Greetings EH Stomp Boxers, this is Cam King signing in. No bio here, Google me if you’re curious. I am looking at my first dust-covered personal piece of EH gear, the legendary LPB-1 power booster, circa 1969, and I can tell you it has less components inside of it than the chip in a musical greeting card. In my 1970’s-’80’s Texas band The Explosives I was the lead guitarist for legendary rock singer Roky Erickson(and again from 2004–2008), whose earlier band the 13th Floor Elevators pretty much kicked off the psychedelic era in 1966 with their hit single “You’re Gonna Miss Me”.

The reason I am saying all that now is because I want anybody who cares to know that I, like so many other players who came of age in the 1960’s, am wedded to Electro-Harmonix the way Bo Diddley was wedded to a square Gretsch–it is an essential connection. In order to play with Roky Erickson or to capture the magic of the world beyond a simple guitar/amp connection, only one pedal gave me the voice to complement a voice like Roky’s–the Big Muff Pi. Gawd, what a toy. As enigmatically beautiful and versatile now as it was in Hendrix’s hands.

And now I just opened my latest box with the new EH Ravish Sitar therein, on my way to Pakistan to play with Bob Livingston, a great singer/songwriter, late of Jerry Jeff Walker and the Lost Gonzo Band. I am going to be playing Country and Eastern with this thing as Bob does his “Cowboys and Indians” tour across the mysterious subcontinent.

Electro-Harmonix has imbued rock music with tantalizing possibilities and horizon-expanding creativity from the git-go, and I personally salute Mike Matthews for his vision, as well as his honorable dedication to his employees when outside forces attempted to destroy and co-opt the egalitarian working relationships he had established with them. You young folks, know that in this forum you are in the Valhalla of guitar enhancement. EH has had the original vision, the original dedication to musical possibilities, and all the other manufacturers of fine products(and fine products they are!) stand on their shoulders. Use your EH boxes with pride, creativity, and do not not fear to twist them knobs beyond the boundaries of “good taste”. That’s why they put them on those things.