I have been playing guitar since I was 12 years old. I started on a Japanese classical acoustic with nylon strings and a neck that probably needed to be re-set. But that wasn’t enough to stop me from teaching myself chords by listening to songs on the radio and later playing along to cassettes of the Ramones, Minor Threat, and Dead Kennedy’s. Soon after, I graduated to my first electric guitar and bought my first effects pedal. A big box DOD Flanger 670 that I found at my local pawn shop. It was like an entire universe opened for me and I was hooked. But it wasn’t just playing guitar that lead me down this road. I was also obsessed with taking electronics apart to see all of the fascinating guts inside and to find out how they worked.
In early 1996 I started my first job post high school at Digitech in Sandy, Utah. Not only was the environment amazing to be in, the people I directly worked with were incredible. One such person would go on to revive and innovate some of the best pedals DOD had seen in decades. I have nothing but fond memories of the job and the people. It was also around this time in Salt Lake City my band was getting some great shows playing alongside greats like Karate, Blonde Redhead, Retsin, and Cat Power.
In 1998 I moved to L.A. with my band. I know….right? Well it happened and I watched just about every cliche play out as we struggled to keep things together. After a couple years traveling, I decided to settle in New York City. It was around this time I started getting back into tinkering with guitars and amps, and modifying my first circuits.
Over the years I have made numerous effects pedals and modified many more for friends, as a hobby. I slowly stoked the fires of creativity and kept learning as much as I could.
In Summer 2023 I started Radio Wave Effects. It wasn’t until I spent countless late nights breadboarding, swapping parts, prototyping, drawing schematics, breaking things….. that I realized I should have never left his type of work. I love every minute of it, even when things don’t go quite right. I am excited to build and discover and I can’t wait to bring you all new offerings from my workbench. Stay tuned…
-Alan