Q: I am a young guitarist who is just discovering the music of the Beatles, and I have a question. Does anyone know just what distortion pedals the group used on their single version of “Revolution”? I believe it was the first use of fuzz on a Beatles single.
A: According to Abbey Road recording engineer Geoff Emerick, the overdriven guitars that appeared on “Revolution” were the result of running the instruments directly into the mixing console, where they were allowed to clip the onboard preamps. Technical engineer Brian Gibson’s recollection, however, is that the distortion came from overdriving the guitar amplifiers. In either case, no distortion pedal was used on this song. It is known that John Lennon and George Harrison had each gotten a Maestro Fuzztone in either 1963 or ’64, but no evidence exists that these were ever used in any of the final album releases.