Wah-What? The Univox Uniwah is Weird

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In 1967 Unicord Incorporated, by way of their previously acquired Amplifier Corp. of America brand, entered the effects market with a simple Maestro FZ-1A copy they called, the "Fuzz King". Just a year and a half later they would seek to expand their reach, but this time under the Univox line, with the 108-5 Super Fuzz and the UW-2 Uniwah. The Super Fuzz would go on to receive the majority-share of attention between the two, and rightfully so, as even back then the poor Uniwah had an uphill battle; it was considered to be neither innovative nor a particularly good sounding wah. Regardless, it would go on to have a long life despite being taken for granted. And until recently, I'll be honest, I don't think many/any of us cared enough to even do the most basic research on its history.

So why this article? And why now?

I was working on another post earlier today and had the realization that I've always just assumed, like the Super Fuzz, that the Uniwah was obviously related to Honey Co. Ltd. But then it hit me; the Uniwah looks nothing like any wahs Honey ever made. But what if we could find photos to see if either the circuit or the build styles matched up, and show that it was possibly just a unique enclosure made for Univox? So to the databases, old hard drives, and abandoned websites I went...

*if, like me, you get instantly bored when people bring up wah pedal history, DON'T WORRY! I promise this actually gets pretty interesting and tells a much bigger story by the end :)

One thing we know for sure is that from the very beginning the Uniwah was given the model number of "UW-2". And unlike the Super Fuzz, this designation would carry over through the Honey bankruptcy to its final catalog reference in the late 1970s. 

What makes it somewhat confusing when looking through photos is that the pedal didn't seem to change at all from its earliest days to the end. Same enclosure, presumably the same size, and at least from what I have been able to find, they all employ the same general build (even using the same, and very unique power source of three "C" batteries). 

This is all to say that it's been quite difficult to pin down which units are from the initial run (1968-1969) and which are from the switchover/post-Honey period (1970-1976). And to make things even more difficult, it doesn't look like many owners have taken theirs apart; at least not in public view anyways.

But what we do have are these two surviving photos of original Uniwahs still with their boxes and manuals! And when we look at the images below the first thing I notice is that the box is quite a bit different from the bright orange design of the Honey-era Super Fuzz, instead opting for a more "USPS Priority Shipping" style. 

The next thing that stands out is the pedal itself seems nearly identical to later units from the 70s; same shape, size, and even uses what appears to be the same white sticker in between the jacks. And while the 1968 catalog image confirms that it always used three "C" batteries, we now have pretty clear photo evidence that it even came with said batteries included!

After finding these photos I was happy to at least have a baseline for the "early run" units. But one thing bothered me; in the 1968 and 69 catalogs, in addition to the image used on the original manual, you can clearly see that the word "Univox" is either white or some type of cut-out showing a reflective chrome finish (see image below).

So I wondered if these particular pedals even went with those boxes. Or was there another option (that was fairly common back then), that a special unit was made specifically for marketing purposes; where the graphics were modified in some way to photograph better (famously EHX did this with the Big Muff, and Honey did this with the Psychedelic Machine).

I decided to see if I could find any photos of a white-logo Uniwah, and then I came across this entry in a 1969 distributor's supply catalog. It showed a nice clean image of a grey Super Fuzz and a real nice detailed image of a Uniwah that you can see above. 

And if you expand the photo, zooming in on the white logo, you quickly realize what happened here. They simply painted the letters white! Right overtop of the rubber grip-tread so that the logo would easily stand out in a photo; it was as simple as that. lol

Ok so now we know, at least based on the outside of the pedal, that the Uniwah remained unchanged for its entire life. And this is a pretty big deal because it's the only Univox effect that didn't have at least a minor cosmetic adjustment over the years. But what does this mean? And is there more we can learn from taking a look inside the pedal?

Above are the only units I have been able to find with available gut-shots. Unfortunately because the outside of Uniwahs all look the same, it's impossible to know if any of these are earlier or later versions based solely on what we can see here.

But I'm sure there are some clues worth digging up.

The first thing I noticed was that (other than what are probably replaced electrolytic capacitors) the mixture of caps all appear to be the same (my only real concern is that middle pedal with the black caps. They could be early replacements I suppose). Which is also similar to the mixture you will find on Uni-Drives and big box Super Fuzzes. Next, the transistors are interesting because they're almost certainly the same brand used in those later Super Fuzzes (same number designation as well, 2SC537), and similar "top hat" silicon transistors can also be found in Uni-Drives. Lastly, the diodes and resistors are another mix that you will find in those later Super Fuzzes as well.

From everything we see here, it feels safe(ish) to assume that the same builder made all three pedals. And why that's important is both the Uni-Drive and the big box Super Fuzz didn't show up until 1970 (with previous Super Fuzzes using a different set of components), suggesting that Unicord struck a new deal with a currently unknown manufacturer after the Honey bankruptcy in 1969. And if any of the above gut-shots are from Uniwahs dated to 1968 or 69, then it would also suggest that whoever was responsible for them was, by extension, most likely the manufacturer of all other Univox pedals throughout the 70s.

Ok, so I feel like we're making some progress here, but if manufacturer "X" did build the Uniwah, was there only a single version during its lifespan? Sure there were a handful of component changes over the years, but was anything else different?

The PCB/layouts seem to be the same from unit to unit. And pretty much every other part, including the footswitch and that weird "C" battery compartment seem to remain unchanged.

But one thing I did notice was that two of the gut-shot sets had photos of the trace-side of the PCB. And printed on both was the label "Uniwah 3". So does that mean there was a "Uniwah 1" or "Uniwah 2" board as well?

If we jump back out of the pedals and look at the packaging, we see a few more details pop up. The pedal below shows the type of crossover that we would expect to see if the same manufacturer had made the pre and post-Honey Uniwahs.

The blue box clearly indicates a 1970-or-later release date, but the instruction manual is exactly the same as the one they included with the original units. And then we see at some point they changed over to a newer manual (see example below) that used the graphic and font introduced with the 1970 line. I have yet to find a third version of the owner's manual so I'm curious if they ever changed the graphic on the front page to fall more in line with the Univox advertisements (like you see above)?

Going back just a little bit, another part of this story involves our old friends at Lafayette Radio Electronics (LRE). In the Summer of 1968 they introduced an "LRE" branded Super Fuzz. And because of the connection to Univox, the LRE gear typically came from the same manufacturers who were making the Univox products (amps, guitars, microphones, effects, etc).

In the following catalog (presumably Fall of 1968), they ran an ad for their own version of the Uniwah, simply called the "Wah-Wah Sound and Volume Control". Although the photo is taken from the opposite side, and it appears as though there is no visible logo, it definitely seems to be the same pedal.

So what's up with that lack of a logo? Judging only from the somewhat poor scan of this 1968 catalog it almost looks like the "Univox" could have been blacked out during the printing process. But I did find a quality scan of a newspaper advertisement from November of 1970 (see below) and it clearly shows that the wah has a completely blank tread. And while the angle is different, I believe these were both the same photo in 1968 and 1970, with the 1970 image being rotated for the sake of space.

So is there an "LRE" labeled Uniwah?

The Univox effects have a bit of an interesting history with Lafayette Radio Electronics. We know for sure that there was an early gray version of the LRE Super Fuzz, but as of now we have never seen an LRE "Super Drive" (Uni-Drive), an LRE "Roto Sound" (Uni-Vibe), or an LRE big box Super Fuzz.

So I question what would happen in 1970 if you ordered the "Wah-Wah Sound and Volume Control". Would you just receive a Uniwah but with LRE packaging and paperwork? Sure, it is definitely possible that these versions do exist and somehow we've never seen one and no one has ever mentioned their existence online. But it is not very likely. And in fact just last year I came across the photo below, showing a big box Univox Super Fuzz, with Univox Packaging and paperwork, but with a receipt from a Lafayette Radio Electronics store in Middletown, NY!

The LRE Uniwah appeared in catalogs, alongside the other 70's-era Univox pedals, until 1976 where it became known as the "Deluxe Wah-Wah Sound/Volume Control". Another thing to note about the later LRE catalogs is that they dropped the "Roto-Vibe" name and simply used the Univox model name of "Shiftee Uni-Vibe".  

So for now, and until we physically see an example of a non-branded Uniwah, it's probably safe too assume they were never made? But we'll leave at least a 5% chance to appease all you pedal lawyers out there ;)

Well, what do you think? 

Was there an earlier version we have yet to see? Is the pedal in those 1968/69 catalogs the same as the ones from 1970, onward? And is the Univox Uniwah the secret key to finally unlocking the mystery of who manufactured their pedals post 1969? Or is it all just a classic red herring...

I have a guess about who the true builder of these effects was (*hint, it's NOT Shin-ei), but to be honest, there's still a lot to learn before I make it permanent with a blog-post... 

That being said, if you have any additional insight into this, or anything Univox related, please feel free to reach out to me via Email or Instagram..

thanks for reading,

-ed

Manny's Fuzz 1968 (Clark, Orpheum, et al.)

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A while back we posted a rather large article on the mystery of East Coast Fuzz (aka, Manny's Fuzz), and with everything we covered, and were able to uncover, one bit of evidence still managed to elude us; and that was WHEN the pedals were actually released...

In that article I guessed that they most likely came out between 1966-1968, based on pot code dates and the fact that they are modified copies of the germanium Mosrite Fuzzrite (which itself came out in 1966). But just a few days ago I did a bit more digging and came across three separate newspaper ads for different East Coast fuzzes!

Although a bit blurry, this first example comes in the form of a classified ad for various pieces of gear, but most importantly an Orpheum Fuzz. This was found in the September 13th edition of the St. Louis Post Dispatch newspaper, giving us a wider view of the distribution of the pedal. 

Another thing to consider is that this is a classified ad, meaning the seller had theoretically bought the Orpheum Fuzz brand new, used it, and is now putting it up for sale with the rest of the gear. So in terms of a timeline, I feel pretty confident that it was probably available well before September of 1968.

The next one here is another classified ad, but this time for the Clark Fuzz. Until finding this I had only ever seen the Clark printed in a magazine from 1970. And because the enclosure is a bit different, I had always assumed it came after than the Manny's and Orpheum. But here we are, October 5th 1968 (Syracuse Herald Journal) with a for-sale advertisement of a used Clark Fuzz.

To be honest, after going through the process of writing the last article, I was pretty happy to see this ad, as I believe Clark was at the epicenter of the East Coast fuzzes, potentially supplying the enclosures (if not even more involved). So seeing this 1968 evidence is a bit validating to my pedal nerd ego. ;) 

I saved my favorite one for last! First, this is just a cool advertisement on its own; with DiFiore's Music House highlighting their fuzz selection. Also from 1968, it's pretty amazing to see that you could walk into a local shop at the time and have your choice between a Maestro Fuzz Tone, a Kent Distorter, a Mosrite Fuzzrite, a Fuzz Face, (presumably an Ace Tone FM-1) Fuzz Master, and a Manny's Fuzz. 

What's cool about this ad, in terms of the Manny's Fuzz, is that it was published on Jan. 18th of 1968. Which leads me to believe that most likely it was available at least by the end of 1967. The other thing to consider is that unlike the last two clippings, this is a legitimate shop advertisement for new gear.  

And probably the most surprising thing I found about this is that it appears in The Plain Dealer, a newspaper based out of Cleveland! So not only do we have a store that is NOT the New York City-based Manny's Music clearly selling a Manny's Fuzz, but it's a store that's over 450 miles away! I think we can safely infer from this that the Manny's Fuzz (and probably other "Manny's" labeled gear) had real domestic distribution. 

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to be connected to a gentlemen who owned the above Manny's Fuzz. When I reached out to him he told me that he got it in either 1967 or 1968, from DiFiore's Music House in Cleveland!

I had actually forgotten that little factoid when I found the advertisement, but I remembered he did say he got it while living in Cleveland. So after rechecking our emails, sure enough! DiFiore's was the spot. *side note: I'll do a whole post just on this pedal in the future. It's a unique little oddity in the East Coast Fuzz lore.

A quick one today, but I felt like the main article needed this little add-on post for accuracy-sake. It feels like we're close to this one, so as always if you have any additional information (like, you bought a Manny's Fuzz in Nebraska or something) please feel free to reach out to me via Email or Instagram.

Thanks as always for reading,

-ed

Guyatone FS-3 - The Other Super Fuzz

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If you're tied into the vintage Japanese pedal market whatsoever, you may already know that the Guyatone FS-3 Fuzz is one of the most sought-after effects in the scene. It's famous among nerds for being extremely rare and sounding particularly awesome/gnarly. 

But what's the story with it? And what's going on inside that familiar looking enclosure?

A good internet scouring on the Guyatone FS-3 will typically find you little, and what you will find theorizes that it's possibly from the late 60s, and has some relation to another classic Japanese fuzz...

So the first myth we can work on is the "late 60s" part. It's funny, I've noticed specifically with vintage Japanse pedals, the default guess is that they were made "sometime in the late 60s". And while that's obviously true for some of them, the vast majority were actually made in the 1970s.

We did a whole video on the history of the Companion FY-2 a while back, where we discovered it actually hadn't been released until 1970, even though it's often considered to be one of the classic 60s fuzzes. And in that same video we briefly discussed the history of its big brother, the FY-6 Fuzz Master; another one thought to have been from the "late 60s", when in reality the Companion/Shin-ei version hadn't been released until 1970 as well.

So what about the Guyatone FS-3?

There are luckily an abundance of old Guyatone catalogs online, which have definitely helped me in my quest for supreme pedal knowledge! But there are a few glaring misses too, so I'll try to put it all together the best I can.

Above you see a 1973 Guyatone catalog that features three effects; the FS-4 Wah-Wah, the FS-5 Wah-Fuzz, and the FS-3 Fuzz. The next earliest catalog I have is from 1969, where they introduced the FS-2 Buzz Box. So we can probably guesstimate that the FS-3 was released some time between 1970 and 1973.

*Update: while I was working on this post, my good friend Marcelo hooked me up with the missing 1972 catalog! And inside we see basically the same pedal lineup from 1973. 

After taking into account that the pedal was available for at least a year and a half, it's surprising just how rare it is to come across one. Scanning through the 1971 catalog, it shows that they were still selling the FS-2 Buzz Box, and then in the 1974 catalog the FS-3 was replaced by the new, Big Muff inspired, FS-6 Fuzz Sustainer.

So while we lack some of the better hard evidence, like magazine ads, Guyatone really hooked us up by publishing accurate catalogs that pictured their available gear in proper chronological order.

Alright, so that part was fairly easy, but what about the enclosure? At first glance it probably reminds you of the Univox Uni-Fuzz. And that would make sense because they're exactly the same shape. There is a significant difference in size though, so it might not be related, or could simply be a generic enclosure.

But there is a better suspect; the Honey Special Fuzz. The Special Fuzz came out in 1968 and was made for probably less than a year, as Honey went out of business in 1969. And while Shin-ei continued to build the Honey Baby Crying Fuzz (as the FY-6 Fuzz Master), they did not continue with the extremely unique Special Fuzz.

So what happens when we compare the two pedals? I apologize for the awkward angle of the above FS-3 photo, it's not quite that long. So when we take that into account, the enclosures look pretty close, even using the same style of graphics badge! Obviously one has been pressed/drilled out differently for switches, pots, and jacks, but many of the other details seem to check out.

Luckily for us, at least one person has already made this comparison in real life, and did so in a photo essay of sorts, on the legendary Cult pedals blog; Check it out HERE.

I reached out to him to confirm the sizing, and he said that while they are close, the Special Fuzz was notably wider and shorter than the FS-3. Which is odd because with all things considered, I would have expected the enclosures to be exactly the same size. I say this because of what we find when we look INSIDE the Guyatone...

photo by: Cult Pedals Blog

So after looking at the all-important gut shots above we see some things that tell an entirely unexpected story, and simultaneously spawn a whole new crop of questions. The component-side of the board shows the exact layout you see on many of the pre Shin-ei Super Fuzzes (Honey, Univox, LRE, etc). And while that is a bit weird to see in a Guyatone pedal, there were others from this era, like the Royal Fuzz Box, that also copied the Super Fuzz PCB layout, so it's not unheard-of. But when we take a look at the bottom of the board, we see that it is in fact an original Honey-labeled PCB! 

So what the hell is going on here???

Through my long obsessive searches online I have found at least two other examples of "Super Fuzz" style pedals that use the Honey PCB, but were otherwise completely different when it came to the components used. And knowing the FS-3 didn't come out until 1972 (at least 3 years after Honey went out of business) the only conclusion that makes sense to me, is that old parts stock was sold off at some point, and these brands (including Guyatone) purchased it and released as many pedals as they could make out of them.

I don't think it's a coincidence that both the enclosure and the circuit board are Honey related. And while I write this, another possible version of the story just came to me. It could also be that a currently unknown third-party was responsible for building the Honey pedals. And while Honey itself went out of business, this particular manufacturer did not. It's also possible then, that Guyatone (and these other brands) contracted this company to build a new fuzz pedal, and they simply used parts they had left over from the Honey days?

Obviously this is just me speculating out loud, trying to make sense of it all, but I do find it interesting that apparently a handful of seemingly unrelated brands somehow acquired these PCB's (and who knows what other parts?) and made their own version of the Super Fuzz. It's also kind of funny to know that the legendary, extremely rare and sought-after Guyatone FS-3 is basically a Univox Super Fuzz with different components inside (not to diminish how awesome it is or anything. trust me, I still want one ;)

Guyatone's entire pedal history is still quite hazy to me. I have never been able to confirm that they built any of their pedals in-house (60s-70s). Each one is a bit different, construction-wise, and looking back at the 1972 catalog, right next to the FS-3 we also see two pedals confirmed to have been made by Maxon (what Guyatone has called the "FS-4 Wah-Wah" and the "FS-5 Wah-Fuzz").

Well we definitely know that this was a business practice they followed (it was also how the vast majority of Japanese guitar brands functioned at the time). And while we don't know the builder of the FS-3, or the FS-2, or the FS-1, or even the FS-6 actually, the most confusing part is figuring out if each of them was built by the same manufacturer or not. I truly have no idea.

When it comes to the sound of the Guyatone FS-3, it's been described as a beefier version of the Super Fuzz; with a bigger low end, more pronounced upper octave, and it's just a bit more gated than its cousins.

There are a few demos online, but most of them really don't do it justice. The one that is pretty good, and what I usually send to people when they ask about the FS-3, is this classic banger by Effeken//

So the background of the FS-3 isn't quite as cut-and-dry as we would hope (and just expect from vintage Japanese pedals at this point), but we at least have more to go off of than usual. It's also kind of relieving to know that even though the last one sold for over $4K, at its heart, the Guyatone FS-3 is a Super Fuzz. A very cool, and rare Super Fuzz... but a Super Fuzz nonetheless. :)

If you happen to have any additional information we missed here, or happen to have an FS-3 yourself, I would love to hear from you. Send me a message via Email or Instagram. 

thanks for reading,

-ed

Ideal Fuzz Master - A Mystery Solved!

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In 2023, after rediscovering some old photos buried deep in the recesses of an ancient portable hard drive, I decided to feature one of those photos right here on the blog. Pictured was a mysterious wedge-shaped pedal simply called the "Fuzz Master". I didn't have much to go off of because the image was insanely small and pixelated, but what I could see was that it had labels for "Attack" and "Volume" on the front, probably had knobs on either side, and that those knobs were very similar to ones used on other Japanese wedge fuzzes built in the late 60s.

Unfortunately there was no brand label (that I could see at least), and while it did share many characteristics of those classic Japanese wedge fuzzes, it was different enough that I couldn't confirm exactly what it was. So I made the post and waited, hoping someone who knew something would eventually come across it and message me...

Well two years later, and sadly, not one email. 

But! Just a few minutes ago, while looking for photos of a completely different pedal, I came across a long-finished auction on a Japanese site for an Ace Tone FM-1, and in the background was my mystery Fuzz Master! The photo was very blurry, but luckily, right there in the description was the name of the hidden gem: the IDEAL "Fuzz Master".

So obviously my very next step was to search online to see if I could find anything else about this pedal, and sitting right there for over a decade was an entry for the Ideal Fuzz Master in Effects Database!

I reached out to Bart, who runs the site, and he was able to track down the origin of the photos to an ebay auction from all the way back in 2012. But other than that, it doesn't look like any other Fuzz Masters have popped up since.

Something of note to point out, is if you compare the images above, three differences emerge from the pixelation; the bottom pedal has no brand label on it (which we even see in many of the classic Sekova wedge fuzzes), the Ideal pedal has two hardwired cables for both input and output, while the other pedal seems to have been modded at some point with jacks on the sides (I say this because it still has the graphics at the top for "Guitar" and "Amplifier"), and one pedal seems to have a rivet on the front plate, most likely for the battery holder (but again this could easily be a modification done some time after it was built). 

Well upon further inspection of all the Ideal photos I discovered that the build did indeed match what was inside the FZ-1A version of the Sekova Fuzz. Same PCB, same components, same bottom plate and more. 

So there's a pretty good chance these were made by the same people. One thing I still haven't been able to determine is if the FZ-1A style of Sekova fuzz was built by the same manufacturer who built the more Fuzzrite(ish) 9v version. Regardless, there's enough similarities between these two, and the odd one we highlighted in this article a couple of months ago, to say they all (probably) came from the same factory.

No doubt this "Fuzz Master" was another OEM situation, and probably exists under a few different brandings (hence the unbranded version I found photos of back in 2003). But to get a little closer to its history we still have to answer the question; who was Ideal? 

After a tiny bit of research it looks like they were manufacturing guitars as early as the 1930s and based in New York City. Not only that, but by the mid 30s they were either a division of, or distributed by Epiphone. (there was also a completely different "Ideal" guitar manufacturer from Chicago, but I have ruled them out)

At some point in the 50s it looks like they existed in name only, and instead had begun importing guitars from Japan. Some online sites state that they were made by Guyatone while others have stated it was Matsumoku. It's very possible both of these are true, but after looking over photos of more Ideal guitars, from what I believe to be the mid-late 60s, it seems very likely that this era at least was made by Matsumoku, as they appear to be identical in style to some others they were known to have manufactured at the time.

Now while I was able to find a lot of examples of Ideal branded guitars, there was little to no information beyond those photos. But what we do have is a thread that seems to run through many of the Sekova fuzzes and guitars, including the other brandings (Apollo, Greco, Tele-Star, etc.), and that connection is the infamous see-through knobs!

I do have a bit more research to do before I can confirm this, but as of now it does seem like three important details were true when it comes to unraveling this story; 

1. A lot of Matsumoku guitars from 1967-1969 seem to use these knobs.

2. Matsumoku also used Nisshin Onpa (Maxon) pickups in many (if not all) of those same guitars.

3. Of those guitars, a certain number of these brands also had Sekova style wedge fuzzes in their catalogs.

My working theory, and I know it's a bit flimsy, is that either Matsumoku, or Teisco, or Fujigen (or one of the other big Japanese guitar factories of the 60s)  had clients reaching out to them, most likely though a distributor, wanting a fuzz box for their brand (because it was 1967 and fuzz was HOT!). So the distributor asked these manufacturers to build fuzz boxes for the clients, and in turn they contacted a third-party (possibly a company like Maxon/Nisshin Onpa) who were adept at electronics and circuit design, to see if they would be up to the task. And the rest, is history! :) 

Again, totally and completely a guess, based on the info I currently have. But it's also totally plausible that it could have happened like this. So as of now, who knows?

At least we do know one thing, whoever built these pedals made multiple variations and they were built specifically for OEM contracts with mostly foreign distribution. Almost all of the brand logos you find on these wedge style pedals can be traced to an imported Japanese guitar made under the same branding. So if it didn't happen exactly like how I have speculated above, then I feel like it was some sort of package deal; 

"Buy a guitar from us, and for an extra $3 we will make you a fuzz pedal with your logo on it!" 

or something like that...

It's possible these companies, like Sekova, Greco, and Apollo, didn't even know who was involved in building their pedals. Apollo is actually a great example because by 1970 they had sold effects made by Honey, Shin-ei, Maxon, and (possibly) Melos. 

So there's a good chance that their Japan distributor simply handed them an order form full of effects to choose from, they checked some boxes, paid their dealer, and couple months later an order of guitars, accessories, and effects arrived via cargo ship?

 

However this all went down, finding the Ideal Fuzz Master does show how prevalent the mystery wedge fuzz maker really was. I do find it interesting that the odd variations we've found over the last year have all been different takes on the eyelet board/FZ-1A version of the pedal, as opposed to the 9v version.

So are we seeing an evolution of the pedal in chronological order, or were these all being made at the same time in a purely chaotic fashion? Whatever the answer, hopefully as we continue to go deeper we'll get closer to the truth. 

And with that, we'll end as we usually do... If you happen to own one of these "Fuzz Masters" please feel free to reach out via Email or Instagram. Additionally, if you know how these brands made their orders back in the 60s, I would love to hear all about it! 

Thanks for reading,

-ed

Baby Fuzz / Distor Wha (70's France)

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Continuing on with our vintage French pedal features (see the Garen Distortion post here), today we're going to take a look at the Baby Fuzz / Distor Wha. As we mentioned in the last post, quite a while back we highlighted the mysterious Baby Fuzz. Once thought to be of Japanese origin, it turned out to be a French built Vox/Jen Distortion Booster copy from (most likely) 1970 or so. As of now it is the only one I have ever seen, and I thought it had the potential to be either homemade or some kind of local electronics shop kit. But a couple of years ago I came across photos of an odd fuzz/wah I had never seen before. I did however, immediately recognize the font and what it was called...

The Baby Fuzz apparently had a big sister called the "Distor Wha". And luckily for us about a year after discovering this existed, another one popped up online and we got even more photos. 

After looking it over, it clearly uses many of the same components found in the Baby Fuzz, and even uses that same heavy grip tread. Additionally the font used on the input and output jacks "Guitare" & "Ampl." are identical to the font used on the Baby Fuzz.

So I think it is safe to say, they were made by the same manufacturer.

When comparing the two, while I am not anything close to a pedal builder (at all), it does seem very likely that both pedals use the same fuzz circuit. In addition to all of the components being the same (minus the transistors, which could be explained by simply one pedal coming before the other), it also used the right amount of those components.

Unfortunately we still don't know who manufactured these.  But the best clue we have can be found on the bottom of the PCB of the Distor Wha. Etched in, it clearly says "France" and above that we have a bit of an enigma to unravel... "ER_B" So what does that obscured letter say? "D"? "R"? "B"?

We may never find out, but I'm hoping that someone reading this will immediately recognize it and comment on how stupid I am for not knowing basic French vocabulary. :)

So if nothing else, we finally have confirmation that the Baby Fuzz (and now the Distor Wha) was actually of French origin! So that's an exiting end to an almost 15yr mystery.

I'd still love to find out who was making these, mostly because they teeter right on the edge of a one-off garage project, and a small "boutique" level of production. But I could be way off, and maybe they were being put out by some larger French amplifier brand at the time? (finding an original advertisement would be amazing! Were there any French Rock magazines in the 60s/70s I should be digging through?)

One of my favorite things about getting into the pedal history weeds is realizing that way more countries were building pedals during that golden era than we ever gave credit to. Just over the last 6 months I have seen pedals I never knew existed from places like Turkey, Romania, Poland, Indonesia, Chile, and Korea.

Each of these have a cool story to tell, individually and as part of the larger story of Distortion (which to me is the most important discovery in all of modern music).

So as always, we seek to discover more and more. And if you happen to have any additional information about the Baby Fuzz line, please feel free to reach out  via Email or Instagram

thanks for reading,

-ed