distortion effects

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Distortion_pedal

Garen

The Garen company has its origins in France in 1946 when its founder Jean Guen began making the first French made amplfiers and pickups. In 1950 he made the first French solid body electric guitar. By the late 1960s Garen was one of the main French amplifier producers, and also offered PA equipment, microphones, guitar effects and pickups. Garen also sold electric guitars - including the Solo and Lido models.

Source: Garen advertisment 1969

Fret King

Fret King is a brand name created by UK guitar designer Trevor Wikinson in the 1990s. In 2008 Fret King was purchased by UK distributor John Hornby Skewes & Co. Ltd - although Trevor Wilkinson is still closely associated with the brand. Circa 2017 there were three ranges of Fret King instruments: the Asian made Black Label range, the made in UK Green Label range and the STVDIO Series created in Trevor Wilkinson's workshop.

Source: Fret King website (2 June 2017)

Source: Company profile - Fret King

Vestax

Vestax was a Japanese musical instrument, turntable and audio equipment firm founded by Hidesato Shiino in 1977 as part of his Shiino Musical Instrument Corporation. Previously Shiino had used the Vesta brand name. Vestax was initially an electric guitar company but in the 1980s, they began to make multitracks recorders and later DJ mixers, professional turntables, compact disc players and signal processors. Financial problems lead to the company's bankruptcy at the end of 2014.

Source: Wikipedia Vestax

Source: Vestax website (archived 1996)

Earth

Earth Sound Research bass and guitar amplifiers were made by Instrument Systems Audio Corp based in Farmingdale, New York, first introduced in 1972. They were a division of Benjamin Electronic Sound Corp, and also made PA mixers/power amps, keyboards and stand alone reverb units (solidstate) as well as distortion and volume pedals. The early Earth tube amplifiers were based on Fender designs with later solid state ones were based on Peavey designs.

The Earth Amplifiers brand was revived by a Netherlands boutique amplifier manufacturer, which circa 2017 offered handcrafted guitar amplifiers, effects and cabinets.

Source: Earth Sound Research amplifiers catalog 1972-1975

Source: Earth Sound Research amplifiers at Pedal Heaven (4 April 2017)

Source: Earth Amplifiers website (4 April 2017)

Supro

The Supro brand name was introduced in the 1930s by the Valco company who made a range of Supro amplifiers, electric, acoustic & lap steel guitars as well as a range of accessories. Valco merged with Kay Musical Instrument Company in 1967, but this new company quickly went out of business in 1968 and the Supro brand was discontinued.

In 2013 Absara Audio LLC, owner of analog effect brand Pigtronix, aquired the Supro trademark from former Fender amp designer and Pigtronix associate, Bruce Zinky who was retained as a design engineer. They built a new factory in Port Jefferson Station, NY to make a line of USA-made, vintage-inspired Supro tube amplifiers.  As well as the new range of amplifiers they also introduced a new series of Supro electric guitars and effects pedals.

Source: Supro catalogs - 1948 to 1968

Source: Supro website (15 March 2017)

Suhr

John Suhr founded JS Technologies Inc in 1997. Suhr started out doing repairs at Rudy's Music in New York. His first Suhr Custom guitar was made in 1984, before he teamed up with Rudy Pensa to make guitars under the Pensa-Suhr brandname. In the early 1990s John Suhr moved from New York to Los Angeles and from 1995 to 1997 worked as Senior Master Builder at the Fender Custom Shop. In 1997 Suhr joined forces with Steve Smith to form JS Technologies - a small factory building custom guitars to order. Suhr now offers a range of electric guitars and basses as well as amplifiers and effects. John's son Kevin has now also joined the company.

Source: Suhr guitars website (25 February 2017)

Combat

Combat guitars is a Japanese brand of guitars and basses made by a luthier who has been working since 1989 typically for the domestic Japanese market. Combat guitars are custom made, circa 2017 the typical price for a basic model was 250,000 yen and 350,000 yen for a fancier instrument. Combat also make the Bombs series of distortion pedals.

Thorndal

Thorndal guitars are premium instruments made by Gregor Olbrich in Thiersheim, Germany. Thorndal also make the Duane 69 distortion pedal (crowned pedal of the year 2014 by Guitar Magazine).

Dimavery

Dimavery is a brand first introduced in 2004 by the German SLM (Sound, Light & More) Company. In 2009 it was taken over by the Steinigke Showtechnic Company - a major German distributor of stage equipment. Dimavery products are aimed at beginners and are made in China. The Dimavery range includes stringed instruments, percussion instruments, woodwinds and brass instruments: everything from the guitar, through to the violin, the cajon to the French horn. Dimavery try to put a fresh spin on the traditional guitar designs by using unusual colors and special editions like aged Stratocasters, hollow bodies with bright colors and a Beatles bass.
 

Chellee Guitars

Peter Taylor began working on his own guitars in Florida in 1996 hanging out with his brother who worked at a local repair shop. By 1998 he was working alongside his brother and had also designed and built two solid body guitars.  In 2000 he married Chellee, and moved to Phoenix, Arizona and attended the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery.  The Chellee brand was established in 2003, following the Taylors' return to Florida and they opened their own shop in Debary, Florida in 2007. Chellee launched the Orderly Overdrive pedal in 2009 and later the Odie and PonyBoy overdrive pedals. Chellee also build custom electric, acoustic and bass guitars and offer repair services.

Barber Electronics

Barber Electronics was founded by David Barber to produce unique guitar effects rather than direct copies of older circuits. Barber are committed to musician friendly pricing and do not engage in extreme Boutique pricing, even though their products are hand made. The Barber client list over the years has included: Joe Satriani, Lee Roy Parnell, Nils Lofgren and Bruce Springsteen of the E Street Band, Jay Graydon, David Grissom, Richard Thompson, Eric Johnson, Christopher Cross, Dave Knudson, Rick Derringer, Lionle Loueke, Johnny Hiland and Jerry Cantrell.

Dan Armstrong

Dan Kent Armstrong was born on October 7, 1934 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He started playing the guitar at age 11, and moved to New York in the early 1960s in order to work as a studio musician and guitar repairman. In 1965 he opened his own guitar repair shop, 'Dan Armstrong's Guitar Service', on West 48th Street. The building was razed in 1968 to make room for 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and Armstrong relocated his shop, renamed 'Dan Armstrong Guitars', to Laguardia Place in Greenwich Village.

AKAI

Akai Professional entered the electronic music industry in 1984, since then, Akai Professional have developed a range of products for modern musicians both in studio and on stage. Although best known for their digital sampling technology, they also make guitar effects and even developed a short lived range of guitars and basses in the late 1990s.

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