Best Pedals For Acoustic Guitar (2024 Update)

I’ve been searching for multi effects/DI pedal to compliment my Weissenborn style acoustic guitar. My sound hole passive pickup does a great job except for a somewhat weak output. Enter The Zoom AC-3 to the rescue. Now I have output headroom to spare. Everything about it is top shelf. Extremely flexible effects (kudos to ZOOM for using knobs rather than menu driven). And, it’s build quality is terrific. Very solid unit. I’m very glad I decided to try the ZOOM AC-3. BTW, the AMS payment options are unbeatable!SC n NC

I needed a DI box that could also boost the signal to the PA for solos and the Zoom does that well; the stage tuner is helpful, though I still use headstock tuners from habit and have accidentally muted my guitar stepping on the tuner switch when I wanted the boost switch. Providing presets for guitar body style should be useful, but once an effect is chosen I'll likely stick with it and use the equalizer knobs instead. Rarely use reverb playing with other instruments through the PA. The anti-feedback function and lift button haven't been needed though that was a big problem with my old DI box. Not using batteries, but two AA ones probably wouldn't last long.Mike

Makes a 200 dollar guitar sound like a 1000 dollar guitar. Makes a 1000 dollar guitar sound like a 2000 dollar guitar and so forth. The tape delay and tremolo sound so lush and amazing. The other effects sound amazing too, but I love the tape delay. What is amazing about this pedal is that it gets your little nuances and fixes them by smoothing them over. It's hard to find this pedal under 300 dollars, but if you have to own just one pedal for an acoustic then this is the one.satu87121

The Mooer Acoustikar does pretty good. Take little tweaks to get it to do what it will do. Use it with my Gretsch hollow body electric g5122. I use the Acoustikar for rhythm and use the bridge pickup to help clarity and set the Acoustikar flat with the selector switch to normal or jumbo. Doesn't sound like an acoustic guitar but fills the part. Better than some others I've tried.timtim.mmvafuz2

Overall: I was looking for something that would give me compact unit that would leave me prepared for any eventuality.This box with its outstanding effects for acoustic, and great options for output, leaves me feeling prepared for any eventuality. No direct box needed!Its very small footprint gives me a lot of functionality in a very small space, without chincing on quality. IT feels durable and substantial without being a tank.My Taylor K14C sounds awesome through it!Its hard to comment on customer service when you have had no need to contact the Mnfg. so don;t consider my rating on that since I cant really commentJoseph

I love this thing! Pairs well with my Taylor 110. The preamp is responsive, the boost is a nice touch, and the chorus and reverb are lush. Tap tempo delay is great. I will use this weekly for worship guitar at church. My only bone to pick was the power adapter was bad right out of the box. I had another so it worked out, but still. Great unit and you definitely get what you pay for.Imnotluckyjustsaved

I play mandolin and guitar in the church band and I have long since found that going direct through the P.A. system is the most efficient and quickest way to get a fidelity acoustic tone into the mix. The great thing about the Trace Elliot is that it is a quality direct box with XLR outputs with quality effects. I love the simplicity of the controls which allows me to individually dial in the effects such as reverb, delay, chorus, and, since I often take solos, a dedicated boost stomp for the extra punch I need for taking the lead with distinction. The simplicity of the controls allows me to make individual tweaks right on stage, unlike my Zoom A3, which has to go through several computer digitized manipulations, and actually requires pre-programmed patches. The Trace Elliot eliminates the digital windows through plain straightforward simplicity.randalcummings

I am using the Orange Acoustic Preamp Pedal to boost and shape the signal from a piezo pickup on my double bass. The notch and Q controls on the parametric plus the XLR phase inverter have greatly reduced my feedback problems at higher volumes.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

After trying several set ups that sell for hundreds more, I decided to give the sonicake a try. I'm very impressed with the tone quality and effects from this small rig. Add a tuner and this makes a perfect set up for small or large gigs.aaaabo

I’ve been searching for multi effects/DI pedal to compliment my Weissenborn style acoustic guitar. My sound hole passive pickup does a great job except for a somewhat weak output. Enter The Zoom AC-3 to the rescue. Now I have output headroom to spare. Everything about it is top shelf. Extremely flexible effects (kudos to ZOOM for using knobs rather than menu driven). And, it’s build quality is terrific. Very solid unit. I’m very glad I decided to try the ZOOM AC-3. BTW, the AMS payment options are unbeatable!SC n NC

I needed a DI box that could also boost the signal to the PA for solos and the Zoom does that well; the stage tuner is helpful, though I still use headstock tuners from habit and have accidentally muted my guitar stepping on the tuner switch when I wanted the boost switch. Providing presets for guitar body style should be useful, but once an effect is chosen I'll likely stick with it and use the equalizer knobs instead. Rarely use reverb playing with other instruments through the PA. The anti-feedback function and lift button haven't been needed though that was a big problem with my old DI box. Not using batteries, but two AA ones probably wouldn't last long.Mike

Makes a 200 dollar guitar sound like a 1000 dollar guitar. Makes a 1000 dollar guitar sound like a 2000 dollar guitar and so forth. The tape delay and tremolo sound so lush and amazing. The other effects sound amazing too, but I love the tape delay. What is amazing about this pedal is that it gets your little nuances and fixes them by smoothing them over. It's hard to find this pedal under 300 dollars, but if you have to own just one pedal for an acoustic then this is the one.satu87121

Look, if you REALLY have to have a Martin D-45 sound, guess what Of course this pedal will never do that. BUT, if you need something that sounds somewhat acoustic-like in a band mix and don't want to carry an extra (not to mention fragile) instrument, then this will work just fine. Not authentic, not great, not amazingly life-like, just FINE. With realistic expectations this pedal is as good as any for what it intends to do. I use this in an A/B/Y rig. Tha A side goes to my regular pedalboard and amps. The B side goes to this pedal and a volume pedal direct to FOH via a direct box. I get the "acoustic" sound fed back to me through my monitor (or ears if that applies occasionally). I can have straight electric, straight "acoustic", or use the Y option to blend the two to my liking. Works for me, YMMV. I play "for-hire" mostly and my clients love the versatility of my setup. Also, DO NOT run this pedal through a tube amp if you want the best results. It will definitely work best either run straight to FOH or through a clean solid-state amp. Hope this helps some of you who may be on the fence.steveheroan2010

Have read many reviews both positive and negative about this pedal. The negatives were not specific but didn't hear their guitar and amp give an acoustic sound with this pedal. The positives were sometimes vague but they liked it. Then some went on to say they liked it not through a tube amp but through an acoustic amp or a PA system. I HOOKED IT up through a very small practice amp set clean and used the emulation out into a mixer then into a low power full range PA type system. Sounded excellent with neck single coil. Didn't try it with the middle single coil nor the bridge humbucker. I am very happy to have this pedal.Kenmorek

the size was perfect for the space I had left on my board, it doesn't sound exactly like an acoustic guitar, but it does take a lot of the high end off single coil guitars and provides a lower sounding effect for strumming.636_hill

Nice pedal, good price, not been able to plug in to a PA yet. However the box I received had been opened as the seal was broken. I was not aware I was buying an opened box?Paul H.

Needed a reverb pedal as my recent amp purchase, Marshall Origin 20H does not have onboard reverb. Decent sound from subtle to cavernous. AN expression function on the switch adds more versatility. And I haven't even got to download other Reverb Sounds off the manufacturers' website!Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

As a professional recording engineer I've been familiar with TC Electronic for decades. I've used TC Electronic gear for a long time in the studio and have always found it to be the best of the best. However, as a hobbyist guitar player I was not as familiar with TC pedals as I was with pedals by other manufacturers (MXR, Dunlop, Boss, Ibanez, etc…). I've been looking for a good reverb pedal to run in my FX loop because the reverb built into the amp is pre FX Send and since I play with tons of gain I have a gate (TC Sentry – also amazing) in the FX loop and the gate was cutting off the reverb tails. I considered a variety of Reverb pedals but ultimately decided on the TC Hall of Fame 2 for several reasons. First, TC knows reverb, their System 6000 reverb is 13,000 without the remote, 15,000 with the remote. And they are using algorithms from the System 6000 in the Hall of Fame 2 – pretty cool. Additionally, with Tone Print capabilities you get unlimited preset options and the ability to design your own Tone Prints. This is an incredible powerful and amazing sounding pedal. Go ahead and add to cart, you won't be disappointed.GuitarJunkieUSA

I bought this used through Guitar Center to boost the output of my Eastman 815 acoustic-electric mandolin, which has an internal microphone but was too quiet. I'm a hobbyist but play in worship settings. I was able to EQ the output to sound like the natural mandolin tone and to boost the volume which was important to me, since, on occasion, I play outdoors or in a large church sanctuary. The tuner is a great asset, making clip-on tuners unnecessary. The tone boost gives the mandolin even more volume for those times when you want to play a solo. The unit runs on a 9V battery or a 9v DC adapter. I happened to own already own a 9v DC adapter, and it gave the unit much more power than the battery, which was great. I definitely recommend getting a 9v DC adapter. This was a good buy!Jamie

Sounds great. Also surprising versatility with the HP/LP settings. One criticism is that its very loud. Slotting in after 2 boosts and an OD, then before a fuzz has played havoc with my gain structure as, with those other pedals operating within normal vol ranges, I've found the volume on the OCD needs to be most of the way down when using drive greater than 12-o-clock which is even more noticeable on the HP setting. Btw, that's into a highish headroom amp so if you were using the OCD to further drive an already breaking up amp into much more compression then probably not that great an issueReviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I needed something to stack along side of my TS that did not overpower the sound of the other pedal or sound too thick on its own. This pedal sounds fantastic with single coil pickups and pairs extremely well with other OD pedals. I like the fact it can run on either battery, 9V, or 18V AC connections, making this a great choice if you have limited ports on your power supply. On its own, it stands out very well when dialing up the drive settings and it sounds absolutely great coming through a properly dimed tube amplifier. It is no coincidence you see these pedals on the boards of many great professional players… This box just has excellent tone and all their products are handmade in the USA with plenty of care involved–making them a quality purchase. I am looking at collecting a couple of other earlier versions as some have tonal differences that work better with other set ups. Overall very satisfied with this purchase.built_for_speed

I've owned the Fulltone OCD for just over a week now and I can confidently say it's the best overdrive effects pedal I've ever had the pleasure of using. It has a sturdy build, it's versatile, it retains the original tone and colour of your guitar/amp combo and it's LOUD! I wanted a pedal that would fit compliment my '65 Twin Reverb Reissue amp and Telecaster, I love the tone of my setup but I really needed some bite in the shape of a good overdrive. After doing some research and seeing the name Fulltone OCD pop up again and again I started to get very curious about this pedal, the clincher was when I saw it on the pedal board of a guitarist on youtube who was showing off some of my favourite licks! I'm glad I chose the OCD. The fact that new OCD stock routinely goes out of stock shortly after going on sale on most websites should tell you everything! Recommended.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I purchased this one pedal to be all the pedals I don't want to buy as single units. I have an extensive pedal collection but I have grown tired of hauling around a pedal board filled with effect units I only use every now and then. I decided that a good way to remedy that would be to add a pedal that could function as simple delay, reverb, boost, and modulation. I have greatly reduced the amount of pedals on my board thanks to this unit. The weakness of the VOX Stomplab IG is in the distortion/overdrive/amp selection. I didn't find any that I found pleasing to my ears but I didn't expect to. I did find a few low gain overdrives that were acceptable but nothing I loved. I intended to keep my overdrive and distortion pedals my board anyway, so I wasn't worried about it. The compressor is solid, but a bit noisy. The delays and reverbs are quite good and I consider those alone, worth the price tag. my pedal board is now just a few choice pedals and the VOX stomplab IG serving as single and multi effect pedal. Overall I am very happy with it.Mesa Ari

I am trying really hard to like this. With regards to the preset effects, some 9fnthe sound pretty good. But some of them, it's like they are non existent or pretty horrible sounding. The other issue is you are supposed to bypass the effects. But of you do, your volume reduces so significantly that I either have to turn up the volume on the amp, or disconnect this thing all together and connect directly to amp. The last issue is that creating your own defects is pretty hard to understand. The instructions are not very helpful and it is pretty hard to understand the abbreviations used on the box to figure out what effect you are working with. Oh btw, you have to hold the power button down for a couple of second for it to turn on. If you don't it will seem it is not working. So, this thing is not horrible, but the verdict is out as to whether it is something that will end up collecting dust in a cornerJohn, G

Look, if you REALLY have to have a Martin D-45 sound, guess what Of course this pedal will never do that. BUT, if you need something that sounds somewhat acoustic-like in a band mix and don't want to carry an extra (not to mention fragile) instrument, then this will work just fine. Not authentic, not great, not amazingly life-like, just FINE. With realistic expectations this pedal is as good as any for what it intends to do. I use this in an A/B/Y rig. Tha A side goes to my regular pedalboard and amps. The B side goes to this pedal and a volume pedal direct to FOH via a direct box. I get the "acoustic" sound fed back to me through my monitor (or ears if that applies occasionally). I can have straight electric, straight "acoustic", or use the Y option to blend the two to my liking. Works for me, YMMV. I play "for-hire" mostly and my clients love the versatility of my setup. Also, DO NOT run this pedal through a tube amp if you want the best results. It will definitely work best either run straight to FOH or through a clean solid-state amp. Hope this helps some of you who may be on the fence.steveheroan2010

Have read many reviews both positive and negative about this pedal. The negatives were not specific but didn't hear their guitar and amp give an acoustic sound with this pedal. The positives were sometimes vague but they liked it. Then some went on to say they liked it not through a tube amp but through an acoustic amp or a PA system. I HOOKED IT up through a very small practice amp set clean and used the emulation out into a mixer then into a low power full range PA type system. Sounded excellent with neck single coil. Didn't try it with the middle single coil nor the bridge humbucker. I am very happy to have this pedal.Kenmorek

I'm a jazz guitarist playing an 8-string classical guitar that goes higher and lower than a regular guitar. It has a K & K pickup and I my amp is a JBL EON powered speaker, which, for this instrument sounds better than any jazz guitar amp. I have used the Zoom A-3 preamp as well as an L.R. Baggs Venue DI. They are both very good but I'd say the Grace Alix is the best I've found. It has great features you can read about but I must say that the sound of my guitar with the EQ set flat is strong, clear and simply amazing! It's very well thought out. Worth the price.8-String Fred

I looked everywhere for an amp, pedal, anything to make my acoustic sound natural. Finally LRBaggs did it with this pedal. I can't express enough if you play acoustic guitar you need this voice print di. I use mine straight to the mixer with the handy XLR out it has. The anti feedback works great, seems to take some of the thickness away though, but I probably just don't know how to fix it yet. I paid 400. Worth every penny.Craig W.

I use this for my Taylor 412 acoustic – going directly to P.A. (I use a Fishman pre amp as well) I play in various acoustic trios and I needed something to boost volume for solos – plus add a little sustain/overdrive as needed. I was pleasantly surprised with the tone, and I had NO feedback problems at all. It really helps put my acoustic leads in the same proficiency level as my electric leads. It takes a bit of tweaking to find the sweet spot between enough sustain – yet not too much distortion – but the sweet spot is very much attainable. There's a slight pop when you click it on – but not enough to be overly noticeable or annoying. I'm VERY happy with this pedal !!Tom P.

The pluses: its solidly built and it has nice blue lights on the individual knobs. The minuses: not inexpensive and did not approach electric sounds for my piezo Epiphone acoustic. Maybe if you have a great pickup system? Or if you already have a magnetic soundhole pickup then this thing can give some sounds. Instead I just grabbed my cheapo Zoom multifx pedal and created a patch with eq–>overdrive—>compressor—>eq and it sounds a zillion times more realistic.Go_Pats

Excellent sound. Lots of tweaking possible to get the souns right and avoid feedback. Footswitch a bit clunky, and glue on rubber feet useless, but they are the only negativesMark S.

Pro's Had this pedal for a few weeks now, very pleased as I can plug my passive solid body electric violin straight in and it seems to balance the impedence just fine, so I don't lose the lower frequencies. Battery life is surprisingly good, also there is an eco function that makes the screen less bright for longer life. First thing I did was test it with cheap pound shop batteries, which lasted for a good few hours, so I was impressed as none of my other pedals can handle that. There is a very useful editor which you can download and gives full access to all of the various fx. Was also surprised that Zoom seem to keep adding these individual plug-in type effects. There is one set of patches that you can load in from the editor, created by a Japanese EV player. They are interesting and can be useful. The fx appear to be in a chain, but some seem parallel to my mind, as there is a mix control with some that seems to be a by-pass of some kind. There are quite a lot of different fx and some are aimed at getting that piezo squeek under control, which is important for EV players as the bow hair noise can be a distraction. The EQ fx seem to be aok at filtering out the annoying frequencies. The looper is quite handy for setting up, the frequency response to my ears seemed ok without any noticeable compression. Not many battery loopers out there, so this is ok for a street jam if that is your thing. It's just basic record, overdub x however many you want, stop or delete. This pedal worked well through my amps and like most pedals works well in that situation for live gig work. For studio, I could record DI straight into my DAW, but to gain a really natural sound used additional IR reverb and IR convolution snapshots that I've made. I also have the Zoom A2.1u pedal which is built like a tank but is less easy to program. I wasn't sure about the plastic base of the A1. However, it has a got a solid metal base and feels really strong+ it's light and a handy size, not too big. Unlike some of the floor guitar pedals I've got that take up a whole gig bag. I can set up my favourite patches in any order that I like, the editor makes this very easy. I can overwrite the presets, or re-set back to makers original settings. Makers patch 29 is one of the best octavers I have come across in a pedal like this. Makes a regular EV sound just like a Cello. Cons: There might be IR on this pedal but you can't load in your own and there is no way to get access to edit the convolution fx. I was overly impressed with the Violin pre-sets, but that's true of most pedal presets, you need to put you own to together to suit different EV's you might own. Overall I like this pedal and can see myself using it a lot because it is light, I can edit on the fly, good battery life, good price, ongoing support via the editor. I bought this pedal from Scan computers in Bolton and their service was excellent and they offered the most competitive price, so all good imo.Peak

This is NOT an acoustic guitar pedal! It has useless settings for sax, harmonica, trumpet, WHY ? They're just a bunch of unusable effects for a guitar, maybe a half dozen are useful. The looper is useless, you have to use your hand to get to it, it ONLY records a 30sec loop, not 24 seconds not one measure , 30 sec. And it doesn't start with sound activation, so the delay from when you turn it on stays in the loop, as does the remainder of the 30 seconds !!! What good is that ? And the pedal is right next to a control footswitch, that you WILL keep hitting and changing the setting as you play. There is no rhyme or reason to the lack of organization in the effects order, there isn't any. Bottom line, DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY !Badartdog

The main reason I bought this is that i had a Zoom 405 acoustic effects years ago and loved it. This has the same quality effects. The preset guitar types is surprisingly good, the EC preset is very very good. The rhythm is ok, standard level and useful for sure. The looper however is very average, very limited in control and capacity. Overall a very good effects unit for acoustic guitar. Forget the looper!itc_productions

I read countless reviews on all the acoustic preamps, watched videos, read specs. Each unit had its share of lovers and haters. Every time I thought I had made up my mind and was ready to buy I would see comments contradicting the previous accolades. Knowing that sound is subjective I opted to give this unit a try. It is relatively new to the market and Boss products have been very reliable for me. I didn't need a lot of bells and whistles. I wanted something to boost the signal of the piezo pickup on my violin, give some ability to tweak the tone and give some acoustic depth. This unit doe exactly what I needed. I have not tried it for guitar so I can't comment there. I'm satisfied….YMMV.JT

I needed a preamp for my Dean Markley ProMag Plus single coil sound hole pickup, so that I could take that signal to mixer and PA system. I prefer the sound of magnetic pickups in acoustic guitars, and I use this in a Martin HD-28 and also a Gibson Songwriter Deluxe, but the output from the pickup needs a preamp to match the input impedance on a mixer board. This is a perfect solution, small, portable, no nonsense, and sounds terrific with resonance (reverb) set at noon and ambience set at about 2:00-3:00. Surprisingly quiet also.Jay Ira

It certainly does deliver the acoustic quality of my guitar via my Roland CUBE EX amp. Haven’t had feedback issues playing the rig at home so it hasn’t been necessary to dial up the feedback knob as yet , but reasonably confident it will work OK should such issues occur when gigging. Bought because of its ease of use (less to go wrong at a gig) and it’s 6 hour battery life also making it viable for busking. Very pleased with it and more than aware that there will be a vast range of tweaks to achieve a really comprehensive range of sound effects when used in conjunction with the amp’s different guitar effect settings.Peter H.