3 Guitar Pedals That Should Have Been Famous

In this article, I want to brag on a few pedals that I love, and I also want to grieve the fact that they’re not famous. By rights, they should be. I’ll be the first to admit that the Klon and the Tube Screamer are iconic pedals, but there’s room on that pedestal for a few more stompboxes, specifically, the Seymour Duncan Tweak Fuzz, Danelectro Wasabi Forward-Reverse Delay and Tech 21 Double Drive. If you don’t believe me, let me explain why these pedals should have been famous. We’re only going to tackle three pedals, because that’s probably all you can handle.

If you need help getting in the right mood, feel free to watch this clip of Marlon Brando circa 1954 (things really heat up around the 1:20 mark).

Seymour Duncan Tweak Fuzz

First up is the Seymour Duncan Tweak Fuzz from 2005. This is one of Seymour Duncan’s very first pedals. You may have already played the Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster or the Twin Tube Preamp, which were released around the same time.

The head of engineering at Seymour Duncan is a guy named Kevin, who’s frankly amazing, but the Tweak Fuzz actually wasn't designed by him. It was designed by Alex Saraceno (father of guitarist Blues Saraceno) and based on the circuit from the Dirty Boys Pedals Afro Fuzz. Alex licensed the circuit to Seymour Duncan and let them use it in the Tweak Fuzz.

The Tweak Fuzz has a rotary that deals with the low-mid content, much like the Lovetone Big Cheese (though it’s worth noting that the circuit isn’t the same, just the rotary feature). The Tweak Fuzz features bassier settings and more bright treble boost settings; my favorite thing to do with this pedal is to tune it like a Dallas Rangemaster.

Danelectro Wasabi Forward-Reverse Delay

This next pedal is from the year 2000, the same year that I graduated high school. I’m talking, of course, about the Danelectro Wasabi Forward-Reverse Delay.

For some reason, it's like these didn't exist. You've probably seen the Danelectro Daddy-O Overdrive; the Wasabi Forward-Reverse Delay was released three years after the Daddy-O, but nobody cared. This is a big, heavy enclosure that shares its aesthetic with vintage cars. It even has taillights on it. This pedal basically combines the circuits from the Danelectro Dan Echo and Back Talk Reverse Delay. This pedal was pretty revolutionary in the year 2000; it came loaded with amazing sounds and features that nothing else on the market had including tap tempo, stereo outs, high cut and a pickup selector.

With that many amazing features, this should have been famous. Should have been, but wasn’t. Life’s unfair, y’all.

Tech 21 Double Drive

This next pedal has been on my board cumulatively for three years of my life and was originally released in April 2002: the Tech 21 Double Drive. You know, when you hear about Tech 21, all you really hear about is SansAmp stuff. For the record, they also make amazing drive pedals. This one's discontinued, and it's unique in the fact that it's not a copy of anything. You have a drive AB and a drive A, and you can blend them. This gets as close as any pedal has ever gotten to a cranked AC30, in my opinion, the kind of cranked where the amp wants to die but it's also living its best life? That's the tone that I love.

This pedal actually comes in a few different colors: black, yellow, blue and red, but the easiest version you’re going to be able to find (read: the cheapest version) is definitely the black one.

Obviously, there are tons of other pedals that should have been famous, but weren’t, and we may do a future article on the next bunch. For now, try to give a little extra love to the Seymour Duncan Tweak Fuzz, Danelectro Wasabi Forward-Reverse Delay and Tech 21 Double Drive. They totally deserve it.