A brief history behind the guitar pedal technology

Here’s one article that every guitarist should read especially those who love to use a guitar pedal in every performance.

Do you know that guitar effect pedals, which come in many different shapes and sizes, were first commercially produced standalone as effects unit in 1948 branded as DeArmond Trem Trol 800. Bo Diddley was the first artist credited to have used it. The gadget produced a tremolo by passing an instrument’s electrical signal through a water-based electrolytic fluid.

In 1958, the latest guitar pedals are the WEM COPICAT Super IC-300 which makes delay and echo and the DeArmond 610 which was used by the legendary Jimmy Page on Brenda Lee’s “Is It True.”

For years later, the band Ventures was the first to use homemade distortion fuzz box for their song “The 2000 Pound Bee”. It was also in 1962 that the first transistorized guitar effect was introduced. It was called as Maestro Fuzz Tone pedal, the first distortion based pedal available to the public, famously used by in Rolling Stones’ “Can’t Get No Satisfaction.”

In 1978, guitar and accessories manufacturer Boss presented to the market the DS-1 distortion pedal. In 1982, the same company produced SCC700 that allows 7 compact effects to be controlled with one single switch press.

The digital guitar pedals continued to improve in quality and popularity in the 90s thanks to the success of the charismatic guitarist Kurt Cobain. The interest on the product continued to boom in the 21^st century notably the Electro-Harmonix POG used by Jack White of the White Stripes and the Ibanez TS808 Vintage Tube Screamer Reissue which was originally a trademark of Stevie Ray Vaughan, a great American musician and record producer.