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Well, it's been a long and sometimes strange journey, but here we are. My dream to build guitar pedals is becoming a reality, and this blog being read is proof of that!
Let me go back a bit.
I took up the bass in 1993 because I loved the idea of making music, I dreamed of being a rock star, and because I hated trying to learn chords - so a 4-string single-not-at-a-time instrument was the perfect choice. I was also inspired by the music I was listening to at the time - Soundgarden, Suicidal Tendencies, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and others.
Not long after starting to play, I picked up a six-string and figured my way around chords. I needed an amp though, and was able to get one, along with a few other goodies from a friend's cousin who was selling it all for $120, which was a sweet deal, because I got a Garnet amp, a non-functional Big Muff, a Morley Expression Phaser, and an original first series Boss CE-2 (the latter, I still have to this day, and it's sweet!).
Then the change happened, I officially became a gearhead. I loved how little boxes changed my sound. I found myself reading through all of the ads and gear reviews for pedals in guitar mags that I picked up originally for the tabs in them.
Anyhow, my next purchase was a Crybaby Wah. It was instant love.
Skip ahead a while, and several years ago now, I started to collect wahs, amassing over 40 of them. As I did so, I was dissecting them to see what made them each one unique. I also read everything I could find online (Geofex and Electrosmash are good places to start), downloaded schematics and forced myself to understand them, and then started modding my pedals.
And so it went - endless tinkering to get the perfect sound. I was completely rebuilding pedals using boards that I would pick up online. Trying different inductors, transistors, resistors, caps, diodes, and pots. Then it happened. I found the sound I had been looking for.
So, inspired by what I had heard, I decided to start making them for others, and from there the Swamp Cat was born. And here we are today.
I hope to add video soon enough to the site so that everyone can get a sense of the voodoo magic inside these things, but for now, I'm happy to have them available to everyone.
Thanks for taking the time to read through my life story and hope to keep having you back!
Mike G "Caje" Girardin
