I learned how to play guitar in 1975 before any of us knew much about fx. Over the next few years I acquired what you see in the pictures, for ridiculously low prices used, averaging $25 each before we knew any of these would be collectible. No integrated pedal boards, a lot of 9v batteries, and as you can tell from their respective conditions, just strung out on the floor in front of a mic stand. The descriptions include links to articles about each pedal:
1) Ram's head Big Muff Pi version 2, the one on the right here:
The Big Muff History of All Versions Part 1
2) First Generation Thomas Organ Company Sepulveda California version of the Cry Baby pedal, the American version, but with the original TDK inductor:
1976 Thomas Organ Cry-Baby Wah Pedal
3) Small Stone phase shifter - I liked the deeper sweep and selectable sweep better than the MXR:
Feature – 1977 Electro-Harmonix Small Stone
4) Boss CE-2 chorus. Not the original. Not the most collectible, the second generation with the green back made in Japan, and I did get this one a little later. When I played a venue that was not the most secure, I would use this with the treble cranked on the amp to emulate and leave at home my Rickenbacker 12-string:
ElectroSmash - Boss CE-2 Analysis
No tuners, no compressors, no overdrive other than the amp, no other fx. For classic rock, these did it all with the possible exception of an Ibanez green tube screamer for leads. But then again, I had a Marshall 2203 with a 4X12, so I did all those fx on the amp itself. The 2203 finally died, so now I have a Marshall Origin, which does the same thing. One thing the Origin has is a "tilt" knob, which is a variable bright control. Hmpf! I took out the second jack of my 2203, installed a 50-kohm linear pot, and re-wired the hard-wired bright capacitor to have it variable, which is the same thing, but I did mine back in the early 90's! Footnote: before we carried around Leslies, on keyboards, Farfisa Combos of all models, Vox Continentals, and such, the phase shifter could be used as a Leslie substitute and the chorus pedal could be used as an organ celeste substitute, before there were such things as string machines, especially if you added a little reverb.
I usually mix-n-match pedals for recording only.
