An acoustic guitar may produce a sound that is unbalanced, tinny, or lifeless. In this case, balance indicates subordination or dominance of specific frequencies within the sound.
You can effectively improve the quality of the sound by using one of the best acoustic guitar pedals. These devices are added between the instrument and the console.
Usually, acoustic pedals are engineered in pedal form, but they can be found in effect processors, as well. Different pedals may have different guitar effects.
There are many guitar pedals on the market, but not all of them will function flawlessly with your acoustic instrument.
We have done detailed research and selected five top pedals that will operate soundly with your acoustic guitar.
Top 5 Acoustic Guitar Pedals
#1 Boss AD-10 Acoustic Guitar Processor Pedal
The Boss AD-10 is a great pedal if you are playing acoustic gigs and plugging straight into a PA system. It will ensure you have a consistent tone.
Unlike conventional guitar pedals, this unit allows you to plug in two guitars simultaneously. This preamp will be handy when you have two guitars in different tunings.
You can have preset for both guitars. Also, if you’ve one guitar with two pickups, you can effectively blend the two pickups.
This pedal has built-in effects, including chorus, delay, and an onboard ambiance with adjustable parameters and multiple sound types.
This advanced masterpiece will help restore the organic, expressive vibe crucial to your acoustic experience by restoring string resonances lost with pickup systems.
One of the biggest issues you will encounter with your acoustic guitar is low-frequency feedback. This pedal has multi-level feedback protection that helps preserve your sound.
Things We Like:
- Boss construction is highly durable
- Loaded with sonically resourceful features, including compression, reverb, and delay
- You can plug two guitars at once and have presets for both instruments
- It can successfully blend two pickups of the same instrument
- It restores string resonance to enhance your acoustic experience
- Multi-level feedback protection helps preserve your sound on a live stage
Things We Didn’t Like:
- A very traditional user interface that may force you to use the manual
#2 LR Baggs Acoustic EQ Pedal
Whether practicing, laying down your favorite tracks, or playing live on stage, this pedal will help you get the finest tones out of your acoustic guitar.
If you are a multi-instrumentalist (plays an acoustic guitar, a fiddle, and a mandolin), then this can be quite a resourceful tool for you.
You can integrate dedicated EQ pedals to effectively level-match several instruments. This allows you to tailor a particular EQ for each instrument.
This EQ pedal combines FET gain with a superior EQ for tone shaping to instill balance and richness in your acoustic pickup signal.
Its impressive six-band EQ will shape the frequencies you consider useful to enhance the pickups of your acoustic guitar. This enables you to balance the amplified sound within the playing area.
You should consider buying this pedal if the bass end of the tone your guitar produces is too much when you increase the amp volume.
Things We Like:
- Variable high-pass filter for attenuating low frequencies
- Notch filter for taming resonate feedback
- Remarkable six-band EQ that shapes useful frequencies to enhance pickups
- Features phase inversion for active as well as passive pickups
- Level control is super easy with the three-position gain switch
- Allows a multi-instrumentalist to integrate dedicated EQ pedals
Things We Didn’t Like:
- May experience issues integrating dedicate EQ pedals
#3 TC Electronic Body-Rez Pedal
The Body-Rez pedal adds life to your plugged-in acoustic guitar tone. You no longer have to deal with a flat and one-dimensional tone.
This pedal can add a natural ambiance to your guitar tone through pre-configured filters and compression by simply turning the knob to your desired setting.
It offers refined resonance. It is engineered to restore the effective acoustic resonance of your acoustic guitar when you are using under-saddle pickups.
The unit has an impressive bypass feature that not only optimizes clarity but also ensures you don’t lose your high-end when the pedal is off.
If you hold down the switch, you’ll notice that it blinks. At that point, it is muting the signal, allowing you to unplug your guitar silently.
A typical problem with acoustic guitars is low-end feedback, especially when coming through a wedge or a guitar amplifier.
You can rectify the situation through phase reversal. You can enter the phase reversal mode by unplugging the power source, holding down the switch, and plugging in the power source again.
Things We Like:
- Easy one-knob control allows you to focus on your playing styles
- Get rid of low-frequency feedback through phase reversal
- Restores the effective acoustic resonance of your instrument
- The bypass feature optimizes clarity and prevents high-end loss
- Holding down the switch allows you to unplug your instrument silently
Things We Didn’t Like:
- Does not function as an equalizer
#4 NUX Stageman Floor Acoustic Preamp/DI Pedal
This is a high-performing acoustic guitar pedal with a looper function and digital effects. It offers you a natural sound quality in a pocket-sized unit.
This is a pretty simple pedal that has 1/4-inch input and output. There is a switch along the front that allows you to select the voicing for a magnetic or a piezo pickup.
It has reverb and chorus effects individually controlled by a single knob. You can adjust the reverb and chorus effects by tweaking their knobs from zero to ten.
You have a notch filter, which you can turn on and adjust the frequency to get rid of the notch sound generated by acoustic guitar nails or picks.
The next impressive feature of this pedal is the versatile preamp, which includes 3-band EQ and gains controls.
You can use the preamp controls to tune the sound for your acoustic guitar’s body, playing style, and amp/speaker characteristics.
What is most impressive about this pedal is the looper function. If you push the preamp and chorus footswitches, the unit is transformed into a looper pedal for sixty seconds records.
Things We Like:
- A collection of highly useful features in a compact design
- Individually controlled reverb and chorus effects knobs
- Notch filter eliminates notch sound produced by acoustic guitar nails and picks
- Preamp controls allow for easy tuning of the sound
- The Looper function allows you a record time of sixty seconds
Things We Didn’t Like:
- Maybe a little bit challenging to use for novice guitarists
#5 Fishman Aura Spectrum DI Preamp Acoustic Pedal
This uniquely designed acoustic pedal gives you the sound quality of a studio mic whenever you plug in your acoustic guitar.
Fishman’s imaging technology allows you to easily and accurately produce the sound of your acoustic instrument.
It uses digital algorithms developed in Fishman’s audio labs to create an image of the sound microphones captured in professional studios.
The image will play through an amp, mixture, or a PA system and blends well with the pickups of your guitar to yield a superior amplified sound.
This unit is the complete tone solution for acoustic musicians. It has a built-in chromatic tuner along with a bypass and a phase switch for fighting feedback.
It has one hundred and twenty-eight pre-loaded images that you can use with most of your acoustic instruments. You’ve also got an automatic DI ground lift feature.
Things We Like:
- State-of-the-art imaging technology for producing quality sound
- One hundred and twenty-eight pre-loaded images for various acoustic instruments
- USB interface for easy image downloads from Aura image gallery
- Phase switch for fighting feedback
- Built-in chromatic tuner detects as well as displays pitch of notes
Things We Didn’t Like:
- It may not operate with phantom power
How to choose a Pedal for Acoustic Guitar
Although some acoustic players go pretty wild with their effects, most apply the effects in a way that enhances the natural tone rather than color.
High-performing acoustic guitar pedals come in different packages. Some are individual floor pedals, while others are multi-effects units.
Also, many amps and mixing boards have basic guitar effects integrated into their designs. Individual foot pedals tend to be the easiest to set up and use.
While the difference in quality between simple guitar pedals and studio-quality rack-mounted gears used to be significant, recent advancements in digital tech have closed that gap.
Single vs. Multi-Effects Pedals
There are two types of effects pedals you will come across in the market: single or multi-effects. Each of these designs has unique benefits for an acoustic player.
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Single Effects
You should consider a single effects pedal if the tone is what matters the most for you. A dedicated pedal provides truer sound and playing dynamics than a multi-effects device.
A dedicated/single effects pedal can be adjusted individually, you can select the precise power supply, and you can select the most appropriate pedal for your application.
However, there are a few shortcomings. Single effects units are expensive to buy separately, and you have to incur an extra cost for the pedal board.
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Multi-Effects
If you are the kind of guitarist who likes to push the boundaries of your acoustic guitar sound, then you will do well with a multi-effects unit. It allows for a lot of experimenting.
Most multi-effects pedals we have come across are integrated with a collection of effects in a single compact unit.
High-end multi-effects guitar pedals will allow you to tweak, twist, and change the sound in several techniques.
Multi-effects units come with numerous built-in features, allow you to program patches, and may be less expensive than some dedicated units.
You should also expect a few shortcomings with multi-effects units. For example, you can’t select individual effects, and the footswitches may not be positioned according to your liking.
Setup Techniques
Guitar pedals can be set in two basic ways: inline or through an effects loop.
For inline setup, you plug your guitar into the pedal’s input. If you use a loop setup, you patch the unit into the ins and outs of that loop.
That allows you to keep your actual guitar signal directly into the amp without any interference on its way into the amp or preamp.
An effect loop may sometimes result in a cleaner signal and fewer disordered cables.
However, before choosing one technique over the other, you must check whether your pedals are designed for instrument or line-level inputs.
Suitable Effects for Your Acoustic Guitar
Many effects can transform the sound of your acoustic guitar, including chorus, delay, reverb, EQ, boost, buffer, and distortion, to mention a few.
The most common and useful effects for acoustic guitars are probably reverb, EQ, compression, and delay. It is always wise to consider a multi-effects unit with reverb as one of the features.
Reverb simulates the sound of playing in a large room, and accordingly, most reverb processors will have settings that allow you to simulate the sound of different size rooms.
A little reverb will make your amplified tone more realistic sounding, and it can take away the harsh attacks (an issue with certain pickups).
Final Words
There is so much that goes into choosing high-performing acoustic guitar pedals, such as a dedicated and multi-effects unit or the kind of effects the pedals come with.
The effects that come with the unit matter a lot, especially when selecting a dedicated device. Some popular single effects pedals are reverb, delay, chorus, and EQ.
However, when choosing a multi-effects pedal. You have to settle for a unit that will give you all desired effects, including reverb, delay, EQ, chorus, and compression.
How the unit is also designed matters. Make sure the control knobs and the footswitches are user-friendly. Otherwise, you will be frustrated by your purchase.