Ever re-bought the very first pedals you owned out of nostalgia?

NelsonP

First pedals were an Arion Metal Master and Stereo Chorus. Later I bought a proco rat (original late 80s version).

I sold the Rat in the early 90s (mistake) have misplaced the Stereo Chorus (careless), but still have the Metal Master, which I don't use.

Seems I have a problem hanging on to pedals that later become highly sought after

BillDL

The first pedal I bought was a little metal housed cheap distortion pedal that distorted.  It became faulty after about a year and I pulled out the guts and made an AB pedal from the housing.  In the meantime I bought a cheap self-assembly compressor kit, again in a metal housing with Boss style pedal switch and it worked quite well as a sustainer but I didn't really know how to use a compressor subtly back then.  That one came as a circuit board and all the components loose.  Because I don't know what make it was I couldn't now search for it to buy if I felt nostalgic about it.

The 3rd pedal I bought was an Amdek CHK-100 Chorus pedal kit that came with the components already soldered to the board and I just had to solder a few wires and assemble it into the the casing.  That was a really nice compressor.  It's featured here in a 1982 article:

https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/amdek-chorus-kit/4433

I also bought and assembled the Amdek DSK-100 distortion pedal that I liked.

As far as I understand it now, Amdek was the name used by the Roland / Boss corporation for an affordable range of self-assembly kits ("K" = Kit).  You can still find these on sale assembled, but for ridiculous prices.  Some people suggest that the CHK-100 was actually the Boss CE-2 circuit and that the DSK-100 was a DS-1 circuit.  Certainly when I later bought some Boss Pedals including a second hand CE-2 and new CE-3 and DS-1 there really wasn't a whole lot of difference between the Amdek kits and the Boss pedals.  I would be tempted to buy one of these for nostalgia if I could find a new and unopened kit for a reasonable price.  As far as I recall a now ex-friend "borrowed" the distortion pedal and I never saw it again.  The chorus pedal didn't fit into my Boss 6-pedal ABS case and when I stored it away for a few years with a battery in it, that leaked and messed up the circuit board.

One pedal I WOULD buy again for nostalgia is the Amdek TAK-100 "Tuning Amp" that a buddy of mine built from the kit and later sold to me for buttons.  It was practice amp with 1/4" headphone socket, a tiny built-in speaker, and a rotary dial that caused it to emit a tuning tone of 220, 440 or 880 Hz, and it ran on a 9v battery or PSU.  The amp's output was only 200mW and the headphone output only 100mW x 2 at 16 ohms.  I discovered that if I took the headphone signal to the low input of a large amp or to the effects return it made a great fuzz pedal, as well as being handy for headphone bedroom practice or sitting in a park with my Hofner Shorty.  The inbuilt speaker was really just a novelty.

I don't think I would pay £110 for that nostalgia trip however:

https://reverb.com/uk/item/72283634-amdek-tak-100-tuning-amp-made-in-japan-by-roland-1983

Reverend

My first was a cheap plastic distortion - probably a frontline but I can't recall.

I really, really, really want an arion metal master. ITs the sound of old school English death metal

FelineGuitars

In 1984 I bought a Boss HM-2 and a Boss CS-2 as my first two pedals 

Gassage

JJ72 said:

A Boss Be5 was my first ( multi) effect.
Have kept an eye out for one many times over the last few years ,probably purely out of nostalgia, but still haven't jumped for one as yet
Did sound great and dead simple

All analogue save for the delay. A brilliant multi fx

OilCityPickups

Couldn't afford to re buy the first pedal I bought ... it was one of these 



The second effect was one of these 



I think I paid about £15 for the Tone Bender and £40 for the all valve Copycat ... 

MagicPigDetective

Mine was the DOD Grunge for about 90 quid in around 1995, which was pretty expensive if you think of today’s prices. No need to re-buy; I still have it, complete with Kerrang stickers. Nostalgia only.. not used it for years, perhaps I should give it a go for old times sake

noisepolluter

I’d re-buy the Bottle Rocket if Mesa Boogie reissued it!

Last year I did buy the latest version of my first valve amp (DSL40) which I first had 25 years ago, if that counts?

impmann

My first chorus pedal was a DoD FX65. I still have it and I still think its the best chorus pedal for me.
My first distortion pedal I owned was a RAT - I still have it. Still brilliant.
The first delay pedal I had was a Boss Analog Delay... and it wasn't great. I wanted long delay times without the degradation and the self-oscillation was a pain in the arse - I loved the digital units that came after it, and still do. I genuinely try to like analogue delay units... but rarely do.
  

Supportact

MagicPigDetective said:

Mine was the DOD Grunge for about 90 quid in around 1995, which was pretty expensive if you think of today’s prices. No need to re-buy; I still have it, complete with Kerrang stickers. Nostalgia only.. not used it for years, perhaps I should give it a go for old times sake

I remember when these came out, I wanted one badly.

Voxman

Nope. 

LionAquaLooper

MT-2 Metal Zone arrived yesterday. Plugged it and its just how I remember it from 30 years ago - great for chuggy stuff but this time I'm better at tweaking EQ. I got decent enough grunge and other low gain distortion tones out of it. Happy so far. I've been reunited with the MT2, albeit its someone else's pedal. 

But I knew this pedal was a mod away from greatness after seeing the Pedal Show video where they made it sound like a RAT, Nobles ODR1, and a Klon. They kind of cheated because they used a Waza Metal Zone in the Custom mode but i knew the Waza mod was basically cutting one capacitor out. I did that in 5 seconds and i was blown away. If only i knew this back then I'd have taken better care of my original MT2. This one is now all my ODs and Distortions in one unit just by tweaking EQ and gain level. Was weird hearing a  tubescreamer and looking down and seeing a Metal Zone. Still not a clean boost though because even at 0 gain this thing is dirty. 

In a way I'm glad I ended up buying someone else's pedal because it made me not even think twice about opening it and cutting a capacitor. Would've been harder to do that to a pedal I've hung on to for 30 years. 

Littlejonny

LionAquaLooper said:

MT-2 Metal Zone arrived yesterday. Plugged it and its just how I remember it from 30 years ago - great for chuggy stuff but this time I'm better at tweaking EQ. I got decent enough grunge and other low gain distortion tones out of it. Happy so far. I've been reunited with the MT2, albeit its someone else's pedal. 

But I knew this pedal was a mod away from greatness after seeing the Pedal Show video where they made it aound like a RAT, Nobles ODR1, and a Klon. They kind of cheated because they used a Waza Metal Zone in the Custom mode but i knew the Waza mod was basically cutting one capacitor out. I did that in 5 seconds and i was blown away. If only i knew this back then I'd have taken better care of my original MT2. This one is now all my ODs and Distortions in one unit just by tweaking EQ and gain level. Was weird hearing a  tubescreamer and looking down and seeing a Metal Zone. Still not a clean boost though because even at 0 gain this thing is dirty. 

In a way I'm glad I ended up buying someone else's pedal because it made me not even think twice about opening it and cutting a capacitor. Would've been harder to do that to a pedal I've hung on to for 30 years. 

Holy moly - that’s it, I’m buying a eBay one and doing the mod…this sounds ideal.

and yes, I think it may have been my first pedal.

Littlejonny

Just looked on eBay expecting them to be cheap but they are not.

I might be naughty and buy a Behringer UM300 instead - does anyone know if I can still do the mod in one of these?

LionAquaLooper

Littlejonny said:

Just looked on eBay expecting them to be cheap but they are not.

I might be naughty and buy a Behringer UM300 instead - does anyone know if I can still do the mod in one of these?

@Littlejonny ;;Yes but the capacitor is called something else. I read it on a YouTube comment. I'll see if I can find it and if/when I do I'll ping you.

Edit: found the video. 

Scroll down the comments and you'll see someone say C19 and C20 caps are the culprits in the UM300.  Word of caution though: i can't find any articles, blogs or videos that can prove that and state specifically which of the 2 caps needs to be snipped. 

Keefy

FOMO now has me trawling eBay for Metal Zones. I need another drive pedal like I need, er, something I definitely don’t need.

dilbert

No need for me to re-buy my original pedals, I still have them. Just for posterity, they're a Digitech Digidelay, (no I don't know why either!) and a Danelectro Distortion, which is surprisingly good!

DrJazzTap

My first pedal was a present from my dad as I was hendrix obsessed. A Vox v847 made in the US, I changed the pot to a castledine one. But thats about it. 
It does sound nice, I'd be gutted if it got nicked. 

I have been tempted to buy my old pedals. I don't think I'd get a boss cs2 for £20 anymore though.