If you’re new to the world of guitar effects pedals, it can be a little daunting. You might be asking yourself “which guitar effects pedals do I need?” - or maybe you’ve bought your son or daughter a new guitar and need to know what guitar pedals to go with it.
Perhaps you’ve decided to really get serious when it comes to changing your sound up, and you need to know where to start - figuring out what guitar effects pedals do and what sounds different guitar pedals make. Either way, we’re here to help with our handy guide to guitar effects pedals, complete with sound examples.

There are numerous types of guitar pedals, so we’ll go through each type of guitar pedal - from distortions to delays and everything in between - and keep it super simple. We’ll leave out some of the more technical details as this is just a beginner's guide to guitar effects pedals - but if you feel you’re ready for a complete guide on putting together a pedal board, then we have a more in-depth blog for you to read here.
What Guitar Effects Pedals Do I Need? The Beginner's Guide
Guitar pedals for beginners are still professional bits of kit, and the pedals featured here are industry-standard machines that you anyone can get to grips with.
Without further ado, let’s get stuck into the most widely-used electric guitar pedals and answer the question: What pedals should every guitarist have?!
First of all we'll take a look at the best guitar pedals for beginners and introduce our favourite guitar pedal brand for new guitarists..
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Whether you're a new starter or hunting for the best guitar pedals on a budget, we always recommend Big Top FX at PMT.
This diverse selection of circus-themed stompboxes give you studio-quality tones with a simple interface that makes it easier than ever to dial in the best sounds.
Featuring classic effects units such as Fuzz, Distortion, Boost, Flanger and more, you can also practice with the Ringmaster Looper and keep everything running with a Big Top Power Supply.
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If you’re wondering “what is a distortion pedal?” - the clue is in the name. It basically takes your signal (from the guitar) and distorts it, adding volume, crunch and sustain to your sound. This effect is often used in the chorus of some of your favourite songs for a contrasting sound to the natural guitar tone.
A distortion pedal can often be confused for a fuzz or overdrive pedal, but the trained ear can definitely hear the difference. We won’t go too in-depth here, but if you want to know the difference between the three you can read more about it in our dedicated blog here.
Below, Dagan shows us one of the most famous distortion pedals ever, and demonstrates how it makes our guitar sound more aggressive.
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If you’ve already got an amplifier, chances are that it’s got built-in reverb effects - so you might not necessarily need a pedal.
However, some amps don’t give you the option of turning it off at will via a foot pedal. A reverb pedal basically gives an echo effect and gives your guitar more weight. Think of the sound you hear when you walk into a church or cave – a big expansive sound that reverberates off the walls.
If you want to completely oversaturate your sound with reverb to sound like you’re in a massive cave, you can turn the reverb up all the way and engage it when the song calls for it. We actually covered some of the best reverb pedals in our best reverb pedals blog, so check that out for a list of great options.
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Wah pedals make exactly the noise they’re named after – a “Wah” noise! If you say to yourself “Wah, Wah, Wah” slowly, that’s the same sound the pedal makes.
Imagine a baby crying in slow motion and you kind of get the idea. The Wah sound was probably best captured on “Foxy Lady” by Jimi Hendrix and is widely used in funk and rock solos thanks to its really cool sounding effect.
The most famous Wah pedals are the Jim Dunlop Crybaby Wah pedals - however the new Electro Harmonix Wailer Wahis also an amazing option too.

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Overdrive pedals are very different to distortion pedals - and without getting too technical - they push your guitar signal harder, rather than changing the sound completely like a distortion pedal does.
An overdrive pedal retains a lot of the original sound of your guitar, but drives the amplifier to give it a heavier, thicker signal.
They’re ideally used with valve/tube amps, as they push the tubes to their limit and allow them to bring out the more natural distortion that these amps are renowned for.
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We wrote about the best tube amps for home use here, but if you wanted some great practice amps, we also wrote about themheretoo!
One of the best overdrive pedals ever made is theIbanez TS9 Tube Screamer, closely followed by theBOSS OD-1XorBOSS SD-1. Check out ourvideo below to hear the BOSS pedals in action:
Delay pedals take your original signal - a guitar chord or note for example - then plays it back exactly how the pedal heard it the first time. It can either play the note back once or multiple times, depending on your settings. This is usually referred to as “feedback time”.
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The major difference is that digital delay pedals will offer longer delays and a ‘cleaner’ exact sound, but some guitarists prefer analogue effects for the subtle nuances and unpredictability in tone.
This comes down to personal preference, but both options sound great. Some industry standard delay pedals are the Electro Harmonix Memory Boy Delay Guitar Effects Pedal, BOSS DD-3 Digital Delay, the Strymon Timeline Delayand theMXR M169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay Guitar Pedal.

Fuzz pedals provide guitarists, bass players, and even keyboard players with a hefty amount of distortion that sounds VERY different to regular distortion sounds.
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Fuzz pedals make your guitar sound like its pushing your amplifier to the point of blowing up. A fuzz pedal completely changes the sound of your guitar signal into a heavy, fizzy, and extremely noisy sound that, depending on which pedal you choose, can provide a bass heavy noise ora spitting ‘broken’ amp sound.
There’s a great selection of fuzz pedals out there to choose from, but some of the most popular options are theElectro Harmonix Big Muff Pi, the BOSS FZ-5and theDunlop FFM3 Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face Mini Effects Pedal. Check out ourTop 5 Best Fuzz Pedals Blogfor some great sound samples.
Boost pedals increase the strength of the signal going in to your amplifier. This means you don’t have to use distortion to get an increased volume when you want to make the chorus or lead line jump out.
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A boost pedal increases the signal without adding distortion, and can be used to fatten up your sound, ‘pushing’ your amplifier harder and louder - just without the grit that a distortion pedal will add.
One of the most widely known and widely respected boost pedals is theMXR Micro Amp, as is theOrange Two Stroke Boost EQ Pedaland theBlackstar LT Boost Pedal.
Chorus pedals actually make your guitar sound like there are a variety of different guitarists playing the same thing that you are playing, but with a different guitar and slightly out of time with you.
Setting Up Your Effect Signal Chain
This effect makes everything you play sound a little bit ‘warbly’ and thickens up your guitar or bass lines. We recommend experimenting with these as you can use them subtly to add weight to your sound or as a full-blown effect that completely takes over your signal.

The most famous chorus pedal would have to be theElectro Harmonix Small Clone, as it appeared on Nirvana's song 'Come As You Are' and many other famous tracks.
A phaser pedal is similar to a chorus as it thickens up your sound but also adds a sweeping effect – almost as if the speaker within the amplifier is spinning around or moving up and down.
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If you pretend the speaker is moving away from you and moving closer and back again – you’ll get an idea as to how it sounds. You can change the length of the effect and the speed of the movement via the pedal controls.
A flanger is similar to a phaser pedal but makes more of a whooshing effect. This effect is much more noticeable than a chorus.
An EQ pedal has been designed to allow you to tune certain parameters of your sound such as the bass, middle and treble frequencies. They are predominantly used by more experienced guitarists who want to add or take away specific bands of sound.
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These are great for guitarists who want to really boost the treble, bring out the bass or just ensure their guitar signal sounds as flat as possible.
A looper pedal is not an effect, but more a tool that allows you to record chord progressions, notes or riffs, and then play them back through your amp. It’s ideal for playing a chord progression or rhythm section, looping it and then playing a lead line or riff over the top – like two guitars playing together.
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