Ron AshetonThe Stooges Guitar Rig, 1968
Ron Asheton's early Stooges sound in 1968 came from two pedals: a Vox wah-wah and an Arbiter Fuzz Face, into very loud amplifiers.
Early Stooges fuzz-and-wah core
Order evidence: No source publishes this sequence; the order is reconstructed
Inside the rig · 2 units
Pedal roles & evidence
How each unit fits Ron Asheton's 1968 setup. Board-specific roles and the evidence behind each identification and position.
Reconstructed orderIdentity and position are evidenced separately. Reconstructed positions are not observed connections.
Filter & EQ
Vox wah-wah
Front of amp
Role in this rig
Supplied the biting filter movement heard throughout Asheton's early guitar vocabulary.
- Identity
- Documented
- Position
- Reconstructed
Gain
Arbiter Fuzz Face
Front of amp
Role in this rig
Provided the rounded but aggressive fuzz voice at the center of the early Stooges live sound.
- Identity
- Documented
- Position
- Reconstructed
Documented equipment · Reconstructed order · Serial path
Premier Guitar's oral history quotes Deniz Tek, who saw the Stooges in 1968, identifying both a Vox wah-wah and an Arbiter Fuzz Face in Asheton's rig. Mike Watt's separate recollection in the same feature connects Asheton's round fuzz and wah vocabulary to the guitarist's close study of Hendrix. In a direct 1998 interview published by Perfect Sound Forever, Asheton independently described using fuzz and wah during the experimental period from which the Stooges emerged. No surviving source establishes the jack-to-jack order or proves that these were the only floor effects, so this is a documented two-device core inventory; the displayed sequence follows the eyewitness enumeration and is not presented as cable-traced.
No source publishes this sequence. The units are ordered by conventional signal-chain practice, and any documented routing zone is kept as recorded.
Cited sources
MethodologyQuestions about Ron Asheton's 1968 guitar rig
- What pedals did Ron Asheton use in 1968?
- This dated entry lists 2 units: Vox wah-wah, Arbiter Fuzz Face. This is the recorded inventory, not a claim that every connection or model identification is confirmed; see the evidence and routing notes.
- What order were Ron Asheton's pedals in?
- The complete order is reconstructed, not observed. The layout follows the cited routing constraints and the archive's signal-chain convention where the sources are silent: Guitar → Vox wah-wah → Arbiter Fuzz Face → amplifier.
- Is this Ron Asheton's full guitar rig?
- No. This dated entry covers 2 units in the effects path, not every piece of gear Ron Asheton owned or used. Floor pedals, rack units and routing devices are included only where recorded; omitted equipment and uncertain connections are explained in the notes. It is not a complete or current rig inventory.
- When and where was this guitar rig used?
- Documented 1968 live rig. Early Stooges live setup. This is the core signal path documented for that period, not a career-wide gear list.
- How does the archive know what was on this guitar rig?
- 2 cited sources, listed above with the date each was read, including Premier Guitar, Perfect Sound Forever. Among them an interview. The units are recorded as documented equipment, and the page was last audited on 2026-07-18.