Every once in a while I get the question: "Hey, how come you say ___ (insert artist name) uses your ___ (insert product name) but I don't see it on his pedalboard...are you a dirty sack of poop liar ?"

answer: "Good question Bobby!I I saw a TV ad today where Paris Hilton was eating a burger, and she was half-naked! Then I was in a fancy restaurant and saw Paris AGAIN but that brazen-hussy was eating steak...fully clothed, mind you!.....I ran up to her screaming obscenities telling her she is a dirty liar and I wrote a really nasty letter to the Burger company for lying to me too...after all, they said she ate burgers in their ad!!!! !"

You get the picture;)

So why does your favorite artist say nice things about certain products in print (or otherwise) and yet every year you see the same pedals on his board? Ever heard of the S_T_U_D_I_O ? That's a place where artists record....and when artists record they often like to use other "colors" (reference to other pedals) along with those 4-5 standard colors that you see them use live.

Eric Johnson is one example:

Eric has owned and used the Fulltone 69 pedal since the mid- 1990's and the , Stereo Deja'Vibe and CF-1 since 2000 or so. Eric's praise of the 69pedal is well documented thanks to Guitar World's late 90's article where Eric said the 69 pedal was "the best fuzz I own."
As far as CF-1 and stereo DV.... see photo
 

Regarding Eric's use of the Fulltone OCD: All I have for proof is my phone conversation with him from a few months back, an interesting side-note is that the OCD I sent him was stolen with his Car shortly after and I subsequently sent him 3 additional OCD's to replace that one....all of them "did not have the same sound" according to Eric (laughter)
Something tells me the trauma and MEMORY of having something stolen like that would keep anything from measuring up to the lost item ;)
 
In closing, I don't know where or why Eric (or anyone for that matter!) uses what he uses...in the end, it only matters what works for YOU, so always try before you buy, that's my advice.

regards,

Mike