The past year's record gear sales tell us that pandemic window shopping has become more a passion than a pastime. And whether you're pushing a “buy" button or on the horn to your local music shop, pedals are among the most affordable jones satisfiers. Our editors compared notes—and their own pedalboards—to compile this list of our favorite stomps that provide a big tonal bang for under a Benny. They range from time-proven classics to thoroughly modern mojo machines. Check it out, and at these prices you don't even have to hide your wallet first.
TC Electronic Rusty Fuzz
Many modern Fuzz Face-inspired silicon circuits are too dark and mannered, but this badass bargain zeroes in on a joyful range of anarchic, retro tones, from Hendrix to Big Brother. With unity gain at about 10 o'clock, keeping the fuzz setting under 11 a.m. provides enough hair to sting, and levels above that are slap-your-mama. Floor the fuzz and it's '68 at the Fillmore—held notes sing with feedback and bent strings roar and fluctuate, eventually decaying in a beastly groan. Even with fuzz maxed, the tone dial is quite responsive, so highs needn't get drowned in the tidal wave of fur, and turning the tone all the way down warms things if desired. And with a maximum output gain of +55 dB, punching through a live mix is not an issue. The Rusty Fuzz oxidizes the sound of humbuckers at every setting, although it takes some cranking to drive single-coils to glorious ruin. Add a wah pedal and cock it to different positions to tap some truly dinosauric sounds. There's no 9V battery option, but there is enough dynamism and control to satisfy any breed of vintage raunch hound. —Ted Drozdowski
The Good: Easily controllable, super-authentic-sounding vintage fuzz at a bargain price.
The Bad: No 9V option.
$69 street, tcelectronic.com
'93 Gibson Les Paul Classic, neck humbucker, GarageBand reverb plug-in; Rusty Fuzz off, then, volume at unity with fuzz at noon, 3 o'clock, and maxed, with tone at noon; next, fuzz at noon, 3, and 5 o'clock with tone maxed.
Mooer Trelicopter
From Origin Effects' and MXR's latest tremolo wonders to other time-proven gems, there's no shortage of cool amplitude-undulators on the market. But what I've long loved about the Trelicopter is that it puts remarkably amp-like tremolo at your feet not just for a ridiculously nice price, but also in a miniscule package. Even better, whereas many more expensive trem stomps tend to sacrifice faster, choppier sounds for slower, super-chill vibes (or vice versa), Trelicopter hovers in a wonderful middle ground. This is largely thanks to its handy bias control, which sharpens or smooths waveform edges to simulate sounds ranging from black- to brown-panel-esque. —Shawn Hammond
The Good: Vintage-feeling amp trem in a tiny package that's more flexible than many more expensive stomps.
The Bad: Seems to very slightly sap treble frequencies. Mini pots lack indicator mark.
$88 street, mooeraudio.com
Nobels ODR-Mini
It's not a stretch to think that aspiring session guitarists come to Nashville packing a Tele, a capo, and this overdrive. This mini version of the cult classic keeps the general vibe of its larger sibling along with its beautifully rich and mid-focused sound. Thanks to session player Tom Bukovac, the Nobels has taken on a life of its own—to the point where Buk' had to make a video busting all the myths around his early history with it, right down to the $30 price tag. Once word got out about the ODR, it landed on every Nashville cat's board and prices for vintage ones started to rise. Naturally the gain and level controls are self-explanatory, but the real magic is in the spectrum knob. Unlike a typical tone control, the spectrum moves several different frequencies around at the same time. Turning it counter-clockwise gives the tone a mid hump, but not in the way you might think. It decreases the bass and treble—a very handy feature when you're trying to find the right guitar/amp/pedal combo in a mix. If you dig the whole TS vibe but want more mid control, start with this other green box. —Jason Shadrick
The Good: Glow-in-the-dark knobs! You can run it at 18V for more headroom.
The Bad: At extreme gain settings it gets a bit fizzy.
$79 street, nobels.de
Korg Pitchblack Custom
For what's arguably the most important pedal on the floor, this tuner appeals to the type of player who—alongside quickness and accuracy—puts high value on visibility to counteract dark stages and/or sub-par vision. Its 3-D, liquid-like screen makes up about 75 percent of the face of the pedal and leaves no doubt as to what's on the display, no matter which of the four different meter modes chosen. In terms of accuracy, you'd be hard pressed to do much better than the Pitchblack Custom's +/- 0.1 cent spec, unless you pony up for a desktop strobe unit. You won't find a big menu of tuning presets, polyphonic functionality, or other ancillary features on the true-bypass Custom, but it's wonderfully simple and fast, and caters to people like me who can never find their glasses. It's just icing on the cake that the sub-$100 box happens to look like a stealthy spy gadget. —Rich Osweiler
The Good: Huge, crisp, and clear display. Minimalist design. Accuracy to +/- 0.1 cents.
The Bad: Nada.
$99 street, korg.com
Boss TR-2 Tremolo
This list is supposed to be about pedals less than 100 bucks. But at $103 and change, we've made an exception for the venerable and perpetually overachieving TR-2. I bought mine more than a decade ago (I think it was then priced closer to $129), stuck it on my board, and, with a few exceptions, it's been there ever since. Does it top the sounds of vintage Fender amp trems, or one of the more exacting (and expensive) new-school DSP-vintage-driven emulations? No, but I tend to find the comparisons academic. The TR-2 has a warm but familiar voice all its own—several actually, when you factor in the waveform control, which moves from soft, round sine-wave pulses to choppier square waves, and many blends in between. The TR-2 has quirks, like a depth control that makes the modulation virtually imperceptible until just before high noon on the dial. But the perceived volume drop that allegedly plagued early models is long gone, And like so many Boss pedals, it's built to sturdy standards that rival much more expensive and exclusive boutique offerings. —Charles Saufley
The Good: Great range of tremolo textures, from soft, soulfully undulating pulses to hard-choppin' square waves.
The Bad: Not much perceptible modulation in the first half of the depth control's range
$103 street, boss.info
MXR Blue Box
This two-octaves-down-plus-fuzz stomp has been creating chaos since 1974, although it took Jimmy Page's solo on 1979's "Fool in the Rain" to really put it on the map. Today, the pedal's making a well-deserved comeback in stoner rock. It's a simple critter—the double-octave drop engages when it's switched on, the output controls volume, and blend adds or subtracts fuzz. Counterintuitively, with more fuzz in the mix, the overall sound is more controllable and sustained, and less glitchy. Same thing when you play higher on the neck. But the low octave tones are full of marvelously colorful blips and snorts, and the unpredictable note decay—sometimes it's more like dropping off a cliff—has a stellar charm all its own. Try a chord, for a laugh. If that unpredictable decay becomes annoying, just zip a clean boost in front of the Blue Box to beef up sustain. But half the fun of this venerable device—which works on 9V battery or adaptor power—is that madcap unpredictability. —TD
The Good: A Pagey-approved, distinctively weird-ass sound for the ages.
The Bad: If glitching and unpredictable drop-outs bug you, this one-trick horsie ain't your ride.
$79 street, jimdunlop.com
'93 Gibson Les Paul Classic, neck humbucker, Carr Vincent combo, Blue Box off, output at unity; then Blue Box on with blend at 7, 9, 12, and 3 o'clock, and maxed. Followed by a G campfire chord clean, and then with blend at max and at 3 p.m.
Radial Engineering BigShot ABY
If you ever get the hankering to see how fun/cool it is to play through or switch between two amps, just keep in mind it's not quite as simple as just tracking down a box that lets you send your mono signal to two outputs. As many players have found the hard way, phase-cancellation and ground-loop goblins lurk in the shadows of such setups, so if your junction box doesn't have features to deal with them, you may be prematurely thrown off your game and wonder "What the hell! These amps sound fantastic on their own—why don't they now?" In our Rig Rundowns, you've no doubt seen innumerable professionals using Radial utilities for unexciting-but-critical concerns such as these. That's because Radial gear is super sturdy and typically addresses all possible gigging downfalls with straightforward simplicity. For instance, the BigShot ABY requires no power (unless you want to power the current version's channel-indicator LEDs—mine is an older one without LEDs, but I keep the amps on full-time so it doesn't matter) and features a slider for correcting that weak, nasal sound you get when your amps are out of phase, as well as ground-lift and isolation-transformer switches to help eliminate hum. Even cooler, while Radial might not encourage it, I've had wonderful luck using the BigShot's tuner output to route my signal to a third amp, sans any phasing or noise issues. —SH
The Good: Smart, superb, no-nonsense way to play through two or three amps.
The Bad: NA
$99 street, radialeng.com
ProCo RAT 2
We see a lot more RAT 2 homages from boutique builders these days. That's a welcome development, because the RAT 2's basic architecture and tone profile has always been more versatile than its heavy reputation suggests. Good RATs can make leads liquid and white hot with sustain. They also generate great low- to mid-gain overdrive tones, and the filter/tone knob can crate thick, smoky fuzz and distortion voices. But one of the best things about the RAT 2 is that the contemporary China-built version—which sells for a whopping $70—still gets you most of the way to the sound of a vintage late-'80s/early-'90s version. I had one of these recent RATs on extended loan from a pal. It lacked some of the mysterious, hazy thickness and complexity that my vintage version delivers at heavily filtered, attenuated-highs settings. It can also seem a bit peaky in the top end compared to my battered oldie. But 95 percent of the time—and especially in those growling mid-gain distortion settings that folks love to hear from a RAT—the recent-vintage unit sounded and felt practically indiscernible. Did I get lucky? Maybe. But it seems more likely that after selling about a zillion RAT 2s, Pro Co has sorted out how to build this classic to consistently high standards on the cheap. —CS
The Good: Almost all of the killer sounds you'd get from a vintage RAT 2. Super inexpensive.
The Bad: Filtered tones can lack some of the complexity heard in vintage versions.
$70 street, ratdistortion.com
TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 Mini
Emulating the sound and feel of space is one of the most enduring and strangely satisfying musical effects for guitarists. From the drippy goodness of vintage Fender combos to the ethereal and metallic sounds of modern shimmer, various types of reverb are close to rivaling the number of 3-knob overdrives. The Hall of Fame 2 Mini is a tiny little stomp that covers nearly any possible reverb flavor you might need. When I first got my hands on one, I needed more of a set-and-forget for times when I had a reverb-less backline. Admittedly, I also spent a fair amount of time just blissfully exploring the more ambient settings. One significant upgrade over its predecessor is the addition of a MASH footswitch that acts as an expression pedal to give certain settings more real-time depth and dynamics. You can really interact with the tones in a meaningful way by simply pressing down a bit more. In most cases the effect is subtle but present. However, with a bit of deeper editing via the TonePrint app, you can get downright Fripp-esque with it. If anyone asks about a reverb pedal but doesn't have an affinity toward a particular flavor, I point them to the HOF 2. —JS
The Good: Mind-boggling amount of control via the app. Very authentic analog sounds.
The Bad: Not easy to switch reverb types on the fly.
$99 street, tcelectronic.com
TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 Mini - Pedals Under $100
Electro-Harmonix Stereo Pulsar
Pulsar is a space-age-sounding name for a decidedly retro analog pedal, and its ability to toggle between triangle and square waves is common to other tremolo stomps, as is the shape dial that adds adjustable sawtooth characteristics to the triangle mode and variable pulse widths to the square wave mode. Rate and depth are the other controls, naturally. So, what makes this box special? It's a stereo tremolo for under $100, and if you think that's not a big deal it's only because you haven't experienced the psychoacoustic payoff of on/off square wave pulses ricocheting between a pair of amps—and your eardrums. It's an enjoyably trippy experience, as the pulses gently and intermittently slap the sides of your skull. But triangle mode shines, too, in a smoother way. Slow pulses of moderate depth also blend well with chorus, phasing, flanging, and even carefully tailored delay-pedal settings, so there's room for more sonic deviance. Use the main out only, and the pedal's mono, giving your amp classic Fender-style tremolo sounds. Add in 9V battery and adaptor power options, and a hard metal shell that's likely bulletproof, and you've got a workhorse stomp that dabbles in microdosing.—TD
The Good: Honest vintage tremolo that's easily shapeable and, in stereo, trippy as hell.
The Bad: If you're looking for modern twists like shimmer and layering, this ain't your juice box.
$89 street, ehx.com
Sample 1 — Round Waves: '73 Fender Stratocaster, Carr Vincent combo and Orange Micro Terror head and Sam Hill Custom 1x12 cabinet, Pulsar off, then with shape control at 10, 12, and 2 o'clock; depth at noon except last play-through at 2
Sample 2 — Triangle Waves: '73 Fender Stratocaster, Carr Vincent combo and Orange Micro Terror head and Sam Hill Custom 1x12 cabinet, Pulsar off, then with shape control at 10, 12, and 2 o'clock; depth at noon except last play-through at 2
Mooer Lo-Fi Machine
My first crack at trying a Mooer came when I reviewed the LoFi Machine nearly seven years ago. Initially, I was skeptical because of the brand's super-low prices and newness on the scene, but it didn't take long to forget all that. The bit knob reduces sampling depth from 5–16 bits, while mix and sample control dry/wet ratio and sample-rate reduction (60–31,250 Hz), respectively, and a 3-way toggle optimizes EQ response for synth, guitar, or bass. With careful manipulation of these controls (as well as your picking attack and other effects), you can use the Machine to summon everything from cool vintage electric-piano approximations to harpsichord tones and old-school video game sounds. Needless to say, I bought this rad stompbox after the review, and today it's still part of my rig—only at the moment it sits atop my keyboard, where I can easily manipulate controls with one hand while playing with the other. —SH
The Good: Myriad unusual sounds—from tame and lovely to lovably silly or sadistically warped—in a small, affordable package.
The Bad: Slightly saps treble frequencies. Mini-pot settings difficult to keep track of.
$98 street, mooeraudio.com
Test Gear: Danelectro '56 Baritone reissue, Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Custom with Curtis Novak pickups, Schecter Ultra III with TV Jones Magna'Tron bridge pickup, Jaguar HC50 and Goodsell Valpreaux 21 amps.
EarthQuaker Devices Plumes
The ubiquity of the Tube Screamer—and the scores of overdrives that have come in its wake—make it easy to forget the virtues and potential of the original. In fact, EarthQuaker Devices founder Jamie Stillman once hinted he would never bother with building a TS-based pedal. But EQD is nothing if not a restless bunch, and I suspect that the challenge of building a TS-inspired circuit with variable clipping—all for 99 bucks—was more than Stillman and crew could resist. The results are impressive. In general, the Plumes has a bit more headroom and clarity in the top end than your average TS. The LED symmetrical clipping mode ranges to savage grinding and beautifully compressed. The asymmetrical clipping mode is a little softer around the edges, with almost-saturated Fender-amp-like overdrive. There's also a no-clipping op-amp boost setting that reminds you how effectively a TS can work as a near-clean boost. Plumes would be a great TS alternative if it were 50 to 70 percent more expensive. At this price, it's a steal. —CS
The Good: A TS with a triple twist of clipping options. Great range of aggressive-to-clean sounds. Great tone control. More headroom than your average TS-style pedal.
The Bad: Hard to switch clipping modes on the fly without major volume changes.
$99 street, earthquakerdevices.com
Kliq TinyTune
When it comes to mini tuner pedals, mainstream brands like TC Electronic, D'Addario, and Korg tend to rule the roost for serious players, but does that mean they're our only viable option? I decided to put that question to the test a couple years ago when my old Planet Waves Chromatic Pedal Tuner finally died and I saw all the great Amazon reviews for the KLIQ TinyTune. As you've probably noticed, shopper reviews—whether on Amazon or a respected retailer's site—are often overly fawning simply because the item arrived quickly, the sales consultant was engaging and friendly, or, most offensively, the person didn't encounter any problems after using the product for an hour or two. Nevertheless, with an average rating of 4.5 and hundreds upon hundreds of reviews, I figured $29 wasn't that big a gamble. When the TinyTune arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it seemed every bit as sturdy and feature-laden as other tuners on the market, and its display was both brighter and less jumpy than many tuners I've used. —SH
The Good: Excellent build quality and feature set. Clear, bright, easy-to-read interface.
The Bad: Registers notes slightly slower than more expensive offerings.
$29 street, kliqmusicgear.com
Electro-Harmonix Nano Bass Big Muff
Electro-Harmonix is known for a lot of things, with distorted tones and affordability way up high on that list. Inspired by the company's lauded green Russian Big Muff, but in a smaller package and voiced for bassists, the Nano Bass Big Muff houses the accustomed volume, tone, and sustain dials for sound sculpting. However, this Muff also has a mini toggle to switch over to a 50/50 wet/dry signal blend and assist in low-end retention and clarity. At just about 80 bucks, the price is certainly nice, but so is its dirt delivery, which leans more towards warm and fat as opposed to a treble-y or harsher timbre. The NBBM's range of thick fuzz tones are apt for stoner and doom to vintage rock and metal, and really pushing it will spit out copious amounts of tummy tickling fuzz with synth-y flavor, but the NBBM also hangs nicely as a foundational tool with just a kiss of dirty in dry mode. There are a lot of great fuzz pedals for bassists on the market, but pound for pound divided by price, the Nano Bass Big Muff is pretty close to Nobrainerville for me. —Rich Osweiler
The Good: Excellent low-end retention. Dry switch for wet/dry blend.
The Bad: Wet/dry blend limited to the toggle switch's preset 50/50 ratio.
$80 street, ehx.com
Electro-Harmonix Bass Big Muff Nano - Pedals Under $100
MXR CSP101SL Script Phase 90
Maybe it's just front of mind because of Edward Van Halen's recent passing, but when the idea for this story first came across my desk, I immediately flashed on "Eruption" and went to see what a Phase 90 was going for. Thankfully, this Custom Shop version squeaked right under our dollar parameters. The thick syrupy sounds of a well-crafted phaser have permeated not only some of EVH's most famous jams, but also the outlaw funk of Waylon Jennings and the reggae jams of Bob Marley. For the orange-box purists, the script logo versions are the way to go. Thankfully, this particular model has both an LED and an option for 9V power—both of which are missing in the original model. With only one knob to control the speed, the lack of tweakable options is freeing, in a way. Simply turn it until it sounds good. Many times I find myself using my foot to dial in just the right amount, thanks to the handy rubber ring that MXR throws in the box. This is easily one of trippiest pedals to stand the test of time. —JS
The Good: Dead simple to use. Sounds fantastic.
The Bad: I probably use it too much.
$99 street,jimdunlop.com
MXR CSP101SL Script Phase 90 - Pedals Under $100
Big Knob Tone Blender MkII 66
Once you've experienced the rush of hearing a vintage Tone Bender fire up—volume erupting through the roof, mohair-thick fuzz wrapping every note, super-creamy and responsive sustain that gives way to rancorous decay, and subtone artifacts that wobble behind held notes—coveting one is inevitable. Trouble is, a '60s or '70s Bender will set you back $500 to $800. Some clones aren't much cheaper, and most of them tend to sound darker than the originals or lack those artifact surprises. Not so the Tone Blender MkII 66. Big Knob "supreme commander" and one-man band Gary Kibler has been hand-building faithful reproductions of vintage circuits at his workbench for 12 years now, even cutting circuit boards from strip. The MkII is, like its namesake, a three-gain-stage circuit, using Soviet-era military NOS germanium transistors. Level, with unity at, um, barely on, provides a shocking amount of volume on tap, and the attack dial goes from colorful fuzz to hairy, howling banshee. There's no power supply option, in keeping with the originals. You'll want to use your guitar's volume and tone knobs to help command this insane fuzz, which fulfills Kibler's mission to provide classic tones for players on a budget. —TD
The Good: The gory glories of the original MkII Tone Blender at a shocking low price.
The Bad: Also like the originals, you'll need to invest a little time to learn to control this wild, snarling beast—unless you just drop the leash.
$80 street, bigknobpedals.com
Big Knob Tone Blender MkII 66 - Pedals Under $100
Zuzu Green Monster with custom pickup, bridge, in open D tuning; Carr Vincent combo.
Rhythm: clean, Tone Blender volume at unity, attack minimum, then maximum.
Melody line: clean, Tone Blender volume at unity, attack minimum, then maximum, then noon.
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A rig meant to inspire! That’s Jerry Garcia with his Doug Irwin-built Tiger guitar, in front of his Twin Reverb + McIntosh + JBL amp rig.
“I met Jerry Garcia once, in 1992, at the bar at the Ritz Carlton in New York,” Dark Star Orchestra guitarist Jeff Mattson tells me over the phone. Nearly sixty-seven years old, Mattson is one of the longest-running members of the Grateful Dead tribute band scene, which encompasses hundreds of groups worldwide. The guitarist is old enough to have lived through most of the arc ofthe actual Grateful Dead’s career. As a young teen, he first absorbed their music by borrowing their seminal records, American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead, brand new then, from his local library to spin on his turntable. Around that same moment, he started studying jazz guitar. Between 1973 and 1995, Mattson saw the Dead play live hundreds of times, formed the landmark jam bandZen Tricksters, and later stepped into theJerry Garcia lead guitarist role with the Dark Star Orchestra (DSO), one of the leading Dead tribute acts.
“At the bar, I didn’t even tellGarcia I was a guitar player,” Mattson explains. “I had just heard him play the new song ‘Days Between’ and I told him how excited I was by it, and he told me he was excited too. It wasn’t that long of a conversation, but I got to shake his hand and tell him how much his music meant to me. It’s a very sweet memory.”
The Grateful Dead’s final studio album was 1989’sBuilt to Last, and that title was prophetic. From 1965 to 1995, the band combined psychedelic rock with folk, blues, country, jazz, and even touches of prog rock and funk, placing a premium on improvisation and pushing into their own unique musical spaces. Along the way, they earned a reputation that placed them among the greatest American bands in rock ’n’ roll history—to many, the ultimate. Although no one member was more important than another, the heart and soul of the ensemble was Garcia. After his death in 1995, the surviving members retired the name the Grateful Dead.
“I think Jerry Garcia was the most creative guitarist of the 20th century because he had the widest ears and the sharpest instincts,” opines historian, author, and official Grateful Dead biographer Dennis McNally, over the phone. “What we see after his death are the Deadheads coming to terms with his passing but indicating that it’s the music that was most important to them. And who plays the music now becomes simply a matter of taste.”
Dark Star Orchestra guitarist Jeff Mattson, seen here with Garcia’s Alligator Stratocaster (yes, the real one).
Photo by Susana Millman
This year marks 30 years since Garcia’s passing and 60 years since the band formed in the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, the guitarist’s musical vocabulary and unique, personal tone manifests in new generations of players. Perhaps the most visible of these musicians is John Mayer, anointed as Garcia’s “replacement” in Dead and Co. But dozens of others, like Mattson, Tom Hamilton Jr., and a young new artist named Bella Rayne, strive to keep the Dead alive.
The first few Grateful Dead tribute bands began emerging in local dive bars by the late ’70s. More than mere cover bands, these groups devoted themselves entirely to playing the Dead. A few of these early groups eventually toured the country, playing in college towns, ski resorts, and small theatres across the United States. Mattson started one on Long Island, New York. He tells me, “The first band I was in that played exclusively Grateful Dead was Wild Oats. It was 1977, and we played local bars. Then, in 1979, I joined a band called the Volunteers. We also played almost exclusively the Grateful Dead, and that was a much more professional outfit—we had a good PA and lights and a truck, the whole nine yards.” The Volunteers eventually morphed into the Zen Tricksters.
Garcia’s death turbocharged the Dead tribute band landscape. Fanbases grew, and some bands reached the point where big-time agents booked them into blue-chip venues like Red Rocks and the Beacon Theatre. Summer festivals devoted to these bands evolved.
“The first band I was in that played exclusively Grateful Dead was Wild Oats. It was 1977, and we played local bars.” —Jeff Mattson
Dark Star Orchestra launched in 1997, and they do something particular, taking an individual show from somewhere out of Grateful Dead history and recreating that evening’s setlist. It’s musically and sonically challenging. They try to use era-specific gear, so on any given night, they may be playing through recreations of the Grateful Dead’s backline from 1971 or 1981, for example. It all depends on the show they choose to present. Mattson joined DSO as its lead guitar player in 2009.
Something else significant happened after Jerry died: The remaining living members of the Grateful Dead and other musicians from Garcia’s inner circle embraced the tribute scene, inviting musicians steeped in their music to step up and sit in with them. For Mattson, it’s meant playing over the years with all the core members of the band, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart, plus former members Donna Jean Godchaux, who sang in the band from 1971 to 1979, and Tom Constanten, who played keyboards with the Dead from 1968 to 1970.
Tom Hamilton’s Lotto custom built had a Doug Irwin-inspired upper horn.
In the newest post-Garcia tribute bands, many guitar players aren’t old enough to have seen Garcia perform live—or if they did, it was towards the end of his life and career. One of those guys sitting today at the top of the Garcia pyramid, along with Mattson, is Tom Hamilton Jr. Growing up in a musical family in Philadelphia, Hamilton saw Garcia play live only three times. Early on, he was influenced by Stevie Ray Vaughan, but Hamilton’s older brother, who was also a guitar player, loved the Dead and Garcia. “My brother wanted to play like Jerry,” he recalls, “so he roped me in because he needed me to play ‘Bob Weir’ and be his rhythm guitar sidekick.” Eventually, Hamilton leaned more into the Jerry role himself. “Then I spent my entire twenties trying to develop my own voice as a songwriter and as a guitar player. And I did,” Hamilton says. “And during that time, I met Joe Russo. He was not so much into the Dead then, but he knew I was.”
A drummer from Brooklyn, by about 2006, Russo found himself collaborating on projects with members of Phish and Ween. That put him on the radar of Lesh and Weir, who invited Russo to be a part of their post-Dead project Furthur in 2009. (And on guitar, they chose DSO founding member John Kadlecik, opening that role up for Mattson.)
“When Joe played in Furthur, he got under the hood of the Grateful Dead’s music and started to understand how special it was,” Hamilton points out. “After Furthur wound down, we decided to form JRAD. We weren’t trying to do something academic, not some note-for-note recreation. We were coming at it through the pure joy of the songs, and the fact that the five of us in JRAD were improvisers ourselves.”
“We were coming at it through the pure joy of the songs, and the fact that the five of us in JRAD were improvisers ourselves.” —Tom Hamilton Jr.
Today, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (JRAD) is considered to be one of the premier Grateful Dead tribute bands. They formed in 2013, with Hamilton and Scott Metzger as the band’s guitar frontline, with Hamilton handling Garcia’s vocal roles. Eventually, Hamilton, too, found himself jamming onstage with the ever-evolving Phil Lesh and Friends. That, of course, further enmeshed him in the scene, and in 2015, he started a band with Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann calledBilly and the Kids.
Now, there’s a new kid on the block, literally. Bella Rayne recently turned 18 and grew up in Mendocino, California. Her parents were into the Dead, but even they were too young to have really followed the original band around the country. At her age, they were big into Phish. By the pandemic, Bella started embracing the guitar out of boredom, woodshedding while social distancing in quarantine. She explains, “Like any other teen, I was bored out of my mind looking for anything to do.” Rummaging through her garage, she came across her mom’s old Strat. “At the time, I was really into ’90s Seattle grunge. I put new strings on the Strat, and then I tried to teach myself Pearl Jam songs, and I learned how to play them by watching YouTube videos. Then, I started posting videos of my journey online as I became more serious about it. I hit a point where I knew it would be my thing. The next thing I knew, one of the Bay Area Dead bands [China Dolls] reached out to me and asked me to sit in. I thought, ‘no way.’“My parents are huge Deadheads,” she continues. “That’s theirthing. I grew up with the Dead being pushed on me my whole life. But I ended up going, and it’s just been this awesome spiral ever since.” Bella calls her current Dead-related project Bella Rayne and Friends, and she, too, has been recognized not only by the new generation of Garcia players in the Dead tribute bands, but also by Melvin Seals, the Hammond organist who played for years in theJerry Garcia Band. “I was hired to just sit-in for a couple of numbers withMelvin and his JGB band,” she recalls, “and we were having so much fun he said to me, ‘Why don’t you just sit in for the whole second set.’ It was an amazing night.”
Bella Rayne with her Alligator-inspired Strat, with a JGB Cats Under the Starssticker on the body.
Photo by Sean Reiter
Jerry Garcia played many different guitars. But for those guitarists wanting to emulate Garcia’s tone, the focus is on four instruments in particular. One is a1955 Fender Stratocaster known as “Alligator,” which Garcia had heavily modified and began playing in 1971. The other three guitars were hand built in Northern California by luthier Doug Irwin: Wolf, Tiger, and Rosebud. Garcia introduced them in 1973, 1979, and 1989, respectively. Sometimes, in a jam-band version of being knighted by the Excalibur sword, a chosen member of this next generation of Dead players is handed one of Garcia’s personal guitars to play onstage for a few songs or even an entire set.
Although they started their journeys at different times and in separate ways, Mattson, Hamilton, and Rayne all have “knighthood” in common. Rayne remembers, “In March of 2024, I was sitting in one night with anall-girl Dead tribute band called the China Dolls, and no one had told me that Jerry’s actual 1955 Strat, Alligator, was there that evening. My friend [roots musician] Alex Jordan handed me the guitar unannounced. It’s something I’ll never forget.”What’s it like to strap on one of Jerry Garcia’s iconic instruments? Tom Hamilton recalls, “It wasRed Rocks in 2017, and I played with Bob Weir, Melvin Seals, and JGB at a tribute show for Jerry’s 75th birthday. I got to play both Wolf and Tiger that night. I was in my head with it for about one song, but then you sort of have a job to do. But I do recall that we were playing the song ‘Deal.’ I have a [DigiTech] Whammy pedal that has a two-octave pitch raise on it, real high gain that gives me a lot of sustain, and it’s a trick I use that really peaks a jam. That night, while I am doing it, I had the thought of, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I am doing this trick of mine on Garcia’s guitar.’ Jerry would have thought what I was doing was the greatest thing in the world or the absolute worst, but either way, I’m cool with it!”
“I was sitting in one night with an all-girl Dead tribute band called the China Dolls, and no one had told me that Jerry’s actual 1955 Strat, Alligator, was there that evening. My friend [roots musician] Alex Jordan handed me the guitar unannounced. It’s something I’ll never forget.” —Bella Rayne
Jeff Mattson has played Alligator, Wolf, Garcia’s Travis Bean 500, and his Martin D-28. He sums it up this way: “I used to have posters up in my childhood bedroom of Garcia playing his Alligator guitar. I would stare at those images all the time. And sowhen I got a chance to play it and plug it in, suddenly there were those distinctive tones. Those guitars of his all have a certain mojo. It’s so great to play those guitars that you have to stop in the moment and remind yourself to take a mental picture, so it doesn’t just fly by. It’s just a tremendous pleasure and an honor. I never imagined I would get to play four of Jerry Garcia’s guitars.”
With young people like Bella Rayne dedicating herself at the tender age of 18 to keeping the Dead’s music going, it feels like what the band called their “long strange trip” will keep rolling down the tracks and far over the horizon. “People will be listening to the Grateful Dead in one hundred years the same way they will be listening to John Coltrane, too,” predicts McNally. “Improvisational music is like jumping off a cliff. Sometimes you fly, and sometimes you land on the rocks. When you take that risk, there’s an opportunity for magic to happen. And that will always appeal to a certain segment of people who don’t want predictability in the music they listen to. The Grateful Dead is for people who want complete craziness in their music—sometimes leading to disaster and oftentimes leading to something wonderful. It’s music for people who want to be surprised.”
Lloyd Baggs made his first acoustic guitar when he was a fine-art lithographer and soon found himself building instruments for Ry Cooder, Jackson Brown, Janis Ian, and other stars. Today he is an innovator in acoustic guitar pickup design.
If you have made your first few guitars but somehow they didn’t sound like pre-war D-28s, you may have a few questions about why and how to get closer. If you’re brave enough to continue and are committed to bridging the gap from just being able to assemble a guitar to knowing how to build great-sounding instruments predictably and consistently, you’ve just entered The Twilight Zone.
When I started building acoustics in the 1970s, there was no literature on how they work—let alone how to manipulate tone. Luckily, there was a wealth of information on this in violin-making literature. There were discussions about how mass and stiffness interact, top and back tuning, air resonances, standing waves, etc. Pioneers discovered that a top does not move in and out at once like a perfect speaker, but, as the frequencies get higher, it keeps dividing into smaller and smaller vibrating parts, like a bunch of mini speakers. Each of these mini speakers has a place where it’ll be the loudest, called a resonant frequency. (More recently, laser interferometry has been used to reveal or “freeze” body vibration patterns to see how the various resonances in the body behave and at what frequencies.)
Thinking that some science would be a shortcut to becoming a better builder, I crudely adapted some of the violin makers’ tests. My “laser” was a cheap guitar speaker, power amp, and frequency sweeper. Sprinkling some salt or pepper on the top or back of a guitar and playing a loud frequency sweep into the nearby speaker would excite the wood, and the salt would dance around until, at some frequency, it would congeal into a shape to reveal the vibrating patterns of its resonant frequency. It was like having X-ray glasses—to observe the resonances and see the effects of shaving braces, adding or subtracting some mass, thinning the top here or there. Once one could see under the hood, a luthier could then deliberately alter some part, move a brace, or make some other change to alter or move some resonance.
This 1937 Martin D-18 is an example of steel-string perfection for many acoustic guitar aficionados.
“From the loudspeaker standpoint, the guitar is a lousy speaker because not only does the top move, but the back, sides, and neck are moving with every note, too.”
The Glittering Present
Fortunately for aspiring luthiers today, we are living in a golden age. There is a wealth of information available about every aspect of building and more tools to study vibration in apps for our phones than what was available collectively back in the day. There are also a number of individuals who have more deeply studied the physics of the acoustic guitar and have made immense strides to quantify material characteristics and predict acoustic behavior. Bryan Galloup, Giuliano Nicoletti, Andy Powers, Richard Hoover, and Tom Bedell come to mind as builders who have embraced science to enhance predictable outcomes. Giuliano has published an excellent book called Mastering the Sound of the Acoustic Guitar. There are also a number of excellent lutherie schools that use and teach students the scientific methods.
So, on a deeper and eye-watering level, how does the acoustic guitar actually work? If you think of an acoustic guitar like a loudspeaker, the sides and the back are the box, and the top is the speaker. The strings, connected to the top via a saddle and a bridge, are the energy source. The best loudspeaker manufacturers go to extreme lengths to be sure the box is rigid, with minimal vibration, and that only the speaker cone moves. The guitar is a lousy speaker because not only does the top move, but the back, sides, and neck are moving with every note, too. Every piece has multiple resonances that interact with each other. The way these resonances interact is a big factor in how the guitar sounds.
Unlike a typical 3-way speaker, where each individual speaker acts as a perfect piston to cover a range of sound, a guitar top converts energy into sound at all frequencies and only behaves as a pure piston or “good speaker” in the lower frequencies. Above those low frequencies where the top moves in and out as one, called the primary resonance or piston mode, the vibration of the top is chaos orchestrated largely by the position, stiffness, size, and weight of the bracing plus the mass, stiffness, and curvature of the top. About an octave above the primary resonance, roughly half the top will actually be going up while half of the top will be going down simultaneously. Then, moving up still further in frequency, one third of the top may be going up and down while the other two thirds are moving down and up. As the frequencies get higher, smaller and smaller pieces of the top move simultaneously and sometimes in opposition to each other.
It would be helpful to think of the guitar top as a string where only the fundamental moves the entire string as one piece. After that, the string divides into higher and higher frequencies. In a guitar, the top divides into smaller and smaller “mini speakers” as the frequencies get higher. The big difference between a guitar top and a string vibration is that strings divide evenly into resonant modes or harmonics in halves, quarters, eighths, and so on, while the places where the guitar top divides into individual resonances are seemingly random. The places where these resonances occur are often where the string energy will be translated into the loudest acoustic output. Most of the resonances are active at the same time, influencing and interacting with each other and determining what of the strings’ energy pool will be heard. The most important concept to understand is that the available string energy is lost or absorbed by the structure in ways largely determined by the resonances. The way string energy is lost into the structure of the guitar and converted or traded for acoustic energy is largely responsible for why a particular guitar sounds like it does.
“Add to this the wide variations in strength, mass, and tonal characteristics of various woods and how the neck is attached (yes, even the neck has its own resonances), and the acoustic guitar is a crazy complex soup of interacting parts.”
Baggs built this eye-catching acoustic for Ry Cooder, a demanding expert on tone, in 1977. He built another for the artist two years later.`
With his book, Mastering the Sound of the Acoustic Guitar, Giuliano Nicoletti has created a manual for organic lutherie that applies scientific principles to building steel- and nylon-string acoustic guitars.
Aim Low?
For a great-sounding guitar, the first trick is to make the top flexible enough so that its primary resonance is low enough to absorb enough string energy at low frequencies for a rich, warm response, while not exploding under string pressure. And, while you’re at it, to deliberately tune the remaining resonances so they work together in some sort of harmony. If you think of the guitar’s resonances as notes in a chord, a major third will sound warmer and more pleasing than a minor seventh with an augmented ninth. The top bracing in conjunction with the top radius, thickness, mass, and stiffness will determine the frequencies and character of the multiple resonant modes. If you’ve ever heard of a luthier “tuning the top” or “tap tuning,” this is what’s going on here.
Add to this the wide variations in strength, mass, and tonal characteristics of various woods and how the neck is attached (yes, even the neck has its own resonances), and the acoustic guitar is a crazy complex soup of interacting parts. But then, with a little shave here, a slight readjustment of bracing position there, a change in the bridge height, reduction or addition of some mass, some adjustment of top thickness here or there, altering the doming radius of the top or back, and hundreds of other variables, the modes can be adjusted in frequencies so the major resonances will work together in greater harmony and the tone of the guitar will be pleasing. Sounds easy enough, right?
It’s common knowledge that a larger guitar will usually have better low frequencies, but what the heck is the air inside the box and soundhole doing? If you blow sideways across the soundhole, you’ll hear what’s called the pop-bottle or air resonance of the guitar. Air is springy, and as the top vibrates up and down, “plugs” of air are forced in and out of that hole at the air resonance frequency, which then reinforces the lower frequencies. The size of the hole can also influence where this resonance occurs. In practice, the air resonance of a typical guitar is about an octave lower than its top resonance.
L.R. Baggs’ popular Element pickup system is centered on an undersaddle transducer designed to follow the movement of a guitar’s top.
And just what does the back do? Besides enclosing the box and playing along with the top, a major structural purpose of the back is to hold the neck from collapsing into the top. Because of this function, backs tend to be stiffer than tops and resonate at higher frequencies. Of course, the back also has multiple resonances that interact with those of the top. How exactly is still a mystery to me, but for sure the back plays a big role in the sound of the guitar.
One question I hear a lot is, “How does the saddle affect tone?” In the whole scheme of things, not too much, really, but it is important. All materials act as a filter to pass certain frequencies and block others, so the material choice of the saddle will color a guitar’s tone. Bone has generally garnered the most affection as a saddle material as it seems to transmit harmonics well while not being screechy, providing a nice, full-balanced tone. Many have, with moderate success, attempted to duplicate its qualities in synthetic material.
How does all of this influence pickup design? Amplification is just that, and one hopes that what comes out of the speaker faithfully resembles the guitar, but only louder. Going back to the X-ray glasses, an intimate knowledge of how the guitar works has certainly been very helpful to recognize and capitalize on the unobvious modal stuff in the vibration of the instrument to create more faithful pickup systems.
Finally, I get a lot of questions about pickup choice. The best pickup largely depends on what sort of music you play, where you play, and how loud it is. For instance, a studio miked sound would not be appropriate for a loud heavy metal band as the guitar would be lost. What works on a loud electric-guitar-oriented stage would be an unfortunate choice for a singer-songwriter or a bluegrass musician. And while there are lots of great choices nowadays, there is still no such thing as a perfect pickup. Ultimately, you are always going to sound like you.
Taylor’s The Last of Us Replica 314c guitar is based on its best-selling 300 Series and features Taylor’s most popular body style, the Grand Auditorium. Crafted with Taylor’s hallmark playability, pro-level sound and refined workmanship, the guitar showcases a visual aesthetic that matches the guitar featured in the series.
For fans of the show, the guitar’s most recognizable design element is a custom moth inlay at the third fret. The guitar also features a Tobacco Sunburst top finish and grained ivoroid accents, along with a satin-finish body and neck, creating a vintage, well-worn aesthetic that fits seamlessly into the gritty post-pandemic world Joel and Ellie inhabit.
This acoustic-only model features a solid Sitka spruce top and solid sapele back and sides, delivering a clear, warm, balanced voice with appealing midrange presence — an ideal sonic tool for storytelling through song. Additional appointments include grained ivoroid body binding, grained ivoroid fretboard inlays that include the moth and large dot position markers, and a custom double-ring rosette also in grained ivoroid. The Grand Auditorium body features a Venetian cutaway for easy access to upper-register notes. Each guitar comes with a Taylor-built deluxe hardshell case to ensure safe transport, whether across the country or across the quarantine zone.
Built for the Journey Ahead
“The Last of Us is a story of resilience, connection and finding beauty amid harsh realities — themes that resonate with the emotional expression a Taylor guitar offers players,” says Tim O’Brien, Vice President of Marketing at Taylor Guitars. “We’re honored to collaborate with HBO and Sony Pictures Consumer Products to bring this iconic instrument to fans and players alike.”
Availability and Ordering
The Taylor x The Last of Us Replica guitar is available for purchase now via TaylorGuitars.comand select authorized Taylor dealers. Orders are built on demand in Taylor’s Southern California factory, with an expected delivery time of 6–10 weeks. Due to the nature of this release, quantities are limited.
Whether you’re a musician, collector or a devoted fan of the series, this guitar offers a one-of-a kind connection to the legacy of Joel, Ellie and the enduring spirit of survival.
