In the mid to late 1940s, recording engineers and experimental musicians such as Les Paul began manipulating reel-to-reel recording tape to create echo effects and unusual, futuristic sounds.
From the late 1940s onward, the Gibson Guitar Corp.
In 1948 DeArmond released the Trem-Trol, the first commercially available stand-alone effects unit.
Most stand-alone effects of the 1950s and early 60s such as the Gibson GA-VI vibrato unit and the Fender reverb box, were expensive and impractical, requiring bulky transformers and high voltages.
The 1950 Ray Butts EchoSonic amp was the first to feature the spring reverb "echo" sound, which quickly became popular with guitarists such as Chet Atkins, Carl Perkins, Scotty Moore, Luther Perkins, and Roy Orbison.
By the 1950s, tremolo, vibrato and reverb were available as built-in effects on many guitar amplifiers.
In the 1950s, guitarists began deliberately increasing gain beyond its intended levels to achieve "warm" distorted sounds.
Fender began manufacturing the tremolo amps Tremolux in 1955 and Vibrolux in 1956. Distortion was not an effect originally intended by amplifier manufacturers, but could often easily be achieved by "overdriving" the power supply in early tube amplifiers.
Fender began manufacturing the tremolo amps Tremolux in 1955 and Vibrolux in 1956. Distortion was not an effect originally intended by amplifier manufacturers, but could often easily be achieved by "overdriving" the power supply in early tube amplifiers.
The first popular stand-alone was the 1958 Watkins Copicat, a relatively portable tape echo effect made famous by the British band, The Shadows. ===Amplifiers=== Effects built into guitar amplifiers were the first effects that musicians used regularly outside the studio.
The first transistorized guitar effect was the 1962 Maestro Fuzz Tone pedal, which became a sensation after its use in the 1965 Rolling Stones hit "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". Warwick Electronics manufactured the first wah-wah pedal, The Clyde McCoy, in 1967 and that same year Roger Mayer developed the first octave effect, which Jimi Hendrix named "Octavio".
In 1966, the British company Marshall Amplification began producing the Marshall 1963, a guitar amplifier capable of producing the distorted "crunch" that rock musicians were starting to seek. ===Stompboxes=== The electronic transistor finally made it possible to cram the aural creativity of the recording studio into small, highly portable stompbox units.
The first transistorized guitar effect was the 1962 Maestro Fuzz Tone pedal, which became a sensation after its use in the 1965 Rolling Stones hit "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". Warwick Electronics manufactured the first wah-wah pedal, The Clyde McCoy, in 1967 and that same year Roger Mayer developed the first octave effect, which Jimi Hendrix named "Octavio".
In 1966, the British company Marshall Amplification began producing the Marshall 1963, a guitar amplifier capable of producing the distorted "crunch" that rock musicians were starting to seek. ===Stompboxes=== The electronic transistor finally made it possible to cram the aural creativity of the recording studio into small, highly portable stompbox units.
The first transistorized guitar effect was the 1962 Maestro Fuzz Tone pedal, which became a sensation after its use in the 1965 Rolling Stones hit "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". Warwick Electronics manufactured the first wah-wah pedal, The Clyde McCoy, in 1967 and that same year Roger Mayer developed the first octave effect, which Jimi Hendrix named "Octavio".
In 1968, Univox began marketing Shin-ei's Uni-Vibe pedal, an effect designed by noted audio engineer Fumio Mieda that mimicked the odd phase shift and chorus effects of the Leslie rotating speakers used in Hammond organs.
In 1976, Roland subsidiary Boss Corporation released the CE-1 Chorus Ensemble, the first chorus pedal, created by taking a chorus circuit from an amplifier and putting it into a stompbox.
Bass amps from the 1980s sometimes included built-in bass chorus. Instruments with built-in effects include Hammond organs, electronic organs, electronic pianos and digital synthesizers.
By the mid-1970s a variety of solid-state effects pedals including flangers, chorus pedals, ring modulators and phase shifters were available. In the 1980s, digital rackmount units began replacing stompboxes as the effects format of choice.
Throughout the 1990s, musicians committed to a "lo-fi" aesthetic such as J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., Stephen Malkmus of Pavement and Robert Pollard of Guided by Voices continued to use analog effects pedals. Effects and effects units—stompboxes in particular—have been celebrated by pop and rock musicians in album titles, songs and band names.
The success of Nirvana's 1991 album Nevermind helped to re-ignite interest in stompboxes.
In contrast, a pedal or rackmounted unit would typically provide ratio, threshold and attack knobs and sometimes "soft knee" or other options to allow the user to control the compression. Since the 2000s, guitar amplifiers began having built-in multi-effects units or digital amplifier modeling effects.
Vintage guitar amps (and their 2010-era reissued models) typically have tremolo and vibrato effects, and sometimes reverb.
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Page generated on 2021-08-05