Electro-Harmonix
Company type | Parent New Sensor Corporation | |
---|---|---|
Website | http://www.ehx.com |
Electro-Harmonix (also commonly referred to as EHX
During the mid-1970s, Electro-Harmonix established itself as a manufacturer of guitar effects pedals. It was the first company to manufacture, and market affordable state-of-the art "stomp-boxes" for guitarist and bassists, such as the first stomp-box flanger (Electric Mistress), the first analog echo/delay unit with no moving parts (Memory Man), the first guitar synthesizer in pedal form (Micro Synthesizer), and the first tube-amp distortion simulator (Hot Tubes). In 1980, Electro-Harmonix also designed and marketed one of the first digital delay/looper pedals (16-Second Digital Delay) and a line of guitars in the 1970s.
Company history
Founding years (1967–1968)
Electro-Harmonix was founded by rhythm and blues keyboard player Mike Matthews in October 1968 in New York City with $1,000.[3] He took a job as a salesman for IBM in 1967, but shortly afterwards, in partnership with Bill Berko, an audio repairman who claimed to have his own custom circuit for a fuzz pedal, he jobbed construction of the new pedal to a contracting house and began distributing the pedals under a deal with the Guild Guitar Company. Fuzzboxes were in demand following a trail of hits involving their sound, including "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones two years before (the pedal's stomp switch can be clearly heard at 0:35 before Richards plays the song's trademark riff), and recent popularization of Jimi Hendrix. The latter connection resulted in the pedals being branded the 'Foxey Lady'. In addition several low priced models of acoustic guitars were sold.
Following the departure of his partner, Matthews was introduced to inventor and electric engineer Robert Myer through IBM colleagues. Together they designed a circuit to create a distortion-free sustain. A simple line booster used by Myers in testing to preamplify the guitar's signal was also manufactured from 1969 as the Linear Power Booster (LPB-1), and has continued production in present day.[4]
First products
The Axis fuzz pedal, also sold under the name 'Foxey Lady' for the Guild guitar company, and LPB-1 Linear Power Booster were the first products in 1969. The LPB-1 massively boosted a guitar signal & could be used to overdrive an amplifier, resulting in a raw distorted sound, full of sustain and harmonics. Several similar devices, which sold well, followed, such as the Treble Booster and Bass Booster. The Mike Matthews Freedom Amp, a portable guitar amp powered by 40 "D" batteries, was popular in many venues that lacked an A/C power source. In 1982, the company also spun up an offshoot called The Alien Group, which produced the Voice Box and its successor Voice Box II. These were external speech synthesizer boxes built around the Votrax SC-01A speech synthesizer chip. Available for the Atari 400/800, Commodore 64, and Apple II computers and advertised in computer magazines of the time, they added speech and singing capability.[5]
Change of direction
Electro-Harmonix stopped making pedals in the mid-1980s, and in the early 1990s started selling
Effects pedals
Electro-Harmonix produces pedals with many different types of sound manipulation suitable for guitar, bass, vocal, keyboard, and other instruments.
It also sells rebranded vacuum tubes carrying the Electro-Harmonix brand name. As of 2022, ExpoPul factory in Saratov, southwestern Russia, continued to produce vacuum tubes for Electro-Harmonix, with Mike Matthews reportedly showing no intention of divesting from the business. The operation in Russia employs more than 300 individuals, in contrast to the 125 employees in New York.[6] As of 2024, vacuum tubes produced by ExpoPul in Russia are still available for purchase on the official Electro-Harmonix website. [7]
Big Muff
In 1969 Bob Myer and Mike Matthews designed the Big Muff Pi, a fuzzbox that added a bass-heavy sustain to any guitar sound. It is described by the company as "the finest harmonic distortion-sustain device developed to date". Originally this was intended to be a pedal that would mimic the fuzz tones of Jimi Hendrix and other guitarists at the time, but the result was a mix of a fuzz and distortion pedal with a very heavy sound. It also made small amps sound much better and allowed distortion at any volume.
The pedal sold well and was used by
Although the first Big Muff production date was for many years cited as 1971, the first version of the Big Muff was actually sold in 1969 as a hand-made "perf board" version. A production version with an etched PCB board was made in early 1970. Mike Matthews was friends with Jimi Hendrix and claims Jimi bought one from Manny's Music in New York, shortly after they were released and had one in the Electric Lady Studios shortly before Jimi's death in 1970. Several variations of the Big Muff Pi followed throughout the 1970s. As of 2012[update] Electro-Harmonix produced a reissue assembled in New York City; until 2009 it produced a version made by Sovtek in Russia which provided a slightly different tone. The Bass Big Muff replaced the Russian version.
Several other variations (some of which are not actually Big Muffs) of the pedal were in production as of 2012[update], including the Metal Muff (intended to achieve the higher gain Metal guitar sound), the Double Muff, which incorporates the original Muff Fuzz circuit, twice in series with a single overdrive control for each circuit, providing the user either with a cascaded 'Double Muff' sound or the original Muff Fuzz circuit, the Little Big Muff, a smaller version, and a variation in circuit, of the NYC Big Muff, which produces yet another variation in sound, and the Big Muff with Tone Wicker, which is similar to the 2008 revision NYC Big Muff, with two added features: a tone bypass switch allowing you to bypass the tone control and a switch that adjusts the frequency of three high frequency filters in the circuit. The Germanium 4 Big Muff Pi is a dual unit, housing an overdrive and a distortion circuit featuring 2 Germanium transistors each, and simulating a dying battery with a Volt control, which characteristically affects the sound of the distortion.
In 2018, Electro-Harmonix released three vintage Big Muff re-issues the Green Russian Big Muff, the Op-Amp Big Muff, and the Triangle Big Muff, and in early 2020 the Ram's Head Big Muff was reissued.
Phasers, chorus and flanger
Electro-Harmonix often produces a range of pedals based on a single effect, and then combines two or more into higher end units. For instance, the Epitome combines the Micro POG, Stereo Electric Mistress, and Holy Grail Plus into one effect unit.[8]
The widely used Small Stone
The Small Clone
The Electric Mistress is an analog
The Flanger Hoax pedal is a more advanced unit, allowing further control of the various parameters of phaser, flanger and chorusing effects.[11]
The Polychorus allows highly adjustable chorus, flanger, filter matrix, and slapback echo effects. Notable users include Cobain (i.e. "
Electro-Harmonix's 'XO' line added the Stereo Polyphase, an analog optical envelope- and
Delays and loopers
Electro-Harmonix also manufactures delay pedals, including the Deluxe Memory Man, Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai, and #1 Echo. They also produce the '2880' pedal, which allows complex looping and multi-track overdubbing. The #1 Echo provides basic digital echo capability, while the Deluxe Memory Man provides more control over length, repeats, etc. The Deluxe Memory Man also includes built-in chorusing and vibrato effects. The digital Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai (distinct from the Analog Deluxe Memory Man) also includes reverse echo effect and looping/overdubbing. The Memory Toy and Memory Boy delay pedals are essentially smaller budget versions of the Deluxe Memory Man. The Memory Man effects pedal was used by Edge from the band U2 to record the songs "I Will Follow" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday". One of the singles from the band
Reverb
The Holy Grail, Holy Grail Plus, Holier Grail (discontinued), Holiest Grail (discontinued), Oceans 11, and Cathedral pedals produce reverberation. These cover a range of capability, including reverb length, room simulation, etc. The company's Holy Stain multi-effects pedal also includes two different types of reverb.
Tremolo and vibrato
Tremolo and vibrato are included as well, in both
Octave, pitch and synthesizer
Also available are a series of pitch modulation pedals. These include the Micro Synthesizer (for bass or guitar), HOG (Harmonic Octave Generator), POG (Polyphonic Octave Generator, released in 2005), POG 2 (2009), Micro POG (in an XO casing), Nano POG, Octave Multiplexer, Pitch Fork, and Pitch Fork+.
The POG line of pedals has been used extensively by several prominent 2000s-era rock guitarists, including Jack White (of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, et al.),[13] and Josh Homme (of Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, et al.).[14]
Envelope, EQ and compression
Electro-Harmonix offers several pedals for envelope/equalization modulation. Amongst them are the Bassballs (appropriately named for its intended use with bass guitars), Doctor Q and the Q-Tron. Another pedal of note was the
In 1995, Electro-Harmonix owner Mike Matthews commissioned Mike Beigel, former owner of Musitronics Corp. and inventor of the
Other pedals
Electro-Harmonix currently manufactures over one hundred other pedals.
These include the Graphic Fuzz (a fuzzbox which includes an EQ section), the Octavix (octave fuzz), the Frequency Analyzer (which creates ring modulation) and the Voice Box, a vocoder. The Voice Box has been included in a series of demonstration videos produced by Jack Conte.[15]
Electro-Harmonix has also made a few small power amp pedals for use as a simple guitar amplifier. The EHX 22 Caliber was a 22 watt solid state pedal capable of driving either an 8 ohm or 16 ohm speaker cabinet. It has been discontinued.[16] The 22 Caliber was replaced in the lineup by the EHX 44 Magnum, a similar pedal capable of driving the same speaker load, but at a 44 watt output.[17] The 5MM power amplifier, introduced in 2019, is a similar pedal, with a reduced output of 2.5 watts, but with the ability to run on a common 9-volt power supply, as opposed to the 24-volt supply needed to power the 44 Magnum.
2016, Electro-Harmonix reissued the MIG-50 a 50 watt tube amplifier head and later the 2x12 speaker cabinet.
Several pedals produced in the decades prior have also been discontinued, many of which are still in high demand for their unique sound.
Acoustic guitars
These guitars were only available from EH for a very short time in 1974.[18] They were available through a special offer for $87.50 with the purchase of $50 or more in certain scratch-n-dent EH products. The list price was $187.50. These are the model names and descriptions: EH-7010 EH acoustic guitar (mahogany back and sides), EH-7020 EH acoustic guitar (D-28 copy, rosewood back and sides), and EH-7030 EH acoustic guitar (D-41 copy, rosewood back and sides, pearloid binding and inlay, 3 piece back). They bought them from Moridaira/ Morris Guitar who at the time were the best guitar maker in Japan, making guitars for Fender and many big companies. They put the EH on the guitars. The guitar, marked with the brand "Brody" is another Japanese-made acoustic that EH had made for them in the 70s.[19] Mike Matthews has stated that Brody was his mother's maiden name. Unlike the other EH guitar, this one is of a lesser quality.[citation needed]
Notable users
- Kurt Cobain: Big Muff, Echo Flanger, Small Clone, Stereo Polychorus[20]
- Jamie Cook: Big Muff, Little Big Muff, Pulsar, HOG Foot Controller, Deluxe Memory Man, Holiest Grail[21]
- Billy Corgan: Op-Amp Big Muff, Polyphase, Electric Mistress, Small Stone[22]
- Chris Cornell: Deluxe Memory Man, Hog Guitar Synthesizer[23]
- Brad Delson & Mike Shinoda: Polyphase, HOG, Holy Sustain, Memory Man, Cathedral [24]
- The Edge: Deluxe Memory Man, Big Muff[25]
- Flea: Big Muff, Q-Tron
- Nils Frahm: #1 Echo
- John Frusciante: Big Muff, Holy Grail Reverb, English Muff'n, Electric Mistress Flanger, POG
- Noel Gallagher: Micro POG[26]
- David Gilmour: Big Muff, Electric Mistress[27]
- Goodiepal:POG 2 Polyphonic Octave Generator
- Jonny Greenwood: Freeze, Polychorus, Small Stone[28]
- Peter Hook: Clone Theory
- Jean-Michel Jarre: Small Stone, Electric Mistress[29]
- Daniel Kessler: Holy Grail Reverb[30]
- Andreas Kisser: Big Muff[31]
- Alex Lifeson: Big Muff Pi, Electric Mistress, Memory Man[32]
- Justin Lockey: Holy Grail Plus, Micro POG, Nano Double Muff[33]
- Doug Martsch: Memory Boy, 16 Second Digital Delay[34]
- J. Mascis: Ram's Head Big Muff, Deluxe Electric Mistress, POG 2 Polyphonic Octave Generator[34]
- Mike McCready: Micro POG, POG 2 Polyphonic Octave[35]
- Brian Molko: #1 Echo[36]
- Mark Mothersbaugh: Frequency Analyzer[37]
- Lockett Pundt: Big Muff, Little Big Muff, Classic Holy Grail Reverb[38]
- Omar Rodríguez-López: Small Stone Phase Shifter, Deluxe Memory Man, Memory Boy, Poly Chorus, Holy Grail, Big Muff
- Kurt Rosenwinkel: HOG[39]
- Kevin Shields: Big Muff Pi[34]
- Robert Smith: Electric Mistress, Deluxe Memory Man[40]
- Mark Speer: Holy Grail[41]
- Andy Summers: Electric Mistress, Muff Fuzz[42]
- Kim Thayil: Micro POG[43]
- Alex Turner: Deluxe Memory Man[44]
- Jeff Tuttle: Small Stone, Holy Grail, Small Clone, POG, Big Muff[45]
- Jack White: Big Muff, Big Muff Pi with Tone Wicker, POG, Bassballs, Holy Grail Nano Reverb[46]
- Thom Yorke: Holy Grail, Iron Lung Vocoder, 45000 Multi-Track Looping Recorder[47]
References
- ^ "Electro-Harmonix". www.ehx.com/. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
- ^ "The EH Man's Electro-Harmonix Extravaganza!!". electroharmonix.vintageusaguitars.com. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
- ^ "Mike Matthews Reveals Business Secrets". Craom's New York Business. May 17, 2017. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
- ^ "Electro-Harmonix Products". www.ehx.com. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
- ^ "Mike Matthews, Alien Group Voice Box — interview". www.youtube.com. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ a b "Electro-Harmonix CEO Mike Matthews refuses to close Russia tube factory | Fortune Europe". February 6, 2024. Archived from the original on February 6, 2024. Retrieved February 6, 2024.
- ^ "Amplifier Tubes & Valves | Electro-Harmonix, EH Gold, Tung-Sol, Mullard, Genelex, Svetlana, Sovtek, JJ Electronic | Electro-Harmonix". February 6, 2024. Archived from the original on February 6, 2024. Retrieved February 6, 2024.
- ^ "EHX.com | Epitome - Multi Effect | Electro-Harmonix". www.ehx.com. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
- ^ Gill, Chris (February 17, 2021). "The definitive Kurt Cobain gear guide: a deep dive into the Nirvana frontman's pawn shop prizes, turbo-charged stompboxes and blown woofers". Retrieved February 12, 2024.
- ^ History of the Electric Mistress
- ^ "EHX.com | Flanger Hoax - Phaser/Flanger Modulator | Electro-Harmonix". www.ehx.com. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
- ^ "EHX.com | Stereo Polychorus - Analog Chorus/Flanger/Slapback Echo | Electro-Harmonix". www.ehx.com. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
- ^ Leslie, Jimmy (September 9, 2010). "Jack White Mega Sonic On The Sounds That Drive The White Stripes Raconteurs and Dead Weather". Guitar Player. New Bay Media, LLC. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
- ^ Wolfert, Jamie (June 11, 2015). "Tones for the Deaf: Nailing Josh Homme's Sound". Tone Report. Stompbox Music, LLC. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
- ^ "Voice Box Demo by Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn". Electro-Harmonix. January 6, 2009. Retrieved July 25, 2009.
- ^ "22 Caliber - Power Amp - DISCONTINUED | Electro-Harmonix". EHX.com. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
- ^ "44 Magnum - Power Amp | Electro-Harmonix". EHX.com. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
- ^ "The EH Acoustic Guitars Pt 1: The E-H Guitar". electroharmonix.vintageusaguitars.com. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
- ^ "The EH Acoustic Guitars Pt 2: The Brody Guitar". electroharmonix.vintageusaguitars.com. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
- ^ "Kurt Cobain Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ "Jamie Cook Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ "Billy Corgan Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ "Chris Cornell Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ "Linkin Park's, Mike Shinoda, demos EHX gear - Electro-Harmonix".
- ^ "The Edge Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ "Noel Gallagher Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ "David Gilmour Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ "Jonny Greenwood Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ Oxygène (booklet). Disques Dreyfus/Sony Music. April 25, 2014. 88843024682.
- ^ "David Kessler Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ "Andreas Kisser Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ "Alex Lifeson Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
- ^ "Editors Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ a b c "The Gear of Indie Rock Gods J Mascis, Kevin Shields and Doug Martsch". reverb.com. February 15, 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
- ^ "Mike McCready's Guitar Gear, Pedalboard & Amps | Equipboard®". equipboard.com. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
- ^ "Brian Molko Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ "Electro-Harmonix". www.ehx.com. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
- ^ "Deer Hunter - Lockett Pundt Guitar Rig Gear and Equipment". www.uberproaudio.com. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
- ^ "Kurt Rosenwinkel on 'Star of Jupiter' and Beyond". www.guitarplayer.com. Archived from the original on June 17, 2017. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
- ^ "Robert Smith Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ Kobylensky, Paul (March 8, 2018). "Khruangbin's Mark Speer: Addicted to Reverb". Premier Guitar. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ "Andy Summers Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
- ^ "Kim Thayil Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ "Alex Turner Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ Lesser, Marc (December 14, 2009). "Electro-Harmonix Interview with Jeff Tuttle from Dillinger Escape Plan". EHX.com. Archived from the original on October 15, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
- ^ "Jack White Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ "Thom Yorke Equipboard". Equipboard. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
External links
- Electro-Harmonix
- An Interview with Mike Matthews
- The EH Man's Electro-Harmonix Extravaganza (vintage EH information)
- The Mistress Mystery Page (vintage Electric Mistress information)