Peterson StroboStomp EVH: Buy Eddie's Pitch For $179

For decades, tone-chasing guitarists have attempted to capture Eddie Van Halen’s fabled "Brown Sound" by blowing their life savings on vintage Plexi amps, painstakingly recreated Frankenstrats, and boutique phasers. Now, Peterson Tuners is here to gently remind you that despite all that gear, you can’t even get the guy's pitch right.

StroboStomp EVH

Enter the Peterson StroboStomp EVH, a $179 pedalboard addition draped in the virtuoso’s unmistakable red, white, and black stripes. Because if there is one thing the guitar industry knows, it's that we will absolutely buy a utilitarian utility pedal if it looks like Eddie's guitar.

But this isn't just a cynical paint job. Peterson—Eddie’s go-to tuner brand back in the day—has actually engineered a way to sell you Van Halen’s highly specific, micro-tonal quirks.

The Secret Sauce: 13 "Sweetened" EVH Tunings

The crux of the StroboStomp EVH’s marketing pitch relies on 13 exclusive EVH "Sweetener" tuning presets. These aren't just standard E-A-D-G-B-E tunings; they are meticulously calibrated profiles derived directly from Van Halen’s game-changing 1978 debut album.

As it turns out, the entire Van Halen record was tracked in Eb Standard, but Eddie rarely sat perfectly on pitch. Almost throughout the entire record, his guitars were pitched just slightly sharp, with the notable exception of one track that was stubbornly flat. Eddie would subtly tweak the tuning of odd strings so that specific riffs and complex chords would sound just a little bit sweeter to his ear.

Thanks to this pedal, you no longer have to rely on your own ears to achieve this highly intentional inaccuracy. Peterson has packed all that 1978 nuance into a stompbox, allowing you to perfectly replicate exactly how "out of tune" Eddie was on a track-by-track basis. They’ve even thrown in 11 accompanying bass presets, ensuring your bassist can join in on the historically accurate dissonance.

Vintage Glow, Modern Tech

Back in the 1970s, Eddie relied on Peterson’s massive, mechanical spinning strobe wheels to dial in his sound backstage. Naturally, the StroboStomp EVH leaves the heavy mechanical discs in the past. It replaces the old-school spinning wheel with a massive, high-definition LCD strobe display featuring a variable-color LED backlight.

For the nostalgia hounds, the screen projects a distinctive red glow to pay tribute to Peterson’s vintage tuning heritage. It boasts a wide viewing angle and is fully visible in direct sunlight, meaning everyone at your 1:00 PM outdoor blues festival gig will know exactly why your open G chord sounds slightly sharp.

Specs for the Tone-Obsessed

Beyond the EVH branding, it is undeniably a powerhouse tuner. Peterson guarantees a ludicrous ±0.1 cent accuracy. To protect your meticulously crafted signal chain, the pedal offers versatile output options:

• Pure Buffer Mode: Designed to maintain your guitar’s signal clarity through miles of cables and entirely too many drive pedals.
• 100% Pop-less True Bypass: Features a clever dual-relay circuit that clears residual signal before muting, saving your audience from the dreaded "pop" of you stepping on your tuner.

Additionally, the pedal features adjustable Hz calibration, drop tuning, and capo settings. If you somehow get bored of Eddie’s personal preferences, there are over 158 other Sweetened and Guided Tunings on board. It even features USB connectivity, just in case you want to dive into the software and dial in your own custom tuning profiles that no one else in your band will agree with.

The Peterson StroboStomp EVH is available now for $179/£169.99. It won't grant you Eddie's hands, his rhythm, or his legendary tapping technique, but for a cool two-hundred bucks, you can finally assure your bandmates that your slightly sharp B-string is, in fact, historically accurate.

Peterson

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