Thousand Dollar Pedals — The JHS Show

I’ll admit it: I talk too much about cheap pedals. I’m a thrifty guy. That’s what I do. But I’m turning the tables today. I want to talk about really, really expensive pedals. Behind every expensive pedal, there’s a reason the price is so jacked up. We’re going to look at pedals in this article that sell for upwards of $1000, we’re going to shoot them out against pedals closer to the $50-$100 range, and once and for all we’re going to answer the question: are they worth it?

Now, a pedal’s price has a lot of factors: is it rare? Are the parts hard to find? Is it out of production? Is it unusually high quality? Was it a limited release? These are all reasonable questions, but at the end of the day, I have to fall back on my motto: if it sounds good, it is good.

Bearing that in mind, let’s dive in.

BOSS TB-2W

The BOSS TB-2W was released in 2021 as an official collaboration between BOSS in Japan and Sola Sound in London. The “W” means that it’s part of the Waza Craft series, and the “TB” stands for Tone Bender. The Tone Bender was the second guitar pedal ever invented; it originally hit the shelves in 1965, and it sat at the feet of legendary guitarists like Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Mick Ronson and Pete Townshend.

The TB-2W is an incredibly faithful adaptation of the original circuit. It utilizes everything that’s classic about a good Tone Bender (like germanium transistors and the original Tone Bender MK-2 circuit), but it also leaves space for BOSS to do their thing. The TB-2W is in a beautifully minimalist enclosure (it is BOSS, after all) and adds a buffer switch. On top of all that, only a few thousand of these pedals were made. Total. Period. This is the actual definition of “limited release,” which is probably why these units average about $700-$1500 on Reverb.

Some collectors have argued that the TB-2W is all hype, but let’s check that against our list:

Unique

Vintage

Versatile

X Rare

____Parts hard to find

X Out of production

X Unusually high quality

X Limited release

I have to admit it: 4/8 is a decent score. There’s a true rarity factor here that affects the price, so it’s not all hype. That said, this sound is not impossible to replicate. You can get the same tone in a much less expensive pedal (read: $100-$200). If that’s more your style, I’d recommend options like the Morgan Amplification MKII Fuzz, the Way Huge WHE403 Havalina and the Keeley Fuzz Bender.

Lovetone Ring Stinger

Next up is a pedal from Henley on the Thames in Oxfordshire, England. I’m talking about the Lovetone Ring Stinger. Lovetone is an eccentric company that was already known for making oddball pedals like the Big Cheese, the Wobulator and the Flanger With No Name.

But even in that menagerie of weirdo pedals, the Ring Stinger stands out. Lovetone didn’t make a ton of these, so there’s already a rarity factor. A ring modulator distortion pedal is also a very unique effect style-- you don’t see many of these on the market, let alone from the Lovetone brand specifically. The Ring Stinger also stands out for me because it’s incredibly versatile. Basically, this is a ring modulator, a simple analog synthesizer and an octave fuzz. Even for the bananas expensive price of $1500, you can’t deny that you’re getting bang for your buck.

It scored a 5/8 on the checklist, so I’m calling it: this pedal is not all hype. It’s solid quality, and if you have $1500 burning a hole in your pocket, there are definitely worse ways you could spend it.

X Unique

X Vintage

X Versatile

X Rare

____Parts hard to find

X Out of production

____Unusually high quality

____Limited release

On the other hand, if you want to save your money for things like groceries or rent (it happens), the BOSS MD-500 Modulation or the Flamma FC05 Modulation both have killer Ring Mod settings, and they’ll get the job done for under $300.

The Flamma FC05 will get the job done for $30. I’m just sayin’.

Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man Tap Tempo 1100mS

Next up from around 2010 is the Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man Tap Tempo, which is a swanky version of an already baller guitar pedal-- and it has added tap tempo. Can you say “best pedal ever”? It comes in two editions: the green enclosure (less delay time) and the blue enclosure (more delay time), but both are amazing pedals. This pedal features the Panasonic MN3005 Chip (A.K.A. the best bucket brigade chipset ever made), which is super rare nowadays.

The original Deluxe Memory Man Tap Tempo pedals will have the words “tap tempo” written on the enclosure, and these pedals have the original Panasonic chips in them. This version was discontinued when the supply of Panasonic chips dried up, but when the same chipset was reissued from a company called Xvive, Electro-Harmonix started making the pedal again, calling it the Deluxe Memory Man 1100-TT. These newer versions are just going to have “1100-TT” written on the enclosure, but the insides are identical (apart from the Xvive chips). Some guitarists will argue that the original units sound better, but I politely disagree.

On top of that, there are a ton of delay pedals on the used market that achieve the same result (the Diamond Memory Lane and the Panther Cub Delay are two great examples), so it’s not necessarily unique. The rarity factor’s not really there, either; there are thousands of these units floating around on sites like Reverb. On top of that, the 1100-TT version is available from EHX for $450 new.

The OG Deluxe Memory Man Tap Tempos have gone for as much as $1000 on Reverb, but there may be a hype factor here. It only scored a 2/8 on the checklist, which means that while the Deluxe Memory Man Tap Tempo is definitely quality (Electro-Harmonix has earned that reputation for a good reason), I don’t think it’s rare enough to justify the $1000 price tag.

X Unique

____Vintage

____Versatile

____Rare

X Parts hard to find

____Out of production

____Unusually high quality

____Limited release

If you want to get the same sound for less moolah, a few great options are the Universal Audio Starlight Echo Station, the Diamond Memory Lane Jr.’s fourth mode and the newly reissued Deluxe Memory Man 1100-TT.

Ampeg Scrambler Fuzz

Next up is an octave fuzz pedal from 1968: the Ampeg Scrambler Fuzz. Basically, this is a vintage pedal that makes your guitar sound like a robot. What’s not to love? It’s also one of the first, if not the first pedal to have a gooped circuit. It’s an interesting dynamic here, because there were other octave fuzzes on the market at the time. This wasn’t Colonel Sanders’ secret recipe, but Ampeg still felt the need to disguise their circuit, possibly just for the enigma factor. As a result, these vintage pedals go for as much as $2,000 on the used market.

Now, I’d argue that Ampeg may have been overcompensating for the fact that, at the end of the day, an octave fuzz is not really that rare. JHS makes the Supreme Octave Fuzz for $179, and you can find even cheaper options on Amazon if you dig a little. So, is the Ampeg Scrambler worth two grand? Let’s look at the checklist.

____Unique

X Vintage

____Versatile

____Rare

____Parts hard to find

X Out of production

____Unusually high quality

____Limited release

Ouch. 2/8. Great if you’re trying to reduce a fraction to ¼. Terrible if you’re trying to gauge how rare/valuable a pedal is. The Ampeg Scrambler Fuzz is a great pedal, no question, but unless you’re the kind of obsessive freak that just has to own every pedal (like me), you can probably save your cash.

Like I mentioned, an octave fuzz is not hard to find on today’s market. A few great options under $200 are the Danelectro French Toast, the Teisco Fuzz and the JHS Supreme.

Klon Centaur

Next up is a pedal that I'm honestly sick and tired of talking about: the Klon Centaur. When we talk about overpriced vintage pedals, this is the pedal that comes to mind. I’ve seen these sell for $6,000 on Reverb, which blows my mind. You could drop that money into a savings account and retire in Hawaii in like twenty years. You could buy a car, a boat, a trailer. You could blow it all on the slots in Vegas, even, and at least you’d have a chance of making some of that money back. With the Klon Centaur, you’re just a sucker.

You can use this as a clean boost if you want to. I hate it, but you can. Personally, I’m more of a “crank-up-the-gain-and-call-it-a-day” kind of guy.

Let’s tackle the big question: why is it so dang expensive? And is it worth the price?

____Unique

X Vintage

____Versatile

X Rare

____Parts hard to find

X Out of production

____Unusually high quality

____Limited release

X Beautiful

I’m just gonna shoot straight with you: it’s hype. There’s a big hype factor with this pedal, maybe the biggest.

At the same time, this is one of the most beautiful pedals on earth. It just is. I literally added an extra item to the checklist just so we can properly appreciate how beautiful the Klon Centaur is, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Coincidentally, that bumps the total score for the Klon to 4/9. Considering there are literally thousands of clones of this on the market that sound identical, and people still willingly shell out several thousand dollars to own the Klon, that’s impressive.

Is it worth the money? Hard to say. It’s definitely a case of “let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” as I’m one of the insane people who shelled out-- well, not $6,000, but I dropped a decent chunk of change to buy my own Klon Centaur. If you’re a more balanced, well-adjusted guitarist, you can get the same tone for under $200 with pedals like the Wampler Tumnus Overdrive Pedal, the Way Huge Conspiracy Theory and the Boss OD-200 Overdrive.

Chase Bliss Audio Automatone MKII Preamp

This next pedal is really impressive: the Chase Bliss Audio Automatone MKII Preamp. This pedal was a collaboration between Joel Korte at Chase Bliss and Chris Benson at Benson Amps, and it’s brilliant.

I’m just gonna put my cards on the table. This pedal does everything: boost, light overdrive, medium overdrive, heavy overdrive, scorched earth, fluffy clouds. Literally everything. They also could have called this pedal Preset City, because that’s how it feels. You can literally just hit a button on the enclosure and the fricking sliders move. It's like a robot. You’ve got options for transistor choices, clipping choices, pre/post boost choices. It has a display numbers screen. This is the C3PO of guitar pedals.

I’ll be honest. As a builder, when I see a pedal like this, I kind of want to burn my workshop to the ground. What’s the point of building anymore? I can’t top this. As a guitarist, though, I can confirm that it's worth every dime. Where else are you going to get something like this? You're going to make this yourself? Good luck.

Just buy the thing. It's worth $750 bucks all day.

Going off of our checklist, it has a respectable score of 5/8, but in my heart the Automatone MKII Preamp deserves 8/8. It just does.

X Unique

____Vintage

X Versatile

X Rare

X Parts hard to find

____Out of production

X Unusually high quality

____Limited release

If $750 is a little outside your budget (no shame if so), then pedals like the Strymon Sunset Dual Overdrive, the Strymon Riverside Multistage Drive Pedal and the Line 6 DM4 Distortion Modeler are really solid alternatives.

At the end of the day, though, you need a certain level of self-awareness. Before you hand over your credit card, ask yourself, “Why do I want this pedal?” Because it’s rare? Because it’s valuable? Because it’s unique? Because you want your best friend to feel bad about not having the same pedal? These are all totally reasonable motivations, but you have to be honest with yourself if you’re going to successfully navigate the world of overpriced pedals.

Basically, buy the pedal because you like it, not because a bunch of other people do.