John Mayer is celebrated for his soulful guitar playing and distinctive tone. A crucial part of his sound comes from his carefully curated collection of guitar pedals. While Mayer’s pedalboard has evolved over the years, certain categories and brands consistently appear, offering clues to achieving his sought-after sound. Let’s dive into the world of John Mayer’s guitar pedals, exploring the delays, reverbs, modulations, wahs, and other effects that shape his iconic music.
Delay Pedals: From Simple Echoes to Lush Soundscapes
Like many guitarists, Mayer utilizes delay pedals extensively to add depth, dimension, and rhythmic complexity to his playing. His collection ranges from straightforward analog delays to sophisticated, studio-grade units, showcasing his versatile approach to this effect.
For classic, warm delay tones, Mayer often turns to pedals inspired by vintage tape echoes. Two Way Huge pedals, the Aqua-Puss and Supa-Puss, have been staples on his boards. The Way Huge Aqua-Puss, a compact analog delay, delivers delay times from 20ms to 300ms, providing a rich, vintage-style warmth ideal for subtle thickening or pronounced slapback. Its simplicity – with just delay, feedback, and blend controls – makes it incredibly intuitive for dialing in classic delay sounds. The Way Huge Supa-Puss expands on the Aqua-Puss, offering extended control and features. While retaining the same analog warmth, the Supa-Puss adds tap tempo, note subdivision control, gain and tone shaping for the delay repeats, LFO modulation, and expression pedal input, providing far greater flexibility for crafting intricate delay textures. The Aqua-Puss is priced around $149.99, while the Supa-Puss comes in at approximately $249.99.
Another pedal in Mayer’s arsenal that captures the magic of tape echo is the Dunlop EP103 Echoplex. This pedal meticulously recreates the sound of the legendary Echoplex tape delay units, known for their warm, slightly compressed repeats and musical degradation over time. The EP103 excels at everything from subtle slapback to ambient washes of sound, and features a tap-tempo input for syncing delays to the music’s tempo, enhancing its versatility in live and studio settings. The Dunlop EP103 Echoplex is typically available for around $199.99.
Further exploring the tape echo realm, Mayer has also been seen using the BOSS RE-20 Space Echo and the T-Rex Engineering Replica Delay/Echo. The BOSS RE-20, while digital, convincingly emulates the Roland RE-201 Space Echo, a classic tape delay known for its swirling, atmospheric repeats and unique character. The T-Rex Replica, an analog-voiced digital delay, aims to capture the warmth and musicality of vintage tape delays in a compact pedal format. These pedals, alongside the Way Huge and Dunlop offerings, represent Mayer’s preference for delays that offer a vintage vibe and organic feel. The BOSS RE-20 Space Echo is typically priced around $259.99, and the T-Rex Engineering Replica Delay/Echo can be found for approximately $369.
When Mayer requires more advanced delay capabilities, he often reaches for pedals with features like preset saving, stereo operation, and modulation options. The Line 6 DL4 is a modern classic in this category, offering a wide array of digital delay models, including emulations of tape, analog, and reverse delays, as well as a built-in looper. Its versatility and affordability have made it a popular choice for countless guitarists, including Mayer. The Line 6 DL4 is usually priced around $299.99.
The Eventide TimeFactor Twin Delay takes delay complexity a step further. This pedal boasts nine delay algorithms, including digital, analog, tape, and modulated delays, and uniquely allows for running two different delays simultaneously, opening up possibilities for complex, layered textures reminiscent of artists like U2’s The Edge. With 100 preset slots and studio-grade sound quality, the TimeFactor is a powerful tool for crafting intricate delay-based sounds. The Eventide TimeFactor Twin Delay is available for around $399.
At the high-end of Mayer’s delay choices is the Strymon Timeline. This pedal is considered by many to be among the finest delay pedals available, offering twelve distinct delay machines, a 30-second looper, and 200 preset locations. Powered by a SHARC DSP chip, the same processor found in high-end studio audio interfaces, the Timeline delivers exceptional sound quality and processing power, resulting in pristine and nuanced delay tones. Its comprehensive features and studio-grade sound make it a top choice for discerning guitarists seeking the ultimate in delay flexibility and quality. The Strymon Timeline retails for approximately $449.
Reverb Pedals: From Spring Tanks to Versatile Ambience
While Mayer often favors the spring reverb built into Fender amplifiers and standalone spring reverb units like the Fender 1963 tube reverb tank, he also utilizes reverb pedals when needed for portability or specific sonic textures.
His go-to reverb pedal is the Strymon Flint Tremolo and Reverb. This pedal combines high-quality spring, plate, and hall reverb algorithms with three classic tremolo types, all modeled after vintage amp circuits. The Flint excels at recreating the warm, splashy character of spring reverb, along with the smooth decay of plate reverb and the expansive ambience of hall reverb. Its combination of reverb and tremolo in a single, top-quality pedal makes it a valuable asset for achieving vintage-inspired tones. Like other Strymon pedals, the Flint is priced at around $299.
Modulation Pedals: Adding Movement and Texture
Modulation pedals are key to John Mayer’s expressive and dynamic guitar sound. He employs a range of modulation effects to add subtle movement, swirling textures, and dramatic sweeps to his playing.
Among his modulation choices are classic phasers from MXR: the Phase 90, EVH 90, and Phase 100. The MXR Phase 90 is a legendary phaser pedal, known for its simplicity and smooth, swirling effect. With a single knob controlling the speed of the phase shift, the Phase 90 is incredibly easy to use while delivering a classic phaser sound heard on countless recordings. The MXR EVH 90 is Eddie Van Halen’s signature version of the Phase 90, adding a “Script” switch that toggles between a vintage, warmer phaser tone and a more modern, pronounced phasing effect. The MXR Phase 100 expands on the Phase 90 with a “Stages” knob, offering four different phaser waveforms, providing increased versatility and sonic options. The Phase 90 is available for around $80, the Phase 100 for $119.99, and the EVH 90 for approximately $130.
For more unconventional modulation, Mayer has utilized the Roger Linn Design AdrenaLinn III. This unique pedal is a beat-synced effects processor, drum machine, and amp modeler in one. Its beat-synced effects allow for rhythmic modulation patterns that lock in with the tempo of the music, creating unique and complex textures. The AdrenaLinn III was famously used to create the swelling chord intro in Mayer’s song “I Don’t Trust Myself,” demonstrating its ability to generate distinctive and inspiring sounds. The Roger Linn Design AdrenaLinn III can be found for around $399.
For a comprehensive modulation solution, Mayer often employs the Strymon Mobius Modulator. This pedal offers twelve different modulation machines, including chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo, vibe, rotary, and more, all with Strymon’s renowned sound quality and deep editing capabilities. With 200 presets, expression pedal input, and MIDI control, the Mobius is a powerhouse for modulation effects, capable of covering a vast sonic territory. The Strymon Mobius Modulator is priced at approximately $449.
Wah Pedals: Expressive Dynamics
Wah pedals are essential for expressive guitar playing, adding vocal-like swells and dynamic filtering to the signal. Mayer, like many blues and rock guitarists, utilizes wah pedals to enhance his solos and add emotional depth to his playing.
One of Mayer’s frequently used wah pedals is the Real McCoy Custom RMC8 Guitar Eqwahlyzer. This wah pedal features a true-bypass design and an integrated equalizer circuit, allowing for precise shaping of the wah’s frequency response. The EQ section enables fine-tuning the wah sound to match different guitars and amplifiers, and a switch under the rocker allows for changing the sweep contour, further enhancing its versatility. The Real McCoy Custom RMC8 is a premium wah pedal, typically priced around $269.
More recently, Mayer has been seen using the MXR MC404 CAE Wah. This pedal, co-designed by Custom Audio Electronics (CAE), features two distinct wah voices and a boost function. The dual voices offer different tonal characters, and the switchable boost function, activated by a side-mounted kickswitch, allows for adding extra volume and gain for solos. Internal controls for adjusting the Q-width of the wah effect provide further tonal customization. The MXR MC404 CAE Wah is available for around $170.
Other Notable Pedals
Beyond delays, reverbs, modulations, and wahs, Mayer incorporates other unique pedals to further expand his sonic palette.
The Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron Plus is an envelope filter, often mistakenly called an auto-wah. Envelope filters respond dynamically to the player’s picking dynamics, creating funky, vowel-like sweeps. Mayer also utilizes other Electro-Harmonix pedals, including the MicroSynth XO and POG Polyphonic Octave Generator. The Electro-Harmonix MicroSynth XO produces thick, vintage synthesizer-like tones, while the Electro-Harmonix POG adds octave-up and octave-down harmonies, capable of creating organ-like sounds, as heard in Mayer’s song “In Repair.” Other octave pedals Mayer has used include the Tycobrahe Octavia and BOSS OC-2 Octave, each offering distinct octave-up and octave-down effects.
For precise tonal shaping, Mayer often employs the MXR M-108 Ten Band Graphic Equalizer. This pedal provides ten bands of equalization, allowing for detailed adjustments to the guitar’s frequency response. The EQ pedal can be used to boost specific frequencies for solos, scoop mids for a different rhythm tone, or generally fine-tune the guitar’s sound in various musical contexts.
Finally, the Neunaber Slate V2 is a programmable stereo pedal that offers incredible flexibility. This pedal can be loaded with different algorithms to function as a reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, or tremolo, making it a versatile multi-effects solution in a compact format. By connecting the Slate V2 to a computer, users can program it with various Neunaber effects, tailoring it to specific sonic needs.
By exploring this diverse collection of John Mayer’s guitar pedals, you can gain a deeper understanding of the tools he uses to craft his signature sound and potentially discover new sonic avenues for your own playing.
