YesterGear: Boss DF-2 Super Feedbacker distortion

 Distortion is one of the oldest effects pedals known to man. We strive to recreate that singing sweet sound of the overdriven amplifier with a small box stuffed with electronics.  Back in the mid 80’s, Boss decided to take it a bit further and recreate the feedback guitarists would get from a cranked amplifier.

The DF-2 was a distortion pedal with a twist.  If you held down the footswitch you would get some crazy sustain emulaitng amplifier feedback. Now you could get all that great Hendrix type feedback withough blowing the windows out.

The controls were Level, Tone, Distortion, and an Overtone knob to dial in the feedback.  I remember seeing these back in the day and thinking they didn’t sound too good. Fortunately, we now have youtube to find out if my memory serves me well.

As of this writing therer are several on Ebay with asking prices between $60-$100 and up. I don’t see a lot of bids thought so the real value of this pedal may be a little less.

Yestergear: Charvel Spectrum

Back in the 80’s, Charvel/Jackson guitars were one of the go axes for any respectable metal band.  They were pointy, stripped down, hot rodded, and they looked freaking great.  Towards the end of the decade the company was sold and soon production instruments were manufactured overseas.  The quality and the brand went down hill in the early 90’s but in it’s final good year, Charvel produced one of the cooler guitars of the decade.

The Charvel Spectrum

The guitar was part retro while still maintaining a lot of that Charvel cool.  Offered in a variety of colors from pink, to surf green, to Desert Crackle, the guitar looked somewhat familiar yet decidedly different.

The Spectrum came standard with three hum cancelling single  coils, a Floyd Rose Licensed tremolo, a reverse headstock, and a vintage inspired half pick guard.  The coolest feature of the guitar and the source of its name no doubt, was the active mid control. This was essentially a wah built into the guitar. You could dial in that Michael Schenker cocked wah sound when activated and go nuts on Lights out in London.

I owned one of these for many years. It was basically a backup instrument but it still got a lot of use. I regrettably sold it a few years ago in some house cleaning.  I just wasn’t using and I figured it would be better suited in the hands of someone who would love it.

As of this writing I could not find any auctions on Ebay. I guess if you have one of these babies you aren’t selling.

Yestergear - Gallien Krueger 250ML

The guitar amplifier world is exploding with all sorts of mini amplifiers.  From the tiny digital powered amplifiers like the Roland Micro Cube or the Vox DA5.  We also have quite a few choices in tube amplifiers in the lunch box category.  Well back in the 80’s, Gallin-Krueger launched the tiny power house the 250ML.

The Gallien-Krueger 250ML was a 50 watt per channel stereo guitar  amplifier with quite an array of features.  The pint sized box gave players  channel switching between clean and overdrive channels.  There was also a built in compressor, echo, and chorus effects.  The sound was pumped through two 6.5” speakers. 

The features don’t stop there.  The 250ML  also had an effects loop, a line out, a headphone jack, and a speaker out for use with an external cabinet.  There  was also a mic stand adaptor so you could place the amplifier on a mic stand for better projection.

I remember wanting one of these little wonders back then.  They offered a lot of features for a small amplifier but could still be used as a gigging amp.  The sound as I recall was typically 80’s.  I don’t know that I would dig the tone now but it still would be a fun little amp to play with.

As of this writing there are is one on EBay with a buy it now price of $250 although there are no bids.  I’m not sure what the real world value of this little amplifier is today but if you can find one cheap, it’s probably worth picking up.

Yestergear: Zoom 9002

Back in the 80's, multi effects processors were just coming of age. They were rack units and therefore were not very portable. Sure they had lots of goodies in them but they were always left in the rack.  Then, in the late 80's Zoom released the 9002.  This was a compact multi effect preocessor that could be worn on the guitar strap.

Hind site being what it is the whole guitar strap application doesn't seem to make sense.  But the compact nature and amount of features packed into this little box really revolutionized things.

Yestergear: Ibanez session man

Back in the day ,(25 years ago) the in sound was distortion with some chorus.  It was used and over used by a tremendous amount of guitar players.  Since these two effects were basically joined at the hip Ibanez decided to cash in on the trend.

This weeks piece of Yestergear is the Ibanez Session Man pedal.

 The session man was a distortion pedal with chorus built in. No longer did you have to drag around multiple pedals to produce that “In” sound.  Pull out this pink stomper and you were ready to go.

One of the coolest features of the pedal was the ability to have the order of effects either way at the flick of a switch.  Whether you are a chorus before distortion or a distortion before chorus guy, this pedal let you dial in your sound.

The controls on the top were Distortion, Distortion level, tone, chorus level, and the switch for the effects order.  There were controls under the batter compartment for the chorus settings which were already set by the factory to a standard chorus sound. 

I remember seeing these around occasionally back then but I don’t know how the actual sales were.  As of this writing there are a couple of these on Ebay.  One has a buy it now price of $119.  Not a bad price for a two in one pedal.

Yestergear: Fender Prodigy

The guitar market is a difficult thing to nail down.  By the time you think you have an idea of what is in, things start changing.  Today’s yestergear is a guitar from the early 90’s that was in between two markets, the superstrats of the 1980’s and the back to basics classic models that made a big resurgence in the 90’s.  Sounds perfect but it didn’t last.

Fender Prodigy

The Fender Prodigy was produced between 1991 and 1993.  It retained some of the characteristics popular on the superstrats of the previous decade like the HSS pickup configuration and locking trem (prodigy II).  It’s body was a little sleeker and streamlined and the controls were one volume and one tone.  Still, it looked somewhat like a strat.

The parts were manufactured in Mexico and assembled in the US,  but this guitar just didn’t find it’s mark.  The superstrats were on their way out and the vintage style strats were back en vogue.  I’ve played a few of these and they were solid guitars.  I guess it’s like I said, just when Fender thought a less flashy superstrat would be a hit, it just didn’t click with players.

As of this writing there are a few on ebay with buy it now prices from $389 to $799.  Seems like these still can’t find their mark.

Yestergear: Yamaha JX50 Amplifier

This week I went back to my early guitar playing days for our piece of gear from days gone by.  This was a piece of gear I personally owned.  This was a piece of gear near and dear to me. This was my first serious amp.

Yamaha JX50 Amplifier

The Yamaha JX50 was a 50 watt solid state amplifier.  The controls were Volume (pull gain), master volume,treble,middle,bass, and a 3 position FAT switch.  There was a control for reverb (footswitchable as well) and a headphone jack.  There were also high and low inputs.

This was a pretty decent amp.   It had a smooth creamy kind of distortion.  Good for some rock stuff but not quite dirty or edgy enough for heavier stuff. I always goosed mine with a DOD 250 overdrive. The FAT switch allowed you to dial in some interesting tones.  I can’t remember where I set mine to be honest. It was only a single channel so you had to pick whether you wanted to run clean and get your dirt from pedals or just dime the gain and go for broke.

I don’t know exactly what year this amp was released but I picked my up used in 1984.  As of this writing I could not find any listings on ebay.  I guess if you got one you either dig it or just figure it’s not worth selling.  I had mine for about 9 or 10 years and it was my main amp for 5 of those years.

Yestergear: Guitar gear from days gone by

With so many gear heads firmly stuck on vintage gear there is a wealth of information praising the great gear from the past.  What about the stuff that either has no love from the vintage world, isn’t quite vintage yet, or just plain old got bypassed for the next thing.  That’s where I come in.

I intend to make the Yestergear post a semi regular (at least once a month) occurrence. Each post will focus on a piece of gear from our guitar playing past.

Today's gear is the Roland DEP 5.

One of the first Multi Effects units on the market, The Roland DEP 5 was a landmark piece of equipment. With chorus,reverb,delay, and EQ you could dial in two effects at one time.  Presets could be stored and called up again via the front panel , momentary footswitch (to scroll through presets) or MIDI.  There were several algorithms offering series and parallel routing combining reverb or delay with the chorus in various configurations.  All of this was then run through the EQ section to tailor the sound even further.

This unit was a breakthrough for guitarists. Now one rack unit could handle multiple effects settings.  By today’s standards this looks like a kindergartener’s rack effect buck back in the 80’s this unit was in high demand.

I never did get one but man I had GAS for one for a long time. They can still be had on Ebay.  As of this writing there are a few with a buy it now price anywhere from $100-$200