Andy Summers

Andy Summers is the guitarist of The Police, and his effects are as much a part of the band's sound as his chord voicings. The shimmering, swirling modulation on hits like Walking On The Moon and Message In A Bottle is one of the most discussed pedal sounds in rock, and the central fact of it is simple: it came from a flanger, the Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress, not a chorus¹². Around that modulation sat an Echoplex used for thickness and rhythm, a Boss CE-1 chorus, an MXR Dyna Comp, and a Pete Cornish-built pedalboard holding it all together³⁴¹⁵.

Summers himself describes the sound as a defining characteristic of his playing:

That last line refers to the Electro-Harmonix Walking On The Moon signature flanger, released in 2023 as his first ever signature pedal, at the age of 80⁷.

A shimmering flange, not a chorus

The single most repeated point about Summers' rig, in the press and among makers, is that the famous Police modulation is flange, not chorus. MusicRadar's reviewer Alex Lynham opens his review of the signature pedal by noting that "there was always telling somebody about how Andy Summers used a flanger, not a chorus, on The Police's iconic 1979 hit"⁹. Voodoo Lab's demo team makes the same correction directly: "A common misconception is that Summers relied on chorus, but his signature modulation came from an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress"¹.

Guitar World's Paul Riario describes what Summers actually did with it: he "used a flanger pedal, specifically, an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress, to create those shimmering chorus textures on hits like Walking on the Moon and Message in a Bottle in the band's early years"². Catalinbread even builds the debate into the marketing of its Callisto MKII, telling players: "You've heard guitar players argue for decades about whether Andy Summers played a chorus or a flanger, yeah? That sound and many others live inside the Callisto MKII"¹⁰.

Guitar World's history of the Electric Mistress goes furthest, arguing that Electro-Harmonix's rebranding of the Deluxe Electric Mistress as the Andy Summers Walking On The Moon pedal "should be the final definitive proof that he used a flanger and not a chorus pedal on that song, although that still won't stop online forum charlatans from claiming otherwise"¹¹.

At the same time, Summers' influence on chorus as an effect is real. Guitar.com's Huw Price writes that "thanks to the efforts of Andy Summers and others, chorus became one of the cornerstones of 1980s electric guitar tone"¹². The nuance is that Summers did use chorus, just not for the sound he is most famous for.

Effects with The Police

Summers' Police-era rig, as reported across the press, comes together from a handful of pieces.

The Electric Mistress is the centerpiece. MusicRadar's Rob Laing writes that "Summers' use of the Electric Mistress on The Police's 1979 classic Walking On The Moon and Message In A Bottle from the Reggatta de Blanc album made it a truly iconic effects pedal"¹⁴. Premier Guitar's modulation history simply states that "Andy Summers used his on many Police recordings"¹³.

The Echoplex deserves its own attention, because Summers used it in an unusual way. In his own words:

Vintage Guitar reports that "some guitarists such as the Police's Andy Summers switch off the delay and use the Echoplex just to thicken their tone"¹⁵, and MusicRadar's history of the Maestro Echoplex notes that Summers "used it as a tube-based filter"¹⁸. Guitar World names the EP-2 model specifically, as once used by Jimmy Page and Andy Summers³.

The Boss CE-1 complicates the flanger-only story. MusicRadar reports that Summers "used the pedal on several Police hits including Message in A Bottle, Walking on the Moon and Don't Stand So Close to Me"⁴, and Gearnews writes that "The Police's Andy Summers used a CE-1 excessively in his very distinct sound"¹⁹. GuitarPlayer's Dave Hunter adds that Summers' "seminal swirl on early Police hit 'Message in a Bottle' is purported to be a combination of pedals"¹⁶. So the picture of Message In A Bottle is a layered one: the Electric Mistress is credited by MusicRadar and Guitar World as the source of its shimmer²¹⁴, the CE-1 is credited by MusicRadar and Gearnews as present on the track⁴¹⁹, and at least one writer holds that the swirl came from a combination rather than a single box¹⁶.

Beyond the core rig, Summers used several other effects over the years:

• He played the Roland GR-300 Guitar Synthesizer, seen in videos of his playing²⁰.
• Rocktron states that "Andy Summers has used Rocktron over the years as well"²¹.
• Empress Effects says Summers "was one of the first users of our original tremolo pedal 10 years ago," referring to the original Empress tremolo pedal from 2006⁸²².
• For the Police reunion world tour, Summers used the Red Witch Empress Chorus Vibrato as his sole chorus pedal, a choice Red Witch's Ben Fulton says left him elated²³. Fulton's Red Witch pedals have been used by players including Summers, Steve Vai, Slash, Steve Lukather and The Edge²⁴.

The Pete Cornish board

Holding the Police-era rig together was a pedalboard built by Pete Cornish. A 1979 article in Musicians Only, reprinted on Cornish's own site, reports that "Andy Summers of the Police has one, Steve Hacket has one, Pink Floyd have two or maybe three by now"⁵.

Cornish's background explains the approach. MusicRadar describes him as "trained by the MOD," whose "pedalboards and effects pedal switching systems are serious works of art designed to simply be the most reliable and electrically transparent available"²⁵. His first pedalboard client was Peter Banks, who "came in and said would I make him a pedal board"⁵. Before Summers, Cornish had designed and built Brian May's pedalboard in 1972, a rig that carried two tape echoes, a phaser, a modified Dallas Rangemaster treble booster, a Boss CE-1 chorus and a harmonizer²⁶.

Signature pedals: the Walking On The Moon flanger and a Plethora X1 TonePrint

In 2023, Electro-Harmonix released the Andy Summers Walking On The Moon flanger, an analog flanger with a Filter Matrix mode and Special Artist Edition graphics featuring Summers' signature on the chassis²⁷⁷²⁸. It was his first ever signature pedal, arriving through a collaboration with Electro-Harmonix founder Mike Matthews when Summers was 80⁷. Each pedal includes a tribute Walking on the Moon poster with art by Laura Josephson²⁹².

The pedal is closely tied to the original. MusicRadar reports it is "based on the Electric Mistress"⁷, and the review is blunter still: "Although this is badged as a signature pedal, it's in fact just an Electric Mistress with a new design and chassis"⁹. Guitar World frames it as Electro-Harmonix "rebranding of the Deluxe Electric Mistress as the Andy Summers Walking On the Moon pedal"¹¹. Gearnews notes it "is based on the modulation pedal that was used during The Police track of the same name and is known for that signature sound"³⁰.

Summers himself endorses the connection, saying of the pedal: "I would use it on songs like 'Walking on the Moon' and 'Message in a Bottle'. It became a sort of characteristic of my guitar sound"²⁹. He has also praised the company behind it: "I always liked Mike Matthews because he's always pushed the edge with electronics and I've used his stuff over the years"⁷.

MusicRadar also reports that Summers "seems surprised" the pedal is called a flanger at all, noting he "would have called it a chorus"⁷⁵. The player most responsible for the flanger-not-chorus consensus apparently hears his own sound in the opposite terms.

MusicRadar's overall verdict on the pedal is positive, describing the Electric Mistress as "an excellent pedal" while noting "there is some difference from the vintage units"⁹.

Summers' name also appears in the digital domain. Guitar.com's review of the TC Electronic Plethora X1 notes TonePrint custom settings "supplied by guitar heroes ranging from Andy Summers to Dweezil Zappa," which players can tweak and load into the pedal³¹. So his settings are available both as an analog signature flanger and as a downloadable preset inside a multi-effects platform.

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