. It does exactly what it says on the tin, keeping you in tune while barely taking up any real estate on your board. 

So there you have it. Ten of the best guitar pedals you can get in 2024. Whatever you’re interested in adding to your collection next, check out our huge selection of guitar effects pedals.

Choosing a guitar pedal is all about what you want to achieve with your sound. Be it an overdrive, reverb, delay, modulation or something else, first you need to think about the tone you want to get. Then check out various options within that guitar pedal type to see different features and price points before making your choice.

Multi-effects pedals can be an affordable way of getting a huge array of sounds in one unit. As well as a wide range of effects, they can also offer great features like stereo outputs, tuners, loopers and more. Multi-effects pedals are highly versatile and can be well worth it for gigging musicians and bedroom players alike.

Lots of people love multi-effects pedals for their versatility and compact nature for the amount of functionality they can offer. Other people prefer to have individual stompboxes for each effect and arrange them on a pedalboard. There’s no better or worse, it’s about what you’re into and the choice between digital and analog effects can come into that. Multi-effects pedals are usually digital, whereas you can introduce analog effects to your board with individual stompboxes.

Still unsure of the best effects pedal to suit your style or desired tone? Don't hesistate to get in touch, or head to your local PMT store and speak to one of our experts.