The Total Used Effects & Pedals Price Index:

In 2022, the used pedal market was at an all-time high. Driven by pandemic-era demand and supply-side production constraints, prices had climbed higher and higher. But since 2022, prices have steadily decreased, with the market now sitting just above 2019 levels.

Now, at the end of Q1 2025, prices are showing signs of stability. The last 12 months have seen relatively little volatility in the gear market (even as other markets have been… decidedly more volatile), with fluctuations resembling pre-pandemic norms—around 3-5% in either direction.

What does this all mean? A lot of things.

In a nutshell, if you're a buyer, it means that patience has once again been rewarded. Those of you who held off during the price surge can now find better deals. For musicians who want to experiment with new sounds and different gear, more stability in the market means it's easier to sell and buy at consistent prices.

But who cares about a nutshell? It gets more interesting as we break out of it. So below, we're diving into the data and the biggest stories it has to tell.

Take a look at the chart below, and you'll see how some of the world's top pedal brands are bucking the downward trend of the industry. Pedals from EHX, MXR, and Boss maintain their resale value remarkably well.

You can see that, in 2025, their average prices are all elevated when compared to the full effects & pedals category, edging closer to their 2022 peaks, especially when compared with the downward-trending "Other"—which encompasses all other pedal makers.

Effects & Pedals by Brand | Reverb Price Index

Among the major brands, Electro-Harmonix holds its value better than any competitor, thanks to the enduring appeal of classics like the Big Muff and Memory Man, but also to the unique circuit designs like the Mel9 and POG series. Tried and true, EHX rules.

For buyers, this means EHX pedals are still a solid investment, meaning, you can buy and sell easily without really worrying about losing money—and if you do it right, you may even make some.

Boss and MXR have tracked similarly in the used market. While their prices haven’t held as firm as EHX, they also haven’t seen the same level of devaluation as some others.

Why? Likely their reliability and their availability. Buyers can almost always find great deals on classic Boss and MXR pedals on the used market, and they sound great. There are even some pedals that were once in high demand but are now seeing price corrections—like the OC-5 Octave and RE-2 Space Echo—that are now a great value.

Outside of the major players like Boss, MXR, and Electro-Harmonix, prices for effects pedals from other brands—including boutique builders and other mass-market companies—are collectively lower than in 2019.

This is undoubtedly driven at least partially by the sheer amount of effects pedals on the market today from a growing number of brands. Fender, Universal Audio, and many other non-boutique pedal makers are now in the market with huge catalogs. And at the same time, a new boutique pedal company is born seemingly every week. So the surplus of tuned-to-the-builders-ear TS-808s is particularly elevated right now.

Since 2019, we’ve seen around 3,000 brand new, unique effects and pedal products listed and sold on Reverb, based on our internal product database.

Cumulative number of effects & pedals in the Reverb product database

While demand for pedals has generally been a bright spot in the industry, being one of the few categories that grew in 2024, according to Music Trades, supply appears to be outpacing demand.

For buyers, this means that boutique pedals that were once prohibitively expensive are now more attainable than ever on the used market.

One of the crown jewels of countless pedalboards, Strymon pedals continue to maintain a premium position with the highest average selling price among major brands. Since 2019, though, their pedals have seen a noticeable drop in value on the used market. Here’s what’s behind the slide:

1. Everyone has one. There was a time when Iridiums were hard to find. Not anymore. With so many musicians adopting Strymon gear over the years, there’s now an abundance of used units on the market.
2. There's strong competition from new alternatives. Sticking on the Iridium, the rise of newer amp and cab sims—like the Universal Audio Dream '65 and Boss IR-2—has given players more options. For some players, these models offer more tonal flexibility and built-in effects that Strymon users used to stack separately. One player who switched said: “I ditched Iridium for Dream… getting that reverb, tremolo, and variations was well worth it.”
3. Updated V2s led to declining values of V1s. It’s well established that the V2 El Capistan is superior to the V1 El Capistan, given the expanded functionality and features like true stereo In/Out, a USB-C MIDI port, and new JFET input for better touch response. Still, are you even using MIDI switching or stereo outputs? Many players would say no, and for those players, the V1 is totally sufficient and maybe even is preferable. And since the release of the V2, the market saw a 20% decline in resale values of the V1, making them a fantastic value.

The average used price of Strymon's El Capistan V1 vs. V2

While resellers may have to adjust their expectations—especially if they remember the days when a used Timeline sold for more than new prices—this trend is a big positive for players. Strymon pedals are ubiquitous for a reason — they are reliably great products. As a buyer, you can pick up once-premium pedals at better prices.

Some pedals haven’t budged in price. These price heroes are the solid-state warriors of the gear world: reliable, predictable, and ideal for experimenting without worrying about value loss. These aren't pedals that show up in Instagram flexes or hype posts, but they do show up on pedalboards everywhere—and they’re quietly brilliant for that exact reason.

In fact, if you’re building a board on a budget or flipping gear frequently, these are the ones to bet on. They won’t surprise you on resale, and sometimes boring is beautiful.

In other words, they’re the musical equivalent of a Toyota Corolla: maybe not sexy, but built to last, easy to sell, and always in demand.

These are all great buys if you want to try something new because you can be confident they will hold their value. What do all of these pedals have in common?

1. Widely available pedals that are produced at scale by well-established brands, keeping prices stable and avoiding speculative pricing swings.
2. Highly functional & essential effects with each pedal serving a core purpose on a typical pedalboard.
3. Compact & pedalboard-friendly designs. All five are either mini or standard-size pedals, ideal for live and studio rigs. This keeps them highly desirable, especially for gigging musicians.
4. Reputation for reliability—this reduces risk in the used market, keeping secondhand prices firm.

Not all pedals follow the same script. While most of the market has cooled or corrected since its 2022 highs, a few standouts have defied the trend and climbed in value—significantly. These are some of the exceptions, the unicorns in the world of resale right now: pedals you could flip for more than you paid years ago.

These pedals tend to be discontinued, low supply, slow to restock, or simply legendary in reputation (or maybe Josh Scott did a video about it). If you’re a buyer, you might consider jumping in now before they climb further. If you’re a seller, well… congratulations — it’s not Bitcoin-type gains, but you’ll be happy with putting those profits to better use in another piece of gear.

Vintage & Rare Pedals | Reverb Price Index

While the overall market seems to have corrected, look at the chart above to see a huge outlier—vintage and rare effects—that have not followed the same trend. The demand for original Electro-Harmonix Memory Mans, Klon Centaurs, and early Boss MIJ models surged during the pandemic and hasn’t meaningfully dropped.

This consistent volume and sustained high valuation suggests that collectors and enthusiasts not only still find allure in the rarity and functionality, but also may view vintage pedals as long-term investments. If you're a seller, that’s good news—but buyers would be wise to be more cautious. Some rare pedals will always appreciate, but others may have peaked, making it crucial to track specific models in the Reverb Price Guide before making a purchase.

Take a look at the chart below to see how subcategories of effects and pedals compare. Use the legend to toggle different groups on and off. You'll find that fuzzes, octave/pitch, and wah/filter effects are up compared to others, while other subcategories do not fare so well.

Pedal Subcategories | Reverb Price Index

Multi-effects pedals, in particular, have taken the biggest hit. Our data aligns with industry reports of declining demand and weaker sales from Music Trades and others.

While products like the IK Multimedia ToneX series, the Line6 HX series, and Eventide H90 continue to be popular, this aggregate trend suggests that players are either moving toward individual pedals or embracing all-in-one modelers like the Neural DSP Quad Cortex, Line 6 Helix, and Fender Tonemaster Pro.

It's not noted in the chart above, but we've seen a similar shift in the amplifier category as well. Enthusiasts continue to drive more classic tube amplifiers with vintage amp prices at a premium, while the broader market looks to lower-cost amplifiers with more modern features.

While used combos and heads still see tried-and-true amps like the Fender Deluxe Reverb reissue leading, the top sellers in the category are products like the Quad Cortex, Fractal Axe FX, and Boss Katana series. It’s hard to see this trend changing as modeling technology gets better, and our collective ear continues to be shaped by music made with these tools.

For buyers, this represents an opportunity to pick up high-end multi-effects units at bargain prices. Sellers, however, may need to price aggressively to move inventory.

The pedal market has seen major fluctuations over the past five years, but the correction seems to be largely complete. While vintage and rare pedal values remain elevated, most other current production and core pedal categories have returned to or dipped below 2019 levels.

Prices have stabilized and the used market is behaving more predictably again—which in these times of volatility is newsworthy. For buyers, that means confidence in value. For sellers, it means knowing how to price. Does this mean that instruments are a safe haven for your capital? We can’t say that conclusively, but a used guitar sure sounds better than a 401k.

When entering the market to buy or sell a piece of gear, remember these four things:

List price isn’t selling price. The best moves are made with good data, and Reverb provides not only this Price Index, but also the Reverb Price Guide that drills down to the exact items you have and shows you recent transactions.

As you look through live listings to gauge the competition, also search the Price Guide for your gear for a reality check. Similarly, if you like looking through sold listings, remember that the price you see on a sold listing is the List Price and not the Sold For price. (Ready to go? Start a listing now.)

Track your gear Collection. Add gear you've bought on Reverb and anywhere else to your Collection, and get real-time view of your gear’s estimated value based on recent sales data. You can add items with just a few clicks, monitor trends over time, and even list your gear for sale directly from your Collection.

Watch and save what you want—even if you’re not ready to pull the trigger now. Build your own personalized Reverb in your Favorites by saving searches, products, listings, brands you care about, and shops you love. You’ll get notified when prices drop, new items get listed, or rare gear becomes available. It’s an easy way to stay connected to the gear you love.

Replace doomscrolling with dreamscrolling on the Reverb App. Why spiral in despair when you could spiral into vintage fuzz circuits? Download the Reverb App today if you don't already have it. Instead of scrolling the same recycled memes and endless product ads (unless they're Reverb ads), fill your Feed with gear you’re interested in. In fact, 7 out of 10 doctors recommend treating gnawing boredom and existential dread with a good deal on a '90s big-box Deluxe Memory Man.*

*Okay, maybe not—but they probably would if they plugged one in.

Where are we pulling this data from? Well, we've begun to compile all of the selling and buying activity on our marketplace in a brand new way: the Reverb Price Index (RPI).

This data-driven tool tracks pricing trends across the used music gear market. Think of it like a stock market index but for pedals, guitars, synths, and other gear, providing a standardized measure of category- and brand-level price trends over time.

While we've already been using it internally, we are planning to make it publicly available in full soon, allowing everyone to keep a close eye on the ups and downs of the gear market. (The charts above are just a taste.)

Our existing Reverb Price Guide shares the exact price history of individual products, but the Reverb Price Index will mark the first time we can view the relative movement of the market as a whole, reflecting actual trends in the buying and selling behavior of the music gear community.

Check out the current methodology of our RPI below. Have an idea of what you're like to see or how it might help you in your own buying and selling journey, let us know at [email protected].

Reverb Price Index methodology

The index starts with a baseline of 1,000 points on 1/1/2019, and changes based on the weighted average movement of gear sales. Instead of showing raw price changes—which can be skewed by a handful of outliers—the RPI uses a points-based system that normalizes trends, making it easier to compare different segments of the market, including both major and boutique brands.

• Upward trends indicate increased demand, rising values, or market inflation for a given category of gear, such as vintage pedals or high-end boutique brands.
• Downward trends reflect declining prices due to factors like market saturation, lower demand, or technological shifts (such as the rise of digital modelers affecting multi-effects pedal values).
• Stable trends suggest that a particular category is holding steady, making it a relatively safe purchase for buyers and a reliable resale option for sellers.