“John Lennon hated doubling his vocals. The chief engineer at Abbey Road came up with a way to add a delay and put it onto another track. That’s what that pedal does”: The Cars’ Elliot Easton on the secrets of his pedalboard –and the wizard who made it

Elliott Easton of the Cars plays a black Danelectro singlecut on a stage lit in purple.

“I like to have a great all-around board that’ll give me the flavors of the different types of stuff I like to get into. I want to credit David Phillips at L.A. Sound Design; he builds pedalboards for everybody.

“I don’t want to name names, but while I was there, he had boards – I think – for Carl Verheyen and Larry Carlton. He builds these beautiful pedalboards that are very clean. He did mine, and I love it.