Editorial Policy

How we write, how we test, how we get our gear. And why you can trust what you read here.

What We Believe

Here’s a principle that shapes everything we publish: there’s no such thing as a bad pedal. Every piece of gear exists for someone. A pedal that doesn’t work for us might be exactly right for you, and we’ll tell you that.

Our job isn’t to gatekeep what’s worth your time and money. It’s to help you figure out whether a particular pedal is the right fit for you. That means we don’t do verdicts. We don’t do scores. We don’t slag off gear. We write about what pedals actually do. The sounds they make, the textures they create, the players they suit, the contexts where they come alive.

Most gear content on the internet follows the same formula: a quick rundown of specs, a score out of ten, and a big “buy now” button. That’s not what PedalPlayers is about. We think you deserve more than that, and we think the gear deserves more than that too.

How We Get Our Gear

There are two ways a pedal ends up on PedalPlayers, and neither involves being paid.

A significant portion of the gear we cover, we own. Bought with our own money, the same way you would. No brand involvement, no strings attached.

Sometimes brands send us gear to write about. When that happens, we say so clearly in the article. A review unit doesn’t change how we approach the writing, and it doesn’t buy a favourable review. Receiving one doesn’t create any obligation to publish, to be positive, or to soften anything. If we have concerns about build quality, we’ll mention them. The transaction is one-directional: they lend gear, we write honestly about it. That’s the whole deal.

Who Writes for PedalPlayers

PedalPlayers is primarily one person (Gareth). A guitarist who spent years reading gear content that existed to monetise clicks rather than genuinely help anyone make better decisions. Eventually, the gap between what existed and what was needed got wide enough to do something about it.

Occasionally, people from the community contribute. When that happens, it’s because they have something genuinely interesting or useful to share. Not because they’re promoting something, not because they’re getting paid, and not because a brand has arranged it. Guest contributors write from their own experience and perspective, and their name goes on the article.

No brand-authored content. No ghostwritten pieces. No pay-to-publish. If someone’s name is on an article, they wrote it.

How We Make Money

Right now, the focus is on building something worth reading. A resource that guitarists trust because it’s genuinely trying to help them. The business model follows that principle, not the other way around.

What we won’t do is already clear, even if the exact model isn’t settled: no affiliate links, no paid reviews, no sponsored rankings, no paying to appear in a “best of” list. Those are the things that quietly corrupt most gear content, and removing them is a deliberate choice. Not something we’re still thinking about.

Where we’ll eventually land is probably somewhere around educational resources, a private newsletter, or things that add value directly rather than monetise your purchasing intent. If and when that takes shape, we’ll update this page and be straightforward about it.

When We Get It Wrong

We try hard to be accurate, but we’re human, and gear is complicated. If something is factually wrong, a specification, a date, or a product detail, we’ll correct it promptly and note the correction in the article so there’s no ambiguity about what changed.

We don’t make silent edits. If something was wrong and we fixed it, we say so.