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It’s that time of year again!
If you’ve been here a while you’ll know that I sit down at the end of each year and tally up all of the pedals featured on @PedalHaven in order to find which guitar pedals are found on pedalboards the most often.
This year is no different! This year there were 300+ pedalboards featured on the Pedal Haven Instagram account and nearly 3200 pedals! So let’s find out which of those pedals were found on pedalboards most often in 2022.
Interesting Findings
- Overdrive pedals were the most popular type of pedals on pedalboards this year – the Browne Amplification Protein was the most popular overdrive pedal on boards this year.
- 328 of the 3192 pedals posted on @PedalHaven this year were Strymon pedals, making Strymon the most popular pedal company – followed by Boss (284), TC Electronic (190), and Electro-Harmonix (148).
- The average pedalboard had 9 pedals on it.
The Most Popular Guitar Effect Types in 2022
To start, let’s dig into the most popular types of pedals featured on pedalboards in 2022. This year, overdrive pedals were the most common, overall – with the Protein from Browne Amplification taking the win as the most commonly-spotted overdrive.
2022’s Most Popular Guitar Pedals, Overall
Now that we have an idea of the most popular effect types, let’s check out which pedals featured the most. It is never surprising to see tuner pedals taking the top spots here – after all, everyone should have a tuner on their board!
The Most Popular Overdrive Pedals of 2022
As mentioned above, overdrive pedals were the most popular type of pedal on pedalboards this year. But what are the top 10 overdrive pedals of 2022?
The Protein from Browne Amplification wins this year. Of the 533 overdrive pedals posted, 38 of them were the Protein – making the Protein the most widely-used overdrive this year. However, the Protein is followed closely by last year’s winner, the Morning Glory from JHS Pedals (featured 31 times) and Analog Man’s King of Tone. It turns out we all had Bluesbreaker fever this year!
The Top Overdrive Pedals of 2022
| Manufacturer | Pedal Name | Where to Buy | Where to Buy |
| Browne Amplification | Protein | View on Reverb | |
| JHS Pedals | Morning Glory | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Vemuram | Jan Ray | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Analog Man | King of Tone | View on Reverb | |
| Jackson Audio | Broken Arrow | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Greer Amps | Lightspeed | View on Reverb | |
| King Tone | Duellist | View on Reverb | |
| Strymon | Sunset | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| J. Rockett Audio Designs | Archer | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Bondi Effects | Sick As | View on Reverb |
The Most Popular Delay Pedals of 2022
The second most popular type of pedals featured this year were delay pedals. In fact, of all the pedals posted on @PedalHaven this year, nearly 11% of them were delay pedals! Here are the 10 most-used delay pedals from 2022:
Strymon dominates the rankings, taking the top three spots with their classic TimeLine Multidimensional delay, their Volante Magnetic Echo Machine, and their dTape Echo – the El Capistan.
The Top Delay Pedals of 2022
| Manufacturer | Pedal Name | Where to Buy | Where to Buy |
| Strymon | TimeLine | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Strymon | Volante | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Strymon | El Capistan | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Boss | DD Series (Compact) | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Universal Audio | Starlight | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| MXR | Carbon Copy | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Boss | DD-500 | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Caroline Guitar Company | Kilobyte | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Strymon | Dig | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Walrus Audio | ARP-87 | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
The Most Popular Reverb Pedals of 2022
Next up, let’s take a look at the Reverb category. Just like in previous years, reverb pedals were quite popular on pedalboards in 2022. And there were some heavy-hitter reverb pedals in this year’s ranking:
We see some familiar faces from the most popular pedals featured in previous years, but some new faces made the rankings this year too! Including Universal Audio’s Golden Reverberator and the Dark Star Pad Reverb from Old Blood Noise Endeavors.
The Top Reverb Pedals of 2022
| Manufacturer | Pedal Name | Where to Buy | Where to Buy |
| Strymon | BigSky | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Strymon | BlueSky | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Boss | RV Series | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Universal Audio | Golden | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Strymon | NightSky | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Walrus Audio | Slö | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Neunaber | Immerse | View on Reverb | |
| Old Blood Noise Endeavors | Dark Star | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Chase Bliss | Dark World | View on Reverb | |
| Earthquaker Devices | Afterneath | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
The Most Popular Compressor Pedals of 2022
You may refer to your compressor pedal as your ‘secret weapon’, but it looks like the secret got out – compressor pedals were the 5th most popular pedal type this year. Here are 2022’s most popular compressor pedals:
The Cali76 from Origin Effects took the win this year! Followed closely by the Compressor+ from Keeley Electronics, the Bloom from Jackson Audio, and last year’s winner, Xotic’s SP Compressor.
Top Compressor Pedals of 2022
| Manufacturer | Pedal Name | Where to Buy | Where to Buy |
| Origin Effects | Cali76 | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Keeley Electronics | Compressor+ | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Jackson Audio | Bloom | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Xotic | SP Compressor | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Walrus Audio | Deep Six | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Keeley Electronics | Compressor Mini | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Wampler Pedals | Ego | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Strymon | Compadre | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Boss | Compression Sustainer | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| JHS Pedals | Whitey Tighty | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
The Most Popular Fuzz Pedals of 2022
Everyone loves fuzz pedals! And fuzz pedals were the 6th most popular effect type found on pedalboards this year. But what were the most-used fuzz pedals? Take a look:
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Big Muff from EHX took the win. However, when compared to previous years, there has been a drastic drop in Big Muff pedals on pedalboards! Last year there were 40+ Big Muff featured, but there were only 14 this year! That said, this classic fuzz still took the #1 spot in the fuzz category.
Top Fuzz Pedals of 2022
| Manufacturer | Pedal Name | Where to Buy | Where to Buy |
| Electro-Harmonix | Big Muff | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Benson Amps | Germanium Fuzz | View on Reverb | |
| Caroline Guitar Company | Hawaiian Pizza | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| King Tone | Mini Fuzz | View on Reverb | |
| Mythos Pedals | Golden Fleece | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Dunlop | Fuzz Face | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| JHS Pedals | Bender | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Boss | FZ Series | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Caroline Guitar Company | Crom | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Formula B Pedals | Fuzz Rangers | View on Reverb |
The Most Popular Distortion Pedals of 2022
It turns out that 2022 was the year of the rat. The original ProCo RAT took second place – but of the other 9 pedals here, 4 of them are inspired by the legendary ProCo RAT circuit. Here’s a look at the rankings for the most popular distortion pedals:
Related: the best RAT clones
The Top Distortion Pedals of 2022
| Manufacturer | Pedal Name | Where to Buy | Where to Buy |
| 1981 Inventions | DRV | View on Reverb | |
| ProCo | RAT | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Boss | DS-1 | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| JHS Pedals | Packrat | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Suhr | Riot | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Black Mass Electronics | 1312 | View on Reverb | |
| Gamechanger Audio | Plasma Pedal | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Earthquaker Devices | Acapulco Gold | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| JHS Pedals | PG-14 | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Earthquaker Devices | Life Pedal | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
The Most Popular Modulation Pedals of 2022
This year I combined all modulation pedals into one graphic. Overall, we see a nice mix of chorus pedals, tremolo pedals, phasers, vibratos, and all-in-one modulation pedals like the Strymon Mobius.
| Manufacturer | Pedal Name | Where to Buy | Where to Buy |
| Walrus Audio | Julia | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Boss | CE Series | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Strymon | Mobius | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Walrus Audio | Monument | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| MXR | Phase 90 | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Walrus Audio | Julianna | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Caroline Guitar Company | Somersault | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Fairfield Circuitry | Shallow Water | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Drybell | Vibe Machine | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Strymon | Zelzah | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
The Most Popular Amp & Cab Sim Pedals of 2022
Amp and cabinet simulation has come a long way in recent years, and because of this, we are constantly seeing amp & cab sim pedals popping up on boards. So this year, for a new category I wanted to find the most common amp or cabinet simulation pedals on pedalboards this year:
This year’s winner, the Strymon Iridium has been a staple in the amp sim world for a few years now. And rightfully so, it is great! However, it is nice to see that the new line of Universal Audio amp simulation pedals becoming so popular – the Ruby and the Dream from UA took 3rd and 4th place this year, despite only being available for the latter half of 2022.
| Manufacturer | Pedal Name | Where to Buy | Where to Buy |
| Strymon | Iridium | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Walrus Audio | ACS1 | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Universal Audio | Ruby | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Universal Audio | Dream | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| DSM & Humboldt | Simplifier | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Origin Effects | Bass Rig Super Vintage | View on Reverb | View on Amazon |
| Origin Effects | Bass Rig ‘64 Black Panel | View on Reverb |
The Top 10 Guitar Pedal Companies of 2022
Of the 3000+ guitar pedals featured on @PedalHaven this year, which companies took up the largest share of them? Here’s a breakdown of the top 10 pedal companies – based on how many of their pedals were featured on @PedalHaven in 2022:
| Company | Pedals Featured in 2022 |
| Strymon | 328 |
| Boss | 284 |
| TC Electronic | 190 |
| Electro Harmonix | 148 |
| JHS Pedals | 140 |
| Walrus Audio | 130 |
| Dunlop | 100 |
| Earthquaker Devices | 90 |
| MXR | 78 |
| Keeley Electronics | 60 |
Thanks to everyone for submitting their pedalboards this year and thanks to you all for checking this out! If you’re not already, head over to Instagram and follow me at @PedalHaven and feel free to submit your pedalboard while you’re there!