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

Garen Fuzz - Chambre De Distorsion (1969)

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By the late 1960s the sound of gritty primitive fuzz had fully captured the French youth. In addition to music trends coming out of the US and UK, new Garage Rock and Blues Rock bands were popping up in France all the time (highlighted well in this recent video by Yesterday's Papers). Many of these bands were using pedals made outside the country or homemade one-offs by local solder jockeys, but we also know of at least two truly French fuzz pedals made during this time; the somewhat mysterious Baby Fuzz (we highlighted years ago in THIS POST), and the Garen "Chambre De Distorsion".

Garen Electronic Music Instruments MFG. was mostly known as an amplifier brand, based in Paris and started by Jean Guen around 1958. And I would go into more depth about their history, but it's so well laid out in this website run by Guen's own grandson, that I highly recommend going through all of their awesome photos and detailed info if you really want to go extra deep. But to skip ahead for the sake of this post; with the rise in popularity of Rock & Roll in France, Garen decided it was time to capitalize on the moment with a new line of amps and their own take on both reverb units and the new 'hip' fuzz sound sweeping the nation.

So in 1966 the Garen Distortion was born! Coming in a super sleek, polished chrome wedge enclosure with a cool 3-way tone switch, it stood out among the onslaught of foreign fuzz pedals invading Europe during the 60s. With an unexpectedly simple design, based more on basic transistor theory than on any specific fuzz pedal, the Garen Distortion was something unique that proud French players could call their own. 

Built like a tank with the engineering precision of a NASA rocket, it also stood wayyyyyy out in terms of quality for the 1960s. Everything from the wiring to the battery door was constructed with an attention to detail rarely seen in the vintage effects world.

It might not translate over photos just how well these are made, but trust me! These things are solid, and ready to last another 50+ years.

The circuit itself runs off three germanium transistors, and while the majority used are unlabeled, at least one unit has surfaced with AC182's.

And like we said a second ago, it doesn't appear to borrow directly from any other fuzz at the time. The basic design has instead been described as three cascading gain stages followed by a selectable filter (you do see a similar circuit concept in the elusive Liverpool Fuzz, but a connection between the two is impossibly unlikely).

The selectable filter is really unique though, and offers quite a range of tones. The first setting gives a nice fat, but still hairy 60s style fuzz. The middle position actually boosts the midrange, giving you a more focused but again, still fairly aggressive fuzz tone. And the final setting is the closest to that classic crispy icepick FZ-1A tone we all love but with a bit more gain on tap.

I can't think of many other contemporary fuzzes that had filter/tone sections quite like this, except maybe the GM Fuzz Up FD3 and obviously the Honey Baby Crying Fuzz (and all its offshoots). Otherwise it was a pretty novel way to dial in your tone at the time. 

While these are fairly rare outside of France, they aren't impossible to find. That being said, for a long time I was under the impression that the Garen Distortion was only available during 1969. I had seen three different units by this point, all hand-dated to 1969 (including the one I now own), plus the 1969 catalog from earlier in this post. 

But then a "1966" labeled pedal surfaced, an undated unit with "67" codes on the capacitors was next, and finally a really odd unit with a serial number on the back that could possibly indicate it was made in 1970! So I can't say with 100% certainty that they were originally released in 1966 and made through 1970, but as of now that's my best guess.

photo by: Rafmax

The Garen Distortion is definitely more of a fuzz, and soundwise I would put it comfortably in the Maestro FZ-1 family. That being said, it offers a lot more gain than an FZ-1, and maybe lies a little closer to the Tone Bender end of this imaginary spectrum.

Luckily for us though, we don't have to worry too much about getting the adjectives right because our friend Rafmax made a demo of my 1969 unit back in 2014. Check it out below!

Even though most of the pedals we write about here are steeped in mystery, the Garen fuzz has been pleasantly easy to research (and I greatly appreciate that!). So although we still don't know exactly how long they were being made, how many were made, and if they actually appear on any of those 60s French fuzz records, I can appreciate that we're much further along than we typically are by then end of these posts.

So I hope you have enjoyed this one! And if you happen to own a Garen "Chambre de Distorsion", I would love to know what date is on yours, and if you could send a photo of it, that would be even more awesome! :) Please feel free to reach out via Email or Instagram, and I hope you have an awesome week.



Thanks for reading,

-ed

Early Shin-ei Advertisements

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From the very beginning of my vintage pedal journey I have been captivated by the Japanese effects giant, Shin-ei Electric. It was one of (if not THE) first company I ever legitimately researched, after seeing what was clearly a dominating amount of pedals they produced throughout the 70s. The endless OEM brandings combined with three of the most classic effects of all time (Uni-Vibe, Super Fuzz, FY-2) made the history of Shin-ei a super intriguing topic for my ocd nerd brain.

But unlike the vast majority of US pedal manufacturers that were relatively easy to research, the more layers I peeled, the further away I got from learning who was behind Shin-ei and what their actual connection to pedal history was. To this date, we (well, I ) still don't know any names of anyone who worked for what has to have been a huge factory (and one that ran for at least a decade). Nor do we know if they actually designed any of the effects they built. Nor do we know something as simple as how a foreign brand, like Apollo, would have found out about Shin-ei and hired them to produce gear with their logo attached...

So today we continue with what I've been able to find over the past couple of years, with a little help from some friends over in Japan. We have 3 advertisements (all from 1969, I believe) that show Shin-ei in a moment of transition, from "Shin-ei, the manufacturer of microphones and pickups", to "Shin-ei, the manufacturer of guitar effects and more". As far as I know, none of these have been available on the internet until now :)

Above is the original ad, and below is the Google translated version (probably not a perfect translation). This is from the early Spring of 1969 and shows Shin-ei advertising an entire line of various pickups. 

It is currently believed that they had been around as early as the late 1950s, manufacturing pickups for the various Tokyo-based guitar companies.

One thing to note is that we see no mention of effects pedals or Companion as a brand. This doesn't necessarily mean anything, but I feel like it's important enough to point out.

This one, dated to April of 1969, is special because by all accounts Honey had gone bankrupt just a month prior. And I had long held the belief that Shin-ei produced the Honey effects, but recently I've come across some big evidence that tells a different story.

The small blurb at the end of this ad reads, "A specialized manufacturer of guitar microphones, vocal microphones, and transformers". To me, this implies that they did not yet manufacture effects pedals. 

Related to this, is the 1968 Honey catalog that contains a line of microphones. A big part of me thought that if I could just match up the mics sold by Honey that were also sold by Shin-ei, then I would crack the code! Unfortunately, there were zero matches...

This one is important! And while I unfortunately don't have a specific date attached to it, my assumption is that this ad is from some time in mid-late 1969.

The Companion logo is different than any we've seen on any effects we know of. Additionally, we see our first pedal, that appears to be a wah. But while it is similar, it's actually like no other Companion branded wah known to exist. The treadle portion with the small arrows pointing to the input and output jacks, we have seen before in the earliest run of Surf Siren Wahs. So what I believe we're seeing in this ad, is the very likely the first Shin-ei/Companion effect pedal.

Another important part of this ad is the phrase: 

"We can produce a microphone based on your design, even if it is just one unit."

This says to me that they have now officially entered the world of Original Equipment Manufacturing, and are willing to work with companies as large as Hohner, or as small as Mana (see this article on many of the different brand badges found on Super Fuzzes).

I had previously stated that I hadn't found any evidence that Companion existed as a brand before March of 1970. And while I don't have a specific date on this final ad, the handful of clues it does provide would make it appear that possibly by the end of 1969 Companion was in and Honey was out. And Shin-ei Electric was on the precipice of becoming the largest manufacturer of Japanese effects for the coming decade.

*One thing I would like to point out is the article we put up a couple months ago regarding the Japanese Wedge Fuzz. In there I posit that Shin-ei did NOT produce the famous Sekova wedge fuzzes, even though they did have a relationship later on. If what we're seeing in these ads is proof that they didn't start manufacturing effects until the second half of 1969, then it would have been impossible for them to have made the wedge fuzzes.

thanks for reading,

-ed

DOD 201 Phasor - The First 3 Years

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For vintage DOD heads, there may be no grail holier than pedals from the very first "big box" series, circa 1974-1977. As we discussed super at length in a No Demos video on the history of the 250 Overdrive Preamp (HERE), the earliest official DOD pedal was the black Electronic Phasor. Well it must have seemed like a great idea, because from that moment through 1980 they would use phase shifters as their flagship devices to herald in new lines or variations on existing effects.

So today we're going to look at the pedal that was born right out of those original big box Phasors and its exponential evolution through the first 3 years of production... 

At the beginning of 1977 DOD introduced a new, scaled-down line of effects. It was called the "200 Series" and featured the now infamous "Bud Box" enclosures. They were the first DOD pedals with a smaller footprint and an attempt from the brand to follow the trends of the time.

In keeping with tradition, the first effect they released was the 201 Phasor. It was a completely redesigned circuit from their previous two phase shifters, taking cues instead from the MXR Phase 45.

Like all of the pedals from that series it featured an off-white finish, 3-D brand logo, and that fancy old westy font.

It's believed that these were built for just a few months, making them quite rare and hard to track down nowadays. So if you find one (or currently own one) let me know! :)

In the Fall of 1977 DOD was ready to release their brand new updated "200 series" pedals. Following legal threats from MXR, they ditched the Bud Box enclosures and created their own unique sand casted units.

Again, the first effect they would choose as the introduction to this new series would be their 201 Phasor. Now cloaked in grey paint with bright yellow graphics and that big bold 3D brand logo, DOD would unknowingly release what would become one of the most iconic guitar pedal lines of all time.

The circuit remained roughly unchanged, with the biggest difference being a new larger PCB, giving the parts room to breath without all the constraints of a Bud Box enclosure.

In early 1978 DOD again changed the look of their pedals, but this time it was purely graphical. Along with the 250 Overdrive Preamp and the 280 Compressor, the new 201 Phasor would shift to a smaller DOD brand logo and a thinner font.

The pedal was otherwise identical inside and out. And this would be the last era of DOD effects that were battery powered only (note the lack of a 9v jack on the side of this and the previous two versions).

Not quite as rare as the two models above, but this version is still considered somewhat of a "hen's tooth". Amazingly though, it's often overlooked as it's easy to miss the no-power jack.

Toward the latter half of 1978 DOD again revised their 200 Series effects, giving the customers what they wanted... a power jack!

Visually this version looks almost identical to the previous one, and it is, except the added jack on the side above the output. Inside, as is with the 250 and 280, there is an update to the circuit that simply accommodates the new wall power (affecting the tone slightly, but noticeably).

These are fairly common to find on resale sites, and to the point that if you can't find one, just be patient... you will.

The final version of the gray 201 Phasor came out in 1979, and on a technical level, is the same as the previous version (although you will find differences in component brands, just like all DOD pedals).

The biggest difference here is the graphics were changed to highlight the various jacks; "Out", "In", and the brand new "PWR." were placed within the borderlines themselves. This again is an updated feature you will see on most of the 200 Series effects from this era.

These are the most common gray 201 Phasors you will come across. And although I didn't get into serial numbers, this version has the widest range.

From here, DOD would continue to expand their phase shifting repertoire, and go on to release the 401 Phasor, the 490 Phasor, and the 201 Phasor in yellow all within a year of each other. And while the gray 201's lifespan was relatively short, it serves as the perfect example of a young company pushing forward, figuring it out as they went along, and just making it work!

So if you have any additional details on the history of DOD, or if you happen to have one of the first two Phasors discussed above, please feel free to reach out to me via Email or Instagram, I'd love to hear about them.

thanks for reading,
-ed