Effecting Music Since 1968.

In 1968, Mike Mathews founded Electro Harmonix in NYC, at a time when terms like ‘Guitar pedal,’ or ‘stomp box’ didn’t yet exist. There is nothing common (or dare I say ‘normal’) about EHX, or its cigar chomping founder. In this case, it’s a good thing.

In the mid to late 60’s Mike Mathews worked for IBM, but was still booking bands, and playing keyboards in clubs around NYC. Every Electric Guitarist was chasing the same kind of sound, without much success. They’d say “I want smooth, long sustain, without all that fuzz. Like Santana, or BB King or Clapton ‘ya know?” Mathews understood it wasn’t a compressor that guitarists wanted. They wanted the sustain a Fuzz provided, without the raunchy tone that made playing chords sound like a forest fire. In 1968, EHX delivered the big request in a small box. The LPB-1 (Linear Power Booster) isn’t much more than a transistor, 9-volt battery potentiometer & on/off switch, but it gets the job done. The little booster could kick a tube amps front end into a firestorm of grit, sustain and natural overdrive (without the muddy Fuzz box clipping). Electro Harmonix’s LPB-1 is arguably the very first device that qualifies to be called an ‘Overdrive’.

Followed by more classic pedals

Other classics followed right along- The Muff Fuzz, Big Muff PI, Bad Stone, (Phaser), Memory Man (Echo/Delay), Electric Mistress (Flanger/Filter Matrix), Clone Theory (Chorus), Dr. Q (Auto-Wah), Micro synth, and dozens more. In 1978, Mathews was awarded NYC’s small business award, but the fun didn’t last. In 1981, Union harassment led to frozen assets, forcing Matthews to close Electro Harmonix. The national labor board finally stepped in to halt the unlawful harassment a bit too late.The local garment union already silenced EHX. (That’s right- the GARMENT UNION).

Mathews got a new start in the former Soviet Union with his “New Sensor” company. He exported electronic components, and manufactured amps (like the infamous Mig 50), eventually leading to the purchase of Russia’s largest vacuum tube factory. High demand for no longer in production classic EHX pedals, led to the Russian Green box Big Muff and Bad Stone phaser).

New beginnings

Electro-Harmonix reopened its doors in the 90’s, where Matthews remains the backbone, and adventurous force behind the brand. Time proven classics are still available, but EHX is still driven by originality and vitality. New classics like the Holy Grail Reverb series, POG (polyphonic octave generators), 9-series keyboard simulators and a wide array of pedals with the same unique edge that always defined EHX, are once again made in NYC, USA, where it all began.