The dawn of the boutique pedal world dates back to a handful of designers and builders in the not–so–distant past. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, it was Jeorge Tripps’ Way Huge Electronics that stood alongside Jack Brossart of Prescription Electronics, Michael Fuller’s Fulltone, Zachary Vex’s ZVEX, Mike at Analogman, and a handful of others.
Of course, there were guitar techs and designers, like Pete Cornish, who were building one–off pedals well before that, too. But the guys above are the one who really scaled up, helping to birth a seemingly endless selection of stompboxes that we’re all still enjoying today.
In the early days of Way Huge, before Jeorge closed its doors to take a job at Line 6 developing the DL4 among other digital pedals, most of the pedals were very short production runs — sometimes a custom job for an artist and often just for Jeorge to play with himself.
All in, there are only 3,000 existing pedals from the company’s original run, including custom painted pedals before the chassis were replaced with colored anodized aluminum. Many of the models were never mass–produced and only exist in the single digits. There are only four original Supa–Puss pedals, for example.
After realizing that a new wave of guitarists were searching for and coveting his original creations, Jeorge partnered with Dunlop and restarted the Way Huge band. Today, as the Director of Product Development for MXR, Dunlop, and Crybaby, he can spend his time focusing on what he does best: designing sick pedals for Way Huge, MXR, and Dunlop.
Lucky for us pedal lovers, getting a reissue of some of his original circuits like the Aqua–Puss or Camel Toe won’t break the bank in the same way the vintage rarities do. Not to mention some of the great newer builds, like the Conquistador Fuzz and the Green Russian–Pickle.
But some of those circuits from Way Huge’s original run have never been reissued, so we invited Jeorge to the Reverb Studio demo some of the rarest of the rare. Dig into those sweet ‘90s tones, and be sure to vote on which Way Huge pedal you’d like to see reissued next.
Foot Pig
Jeorge played an original Fuzz Box for us that he built in February of 1992. He only made three of these “mildly tweaked silicone fuzz face” units — the first of which he gave to a friend who has been playing with it ever since, the third of which he owns, and the second of which is "floating around the ether."
Later, Jeorge iterated on the design, adding a tone control, and making it into the Foot Pig. Roughly 104 of these units exist today.
Pro Overdrive II
The Pro Overdrive II was made in 1994. It features a swirl paint job, which is how Way Huge pedals were finished before anodized aluminum replaced the need. The circuit is a modified Red Llama circuit — which, Jeorge says, is essentially a Craig Anderton tube sound fuzz that he tweaked.
Other than the two gain settings, Jeorge sincerely isn’t sure what other changes he made. This pedal was the Camel Toe’s predecessor, and Jeorge guess that only two — maybe four — of the units exist.
Piercing Moose
The Piercing Moose has gone through more color changes that most Way Huge Pedals. Like the Pro Overdrive II, the first bach of Piercing Moose pedals from 1994 or 1995 feature a light blue swirl paint job. Only 20 or so of these iterations exist.
Later, another batch of 20 were done in a violet anodized aluminum chassis. However, because of the light susceptibility of anodized aluminum, it began looking far less violet and far more like the Purple Platypus, so the colors were changed to black and yellow.
The Piercing Moose is a super cool octave–shifter fuzz. Interestingly enough, the older, light blue pedal from the ‘90s and the newer one sound just a tad different from each other, which Jeorge guesses is because of the different components used.
Sasquatch
Only 10 of these pedals were made between 1998 and 1999 using leftover Tone Leper circuit boards. If you’re one of the few lucky enough to own one, you’re part of a very exclusive club, the likes of which also includes John Mayer.
Tone Leper
Jeorge made about 50–55 of these Tone Lepers between 1993 and 1998. The pedal is a 800 hz mid boost that is a variation of an Anderton Frequency Boost. When plugged in, it sounds like a cocked wah.
Be sure to let us now in the comments which one is your favorite, and don’t forget to vote. Additionally, check out the Official Way Huge Reverb Shop to see the three custom Way Huge pedals for sale. All proceeds will go to support Milo’s Sanctuary in Burbank, California.
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