What now? I think the title says it pretty well. I was thinking about going through the basics of reading schematics, but that is more or less useless. I will talk about it a bit nevertheless. And get to the bigger picture in a while. If we take a look at any analog guitar effect…
DOD 525 Compressor Limiter
What is it? DOD 525 Compressor Limiter from the Performer series. Made in USA in early 80’s. My first contact with any performer series boxes was with 525A Compressor and a few other i serviced a while back. At the same time someone was selling this unit for a very decent price. And since i’m…
Peavey HFD-2 Hot Foot Distortion
What is it? Peavey HFD-2 Hotfoot Distortion. I’m not completely certain about the country of manufacture, but several things point to this being US made. Around mid to late 80’s. I recall stumbling on to the schematic of this unit a few years back. There is not much special about it. From electronic point of…
Arion MDS-1 Distortion
What is it? Aria MDS-1 Distortion. Made in Sri Lanka, possibly around mid 00’s. As plastic, low price point pedals come, i’ve found Arion to be one of the best. The housings are way more solid than what we find in Rocktek, Aria and similar 80’s/90’s cheapos. Earlier Arions were made in japan, but the…
Danelectro DSD-1 Shift Daddy
What is it? Danelectro DSD-1 Shift Daddy Echo Pitch Shifter from original series of rocker pedals. Made in china around late 90’s. I must admit that i was interested. And local music store happened to have one left behind. The unit had seen better days as it had sat in direct sunlight for years. Still…
Rocktek MWR-01 Metal Worker
What is it? Rocktek MWR-01 Metal Worker Distortion. Made in china, around early to mid 90’s. For some reason i dig these old cheap plastic things. For what’s interesting is that while these were clearly intended as an entry level boxes for the folks who bought their kids the very first guitar set, the designs…
Excalibur TS-4558 Tone Screamer
What is it? Excalibur Overdrive TS-4558 Tone Screamer. Made in china as an OEM for german brand Excalibur, around 2007. As i got a bit burned with my not-doing-my-homework and hoping for something decent from the delay sold side by side with this one, i must say that my enthusiasm was not very high to…
Excalibur AD-350 Analog Device
What is it? Excalibur Analog Delay AD-350 Analog Device. Made in china around 2006. Someone i know was selling the lot of these Excalibur brand pedals. Local musician’s forum had no bad words, just a few descriptions about tone and such. The price for the three pedals was ok, including this (which was the most…
EHX Graphic Fuzz XO
What is it? Electro-Harmonix Graphic Fuzz with variable envelope response, from XO-series. Made in NYC in the late 00’s. Most likely in 2009. A friend was letting this one go and i just simply couldn’t help myself. Pricing for an used Graphic Fuzz isn’t too cheap, but then again – it definitely isn’t one of…
Danelectro DD-1 Fab Tone
What is it? Danelectro DD-1 Fab Tone Distortion from Dano original series. Made in china around 1997. Distortion from original series.. Since all the others have certain vintage vibe to their tones, i had no expectations one way or another. On the other hand, i’ve had this unit for years now and it’s not that…