Vintage Technology Pedals. (data dump)

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edkoppel
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Vintage Technology Pedals. (data dump)

Post by edkoppel »

So I have become a fan of the Vintage Technology line of pedals and there seems to be some myth, confusion and lack of history surrounding these.

Which ones are the originals?
Which ones are the 1st Reissues?
When did the Bad Cat reissues start and what's different about them?
What is up with that 8.4v Battery?
Why do some of them have 8.4v battery snaps and 9v battery snaps inside, and was that stock?


So I figured it might be a good idea to make a thread just about these pedals so anyone that has any real information could share it and everything could be all in one thread>

Also gut shots, reviews and any audio demos are welcome to help crack the mystery.

I know a lot of folks around here love these pedals so it should be interesting to see what we can dig up.


Here's what (I think) I know_

The line, including reissues and later versions consists of:
Orange Sunshine - Fuzz
Banana - Fuzz
Toad - Fuzz
Toad Max - Fuzz
Soy Bomb - Distortion/Fuzz
BFD - Tremolo
Scream Dracula Scream - Treble Booster



They were created by Tracy Sands, amp tech for Bad Cat (hence the reissues).

Ok, now what is unclear_

When were the first ones made?
What was original lineup?
Did the original ones all have the switch on the top?
Did the original ones have/not have the email address?
How many sets of reissues are there and what years?
Do the reissues use the same components as the originals?

and basically a lot of other stuff I hope we can get answered here.
For now I am going to try and contact Tracy Sands to see if we can get anything concrete.
But until then what do you got!!!?

Here are some links in the forum with pics and discussion:
http://stompboxes.co.uk/forum/viewtopic ... ine#p79962
http://stompboxes.co.uk/forum/viewtopic ... e+sunshine
Last edited by edkoppel on Tue Feb 09, 2010 8:02 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Oh, DB? That's just slang for Dandy Big muff collector.
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edkoppel
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Post by edkoppel »

Vintage Technology Banana Fuzz!

I don't really know when these were made or how many, but I am pretty sure they were never reissued. I happen to have two of them; one of which is numbered "3" and the other is not numbered.

They both use different transistors but sound exactly the same.

Another difference is the 9v battery snap inside one of them and not inside the other.

I have heard that these are the same as the Orange Sunshine pedals but with a tone control. From the gut pics I have seen of the OS it does look to be the same, but I can't tell for sure. The tone control works more like a volume knob than anything else so I just leave it all the way up.

The sound is pretty cool.
It gives you that "transparent" type of fuzz that you can still hear your guitar tone and dynamics come through.
I would call it a smooth sounding fuzz. Some slight hairiness to it and from what I hear, based on a Fuzz Face.
There isn't much sustain to speak of and on the lower notes it can get pretty buzzy/square wave sounding and pretty ratty on the higher notes.
It actually sounds like some settings on my Elka Dizzy Tone, but can't get nearly as brutal/world ending.
It does respond to the guitar volume and can clean up decently but does not respond to the guitar tone knobs, really at all.

Cool pedal for sure.
Here's the pornographia:
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Oh, DB? That's just slang for Dandy Big muff collector.
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analogguru
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Re: Vintage Technology Pedals. (data dump)

Post by analogguru »

The Vintage Technology - Orange Sunshine is a 1:1 clone of the Vox V816 Distortion Booster:
http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/vox/v816

The Vintage Technology - Banana appears to be nearly identical (can´t determine the value of the orange input capacitor) with an added volume control as can be found in the Vox V8161:
http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/vox/v8161

And the Vintage Technology - Toad is a 1:1 clone of the Vox V8162:
http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/vo ... ionbooster

analogguru
Last edited by analogguru on Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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devnulljp
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Post by devnulljp »

The ones with the Bad Cat logo are reissues right? I've seen a couple of different (email) addresses on the back too.

I have these for comparison
Image
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Orange Sunshine -- looks like #16 (or 91 I guess), so an early one...?
Orange, CA address, no email
"Not for ruse with alkaline batteries" marking -- not sure if it's been modded for standard 9V but that's what it takes.
SDS -- Sunset Beach address, email: theatomicsound@webtv.net
"Uses standard 9V battery" so a later one?

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Scream Dracula Scream treble booster
Image
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Dear Bongo, No.
Good deals with all these guys
analogguru
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Re: Vintage Technology Pedals. (data dump)

Post by analogguru »

And what can be seen from the pictures the Vintage Technolgy - Scream Dracula Scream appears to be a (slightly modded) Vox V806 Treble Booster:
http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/vox/v806

analogguru
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edkoppel
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Post by edkoppel »

cool, thanks guys.
Man I never knew that they were clones. Now I need to find those Vox plugins. :doh:


Ok so the batteries...
It looks like from the pics I've seen that the OS and the Banana are supposed to take 8.4v Eveready 226's.
I found a place that is making them now but they're $12.00.
http://batteries.batterymart.com/eveready-226--list
Here's what originally came with those pedals (Duracell TR286):
Image

It looks like the Toad took a 9v Eveready 216.
(pictured here next to a 90s version from a different manufacturer)
Image

I think the BFD was supposed to take a 15v Eveready 411.
Image

The SDS was created in the second batch, or the first reissues and it takes a standard 9v.

I am not sure about the Soy Bomb
Oh, DB? That's just slang for Dandy Big muff collector.
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DiscoFreq
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Re: Vintage Technology Pedals. (data dump)

Post by DiscoFreq »

Thanks AG, I updated the relations :D

There's also a White Sands Orange Sunshine with the same address as devnulljp's Vintage Technology Orange Sunshine:
http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/wh ... gesunshine
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devnulljp
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Re:

Post by devnulljp »

edkoppel wrote:15v Eveready 411
So how on earth would you power something like that now?
There must be some kind of camera/phone battery that would do the job no?
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edkoppel
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Re: Re:

Post by edkoppel »

devnulljp wrote:
edkoppel wrote:15v Eveready 411
So how on earth would you power something like that now?
There must be some kind of camera/phone battery that would do the job no?
here:
http://www.batterycentralmall.com/Batte ... V_411.html
Oh, DB? That's just slang for Dandy Big muff collector.
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Creepyfingers
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Re: Vintage Technology Pedals. (data dump)

Post by Creepyfingers »

analogguru wrote:And what can be seen from the pictures the Vintage Technolgy - Scream Dracula Scream appears to be a (slightly modded) Vox V806 Treble Booster:
http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/vox/v806

analogguru
Yup

That's not the only Vintage Technology pedal taken from a Vox circuit. Take a look at the Vox Distortion Booster. That diode being used as a gate is strange in the Scream Dracula Scream pedal... How does it sound? Is it a on/off/on switch or is the diode always connected to the input or output?

--Brad
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