Thanks for the reply! The one I have is a Deluxe Memory man, 5-knob, and it looks just like today’s version (the classic chassis, not the new small one:). I checked the pots, and the serialnumbers start with 1377…. so I guess that means they’re made in the 70’s. The reason I’m asking is that I thought the ones from the 70’s and 80’s were all blue, while the reissue was black. So I’m wondering if someone knows when they switched to black color.

Now that I’ve tested it against a reissue I’ve borrowed from a friend of mine, I actually feel a bit disappointed. I’ve heard that the old pedals are so much better. Turns out it sucks alot more tone than the reissue, and even with the feedback turned all the way up the echo dies after a couple of seconds, while the reissue keeps on echoing forever. In addition it’s really noisy, but I was prepared for that:) The only good thing about the old pedal is that it can handle alot of input level without overloading, but then again I couldn’t get it to self-oscillate no matter what I did.

I actually like old equipment, so I’m wondering what’s wrong. Is my pedal from a bad year, eventhough it’s and original wintage thing, or is it just broken? It seems to work fine, so I wouldn’t have guessed it’s broken… but somethings not like it should.

Added a picture of the pedal, and one of the inside.

Long post, hope somebody bothers to read, and has a good answer:)

It sounds to be that it might need re-calibrating, F&EHX4ever; will be the best person to answer that question though….. if he says yes, then he’ll be able to point you in the right direction….. I’m sure he’ll pop in soon.

Yes, re-calibrating the pedal will certainly put things to rights. I have owned three vintage MM’s and DMM’s, one of which, with blue and red offset, still survives today and is presently with my EHX repairs techie, Peter Schmidt, getting a complete inspection and refurbishment where necessary. The other two, one of which was with the black offset, were ground into the floorboards of various venues over years of intensive use before being given as well-deserved thank-yous to roadies. The DMM’s served me excellently and had regular inspections once or twice a year for re-calibration. In fact I used to re-calibrate one of them myself before every gig! This is because I was using them between six and ten hours a day on average and needed some very precise set-ups for my sound.So I would not worry at all. EHX pedals are sturdy and made to last and to-day there are highly competent techies capable of putting your DMM back on track, either through advice or, which I highly recommend, through their own craftsmanship.

First I would go to Howard Davis’ website (formerly Chief Design Engineer for Electro-Harmonix):

Howard’s website:

Home Page
http://howard.davis2.home.att.net/home.htm

and then to Ron’s website:

Home Page
http://www.ronsound.com

Once you have satisfied yourself with the vast amount of knowledge and experience the website(s) show(s), send an email explaining the situation and Howard or Ron will surely resolve your issues with great mastery as they always do. You can deal with the utmost confidence and you will see that aspects such as weak repeats and noise as well as input calibration can and will be dealt with successfully.
I put Howard’s link first because I think Ron is a little swamped with work at the moment but do check out his site anyway, it is as fascinating as Howard’s!

137YYww
137 = CTS
YY = year
ww = week

So, 1377805 = CTS pot: 1978: 5th week (end Jan/beginning feb)

EDIT: Just noticed Ned Flanders already gave you this info.

I’d like some info on what you actually do to calibrate the trimmers.
Other than hooking it up to an oscilloscope…then what? What do you look for? How do you know it’s right vs.wrong?
Anyone tried any of the software oscilloscopes like xoscope for this?

Gold? You sure it’s not a Sovtek/Civil War/Green (that’s faded)? Could you post pics please? What are the pot codes?

Triangle Big Muff looks like this:

If you have one that’s gold, that’d be pretty interesting.