Honey Special Fuzz.

[ZZ$$$$$$$]

I own a honey companion wah surf tornado siren and a national fuzz wah and the circuits are different than this Honey Special Fuzz. One thing Im sure about just by looking at the Honey Special Fuzz circuit is that it has the same Ge clipping configuration as an original superfuzz and the national fuzz wah and all the rebranded fuzz wahs made in Japan. I guess they all went thru the UNIVOX/UNICORD company.I too am looking forward to seeing a post of a schematic and layout for this circuit. I wonder how many of these Honey Special fuzzes were made?

[nightraven]

according to the other forum, honey pedals were RARE re-branded shin ei's...so maybe looking at some of the shin-ei pedals we can find a match

a quick history lesson, hope you're all sitting comfortably!
(some info is a little hazy...)

-Shin-ei was the big musical instruments brand in Japan in the late 60s until the 80s(?)
-all lots of manufacturers emerging in the USA and the UK they wanted to get involved with the effects business as well
-it was convenient that the Japanese effects brand at the time called HONEY was going bankrupt
(you can look at EffectsDatabase to see the full line-up of Honey pedals - notice some familiar faces? there's one missing though)
-in 1969 Shin-ei took over production and started pumping these @#$%ers out not only in Japan but also across the whole world for Univox, Rose-Morris, Avora etc

now, this should be a testament to how god-awful the "Special" Fuzz must sound if Shin-ei were compelled to continue production of the ridiculous Surf-Siren-Hurricane pedal over it  , but i'm still on a long hunt to find one of them because of how cool they look (outside and inside!) one of the big effects collectors said that this pedal is some sort of fuzz-phaser but wouldn't inductors suggest something wah-like? a LFO driven wah could give the impression that it's a phaser. another interesting thing to note is that i've seen/heard of FOUR of these pedals residing in Mexico - weird huh?! kind of like how loads of JHS pedals were exported to Canada.

a fun thing to note is the Honey version of the FY-6 Fuzz (a.k.a. Superfuzz) - the "Baby Crying"(!!!!) - pretty awesome that this circuit was actually designed in 1967. have yet to find one of those as well...
and then there's also the Guyatone FS-3 fuzzbox that seems clearly made by Honey (like the other Guyatone effects at the time were made by some other local firms - FS-1, FS-2, Bazz Box etc). this one is basically a variation of the Baby Crying.
there is, however, a pedal we see relatively often which looks strikingly similar to these mysterious Honey pedals - Shin-ei Uni-fuzz - personally i've never seen a Honey version of this one, anybody else?

if any of the info is off then by all means correct me (this includes effects collectors in Japan with infinitely more knowledge on this subject who found this thread via Google hits!)

[Keppy]

Thanks for the info, and welcome to a first-time poster! Though, I see you've been registered longer than I have. 

Funny about the Mexico thing.

[digi2t]

I know nightraven from "the other forum", he was instrumental in helping me with the WEM Project V fuzz. Aside from having a plethora of pedal knowledge (as seen by his post  ), he's also a righteous dude.

Welcome to the forum, congrats on your first post here. Nice to see you on both sides of the border  .

Like you mentioned, the coolness factor has got me cold here. I have... no... I NEED to get into this sucker. It's really bugging me. And the Mexico connection is bizzare as well. 2 out of the 3 owners that I've seen on the net of this pedal, are of Latino origin. I'm guessing that maybe the Honey brand was aimed at that market? Who knows 

Anyway, I'm still waiting for response to PM's I've sent. I'll keep everyone posted.

Cheers,
Dino

[pinkjimiphoton]

got it!! it's an octave fuzz AUTO WAH!!

translated (original link below)

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://d.hatena.ne.jp/Billl/20110323/1300884571&ei=BEpjT9jTEeWG0QHBzInICA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CF0Q7gEwBg&prev=/search%3Fq%3DHoney%2BSpecial%2BFuzz%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DpKE%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Dimvns

"2011-03-23
HONEY Special Fuzz

Complex type , fuzz , specialties | 21:49

Effector rare brand of "HONEY" domestic legend.

Upper octave fuzz MFPs and auto-wah.

f:id:Billl:20111126132357j:image

Gain is not high enough of HONEY BABY CRYING Similarly, a retro sound.

Wow and to take periodic SPECIAL FUZZ mode will be a plus."


http://d.hatena.ne.jp/Billl/20110323/1300884571

we need someone who speaks japanese in on this so we can ask "bill" about the pedal more...

[pinkjimiphoton]

i used google translate, and asked if he may have a schematic for it, or be willing to take detailed gut shots.

[Keppy]

got it!! it's an octave fuzz AUTO WAH!!

Awesome! I had an auto wah on my "to build" list. This should be fun!

[pinkjimiphoton]

dude, have ya tried escobedo's phunqnosis?

super easy, small, sounds great and would work well as an add on for a lot of fuzzes.

it appears this pedal tho gets a thumbs down...apparently it's less than unity gain when engaged.

well...that sucks. BUT....

we have the technology...we can make it better than it was....


all your pedals are belong to us.... 

i really wanna see this thing come together...i mean, look what we made happen with the pII? from a single set of botched schematics to not one, but 3 functional units to study, the first prototype built and sounding most excellent, and many more to follow...

i got faith, brothers. if this here collective can't figure it out, it plain kain't be done.

[nightraven]

thanks for the welcomes

i've talked to "Bill" in the past but i'm not sure if he owns a Special Fuzz. i think the pedal featured in the blog belongs to Voodoowrench - a different guy (not sure if he speaks English but he has a Youtube channel as well)

i think this project will come together very nicely because there are THREE Special Fuzzes owned by people on this very forum and if they don't chime in sooner or later i'll have to give 'em a gentle nudge

[pinkjimiphoton]

dude, welcome !!

grab a brewski 

i've "seen" ya other places too.

nice to meet ya, i really dig the way you think.  

look forwards to seeing this come to life.



sorry...my grey matter is green at the moment...lol

[digi2t]

thanks for the welcomes

i've talked to "Bill" in the past but i'm not sure if he owns a Special Fuzz. i think the pedal featured in the blog belongs to Voodoowrench - a different guy (not sure if he speaks English but he has a Youtube channel as well)

i think this project will come together very nicely because there are THREE Special Fuzzes owned by people on this very forum and if they don't chime in sooner or later i'll have to give 'em a gentle nudge

If you know who to nudge, please do. I've PM'd, and messaged everyone who may have a connection to this pedal, but no replies so far  . Octave fuzz, and auto-wah? WOW... cool!

[pinkjimiphoton]

at about 1:20 or so i think you can hear it on the demo with the superfuzz...

it may be neat to mess with, indeed!

[pinkjimiphoton]

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/Billl/20101216/1292425370

[digi2t]

Found voodoowrench's website; http://gozmez69.web.fc2.com/

He's got an eclectic collection of stuff... but no way to contact him, other than Youtube  .

[pinkjimiphoton]

dude, that's still awesome tho....you can contact him thru youtube, and use google translate to talk to him...

that was how i found dj kaitop in japan for the KVR audio lost gems thread and recovered all them obscure vst's of his.

generally, i've found the japanese people to be some of the nicest and friendliest on earth, so with a bit of luck, he'll hook you up!!

or...if it's too much, let me know, and I'LL try for ya..say the word dino, and i'm on it like white on rice!

edit: suck. i can't get into the website URL you posted.

[Pacafeliz]

hey there folks!

well yes i am Pat the guy in Mexico that owns TWO of these... both not really working.

i am going thru a nasty divorce and have been moving from one apt. to another, but i'll try to make a demo of the "more-sounding" one and post it on youtube.

i KNOW these are rare as hen's teeth, and i've gotten LOTS of PM's on youtube etc. about 'em, but i have NO idea what i could ask for it/them.
but it'd be fantastic to see at least one of them ending up here... if not both!

gonna be selling lotsa old pedals soon (i hope - i must!), also have an ace tone fuzz master, lots of shin-ei siren wahs, NOS NADY tube distortion, etc. etc.
you know divorce ain't cheap.... 

anyways, stay tuned, i promise i'll be back soon - with lotsa good gut shots, for just in case.

i think the most coherent thing will be to throw 'em on ebay with no reserve or so... or anyone here dare shooting me a generous (but fair, by all means!) offer.
i wanna do my part too on clearing up the mystery about these and WHAT they do.

from what i recall it does sound fuzzy with some sort of phaser-ish overtone or so.

stay tuned,

Pat.

[Pacafeliz]

btw, according to the analog mike book...

honey was BEFORE shin-ei. they made the (in)famous "psychedelic machine", which is supposed to have been the 1st time the fuzz later to be known as the "super fuzz" AND the "uni-vibe" showed up. yes, both in ONE box. but a huge box.

he mentions the special fuzz is the (grand)daddy of al superfuzzes.
but he might be wrong.

honey then went bankrupt and/or became shin-ei.
and we know the rest... or not... 

ok back to work!

Pat.

[pinkjimiphoton]

hey pat,
worst case scenario, would you be interested in loaning or trading one of the boxes to be lovingly dissasembled/cleaned repaired in the interest of resurrecting one of these beasts?

or...what would you consider a fair price?

just curious...i HATE to see shit go on ebay. everyone loses there...by the time the seller pays his pounds of flesh to ebay and paypal, he's pretty gaunt these days.

[Mark Hammer]

hey there folks!

well yes i am Pat the guy in Mexico that owns TWO of these... both not really working.

i am going thru a nasty divorce and have been moving from one apt. to another, but i'll try to make a demo of the "more-sounding" one and post it on youtube.

i KNOW these are rare as hen's teeth, and i've gotten LOTS of PM's on youtube etc. about 'em, but i have NO idea what i could ask for it/them.
but it'd be fantastic to see at least one of them ending up here... if not both!

gonna be selling lotsa old pedals soon (i hope - i must!), also have an ace tone fuzz master, lots of shin-ei siren wahs, NOS NADY tube distortion, etc. etc.
you know divorce ain't cheap.... 

anyways, stay tuned, i promise i'll be back soon - with lotsa good gut shots, for just in case.

i think the most coherent thing will be to throw 'em on ebay with no reserve or so... or anyone here dare shooting me a generous (but fair, by all means!) offer.
i wanna do my part too on clearing up the mystery about these and WHAT they do.

from what i recall it does sound fuzzy with some sort of phaser-ish overtone or so.

stay tuned,

Pat.

When a woman can't tell if her husband is saying "Honey" when talking about her, or talking abouthis pedals, divorce can't be far away!  But I shouldn't joke.  I hope all proceeds smoothly for both of you and everyone moves on to a better life.

I don't know enough about e-bay to know whether you have to take special steps to appeal to Japanese buyers, but if you want to get more for the device you should probably consider finding a Japanese buyer.  Not that they are more naive or part with their money more easily, but I think the unit might have more collector appeal there.

[digi2t]

hey there folks!

well yes i am Pat the guy in Mexico that owns TWO of these... both not really working.

i am going thru a nasty divorce and have been moving from one apt. to another, but i'll try to make a demo of the "more-sounding" one and post it on youtube.

i KNOW these are rare as hen's teeth, and i've gotten LOTS of PM's on youtube etc. about 'em, but i have NO idea what i could ask for it/them.
but it'd be fantastic to see at least one of them ending up here... if not both!

gonna be selling lotsa old pedals soon (i hope - i must!), also have an ace tone fuzz master, lots of shin-ei siren wahs, NOS NADY tube distortion, etc. etc.
you know divorce ain't cheap.... 

anyways, stay tuned, i promise i'll be back soon - with lotsa good gut shots, for just in case.

i think the most coherent thing will be to throw 'em on ebay with no reserve or so... or anyone here dare shooting me a generous (but fair, by all means!) offer.
i wanna do my part too on clearing up the mystery about these and WHAT they do.

from what i recall it does sound fuzzy with some sort of phaser-ish overtone or so.

stay tuned,

Pat.

Pat,

First off, sorry to here about the divorce. Been there, done that, sucks big time. I feel for you brother.

Secondly, a million thanks for writing in. just hearing from you has made my week, month, year  .

Listen, I`ll make you two offers. 1) If your willing, can you send me one? I`ll look it over, repair what needs repairing, and ship it back to you. I`ll cover the shipping both ways. While I have it, it will give me a chance to trace the circuit.
2) I`ll offer to buy one (or both, for the right price) outright.

Let me know via PM.

If you have any qualms about whether I`m above board, just ask around the forum. I think they`ll be a few people willing to vouch for me. I hold my reputation near and dear. After my divorce, it was all I had left  .

Cheers,
Dino