Hardware & Mods

Don't Have Pedals? These Guitars Already Have Them Built In

Skip the pedalboard entirely. Two guitars with real amp tones built straight into the body.

We covered how to build a beginner pedal setup in our last guide, but pedals aren't for everyone, they cost extra, need cables and power, and add a layer of setup most beginners don't want yet. If that's you, there's another route worth knowing about: guitars with the effects already built into the body itself.

The problem pedals solve, without needing pedals

A small chip inside the guitar body generates the tone that a pedal and amp would normally handle together, clean, overdrive, distortion, and high-gain lead, switchable right from a control on the guitar. Plug in headphones and you have a full practice setup with nothing else to buy.

Strydom AU01

Enya Xmari

AU01 vs Xmari: which one should you pick?

The two share the same pickups and core DSP technology, so this really comes down to finish and colourway preference. Both give you an identical starting point tonally, pick whichever look speaks to you.

Will you eventually want real pedals anyway?

Possibly, and that's fine. Once you know the specific sound you're chasing, physical pedals give you finer, more tweakable control than four fixed onboard presets. Think of a smart guitar as a genuinely capable starting point, not a permanent ceiling, you can always build out a proper pedal setup later once you know what you're actually looking for.

Frequently asked questions