Updated by Danielle
Updated on March 15th, 2023
We have removed the BBE Acoustimax entirely since it is no longer available and increasingly rare on the used market. All other pedal recommendations remain the same. Additionally, we have some minor corrections/fixes to the article's copy.
Best Acoustic Guitar Pedals (our top Pick)
LR Baggs Venue DI Acoustic Preamp
Technically a preamp, the Venue DI gives you a ton of control over your acoustic guitar's tone. Even for those with an onboard preamp, the Venue DI's sound quality is just a cut above. It's expensive, but worth it, especially for those who perform live.
You’re an acoustic guitar player, almost exclusively. Yet somewhere deep in your soul there’s a desire to branch out and at least be capable of more variety in your tone. It’s not like you want a full pedalboard or a pile of stompboxes strewn across the floor.
Just something that will provide more control, maybe a little color and flavor to your tone.
But, what pedals “work” with an acoustic rig? What effects would you actually use? There are some that work really well with an acoustic guitar. I'll highlight them in this best acoustic guitar pedals list.
Compare our top acoustic guitar pedals picks
Pedal | Name | Rate | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| LR Baggs Venue Acoustic DI | 96.5 | |
 | LR Baggs Para DI | n/a | |
 | TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb Pedal | 95.8 | |
 | Boss CH-1 Super Chorus Pedal | n/a | |
 | Boss AD-2 Acoustic Preamp | n/a | |
 | Ernie Ball Volume Pedal | n/a | |
 | Boss RC-1 Loop Station | n/a |
1. LR Baggs Venue DI Acoustic Pedal & Preamp
The LR Baggs Venue DI is essentially an acoustic guitar amplifier (preamp) without a speaker cab. If you go straight into a mixer or PA system this unit lets you customize your acoustic's tone in every way imaginable. While it's particularly ideal for someone who doesn't have an existing preamp in their acoustic rig, it outperforms most onboard preamps that come standard in an acoustic guitar or even in an acoustic amp.
Read the full review: LR Baggs Venue DI
Back panel of the Venue DI.
This is a fantastic tool for acoustic solos artists, worship leaders, session players, or an acoustic rig that lacks a lot of control or doesn't have its own preamp. Its price is usually on the higher end, though you can check used pricing which often dips significantly below retail.
Excluding effects like chorus and reverb, you can rely entirely on the Venue for whatever acoustic tone you can think of. LR Baggs also throws in a nifty carrying case.
IDEAL FOR: Live performance, recording, and all acoustic rigs
TONE
95
EQ/CONTROL
100
BUILD/STRENGTH
95
COST/VALUE
90
THE PROS
THE CONS
2. LR Baggs Para DI Preamp
If you play an acoustic guitar but don’t own an amp and prefer not to (perhaps because you almost always play into a PA system) then this acoustic preamp is ideal for your situation. Not only does it give you the added control over your tone but, it also eliminates the need for an acoustic amplifier entirely, similar to the Venue DI. It’s also much cheaper than an amp.
The Para DI allows you to control gain, which is basically the volume that goes into the master volume or output. This means it’ll be easier to control feedback and have a more compressed response. We recommend dealing with EQ preferences after you’ve set volume and gain the way you want.
It’s a complete acoustic preamp and, for what it’s worth, one of our favorite acoustic rig recommendations, particularly as a more affordable alternative to the Venue DI.
IDEAL FOR: Acoustic pickups without preamps
TONE
n/a
EQ/CONTROL
n/a
BUILD/STRENGTH
n/a
COST/VALUE
n/a
THE PROS
THE CONS
3. TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb Pedal
For acoustic guitar players (and electric players) there is simply nothing to dislike about the Hall of Fame reverb pedal, unless you just dislike ambient effects in general.
Bought and tested by yours truly.
The HOF is one of the best reverb pedals we've ever used in this price range, and it's perfect for acoustic guitar tones. When you're adding subtle effects layers to your acoustic guitar, reverb is one of the best types of effects to use.
IDEAL FOR: Simple acoustic ambience and effects layering
TONE
93
EQ/CONTROL
95
BUILD/STRENGTH
85
COST/VALUE
95
THE PROS
THE CONS
4. Boss CH-1 Super Chorus Effect
If you just want to add a little bit of color or effect to your sound, a chorus pedal is an excellent option, requiring only basic EQ and level controls.
The Boss CH-1 accommodates with an EQ knob, RATE and DEPTH controls, all of which fall under an E.LEVEL knob which functions as a wet/dry mix control.
For subtle modulation just set every knob at about 11 o'clock. You'll get a thin, shimmering layer over your acoustic guitar's tone that doesn't drown out the natural resonance of the instrument. The pedal doesn't boost your signal or add any kind of volume. All you'll hear is a clear, simple effect layer.
IDEAL FOR: Basic acoustic effects (modulation), all recording and performance situations
TONE
n/a
EQ/CONTROL
n/a
BUILD/STRENGTH
n/a
COST/VALUE
n/a
THE PROS
THE CONS
5. Boss AD-2 Acoustic Preamp Pedal
What might attract buyers to the Boss AD-2, as opposed to the LR Baggs preamps, is that the AD-2 provides a much simpler control scheme with only three different knobs to consider: Ambience, Notch and Acoustic Resonance
Ambience functions as a reverb control for acoustic guitars, which sounds okay, though I still prefer the Hall of Fame reverb on my acoustic, since it gives you a lot more in the way of tweaking and a better sound quality. However, the AD-2's preamp tone sounds great out of the box, and the notch filter effectively keeps down feedback.
In typical Boss fashion, this pedal is affordable and comes with Boss's five-year warranty. As I previously mentioned, the AD-2's strongest mark is simplicity and a setup that's effective "out of the box" without a lot of tinkering. If you want the simple preamp solution, this is easily one of your best options.
IDEAL FOR: Set it and forget it preamp, acoustics with a weak onboard preamp
TONE
n/a
EQ/CONTROL
n/a
BUILD/STRENGTH
n/a
COST/VALUE
n/a
THE PROS
THE CONS
6. Ernie Ball 6180 Junior Size Volume Pedal
Typically it’s not as easy to control volume on an acoustic guitar as it is on an electric guitar. With some acoustic pickups (like the Woody from Seymour Duncan, for example), you have no control over the volume from the guitar itself. Thus a volume pedal is nearly a must for acoustic rigs.
The Junior Ernie Ball volume expression pedal is a good combination of quality and price.
It’s an ideal option acoustic guitars with no onboard volume control.
The VP Jr. has a tuner out, which is a nice add-on if you don't want the tuner in your main signal path. It’s also smaller, which you might prefer over the larger wah-sized volume pedals. This particular model is designed for passive electronics (essentially a pickup without a battery), though it will play nice with most acoustic pickups.
Passive sound hole inserts, like the Fishman Neo, are particularly good companions.
IDEAL FOR: All acoustic rigs
TONE
n/a
EQ/CONTROL
n/a
BUILD/STRENGTH
n/a
COST/VALUE
n/a
THE PROS
THE CONS
7. Boss RC-1 Loop Station Pedal
The Boss RC-1's interface has gotten much simpler in this iteration of the pedal, having gone through several previous versions. I had no trouble at all figuring out how to use the looping function, as the control process is a straightforward stomp-on and stomp-off system. The recording time can go up to 12 minutes, all of which can be stored via onboard memory even after the pedal is turned off.
This makes it a great acoustic songwriting companion, allowing you to quickly store ideas or test out vocal melodies by looping chord progressions.
For acoustic rigs, I find the Boss RC-1 to be the most ideal looper pedal option and a better value than something like the Ditto Looper.
The RC-1 is just a more complete pedal, with a more informative interface (the LED circular lights) and the aforementioned features (onboard storage, stereo i/o).
IDEAL FOR: Studio, performing, practice, songwriting
TONE
n/a
EQ/CONTROL
n/a
BUILD/STRENGTH
n/a
COST/VALUE
n/a
THE PROS
THE CONS
Can you use electric guitar pedals with an acoustic guitar?
One of the confusing thing about effects in an acoustic rig is trying to determine the difference between electric guitar pedals and acoustic guitar pedals. The truth is that most pedals are not necessarily designated only for electric guitar, but are just assumed to be made for an electric guitar rig.
In other words, you aren't going to see a lot of pedals labeled specifically for acoustic or electric guitar use, outside of certain preamp pedals and multi-effects units.
Do electric guitar pedals mix with acoustic guitar rigs? Yes.
This means that you definitely can and should use electric guitar pedals with your acoustic guitar.
The question is: Which pedals?
An easy way to answer this question is to break things down by effects category and cover how conducive each category is to an acoustic guitar's signal.
Modulation
- Modulation is the parent category for any type of guitar effect that manipulates waveform. This is done by combining a variance of the original signal with the original signal itself. It usually takes one of three forms:
- Variance in pitch + original (clean) signal
- Variance in timing + original signal
- Variance in blending between the two signals
This process is used to create the following modulation effects:
- Chorus
- Phaser
- Tremolo
- Flanger
Tremolo pedals are a good example of a simple modulation effect.
These effects are friendly to the acoustic guitar because they are low-intensity and do not impact gain levels, volume, or timing. They're great for adding thickness and variety to a clean or dry signal. If you're looking for more information on these effects, checkout the following Guitar Chalk buying guides:
Ambience
Where modulation effects manipulate waveform, ambient effects manipulate time. There are three types of ambient effects pedals:
- Delay
- Reverb
- Echo
A shot of the Walrus Audio Descent reverb pedal,.
These effects aren't as common in an acoustic guitar rig as modulation, but they can be useful depending on the style of music you play. The only issue to be careful of with ambient effects and acoustic guitars would be the number of repeats in your delay or trail length of your reverb. If those are too high or too long, you can have feedback problems.
Repeats control on my Line 6 DL4 delay pedal. Keep it low if you're pairing with an acoustic guitar.
As a general rule, delay and reverb pedals for electric guitar are fine to use with acoustics if you keep the repeats and trail length low.
Distortion (gain-based effects)
Distortion is a much tougher effect to pair with an acoustic guitar because it involves an increase in gain. Gain increases anytime you push volume higher at the preamp level, and distortion pedals are made to do this to the point where you get the desired distorted signal. In most cases, we don't recommend using distortion with an acoustic guitar, though some acoustics can use a subtle gain boost or overdrive.
If you do, a sound hole cover is also a good idea. This will help prevent feedback.
What about tuner pedals?
Pedal tuners are a universally helpful item, regardless of whether you're playing acoustic, electric, or even bass guitar. They're especially helpful for playing live when you have to mute and tune quickly. Note that pedal tuners do have to be plugged in via an instrument cable to work (no microphone on them for open air tuning).
The Boss Chromatic tuners work great with acoustic guitars.
Pros and Cons of Using Pedals with An Acoustic Guitar
In this section we'll look at some of the benefits and drawbacks of using pedals with an acoustic guitar. This will help give you a better idea of whether pedals are right for you and your acoustic setup.
When it's a Good Fit
Generally speaking, effects are helpful when you want to decorate or layer a clean signal. They're also helpful for performing live, depending on the style of music you play. Also, does your acoustic guitar already have a preamp? If it does, then you're ready to plug in to an amp or PA system and can run whatever pedals you want within that signal.
- More variance in your tone and sound
- Easy ways to tune, change volume, and add compression (utility pedals - not just effects)
- More flexibility when playing live
- Helpful for those that want to do more with their acoustic tone
When it Might Not Be for You
Those who want to avoid dealing with the added complexity of pedals, perhaps who prefer playing with a mic or unplugged entirely, might be better off avoiding an acoustic pedalboard setup. The primary drawbacks are the cost, extra time given to setup, and transportation.
- Added cost
- Requires a power source
- Harder to transport
- More time to set up
- Learning curve, depending on your experience with guitar pedals
If you prefer the natural tone of your acoustic guitar and don't often play through an amp or PA system, you could probably afford to pass on the cost and setup work of pedals.
How to set up Pedals in an Acoustic Guitar Rig
If you want to tackle the setup process, it isn't that bad once you understand the basics. First, you'll need to make sure your acoustic guitar has a preamp onboard with a 9V battery. In my Taylor, it looks like this:
The preamp input (for an instrument cable) and the 9V battery compartment.
Preamp controls (volume and tone) on my Taylor 114.
From the preamp jack, you'll run an instrument cable to your pedals and then connect your pedals to an amp or PA system (mixer). This line is called a "signal chain" and will look something like this:
A simple example of an acoustic signal chain with guitar pedals. Essentially, the exact same arrangement we'd use for an electric guitar.
How to Connect Guitar Pedals in an Acoustic Rig
Here's the step by step process, assuming you have an acoustic guitar with a preamp, pedals, and an acoustic amp ready to go:
- Plug an instrument cable into your acoustic guitar preamp and the other end of the same cable into the INPUT of your first guitar pedal.
- Connect OUTPUT to INPUT for each subsequent pedal with a shorter patch cable.
- From your last pedal, run an instrument cable from the OUTPUT of the pedal to the INPUT of the amplifier.
- Set basic volume and tone levels at your acoustic guitar preamp and acoustic amp.
- Once volume and base tone levels are set, you can tweak the effects and settings in your pedal chain.
Pedals or Rack-mounted units?
For more advanced players, you might also consider buying your acoustic effects in the form of rack-mounted units. While pedals are smaller, cheaper, and a little easier to manage in small amounts, rack-mounted units are more powerful and compact, better for professional gigging and recording. For more info, you can checkout our article on setting up rack-mounted guitar rigs.
When to Use a Preamp Pedal
We've already mentioned that your acoustic guitar needs to have a built-in preamp, what is sometimes call an "acoustic-electric guitar." But what about an additional preamp pedal as part of your pedalboard?
As we've recommended in our above roundup, the LR Baggs Venue DI is one of the best such pedal preamps:
The Venue DI is one of the most powerful pedal-style acoustic preamps available.
Even if you have a preamp built into your acoustic guitar, we'd still recommend adding a preamp in pedal form. The main reason is that these pedals are usually far more flexible and powerful than what you would have in onboard acoustic electronics. Even if you aren't trying to set up pedals with your acoustic guitar, we'd recommend some kind of supplemental preamp.
Are preamp pedals better than the onboard acoustic preamps?
Yes. Preamp pedals are almost always most flexible and produce a better tone than what you can get out of an onboard acoustic preamp.
Can/should I bypass my acoustic guitar's preamp?
Even if you have a preamp pedal, I would not advise bypassing the controls on the onboard preamp. Just set the dials on the guitar first, then tweak the pedal. Whenever you have multiple sources of tone, start at the beginning of the signal (the guitar) and work your way down until you get to the final output.
Getting the Most out of your Effects in an Acoustic Rig
To wrap up, what are some takeaways for getting the most out of your acoustic guitar pedals? Here are a few highlights I'd recommend keeping in mind:
- Electric guitar pedals can work with an acoustic guitar
- Make sure you use utility pedals (tuner, compress, and volume)
- Focus on modulation and ambience for effects layering (chorus, tremolo, delay, reverb, and phaser)
- If possible, always use a preamp pedal
- Avoid using heavy distortion pedals
- Keep effects settings on the subtle, less aggressive side
How much should I spend on acoustic guitar pedals?
Most of your acoustic rig budget - outside of the guitar itself - should go towards your preamp.
The Venue or Para DI are both fairly expensive, while most other pedals in this list are somewhat cheaper. My advice would be to get the preamp situated first, since you'll use it the most.
Once you have that, I'd grab at least one modulation effect and one ambient effect, depending on your budget.
Questions about anything?
If you have questions about our best acoustic guitar pedals list or any of the gear mentioned, please post them in the comments section below as that's the easiest way for us to respond and also the best way to make sure that information is available to future readers.
We also welcome gear suggestions and corrections.
Thank you all for enjoying our content and the continued support over the years. We could not make all of this work without you.
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Written by Bobby on Acoustics and Pedals
Written by Bobby on Acoustics and Roundups
Can the di or preamp along with other pedals be plugged in an audio interface for recording?
Hey Darrell – yeah that’s definitely doable, especially if the DI has an XLR or line out, which most of them do.
What no Fishman Platinum Pro EQ. I had the Venue and the Fishman sounds better, much better. At least the tuner works on the Fishman too. The compressor on the Fishman eliminates the extra compressor pedal to use with the Venue. Not that the Venue is bad, its dated. I wonder why LRbaggs never updated it. Reverbs, man I’ve had them all. Stymon Big sky, Blue sky, Hall of fame, etc. the best reverb for acoustic guitar is the Lexicon algorithm in the Digitech Polara. I still use my Wampler reflection(plate) and LRbaggs align reverb;it has a modulation with some octave in the reverb that’s good for ambient. Yes I use 3 reverb pedals. I don’t use chorus pedals any more. as there is enough in the delay (Strymon El cap) and Boss DD-200.
I ended up putting one of the Fishman preamps in another article. Probably could have gone in this one too. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I’m a total novice when it comes to effects pedals for acoustic guitars. I play a Martin guitar through a tuner into a direct input box into the house speakers at church. I sometimes use my TC Helicon Harmony G xt when I’m singing by myself. Are there other pedals that I can add to this without having to go through an amplifier. So I don’t have to mic up an amplifier. If there are how do I tell the difference.
Thanks
Hey John – you could add whatever pedals you want. In that situation, you would just treat the DI box as your “amp” in the signal chain. You can put whatever you want between your Martin and the DI, without having to add an amp. Does that make sense? Let me know if you have additional questions.
Thanks for the info. I have wanted to add the LR Baggs Align Chorus pedal and now I feel more confident it will fit in with what I want to do.
Yep, that should definitely be a good fit. Let me know if you have any additional questions.
Delay, Chorus, and Reverb are the base effects for acoustic electrics. On my small board I use at my church (ampless) it has a Fishman Platinum Pro EQ, Digitech polara, Digitech obscura, and a TC electronic Body Rez The body rez is used just for rhythm. All of these DI out to the mixer board. I have a Taylor 414ceR with ES2 expression system.
Didn’t read through all the comments so I apologise if the question have been asked. I’m having a tough time deciding between a Line 6 HD 500 or some standalone pedals for church. I don’t have an amp. Can I use these pedals and just get a good pre amp did like a redbox or the baggs para? Could I use and hd500 with my acoustic and just get some subtle ambient patches for worship and run that straight into the pa?
Thanking you
Hey JJ – the 500x has two balanced outputs (left and right XLR) so that would be enough for you to go straight to a mixer channel. You wouldn’t need a preamp if you already have that.
If you go with standalone pedals (which I prefer) you would need a preamp like the L.R. Baggs Para or the Venue DI.
My Venue DI review is here if it helps: https://www.guitarchalk.com/lr-baggs-venue-di-review/
Hope this is helpful! Let me know if you have additional questions.
Hi Bobby
Great article. I’m a complete effects novice but have just purchased a Marshall as50d acoustic amp and am thinking of getting a Boss ve2 vocal harmoniser and a digitech trio band creator. What would be the best fx signal chain given that the harmoniser also has a guitar auto harmoniser input too?
Hope this makes sense.
Tony
Hey Tony – by signal chain, do you mean the order in which you place the effects?
Hi Bobby.
Thanks for the prompt. Reply. Yes that’s exactly what I mean
Tony
I would say just because it’s a pitch shifting effect to put the harmonizer first, right after your guitar. You could also experiment by putting them in AS50D’s effects loop.
Either way, I’d say the pitch-shifting effect should be first.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for the post. This explained a lot to me. However, one question I have is that I play lead and when I solo, I need to boost volume. I currently have an Ernie Ball volume pedal but I can never get it to go back to the right spot when I decrease the volume after a solo. I’d much prefer to use stomp box that I can just preset the volume before playing so I have a solo volume, and a strumming volume that matches the other guitar. Do you have any suggestion on what I can do to achieve this since the EB pedal doesn’t seem to work well for me?
Hey Tom – thanks for the kinds words.
You can do that with compressor pedals, though I’d advise going with a dedicated boost pedal. I use the Spark Mini Booster and it works great for that sort of thing: https://amzn.to/2JqHcVF
That’ll do the job worlds better than your volume pedal. Hope this is helpful.
I just setup a pedal board for my acoustic guitar and there are a couple things I have on it I really like. Great list by the way.
I have a boss cs 3 compression/sustainer that I really like.
Next is the Donner Yellow Fall mentioned above cheap yet effective although I do plan to upgrade it in the future
After that is a t-cube octaver, it’s a relatively cheap mini pedal that allows me to lay down a bass line on a looper. I do plan to replace this with A boss super octave eventually but for a cheap rig it lays down a bass line.
Next I have a cheap jimi hendrix wah that I’ve had since the late 80s which is really just there for fun and will most likely be replaced with a volume/wah switchabe pedal so it’s a little more useful but you gotta have fun right
That all runs into a boss loop station 3
I run it into a fishman mini that has a pretty good reverb and chorus but there is some value in being able to switch things on and off from a pedal board so they might be something I think about as add-ons in the future.
I have all of this on a home made 12×20 Pedal board with some room for expansion if I wanted to add that chorus and reverb along with the mentioned upgrades.
Honorable mention- a tuner pedal, although my electronics in my guitar have a tuner built in it may still be a nice add on that may be a little more precise.
Thanks for reading my comment as I ramble on.
Good stuff, Richard. Thanks for sharing all this. Peter (who also contributes to GC) uses and really likes the CS-3 on his acoustic rig as well.