The Most Popular Guitar Pedals of 2023, Based on Your Pedalboards

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No two pedalboards are the same. 

 

With such a wide array of different guitar pedals and configurations to choose from, I post all kinds of different pedalboards on @PedalHaven. 

 

But some guitar pedals are found on pedalboards more often than others.

 

But what are the most popular guitar pedals seen on pedalboards in 2023?

 

I analyzed all 300+ pedalboards posted on @PedalHaven in 2023 to find out what the most popular guitar pedals were.

 

Let’s dive in!

 

The Most Popular Types of Guitar Pedals in 2023

From distortion and chorus pedals to fuzz pedals and phasers, there is no shortage of effect types in the guitar pedal world. But of the pedalboards posted on Pedal Haven in 2023, overdrive pedals took the win as the most-featured effect type – with 518 features.

 

Somewhat unsurprising, since overdrive is such a widely-used effect. But of those 518 overdrive pedals we saw in 2023, 184 were unique! This is a testament to the number of choices we have when it comes to overdrive pedals.

 

The Most Popular Guitar Pedal Manufacturers of 2023

Strymon took over in 2023! I saw 347 different Strymon pedals on pedalboards in 2023 – that’s nearly one posted every day! But they still have some competition, with Boss (254 pedals), TC Electronic (154), and Electro Harmonix (125) ranking highly among the top manufacturers.

 

The Most Popular Guitar Pedals of 2023

This year, we saw 2896 guitar pedals across the 300+ pedalboards posted on Pedal Haven. But some pedals were found on pedalboards far more than others.

 

After analyzing all of the pedals on 2023’s pedalboards, I found that the Polytune tuner from TC Electronic was the most-seen pedal on pedalboards. It came up 87 different times last year! The Polytune was followed by the Strymon BigSky (51 features) and the Strymon TimeLine (50 features) in 2nd and 3rd place.

1. TC Electronic – Polytune [Tuner] (Amazon)
2. Strymon – BigSky [Reverb] (Amazon)
3. Strymon – TimeLine [Delay] (Amazon)
4. Dunlop – DVP4 [Volume/Expression] (Amazon)
5. Strymon – Flint [Reverb/Tremolo] (Amazon)
6. Boss – TU-Series [Tuner] (Amazon)
7. Strymon – El Capistan [Delay] (Amazon)
8. Origin Effects – Cali76 [Compressor] (Amazon)
9. Browne Amplification – Protein [Overdrive] (Reverb.com)
10. Dunlop – Cry Baby [Wah] (Amazon)

The Most Popular Overdrive Pedals of 2023

As mentioned above, overdrive pedals were the #1 most popular type of pedal posted on Pedal Haven in 2023. This makes sense because there are so many overdrive pedals to choose from and it is such a popular effect.

 

The Protein from Browne Amplification took the #1 spot in the overdrive category – racking up 30 different features in 2023. 

 

2023 seemed to be the year of the BluesBreaker clone, with the Protein ranking #1, the Morning Glory from JHS Pedals ranking 2nd, and the Analog Man King of Tone ranking 6th.

1. Browne Amplification – Protein (Reverb.com)
2. JHS Pedals – Morning Glory (Amazon)
3. Earthquaker Devices – Plumes (Amazon)
4. Ceriatone – Centura (Reverb.com)
5. Vemuram – Jan Ray (Reverb.com)
6. Analog Man – King of Tone (Reverb.com)
7. Greer Amps – Lightspeed (Amazon)
8. Cornerstone Music Gear – Gladio (Reverb.com)
9. King Tone – Duellist (Reverb.com)
10. Jackson Audio – Broken Arrow (Amazon)

 

The Most Popular Delay Pedals of 2023

Delay pedals were the second most featured type of pedal in 2023 – with 309 different delay pedals showing up on boards throughout the year. 

 

Of those 309 delay pedals, the TimeLine from Strymon took first place with 50 features! Other Strymon pedals, the El Capistan, DIG, and the Volante all rank highly in the delay category.

1. Strymon – TimeLine (Amazon)
2. Strymon – El Capistan (Amazon)
3. Strymon – Volante (Amazon)
4. Boss – DD-Series (Amazon)
5. Meris – LVX (Reverb.com)
6. Strymon – Dig (Amazon)
7. Universal Audio – Starlight (Amazon)
8. MXR – Carbon Copy (Amazon)
9. JHS Pedals – Lucky Cat (Reverb.com)
10. Way Huge – Aqua-Puss (Amazon)

The Most Popular Reverb Pedals of 2023

Strymon did quite well here too – with 4 of the top 10 reverb pedals being Strymon pedals. But of all 228 different reverb pedals we saw last year, the BigSky took the win with 51 different features in 2023.

1. Strymon – BigSky (Amazon)
2. Boss – RV-Series (Amazon)
3. Strymon – Nightsky (Amazon)
4. Strymon – blueSky (Amazon)
5. Universal Audio – Golden (Amazon)
6. TC Electronic – Hall of Fame (Amazon)
7. MXR – Reverb (Amazon)
8. Walrus Audio – Slö (Amazon)
9. GFI System – Skylar (Amazon)

The Most Popular Fuzz Pedals of 2023

All hail the Big Muff. For many, the Big Muff from Electro Harmonix started it all – and it is still going strong today. The EHX Big Muff ranked #1 in the fuzz pedal category with 10 features spread out across 2023.

1. Electro Harmonix – Big Muff (Amazon)
2. Analog Man – Sun Face (Reverb.com)
3. Benson Amps – Germanium Fuzz (Amazon)
4. King Tone – miniFUZZ (Reverb.com)
5. ZVEX Effects – Fuzz Factory (Amazon)
6. Electro Harmonix – Green Russian Big Muff Reissue (Amazon)
7. JHS Pedals – Muffuletta (Amazon)
8. Boss – FZ-1W (Amazon)
9. Formula B – Fuzz Rangers (Reverb.com)
10. Earthquaker Devices – Hizumitas (Amazon)

The Most Popular Compressor Pedals of 2023

The Cali76 Compressor from Origin Effects was the all-time most-featured compressor pedal of 2023 – seen on 36 different boards. It was closely followed by the super popular Compressor+ from Keeley Electronics (18 features) and the SP Compressor from Xotic Effects (16 features).

1. Origin Effects – Cali76 (Amazon)
2. Keeley Electronics – Compressor+ (Amazon)
3. Xotic Effects – SP Compressor (Amazon)
4. Strymon – Compadre (Amazon)
5. MXR – Dyna Comp (Amazon)
6. JHS Pedals – Pulp N Peel (Amazon)
7. Walrus Audio – Deep Six (Amazon)
8. Keeley Electronics – Compressor Mini (Reverb.com)
9. Jackson Audio – Bloom (Amazon)
10. Barber Electronics – Tone Press (Reverb.com)

 

The Most Popular Distortion Pedals of 2023

WE HAVE RATS! This ranking is packed with ProCo RATs and different RAT clones. The #1 pedal in the distortion ranking was the ever-popular DRV from 1981 Inventions. 

 

But the original RAT ranked #2 with 11 features. Other RAT-inspired pedals, like the Wampler Ratsbane, the Walrus Audio Iron Horse, and the Earthquaker Devices/Sunn O))) Life Pedal all fall within the top 10 of 2023.

1. 1981 Inventions – DRV (Reverb.com)
2. ProCo – RAT (Amazon)
3. Boss – DS-1 (Amazon)
4. Earthquaker Devices – Life Pedal (Amazon)
5. JHS Pedals – PG-14 (Amazon)
6. ZVEX Effects – Box of Rock (Amazon)
7. MXR – Distortion+ (Amazon)
8. Walrus Audio – Iron Horse (Amazon)
9. Wampler Pedals – Ratsbane (Amazon)
10. JHS Pedals – Packrat (Amazon)

The Most Popular Modulation Pedals of 2023

From chorus to vibrato, modulation pedals come in all shapes and sizes. But the most popular of them all in 2023 was the Boss CE-Series chorus pedals. Walrus Audio’s Julia and Julianna both made an appearance in the list this year too.

1. Boss – CE-Series (Amazon)
2. MXR – Phase 90 (Amazon)
3. Walrus Audio – Julia (Amazon)
4. Strymon – Mobius (Amazon)
5. Walrus Audio – Julianna (Amazon)
6. Drybell – Vibe Machine (Reverb.com)
7. Walrus Audio – Monument (Amazon)
8. Strymon – Zelzah (Amazon)
9. Caroline Guitar Co. – Arigato (Amazon)
10. GFI System – Synethesia (Reverb.com)

 

Be sure to follow Pedal Haven on Instagram to see more! And feel free to submit your pedalboard while you’re there so your pedals can make it into next year’s list!