Gear history
The boards behindthe records
What was actually on the floor when those records were made, why each pedal was there, and what it costs today. Assembled from interviews, rig rundowns and live photography.
- Rigs
- 23
- Records
- 58
- Tracks
- 128
- Pedals
- 55
5 rigs, filtered to Fuzz and drive, 1980s.
- Stevie Ray VaughanDouble Trouble · 1983 to 1990
The definitive argument that an overdrive pedal is a volume control, not a distortion box. The Tube Screamer is barely breaking up on its own; it is there to hit an already loud Fender hard enough to make the amp do the work.
Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer
4 pedals · 3 records · 8 tracks
- Randy RhoadsOzzy Osbourne · 1980 to 1982
Classical phrasing over a cranked Marshall, and a board built for precision rather than texture. The Distortion+ tightens the amp instead of adding gain to it, which is what keeps the fast neoclassical runs articulate.
MXR Distortion+
4 pedals · 2 records · 5 tracks
- The EdgeU2 · 1983 onward
The most influential use of delay by anyone, and the clearest case of an effect being part of the composition. The dotted-eighth repeat is not decoration on the Where the Streets Have No Name riff, it is half the notes in it.
Korg SDD-3000
4 pedals · 3 records · 6 tracks
- PrinceThe Revolution · 1982 to 1987
A Boss-heavy board used with unusual discipline. The flanger is on almost every clean rhythm part, which is what gives those records their metallic shimmer, and the distortion only appears when a solo needs it.
Boss BF-2 Flanger
4 pedals · 3 records · 7 tracks
- Joe SatrianiSolo · 1987 onward
Proof that a cheap orange distortion pedal is a legitimate main gain source. The DS-1 has been on the board for decades, and the smoothness people credit to expensive gear is mostly the compressor and the playing.
Boss DS-1 Distortion
4 pedals · 2 records · 5 tracks
This is editorial gear history, the same kind every guitar magazine and rig-rundown video publishes. No artist, band or manufacturer listed here is affiliated with Gear Avail, and nothing on these pages is an endorsement. Rigs change between tours and between takes, so each one is scoped to a documented era rather than presented as a career-long setup. Where only the sessions are documented, the record is listed without specific tracks.