Electra Distortion

This is an update on an earlier review. Actually it looks like my review is the first one on this pedal. This is the earlier 80's model. It just says Distortion not the later 500 series.

This has as I've said earlier it has several cool sounds, a couple crappy sounds and a couple of cool/ugly sounds. You've got to tweak it.

good

simple circuitry

Here's the update. It is Japanese not Taiwanese. It has the same circuitry as, the Loco Box, Cutec, Gig, and Austin pedals. They were made by a small Japanese company. I found some info on these at a Loco box website and DiscoFX site. They made several versions of the same pedal and put different names on them, the Electra pedal has a different casing than all the others but its the same circuit. I know because I own an Electra and a Austin and opened them up. Also I thought I paid too much ($61) for it but subsequent auctions on ebay have proven that it actually is worth at least that and probably in the future will go up in value.

Incredibly easy to use.... no manual needed. Volume, Tone, and distortion pots.

I used this pedal first with a PRS custom 24 through a Soldano Lucky 13 head into a marshall 4X12 slant cab, then a '76 Fender Tele deluxe through a Marshall MK II through the same cab. At first I hated this pedal. It was harsh, way too fuzzy, and cheap sounding. I played with the knobs a bit and finally found "it." By pushing the pedal hard with volume near 4 o'clock, distortion near 4 o'clock, and tone rolled way back around 10 o'clock I got an extremely cool sound. It was like no other pedal I'd played. It was HUGE sounding, very tight bass response, but not over the top distorted. Almost like an MXR micro-amp with the added availability of more or less distortion. When engaged the pedal is a bit noisy, but what 70's distortion isn't? When it's off, it sounds fine. I play heavy rock n roll with pop sensibilities and a bit of screaming a' la Foo Fighters, Thursday, Brand New, and My Hotel Year. This pedal is perfect for me. The only down side is that it's kinda hard to set your clean tone loud enough with this pedal on top because you have to push the volume so much to get the best sound, but it's not impossible. Also I wish there was a bit more sustain, but it really sounds different... good different. I get compliments all the time. "I've never heard anything like that... it's so huge but not harsh!" I used to use the dirty side of my Soldano for my big "wall of guitars" distortion, but now I use this!

I find this pedal to be ultra reliable. Very well made (Japanese I think). And for a 30 year old pedal it's holding it's own. I of course have the dirty side of my amp as a backup though. If there's one thing I've learned from touring is that you ALAWAYS HAVE A BACKUP!

I'm sure this company no longer exists and I've never seen another one of these, ever.

As I said before I play heavy rock (not modern like Nickelback or any of that crap) but more like Foo Fighters, Thursday, and Brand New (kinda more of an underground rock but not too "artsy") I've been playing seriously for about 12 years. I have a 70's LP Goldtop, a '76 Tele Deluxe (the one set up like a Gibson with two humbuckers), a '97 PRS Custom 24, a '96 strat. As far as amps I have a Soldano Lucky 13 head, Marshall JCM 2000 TSL 60, '74 Marshall JMP MK II, and a '65 Fender Bandmaster Reverb. Numerous FX pedals. The only thing I don't like is that it's not very versatile, luckily the one sound I found is AWESOME. I kind of bought this pedal on a whim and got lucky, I just thought it looked cool and it was inexpensive so... you never know what you might find. Like I said, this pedal has some bad (as in bad, not good) sounds, but when you find the good ones... they're great! If you want a slight overdrive sound, this isn't for you although it does let off as you roll back your volume on the guitar. If you are looking for a HUGE sound without a lot of muddyness, this is perfect. It almost sounds like your speakers are about to blow up with tons of mid range and tight bass, but not a lot of "dsssshhhh" sound (although you can get that too, but I hate that). If I lost it or if it got stolen I'd try to find another, but would probably have a hard time. I wouldn't pay more than $100, but I'd definitely try. Definitely worth $45!!!!

Three knobs: Volume, Distortion, and Tone. Your basic distortion layout. Come on, you should know this by now, Fred!

Interesting sound, somewhere between a Boss DS1 and a fuzztone. Excellent for '70s hard rock power chord chit and thrashy punk type stuff; probably ok for leads as well although until tonight I hadn't played with it since before I was a decent lead guitarist. Definitely a retro sound. The tone control is effective as hell, wide sweep between smooth bass and buzzsaw treble, almost like a bandpass filter in that toward the top there isn't much bass. A little noisy overall.

It's been sitting in a closet for about 10 years, and right off the bat I noticed that a wire was broken inside and the LED had become unstuck from the case inside. Also an intermittency that I couldn't tell whether it was the box or the cable. I had to do a little tweaking. I dunno how it'd stand up to regular use. Give me a few months.

Eh? All I know is that Electra ceased to be sometime in the '80s, and that whatever company is the successor to the Westone brand is also the grand-successor of Electra, and they've probably have never heard of this pedal anyway.

First off, this pedal is called the Electra 500D Distortion, just so there's no confusion. There was another older and much simpler "Electra Distortion" that was designed as a plug-in module for one of Electra's wacko early-70s guitars, and for which there are schematics all over the web (popular with DIY stompboxers because of its simplicity). This ain't that. This is a regular ol' standalone stompbox, black with red lettering and graphics and a white "Electra" logo, made late '70s or early '80s in Japan.

Here's the story: my brother bought this pedal way back then when he was a teenage punk rocker, and as he kind of drifted out of playing guitar (he's started to take it up again recently...) while I, a precocious little grade schooler, was just taking it up (...and now he's asked me to teach him how to play!), somehow this pedal ended up in my possession. I must say that I always thought it sounded kickass, although what did I know for distortion pedals back then? As long as it made my hamfisted banging NOISY just like those bighaired guitar gods on my brother's LPs, I was easy to impress.

Now, a good 15-20 years later, I'm all grown up, I play pretty well, and I'm even a semi-pro in two bands. I've had the chance to play and own some decent guitars and all kinds of effects devices. My main guitars now are a Lotus str@t and an Epi Les Paul (there are of course several others); my effects collection includes several DOD pedals, a Boss DS1, a Vox Distortion Booster, a Cry Baby, a Small Stone (Russian), a Dan-Echo; and my amp is a Laney HC50. You couldn't say that I'm hurting for toys to play with.

So naturally I was excited as all hell to plug in the old Electra Distortion after digging it out to see what it really sounded like. Once I got the bugs ironed out I have to say as a professed amateur stompbox fanatic that this thing is actually as cool as I remember it. Probably not the ultimate in versatility--what distortion pedal outside of a POD is?--but it definitely has its own unique sound, not to mention that it probably qualifies for vintage status and seems fairly rare besides. It's not a BAD distortion, let me put it that way. Check it out if one comes your way.

Incidentally, for those who care, I opened it up and it seems like a fairly simple circuit with four transistors and a "6552" IC. Anyone have a schematic?

Standard distortion pedal layout with 3 controls: Output, Dist, and Tone. Dist(ortion) and Tone settings are too extreme - or are they?

Seeing as this was designed & sold in the late 70's/early 80's it gets a great vintage power-chord sound that i really like. But i wouldn't use it for solos because the breakup is pretty ugly. It can get pretty nasty at the extreme settings, maybe good for sound fx or industrial.

I'm a big fan of Electra's effects pedals & rack processors - at least the ones i've tried. The sound is almost always excellent, but the overall quaility is pretty cheap. Not plastic-cheap (we're talking 70's here) but "cost-effective" cheap. Having said that & considering its age it has stood the test of time & operates as it should.

N/A

Good for rhythm guitar, bad for lead (unless you never pause ala Yngvie)

output,distortion,Tone. Three knobs. I firmly believe you can't own too many distortions. This thing has a couple of sweet spots and a couple ugly/cool spots and several suck spots.

it has a setting that sounds a little like a Boss DS-1 , as on overdrive it reminds me of my FC-10. It is good on chords as long as uyou don't crank the tone (it gets piercing) or distortion (it gets buzzy)
It also sustains well for lead. but like I said it has several bad sounds in it too.

looks fine, just got t , its from the late 70's

no contact

i was hoping, when i bought this on ebay, that this was the Electra distortion pedal that was supposedly made by Electro haronics and in reality was a Big Muff. I don't think it is. I can't tell the country or year of manufacture. My educated guess is Taiwan, maybe made by the same comapany that made Ross pedals in Taiwan similar vibe. This is all guessing. I was intially tempted to sell it,( i did pay too much) but it has grown on me, the chord sounds can be meay and the ugly/cool sounds may be useful. it can be buzzy in the higher distortion settings, but it sustains and feedbacks well. like I said you can never own enough distortion pedal