Wow! Now this is a strange effects pedal. The Boss XT-2 Xtortion pedal was manufactured between August 1996 and December 1998 and may go down in history is being the biggest marketing muck-up in the history of effects pedals. Originally marketed as the perfect distortion pedal for all those black jean wearing basketball booted types out there it is has since become better known as the effect pedal used for anything but that stereotype! Actually this pedal turns out to be something between distortion and fuzz.

These come up on ebay quite often. Here is one on Yahoo auction Japan: Boss XT-2 Xtortion auction. The price at the moment is 15,750 yen or about US$150, but it looks to be in pretty good nick, so maybe it justifies the price. Maybe.

Rereleased by Maxon as a result of demand from musicians, the Maxon CP101 Compressor is a really impressive compressor that offers a sound comparable a Dyna Comp at a much lower cost.

Maxon has this to say about the rereleased model:

The CP101 Compressor provides clean, smooth compression with ultra-low noise and incredible transparency. The CP101’s 4:1 compression ratio is so subtle that it’s easy to forget the unit is on ­ until you turn it off, that is. While it is on you will notice note-to-note levels that are smoother and more consistent, chords and arpeggios that are tighter and more focused, and when used with an overdriven amp, sustain that will last for days. Best of all, you’ll notice minimal coloration to your guitar signal and less of the note-attack alterations so common to other compressors.

At the heart of the CP101’s circuit sits an HTV #P873 CdS (Cadmium Sulfur) Photocoupler. This light-sensitive component varies resistance based on the input signal to control the amp gain, increasing gain as the input signal weakens. Most other current-production compressors accomplish this task using a VCA (voltage controlled amplifier), but the multiple transistors packed into a VCA inevitably lead to high noise levels, which means lots of “hiss” from your rig. The CP101’s optical circuit keeps the noise-floor low – so low that you can run the unit after a distortion and still retain near-silent operation.

With its ultra low-noise level, transparent operation and natural playing response the Maxon CP101 is the perfect compressor for players who hate using compressors.

Also worth checking out is Harmony Central’s collection of reviews of the CP-101.
This offering is an original 1970’s model – and is currently going for 24,800 yen (about US$250). Very nice! You can check out the auction here: Maxon CP101 Compressor Effects Pedal auction.

There is a nice Roland AF-60 Bee Gee fuzz stomp box up for auction at Yahoo Auctions Japan. The AF-60 is a really hard to find fuzz effects pedal that is no longer being manufactured.

It is very simple to use – with just tone and out-put level controls. As such the sound doesn’t offer much in way of versatility – so this is one of those effects pedals where one either really loves its specific sound or one hates it. The Roland AF-60 Bee Gee fuzz effector has a distinctive analogue lo-fi fuzz sound which to some ears sounds muddy.

This stomp box is up for sale and they are asking 30,000 yen for it. The auction has a couple more days to run. These pedals come up for auction not very often, if you miss this one it isn’t too big a problem – we see these once every 3 to 4 months. Not sure why the pedal is called Bee Gee – something to do with the band of the same name? Despite the name (or because of it) this is one really cool pedal!
You can check out the auction by following this link: Roland AF-60 Bee Gee fuzz stomp box up for auction at Yahoo Auctions Japan.

The Maxon AD-80 Analog Delay effects pedal is a very famous 1970’s analog delay with a wonderfully warm sound. It oscillates enormously!

AD-80’s come up for sale quite regularly in Japan and usually fetch around $300 US here. The stomp box pictured above is one such example – you can check out the Ad-80 here.

Just in case you are wondering, the effects pedals for sale that we feature on this blog are not ours unless mentioned. We don’t make money from telling you about them, we just post them to give you an idea of what stomp boxes are available in Japan. Hope you enjoy seeing them, or as they say in Japan “Let’s to enjoy!”

The photo of the Maxon Digital Echo DE-01 in the last post introducing Maxon the effects pedal manufacturers, is a pedal we currently have in stock. We also made a video of it:

You can check it out at our ebay store here. The Digital Echo is the rarest effects pedal in Maxon’s 80’s 01 series.

Maxon is the name used by the Nisshin Onpa company of Japan for its line of effects pedals designed for guitar and bass.

This information comes from wikipedia:

Maxon (Nisshin Onpa) started out in the mid 1960s as a guitar pickup manufacturer. In 1969 they became an effects pedal manufacturer, primarily as a producer of OEM products for other companies. During that time Nisshin Onpa was responsible for building a fuzz/wah pedal that was very popular, being marketed under a multitude of trade names including Ibanez. During the 1970s Ibanez became one of the company’s main OEM customers. Nisshin Onpa designed and manufactured the now legendary TS-808 and TS-9 Tube Screamers for Ibanez, and many other models, including the FL-9 Flanger, CS-9 Chorus, and AD-9 Analog Delay. Nisshin Onpa also marketed its pedals under its own Maxon name during this time. When Nisshin Onpa and Ibanez parted ways in 2002, Nisshin Onpa began to more aggressively market its own line of Maxon pedals. Repositioning itself as a manufacturer of high-end mass-produced effects, Maxon expanded its line of analog pedals, using rare NOS components and classic circuit designs that are to this day highly respected and sought after.

Maxon continues to expand its product line. Although they produced digital delays and reverbs during the 1980s and ’90s, they now concentrate mostly on “hard-to-find elsewhere” vintage type effects such as analog delays, analog choruses and flangers, and classic overdrive and distortion units. Most of the old Ibanez Nine Series is available in Maxon form these days, but the Maxon pedals now include true-bypass switching and circuitry equal to or in many cases superior to the Ibanez originals. The company prides itself on a reputation of quality over quantity.

Maxon’s big break came when they began building the Ibanez Tube Screamers. Ibanez Tube Screamers were built by Maxon from 1974 until 2002. If you take the cover off any Ibanez TS-808 or TS-9, and other Ibanez pedals from this period, the Maxon name will appear on the circuit board. These Maxon manufactured Ibanez pedals became famous through users such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Rory Gallagher, Carlos Santana and Gary Moore, amongst many other famous users. Ibanez still make these classic pedals but using different circuitry, thus losing some of the classic Tube Screamer tone, hence the Maxon models are so sought after. Maxon still makes these pedals today under their own company name (called the OD-808 and OD-9 as oppose to TS). However, supply of these pedals is very short and because of this, the Maxon pedals using the original Tube Screamer circuitry are little known and often overlooked. Currently, Maxon manufacture around 23 effects pedals for guitars.

The Maxon website claims to have made the following breakthroughs in the effects pedal industry. Firstly, that it made the first realistic tube amp overdrive. Secondly that it made the first compact analogue delay, thirdly that it made the first programmable effect and finally that they made the first multi effect unit.

Although Maxon pedals are often overlooked by guitarists for the Ibanez models, there are still artists using them. These include:

• R.E.M.
• Buddy Guy
• Sum41
• Marty Friedman
• Pearl Jam
• Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Dave Sabo of Skid Row
• Morrissey guitarist Jesse Tobias
• Brad Whitford of Aerosmith
• Steve Stevens of Billy Idol
• Adam Dutkiewicz of Killswitch Engage
• Thomas Erak of The Fall of Troy

You can check out the Maxon article at wikipedia here. Used with permission under the GPL.

Coupled with a decent fuzz pedal, the Ibanez WH-10 Wah effects pedal is one of the more highly regarded wah pedals to come out of Japan. Can be mellow or grindy, great for overtones. Clean it’s lovely, with distortion it’s nasty!

Manufactured by Maxon. On the down side it has a plastic body and the construction is poorly thought out (so it is difficult to get inside to work on). This pedal also suffers from needing something like Boss’ Line Selector (LS-2) to deal with white noise being somewhat of a problem on higher gain settings.

There is one up for sale on Yahoo auction. You can check it out here. It is a black version so it isn’t cheap – it is going for almost 60,000 yen!

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There is a Boss GE-10 Graphic Equalizer up for auction at Yahoo auctions for 20,000 yen. The Boss GE-10 Graphic Equalizer is one of the more popular vintage Boss effects units. Manufactured from the late 70’s onwards, this ten band graphic equalizer is really solidly built and the EQ sliders dont move while you are playing – even if you are gigging with it. The 10 bands give you a great amount of versatility and the GE-10 is highly recommended for those who want a great vintage analog sound, as well as those who don’t want to go all the way and splash out for a rack mounted equalizer unit.

The sale ends July 30th just before midnight Japan Standard Time. You can check out the GE-10 here at Yahoo Japan auctions.

Found this beauty this morning – a Roland GR-300 Guitar Synth up for auction at Yahoo auction Japan. The Roland GR-300 Guitar Synth was the first guitar synthesizer to really be playable. These were produced in the early 1980’s.

The auction is scheduled to end on July 24th @ 23:54pm. And the seller is looking for a price of 89,500 yen. You can check out the auction here.

There is quite a bit of information on the GR-300 on the internet. Synthemuseum.com had this to say about the Roland GR-300:

The GR-300 was considered the first “playable” guitar synthesizer. (It’s predecessor, the GR-500, was plagued with tracking problems that rendered it virtually unplayable.) The GR-300 had no MIDI and could only be played through a GR-300 series guitar controller.

The actual synthesizer module sat on the floor and had the rugged appearance of a large guitar-type foot pedal (complete with carrying handles). It featured 6-voice polyphony, one voice per string and 2 oscillators per voice. Each pair of VCOs were harmonically locked to each string but could be tuned separately to play different pitches. The GR-300 also featured a VCF with variable lengthsweep up and down, and an LFO. Each string had an enable-disable switch as well as a string sensitivity switch (basically audio compression). Built-in footswitches controlled the VCO mode (single/dual), the VCO harmonize pitch (detuning of the VCO’s), and the VCF mode (on, bypass, or inverted). There was also a pedal control input for the VCF. The GR-300 could output either the guitar, the synth, or a mix of the two.

You can check out their page about the Roland GR-300 here.

Also of interest is  the page at joness.com. They have lots of interesting material about the roland gr-300 – including a great description with diagrams of how it works, sample sound files, and recommended effects pedals and stomp boxes which sound excellent when used in conjunction withe the Roland GR-300 guitar synthesizer. Check it out here.

Found a Boss Spectrum SP-1 up for sale at Yahoo.jp. It is serial number 9400 and looks to be in really great condition. It is on offer for 63,000 yen (buy it now) which is a great price for as rare a beast as the SP-1.

You can view the SP-1 auction here. The auction is scheduled to end in 6 days. Rocking!