ELECTRIC GUITAR TECHNOLOGY HARDLY changed during the first 30 or so years. Les Paul and Leo Fender gave us solid body guitars, Jim Marshall accidentally created desirable amp distortion, a smattering of floor-based effects were created and a few bits of gear were borrowed from organ players — including wah pedals and Leslie speakers. But, for the most part, guitarists didn’t have many choices in terms of essential gear — and even fewer technological options for unique expression.
And then it happened: The 1980s! It was a fortuitous convergence of events, a shade-your-eyes collision of technology and inspiration that transformed the guitar almost overnight.
Silicon Valley was chiefly changing the world, as a by-product of the military industrial complex. Their affordable miniaturization of complex electrical pathways placed high-powered integrated circuits into all manner of personal, electronic products, not to mention the recording and musical instrument industries — the dreams of engineers who grew up watching Star Trek and The Outer Limits finally became reality.
At the same time, inspired young musicians started transferring the blinding finger speed and deft coordination they’d honed on arcade machines and video game consoles to the guitar, resulting in a revolution of technique, innovation and intensity. The months and years that followed were a guitar renaissance in every sense of the word, and we’re still riding the energy wave of that tech explosion. As a reminder of our technological roots, and to honor the visionary engineers of the time, old-schoolers racked their gray skulls to comprise a list of the decade’s most impactful gear.
