Yerasov Music Corporation was founded by Alexander Yerasov in 1988. Yerasov was born in 1953 in the Soviet Union and started out by building tube amplifiers using parts from broken sound equipment from movie theaters. When Perestroika happened in the Soviet Union, Yerasov took the opportunity to launch his own company and hired a talented group of engineers to design and make his products. Yerasov is now a well known amplifier and effects brand worldwide.
Xvive was founded in 2014 (as Xvive Audio) by the husband-and-wife team of Nancy Lee and Fischer Mao. Their first product was to resurrect the MN3005 bucket brigade chip. Soon followed a line of effect pedals in collaboration with German guitarist Thomas Blug. These included the W3 Memory Analog Delay—designed by Howard Davis (designer of the legendary Deluxe Memory Man) and including the new MN3005 chip. In 2016, Xvive entered the wireless market with the U2 Guitar Wireless System. This paved the way for other wireless systems, designed for microphones (U3), in-ear monitors (U4), MIDI (MD1) and audio for video (U5). Xvive products are manufactured in Shenzhen, China - where they also make products for other top music brands. 2020-2021 saw the release of the P1 Portable Phantom Power Supply, the MD1 MIDI Wireless System, and the U5 Wireless Audio for Video System.
Pharaoh Amplifiers was founded by Matthew Farrow as a maker of guitar effects and accessories. The company started in the late 1990s and their first offering was the CLASS-A BOOST pedal sold direct to the public through their website, and on Ebay.
Valeton is a Chinese effects pedal brand. The team behind Valeton had been producing designing and building products for other brands for 10 years before coming together as a single company, with a new catalogue of original designs. The range includes affordable effects pedals, multi-fx processors and amplifiers.
Spaceman Effects was founded 2009 by Zachary Martin in Portland, as a hand made effects pedal company. Spaceman Limited Edition pedals are still hand made but they now offer more affordable mass produced effects in their Standard Edition range.
SoloDallas was founded by Filippo Olivieri in 2014 to recreate the Schaffer-Vega [Diversity System] (SVDS) as used by Angus Young on AC/DC's album back in black. Although the Shaffer Vega was a wireless system it also had boost and compression circuits which Angus used to create the album's distinctive guitar tones. Fil Olivieri e-mailed the original inventor Ken Schaffer asking about his long-forgotten SVDS & Schaffer gave Olivieri his last two functioning units. With Schaffer’s blessing, Fil hired a team of electronics experts to reverse engineer the SVDS to re-create it in the form of a non-wireless unit, under the company name SoloDallas and the first units rolled out in 2014 – The Schaffer Replica was born.
Origin Effects is a UK guitar effects company founded in 2012 by Simon Keats. He had previously started out in effects building by making a studio grade compressor for his own slide guitar use. The compressor eventually became the Cali76. The Origin Effects team has grown over the years, but they still hand build every pedal in their factory in Buckingham.
Nobels is a German guitar effects and audio electronics company founded in 1985 by Bernhard Kurzke. During the 1990s they developed an affordable range of effects pedals, plus programmable multi-effects, MIDI foot controllers, good-sounding practice amps and “Little Helpers” (small inexpensive splitters, A / B switches, loop-in paths, MIDI switchers, DI boxes for the pedalboard). The first effects pedal series was made from 1993 to 20003. They have also made OEM effects pedals for other brands - e.g. the Washburn Rhino pedals were made by Nobels. Circa 2022 their range is focused on their successful Nobels ODR-1 overdrive pedal, available in standard, mini and software-plugin form.
Greer Amps was founded by Nick Greer and produces amplifiers and guitar effects pedals in Athens, Georgia. The company has its origins in the late 1990s when Greer started out making pedals for friends. All Greer effects pedals are hand wired one at a time. Greer amplifiers are also hand built and feature Mercury Magnetics transformers.
Fairfield Circuitry is a Canadian guitar effects company founded in 2008. All manufacturing is done in Hull, Québec. Circa 2022 they had a roster of 10 pedals all have the characteristic robust, unpainted Fairfield look: as they say "simplicity intentionally hidden, transparency deliberately shown".
BMF Effects is a hand made effects pedals company founded in 2005 in Southern California by Scott Kiraly. All BMF Effects pedals feature custom made steel enclosures, industrial grade powder coating and silk screening as well as true bypass switching and DC jacks.
Scott revealed the history of BMF Effects in an interview with Stomp That Box:
Analog Alien is a boutique guitar effects company established in 2010 by brothers Joe and Jack Napoli (Cloud 9 Recording Inc.). They got started in effects pedal building through first modifying some of the large collection of effects pedals owned by their Cloud 9 Studio, and then offering mods for other guitarists. Jack then decided to have a go at building pedals from scratch, learning from books and by trial & error. He made several prototypes until he felt confident that he had a pedal that most guitar players would want to have in their collection, even if they didn't really have a pedal collection. He tested the circuit using several different guitars and amps until he was satisfied with the results. He also let other guitarists use it but never said that he made it. Soon his overdrive/fuzz face pedal became the pedal of choice for a lot of guitarists that were recording in the studio.
Damage Control Engineering was founded in 2004 by four ex Line 6 employees: Pete Celi (embedded systems expert), Gregg Stock (analog engineer), Lucian Tu (industrial designer) and Dave Fruehling (embedded systems expert). Their first products were a line of four tube-driven distortion units: first the Demonizer and Womanizer and, later, Liquid Blues and Solid Metal. Dave and Pete designed some more intensive DSP-driven pedals also incorporating tubes known as TimeLine and Glass Nexus. Although the pedals got great reviews, sales did not take off, and the team increasingly spent time consulting for other firms instead of working on new Damage Control pedals. Lucian Tu left the team, but a colleague Terry Burton who had been working independently in the Damage Control offices came up with the Strymon brand name.
Damage Control Engineering was founded in 2004 by Pete Celi, Gregg Stock and Dave Fruehling, their first products were a line of tube-driven effects pedals. In 2009 they began to develop effects under the Strymon brand name. With models like the OB.1, a simple clean compressor and boost, and the Lex, a small power-house rotary pedal, to BigSky reverb and Timeline delay, Strymon has established itself as a leading guitar effects brand.
Pigtronix is a guitar effects pedal brand established in 2004 in Brooklyn, New York. In 2020, Pigtronix was acquired by Bond Audio, parent company of D’Angelico Guitars and Supro.
NUX is a brand name of Cherub Technology Co.,Ltd. introduced in 2006. They produce a range of music electronics products - of interest to guitarists are their: effects pedals, amplifiers and wireless systems.
