This photo was likely taken in the summer of '87. I know it was summer because it was a very sunny day. I don't remember why I took this picture. Maybe I had a roll of film I wanted to finish off. Looking back, I only wish that I had the foresight to bring out my guitars too.

According to my memory, the following pedals didn't make it to this photo shoot although they were in my possession at the time: LOCO EQ, Electro Harmonix Octave Multiplexer, and possibly the Electro Harmonix Doctor Q (which may have already been dead and buried). I still have the E-H Octave pedal, and curiously enough I bought it new and the shop put it in a Bad Stone (phase shifter) box.

As for the pedals themselves:

The Morley is currently being repaired. It was a good pedal until the volume effect vanished, soon to be followed by the on-off switch. Wah is a cool effect, but it's not one I use very much. Otherwise, I'd have a few more wahs by now.

Why did I buy this pedal? Like most of us guitar lovers, I like to go into music shops and test out a pedal or two. Luckily for me, there is a very large shop which has been located in downtown Toronto seemingly forever. The beauty of its size is that gear lovers can walk in and check out pedals and seldom be bothered by salesmen. And since the shop is so big, if one feels guilty for trying and not buying a pricey pedal, there's always a selection of magazines and picks to choose from. So on this fine day, I thought I'd try out a wah.

I don't even know why I chose the Morley. Maybe I liked the fact that it was two pedals for a decent price (under $100). So, I was wah-wahing away when I got a shock:

"What do you think?"

The vice was higher-pitched than normal. Uh oh.

This shop had hired a WOMAN salesperson. Quite a comely lass indeed, and the tight sweater was a nice touch.

What did I think? Luckily, I had the sense to keep my more salacious replies to myself. But it was hopeless. I will always be a sucker for a good-looking salesperson (uh, so long as it's a woman, that is).

The BOSS Heavy Metal pedal was a long time favorite of mine. Of course, now I have so many distortion/overdrive/fuzz pedals that it must fight for attention. The fact that it still works is testimonial to BOSS quality.

As for the BOSS Compressor/Sustainer, it never ranked high on my list of favorite pedals. In fact I bought it the same day I bought my Ibanez bass because I had read that compressors work well for recording bass. Every now and then I'll pull this pedal out and play around with it, but it's never really satisfied me.

Now that I see the Electric Mistress selling in vintage shops for around three times what I paid for it, do I dare play it very often? No way! It stays in its cardboard box (near mint, I might add), and only gets taken out on special occasions. I use a BOSS BF-2 Flanger instead.

Does anyone know anything about the Vantage effects line? Was there an effects line? The only time I saw this pedal at a shop was the day I saw it at that same downtown music shop back in 1985. It was being discontinued, so I got it for a great price (I think $85). Or so it seemed at the time - who knew I'd find a used BOSS DD-3 selling for $75 thirteen years later?. The Vantage was my workhorse pedal for home recordings as I added echo to everything. It came without manuals or packaging, so I had to figure it out for myself. A bit on the noisy side, but that would have been par for the course back then. It still works, and I finally saw a used one selling in a pawn shop for $149 a few weeks ago.