Analog Man

The story: from Tube Screamer mods to a Connecticut shop

Analog Man's first project was a Tube Screamer mod, converting a TS9 into a TS808 using chips found in Japan¹. Mike Piera created the market for modified TS9 and 808 pedals after Ibanez reissued the TS9, and many others followed⁴. By 2017 the shop was in its 23rd year of modifying Tube Screamers like the TS9, OD9 and other pedals such as the Boss SD-1 and DS-1⁷. The company's philosophy has stayed constant through that growth:

The company started as Analog Man Vintage guitar effects, before the boutique pedal industry began⁴. Its website was among the earliest anywhere for guitar effects, up before Gibson or Fender had any website⁴. Today the range covers handmade chorus pedals, compROSSors, Juicers, Sun Faces, Astro Tone fuzz, Peppermint Fuzz, Beano Boosts, Sun Lions, King of Tone pedals, the ARDX20 delay, buffers, and custom A-B, true bypass and other switching boxes⁴. Mini pedals in what the company calls "Twinkie-size" enclosures offer smaller versions of a number of its pedals¹.

The shop itself is a large 1000 square foot room with high ceilings and vintage amps set up for demos, and a second large room added in late 2007 doubled its size⁴. Mike counted over 600 pedals there⁴. Customers come from Australia to Japan to Europe⁴.

Known for the King of Tone, Sun Face and germanium Fuzz Face mods

Analog Man's core business is clones, updates and revisions of classic pedals¹. The King of Tone, made in collaboration with Jim Weider, is an overdrive that can replace two or three pedals, covering overdrive, distortion and clean boost⁹¹⁰. It is hand made in the USA, but it carries a very long waiting list: some parts were discontinued years ago and NOS parts are scarce, so there is a chance a pedal ordered now can never be made⁹.

The Sun Face fuzz grew directly out of the mod business. Analog Man had been modifying recent Fuzz Faces to the early germanium specs for a long time, and started selling the Sun Face to keep the cost down and quality high for players seeking the early Fuzz Face sound¹¹¹². The shop still modifies existing Fuzz Faces, either Dunlop reissues or Arbiter UK reissues, with a classic germanium mod that changes all transistors, resistors and caps as needed¹³. A Roger Mayer blue rocket "The Fuzz Face" mod is also offered, using the existing circuit board and changing all components but two capacitors, priced the same as the standard older Fuzz Face mods¹³. Not everything can be modded, though: pedals like the MXR Classic 108 Fuzz are outside what the shop can modify¹³.

The chorus line has a similar lineage. The pedal started as a clone of the original chorus pedal, but after many improvements Analog Man feels it has far surpassed the original¹⁴. Its main delay chip is no longer made, though the shop has a supply of hundreds of them, and that chip costs more than all the electronic components in most boutique effects, which is part of why these pedals are not cheap¹⁵. An existing Ver4 mono standard or Bichorus chorus can be modified for stereo output for $75¹⁵.

Founder Mike Piera

Mike Piera, better known as Analog Mike, launched the company¹. Chase Bliss's Joel Korte, writing about the Analog Man connection behind the Brothers pedal, described the operation as "simply too personal and hand-crafted (and made with finite, vintage NOS components)" and added, "And if you meet Mike Piera, it all makes sense."³

Players connected to the shop include Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who has been using Analog Man modified TS9 Tube Screamers since late 1998; the KWS mod option is named for him⁷. Jim Weider, co-designer of the King of Tone, used Mike's Fuzz Face on a few tracks of his CD, alongside Mike's 1969 Marshall 100W amp de-tubed to 50W on nearly all the songs¹⁶.

Modifications and repairs

Beyond its own pedals, Analog Man offers a broad set of services⁴:

• Buying and selling vintage effects
• Buying and selling new, boutique and custom effects
• Manufacturing Analog Man brand effects
• Modifying pedals
• Repair service, with referrals
• Free help with effects problems by email or Facebook
• Professional consultation and technical services in the Northeast

On the repair side, the shop does a lot of work on old Fuzz Face pedals, most of which are far out of spec on bias, and keeps NOS transistors saved only for repairs, keeping the originals as original as possible¹³. Electro-Harmonix work includes $15 cables for running a Deluxe Memory Man off a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 using two 12V outputs to make 24V¹⁷. Russian Small Stones, however, are turned away: they are cheaply made and expensive to modify¹⁷.

Most Analog Man pedals are hand made in the USA, including the King of Tone, Beano Boost, Peppermint Fuzz, buffers and compROSSors^9181920. The ARDX20 delay is the exception: hand soldered with no machine soldering or surface mount parts, assembled to Analog Man's specs in China, then calibrated and tuned in Japan at the Analog Man Asia shop²¹. The AR20DL is made by Daphon in China to Analog Man's design and then modded by Analog Man²².

Contact and visiting

The shop is open only by appointment, though Mike is there almost every weekday⁴. Analog Man can be reached by email at AnalogMike@aol.com, by phone at 203/778-6658, or through analogman.com and buyanalogman.com⁸. The company sells at the manufacturer's Minimum Advertised Price (MAP)⁴.

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