Circuits and Chips

How to Mod(ify) Guitar Effects: A Beginner’s Guide to Pedal Modding

For as long as there have been musical instruments, there have been modders—users who want to improve or enhance a device to make it meet their specific needs or performance requirements. The development of electronic musical effect pedals in the 1960s set off a wave of invention that has really…Click on the title for more

How to Mod(ify) Guitar Effects: A Beginner’s Guide to Pedal Modding

The 5 Best Fuzz Pedals of All Time: Compare Five Classic Circuits

The Little Big Muff is based on the company's Big Muff Pi, first issued in 1970, and features the same circuitry, which produces distortion using silicon transistors. The pedal’s high levels of gain overload the circuit to produce creamy, violin-like sustain, which made it a favorite with guitarists like Carlos…Click on the title for more

The 5 Best Fuzz Pedals of All Time: Compare Five Classic Circuits

Stomp Under Foot recreates the ’72 Tri Muff v6 Fuzz

With the '72 Tri Muff v6 Fuzz, Florida based manufacturer Stomp Under Foot gives us a sweet take on the "Triangle" Big Muff, which was the first version of a circuit bound to go through many transformations. The triangle Big Muff appeared in 1969 and stayed in production until 1973.…Click on the title for more

Stomp Under Foot recreates the ’72 Tri Muff v6 Fuzz

The Wah Pedal Inductor: The Secret to Your Favorite Wah Tone

Interested in wah pedals? Check out our comprehensive Best Wah Pedals guide. --- The wah pedal has been with us since 1967, and like most effects, it’s undergone changes during its long run. Some of the most tonally significant revisions have involved the wah inductor. Of all the components in…Click on the title for more

The Wah Pedal Inductor: The Secret to Your Favorite Wah Tone

BBD (Bucket Brigade Device) Chips: The Magic Behind Analog Delay Pedals

The MN3205 BBD chip in an original Ibanez AD9 Analog Delay pedal. (Photo: Christopher Scapelliti) Guitarists have been treated to a wealth of innovations in the world of delay effects. Originally, echo and other time-based effects could be created only by mechanical means. Analog tape devices, like the 1960s Maestro…Click on the title for more

BBD (Bucket Brigade Device) Chips: The Magic Behind Analog Delay Pedals

Does the Type of Battery You Use Affect Your Pedal’s Sound?

Blame it on Eric Johnson, the multigenre American guitarist known for being OCD when it comes to his tone. Years ago, Johnson inadvertently gave rise to the suggestion that the type of battery used to power a pedal can make a difference in its sound. To be clear, what he…Click on the title for more

Does the Type of Battery You Use Affect Your Pedal’s Sound?

True-Bypass vs Buffer: Which Do You Need?

If you use several pedals in your signal chain, you’ve probably found that your guitar can sound muddy and lifeless. Guitarists refer to this as “tone suck,” the result of your signal passing through numerous circuits and cables as it makes its way to your amplifier. For years, guitarists have…Click on the title for more

True-Bypass vs Buffer: Which Do You Need?

Vintage, influential circuits: the Arbiter Fuzz Face [by Gearphoria]

Our friends at Gearphoria published a story about the legendary Fuzz pedal Arbiter Fuzz Face, one of the most cloned pedals in history. Here's an excerpt: "According to Mike Fuller." - Read the full article by Timothy Smith in the Summer 2017 issue of Gearphoria. Jim Dunlop bought the rights…Click on the title for more

Vintage, influential circuits: the Arbiter Fuzz Face [by Gearphoria]

6 of the best vintage guitar effect circuits (by Gearphoria)

We love it when our friends at Gearphoria publish these articles about vintage effect designs, this one is about the 6 classic circuits every stompbox geek should know! Attention, some of them were not originally found in pedals, like the Electra distortion (which was inside the guitar) or the Armstrong Green Ringer…Click on the title for more

6 of the best vintage guitar effect circuits (by Gearphoria)

Seminal vintage pedals: Marshall Supa Fuzz – by Gearphoria

In production for over a decade starting in the mid-1960s, the Marshall Supa Fuzz bounced through several iterations during its run. Those examples were built by Sola Sound’s Gary Hurst chiefly using the Tonebender MkII circuit. The earliest Supa Fuzz’s actually used a version of the MkI circuit and boasted…Click on the title for more

Seminal vintage pedals: Marshall Supa Fuzz – by Gearphoria

Seminal, vintage pedals: Ampeg’s Scrambler – by Gearphoria

In the late 1960s, about the same time Ampeg was working to introduce its now SVT amplifier, the company hopped onto the fuzz bandwagon with the introduction of the Scrambler. The SVT is a legend. The Scrambler was a stunning failure. It was rumored that it took the company half…Click on the title for more

Seminal, vintage pedals: Ampeg’s Scrambler – by Gearphoria

Seminal, vintage fuzz pedals: the WEM-Rush Pepbox – by Gearphoria

SOMEBODY once said that if you remember the ‘60s you weren’t really there, and this is clearly a problem if you have an interest in effects pedal history. The WEM-Rush Pepbox was, until recently, one of the great mysteries of UK fuzz, an area which is notoriously, um, fuzzy in…Click on the title for more

Seminal, vintage fuzz pedals: the WEM-Rush Pepbox – by Gearphoria