Pedals
Effects, filed beside the guitars. The story, the records, and the pedals and guitars they travel with.
Nothing in the pedal catalog matches.
Photo: Matt Eason / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.5 Boss
DS-1 Distortion
1978 · Distortion
The orange box Joe Satriani took on stage as the simplest, smallest, most reliable thing he could find.
Photo: JuandiLOL / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 Boss
DD-3 Digital Delay
1986 · Delay
Boss changed only the name, and Noel Gallagher calls it the greatest delay pedal of all time.
Photo: El Grafo / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 Boss
BD-2 Blues Driver
1995 · Overdrive
Three knobs on the box, and the other two are your guitar’s volume and your right hand.
Photo: Djdaedalus / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 Dallas Arbiter
Fuzz Face
1966 · Fuzz
Two transistors in a round box that smiles, and the fuzz Jimi Hendrix bought by the handful.
- Send a picture
DigiTech
Whammy
1989 · Other
Tom Morello used it to chase hip-hop’s high wail; Jack White used it to fake a bass line.
- Send a picture
Dunlop
Cry Baby
1967 · Wah
An amp engineer’s shortcut, built into an organ pedal for horn players. Guitarists plugged in anyway.
Photo: NIRVANA2764 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 Electro-Harmonix
Big Muff Pi
1969 · Fuzz
Built to chase Hendrix, it missed, and made the smallest amp in the house sound like a wall.
Photo: Bontempi1953 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 Electro-Harmonix
Deluxe Memory Man
c. 1978 · Delay
A warm, wobbly analog echo, and the kind of box that taught the Edge the repeats could be the beat.
Photo: Sky99 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 Electro-Harmonix
Small Clone
c. 1979 · Modulation
Its maker had gone broke years before it put the water under “Come As You Are.”
- Send a picture
Electro-Harmonix
Holy Grail
2002 · Reverb
It’s called the Holy Grail, and on “Hey” John Frusciante probably never switched it off.
Photo: Guitar Chalk / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0 Ibanez
Tube Screamer TS808
1979 · Overdrive
Named for a screaming tube amp, and at its best when it hardly screams at all.
Photo: ArtBrom / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 Klon
Centaur
1994 · Overdrive
Bill Finnegan wanted an overdrive you couldn’t hear, and built about 8,000 by hand before he had to stop.
Photo: Roadside Guitars / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 MXR
Dyna Comp
1972 or 1974 · Compressor
Built to make loud notes quieter, and Pete Townshend stepped on it to push his solos.
- Send a picture
MXR
Phase 90
1972 or 1974 · Modulation
One knob, and the quiet swirl Eddie Van Halen stepped on when he wanted to be heard.
Photo: David Hilowitz / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0 ProCo
RAT
1979 · Distortion
Named for a basement full of rats, born of a wrong resistor, and at its best plugged in the wrong way.
- Send a picture
Univox (Shin-ei)
Uni-Vibe
1968 or 1969 · Modulation
Robin Trower plugged it in at Manny’s and heard Hendrix, then made the sound his own.