The History of Guitar Effects

Distortion, reverb or delay. Easy to find in $30 pedals or fully digital in amps nowadays, but how did we get here?

The earliest guitar effects were achieved through creative techniques or just plain mistakes, rather than dedicated devices like he have today.

Read on and discover the history of the Tremolo, Fuzz, Wah, Delay and more.

The first effects were built into instruments themselves. In the 1930s, Rickenbacker made a guitar with a Vibrola, using motorized pulleys that jiggled the bridge to create a the effect.

‍

The DeArmond Tremolo Control then, was one of the first commercially available standalone effects units. It was introduced in the late 1940s. The unit used a motorized system with a liquid-filled container to achieve its effect. The liquid’s movement modulated the guitar signal, creating the tremolo effect we all still know today.

‍

When we jump ahead a few years, the Fuzz effect comes into this world. It was famously popularized by the accidental use in Marty Robbins' song "Don't Worry." The bass track was recorded through a faulty channel in the mixing console. This faulty preamplifier channel created a distorted sound, which we now call Fuzz.

A bit later, this accident led to the deliberate creation of fuzz pedals, such as the Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone in 1962.

‍

A bit after, we got the Wah-Wah pedal. This was a dedicated designed pedal to emulate the vocal-like sounds that trumpet player Clyde McCoy could make with a mute.

Vox was the first to developed this wah pedal in the mid-1960s, which quickly became popular among guitarists. The wah pedal used a variable band-pass filter controlled by the foot pedal from the very start, which allowed guitarists to create the distinctive "wah-wah" sound by rocking their foot back and forth.

Nothing much in this has changed! Here's a neat video of a real 'McCoy Original Wah" and a newer 'vintage' model from Vox:

‍

Jumping back a few years, the legend Les Paul, a pioneer of modern recording techniques, began experimenting with tape delay in the 1950s. He used multiple tape machines to create echo effects, layering sounds to create a sense of depth and space in his recordings. He would use one tape machine to record and another to play back the sound with a slight delay, creating the effect. This technique laid the groundwork for future delay pedals and units.

This is an awesome video found on the Les Paul Foundation website explains part of this. The cover image of this article was also featured on this page:

‍

Years later in the 70s, the Analog delay was born. The Memory Man by Electro-Harmonix was among the first, and is still around today!

In 1984 then, the first digital pedal came to be, the Boss DD-2. Quickly replaced by the cheaper DD-3, which is still in production today.

‍

The well-loved Tube Screamer from Ibanez also has a rich backstory. It was developed by Nisshin Onpa (Maxon), a Japanese electronics company founded in the late 1960s. Maxon was known for producing pickups and effects pedals, often sold under other brand names.

They started working with Ibanez about 10 years later, the first official Tube Screamer, the TS-808, was released in 1979. One of the most famous users of the TS-808 was Stevie Ray Vaughan, the legendary blues guitarist who needs no introduction.

Over the years, Ibanez has released numerous reissues and variations of the Tube Screamer, each with slight tweaks to the original design. Notable models include the TS10 (made famous by John Mayer), the TS808HW (a hand-wired version), and various boutique-style iterations.

‍

There you go! A short history on guitar effects. This is still how new effects are discovered today, much like in the early days: through experimentation and innovation.‍

This is how newer companies like Chase Bliss Audio pedals or wild creations like the EarthQuaker Devices Data Corrupter have come to be.

So get out there and go create! Who knows what effect might be one day called after your name...