00:00on today's episode we're going to look
00:01at a line of petals from 2005 that's so
00:04full of controversy confusion and low
00:09that your head is going to spin right
00:23most of you know dan electro from the
00:25late 90s reissue of the brand and this
00:30that came out in these large heavy metal
00:32enclosures fantastic sounds
00:34great effects one of my favorite lines
00:36of all time and you've seen me show
00:39and most of you also know there are a
00:41lot of other series of effects from den
00:44electro like the food
00:45series and some others but today i'm
00:47going to focus on one in particular
00:50that's very very fascinating it is the
00:53series these are in plastic enclosures
00:55and they're very affordable
00:56they say fab up top and the type of
01:00now these were released in 2005 and they
01:02were made for one purpose and one
01:05they were made to be the ultimate budget
01:08box stores now there's actually a
01:11problem with how well this works
01:13they sold so well through guitar center
01:16upwards of a thousand a week that guitar
01:20cancel these and remove them from the
01:23the margin was so low that for every one
01:26of these fab pedals sold
01:28another pedal brand wasn't selling and
01:30all the other pedal brands had more
01:32margin because they cost
01:33more they were very damaging to the
01:35sales people that worked on commission
01:37and guitar center as a whole so yes the
01:40fab series of pedals to start off
01:42actually broke guitar center in a way
01:44and on top of that there's some juicy
01:48concerning what these are based on so
01:51let's jump right into each one
01:53and see what i figured out first up on
01:56of fabulicious petals is the
01:59fab metal now i'm not a fan of metal
02:03i like them because i like every petal
02:05but when i see the term
02:07metal describing the sonic
02:10characteristic of a pedal
02:11it's not something i'm going to grab my
02:13wallet and you know run out the door
02:15but this is a little tricky because it's
02:17based on a petal i love
02:19and one that i don't really associate
02:21with metal it is a three
02:23knob modified version of the classic dod
02:26grunge you heard it here people
02:29you learned it here too don't forget
02:32a metal labeled pedal that's actually a
02:36pedal says metal sounds like grunge
02:40it offers the question to you is grunge
02:44is metal grunge i don't know we're going
02:46to put them up here i'm going to show
02:47you how they sound really great
02:49in a lot of ways this is easier to use
02:52sounds fantastic the three knobs are
02:53much easier than using the butt and
02:55face knob which are low-end high-end
02:58pretty fantastic analogy they used
03:00it's simple sounds good super
03:04super cheap what's the price 19.99
03:37number two on this fab rundown is the
03:40600 millisecond delay
03:42this comes in at a steep 25.99 i have
03:45seen them used for about 13
03:4712 14 something like that so super
03:51um it's really great the 600 millisecond
03:55is how long of a delay time it offers so
03:58if one second is a thousand milliseconds
04:01in between the much shorter slap delay
04:05and longer ambient times so one magical
04:08trick for this that i
04:09love is to just turn every knob all the
04:12way up it creates a really nice
04:13beautiful texture kind of
04:15pad delay really nice ambient delay
04:19great simple easy to use and the heart
04:23is important because it's in several of
04:25these pedals in the line it is the
04:27chipset known as the pt2399
04:30now this chipset was invented for
04:34you know you go to costco you buy a
04:35karaoke machine your 13 year old dollar
04:37sings carly rae gypsum songs or whatever
04:39her name is and there's a little echo
04:41that's what the chip was made for
04:43but people in the pedal industry
04:44including myself have used that chip to
04:46great success for echo and delay that's
04:49some of the others as well and it's gold
04:53it's a great pedal check it out
05:41next up is the pedal from the series
05:43that instantly caught my attention
05:45years ago probably around 2005 or six
05:48when they were released
05:49and it drove me mad because the copy
05:53that i was so curious about that i think
05:56i didn't sleep for six months let me
05:58to this pedal it is the fab overdrive
06:03it says the copy of the product
06:06history was made in 1975 when a mom and
06:10store in california commissioned the
06:14200 of what is perhaps the best
06:17ever big claim unlike any other effects
06:20unit the pedal authentically simulated
06:22the breakup that occurs when a tube amp
06:24is run at full volume
06:25i mean there's a lot of pedals that
06:27claim to do that you will occasionally
06:30in the stage of a major artist if you
06:34an original offered for sell you should
06:35probably set down before inquiring about
06:38they're basically saying it's expensive
06:42the fab overdrive d2 guitar effects
06:44photo in your hands without
06:46wiping out your financial portfolio so
06:49what is this 1975 mom and pop shop
06:52what is it well i dug around on and off
06:57and i figured it out text messages
07:00i found private forums of people who
07:03worked in this store and started
07:05facebook groups it's insane the store is
07:08nadines in hollywood slash work there
07:12learn that and nadines like a lot of
07:16wanted to sell products in their stores
07:19but stores don't really make products
07:20they just want to re-label it
07:22and here's a picture of the mysterious
07:25nadines overdrive now here's the problem
07:28literally the only picture i can find
07:31it's the size of my fingernail i'm sorry
07:33for that but look at it
07:34stare at it because it brought me into
07:38that i solved it is this exactly
07:41the vestifier signal device overdrive
07:44basically there's a company that would
07:47put whatever brand you wanted
07:49on this exact pedal the insides are all
07:52but the graphics are different and
07:54nadines probably at winter nand
07:58had a series of petals developed there's
08:00a picture of a distortion as well
08:03this is it this is the mom and pop store
08:07made in japan oem for nadines
08:10and they replicated it perfectly
08:12apparently brian setzer told the owner
08:14of den electro to check this out and
08:16that's why it's part of the line they
08:18are incredibly rare because i
08:20cannot find one that says nadines if you
08:23have that and you're willing to part
08:25just contact me and i'll have a
08:27discussion with you because
08:29i feel like there's a hole in my heart
08:31and that's where we're at by the way
08:34this is really cheap 16.99
08:38i saw one of these used for seven
09:13number four in the fab series is one
09:17and the only one that was discontinued
09:19all of these are still being made you
09:22except for this one um it is the fab
09:25flange it originally cost 29 they're
09:28super cheap right now
09:29there's not a lot of control range here
09:32pretty sure it's a digital flanger i
09:34it's a bunch of very strange chipsets
09:36but i didn't see any hints of analog
09:39circuitry bucket brigade type stuff so
09:41pretty sure it's a digital flange which
09:44but the potentiometer sweeping controls
09:47i don't know it kind of goes from
09:49nothing to like zombie space noises and
09:52so i found the setting that kind of
09:54vibes with how i feel today
09:56i'll play it for you you be the judge
09:57because honestly you're always the judge
10:00and i'm just sitting here i'm on trial
10:02and here's some riffs
10:39the fifth of the fabs is a little bit of
10:42a mystery but i'm gonna be honest i had
10:44a little bit of a meltdown i had a
10:45medium meltdown like a seven of 10
10:48meltdown i've had some 10s and 12s
10:50trying to figure out what this is it is
10:54fuzz it's an op amp fuzz
10:57now i initially went oh well i'm sure
10:59it's an op-amp big muff
11:02absolutely no it's not sounds nothing
11:05circuit's not there and then i thought
11:08dan electro they kind of they kind of
11:10lean into weird stuff and kind of
11:12replicate and tweak weird designs so
11:15maybe it's the old univox square wave
11:17no it's not sounds nothing like it way
11:20too many parts for that and then i said
11:22oh it's the earth sound research graphic
11:25no you know here's where i'm at i don't
11:28i don't know what it is it's three knobs
11:31volume fuzz tone i'm gonna go out on a
11:34and i'm gonna say that much like these
11:37i think they're just original i think
11:39they actually engineered them
11:40in their original and uh it's purple
11:43it's kind of like joker purple like
11:45we'll call this the joker fuzz
12:20next up is the fab echo not to be
12:24with the other golden delay echo this
12:27fixed at a slap back delay time
12:30half of you will find it incredibly
12:32annoying and the other half of you will
12:34find it invigorating and
12:36freeing that there is not a time knob to
12:40from playing guitar plug it up it's
12:44we used to modify these in fact nick uh
12:46didn't you used to modify these
12:47heck yeah yeah there's some out there
12:49with a jhs sticker and a time knob
12:52so essentially we took what i think is
12:55and took that away and charged people
12:58that's disturbing let's check it out oh
13:02it's more expensive than the one with
13:32next is the fab chorus it is
13:35a chorus pedal it's a really good really
13:38that it utilizes that pt2399 karaoke
13:43it's great i like it this actually has
13:46some plastic peeling
13:48should i leave it new but the plastic
13:52let's listen to it it's good it's 20
13:54bucks it's actually 19.99
14:26the last petal i want to cover today is
14:29an enigma a mystery it is a
14:32troubling troubling issue for me
14:37i'm gonna try my best not to have a
14:38meltdown it is the fab
14:40distortion it's like 18.95
14:45and the original copy is so
14:48gripping compelling and leaves so much
14:52right at my fingertips that it's
14:54maddening let me read the copy
14:57let me walk you through the turmoil that
15:00as a historian pedal nerd here's the
15:06here it goes in the late 70s
15:09a tiny that's key effects maker in japan
15:15quantity of what many believe is the
15:18definitive distortion box
15:21who are the many it had delicious
15:24and was highly responsive and versatile
15:28recently a boutique pedal maker reissued
15:38maker what's the pedal dan electro
15:40offers you the d1 fab distortion
15:42at an unbelievable price i get i give
15:44them that it's like 18
15:47as a sonic equivalent to the prized
15:51okay off the bat i gotta know
15:54what's this a copy of a tiny effects
15:59in the 70s there weren't
16:02really tiny ones there there were
16:05companies like max on so i go
16:07oh it's a dns they're not tiny but maxon
16:12small-ish as a company because most
16:15people didn't know they were making all
16:18they're a huge company but maxon itself
16:20wasn't that no so for sure
16:22it's the dns k-sub no it's not the dns
16:26because the dns is a big muff and it
16:28sounds nothing like that the circuit's
16:31it's not this classic ibanez overdrive
16:34these are the same pedal made by the
16:38and then i fall apart because there's no
16:40one left it's not shin-eye they only
16:42made fuzzes and weird stuff
16:44it could it be the sd9 i don't know i
16:48that's from the nine series and we're
16:51could it be the zoom box from the late
16:5370s gaia tone no because
16:55it's a distortion plus variant could it
16:58be something like the quran distortion
17:01no because it's in that same family as
17:03well could it just be stuff from the 80s
17:05and they're confused like the pearl
17:07could it be the adt distortion one could
17:11it be an arion distortion they don't
17:13even know what this pedal is they have
17:14no clue what they're talking about they
17:16write it in the copy
17:18and people like me have a hard time with
17:20that it's 18.95 it sounds really good
17:22but we will never know
17:24trust me you're never gonna know where
17:25this came from what it is i don't know
17:27and because i don't know you're not
18:04today's record time is brought to you by
18:06the june 1966 release of the
18:12the beatles yesterday and today
18:16really great i want to go ahead and tell
18:17you there's two covers to this
18:19one is super controversial i can't find
18:22it it's called the butcher cover
18:24nick if you'll pop a photo up there you
18:26notice the photo they're holding weird
18:28pieces of meat and baby heads i don't
18:30know what that's about it's kind of
18:32but this album is great this is the
18:34clean more family-friendly version
18:36paul's inside of a box that's fun but
18:39this is loaded with tracks it's awesome
18:42this is like the 12th american release
18:45it kind of has this vibe of like a weird
18:48late 60s greatest hits kind of thing
18:52yeah yesterday's on it nowhere man
18:54driving my car day tripper it's a cool
18:56introduction to the beatles if you
18:57haven't quite gone there yet
19:00and it's just a weird alternate cover
19:03and the name fab four fab pedals i don't
19:05know you know i'm just reaching for
19:06stuff it's a good it's a good album let
19:08me know what you think in the comments
19:10what's your favorite beetle album what's
19:13fab four album thanks so much for
19:16watching this episode if you enjoyed
19:18this there is another fantastic
19:20dan electro episode that we worked
19:22really hard on it is called who is dead
19:24it's a behind the scenes look at the
19:26history and the creator
19:28who brought back this brand in the late
19:3190s it's awesome there's a link in the
19:33description below so go check that out
19:35if you like this episode please hit like
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19:52and all of this history we're archiving
19:55whether it's something as simple as
19:56today all the research that goes into
19:58this and work that is behind the scenes
20:00or longer documentary style things you
20:02can go there be a member of that you get
20:06i do an exclusive longborne talk and
20:08we're doing some other cool stuff
20:10revamping it all i don't know what we're
20:11doing i kind of know what we're doing
20:12but i can't say anyway
20:14check it all out have a wonderful day
20:16dare i say a fabulous day
