According to you all, what are the top 3 guitar pedals for beginners?

[Ellen Hansley]

There are a lot of great Guitar pedals out there. They give a guitarist a new sound and a new way to experiment with different sounds. So, let's discuss which pedals work the best for beginners.  Also, I keep sharing information, blogs, reviews, and more about guitar gears and more. You can check out my website if you need any tips or information!

[KuruPrionz]

My choices may be off the trail a bit but they are favorites of mine. 

Tech 21 Double Drive 3x MOD. It's a bit bigger than most distortion pedals. There are 3 easily programmable sounds, ranging from slightly distorted to full on fuzz. To program one of the three foot switches, dial in your sound and then quickly press the chosen switch down twice. Done! Double Drive allows you to adjust the level of distortion for even order harmonics and odd order harmonics separately. The jacks are at the top of the box, another value added feature in my book, and Tech 21 is famous for creating SansAmp, a circuit we've all heard on tons of recordings - an analog solid state emulation of a tube amplifier and one of the best. No longer made, used ones pop up on eBay and Reverb fairly often in the $90-120 range. Batteries last a long time if you remember to unplug it and it can be run off a power supply as well. The link is for the original version, the MOD version allows more distorted sounds to be created while still allowing for lower level grind or overdrive. 

https://www.tech21nyc.com/archive/double-drive-3x/

 

TC Electronics Flashback Delay X4. Even larger than the Double Drive and you have to use a power supply, there is no battery compartment. 4 footswitches, 3 are easily programmable and the one on the far right is for Tap Tempo so you can quickly get your delay time in sync with the song that is being played. This pedal features a wide range of delay sounds on one rotary switch and also works with TC Electronics "Toneprint" which allows you to easily install a sound somebody else has created. Everything from flanger and chorus to backwards delays is available. 

https://www.tcelectronic.com/product.html?modelCode=P0CKU

 

Between those two pedals you'll have plenty to explore!!!!

 

Last but not least, keep an eye out for a Peavey Vypyr VIP 1 or 2 guitar amp and a Sanpera 1 foot switch-vol/wah. 

You can program a dozen tones with all sorts of effects and switch between them while also having a volume/wah pedal. Bang for the buck is off the charts and you have one pedal on the floor with one cable running to the amp, very simple and practical set up. I have the VIP 1 and to be honest, the speaker it comes with isn't good. I put a new baffle in mine and installed a Peavey Scorpion 10" speaker and now it is a small, light little monster amp. I've gigged with it, plenty of volume if you need it and it can deliver the tones at low volumes as well. Just bear in mind that "Post Gain" means "Output Section Gain" and you'll want to turn that knob way up. Analog solid state emulation of a tube guitar amp, the best sounding one I've tried. 

[Sharkman]

Since you are asking a somewhat generic question, I will give you a generic answer.  First, some kind of overdrive or distortion pedal.  The Tube Screamer is probably the most copied pedal of this type, for good reason.  It does most of what most guitarists are looking for in a distortion pedal, so any version or variation of this would be my first choice.  Second would be a reverb and/or delay pedal.  I never understood why it is called a delay, when it is basically an echo.  But, this kind of pedal is also very popular with many guitarists, so it is on this list.  My third choice would be a wah wah pedal.  In the later part of the Sixties, if you went into a music store looking for a wah wah pedal, they had either one or two choices.  Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and many others seemed to do pretty well with whichever pedal was available, although nowadays there are close to one hundred different wah pedals to choose from.

 

For a beginner on the electric guitar, those three pedals will handle most, if not all the different sound combinations that a beginner will need.  Other people here will have their own opinions, and I value them all.  But this one is my opinion, take for whatever you think it's worth.

[Lokair]

First a good tuner easy to read and essential to the beginner. I like the pedal vs the snark as it can mute you to the world. Next a Distortion , the probably a Chorus. now of course this is dependant on the music they wish to make, this is the generic rock guy set up. 

Lok

[Winston Psmith]

The way the question, and the post, were phrased, sounded too much like the language in a marketing survey, so I looked up our new member, and went to the website listed for her.

 

I have to wonder why someone who's listed as a Marketing Manager for a Guitar-oriented website is asking for advice and opinions on a Guitar-oriented chat website? How many of our suggestions are going to show up, edited and condensed, as an article on that site? "Three Best Guitar Pedals For Beginners!"

 

Yeah, I'm cynical, but really . . .

[Larryz]

Welcome aboard Ellen!  Spring Reverb is a must have for me.  If the amp doesn't have it on-board, a Boss Reverb pedal would be my 1st choice.  Assuming the amp has a reverb, I would skip the reverb pedal and go with an MXR Carbon Copy Delay.  I would add a MXR Compressor and a Boss Blues Driver OD pedal or a Boss Distortion.  Tuners are also a must have for a beginner.  I prefer the clip-on tuners (TC Electronic Unitube Clip) and would not waste the space on a pedal. 😎

[CEB]

Absolutely depends on what you want your guitar to do that it currently doesn’t do. 
 

My first 3 were:

DeArmond Square Wave dirt box

Thomas Organ Co Crybaby wah. 
EHX Memory Man echo delay thing. 
 

Someone else may want something totally different.