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Gear Of The Year: Best guitar gear of 2020
From 2020 with love: the best guitars, amps, pedals and accessories of the year.
2020 was a very different and much more challenging year for the guitar industry than the one we anticipated when we convened in California for NAMM back in January. But despite the enormous obstacles and difficulties that many makers had to overcome – the disrupted supply chains, the shuttered factories and much more – it’s also been a year of rejuvenation for guitar playing.
Barely a week goes by without a news story proclaiming the guitar a massive pandemic success story, with sales soaring as guitarists new and old turn to the instrument while spending more time indoors.
If you’ve only recently discovered the joys of all things guitar, welcome to our wonderful little club. If you’ve been here for a while already, you’ll no doubt have noticed that despite considerable adversity, the guitar industry delivered in 2020 in every conceivable way.
From the big guns churning out some of the best budget guitars ever made, to boutique maestros pushing the limits of what can be squeezed out of classic materials and recipes, we’ve seen genuine boundary-pushing innovation and variety at every turn. We’ve said it before but there’s never been a better time to be a guitar player – and our pick of the very best gear of 2020 is all the proof you need.
Best guitar accessory
Winner: Audient EVO 4
Recommended:
- Sennheiser Wireless Digital XSW-D Pedalboard Set
- ThroBak Electronics Koss-301 MXV
- Boss Waza-Air
- Descendant Vibrato
Best guitar amplifier
Winner: Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb
Recommended
- Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 Floor
- Blackstar JJN-20R MkII Jared James Nichols Signature Combo
- Matchless Laurel Canyon 112R
- Strymon Iridium
Best acoustic guitar
Winner: Taylor American Dream AD17 Blacktop
Recommended
- Atkin Guitars The Forty Seven
- McNally Guitars Presentation OM Celtic Ivy
- Fender Acoustasonic Stratocaster
- Lowden F-35 Ebony & Sinker Redwood
Best effects pedal
Winner: Walrus Audio Mako Series D1
Recommended
- 1981 Inventions DRV
- Gamechanger Audio Third Man Records Plasma Coil
- DanDrive Tweedy
- Jackson Audio Golden Boy
- ThorpyFX Field Marshal
- DryBell The Engine
- Danelectro Back Talk Reverse Delay
- Becos CompIQ Twain
- Redbeard Honey Badger
Best affordable electric guitar
Winner: Epiphone Inspired By Gibson Les Paul Special
Recommended
- Fender Vintera Road Worn ’50s Telecaster
- Manson Meta Series MBM-1
- Rivolta Mondata Baritone VII
- Charvel Pro-Mod DK22 SSS 2PT CM
Best high-end electric guitar
Winner: Nik Huber Piet
Recommended
- Ivison Guitars The Hurricane
- Music Man Sabre
- Gretsch G6129T Players Edition Jet FT
- B&G Goldfinger