“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

“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.”

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.”