We’ve been basking in the golden age of guitar-effects pedals for some time now, but somehow things just seem to keep getting better and better. Holy-grail tones have been decoded and transcribed into pedal form, even as radical new stompbox inventions give musicians the ability to create new ones. And guitarists’ pedalboards are no longer governed by the biggest names in pedal manufacturing. These days, you’re just as likely to see a Boss DS-1 on someone’s board as you are a one-off build from a friend of a friend.
The ground between the majors and the building-for-fun crowd is filled with passionate pedal makers who are changing how guitarists approach their instruments. In this piece, we’ll introduce you to three North American pedal companies who have changed the pedal game with unique sounds, community-minded approaches, and years of hard work—plus, a quick word on their top stomps.
Red Panda
Biggest Hit: Particle
The Story:
Curt Malouin isn’t a guitar player, and he didn’t set out to make guitar-effects pedals, yet that’s exactly what happened with Red Panda. Malouin was working a demanding software engineering job and had been building modular software for 15 years before he started soldering pedals in his garage in 2009, but his love for electronics began when he was 11. Malouin says that having Asperger’s syndrome facilitated his obsession with sound: “I was really super interested and focused on using algorithms to manipulate sound and zoom in on little details of the sound,” he says. “It’s what my brain is focused on most of the time.”
Papa bear himself: Red Panda’s Curt Malouin.
Photo by Ali Lapetina
Malouin messed around with drum machines, synths, and turntables when he was growing up in metro Detroit, listening to techno and hip-hop created in the city. Pedals were of a piece with those scenes: tools in a sound creator’s kit that were highly tweakable and allowed for brilliant manipulation, like how DJs and hip-hop artists used both old and new technologies to create unique sounds. When Line 6’s ToneCore pedals, like the Echo Park delay and Verbzilla, dropped, Malouin discovered that they included interchangeable modules that allowed users to modify the DSP code. It happened to be the same code he used in college while studying electrical engineering. That helped bridge his expertise with his new interests. “It was a combination of wanting to get back to something a little more simple and physical than working on software,” he says.
In 2011, Red Panda released the Particle, Malouin’s first ground-up design and the first-ever granular delay pedal. Word spread about this one-man operation building deeply featured digital pedals. Four years later, Malouin moved to a shared workshop. Another five years passed before Red Panda moved into its current office and workshop.
Red Panda’s builds are entirely digital, and feature-wise, they’re more complex than your average stomp. As a rule, they’re equipped with stereo inputs and outputs, full MIDI implementation, and web-based editing. Malouin is the engineer behind every step of their creation—he even built the operating system that runs the algorithms and digital signal processing (DSP) code. Malouin says that involvement keeps Red Panda’s conceptual integrity consistent from top to bottom.
Andie Mellon assembles a batch of Raster delays at Red Panda Labs’ Detroit, Michigan, workshop.
Photo by Jenn Bondy
Red Panda’s new RD1 series, which has been in development for three years, aims to deliver these designs in a pared-back, more affordable package. They’ll feature the same algorithms as the flagship products, but with fewer features and more focused applications—something like an old-school pedal that “does one thing, and does it really well,” explains Malouin. “There’s a lot of fun engineering challenges in trying to keep something that sounds just as good as our other pedals, but we can sell at a lower price point that allows musicians to grab it and make interesting music.”
The pedals were ready to go in April this year, but Donald Trump’s volatile tariff applications made it impossible to meet the price target Malouin wanted to hit. Red Panda’s pedals are all assembled in Michigan, but he sources parts from around the world, many of which Malouin says will never be made in the U.S. He adapted by, once again, leaning on new processes to reduce costs; for example, designing the pedals to be as quick to assemble as possible, or replacing several components with one that can do multiple things. “It’s a little engineering magic trick that makes this work fun,” he says.
Red Panda has grown since its beginning, but not by much. Malouin and only three others are day-to-day, full-time workers, which means everyone handles a bit of everything, from assembly to orders to shipping to video productions.
Electronic Audio Experiments
(electronicaudioexperiments.com)
Biggest Hit: Longsword
The Story:
It’s been just over 10 years since Boston-based pedal builder John Snyder released the first version of the Electronic Audio Experiments Longsword, but it wasn’t until 2020, when he began building full time, that the pedal reached its final form.
If you’re curious, though, you can see exactly how the Longsword evolved over the years. Snyder tracks and publishes all the changes to each of his pedal’s circuits over the years on EAE’s website. “For me, it was partly to quell confusion on the internet where people were like, ‘This version of this pedal has this thing and this version has this thing,’ or people saying, ‘I have this serial number, when did you change the board?’ I can just say, ‘Here’s the change log, it’s on the website, it’s in the manual.’ I wish other companies would do something similar.”
Snyder in his natural habitat: Electronic Audio Experiments headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Photo courtesy of John Snyder
Snyder began playing in bands in middle school, and during his college years in the early 2010s he was active in the Northeast’s DIY community of emo, punk, and hardcore bands of all stripes. Influenced by a family heritage of engineers (one of his grandfathers was head of quality control at a vacuum-tube plant in Kentucky), Snyder was always the token gearhead in his circle. His bands were never too popular, which meant he had more time to focus on crafting unique sounds between short tours and weekend runs.
Dirt lovers around the world have a rare meteorological phenomenon to thank for their EAE pedals. In early 2014, Boston received more than 20 inches of snow over two days. Snyder was snowed into his illegal basement apartment, unable to visit his girlfriend (now wife) or any friends. It was during these locked-in days that Snyder breadboarded the Longsword. He built one for himself, and the following summer he sold a batch of 15.
Snyder finished a post-grad degree in electrical engineering in May 2020, and outside of the defense industry, there weren’t many prospects. After his wife suggested that he focus on building pedals, Snyder spent three months working on streamlining his processes. That turned into six months, which turned into a year. The operation didn’t fit into Snyder’s guest room anymore, so he upgraded to a real shop space for a while before landing on EAE’s current location, a corner of the second floor of a warehouse in Waltham, Massachusetts. (Their downstairs neighbours are Small Bear Electronics.)
“We’re all helping each other, which is a really awesome way to build community and make what we do more interesting. Something that I try to keep in mind is that this industry is so, so small, and we’re not really competing with each other.”–John Snyder, Electronic Audio Experiments
The Longsword was born from Snyder chasing the solid-state and op-amp distortion sounds of classic post-hardcore acts like Touché Amoré, La Dispute, and mewithoutYou. The Longsword’s lineage includes elements of the Boss HM-2, MXR Distortion+, and the Caroline Wave Cannon (which itself has some RAT DNA), but Snyder added a Baxandall EQ circuit. “I wanted something that didn’t already exist in the market and was very purpose-driven in its design, and could be unique enough to stand out,” explains Snyder.
Snyder credits mentors like Nick Williams of Dunwich Amplification with sharing their time and expertise in EAE’s early days: “[Nick] taught me a lot of the basics of, like, ‘How do I lay out circuit boards? How do I order circuit boards? Where do I find parts and stuff?’” Others shared meat-and-potatoes tips like how to drill enclosures in a bedroom without getting aluminum shavings everywhere, and how to market and build artist relations. Snyder tries to pay it forward these days by helping out new builders. “We’re all helping each other, which is a really awesome way to build community and make what we do more interesting,” says Snyder. “Something that I try to keep in mind is that this industry is so, so small, and we’re not really competing with each other. We’re all competing with Amazon Basics and Behringer.”
Revv
Biggest Hit: G3
(revvamplification.com)
The Story:
Winnipeg’s Revv Amplification made their name on the reputation of their excellent high-gain amplifiers, like the Generator 120. The 4-channel, flagship amp head was the sound in lead designer and president Dan Trudeau’s head. Trudeau, along with vice president of sales and marketing Derek Eastveld, took the formula a step further in 2018 when they put Revv’s rich, articulate, ground-shaking dirt into stompbox format.
Revv’s Derek Eastveld preps a batch of G2 pedals.
Photo courtesy of Revv
The day Revv’s G3 pedal launched in May 2018, Eastveld was on a flight to Germany. He and his colleagues had figured they would sell 250 of them in a year. By the time he landed later that day, they’d racked up 270 sales through their website. By the end of the month, they had more than 1,000 orders to fulfil. The success was exciting, but it also posed a problem: Revv only consisted of four full-time workers. The fateful launch provided the cash flow needed to scale up the company, and today 20 people work full-time for Revv, across production, marketing, sales, design, and administration.
Revv’s amp-in-a-box G-series pedals—G2, G3, and G4—are color-coded according to the corresponding channel on the Generator 120. The G2, for example, is green, because when the namesake amp’s second channel is engaged, the amp’s LED glows green. Eastveld says that means some people mistake the pedal for a Tube Screamer clone, which is a big mistake. The G2 is much more saturated and modern-sounding. Eastveld describes it as splitting the difference between contemporary high-gain monsters like Mesa Boogie Rectifiers and 5150s, and mid-gain classics like vintage Marshalls. The purple G3, though, remains Revv’s top-selling pedal. It’s even more modern, mid-focused, and aggressive, with a 3-position switch to navigate between different voicings and saturation levels.
“We’re always taking notes about like, ‘Okay, what did people respond well to, and what do we need to take another look at?’”–Derek Eastveld, Revv
Eastveld and Trudeau pride themselves on staying flexible and responsive to their users. They constantly monitor their social media for comments and suggestions. “Maybe somebody bought something and then sold it because it wasn’t a right fit for them, and we’re always taking notes about, like, ‘Okay, what did people respond well to, and what do we need to take another look at?’” explains Eastveld. That openness has led directly to amp and pedal upgrades. The G series pedals, including the famed G3, got a V2 makeover this year.
