Home › Forums › Vintage EHX › Everything about the Electric Mistress
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December 23, 2011 at 10:41 am #82065The Mistress GuyMember
Hi there,
I started a page about the Electric Mistress – The Mistress Mystery Page
It may be helpful if you want to identify which version you own or have problems with dating your Mistress:D
The page is noncommercial and intended as a source of information.I am always looking for phots of vintage Mistresses. If you own one and want to contribute to my page just send me your photos by email (webmaster_at_metzgerralf.de).
Best wishes
Ralf
January 6, 2012 at 4:39 pm #116694germanium mashMemberHi, thanks for putting the Electric Mistress page together…
I have an old 18 volt model, looks almost identical to the V2 from’77 on your site.
My pedal has the ungraduated circles around the controls,pale green coloured board & 18 Volt power.
Mine is pretty rusty and the Electric Mistress logo is more of a solid lime green colour, rather than the darker coloured semi-translucent logo from later (c.1980-on).
I had another one that had the darker logo,this one that I kept sounded a bit ’rounder’ for some reason. I’ll get some pics if you like.
I just can’t see the date codes on the pots…January 6, 2012 at 5:18 pm #116695The Mistress GuyMemberHello,
How to determine the pot date is explained here. As far as I know all vintage Mistresses have CTS pots.
Photos are always welcome.
Best wishes
Ralf
August 8, 2015 at 6:32 am #120832daniel5150ParticipantI went to your Electric Mistress info site, and its very good. However, info there seemed to be a bit off mark on mine..
I bought my Deluxe Electric Mistress I thought, around 1983, but then i thought again.. I am pretty sure I bought it in October or early November of 1984. I recall it seemed to have been kept in the music store’s glass counter shelf for a long time, I thought it might have been there a few years.. he had two of them in there.
Photos i have seen of the insides of the DEM’s led me to think it was probably from 1979 or 1980.
So today I found Ralph’ Electro Harmonix site and used the links there for dating mine by the pots. The only pot that you can easily read the back of is the one for Color, on top.it reads: R1378405 and PO130
according to the code info, it seems, that would be 137… ’84 is the year, and 05 is the week. 5th week of 84 would be early February. I figured, OK, well I bought it in Fall of 1984, so that would have been earlier the same year.
But when I looked through the other section How to Date the Mistress models, it said, based on various things, that its from 1979, a model Version 2.
But it says, after 1980 it would have a green and black face on it, but mine looks like the older ones, with the black paint over the metal box.
I noticed sometimes the wires are different color inside; figured thats from different time periods probably as well. I think my stomp switch originally had thin blue wires to the board..
Anothe thing i noticed, is, the photos of the pots usually just start out with the 137 number.. but mine has an R137 to start it off.
Kind of made me wonder if mine was a resissue of the earlier design, though none of the box nor paperwork inside indicated it was anything like that. I also wonderied if maybe that meant it was remanufactured, like a defect returned because it needed a new pot? but then they fixed it with a new pot and packaged it and sold it as a new DEM, complete with the regular warranty cards etc. I do not know if that was something they might have done or not. curious as to why it has the old 1970 style design and looks but seems to have a 1984 pot. (?)Aside from that, the reason I opened the box in the first place years ago, was the stompo switch started acting fickle. opened it up and could see that the design is simple, it had a rod thing that when pushed it rolls to the other position, and touches two other connectors for the wires. and vice versa, anytme you stomp on the switch. only this one was worn out.. & seemed to have the parts kind of loose inside, so it wouldnt make a clean connection.
i could have just kept it in one position somehow, to it was always on, but i’d rather have a new switch, so I removed it to see if i could find one just like it at a electronics store. (Like radioshack, but they didnt have it) no luck anywhere..of course this was pre-internet too. so i just put it in its box and kept it there for a long time. bought other flangers and newer digital multi-effects but still bummed i have this thing sitting in a box. it soundded different than anything else i’ve had or tried out.
noticed another problem is i dont known where two of the wires go..from the switch to the board. I figured it would be easy to find one to look at, or a photo pf the insides of one like mine, and see where they go. but the photos I have been finding dont show that part very well. not good enough to use as a guide.
some have tape over the wires, or they twisted the wires around each other,and they are all the same color, so that doesnt help, and i dont want to risk putt it together wrong, because it was in perfect shape otherwise, and not used for long. otherwise, both the box and the effect and the paperwork is in great condition.
also id need to buy some new wire for that and want it to match. it didnt have a single strand of wire in the center, it was very thin wires together, if memory serves. they werent copper, but silvery colored i think.
so, anyone know where i might get this thing fixed? or have a good picture of the backside of the board, a diagram or photo that shws really clearly where each wire goes for the stomper?
and. does anyone know where i can find a stomp switch just like it? (if its possible)
If i have to use some other type of stomp switch design, i’d need to know how to use that one in the same way the opriginal was.thanks, if anyone can help..
August 8, 2015 at 3:19 pm #120833ScruffieMemberWhere are you located? Will help finding someone who can fix it.
August 9, 2015 at 8:27 am #120834daniel5150Participantoh wow. thanks for the reply, didnt expect to hear anything so fast. I live about 12 miles east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
The local Guitar Center (Monroeville location) referred me to EH/New Sensor, but they told me to write in here.
–danAugust 9, 2015 at 7:08 pm #120836ScruffieMemberThe EH Man or Howard Davis would be your go to guys on the forum.
August 19, 2015 at 1:04 pm #120851HarmonixMemberI guess so too.
Also look at this post for a sound comparison of the different Electric Mistress pedals!August 19, 2015 at 1:43 pm #120852ScruffieMemberQuote:I guess so too.
Also look at this post for a sound comparison of the different Electric Mistress pedals!Is that your page? There is quite a bit of incorrect info on that page.
For a start, EHX was closed from around ’85 onwards due to union pressure and the mistress didn’t go back in to production even as a prototype until Sovtek started up which was post ’89.
The filter matrix completely disables the LFO, it’s not sweeping at all and the flange is instead voltage controlled.
The known mod for the volume drop shouldn’t be suggested, changing the wet/dry mix affects the notches and leads to a less than optimal sound.
The Trim adjustments need more background, the trim affected when you “Then set it in the middle of the two cutout points” sets the bias, yes it can be done by ear (although a tech with a scope will do a better job) but the best way to set it is the point where the least distortion occurs rather than an arbitrary point as each chip will have a slightly different bias point.
Etc.
August 19, 2015 at 2:18 pm #120853HarmonixMemberHi Scruffle,
yes thats my blog. Thank you very much for your input. I really appreciate it and will add or change the information.Quote:The filter matrix completely disables the LFO, it’s not sweeping at all and the flange is instead voltage controlled.
.Are you sure? I found that info over here: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=88776.0
Quote:The known mod for the volume drop shouldn’t be suggested, changing the wet/dry mix affects the notches and leads to a less than optimal sound.The mod can be done without changing and adding a dry/wet mix.
August 19, 2015 at 2:33 pm #120854ScruffieMemberNo problem
I am sure and the link does confirm what i’m saying too “So the filter matrix just stops the oscillation, and uses the range knob to set a static delay amount.” The LFO is completely disconnected in the filter matrix modes of all the models and the range pot is then reconnected so as to provide a voltage/current control for the VCO/Clock to manually adjust the delay time so it’s not just sweeping incredibly slowly, it’s fixed.
My bad for not reading the volume drop link, I saw Wet/Dry mix and had assumed it was the popular one suggesting to add a resistor to the back of the board which does affect the Wet/Dry mix and isn’t recommended.
August 19, 2015 at 5:09 pm #120856HarmonixMemberThat makes sense. Thanks again. I immediately changed that.
Feel free to come back to my block for new posts and contact me if you find any other mistakes! -
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