Delays, Double Pedals, Fuzzes, Phasers, Klones, and even a KTR all face off for the coveted #1 spot.
2023 was a return to force for Guitars For Idiots, with weekly articles returning, and no shortage of guitar, pedal, and other gear reviews. We celebrated the end of my PhD, a ton of new gear releases, and hopefully you agree that the quality of reviews and demos went way up.
This year, I also treated Guitars For Idiots as a completely separate entity from my Ultimate-Guitar work. A huge majority of these pedals were not reviewed on UG, as I focused on covering more smaller brands here, and covered more pedals from major international brands on UG. While there’s still some heavy hitters on this list like Maestro, Universal Audio, and MXR, it’s also a lot brands that don’t get enough exposure. You will see plenty of guitar pedal reviews from brands that you won’t find anywhere else.
Let’s start with some superlatives shall we? And don’t forget to scroll to the bottom to see some other content creator’s top picks for 2023! Also, at the end of the article are some top picks from my friends in the guitar gear community!
Most Under-Hyped Pedal: Gear Ant Cicada Phaser/Fuzz
A velcro, ripping, ugly fuzz on one side, and a smooth, surprisingly reigned in phaser on the other. Just brilliant and a pedal I use weekly with my band.
Most Over-Hyped Pedal: Klon KTR
I mean, it sounds good don’t get me wrong. But please don’t buy one of these for anything more than $250. Get a Homunculus, or an AFKK instead.
Funniest Pedal Name: Acorn Amps Another Fucking Klon Klone
See the above video and reasoning, this pedal sounds KILLER and was basically impossible to separate from the Klon KTR when played side by side.
Best Newcomer: Heuristic Industries Fulcrum
Highly useful, very flexible, and a brilliant first pedal from a new company at a time when it’s hard to stand out from the pack.
COMPLETE RANKINGS
(click on pedal name to see individual review from this year).
Big Takeaways From The 2023 Reviews
- Huge thanks to RWM Guitars: All of these wonderful pedal reviews from 2023 were recorded using the Pine Tele doublecut with a single P90 from RWM Guitars. Ron and RWM were sort of an informal sponsor of the website this year. I never accepted any money from them or anything like that, but we did use the guitar in all the pedal demos this year to try and spread the word about the great work that Ron does. Please go consider giving his site a visit, rwmguitars.com, and stay tuned for something special from Ron and I.
- Pedals are STILL getting expensive: The average price of a pedal I reviewed this year was $175 (with a standard deviation of $53). Pedal prices have been skyrocketing, even for some pedals from these relatively smaller, newer companies. It seems the bubble has finally burst this past summer though, as sales slowed for many builders and prices have fallen back down to earth. We did not cover any sub-$100 pedals this year, which was surprising when I looked back on everything. Add that to the to-do list for 2024.
- I Got A Real Klon, But Am Still Not Wowed: For all the haters out there, it may not be a Centaur, but the KTR is the same freaking circuit. So now I have a real Klon to compare all my Klones to, and I’m still not super impressed. Get a klone that’s more flexible, cheaper, and made by a small business before you spend >$500 for a used KTR on Reverb.
- Modulations and Fuzzes Were The Star Of 2023. My goal for this year was to review less drive pedals, which I definitely did succeed with to some degree. While there were still lots of drives, there was a lot of diversity in pedals reviewed, and the top 10 was dominated by fuzzes, modulations, and delays. One of my favorite things this year was all the fuzzes that feature some sort of filter or modulation onboard as well. The Cicada (fuzz-phaser), Owl Man (fuzz-ring mod), and Fukt Fuzz (fuzz-filter) were all some of my favorites, and the Cicada has become a staple of my gigging board.
- Oneder Effects Rocks: I’m a fan boy, I’ll admit it. Nick from Oneder Effects won me over big time this year with the Onederwall, which resides on my gigging board full time. A brilliant drive, a killer Muff, and both have a plethora of tone shaping options. Oh, then there’s the Red Ryder, a Rat-style pedal that I use on bass thanks to its amazing clean blend knob. And the simple yet perfect Major Award fuzz. Go check Oneder Effects out okay?
My goal for 2024 is to continue to highlight smaller builders doing unique/creative stuff, and still further cutting down on straight up drive pedal reviews. More modulations, and hopefully more reverbs too, will grace these pages next year.
Check the 2022 rankings or 2021 rankings for reference to past work!
2023 Guitars For Idiots pedal reviews by composition!
Now for some top picks from my friends!
Matt Foy – follow him on Instagram or subscribe on YouTube
In no particular order….
- October Audio F Division (love October Audio!)
- Lauren Audio Aerocomet
- Tulpa FX Owlman (I also reviewed this above)
- Loe Sounds Super Fuzz (Loe ROCKS)
- Twenty3Five Abacus
Taylor from Pedal Haven – follow him on Instagram or Youtube
- Honorable Mention: Caline Lorcan Mini Guitar Amp
- #3 Heather Brown Electronicals Spirit In The Sky Fuzz/Tremolo (which will place highly on my UG list)
- #2 Tone For Punk Trebled Youth Distortion (I have and love the prototype of this!)
- #1 J Rockett Audio HRM V2
Ryan from Gear Fever – follow him on Instagram or YouTube
In no particular order…
- Cornerstone Colosseum
- 1981 Inventions LVL Overdrive
- Templo Devices Reel Deluxe
- Walrus Slöer Stereo Ambient Reverb
- Coffee Shop Pedals Cortado Reverb
The Pedal Couple – follow them on Instagram or YouTube
1. Browne Amplification Protein V3:
Why? One side has their version of the Bluesbreaker circuit which is one of my favorites, and the other side has their version of the Nobels ODR-1 circuit, which has to be my favorite version of this circuit. Each side on its own and both combined just sound amazing.
Why? It is distortion and reverb on the same pedal, and you choose how much to mix those effects together. You can get so many cool sounds that it is impossible not to spend a couple of hours playing when you plug into this pedal.
3.Tallon Electric + Bilmuri The Hog
Why? It is a blended distortion and overdrive pedal. The crunchiness that this one has is so good!
Why? It is a PT2399-based delay pedal. You get two delay circuits with analog-style voicing side by side. Both circuits are the same but you get different signal routing and that makes it so much fun and versatile.
Why? It is the Claudio Sanchez pedal and we love Coheed and Cambria. Plus this pedal is Tubescreamer on one side and a Big Muff pedal on the other, and that is a killer combination.
Discover more from Guitars For Idiots
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
4 thoughts on “2023 Guitar Pedal Rankings: Everything We Reviewed This Year”