Hot take: That $20 multimeter from Harbor Freight works fine for guitar pedal builds

Everyone in here swears you need a Fluke or nothing, but I've been using the same cheap meter for 3 years and it's never steered me wrong. I found out from a forum post that those expensive meters are mostly overkill unless you're working with tube amps over 500 volts. Anyone else still using a budget meter and getting by fine?

2 comments

2 Comments

jade2261mo ago

Oh jeez, don't tell the pedal snobs or they'll come for your soldering iron next!

the_julia1mo ago

Kept using my $30 Amazon special for like 5 years before I even touched a nicer one. Honestly, for pedals, you're checking continuity, voltage, and maybe resistance. That's it. The cheap ones do that just fine. I only upgraded when I started messing with bias points on amps and needed better accuracy, and even then it was a $60 meter, not a Fluke. @jade226, you're right about the snobs, they act like you need a lab-grade unit to check if a 9V battery works. Sure, the cheap ones drift a bit on capacitance readings, but I rarely use that feature anyway. If it reads 9.2V when my power supply says 9V, I know the meter's off, not the pedal.