“There’s nothing that over-washes the natural sound of the guitar and amp – it’s more or less to embellish it”: Eric Gales shares his stompbox philosophy and reveals how Eric Johnson inspired his pedalboard

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The blues-rock great lets you in on the mini pedals, funky boxes and signature wah pedal that add the finishing touches to his tone

Eric Gales playing his Magneto signature S-style in the San Francisco sun
(Image credit: Steve Jennings/Getty Images)

“Using the pedalboard is an extension or a way of aiding me in some sounds I can’t naturally get with the guitar and amp. It’s nothing extreme – just a few things that give me a little more comfortability. There’s nothing really that over-washes the natural sound of the guitar and amp; it’s more or less to embellish it.

“I’m going through the Shure [Digital] Wireless, the floor-mounted kind. My tuner is built into that; I’m not sure of the model number [Shure GLXD16+], but it’s there. That goes into the Buddy Guy [Cry Baby BG95] wah – and Jimmy Dunlop personally dolled it up. I have a couple of other ones I have blinged out, like the 14-karat gold one, and I swap them out from time to time.

“That goes into the DigiTech Whammy, and that goes into the Mini Tube Screamer [TSMINI Overdrive]. But I swap that sometimes with the MXR Raw Dawg [EG74 Overdrive]; it all depends on what I’m using on a particular run. But generally, almost nine times out of 10, it’s the Raw Dawg or the Mini Tube Screamer. That goes into a PRS pedal I started using within the last couple of months [Horsemeat Transparent Overdrive pedal].”

“From there, it goes into the Colossus by Mojo Hand; that’s the purple pedal. It’s more of a fuzz, which strictly flows out and goes into an envelope filter [Mojo Hand Little Wonder FX]. That’s specific to maybe some funk stuff or used when necessary. Out of that goes my Tech 21 [Boost] DLA, and out of that is another delay [Koogo Digital Delay Echo], which I have set for reverse delay. 

“The Tech 21 DLA is on all the time – that’s my normal delay. The [Koogo] was only added to the pedalboard about a week ago [April 2024]. I like to dip and dive into some ambient reverse stuff, so that’s what it’s used for.”

Eric Gales' Pedalboard

(Image credit: Courtesy of Eric Gales)

If I had to choose only one pedal for a full show

“It would be the Tech 21 DLA; it’s always on. I like the trickling off in a quarter-note fashion of that, which might be due to my heavy influence from Eric Johnson throughout the years.”

Andrew Daly
Andrew Daly

Andrew Daly is an iced-coffee-addicted, oddball Telecaster-playing, alfredo pasta-loving journalist from Long Island, NY, who, in addition to being a contributing writer for Guitar World, scribes for Bass Player, Guitar Player, Guitarist, and Music Radar. Andrew has interviewed favorites like Ace Frehley, Johnny Marr, Vito Bratta, Bruce Kulick, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Morello, Rich Robinson, and Paul Stanley, while his all-time favorite (rhythm player), Keith Richards, continues to elude him.