Emily Wolfe

The shootout was between the Fulltone OCD Obsessive Compulsive Drive and the MXR Super Badass Distortion. I plugged in the OCD and it was literally the sound that had been in my brain – I knew that was the sound. It was so cool, and I have never felt that way - that’s one of the reasons why I love pedals. But it’s the greatest feeling ever – other than playing live.

In this Rig Rundown, Emily talks about her signal chain saying,

Okay, so next I got the Keeley 30ms Double Tracker, which I use to kind of add another signal in there. And I’ll max out the level so you can really hear it, but it’s more of a feel thing for me… It’s after the gain so I’m basically double tracking the gain, so you can kind of hear that double track, slight chorus effect… So that’s cool. You can affect the timing and tuning of the actual double tracked signal and it’s got a built in reverb if you want to use that.

I also brought out some stuff that I’ve had since I was in tenth grade. I have this little BOSS BR-600 - it’s a teeny digital recorder with built-in sounds, a lot of which actually made the record, which surprised me, because I never use it.

According to Wolfe's Instagram profile, she received this pedal as a gift from Gary Clark Jr.

In this Premier Guitar interview, Emily Wolfe says,

I’ve been using the Boss DD-500, which is great because you can do three presets with it. So I’ve got a slap, like a longer slap, and a super-long slap… Yeah, I mean that’s pretty much how I use it. I just kind of alternating betwewn those three delay presets during the set.

A Strymon Flint can be seen in the middle of Emily's pedalboard in her Instagram post. The pedal was present in her 2021 pedalboard, according to Premier Guitar interview.

Emily Wolfe can be seen playing an Epiphone Sheraton II in this 2016 perfomance of "Atta Blues" at Stubb's. This interview with Epiphone also mentions the Sheraton II saying:

The Sheraton II is my all time favorite guitar, no joke.

She is also questioned about how she chose the Sheraton II.

Strats and Teles have been the “Austin guitar” sound for so long. What’s the story of how you chose an Epiphone Sheraton II?

I’ve actually been a really big fan of B.B. King since I was little and six or seven years ago I went into a Guitar Center-- walked in, I had a budget, and I saw that guitar and it was the most-like a B.B. King guitar that I could find. At first I was kind of hesitant—I thought ‘man this is kind of big.’ But it’s totally now like my third arm. It’s kind of part of me now. And it’s really been a huge guitar in defining my writing sound. It’s basically my brand now. No one in Austin plays a Sheraton so I feel kind of cool (laughs). I was 20 when I got it—I’m 26 now.

In this interview, Emily Wolfe mentions her use of the Erupter fuzz pedal on her Outlier album.

“I brought a bunch of pedals. We used the Erupter a ton and the Dirt Transmitter. The Tentacle is on, like, every song.”

Running into her board when we saw Wolfe play was a Gibson Memphis ES-335 – she’s recently been quite attached to her Epiphone Sheraton (one of our top picks for electric guitars under $1000), so we were wondering why the change. “I was afraid to bring mine because I’ve seen so many horror stories,” she says with a nervous laugh. Wolfe had flown over to Europe from the US. “Since it was just two shows – not worth the risk. But they let me borrow a Sheraton in Amsterdam and borrow a Memphis 335 here.”

Wolfe’s also a keen pedal buff, and approached a broad range of drives when she set out to add grit to her sound. But she eventually settled on a tried and tested classic: “I went through a bunch of different overdrive pedals, and none of them really sounded the way I heard an overdrive in my head until I found the Fulltone OCD.” She’d grabbed one of the limited black OCDs.

Wolfe's use of OCD was also mentioned in 2021 Premier Guitar interview:

In her spare time, Wolfe explores every pedal she can get her hands on and entertains herself by searching for the perfect combination for her signature sound. She's put together a "desert island board" comprised of three pedals: the EarthQuaker Devices Tentacle analog octave-up pedal, running into a Fulltone OCD, and an MXR Six Band EQ. "That's the sound that belongs to me," she says.

A core of Wolfe’s lead sound is an octave-up snarl– which comes from an EarthQuaker Devices Tentacle, running after the OCD.

In this EarthQuaker Devices interview she elaborates:

“I love fuzz. I’m just a big fan of fuzz. I think the Tentacle is probably my favorite pedal of all time. It’s so cool before any kind of drive; it just really brings out the top end and that amazing octave. I just love it,” she said.

“My core tone is an [Fulltone] OCD, but without the Tentacle it just doesn’t sound right to me. I think when I [first] put the Tentacle before it for the first time, I was like, Oh my god, I think that’s the sound. So that is just such an exciting combination for me,” Wolfe said.

The pedal was also mentioned in 2021 Premier Guitar interview.

In her spare time, Wolfe explores every pedal she can get her hands on and entertains herself by searching for the perfect combination for her signature sound. She's put together a "desert island board" comprised of three pedals: the EarthQuaker Devices Tentacle analog octave-up pedal, running into a Fulltone OCD, and an MXR Six Band EQ. "That's the sound that belongs to me," she says.

In this photo, which comes from Guitar Center's interview with Wolfe, Wolfe's pedalboard is shown. One of the pedals visible is the MXR M-109 EQ.

The pedal is mentioned in 2021 Premier Guitar interview as part of her "desert island" board.

In her spare time, Wolfe explores every pedal she can get her hands on and entertains herself by searching for the perfect combination for her signature sound. She's put together a "desert island board" comprised of three pedals: the EarthQuaker Devices Tentacle analog octave-up pedal, running into a Fulltone OCD, and an MXR Six Band EQ. "That's the sound that belongs to me," she says.

In this photo, which comes from Guitar Center's interview with Wolfe, Wolfe's pedalboard is shown. One of the pedals visible is the MXR M-68 Uni-Vibe.

In this photo, which comes from Guitar Center's interview with Wolfe, Wolfe's pedalboard is shown. One of the pedals visible is the Fulltone Octafuzz.

In this photo, posted by Wolfe on her Instagram profile, one of the pedals that can be seen is the Earthquaker Levitation.

According to Wolfe's Instagram profile, she received this pedal as a gift from Kevin McKeown, frontman of the band Black Pistol Fire.

In this photo, posted by Wolfe on her Instagram profile, her pedals are shown. One of the pedals visible is the Union Tube and Transistor Black Bumble Buzz.

In this photo, posted by Wolfe on her Instagram profile, her pedals are shown. One of the pedals visible is the MXR M-108 Graphic EQ.

In this photo, posted by Wolfe on her Instagram profile, her pedals are shown. One of the pedals visible is the Vertex Dynamic.

In this photo, posted by Wolfe on her Instagram profile, her pedals are shown. One of the pedals visible is the DOD Gunslinger Distortion.

In this photo, posted by Wolfe on her Instagram profile, her pedals are shown. One of the pedals visible is the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver.

In this photo, posted by Wolfe on her Instagram profile, her pedals are shown. One of the pedals visible is the EHX Bassballs.

In this photo, Wolfe's pedalboard is shown, which includes the Klon KTR overdrive. The pedal was present in her 2021 pedalboard, according to Premier Guitar interview.

In this Instagram photo, Wolfe shows her Earthquaker Tone Reaper, which was received by her as a Valentine's Day gift.

In this Rig Rundown from Premier Guitar, Emily says,

… all the pedals run on a True Tone CS12 Pro power supply, which I love that power supply because it’s universal, so when you go overseas like you just flip a switch and get the right plug and you’re good to go. Whereas others I’ve had, they’ve been marketed as universal, but they’re not. So it’s like, yeah, CS 12 is my favorite power supply.

She pulls out the sg in the middle of the rig rundown video

In this Rig Rundown from Premier Guitar, Emily talks about creating her unique fuzz sound saying,

… but I boost the OCD with a Fulltone 2B Boost, which I used to stack 2 OCDs, but that kind go got unwieldy, it got to be a little too much so I switched that for the 2B boost. So all that together, I mean boosting the OCD and the Tentacle in front of both those things is gnarly to me.

In this video, Emily Wolfe discusses her signature model Sheraton from Epiphone. 2021 Premier Guitar interview with Wolfe states about the signature model:

On top of her signature pedal combination, Wolfe now has a signature guitar. In March, Epiphone debuted the Emily Wolfe Sheraton Stealth, a black, semi-hollowbody electric guitar with diamond-shaped soundholes and gold hardware, set up with two Alnico Classic PRO humbuckers. "The Stealth is my dream guitar and gift to the music community," says Wolfe. "Playing it is like putting on a perfectly worn-in pair of jeans. It just fits. The guitar is the perfect frequency range for my soul." And for her music—from her stinging blues-rock bedrock to the expressionist colors of her newest work.

In this video from Origin, Emily Wolfe plays through the Cali76 Compact Deluxe. In this interview she says:

The Cali76 is hands-down the best compressor I’ve ever used. I love the option to blend in my dry signal for parallel compression, and how it allows me to dial in endless amounts of sustain. I use it first in my signal chain, and it makes all of my other pedals sound better. I use the Cali76 first in my signal chain because it creates this amazing touch-sensitivity for all of my other pedals. Even as a fuzz-lover, I’m inspired by the clean tone from the Cali76.

The pedal was present in her 2021 pedalboard, according to Premier Guitar interview.

In this interview with EarthQuaker Devices, Emily Wolfe discusses her usage of the Tone Job:

“I love it. I use it to EQ the gain a little bit. So, I’ve got three EQD pedals on my board and I’m never changing them!,” she laughed.