John LeClair | From Taylor Guitars to Taylor Swift + The All New Divided Drive by Stomp Under Foot

Get A Divided Drive Pedal, TODAY - https://shop.tonetailors.com/products/stomp-under-foot-divided-driveThis episode is a fun one for me because I sat down with one of the co-owners of Tone Tailors, John LeClair. If you’ve spent any time in the shop, you already know John. If you haven’t, this episode is a solid introduction to the brain behind a lot of what makes Tone Tailors feel the way it does.We start by bouncing around the usual range you’d expect when two guitar people sit down with mics. We talk Taylor guitars. We somehow end up talking Taylor Swift. That alone should tell you where John’s head lives musically. He’s one of those people who can appreciate a perfectly built acoustic guitar, a pop record done right, and a jam band that stretches a song to 20 minutes without losing the plot.About halfway through the conversation, I casually say the words “Tone Tailors exclusive” and mention the Stomp Under Foot Divided Drive pedal. At that point, John does not take a breath for what feels like 20 straight minutes. And I mean that in the best way possible. This pedal hits every nerve for him. The history, the circuit choices, the feel, the why behind every decision. You can hear the passion immediately. This isn’t a product he’s trying to sell you. It’s a thing he genuinely cares about.The Divided Drive came out of a simple idea that turned into a deep obsession. John wanted a way to capture that stacked, early-90s Trey Anastasio-style drive sound without needing a complicated pedalboard or signal chain. The result is a Tone Tailors exclusive collaboration with Stomp Under Foot that combines two modified overdrives and a vintage-voiced, Ross-style compressor in one enclosure. Each circuit can run on its own or be stacked in different ways, which makes it way more flexible than the inspiration it’s based on.In the episode, John breaks down how and why the pedal works the way it does. We talk about running the compressor by itself for clean rhythm parts, using a single overdrive for lower-gain tones, stacking both drives for thick lead sounds, and pushing the overdrives into the compressor for that long, singing sustain people chase forever. It’s nerdy in the best way, but it’s also practical. You don’t need to be chasing one specific artist’s tone to get a lot out of this pedal.We also talk about the reality of this being a true limited run. Fewer than 20 of these pedals exist. As of recording, only a handful were left. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. There’s no restock, no reissue, no “we might do it again later.” That’s part of what makes this episode interesting. You’re hearing the story of something that’s already becoming a small piece of Tone Tailors history.Outside of the pedal talk, you get a really good look at John as a person. He shares how he got into guitar in the late ’90s, what led him to guitar repair school, and how that path eventually turned into co-founding Tone Tailors in 2015. His background explains a lot about why the shop operates the way it does. He cares about doing things right, learning constantly, and passing that knowledge on to other players and techs whenever he can.We also hit on his influences, his bands over the years, and his taste in music, which somehow includes Phish, Hall & Oates, A Tribe Called Quest, Taylor Swift, and Stone Temple Pilots without any irony. It makes sense once you hear him talk. John doesn’t care about genre lines. He cares about songs, tones, and whether something feels honest.If you’re into guitars, pedals, or just listening to someone explain why they care so much about a piece of gear, this episode delivers. If you’re curious about what goes on behind the scenes at Tone Tailors, this is one of the clearest looks you’ll get. And if you’re even remotely interested in the Divided Drive, hearing John talk about it might be the thing that pushes you over the edge.