Vick Audio’s newest addition to its Tau lineup of classic reproductions guitar pedals the 1861 gives tribute to the Civil War model fuzzes produced in Russia in the early 90’s. These fuzz pedals were nicknamed the Civil War model because of the distinctive blue and grey color scheme used on its graphics.

While all early Tau forefathers essentially used the same circuit with changes to the parts values, the Russian produced lineup in the early 90’s had a unique set of values that were different than the earlier Triangle and Ram’s Head versions. Those Russian models were known for their great low end, smoothness and lower gain.

The 1861 is an excellent choice for anyone that values great bottom end, needs more gain than the Black Russian and Green bubble fonts provide but also want more smoothness then the Triangle or Ram’s Head. This pedal works well with both guitar and bass. As with all Vick Audio Tau series pedals a switch has been added for three mid-range options scooped (stock) as well as flat and boosted mids.

Vick Audio

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Review by Agufish

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Demo by shnobel

Demo by Agufish

Manual

1861

Mein persönlicher Favorit unter den von mir hergestellten Big-Muff-Repliken.  Der 73 Ram's Head ist dafür bekannt, dass er weicher als der 66 Triangle ist, aber mehr Schmutz als der Black Russian hat.  Was den 73 Ram's Head wirklich auszeichnet, ist das unglaubliche Sustain, das man mit diesem Pedal erhält.  Es wurde für Gitarristen entwickelt, die wollen, dass ihre Gitarre wie ein Kolibri singt, mit einem süßen, geigenähnlichen Sustain-Sound.  Mit dem Sustain-Regler kann man ein langes Sustain mit einem Hauch von harmonischer Verzerrung optimieren.  Hendrix verließ sich auf diesen Big Muff für seinen sanften, weichen Electric Lady-Sound.

My personal favorite of the Big Muff replicas I produce.  The 73 Ram's head is known to be smoother than the 66 Triangle but with more dirt then the Black Russian.  The thing that really sets the 73 Ram's Head apart is the incredible sustain you get with this pedal.  It is designed for the guitarist who wants his ax to sing like a hummingbird, with sweet violin-like sustaining sound.  The sustain control allows you to optimize long sustain with a hint of harmonic distortion.  Hendrix relied on this Big Muff for his smooth, mellow, Electric Lady sound.

Review by The Gear Page

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Review by guitar pedal X

Review by Anatomy of Guitar Tone

Demo by  Jack Fossett

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73 Ram’s Head

Diese Black Russian Reproduktion ist weicher als sein amerikanischer Cousin und hat etwas weniger Sustain, behält aber den unverwechselbaren Big Muff Sound. Dieses Pedal hat tonnenweise Bässe und funktioniert gut mit Gitarre oder Bass.

Ein Schalter bietet drei Optionen für den Mittenbereich: Scooped (Standard) sowie flache und verstärkte Mitten.

This Black Russian reproduction is smoother than its American made cousin and has slightly less sustain, yet retains that unmistakable Big Muff sound. This pedal has tons of low end and will work well with guitar or bass.

A switch has been added for three mid-range options scooped (stock) as well as flat and boosted mids.

Official Product Video

Review by Pedal of the Day

Review by Talk Bass.com

Black Russian

Delay effects have been used since before the electric guitar was invented.  The first delay effects (line delay) were made by radio stations sending their signal over hundreds of miles of copper telephone wire and mixing that signal in with the original dry signal to enhance the quality of their audio broadcast.  Things got a lot easier since then with magnetic tape based delays, Oil can delays and finally the invention of solid state delay chips such as the MN3001 Bucket Brigade chips of the mid 70’s.

The Hypocenter Delay is built around the PT2399 chip by Princeton Technologies.  This chip though digitally based is often used to emulate the sound of older analog based delays.  This delay will work equally well with a clean guitar signal or with a distortion unit before or after it in the pedal chain.   The Hypocenter Delay is capable of providing a delay time from 25ms all the way to 450ms with a very low noise distortion (THD<0.5%) and repeats all the way from a single repeat to infinitely repeats.  My personal favorite is to use the Hypocenter Delay with the Tree Of Life overdrive and a vibe pedal to nail those Gilmour tones.


Review by gearnews.de

Review by Premier Guitar

Demo by Jack Fossett

Hypocenter Delay

Mein Ziel war es, ein Pedal zu entwickeln, das die besten Eigenschaften von zwei meiner Lieblings-Overdrive-Pedale, dem OCD Version 3 und dem Zen, in sich vereint.

In der unteren Gain-Einstellung fängt der Tree Of Life die dynamischen, berührungsempfindlichen, Zen-ähnlichen Töne ein, die mit fast jedem Musikstil gut funktionieren.  In der höheren Gain-Einstellung geht das Pedal in einen reaktionsschnellen, dicken Overdrive-Sound im Stil von OCD über.

Die Mosfet-Halbleiter und die Bat41-Dioden, die für die Clipping-Sektion dieser Schaltung verwendet werden, sorgen für harmonisch reiche Obertöne, egal, wo man den Gain einstellt.

My goal was to create a pedal that captured the best parts of two of my favorite overdrive pedals, the OCD version 3 and the Zen.

At the lower gain setting the Tree Of Life captures the dynamic, touch sensitive, Zen like tones that will work well with almost any style of music.  Move to the higher gain setting and this pedal moves into an OCD style responsive, thick overdriven sound.

The mosfet semiconductors and the Bat41 diodes used for the clipping section of this circuit give you harmonically rich overtones no matter where you have the gain set.

Tree of Life