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It’s all about tone. And nothing compares to the tone of a guitar played through a tube amp, especially an old tube amp. That’s where Effectrode® draws inspiration from—the clean lines and simplicity of vintage amplifiers, and other audio equipment from the 1950s & 60s. Equipment such as studio compressors, equalisers, tape delays and even test instrumentation, such as signal generators and oscilloscopes. They really did know how to put stuff together back then. These devices exude a retro-coolness, and, more importantly, a rich, full-bodied, natural tone that’s absent in modern audio gear.
This old-school tube gear inspired audio wizard Phil Taylor to take a different approach to effects pedal design. His idea: recreate the same wonderful warm tone and vintage styling in a stompbox. Effectrode pedals are from a future that never was. A place where transistors were never invented and thermionic technology, a.k.a. vacuum tubes, continued being refined and developed towards perfection. Today, our little workshop is a time capsule, a living, working museum, preserving skills and expertise from the golden age of audio.
All Effectrode pedals are unique, original and meticulously crafted from the ground up, taking many years to reach maturity. We often work with professional musicians to “tweak” (engineering-speak for research & development) each design to make it as close to perfect as possible. Clients include David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Gary Kemp (Nick Mason’s “Saucerful of Secrets”), Jon Carin (Roger Waters’ “The Wall”), Steve Rothery (Marillion), Bob Weir (Grateful Dead), Robert McVey (Marianne Faithfull), Paul Stacey (Oasis) and the BBC!
We utilise only the finest audiophile components in the construction of our pedals. Polyester coupling capacitors, instrumentation grade resistors, NOS (New Old Stock) and modern triode tubes operating at real amp plate voltages (300 Volts!). The signal path is all-tube, class-A circuitry—some designs are very linear and transparent whereas others are gorgeously non-linear and rich in harmonic overtones. These are effects pedals built from the “Right Stuff”!
Heritage
The result of all this passionate attention to detail is a range of exceptional and beautiful looking effects pedals. They have more in common with high-end vintage studio equipment than the transistorised stompboxes normally found on guitarists pedalboards. For example, our Tube-Vibe is a vibe pedal, like the Shin-Ei Uni-Vibe effect made famous by Jimi Hendrix, except it’s constructed with tubes instead of transistors. And our PC-2A compressor pedal is built on an all-tube signal path and photo-optical gain attenuator, just like the legendary Teletronix LA-2A tube compressor.
The devil really is in the details when it comes to tone and the dynamic response or ``feel`` of an effect pedal. Rest assured that not a single stone has been left unturned in our unrelenting pursuit to build the best. Our mission: to push the limits of design, construction and materials to take guitar tone to the farthest possible point—electric guitar really does sound better with tubes!
I absolutely LOVE these pedals. LA-1A Leveling Amp is HANDS DOWN my desert island pedal. New PM-3A PhaseOmatic Deluxe (4 knob version with dual-LFO) is totally dreamy... SR-71 Blackbird is a monster tone…
Mark Lloyd, USAThe Mercury Fuzz and the Tube-Vibe are both absolutely outstanding. Both are works of art. I am floored. Many thanks for your great work!
Sean Sutton, UKThe Mercury Tube Fuzz pedal brought an entire plethora of overtones and richness to my Handwired Fender Vibroverb Cesar Diaz – unreal. It’s not a just a boost it’s a multidimensional tone shaping…
James Peace Band, USA