Underrated Electro Harmonix Pedals

In this article, we're going to look at the absolutely, positively, most underrated Electro Harmonix pedals ever made. It's the ones that you need to know about, that you need to tell your friends about, and they need to tell their friends about, so that people can know about them.

There aren't a lot of brands in pedal history that can compare with Electro Harmonix; this company sort of has the cornet market on iconic and legendary pedals. We think of the Memory Man, the Big Muff, the Electric Mistress, Small Clone, Small Stone...the list goes on and on and on. But one of my favorite things about Electro Harmonix is that they have continually pushed innovation and circuitry since they first launched in the sixties. They’ve created designs that make a builder like me go, “How in the world did they do that?”

That’s not the tragedy here. The tragedy is that some of these pedals are majorly underappreciated. By the end of this article, hopefully we’ll have averted that. As always, I’m going to be referencing epic jam sessions in these pages, and I can only paint such an accurate picture with my words. If you really want to get the full effect, go back and watch the episode before you read the article. It’s okay. I’ll wait.

Ready? Let’s go.

*Electro-Harmonix Hot Tubes Overdrive Distortion*

Hot Tubes Overdrive Distortion & Pitch Fork Polyphonic Pitch Shifter

First up. I'm going to play two pedals together. The first is the Hot Tubes. Now, the original version from around ’78 is a big box with three knobs. It’s fantastic, but the even better news is that there’s a nano version that you can pick up on Reverb used for about $40. Not bad at all!

Basically, the Hot Tubes pedal uses the same topology circuit that you see in the Way Huge Red Llama. There was a DIY book by Craig Anderton called Electronic Projects for Musicians that Jeorge Tripps used to make a lot of his Way Huge pedals. I don't exactly know that the guys at Electro Harmonix used the same DIY book, but the Hot Tubes is basically a Sea Moss overdrive chip set that they use in a way that creates a very interesting and unique overdrive distortion.

*Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork Polyphonic Pitch Shifter*

The nano version has the on and off for tone control, which is great. A lot of people prefer just drive and volume, which you can achieve by turning off the tone, or you can use the added tone. Now this is a fantastically realistic and organic sounding overdrive. It doesn't sound like you just turned on a pedal.

I like to use the Hot Tubes alongside the Pitch Fork Polyphonic Pitch Shifter. The Pitch Fork came out in 2014, and I bought it literally the moment it hit the shelves. I got really excited about this one, because it very accurately replicates the original V1 Digitech Whammy pitch-shifter. I used to tour and play with the Digitech Whammy on my board; I would gaff tape the toe down and just use the nasty glitchy octave up. I should clarify: this is not a pretty octave in some of its positions. It's not pristine. You're not going to strum chords and have accurate tracking, but that's why it's magical. That’s why I love it.

You have a few different options with the Pitch Fork. You can do simultaneous octave up and down, or just octave down, or any variation of one, two, or three options.

The Graphic Fuzz & Memory Toy Analog Delay

Next up is my absolute favorite Electro Harmonix fuzz, but…(insert dramatic drum roll here)...It's not the Big Muff. Now, to clarify, I did not say that the Big Muff is not an amazing pedal. It is. But this article is about underrated Electro Harmonix pedals, and the Big Muff is many things, but underrated ain’t one of ‘em

The pedal in my heart right now is exceptional. I need you to take a breath, exhale, and say it with me: the Electro Harmonix Graphic Fuzz. It’s a fuzz pedal with variable envelope response, and it’s amazing. Here's the lowdown: you can turn the fuzz off. Really. That's cool. But I prefer to turn the fuzz on, because this is where the magic happens. Now, it's not a crazy massive wall of fuzz in the same vein as a Big Muff. They know this because they labeled the slider overdrive/distortion, as if to say, “We know it’s a fuzz, but it’s not completely bonkers.” You’ve also got sliders for dynamics, envelope control, volume (which responds to the level of pick attack and volume in your guitar’s output), and sustain.

The Graphic Fuzz pairs really well with the Memory Toy, which is a criminally underrated piece of gear. This pedal has true bucket brigade chip sets and has a delay of 550 milliseconds. What I really love about this pedal is that it'll hold the ambience longer than you expect.

Tube Zipper Envelope Filter/Distortion

The next pedal on the list is an enigma that was released around 2000/2001: the Tube Zipper Envelope Filter/Distortion.

Honestly, this pedal asks more questions than it answers, and that’s not a bad thing.

It has two 12AX7 tubes, so it's massive. It's really hard to use, and you could argue that it has more knobs than it needs, but it's really unique, super underrated. It actually has a patented moving filter control, which is impressive. Circuits are notoriously hard to patent, but they did it. They pulled it off. That's underrated.

Electro Harmonix Attack Decay Tape Reverse Simulator

This next pedal was first released when I was negative two years old, in 1980. Lots of stuff is going on in the world: Mount St. Helen erupts, the States are caught in an equally heated political climate (see what I did there?), but most importantly: music is changing. Disco was dying and Britpop and new wave were just getting off the ground.

In the middle of all that, Electro Harmonix released this pedal. It's the Attack Decay Tape Reverse Simulator. They actually reissued this one last year, and the discerning pedal collector will notice that the lettering for “reverse” is spelled with reversed letters. It's a super clever typeface. This pedal actually made it onto my list of the best pedals of 2020 favorite pedals, and for good reason: Electro Harmonix managed to emulate reverse delay (the effect of the tape running backwards) in a really complicated, super fun pedal.

This is a Russian doll situation, in the best way. Just when you think you’ve figured out all the cool features this pedal has, you realize there’s another layer. If you spend enough time with this pedal, you can do some crazy, amazing -- crazemazing? -- stuff. For instance, the Attack Decay Tape Reverse Simulator can replicate an EBO with 99.9% accuracy, so you have this beautiful sustain that goes on forever. It has knobs for volume, blend, attack, and delay, and there’s just a ton that you can do with it.

TLDR, it’s a complicated piece of gear, but I love this pedal.

Slap-Back Echo & Double Muff Fuzz and Overdrive

The last two pedals on the list just may be the best. First up is the Slap-Back Echo. I have the 1978 18-volt model. Now, Electro Harmonix, if you’re reading this, I’m begging you: please reissue this pedal. I could do it for you. Jamie Stillman over at EarthQuaker could do it for you. The options are pretty much limitless here.

*Electro-Harmonix Double Muff Fuzz and Overdrive (JHS Mod)*

Basically, the Slap-Back Echo is amazing. It uses an out of production chip set, but that’s really not a big deal. You could replicate it. What I love about this pedal is that it’s so dang simple. It's a simple slap back echo with not a bad sound in it. The wet to dry ratio is also really interesting and almost perfect. This pedal reminds me of a lot of Brit’s solos in the band Spoon, how it just feels right. It just feels like the slap-back comes out of the other speaker almost, and it pulls it off in mono. No big deal. It also has some of my favorite graphics from this time.

This pedal pairs spectacularly well with the Double Muff fuzz/overdrive. Now, I could only find a modified version lurking in the bottom of some bins, not the original ’90s big box version with a picture in the corner. And that’s okay. Even modified, this pedal is really cool. For starters, despite the name, it’s not the same as the Big Muff (although I think you could argue that the namesake probably still is the Big Muff).

Now, this is by no means an exhaustive list. The Electro Harmonix catalog is massive. It spans all the way back to the late sixties. If you have an Electro Harmonix pedal on your board (and you probably do), give it a little extra attention today.