Cool Effects From Japan

[Pirate]

Recently I've been looking at japanese guitars and effects and I thought these looked pretty cool

Samurai Sound
Alot of these look like original designs and not clones.The option for a kit version looks really cool.

Soul Power
This company seems really interesting,but I can't really tell what most of the site says even with a translator.Most of the stuff they have looks like extremely modified pedals,some clones,and maybe originals?

Anyone else know of any cool japanese effectors?

[tigerdriver]

"THE LEGEND OF OD"

[Pirate]

Hmmm.....The Legend of Fuzz+The Legend of OD=super guitar orgasm sound?

[metalmariachi]

That Space Reverb looks like candy.

MM

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

shit looks cool, samurai sound has funny despcriptions

Space Reverb
スプリングリバーブをリアルシミュレート！ Simulate a real spring!

also wtf is a spankin purplin sounds sweet tho

[smile_man]

Oh shit! "Legend of OD'.

[htsamurai]

if they had cool samurai graphics id definitely pick one up
but their graphics suck, and believe me i know samurai stuff *see name for reference*

[the raytownian]

haha, I actually like the look of that reverb... But if I had to guess by its size (and likely not overly-complex circuitry) alone, I'd say that it' has that "lots of echoses blurred together for faux reverb" sound like what the super-rare DOD pedal reverb and Realistic reverb probably sound might have.

Still it does look like candy, haha.

[Pirate]

I like pedals that look like candy,makes the tonez moar tastey

[leastwise]

I want someone to make a "Legend of ODB" pedal.

[ohsojayadeva]

I want someone to make a "Legend of ODB" pedal.

it really doesn't get any dirtier....

[aen]

They ahve a pedal for a bigot on there. They get really specialized in Japan, I guess. Also, I hear that to kick your ass is a splendid sound.

[queer]

Recently I've been looking at japanese guitars and effects and I thought these looked pretty cool

Samurai Sound
Alot of these look like original designs and not clones.The option for a kit version looks really cool.

Soul Power
This company seems really interesting,but I can't really tell what most of the site says even with a translator.Most of the stuff they have looks like extremely modified pedals,some clones,and maybe originals?

Anyone else know of any cool japanese effectors?

Yep,LAL

[glitch]

Well, as a local I guess I should probably finally chime in here.

After finally getting over to Japan, I discovered that the number of effect manufacturers here is really phenomenal. I go into a couple of the big music shops in Osaka, and I'm astonished at the number of pedal companies I've never heard of.

Yeah, there are a lot that you already know of over in the West: Maxon, Guyatone, Arion, etc. (not to mention Boss or Ibanez). Other lesser-know pedalmakers include Sobbat, Albit/Cranetortoise, Hao, and Boot-Leg, just off the top of my head.

Albit has some interesting ideas for preamps and tube circuits (I've got one of their A3GP pre's, which comes in handy sometimes) and their sister company Cranetortoise makes a few nice boosts. However, they're interesting in the same way that Radial Engineering is interesting over in North America: they solve problems. They're not really so appealing in a "this makes my guitar sound like a grinding steel girder" sort of way, as least not that I've found yet.

The biggest problem, though, is finding "cool" effect builders. LAL has been mentioned. (I love those guys, BTW.) However, as in the West, the vast majority of pedal manufacturers seem to be just recycling the same old distortion boxes -- nothing really groundbreaking there.

And, frankly, there's a huge amount of stuff here that's just plain crap. Don't go thinking that just because it's Japanese, it's cool. That's the case with pretty much everything, though. (Aside: after I started travelling, I began referring to this as BBC Syndrome: if you were to judge by what's imported to America, you'd think that British TV was full of nothing but thoughtful, entertaining, well-produced programming; when you actually go to the UK, however, you find that most of their television is just as unwatchable as it is in the States.) Only the good stuff leaves the country, so that's really only what you see from the outside. "Grass is always greener", and all that.

As far as finding another company that is as cool as LAL (or the usual suspects roundup of boutique manufacturers from the States), I'll keep looking. But that really isn't the sound that most Japanese guitarists seem to be going for. Those few that do go in for that kind of noise are already used to buying import pedals or ordering their gear from overseas, so I think it might be a while before the local market here catches up.

-- glitch.@#$%!

[Seizurema]

That reverb looks sweet, not many people do boutique verbs. Who wants to take one for the team?