00:00in 1979 mash ruled television my sharona
00:03was all over the radio at a Japanese
00:06pedal brand called Gaia tone dropped a
00:08brand-new series of pedals that you
00:11probably didn't even know existed and on
00:13today's episode I'm going to show you
00:15why they're important why they're super
00:17cool and why you might want to find a
00:30today we're gonna take a deep look at
00:32the 1979 diatone box series now this
00:37series is my favorite Guyot zone series
00:40they've ever made and it's really
00:42important for a lot of reasons Guyot
00:44zone is started in the early 1930s and
00:47it experiences the boom of electric
00:49guitar and is in fact the largest and
00:52most important company in the Japanese
00:54market as rock and roll starts to evolve
00:57in the 60s and 70s they jump into the
00:59effects market in the mid to late 60s
01:01making fuzz face type circuits and other
01:04fuzz's and these are really popular but
01:07in 1977 another Japanese company that
01:11you know while boss changed the game
01:14with the compact series bright colors
01:16different colors per effect simple
01:19operation easy to understand this series
01:23changed the entire pedal world and
01:25caused companies like Guyot zone who are
01:28well established to follow suit and try
01:31to catch up so when you look at this box
01:33series you're gonna see colors you're
01:35gonna see simple controls you're gonna
01:38see a company that was huge and very
01:40successful and influential suddenly
01:42chasing the new kid on the block first
01:45up we're gonna play the driving
01:47compressor from the box series this is a
01:49beautiful green enclosure with two
01:51controls output and sensitivity it is in
01:54fact a very very well made Ross Dyna
01:58comp style compressor and inside it has
02:01the coveted RCA CA 3080 chipset it's
02:05stunning amazing very collectible
02:07it's all the stuff you want if you want
02:09old pedals it's in this pedal I'm also
02:13gonna play a Guyot own guitar newly made
02:16in Chicago it's called the spearhead you
02:18can buy the one I'm playing because I'm
02:20actually gonna send it back he's a
02:21friend of mine oh I almost forgot I'm
02:24gonna use this supply multi AC adapter
02:27that came out with the pedal series in
02:32it has 18 volt taps and nine volt this
02:36predates the voodoo lab stuff by a
02:39hundred years it is European so
02:43to make this harder myself I could use
02:45the normal booty lap that I normally use
02:47but I want to use this because I want to
02:49have the experience of the guy its own
02:51user someone I have to convert with this
02:54converter I'm gonna set it on the amp
02:56it's gonna be bulky and tacky and
02:58complicated but it's all for the sake of
03:01the show I need to play this now so we
03:36next up is the chorus machine chorus I'm
03:40almost sure that it's a chorus yeah yeah
03:44it's a chorus pedal and it's bigger than
03:47the other ones and honestly it's just
03:49more beautiful there's more to look at
03:51here three controls this color is
03:53stunning it is a mix of aqua teal and
03:57dreams of the future this color is so so
04:01good I love the bigger box logo on it 18
04:04volts of the back open and it has a very
04:06coveted bucket-brigade chipset which
04:09makes this a bucket brigade porous the
04:11MN 300 two-man a good-looking pedal and
04:16it sounds great it's time to demo
04:56next is the clean noise gate beautiful
04:59boring medicinal gray color one knob led
05:04where the other knob would have been
05:06that's cool to me and you know if I stop
05:11talking you'll hear what it would sound
05:13like if I plugged it in I'm not gonna
05:15plug it in but let's listen oh man it
05:20sounds good let's move on the dual
05:22octave purple enclosure just look how
05:25good these look I wish you could see
05:28what I see when I see all of them
05:31they're just great your that font fonts
05:34are important this is a very primitive
05:37and early clean octave effect so you
05:41know you have the mxr blue box at this
05:44point which has a sub octave fuzz but
05:47this is like hey we've made clean octave
05:51it's not that great it's actually a
05:54horrible octave circuit like any of
05:57there's Shania models like this I
05:59believe there's an Ibanez model from
06:01around the same time but it's so bad
06:04that it's awesome you can mix in the
06:07clean signal you can do upper and lower
06:10it's a bad circuit that's amazing
06:55next is the most famous of this series
06:59because the ads used it and when the ads
07:01uses things you see it in articles you
07:04see it in pictures it is the zoom
07:06distortion box I have the box too this
07:13is so meta I have the box - a box series
07:17pedal that's amazing it's open the box
07:24you see listen you see people with boxes
07:27you don't see people with foam in the
07:29box it's beaten up it's battered it's
07:32destroyed I have one that's flawlessly
07:35mint but you know what I want to show
07:38this one it needs a chance you've seen
07:40the other one you need to see this so
07:43this is a classic hard clipping circuit
07:46if you go back and watch our episode
07:48called the history of 1970s distortion
07:51you'll see where I lay out the
07:52distortion plus the dod 250 and this is
07:56that exact same circuit so basically you
07:58have this distortion plus southing dod
08:01250 I have the back conveniently off I
08:04prepped ahead like a cooking show
08:06wrapped in foam metal can op-amp again
08:12stop making fun of me
08:15germanium diode guys this is a fantastic
08:20distortion I have the box
09:03and this one definitely moves there's
09:06not a lot to say here it is khaki beige
09:10like a doctor's office but in that color
09:14is a class that you can only experience
09:16by actually seeing it I don't think the
09:19camera does this justice it's pure class
09:21it runs at 18 volts it has the extinct
09:26Redick on SAE chipset inside it's pretty
09:29amazing also I want to say something
09:31about this series that you're not gonna
09:33care about but I'm really passionate
09:35these are soft touch true bypass
09:39switches are these to bypass wait I
09:42don't know what the bypass is I don't
09:44know I think there's a mix the point is
09:46this is a double pole double throw foot
09:49switch that is silent I don't
10:32next is a mystery that has haunted me
10:36with this collection for a while I've
10:39had these for probably a year I finished
10:41this collection sometime around the
10:44middle first season of the show and it's
10:47the Rolly box phase Sonics notice it's
10:51spelt with an X because that's cooler
10:52now it's a phaser depth and speed
10:56you know nothing crazy another metal
10:59cannot BAM they sand it off the chip
11:01sets that's interesting but here's the
11:04mystery I had this I was fine
11:07I had my phaser pedal from the series
11:09and then a friend had this version I
11:16went down a black hole downward spiral
11:20of confusion questions meaning of life
11:25what is this and now it's time for the
11:34super phase Sonics not the Rolly face on
11:37it you only have battery access this has
11:40power supply this has an off switch
11:43the only pedal from the series you can
11:45turn off with the knob the circuit
11:47boards are different different fonts
11:48different name same model number PS
11:55so this is possibly from 78 it is sixty
11:59seven point three five millimeters
12:02what's the newer one oh it's 70 point oh
12:06I think it's shorter 120 99 the mystery
12:141698 get out of here LEDs in a different
12:18spot I cannot handle this type of
12:21mystery now I'm thinking about this the
12:24backplates the older one starts with the
12:28the newer is eight zero when I look at
12:30any of the other models
12:31none of them are below eight so all of
12:34the eights have a power jack but the six
12:37has no power jack is there an entire
12:40series from like the six era which might
12:43have been 1978 which is confusing
12:47because yes I have the original manuals
12:50from a Japanese catalogue this is 1979
12:54they all have the power jack and I'm
12:57pretty sure they all have the eight
13:00digit on the back I think there's a
13:03series that looks like this they're
13:04nowhere online none of my Japanese
13:06friends have them I know some of you
13:08think I'm crazy but I'm not crazy these
13:10are different just roll the riffs re I
13:53freaked out there for a second I feel
13:55better now that I phased it out I'm back
13:59on track but I do want to say you might
14:01think that's a little nuts but in my
14:03universe a case being smaller the serial
14:07number not making sense
14:09and the whole front of the pedal looks
14:12different that's a cue for me because
14:14that probably means this is made in a
14:17different Japanese plant it could be an
14:19OEM company making it for guyot own then
14:22they go to this and when I go and try to
14:24interview people I have to put all these
14:27all I'm saying is welcome to my life and
14:30let's move on to the Ottawa the
14:33crossover Ottawa it's gonna
14:35automatically wah the signal next up is
15:17the delay analog delay so this is a
15:20bucket brigade echo delay unit it's
15:24awesome it runs 18 volts it is this
15:27beautiful lavender color and on the side
15:30it has an instrument line selector which
15:32I will use or you can go to microphone
15:34so they were thinking about this is
15:36almost like outboard effect gear runs at
15:3918 volts it's awesome mine's a little
15:42beat up but it sounds fantastic
15:45let's give it a whirl
16:38last but not least is the equalizer or
16:43equalizers this is the tin band graphic
16:47EQ little too many bands for today I'm
16:50feeling simple so we're just gonna look
16:52at this and admire it
16:53it's nice super classy love the color
16:56let's go simple oh and I have the box to
16:59this it is the equalizer graphic EQ no
17:05stop switch because you don't need to
17:07turn this off that's silly
17:09I'm gonna put it in front of the
17:12distortion doesn't even box see what
17:15boost the mids scoop out some
17:16frequencies have some fun oh what's this
17:18in the box this is just the manual Nick
17:22I think this is the original manual yeah
17:26oh look at that it's in Japanese that's
17:30not a chord chart that's right that's
17:32where you put the EQ at you're
17:35witnessing some stuff here guys you know
17:38boxes manuals let's play these
18:22is brought to you by 1979's
18:26the wall by Pink Floyd this is to say
18:29the least a very very epic album
18:33different album versions have different
18:36covers mine's pretty simple it's a brick
18:38wall so this is by many people
18:42considered a masterpiece their greatest
18:45record you can get into arguments over
18:47that I don't advise it but it's full of
18:49incredible songs it's from the same year
18:52as this guy it's own series man my first
18:55band we covered another brick in the
18:58wall run like hell hey you I remember
19:02learning the comfortably numb' guitar
19:04solos I could go on and on with this
19:07record it's incredible every song is
19:10fantastic mother yeah you just need to
19:13listen to it if you've never heard this
19:17listen to it maybe watch the movie it's
19:20kind of strange and weird it's an
19:22experience and is definitely what you
19:25would define as art very very cool so
19:28let me know your favorite track on this
19:29and let me know your favorite album or
19:32song from 1979 thanks so much for
19:36watching this episode I hope you enjoyed
19:38it I love this series of pedals I think
19:40they're super cool I think they carry a
19:42great story and a narrative about how
19:44pedals changed in the late 70s on
19:47through the 80s I love them if you have
19:49some I'd love to know about it in the
19:52go find some let's talk about these
19:54pedals tell me which one was your
19:56favorite which one you'd like to buy if
19:58you could ever get a hold of one and if
20:00you've seen any more of that crazy
20:02script font version that's so mysterious
20:05let me know about it I love to learn and
20:07some of you guys might know more about
20:10check out vGHS show.com for shirts and
20:13other stuff also there is a patreon page
20:16that you can go to you can see how we're
20:20viewing people and collecting all the
20:22history of pedals and into some of the
20:24electric guitar history as well you can
20:27support that it's really exciting
20:28there's exclusive content over there a
20:31monthly long form lecture of a subject
20:34that I'm working on or kind of riding
20:37through thinking about you get the
20:38exclusive giveaways all kinds of fun
20:41stuff go check that out it's in the
20:42description below and have a wonderful
