Today, you only have to take a glance at YouTube to be inundated with guitar demos, but imagine a time when you had to fire up your turntable to hear the latest pedal - that’s precisely what JHS Pedals’ Josh Scott has reenacted as he tracked down what he believes to be the first electric guitar pedal demo ever released.
In the video, Scott listens to his mint copy of a 1962 promo vinyl for the Maestro Fuzz-Tone, one of the first fuzz/distortion pedals ever made.
As the JHS head honcho notes, it’s a fascinating document, partly because the company simply didn’t know how to market it.
Rather than focus on the Fuzz-Tone’s role as a raucous noisemaker, the vinyl instead showcases the pedal imitating brass and woodwind instruments… with varying degrees of success. And the first instrument featured is actually a bass! Who'd have thunk it?
It’s a world away from the demos we have today - and far more formal than, say, MusicRadar’s own shambolic hands-ons.
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“We are honoured that our company’s relationship with the legendary guitar player continues to this day”: Dunlop salutes wah pedal pioneer Eric Clapton with a gold-plated signature Cry Baby
“Honestly I’d never even heard of Klons prior to a year-and-a-half ago”: KEN Mode’s Jesse Matthewson on the greatest reverb/delay ever made and the noise-rock essentials on his fly-in pedalboard
“We are honoured that our company’s relationship with the legendary guitar player continues to this day”: Dunlop salutes wah pedal pioneer Eric Clapton with a gold-plated signature Cry Baby
“Honestly I’d never even heard of Klons prior to a year-and-a-half ago”: KEN Mode’s Jesse Matthewson on the greatest reverb/delay ever made and the noise-rock essentials on his fly-in pedalboard
