Vintage Guitar Pedal Buyers Guide
If you’re looking to add vintage guitar pedal to add to your rig, there are a few different approaches you can take to help you find the one that is best for you. The first measure to take is to research the sound that you are looking to emulate; identify the sound itself then study all you can about the guitarist and producer behind the records/songs featuring said sound. From there, you can find out more about what gear they used to achieve those results and either try to find the exact brand and model of gear used, or find an equivalent reissue/replacement. More than anything else, you’ll definitely want to try the guitar pedal out for yourself to guarantee you’re getting what you need. Here are a few things to keep in mind when shopping for vintage guitar pedals.
Pedal Types
Fuzz Pedals
Fuzz pedals played a significant role in the sounds of guitarists dating as far back as the 1960s. Guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards made noise in a big way when they first started using fuzz pedals on some of their riffs, consequently making them larger than life.
The fuzz effect thickens up a guitar tone to such extremes that it is often used sparingly, often as a slight addition to distortion or overdrive effects in an effort to push the guitar tone just over the edge. The sound produced by fuzz pedals is also quite responsive to other variables in playing, such as how the player employs pick attack and how loud the guitar is turned up.
While the fuzz pedal is still frequently used in music today, its mighty origins will forever classify some of its members as a vintage guitar pedal.
Overdrive Pedals
Differing slightly from the aforementioned fuzz pedal, the overdrive pedal also sits under the broader umbrella of distortion pedals used to make a guitar signal hotter and while giving it more character and bite.
Emulating the warm, over compressed sound which occurs when the tubes in guitar amplifiers get overdriven (hence the pedals name), this particular pedal type can really help a guitar part cut through in the mix. With the tweaking of the pedal’s knobs and settings, guitarists can craft sounds which are distinctly their own or go for a very precise imitation of sounds from records of the past.
Phase Shifter Pedals
From psychedelic records to film scores/soundtracks to rock music that dominated the airwaves in the 1970s, phase shifter pedals are sought after by many guitarists today who are looking to capture that vintage sound.
As a part of the modulation pedal family, phase shifters duplicate the sound being sent through the guitar and then shift that new copied signal so that it is slightly out of phase with the original signal. The subsequent sound is one that has a spacey, “whoosh” effect that brings to mind something of a watery atmosphere.
Groups and artists such as the Small Faces and Queen prominently used phase shifter pedals on some of their songs, consequently solidifying the phase shifter as a staple of the vintage guitar pedal stable.
<h4>Octave Pedal
The octave pedal falls under the umbrella of a pitch shifting effect. By doubling the incoming signal and then shifting that duplication down an octave, guitar lines run through an octave pedal can have a seriously deep and powerful sound. The octave pedal can also be used to shift the signal up a higher octave, which also makes the sound more thick. Guitarists can also set the octave pedal to create a second signal that doubles the original at a different interval, such as playing 5th or 3rd harmonies.