Guitar Tricks presents A Look at the Vintage Pedal Market

(This article comes from our friends at GuitarTricks.com – check out their site for tons of guitar-related tips and tricks!!)

Guitar Tricks presents A Look at the Vintage Pedal Market

By Shawn Leonhardt for Guitar Tricks and 30 Day Singer, the original platform for online guitar lessons.

Vintage pedals are so popular that many modern manufacturers attempt to replicate them so there are more to go around! Not only do some pedals from the past have great tones but they are also known for being so reliable. It is up to your budget and choice whether you want to go for an original pedal or try a more recent rebuild. Here is a look at the vintage pedal market and some of the most famous effects units.

How to Get Started With a Vintage Pedal Purchase

There are different levels of vintage, used, and cloned pedals, the oldest will be super expensive and are obviously limited for how many are available. The world of vintage pedals is fascinating, but might not be the best for super beginner guitar players. Wrapping your head around the guitar itself will be the first and best move. Buying old and vintage gear is fun and satisfying as a musician but despite how cool it is there are some issues to be aware of with vintage pedals and gear.

As every day passes vintage gear gets close to not working, it is only a matter of time before it needs repaired or completely dies. Of course that doesn’t mean you can’t have a chance to enjoy it but beware of some purchases.
Speaking of repairs you never know when an old pedal will need them, if you are buying cool old effects it is best to budget for potential fixes.
When buying any used or vintage pedal it is important to buy from a reputable seller to make sure you aren’t getting a device that is on its last leg.
Vintage gear was made with analog components while modern is made with digital circuitry. Sometimes virtual analog technology is used to copy an exact sound from the past.
There is a difference between old analog vintage pedals and modern digital replicas, however most audiences do not have a clue. If you get a proper replica or clone it will not be a big deal.

Great Vintage Pedals

Fuzz Face

This famous guitar pedal helped Rock and Roll become the hard rock that we know today. Before this effect existed people would poke holes in their amps or do other damage to get a distorted fuzz type sound. Besides Jimi Hendrix these were used by David Gilmour, Duane Allman, Pete Townshend, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and many more. Another great vintage fuzz used throughout history is the Big Muff.

MXR Dyna Comp

This popular compressor provides clean chords and was used by many artists as it was one of the first on the market in the early 70’s. The genres of funk and country were big fans of the Dyna Comp as it provided a perfect sound, it even became a Nashville standard. Of course rock and pop also used it with artists like Pink Floyd, The Talking Heads, and even adult contemporary like Loggins and Messina. It’s an all-around great compressor whether it is bought off the vintage or modern pedal market.

Vox V846

The Cry Baby and Vox V846 were wah-wah pedals that were produced in the mid 60’s and the VOX initially had more attention. Cream, Hendrix, and Zappa were all early adopters of this pedal that helped the guitarists make the signal whine and wail. There is a rhythmic art to getting a wah pedal to blend in with the music and it continued in popularity with later use by Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and of course Isaac Hayes with “Shaft.”

Juno Chorus

The Juno chorus effect is not actually from a guitar pedal, it was an effect from a Roland synthesizer. Many 80’s songs from A-Ha, Madonna, and George Michael used it and now it is available as a clone pedal to get that same vibe of that era. If you want a lush vintage chorus then nostalgic synth effects are the way to go.

MXR Phase 90

MXR has a hold on many vintage classic pedals and another one is the Phase 90; this modulates the sound to provide more of a synthetic effect. It can be used slightly with the music or turned up for a more obvious signal change. Eddie Van Halen used this pedal all the time and it is a hallmark of his major solos.

Boss DM-2 Delay

Boss is another builder of many great pedals back in the day like distortion and here the delay model. It was one the first analog delay units that soon was taken over by digital effects. These days people are back into analog again so it has come back with some clones and expanded models. This was used by early 80’s New Wave like The Cure and later alternative bands such as Nirvana, everyone used it before the digital era!

ADA Flanger

This modulating pedal used a bucket brigade circuit to accomplish its flanger sound. Flanger effects were originally done by pressing down on the tape reels to give a rushing or whoosh like sound effect. After The Beatles started using the effect a unit was made to copy the signal change without messing with the reels.

Digitech Whammy

This pitch shifter came on the scene in the late 80’s and became a popular harmonizer during the hard rock and alternative 90’s. Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine is by far the most well-known user and he often uses it in much more extreme ways than it is meant for!

Ibanez Tube Screamer

One of the most used overdrives in music history is the vintage Tube Screamer, it provides a preamp boost for the amplifier. There isn’t much to the pedal but it still provides the guitarist with a big boost and extra power. Two of the most famous users are Stevie Ray Vaughn and Joan Jett was also a fan of a later build.

Mu-Tron

This is one of the more interesting vintage pedals you will ever run into and was used in a lot of funk and disco. Unlike a wah wah pedal this envelope filter takes care of the signal changes within and aren’t controlled by your foot with a pedal. Because of this auto wah you have less control so your playing approach may need adjusted. Many artists used the effect like Stevie Wonder, J Mascis, Jerry Garcia, and later even Trey Anastasio from Phish.

Whether you buy original vintage pedals or the clones of these same models you will be mostly set on your effects units. Learn to dial in these and you will be able to accomplish original vibes of older songs and you will also have plenty of future sound exploration. These vintage pedals are still popular for a good reason, they provide some incredible tones for guitarists of all genres, even if you’re still taking online guitar lessons like these.

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