Hendrix was a showman nonpareil. No other artist of his generation exhibited such a unique sense of style, showmanship, and pure musical genius. It is often said that there are two sides to The Jimi Hendrix Experience. One, which pitted Hendrix in the studio alongside long-time studio engineer, Eddie Kramer, where together, they would harness blazing new music and amazing soundscapes blending fuzz, feedback, and instrumental textures that would ultimately create an entirely new and undefined sound. On the other side, there was Hendrix live on stage where he brought his blistering sound, intense presence, and sheer talent to live audiences the world over. The stage was a musical outlet for him to explore the newly discovered sounds he had crafted at home or in the studio in a much larger setting.

The results of Hendrix's hard work can be seen time and time again on a myriad of studio and live releases-from the the infectious guitar rhythms on the opening lines of "Purple Haze," the intense reverberations from "Voodoo Child (Slight Return), or the flighty, wah-inspired harpsichord blends from "The Burning Of The Midnight Lamp."

It is on these and countless other recordings that we hear more than just Jimi Hendrix singing or plucking the strings on his guitar. Hendrix, like many of his Sixties counterparts explored this sea of musical textures through the use of various special effects components - or "effects pedals." However, in using these effects, Hendrix didn't become a slave to technology, as is so woefully apparent to most of today's modern axe-slingers, but he helped create and harness the many of the sounds that resulted from this gear. Just as it is popular today to trade licks with fellow guitarists, Hendrix to traded licks with his fellow players, but it was Hendrix in many cases, that 'first' created many of these new sounds - some of which have yet to be recreated in the thirty years since his passing.

Hendrix used a staggering array of new effects pedals, many of which were custom designed specifically for him to test out and ultimately push them to their limits. Despite the growing availability of various effects, Hendrix often returned to a small collection of pedals for the majority of his work. For this article, we will take a closer look at the more frequently used pieces of equipment such as the Uni-Vibe, Fuzz-Face, Wah-Wah, and others. This is by no means an exhaustive look at Hendrix gig-bag, but should provide enough information about the core components so that you can experiment with your own equipment as little bit more.

DALLAS-ARBITER FUZZ FACE

Hendrix used this popular effects pedal extensively during live performances throughout his career. The units most often used by Hendrix was the newer Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face that was created as a result of a merging of the Arbiter Company of London and The Dallas Musical Instruments company. Originally created by Ivor Arbiter in the early 1960s, the Fuzz Face effects unit employed Germanium PNP transistors and a unique circular shape that Arbiter equated to the base design of traditional microphone stands.

Sound-wise, Hendrix's unique feedback patterns simply garnered from his Marshall and Sunn amps on stage was often more carefully mimicked in the studio with the use of this pedal.

The popularity of reissue effects pedals in recent years spurned Jim Dunlop to revive the original Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face using the exact specifications of the original units. The new Fuzz Face (JD-F2) classic distortion pedals are adorned in their classic red style are available at a list price of $153 with street prices nearing the $100 mark.

JAX VIBRA CHORUS

Little is known about the Jax Vibra Chorus unit but its sound can be clearly heard on Hendrix's live recordings from the August '69 Woodstock festival. These massive "encyclopedia-sized" units created a unique tone by blending sounds more often compared with the Uni-Vibe and Tremolo. The large metallic chasis includes numerous controls including vibrato, volume, and intensity sliders. The input controls allow for an attachable stompbox, which if can be found, would be a great addition for any user.

While long since out of production, and availability of original production information scarce at best, these can be difficult units to obtain. However, in preparing this article we found a couple available on the Internet for an average price of $160.

MAESTRO FUZZ-TONE

The Maestro Fuzz-Tone was one of the first mass-produced effects pedals made. The simple wedge-shaped box included knobs for volume and attack, plus an input jack, output jack, and a foot pedal. Produced by Gibson and marketed under the Maestro brand, these pedals first hit the market in 1962 with little fan fare. It wasn't until 1965 when The Rolling Stones hit "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" hit the streets did sales for the Maestro Fuzz-Tone take off. While Hendrix more often played Fuzz effects produced by Roger Mayer and Dallas-Arbiter, it is known that Hendrix performed with these pedals as early as 1966 during a stint as a backing guitarist for Curtis Knight.

Gibson has recently reintroduced the original Maestro Fuzz-Tone back into the marketplace. The limited edition FZ-1A (Reissue) lists at $299 but its street price reflects are far more affordable $127 price tag.

MOSRITE FUZZRITE

The simple design of the original Mosrite Fuzzrite is reminiscent of the Maestro Fuzz-Tone pedal with its volume and attack knobs and single stomp-block. These units were originally produced in California and debuted on the market in 1968 with a sound, strangely similar to the Fuzz Face by Dallas-Arbiter.

Long deposed, the Mosrite name has recently come back to life in two phases. Mosrite Of California has been born with a series of reproduction components and guitars including a special series inspired by The Ventures. In the stompbox field, Eddie Sanner, the original engineer who crafted the Mosrite Fuzzrite back in '68, reissued the Fuzzrite under the Sanner name back in 1999. The reproduction unit uses the identical circuitry as the original and employs a number of identical classic parts thanks to a longstanding inventory of original components held by Sanner. Sanner's new, strictly limited edition, units were issued in production runs of 100 pieces each at a list price of $165.

ROGER MAYER FUZZ

Hendrix's personal guitar effects guru, Roger Mayer, produced a series of custom effects pedals for Hendrix throughout his career and even toured with him in mid-1968 as Hendrix broke in some of his new gear. The simple design of the original Fuzz pedal gave rise to incredible variations in tone quality from unit to unit as the pedal was mass produced in later years. In addition to a failure rate of roughly 20:1, the original units also were plagued by radio interference thanks to the NPN silicon transistors used, much like in its counterpart, the Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face.

Mayer reintroduced this Fuzz pedal to the market in the early 1990s under the Classic Fuzz name at a list price of $220 (street price is roughly $160). The new Classic Fuzz fixes all of the problems that plagues the original unit, replaced the NPN silicon transistors with the more stable PNP type, and makes the units far more consistent from pedal to pedal. The new units much closer resemble the quality of the units that Mayer himself created for Hendrix in the late 1960s.

ROGER MAYER 'AXIS' FUZZ

Roger Mayer often picked apart various effects boxes that intrigued Hendrix so that he could learn more about the sounds that Hendrix grew fond of. The result of much of Mayer's hard work was the popular Axis Fuzz, which Jimi used extensively (but not limited to), during recording sessions at Olympic Studios in 1967. Much of the music that resulted from these sessions was included on The Experience's sophomore masterpiece, Axis: Bold As Love, hence the moniker given to the unit. Live recordings featuring the Axis Fuzz can be heard on the albums Band Of Gypsys and Live At The Fillmore East.

The Axis Fuzz units combine both PNP and low-noise NPN type silicon resistors, which as a combined unit are not plagued by radio interference as was the original Fuzz unit described earlier. As Mayer describes, "these special units create a 'biting', yet full rich range of sound that are great for solo work, yet very usable on chords as well as riffs."

Spurred by the popularity of the original units, Mayer has redeveloped the original Axis Fuzz and reissued it through his company Roger Mayer Analogue Effects Company at a list price of $220 (street price of $160).

ROGER MAYER OCTAVIA

In early 1967, Roger Mayer created a special "frequency doubler" for Hendrix that pushes the octave up a notch. The resulting component the was used on numerous studio recordings including the hits "Purple Haze," "Fire," "Little Wing," and "Machine Gun" to name just a few.

The circuitry inside the Octavia is analog in design and includes properties of a frequency doubler, an envelope generator, and an amplitude modulator with additional frequency shaping filtering circuits. Hendrix often combined the Octavia alongside a Wah-Wah and Fuzz unit to get a blended effect.

After many years of absence on the market, Roger Mayer returned the Octavia to the market and based it on one of the last units he designed for Hendrix in 1970. These touch sensitive units are once again available from Roger Mayer at a list price of $220 but can be found for on the street for closer to $180.

ROTOVIBE

The Rotovibe foot pedal is an electronic rotating speaker simulator that recreates various background sounds with the guitar. Used only on occasion, the Rotovibe was strikingly similar to the resulting sounds of the Univox Uni-Vibe but included a standard phase shifter with a speed pedal for easier accessibility.

Jim Dunlop has reissued the Rotovibe (JD-4S) unit that is largely based on the original design but now features a completely redesigned, and quieter, switching system. The new Rotovibe pedals are available at a suggested list of $230 (street price closer to $150).

UNIVOX UNI-DRIVE

Univox was formed in the early 1960s when Unicord purchased the Amplifier Corporation Of America (ACA) and began issuing a series of tube-based amps under the Univox brand name. In '67, Unicord was purchased by the Gulf + Western Company and the Unicord unit was merged with Merson, resulting in the new name of Merson Music Products, which the Univox name became synonymous through till 1975 when they split.

During the late 1960s, the Univox brand was responsible for a number of advancements in the effects arena most notably with their Uni-Vibe effects pedal which debuted in the late 1960s.

The Uni-Drive until was spurred by developments on the Uni-Vibe lineup and in 1970, Univox gave Hendrix one of the new units to test out. Little is known about Jimi's use of this component, but as it was released shortly before Hendrix's September 1970 death, little progress was likely made with it.

UNIVOX UNI-VIBE

Univox's trademarked design, the Univox Uni-Vibe is perhaps the one effects pedal most often associated with Hendrix after it came onto the market in early 1969. The Uni-Vibe effects unit was originally designed to electronically mimic the sound of a Leslie rotating organ speaker (a sound associated with the Hammond B-3 organ) but was found to work well with guitars. [Ed., Hendrix also utilized the effects from an actual Leslie speaker. The resulting sounds can be heard on "Little Wing" from the Axis: Bold As Love album.]

The Uni-Vibe stompbox was structured in two pieces including a foot pedal that was used to harness the effects pulled from the main unit. The conceptual structure of the Uni-Vibe was similar to that of a wah-wah pedal. Hendrix's use of the Uni-Vibe can be traced to the summer of '69, shortly after its initial release, where he used it extensively on stage at Woodstock and for most live performances thereafter. The distinctive Uni-Vibe sounds can be heard on recordings such as the live recording of "Machine Gun" and the studio version of "Earth Blues," among numerous others.

The original Uni-Vibe unit has been often imitated over the years and is now closely associated with Jim Dunlop who has a series of Uni-Vibe inspired products including the standard Uni-Vibe (UV-1FC) foot control unit at a list of $112 and the companion unit, Uni-Vibe Rotating Speaker Effect (UV-1) at a list price of $345.

VOX WAH-WAH

The original Vox Wah-Wah pedal was originally produced by Jennings Musical Industries of England in the 1960s. Created by sheer luck, while a Vox engineer was trying to create a special foot-pedal to help control their Super Beatle series of amplifiers. The resulting Vox Wah-Wah pedal became one of the industries most used effects components. As was often the case, Hendrix's effects supervisor, Roger Mayer often tweaked the original units to optimize the filters and the interface between the Wah-Wah and his own Fuzz pedals.

Today, the Vox Wah-Wah is still available as the unit V847 at a list price of $175, (street price closer to $100) using the same basic design and internal structure as seen on the original units debuting in 1966.

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