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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?
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jade2262mo ago
Oh jeez, don't tell the pedal snobs or they'll come for your soldering iron next!
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the_julia2mo 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.
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