New Brand - Summer School Electronics

Summer School is in Session in the UK!

First Line has just been appointed the exclusive UK distributor for Summer School Electronics, a hand-built, small-batch boutique effects pedal company from Syracuse, New York. Summer School was built by a school teacher and has been championed by JHS Pedals and featured in SPIN magazine.

There’s something about a pedal company started by a maths teacher in his dining room. From its modest inception in a school teacher's dining room in 2020, Summer School has quietly become one of the most talked-about boutique pedal makers in North America. The full range is available to UK music retailers from launch.

The Story Behind Summer School Electronics

Summer School Electronics was founded in 2021 by Mark Turley, a working musician of 20+ years and a full-time elementary and special education teacher in central New York. When the 2020 shutdown turned Mark’s dining-room table into a classroom and put his usual summer of gigs on hold, he bought a build-your-own pedal kit. One fuzz led to another. Friends started asking for builds. Then strangers.

The first pedal Mark designed himself was the Gus-Drive, named after the dog he and his wife rescued during lockdown. Twelve pedals went up for sale to see if anyone would bite. Thirteen orders came back. Summer School Electronics has been hand-building in Syracuse ever since.

The schoolhouse theme runs through everything. Pedals are named like timetable entries — Science Fair, Class Reunion, Middle School Chorus, Spring Break Reverb, Snow Day Delay, Extra Credit Boost, Half Day Compressor, Pep Rally Fuzz. Artwork is by Mark’s lifelong friend and bandmate, Steve Peterson. The look is instantly recognisable on a shop wall and, more importantly, on a customer’s pedalboard.

School Lunch Boost

Why Summer School is a Great Fit for UK Shops

• Hand-built, small-batch. Every pedal is made by Mark himself in Syracuse, NY. No assembly line, no overseas contract manufacturing.

• A story your customers will love telling. Teacher-by-day, pedal-builder-by-summer is the kind of provenance that sells itself where authenticity matters.

• Critical pedigree. Featured in JHS Pedals’ “Best of 2022” list, written up in SPIN, Pedal of the Day and Ultimate Guitar.

• A coherent visual identity. Steve Peterson’s schoolhouse artwork makes the range display distinctively, whether it's wall-mounted, on a shelf or on a pedalboard demo.

• Made by a player, for players. Mark has toured as a professional musician for two decades. The range is built to be road-ready, quiet and intuitive.

• Lifetime warranty on standard pedals. Backed up by warranty support from First Line in the UK.

The Range

We have the full Summer School Electronics line available from launch. Highlights below, but the full catalogue is available on request.

Fuzz 101	The school’s starter fuzz. The pedal that named the brand. Punchy, vocal, instantly playable.
Trash Panda	A 2020s-flavoured overdrive that has become a Summer School flagship.
Science Fair	Two classic overdrive/distortion voices in parallel, blended to taste. A riff-writing machine.
Class Reunion	A 90’s Russian Muff and the Trash Panda living in the same box, with diode-switching on each side.
Middle School Chorus	Analog bucket-brigade chorus + tap-switchable vibrato. The first modulation pedal from SSE.
Spring Break Reverb	Warm, characterful reverb in the SSE schoolhouse aesthetic.
Snow Day Delay	Analog-flavoured delay featuring short slap to long, drifting repeats.
Extra Credit Boost	A clean boost that does exactly what its name promises.
Half Day Compressor	Smooth, transparent compression for guitar and bass.
Pep Rally Fuzz	High-energy fuzz with attitude. A great counterpart to the Fuzz 101.
Gladys V2 Overdrive	Refined second-generation overdrive named after Mark’s second rescue dog.
Gus-Drive / Gus-Plus	The pedals that started it all, named after the dog that started it all.
Smoking in The Boys Room	A higher-end statement pedal from the Summer School line.
School Lunch Multi-Effect	The flagship multi-effect with several Summer School voices in one enclosure.
Limited Editions	Limited-run pedals like the Canadian Trash Panda. Great for window displays and collectors.
Apparel	T-shirts and hoodies for shops that like to stock a little merch alongside the pedals.

Demos of all the pedals are available at SUMMERSCHOOLELECTRONICS.COM

With a catalogue featuring heavyweights like Wampler, Friedman, Empress, Rat, Mad Professor and Thermion, to name just a few, First Line is proud to be the home of the best range of effects pedals in the UK.

Get in touch for more information