Durham Electronics
Durham Electronics
Durham Electronics is a boutique effects pedal and amplifier company founded by Alan Durham. Durham grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where his father — an IBM engineer — taught him the fundamentals of electronics. After studying music at Texas Tech University and working as an electronics technician for the University of Texas on defense contracts, he left to pursue amplifier repair and peda...
Durham Electronics is a boutique effects pedal and amplifier company founded by Alan Durham. Durham grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where his father — an IBM engineer — taught him the fundamentals of electronics. After studying music at Texas Tech University and working as an electronics technician for the University of Texas on defense contracts, he left to pursue amplifier repair and pedal building full-time. He set up shop at the Austin Rehearsal Complex (ARC), where a chance meeting with Grammy-winning guitarist Charlie Sexton led to the creation of the Sex Drive clean boost pedal in 2000 — the product that launched the company.
The Sex Drive was designed to add bottom end and sustain without coloring the amplifier's natural tone, and it quickly gained a following among professional guitarists. Eric Johnson has praised its transparency, and other noted players including Larry Campbell, Earl Slick, Jimmy Vivino, Craig Ross, Little Steven Van Zandt, and Ron Wood have used Durham pedals. The company's lineup includes the Crazy Horse fuzz, Zia Drive overdrive, Reddverb reverb, and the Quatro Plex — a multi-effects unit combining clean boost, overdrive, voltage-controlled fuzz, and reverb in a single enclosure. Durham also builds amplifiers, including the SiTone, SAM-15, and Continental models.
All Durham Electronics pedals are built to order and entirely hand-wired, using Switch Craft jacks and full-size Alpha potentiometers. Alan Durham's design philosophy emphasizes original circuit architecture rather than cloning existing designs, and every pedal includes a line buffer to help preserve signal integrity over long cable runs. The company also offers tube amplifier and pedal repair services.
Durham Electronics has 6 products cataloged on Equipboard, including Boost Effects Pedals, Overdrive Effects Pedals, and Fuzz Effects Pedals. Their gear is featured by 32 artists, with the strongest followings in Rock, Folk, World, & Country, and Pop. Notable users include Steven Van Zandt, "Captain" Kirk Douglas, and Miles Zuniga.
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