Kevin Shields

Kevin Shields is the frontman and guitarist of My Bloody Valentine, and Guitar World calls him "a tonal pioneer and one of the main forces of the shoegaze movement"¹. His guitar sound, built on fuzz, reverse delay and controlled feedback, is one of the most imitated in alternative guitar music, and in 2023 it led to something no other artist had done with Fender before: a signature pedal²¹.

Guitar.com's reviewer put his reputation plainly:

The Shields Blender: Fender's first signature pedal

In June 2023, Fender announced the Shields Blender, a signature fuzz pedal developed with Shields over five years of collaboration²⁴. It is notable on two counts: it is Fender's first ever signature pedal, making Shields the company's first ever signature pedal artist, and it is the first piece of guitar kit he has ever put his name to, despite years of other pedals borrowing his sound²³⁴¹.

The pedal is based on his own vintage 1970s Fender Blender, the same circuit he used back in the day to sculpt his shoegaze electric guitar tone³²⁴. The original Fender Blender fuzz was also famously used by Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins⁵. Shields' version expands the control count from the original's four knobs to eight, with four footswitches instead of two³⁶⁴.

Guitar World notes that the circuit did not hit the shelves unaltered, calling the Shields Blender "a signature in way more than name"¹. Guitar Pedal X described it as "surely the ultimate Shoegaze style fuzz"⁸.

The sag control

The most distinctive feature of the design is a footswitchable, reactive voltage sag circuit, controlled by picking dynamics and built to emulate a tube amp pushed to its limit⁹. MusicRadar describes it as a way to tailor the pedal's response to your guitar⁶.

Shields says the idea goes back much further than the Fender project:

Of the development process itself, he told Guitar.com:

Other gear and techniques

Beyond the Blender, a picture of Shields' approach to effects comes from several sources:

• ZVEX's artists page states that Kevin Shields owns and uses various ZVEX pedals¹⁰. ZVEX is based in Minneapolis¹¹.
• Premier Guitar notes he is a fan of the MkIII Tone Bender¹².
• Gearnews reports that he used similar reverse delay effects, a sound the site credits with inspiring shoegaze players¹³.
• Pedal of the Day notes that Shields uses filter sweeping to manipulate feedback and crank ear-piercing high frequencies combined with fuzz pedals¹⁴.

His interest in effects engineering goes back to the making of My Bloody Valentine's landmark records. During the Loveless sessions he met effects maker Roger Mayer, of whom he says:

Shields' influence also extends to pedals he did not design: the Keeley Loomer multi-effects pedal was inspired by My Bloody Valentine's Loveless and promises to nail his shoegaze guitar sound with a wall of fuzz and reverb in a single box¹⁵.

Questions