Kyle Park/Josh Grider Band/Zane Williams Band/Micky & The Motorcars
Indigenous Donkey, Fat Penguin, Black Lung, Rootless Tree, Chelsea Nights, Miss Turpentine, Street Fighting Hamster, & Farrow Moans (custom)
"My mind never stops working. I can't sleep at night- I rarely have a moment's peace in my own head. The smallest things merit intense scrutiny. When it comes to my tone- the medium through which I express myself and make a living- I fuss over it day after day. I evaluate it every night on stage. What I've learned is that I don't care who makes it or what it looks like, if it sounds amazing, that's what I want to use. My pedal board now consists almost exclusively of Old School FX pedals."
Adam Odor
Grammy Award Winning Engineer/Producer/Saints Analogue
Invisible Robot, Chelsea Nights, Black Lung, Rootless Tree, Miss Turpentine & Street Fighting Hamster
"Using and abusing. That's what I do. I might be sitting behind a console for 16 hours or I might be airborn off a drum riser across the stage, it doesn't matter. I use and abuse. And the equipment I use and abuse needs to serve 3 functions:
1. Sound incredible
2. Built to last
3. SOUND INCREDIBLE
The Departed guys one day showed me these new pedals made in Texas. I grabbed a few they had and started playing. Next thing I know I'm a caveman clubbing my prey with bass tone out of my Street Fighting Hamster, getting rediculously smooth velvet bedding out of Miss Turpentine, getting way too intimate with my Chelsea Nights, and changing every vocal tone you've heard on my albums with the Invisible Robot.
There's not even a choice to make. Grab some Old School FX. It's time to step up your tone"
Jackson Parten Catastrophe/Court Nance Accident/Sam Sliva & The Good
Indigenous Donkey, Fat Penguin, Invisible Robot, Rootless Tree, Chelsea Nights & Miss Turpentine
"If tone is a journey, then I have seen the light at the end of the tunnel. The first time I heard an Old School FX pedal my ears took note. The first time I played through one, I was hooked. I had chased ever rabbit down every hole and at the end of the day, I was left wanting. Old School FX really creates the tone my ears want to hear and allows me to connect to my rig as if it is an extension of my creative self. I liken it to tonal Nirvana. Now go play one!"
Javi GarciaJavi Garcia & The Cold Cold Ground
Beelzbub Boost (custom), Fuzz Face (custom), & Chelsea Nights
"If you wanna build something strong, you’ve got to have the right tools for the job. Even if your intentions are to tear something apart; the phrase still holds true. For me creating a song and parenting it through out the course of my life involves these extremes. I use Sam’s effects as tools to do things my amps, guitars, harmonicas, and hands can’t do alone. And quite frankly, Sam’s effects help me get the job done.
"In today’s market, industrialism has buried the quality of everything from dope to vegetables. And it has bled over to tone. Cheaply made amps and effects are rushed through the assembly line as fast as possible to increase profit. Sometimes never even touching human hands till they are packaged. Making a well-made product out weighs the cost of making money. And the majority of musicians gobble that shit up. I needed more and found it with Sam’s effects. I prefer someone obsessively tweaking, soldering, stressing, listening, losing sleep, building, tearing apart and rebuilding, until it’s right. Sam does just that. And the results for his labor are simply amazing. I currently use a custom boost, 2 custom fuzz pedals, and a custom tremolo. I’ve bled, sweat, stomped, recorded, and kicked them. They don’t stop. They enhance your tone, rather than drowning it. They’re consistent. They’re built to work. They’re built to adapt. And they’re built to last. What more can I say?
"In short, if you don’t give a shit about your tone, these pedals are not for you."
Dustin Schaefer Micky & the Motorcars
Indigenous Doney, Rootless Tree, & Honey Badger (custom)
"I would classify myself as a difficult client. Not only do I bounce around on stage and stomp the crap out of my pedals, I also except nothing less than great tone on a nightly basis. Unfortunately for the starving artist, this type of gear comes with top of the line price tags, and hit and miss customer service. Old School FX is the exception to this rule.
Sam gets it, he is a guitar player. He understands what touring guitar players need-Great Tone, consistent reliability, reasonable prices and customer service on a personal level. I have played through many, many different makes and models of pedals searching for the right sound for my own taste. The "Indigenous Donkey" offers just the right amount of transparent boost without muddying up the low-end . The "Rootless Tree" is a silky smooth low-gain OD with great body and clarity. Sam even worked with me to develop the "Honey Badger," which is an amazing sounding overdrive pedal based on a very specific sound I was after. Every pedal I have tried from Old School is built rock solid and has sounded just as good or better than its more expensive competitor.
Sam cuts his costs by hand building each pedal and eliminating overhead, not by using second-rate components like so many manufacturers these days (pedals, amps and guitars alike!). Do yourself a favor and try some of his stuff. I did, and I will be an Old School user for the rest of my guitar playing career."
Acoustic - Drew Kennedy
Chelsea Nights
"Sam cares about one thing, first and foremost-- tone. Sure, that's what you'd expect, right? He owns and operates one of the finest boutique instrument effects companies in the United States. Trust me-- it sounds stupid to say, but a lot of guys out there are constantly working to make their products cheaper to manufacture, or to make them look like something straight out of stock car racing. Sam works hard-- incredibly hard-- but with Sam, tone is all that matters. TONE. It occupies his thoughts, and probably his dreams, too (though I'm not qualified to take the statement that far with definitive confidence). When you plug into one of his Old School FX pedals you know you're going to get the best sound you can possibly get, and that's why I trust Sam, and Sam alone when it comes to my gear."
Josh Grider Josh Grider Band
Fat Penguin, Rootless Tree, & Miss Turpentine
"Simply put, I went from bad tone to great tone. I had used cheap, stock pedals until Kris Farrow and Drew Kennedy turned me on to Old School FX. I have a Rootless Tree, a Fat Penguin, and a Miss Turpentine. I've only really been gigging on electric guitar for a few years so I'm still in the early stages of my tone quest, but those three pedals really stepped my game up in a big way. Thanks Sam!"
Little Brave Little Brave
Miss Turpentine & Black Lung
"Old School FX is my go-to when it comes to pedals, even for keyboards. If I want any kind of effects pedal, I will always seek out an Old School FX pedal."
Matt Noveskey Bass - Blue October/Orb Studios (Austin, TX)
Invisible Robot, Fat Penguin, & Street Fighting Hamster
Blue October
Invisible Robot
Blue October
Invisible Robot & Chelsea Nights
Test Tube Audio Studio (Austin, TX)
Fat Penguin, Miss Turpentine, & Street Fighting Hamster
Mike McClure Band/Boohatch Studio
Indigenous Donkey, Fat Penguin, & Chelsea Nights
Bass - Harvest Thieves/Guns of Navarone
Fat Penguin
Harvest Thieves/Ben Morris & The GABC/Tyler Cannon
Black Lung & Miss Turpentine
All Out'a Whiskey
Indigenous Donkey, Fat Penguin, Rootless Tree, Black Lung, Chelsea Nights, Miss Turpentine, First Call, & Black Matrix (custom)
Black Bone Child
Indigenous Donkey & Street Fighting Hamster
Kevin Webb/Stoney LaRue & The Arsenals
Black Lung, Miss Turpentine, Invisible Robot, & Street Fighting Hamster
Micky & The Motorcars
Indigenous Donkey
Legal Limit Band
First Call, Rootless Tree, Black Lung, Chelsea Nights, & Miss Turpentine
Legal Limit Band
Indigenous Donkey, Fat Penguin, Rootless Tree, Black Lung, Chelsea Nights, & Miss Turpentine
Melissa Brooke/Ben Schane/Aaron Einhouse
Indigenous Donkey, Fat Penguin, Rootless Tree, Black Lung, Chelsea Nights, Miss Turpentine & Soul One (custom)
Bass - Courrier
Fat Penguin
Bass - Suite 709
Fat Penguin & Rootless Tree
Sam Sliva & The Good
Black Lung & Chelsea Nights
Ben Morris & The Great American Boxcar Chorus
Chelsea Nights
Allan Goodman/Adam Hood/The Blooms
Fat Penguin & Indigenous Donkey
Acoustic - Tyler Cannon
Chelsea Nights
Bass - Chris Allbright Band/Stoney LaRue & The Arsenals
Indigenous Donkey
Bass - Cody Canada & The Departed/Cross Canadian Ragweed
Street Fighting Hamster
Bass - Josh Grider
Indigenous Donkey & Miss Turpentine
Midnight River Choir
Indigenous Donkey, Fat Penguin, Rootless Tree,
& Miss Turpentine
Bass - Jarrod Birmingham
Rootless Tree
Atteberry Station
Indigenous Donkey, Fat Penguin, Black Lung, Chelsea Nights, & Miss Turpentine
Atteberry Station
Indigenous Donkey, Black Lung, & Rootless Tree
Scooter Brown Band/Justin Fulcher & The Burdens
Fat Penguin, Rootless Tree, Black Lung, & Chelsea Nights
AMC Nashville Recording Artist Holloway
Fat Penguin & Black Lung
O'Conqueror/The New Mars
Rootless Tree, Invisible Robot, Discomfort Inn & Miss Turpentine
Brae
Chelsea Nights
Chris Allbright Band
Indigenous Donkey & Miss Turpentine
Adan Davila/Jeremy Halliburton/Los Garza Brothers
Indigenous Donkey & Fat Penguin
Matthew Harper
Sammy Fox & The Intervention
Fat Penguin, Indigenous Donkey, & Soul One
Dolly Shine
Indigenous Donkey, Fat Penguin, & Miss Turpentine
Steve Helms Band
Indigenous Donkey
Sam Williams & Fallen Oak
Fat Penguin
Cross Canadian Ragweed
Indigenous Donkey
Old School FX Dealers:
B&J's Guitars & Amps - (906) 367-1593
Amarillo, Texas
New & Vintage Guitar & Amps
Eclipse Music - (651) 541-8878
West Saint Paul, Minnesota
Family Owned and Operated Music Store
Warren, Michigan
Custom Cables