Distortion pedalboard owned by Vernon Reid: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

An assortment of electric guitar distortion pedals fastened to a plastic covered plywood board owned by Vernon Reid. The board has a RAT brand pedal, a MRX brand pedal, an Elctro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man pedal and two unidentified foot pedals. The RAT pedal is a black rectangle with three knobs and a switch at top. The knobs are labeled with white printed text as “Distortion,” “Filter,” and “Volume.” White printed text at the center of the pedal reads “RAT.” A small, round, metal foot pedal is located below the text. The MRX pedal is yellow with black knobs and text. The knobs are labeled “Output” and “Distortion.” The Elctro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man pedal is a silver rectangle with five knobs, one LED and one footswitch. The knobs are labeled with red printed text as “Level”, “Blend”, Feedback”, “Delay”, and “Chorus-Vibrato.” A foot pedal is on each side of the board.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 2002
• Manufactured by: Unidentified
• Manufactured by: RAT Distortion, American, founded 1978
• Manufactured by: Electro-Harmonix, American, founded 1968
• Manufactured by: MXR, American, founded 1972
• Owned by: Vernon Reid, American, born 1958
• Subject of: Living Colour, American, founded 1984
• Type: equipment for music
• Medium: plywood, plastic, adhesive, metal and plastic
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 24 × 18 × 3 in. (61 × 45.7 × 7.6 cm)
• Place made: Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, North and Central America
• Place made: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Place made: Rochester, Monroe County, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Instrumentalists (Musicians)
• Topic: Rock and roll (Music)
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2021.92.3
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Donated by Vernon Reid
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: No known copyright restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.