Maestro, a division of Norlin Industries (Gibson's parent company in the 1970), made a series of effects units that, according to the original literature, put Maestro "on the other side of the infinity." (More to come from the brochure.) These units are all rare and sought-after, but especially sought-after is the tube Echoplex, which ranks in guitar history as one of the all-time coolest effects devices.

"These were made during the golden era of stomp boxes," Oberheim's Tom Spaulding said. "In those days, pedal designs weren't so standardized. All kinds of weird shapes were being made. From a player's standpoint, the Stage Phaser offered foot control of "Speed", "Balls", and switch between two presets."

Spaulding, eager to fire them up, was pleased to find that even after 25 or more years, all the units worked perfectly, save dirty pot or two. More importantly, all offered the very warm tones that set off the vintage pedal craze of recent years.

"They sound great," Spaulding said. "That Fuzz Phaser is the perfect fuzz... smooth. It sounds just like the main riff on "Paperback Writer". Needless to say, the Echoplexes speak for themselves."

Walter Carter, Gibson staff historian, was able to dig up an old Maestro brochure. Granted, the pedals themselves offer sounds that range from subtle to "far out." But the guy who wrote the copy for this brochure maybe spent a little too much time watching "Shaft" episodes in search of groovy lingo. For your entertainment, here's a little snippet of that text...

"Maestro creates... Fantastic Sounds! Explosive Sounds! Unworldly Sounds!

"Maestro starts turning on where the others leave off. Its sounds are bold... weird... freaky... funky and endless. So endless that Maestro is on the other side of infinity looking back at the rest. He can take a note and bend it, distort it, and even turn it inside out.

"Maestro sound products are only for the bold... the very bold. They're designed and engineered for those who feel that the sounds of now are the sounds of yesterday. If you are daring enough to challenge today with the sounds of the future... go wild... go Maestro."