# Ron Asheton Guitar Rig 1968: The Stooges Gear & Pedal List

> The 1968 Ron Asheton guitar rig: Vox wah-wah, Arbiter Fuzz Face. Signal-chain order, settings and cited sources.

- Canonical page: https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/ron-asheton/early-stooges-fuzz-wah-1968/
- Machine-readable index of the archive: https://pedalboardarchive.com/llms.txt
- Evidence and reconstruction conventions: https://pedalboardarchive.com/methodology/

## At a glance

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Artist | Ron Asheton |
| Board | Early Stooges fuzz-and-wah core |
| Date | 1968-01-01 — Documented 1968 live rig (year precision) |
| Context | Early Stooges live setup |
| Scope | Core signal path |
| Signal path | 2 units · Guitar to amplifier |
| Routing | Serial path |
| Unit evidence | Documented |
| Order evidence | Reconstructed |
| Status | Eyewitness-documented effects inventory |
| Audited | 2026-07-18 |
| Sources | 2 |

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.

## Signal chain

**Order evidence — Reconstructed.** No source publishes this sequence; the order is reconstructed. The units are evidenced; their sequence is the archive's inference from the convention below, not an observation. Do not report this order as documented.

Reconstruction convention: Tuner → Wah and filter → Compressor → Overdrive, distortion and fuzz → Modulation → Delay → Reverb → Amplifier. A documented routing zone always overrides it.

`Guitar → Vox wah-wah → Arbiter Fuzz Face → amplifier`

| # | Unit | Role | Zone | Unit evidence | Position evidence | Catalog page |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Vox wah-wah | Supplied the biting filter movement heard throughout Asheton's early guitar vocabulary. | Front of amp | Documented | Reconstructed | https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/vox-wah-wah/ |
| 2 | Arbiter Fuzz Face | Provided the rounded but aggressive fuzz voice at the center of the early Stooges live sound. | Front of amp | Documented | Reconstructed | https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/fuzz-face/ |

## Reconstruction note

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.

## Questions

### 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.

## Sources

2 cited sources across 2 independent groups. Two sources sharing an independent group report the same observation and count once.

1. [Forgotten Heroes: Ron Asheton](https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/forgotten-heroes-ron-asheton) — Premier Guitar (Primary source · interview), published 2019-01-22, accessed 2026-07-18, independent group `premier-guitar-ron-asheton-oral-history`
2. [Ron Asheton - Stooges interview, part 2](https://www.furious.com/perfect/ronasheton2.html) — Perfect Sound Forever (Primary source · interview), accessed 2026-07-18, independent group `perfect-sound-forever-ron-asheton-interview`

## Related pages

- Every documented board by Ron Asheton: [Ron Asheton board history](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/ron-asheton/)
- [David Gilmour — Animals-era Cornish board](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/david-gilmour/animals-tour-1977/): shares Fuzz Face
- [Duane Allman — Early and session fuzz setup](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/duane-allman/early-session-fuzz-1968/): shares Fuzz Face
- [Eric Johnson — Ah Via Musicom four-amp system](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/eric-johnson/ah-via-musicom-four-amp-rig-2018/): shares Fuzz Face
- [Eddie Hazel — Maggot Brain performance effects](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/eddie-hazel/maggot-brain-session-effects-1970/): no shared unit; a comparable signal path (Filter & EQ, Gain)
- [Leigh Stephens — Blue Cheer fuzz-and-wah core](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/leigh-stephens/blue-cheer-fuzz-wah-core-1966-1969/): no shared unit; a comparable signal path (Filter & EQ, Gain)
- [Mick Ronson — Ziggy-era core effects](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/mick-ronson/ziggy-era-core-effects-1972/): no shared unit; a comparable signal path (Filter & EQ, Gain)
- Previous board in archive order: [Robin Trower — Four-effect touring board](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/robin-trower/premier-guitar-board-2018/)
- Next board in archive order: [Rory Gallagher — Early-1990s live pedalboard](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/rory-gallagher/early-1990s-live-pedalboard/)