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25 Most Valuable Effects

Aloha_Mark

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Joined
Dec 15, 2011
Messages
495
This is a very fine article from Vintage Guitars magazine on the 25 priciest and historically significant guitar effects:

http://www.vintageguitar.com/special-features/25-most-valuable-effects/

The Klon Centaur is #8 on the above list. The Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster is #1 on the list. When you put everything into perspective, a vintage Uni-Vibe (#3) is not much more expensive than current Gibson USA starter guitar models. There are no Electro-Harmonix pedals on the list, but whether that is shocking or not is a matter of opinion.

I think the real omission is a super-expensive effects box made in 1968 and designed by Shin-Ei. The box is called the Companion.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1968-COMPAN...HONEY-ORIGINAL-UNI-VIBE-CIRCUIT-/290647463755

This has already stoked my PAS (pedal acquisition syndrome).
 

bigtomrodney

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Nov 7, 2009
Messages
1,448
I can't read this link. I mean to say I have forbidden myself.

I have a stack of Italian wahs, a couple of LPBs and I already want an Echoplex, Rangemaster and an old Fender piggyback reverb. If I read that link I'll be broke for the rest of the year!
 

sonar

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Jan 10, 2003
Messages
3,589
The list is based on the most expensive pedals in the vintage world and not necessarily what is really valuable to the player - a useful tool that sounds really good. There's really only a handful of pedals on that list that are not equalled or surpassed by modern day equivalents both sonically and for dependability.

Many pedals not on the list (early MXR. EH, even Boss...) can be argued as being much more important devices than at least half that list, but these pedals don't break the arbitrary monetary floor or some rare obscurity this dopey article sets.

And 3 pedals made by Tycobrahe? Really? I'll give you the original Octavia (for collecting purposes only) but the only value of a Paraflanger is its rarity.

While I like the publication for the most part, I find this list to be self-important, presumptuous, cork sniffing in the worst way and an indulgent load of...
 

sbsbsb

Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2004
Messages
451
I don't know...I've been a vintage style effects fan for years, and although I have a lot of newer (1990's era) effects in my collection, it's the vintage pieces that will stay. Though I'm not sure if I really need TWO new-old-stock Univibes and Vibra Choruses! I actually hear more differences in vintage vs. boutique effects that I do in vintage vs. new Fender guitars (Gibsons are another story). The old stuff still has rarely been successfuly duplicated...

IMG_0674.jpg
 

Zinc Alloy

Member
Joined
May 8, 2003
Messages
608
No Tone Benders? A MKII can easily fetch 2000 to 3000$. The even more collectible MKI is so rare that there isn't even a going rate.
Fuzz Faces sure are overrated at 800 to 1000$. 400$ upwards is a more realistic estimate. And I think they might still be overrated at that price. Fuzz Faces are so common, I managed to collect gut shots of over 220 units during the last two years.
 

sonar

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Joined
Jan 10, 2003
Messages
3,589
I don't know...I've been a vintage style effects fan for years, and although I have a lot of newer (1990's era) effects in my collection, it's the vintage pieces that will stay. Though I'm not sure if I really need TWO new-old-stock Univibes and Vibra Choruses! I actually hear more differences in vintage vs. boutique effects that I do in vintage vs. new Fender guitars (Gibsons are another story). The old stuff still has rarely been successfuly duplicated...

IMG_0674.jpg

A fellow Lovetone fan. :3zone

Other than value drift and the occasional hard to find part, new pedals should (and generally don't) differ much from the originals. Most of these pedals are pretty basic designs with very little room for "mojo". I played the vintage pedal game for years and for the most part was left unimpressed. Some pedals were special, but mediocrity was much more commonplace. I'd write it off as just getting "a bad one" here and there, but it happened quite often.

But if you hear the difference and are willing to play the market (which I'll admit was half the fun) than go at it. I still get excited with old pedals, I'm just not interested in the investment anymore when decent modern equivalents are available. I'd also look at the newer boutique and reissue's, which are much more authentic than the 90's stuff.
 

junction51

New member
Joined
Sep 24, 2001
Messages
306
I think the real omission is a super-expensive effects box made in 1968 and designed by Shin-Ei. The box is called the Companion. [URL said:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1968-COMPANION-PSYCHEDELIC-MACHINE-SHIN-EI-HONEY-ORIGINAL-UNI-VIBE-CIRCUIT-/290647463755[/URL]

This has already stoked my PAS (pedal acquisition syndrome).

Wow, that thing looks awesome! Never even heard of that before now.
 

dc007

Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2009
Messages
321
+1
The list is based on the most expensive pedals in the vintage world and not necessarily what is really valuable to the player - a useful tool that sounds really good. There's really only a handful of pedals on that list that are not equalled or surpassed by modern day equivalents both sonically and for dependability.

Many pedals not on the list (early MXR. EH, even Boss...) can be argued as being much more important devices than at least half that list, but these pedals don't break the arbitrary monetary floor or some rare obscurity this dopey article sets.

And 3 pedals made by Tycobrahe? Really? I'll give you the original Octavia (for collecting purposes only) but the only value of a Paraflanger is its rarity.

While I like the publication for the most part, I find this list to be self-important, presumptuous, cork sniffing in the worst way and an indulgent load of...
 

xray

Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2002
Messages
214
I had a Matchless RV-1. I ordered it in a custom maroon color to match the '92 DC 30 I had at the time. They were expensive back then. It was a good unit, but I don't remember anything
extraordinary about it.
 

jbzoso2002

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Joined
May 10, 2009
Messages
1,089
They show an EP3 Echoplex (sold state) and
refer to it as a tube EP2 unit. WTF?

Also where's the tube screamer?

Jimmy
 

Flying Fish

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Joined
Aug 15, 2006
Messages
632
Finger vibrato, tremolo picking, legato phrasing, pinch harmonics, palm muting, moveable chord shapes, etc...
 

Aloha_Mark

New member
Joined
Dec 15, 2011
Messages
495
No Tone Benders? A MKII can easily fetch 2000 to 3000$. The even more collectible MKI is so rare that there isn't even a going rate.
Fuzz Faces sure are overrated at 800 to 1000$. 400$ upwards is a more realistic estimate.

A collector on ebay concurs with your remarks about the Tone Benders. Very rare, and expensive.

This collector has an Astro Amp Astrotone Fuzz pedal from 1967 for auction.

1967UniversalAudioCorpAstrotone001.jpg


http://www.ebay.com/itm/1967-ASTROT...OX-VINTAGE-GUITAR-EFFECTS-PEDAL-/150738098343

$3699 is the buy-it-now price. Has the world gone crazy? How can this be better than an EH Big Muff Pi, v1 or v2, which was designed by an engineer at Bell Labs? The pedal race is a neverending chase for rare examples, many of which are not even historically the best in their era of existence.
 
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