Are Vintage Pedals Significantly Better Than Their Reissue Equivalents?
If you're interested in effects pedals, you've most likely come across the eternal topic of arguments on musician forums: are vintage models better than their present-day versions? From a technical standpoint, proponents of the originals from the early series usually argue that the original editions have different chips, capacitors, circuit boards, etc., while the more practical-minded players welcome the often incomparably friendlier price, availability, and in some cases higher reliability or more compact size of the more modern editions.
Josh Scott—the effects guru, collector and brains behind JHS Pedals—decided to take a simplified approach to the subject by comparing the sonic characteristics of four historically significant effects with their current replicas. The test subjects were an older ProCo RAT Whiteface drive vs. a current ProCo RAT 2, a '70s EHX Small Stone EH4800 phaser vs. an EHX Nano Small Stone, an Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer made in the '80s vs. a TS9 reissue, and a Boss CE-2 chorus vs. a deluxe Boss CE-2W Waza Craft.
The recording was done with a JHS Switchback Advanced Loop Switcher, Gibson Les Paul Gold Top, boutique Strat, and a hand-soldered JHS/Milkman "Loud is More Good" 1x12 single-channel 40W 1x12 combo, fitted with 2 x 12AX7 and 2 x 6L6 tubes, Mercury Magnetics transformers, and a Jupiter Ceramic Mag speaker.
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