RFO Electronics History

RFO Electronics musical effects are designed and build by Jeffrey Maccaglia, in Monaca, Pennsylvania, USA.

I started this journey around 2011, when I purchased two TS-808 Tube Screamer kit builds, one for me and one for my friend. We built these kits, knowing nothing about electronics.

After this experience, we traced out some other pedals, and had some success building on strip board.

Both of us are Stevie Ray Vaughan fans, and one thing we both wanted was a pedal that could recreate the “SRV tone”. We found that nothing available really hit the mark, so after a lot of experimentation, trial and error, and time, we used what we learned, and came up with the el Mo’ overdrive circuit. My friend named it the el Mo’ in homage to Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Live at the el Mocambo” performance. We also made a derivative pedal called the el More, which has slightly more midrange EQ, and a bit more headroom.

The partnership remained in effect for a few years, when my friend had decided to move on to other projects. I continued building the el Mo and el More.

Since then, I’ve developed my own Uni-Vibe clone, using the original Uni-Vibe circuit, called the Real Vibe, and a smaller, gig friendly alternative, the Waterfall vibrato/chorus pedal. I’ve also built the Super Fuzz, which is a modified version of the vintage Ibanez Super Fuzz, and a simple power boost, called the Rocket Boost. I continue to refine and grow my pedal line as I can.

In addition to my pedal line, I have always been a fan of the mid 1970’s to early 1980’s Electra brand Japanese MPC line of guitars. I have designed a line of new effect modules for use in the Electra MPC guitars, which include Vibe/Chorus, Super Fuzz, Octave Fuzz, Distortion, and Boost modules.                                                                                                                                                               

Jeffery Maccaglia from RFO Electronics