Peak Bell Fuzz Tone Box (Mexico's FY-2)

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One of my favorite nerdy pedal things to do is discover vintage effects that existed outside of the Big 5; USA, Japan, UK, Italy, and the Soviet Union. I can almost guarantee that the vast majority of pre-1980 stompboxes in your collection are from one of these 5 places...

But as you begin to dig deeper, you realize that by the mid-70s, rock n' roll had become (almost) completely worldwide, and that every country seemed to have their own version of the most popular effects of the day. 

That brings us to, I'm totally guessing here, late-70s Mexico, where we get our first in a series of Shin-ei FY-2 clones; The Peak Bell-2 Fuzz Tone Box was an almost exact replica of the Shin-ei in looks and build, with just minor part value adjustments.

The story I typically hear from people who grew up outside of the "Big 5" was that the most popular pedals were near impossible to find (and impossible to pay for). So instead the local electronics guru would create his own version and inadvertently, a new pedal brand in the process!

"PEAK" seems to be such a brand, and they really just nailed it! The enclosure is a bit different in size, but otherwise it's spot-on to the original. And in fact I actually love the labeling on the front plate. The FUZZ TONE BOX is pretty aggressive, and let's you know exactly what you're in for.

A short time later two more FY-2 copies made their way to the market, the Suzuki Fuzz and the Sona Tone. Both had the classic name plate and were a similar build style to the PEAK fuzz. 

It's very likely that this was some sort of OEM situation. Which is kind of wild if you think about it; a Mexican company that not only copies a Japanese pedal, but then goes one step further and copies their whole business model!

So after this, I'm guessing some time in the 80's, two more Mexican FY-2 copies showed up; the Takeuchi Fuzz and an updated version of the Suzuki Fuzz. They appear to be made by the same builder of the PEAK, as they're all extremely similar.

The obvious, and main difference is the missing name plate. But also the switch type, paint style, and the labeling on the side went from Spanish to English.

Now one rumor floating around is that these were actually made by Shin-ei, in Japan, for a Mexican market. But as of now, there is nothing I have seen that confirms anything close to that.

Every component, every switch, every pot, the knobs; none of it is remotely similar to those used in Shin-ei FY-2's. And while someone could point out that a few Japanese parts are in there; during the 70s and 80s it was not uncommon for builders, from any country, to order bulk electronics directly from Japan.

Surprisingly there are a few online demos of these rare birds. So I will leave you with this one of the PEAK Bell-2 Fuzz Tone Box, from user, ganchohomero.

enjoy!

Thanks for reading,

-ed