Surf. Siren. Wah. Tornado.

In 1968 Honey Co., Ltd. released a full lineup of new and impressive effects; the Special Fuzz, the Vibra Chorus (pre Uni-Vibe), the Psychedelic Machine, and a really niche / weird / borderline ridiculous unit called the HA-9P Super Effect. In addition to controls for "Wah-Wah" and "Volume", the player could also trigger the sounds of a "Siren" or "Wind/Tornado". It was billed as more of an SFX machine rather than a typical pedal, and sought to capitalize on Japan's infatuation with The Ventures and the national Surf Rock craze.

But in 2025 it's very easy to look back at these Surf pedals as nothing more than a novelty, or some kitsch artefact of a bygone era. But I believe that hidden deep within this oddball weirdness is a new key to uncovering one of the blurriest periods of the Honey/Shin-ei saga...

Where did the Super Effect idea come from originally? That's a question that we kind of have an answer to, but also, maybe not. :)

Whenever this pedal gets brought up in conversation (extremely nerdy and specific conversation) someone is always quick to point out the Jennings Cyclone pedal, which in a very similar fashion had controls for "Wah-Wah",  "Siren", "Tornado", and "Fuzz". The release date has been difficult to pin down, but we do know that in the Summer of 1968 Jennings premiered their new effects line at the BMII Trade Fair. Unfortunately the only known reports fail to name all of the pedals that were demoed. But the "Summer of 1968" does give us a nice baseline as to the earliest probable time the Cyclone could have been released.

Predating both the Jennings Cyclone and the Honey Super Effect by at least two years was the Guyatone HG-208 Surf Deluxe steel guitar. Debuting in the 1966 Guyatone catalog, it's the first known instrument to feature an oscillating white noise to specifically mimic the sound of waves. We obviously can't deny that the use of white noise was already becoming a staple of early synthesis by the mid 60s. The Ace Tone S-3 Canary clavioline (1963/4) featured two large circular pads that triggered bursts of white noise, allowing the user to tap out a rhythm in real time. When held down, the buttons would spit a steady stream of white noise, but by adding the oscillating "Vibrato" effect it could also create something similar to a wave or wind sound.

So while the Honey Super Effect may not have been a completely original idea, in 1968 it would have definitely felt fresh and different enough for the average guitar god looking to 'psych' up their solos. 

To me, the best argument for the Super Effect coming out before (or at least, without the knowledge of) the Jennings Cyclone is that Honey decided against including a fuzz. I could easily be wrong here, but this reads to me like Honey had an idea to make a true sound effects pedal, and not necessarily a guitar effects pedal. If they were simply copying the Cyclone, then why not just do so straight up?

Luckily for us we don't have to guess any more, because an unpublished interview with legendary engineer, Fumio Mieda sheds a significant amount of light on the development of the Surf Wah. In it, he states that he came up with the circuit for the "Siren" portion first, and almost by accident, while still working for Teisco in (approximately) 1964. He made note of it and held on to the design until 1968, as there was no home for it in the Teisco lineup, when he was able to adapt it into pedal-form with the Honey HA-9P. 

The other interesting part of that interview is where Mieda talks about the inspiration for creating this sound, describing the profound impact of daily air raid sirens he would hear throughout his childhood. Leftover from the 2nd World War, they were repurposed to signal the start of general public announcements in his home town (and possibly throughout Japan, but he wasn't sure). So with this in mind, he timed the sweep of the siren to mimic those same air raid horns from his youth. Pretty wild! And even maybe a little more wild, is to think that in addition to the Uni-Vibe, the Special Fuzz, and the Korg MS-20, Fumio Mieda also invented the Surf Wah!

Alright! Let's get into those original Honey-era Surf Wahs and what makes them stand out.

The 1968 Honey brochure (see top of the post), shows us that the "Tornado" effect was originally labeled as "Wind" on the pedal itself even though the controls were described as affecting the "Tornado" sound. So it's no surprise that later in the run Honey would change the pedal's labeling to also say "Tornado". And as you'll see, when Shin-ei got into the game they would again change which natural disaster would represent the "wind" effect. 

Another quick cosmetic detail to look out for is the model number itself, "HA-9P". This is something that was done only during the Honey-era (1968-1969). So while you can find this exact enclosure with pedals built even into the mid 70s, anything made after 1969 will have a blank space under the word "Siren". And as you'll see in a little bit, even the circuit was changed from one manufacturer to the next, so this easy-to-spot cosmetic alteration is a nice way to know what you're actually getting even when there's no gut shots.

Shin-ei is just as well known for the amount of OEM brands they manufactured as they are for the effects themselves. But this trend actually began during the Honey-era, and the Surf Wah might be the best example of the their reach.

It's hard to say which branding came first, but both the Apollo "Racket Pedal" and the Shaftesbury "Squall Pedal" were advertised in 1969, while the Greco "Special Effects Pedal" was first seen in the Greco/Goya catalog from 1968. The last two known brands with the HA-9P circuit are the rare Italian unit by Galli, and the American Cromwell, which was distributed by Guild and appeared in their 1969 price sheets.  

It's worth noting that many of these continued to be produced after Shin-ei took over as well. So you'll most likely see Apollo, Shaftesbury, and Cromwell units with the missing "HA-9P" labeling and the later circuit, seeing as they're much more common. Additionally, after 1969 the new brands that popped up in the original Honey enclosure include the Sekova Model No. 89 Super Effect, the Tempo Super Effect, and the Companion Super Effect. This is right when things started to get weird and stupidly convoluted with Shin-ei and their many versions of the Surf Wah.

At some point, either late 1969 or very early 1970 (I think!), Shin-ei took over manufacturing the Honey effects. This particular period of time is still very unclear, but the two pedals above give us a glimpse into how chaotic it was.

In the Summer of 1969 Shin-ei Electric Co. Ltd. ran an advertisement for what I believe to be the very first "Companion" branded effect. It was a simple wah pedal, but one I've never seen outside of this ad. And while it was unique, it's enclosure was also very similar in shape to the first image above. 

By 1971 this new Surf Wah would officially become known as the Companion ME-7 Multi Effect, and featured an updated "Hurricane" sound in place of "Tornado" or "Wind". It also used a cloned/modified circuit with a totally different layout from the Honey units. But previous to its official name or even landing in any type of catalog, I believe Shin-ei made their own version of the Surf Wah BEFORE the decision was made to take over/absorb Honey (I'll explain this theory more as we go on). And the unit above is a perfect example of this, as it has enough unique parts to be unlike the typical ME-7's but also it's clearly not the same as HA-9P's either.

Another oddity from what I believe is the same time period, is this Oscar Wah King. With its grey paint job and clear rubber foot tread, it combines both the past and the even more past hallmarks of typical Shin-ei and Honey effects. 

Before we go all-in with the gut shots, I wanted to show you what's going on inside both of the Surf Wah oddities we just mentioned.

The three photos above show the early Companion pedal, the Oscar pedal, and the base of two additional Shin-ei Surf Wahs from 1970 (Aug. & Apr.). The Companion version appears to be the same general circuit as the Oscar, but in a completely different layout. The components we find inside include carbon comp resistors, those brown/orange caps, and eight 2SC-829 transistors, which vary from the 2SC-828 transistors found in the official schematic (and the vast majority of ME-7's).

The Oscar pedal houses both the Honey PCB and the correct Honey-era components, including the unique combination of seven 2SC-828 and a single 2SC-539 transistor (which is the same odd metal can tranny you'll also find in Honey versions of the Uni-Vibe, Psychedelic Machine, some Crier Wahs, a handful of  Baby Crying Fuzzes, and the Uni-Fuzz).  Another pedal to note is the Oscar Fuzz Wah, which comes in the same grey enclosure and is the only Shin-ei pedal I am aware of that uses two separate boards for the fuzz and wah sections. As far as we know Honey never made a Fuzz Wah, but when we look inside the Oscar it uses two Honey-era PCB's. This is an important clue to help us date these pedals because in 1970 they would officially start calling them "WF-8" in relation to the 8 transistor, single PCB circuit; which to me could show that this rare Oscar version is from that infamous transition period in 1969?

I wonder about that grey paint job as well. Was this originally designed for Univox/LRE? Was it a scenario where Honey went out of business and the enclosures were sold off with everything else, winding up in the hands of Shin-ei? We do know that many Honey-era PCB's made their way into the Guyatone FS-3 Fuzz (as we discussed HERE a while back). But those ones had the Honey lettering etched into them ("HF"), while the PCB's that were used in the Oscar pedals were blank, just like what you will find in the last batches of grey Univox Super Fuzzes. We may never know what was really happening in that transition period between the Summer of 1969 and the Spring of 1970, but one thing is for sure; it was pretty chaotic.

If you thought the craziness was done, just wait...

Dated to April of 1970 (or just one month after the earliest date-stamped Companion effects) this NDK "Exciter" is yet another iteration of the Surf Wah. It uses the same circuit and components found in the typical Shin-ei versions of the time. I can only speculate as to why these got both, a different enclosure and a different name than the "normal" run found in the Companion catalogs. But if there's any logic to it at all, my best guess is that these decisions were made for the export market?

What's makes this whole thing even weirder is that Shin-ei continued to produce the Surf Wah and Fuzz Wah in all 3 enclosures, pretty much until they went bankrupt in 1979. Could this point to multiple manufacturers all owned by Shin-ei, working somewhat independently? Could it be nothing more than clever marketing, using the illusion of choice to make more sales? 

If you're a guitar company in the US and want your "Brand X" Surf Wah you definitely wouldn't want it to look exactly like your competitor's, "Brand Y", Surf Wah... 

So instead of being locked in to a single option you get to pick between 3 different enclosures that secretly all house the exact same circuit... I'm honestly not sure what to think, because it's not like Shin-ei gave these options for the FY-2 and FY-6 fuzzes? I'm almost certain that the Uni-Vibe was made exclusively for Unicord (Univox/LRE/Tempo), while the Vibra Chorus (and later the Resly Tone) were made for the rest of the Shin-ei brands and OEM offerings. So basically all we got are these three different treadle style effects that were available in multiple housings.

Why is this all so maddening!!! lol

Alright, well let's move on to areas we do know something about.

A clue that I noticed last year, and honestly shook my long-held opinion of how this mysterious relationship worked, was that almost all of the effects that transferred from the Honey-era to the Shin-ei-era (minus the Super Fuzz and the Uni-Vibe) had different bottom plates from their previous versions. 

The image above shows one of the earliest Companion-era Shin-ei Surf Wahs on the left and a Honey Super Effect on the right. These were probably made within a year of each other, yet you can see the difference almost instantly. While Honey opted for a smaller battery door that hinged from left to right, Shin-ei's design involved a larger area that fully hinged from bottom up. And you'll see this type of battery access in virtually all of the Shin-ei treadle effects. 

Knowing this, I was able to infer a few key things: 1, is that Shin-ei most likely built the Oscar effects using those odd Honey parts, because they all have the larger hinged bottom plates. 2, is that my assumption Shin-ei hadn't simply taken over after Honey went bankrupt, but they manufactured their pedals from the beginning, is almost certainly wrong!

So what do I think happened here?

This is definitely an ongoing, and everchanging, theory. I will finally submit to that. 

But my best guess is that Shin-ei decided to begin manufacturing pedals some time in the first half of 1969. They had already been in the business from 1959 (supposedly), making pickups and then microphones. And I believe around 1969 they figured the time was right to finally jump on the stompbox trend themselves (even though/because the Japanese guitar market was crashing all around them). 

What was the norm in the late 60s, especially in Japan, was to blatantly ripoff another brand's design, almost totally. You had Royal do it with their Fuzz Box, Nishin Onpa do it with their Mac-Tone Fuzz Machine, and Yack do it with there DA-1 Fuzz Box. So why not Shin-ei also get into the game through cloning? We already know that the original version of the FY-2 was copied from the Yack-YF-1, and I am really stretching to think of a purely original effect Shin-ei ever produced...

That all said (typed?), I think Shin-ei was probably getting ready to release a line of effects that essentially ripped off what Honey was doing, in 1969. And the fact that Honey happened to go out of business around the same time was just pure serendipity, leading to Shin-ei buying out much of the remaining inventory, business, and taking over the previous OEM deals. Where I once truly believed that Shin-ei had always been Honey's effects manufacturer, I now think they were simply in the right place at the right time, and were able to take over the business completely.

I am almost certain I'm still missing something though, something big that will crack this case wide open. But for now at least, with the information I have been able to gather, this makes the most sense. Obviously more questions need to be answered, like:

-Was Shin-ei manufacturing pedals before 1969, for other brands, and we just don't know about it?, or

-Was Shin-ei a collective of smaller manufacturers all owned by the larger conglomerate called Shin-ei Electric?, and the big question still stands, 

-What did the transition from Honey to Shin-ei really look like? Was Honey actually building their own pedals, or did they hire a (currently unknown) third party and the deal with Shin-ei was actually with this mystery factory and not Honey themselves?...

The legacy of the Surf Wah almost totally lies in the Land of Pedals Past. I don't think I have ever heard one used at a live event, or on any record that came out in the last 40 years. And I can't think of a single pedal builder who has gone all-in on making a clone of this utterly strange circuit.

But in 1970 it was still quite fashionable, so the Italian brand EKO released their version, called the Multitone. And because Italian brands had close ties to UK brands in the late 60s - early 70s, and also because the Multitone includes a Fuzz, I believe this pedal was most likely a combination clone, of the Jennings Cyclone and Repeater pedals.

In what seems like the same year, the Brazilian brand SOUND Malagoli released the SOUND - III (which was later modified and rebranded as the SOUND ES-3). We believe it's inspired by, if not completely a copy of, the EKO Multitone. There's a long history of Italian/Brazilian connections in the world of musical instruments, that were a result of a massive Italian immigration during the World Wars. So it's no surprise that an obscure Italian pedal would wind up in Brazil and quickly get copied.

The last example was definitely cloned directly from a Shin-ei ME-7. As we mentioned earlier, Guild had an HA-9P Surf Wah in their price lists in 1969. This is most likely the Cromwell branded version, but I suppose there could be a Guild version we have just never seen? Well in 1974 Guild would reintroduce the effect, this time built by Applied Audio Products here in the US, called the SP-5 Siren Surf & Turf Pedal. It was a part-for-part copy of the Shin-ei Surf Wah, even down to the PCB, and was only available for a single year. But in 1977 Applied would reintroduce this effect under the Hohner brand, with the ME-30 Multi-Exciter. 

For Shin-ei, the ME-7 Multi-Exciter would go through one more cosmetic change in the mid-70s before fizzling out for good. This would sadly signal the end of the totally tubular sounds of Wind, Tornados, Hurricanes, and Sirens gracing our favorite records. The truth is, there's about a zero percent chance that a resurgence of the Surf Wah pedal ever happens, so I do apologize if this is the first time you're hearing about them because this article feels closer to a pedal eulogy than our typical deep-dive.

But I hope you were able to take away something new and interesting from all of this. And at the very least, I hope I did a good job of describing the greater importance of the Surf Wah as part of the Honey / Shin-ei story. Because if we study them even more they may end up being our best guide down the path to true effector enlightenment...

thanks for reading,

-ed