Nearly every distortion you hear today is an adaptation of a classic vintage distortion pedal.

Below is a list of a few pedals that have withstood the test of time, and have grown to be some of the most popular distortion stomp boxes in history.

Arbiter Fuzz Face Pedal

The Fuzz Face was designed in London by Arbiter Music, and utilized two transistors, four resistors and three capacitors. The design created a dynamically distorted “fuzz” guitar tone that can be heard in many recordings of late 1960′s and early 70s.

This pedal was initially debuted in 1966, and was made famous by a guitarist by the name of Jimi Hendrix.

Guitarists originally had to tear, or poke holes in their amplifiers to achieve the type of fuzz tones the Fuzz Face could produce.

The fuzz tone has become a staple in many rock bands today like The White Stripes and The Black Keys.

Here is a 1970s Vintage Fuzz Face Pedal

Check out this Vintage 1971 Arbiter Fuzz Face Pedal

Buy Fuzz Face Pedals here: Dunlop Distortion Pedal store pages

Colorsound Overdriver

This distortion pedal debuted in 1972, and really left its mark on the sound of rock music at the time. Jeff Beck used this pedal to achieve his class guitar tones and nuances. This pedal can also create some great Fuzz tones that are reminiscent of the playing styles of Hendrix.

Check out some cool pics of this true vintage distortion pedal:

Here is a  Vintage Colorsound Overdriver Pedal available for sale.

Electro-Harmonix Big Muff

Although this pedal debuted in 1971, it can still be found on many stages today because of its impressive Fuzz tone, sustain and singing tube like sounds. It has truly withstood the test of time, and has become very popular among rock musicians looking for a heavy Fuzz tone from their guitars.

This pedal is currently in Jack White’s setup, and can be heard on many of their recent albums. It provides the thick, heavy guitar sound that defines the White Stripes.

Find the Big Muff for sale in our Electro-Harmonix Distortion Pedal Store.

Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer

This Overdrive pedal for the guitar was made famous in 1980 by by Eric Johnson. This is the definitive Overdrive pedal that many others simply cannot compete with. The Ibanez TS-808 delivers awesome warm sounding distortion that really helps to color your guitar’s sound nicely. It also has plenty of output power and adds a considerably strong upper-mid range boost.

There really is no better Overdrive pedal to use if you are looking to play classic rock, or blues.

Today, I am going to review the MI Audio Crunch Box distortion pedal.
This pedal is designed to deliver a high gain, vintage British sounding distortion. The tone it creates is similar to a cranked up Marshall Stack, and as soon as you play it you’ll be wondering how they fit so much Marshall Tone into such a small pedal. The pedal has a lot of gain to it, and even when played at a mid-level setting, it still delivers some incredible distortion sounds.

The controls on the Crunch Box allow you to dial in some outstanding tones. It’s gain control provides very pronounced harmonic overtones, and some seriously crunchy distortion tones. The tone control can be used to really dial in the perfect sound of your guitar by adjusting the high and low end levels. The MI Crunch Box also has a cool hidden feature, the Internal Presence control, which is used to “shape” the dynamics of the pedal’s tone.

I had the opportunity to play through this pedal with a Gibson Les Paul, and let me tell you, the humbucking pickups and the high gain characteristics of the Crunch Box are a match made in musical heaven. The pedal really does a proper job of accenting the natural tones of the Les Paul, while providing some screaming distortion at the same time.

This distortion pedal, like all MI Audio effects pedals, is hand made and comes with a 5 year warranty. Each pedal is built by hand, individually tested and designed to provide a huge output signal. The heavy-duty  aluminum enclosure on the MI Audio Crunch Box makes it able to withstand some serious use. This is one of the best effects pedals I have played over the years, and really give it my full recommendation.

This video showcases the kinds of awesome tones you can achieve with the MI Audio Crunch Box Distortion Pedal. The guitar being used in this demo is a Fender Stratocaster.

Click here to shop for MI Audio Crunch Box Distortion Pedals

This iconic red effects pedal is a legend among guitar players. It produces a tone that sounds like it came straight from the 60s. This is the Dunlop Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face Pedal, which is a remake of the fuzz pedal that Jimi Hendrix and other musicians used to achieve their legendary sounds. This Fuzz pedal closely follows the design of it’s forefathers that made their sounds so legendary. It is made to the original vintage specs, and has the same Germanium PNP transistor design contained in it. This Fuzz pedal rocks straight out of the box, and no extra mods are required to get real Jimi Hendrix-like tones.  Plug this into a Stratocaster, crank a Tube Amp and let the Purple Haze fill the room.

Overall Quality: This Fuzz pedal is definitely made to last. It has a steel case, and a very sturdy foot switch that could handle many years of abuse.  It also has a heavy duty rubber mat surrounding the foot switch to protect the pedal, and to give you traction if resting your foot on it.

Sound Quality: The sound quality of this Distortion/Fuzz Pedal is really amazing. If you are looking for a Hendrix, or Led Zeppelin type of vintage sound, then this is the pedal for you. It does take a little bit of manipulation between the volume level on your guitar, and the volume knob on the unit though to achieve the perfect tone.  I like to crank the volume on the pedal all the way up, and back off the level on my guitar to get the desired sound.

Overall, this is high quality Fuzz Pedal that delivers some awesome tones. It is simple to use, and produces great tones. It is perfect for any guitar player looking to achieve those class vintage tones made by the iconic rockers of he 60′s and 70′s. I highly recommend this Fuzz Pedal for the novice, to experienced professional.

The video below is a great demonstration of the Dunlop Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face Pedal

Buy the Fuzz Face here.