Project 941 Modulator

Really rare, it is in fantastic condition, comes with box and manual. 

Each pedal in the Cold War series is hand built, one at a time, in the Wrought Iron Shop by, Ed Chew. The graphics are acid-etched, then powdercoated, sanded and polished in an 8 step process, then finally waxed with ceramic wax and buffed to a shine.  Because of variations in etching and sanding, each one will be unique in appearance with some light "weathering" around the edges.  Each one carries some history with it, in its components and name.

     The Project 941 Modulator, the 3rd release in the Cold War Series, is an incandescent bulb-driven Vibe with roots in an old tube driven Hammond organ vibrato circuit and the original Uni-Vibe. It is a 4 stage, phase shifting vibrato, with parallel dry signal for that classic "chorus" Vibe sound.  It uses 11 NOS Soviet transistors and features a Soviet panel meter to indicate rate.
   
The 941 is named after the largest class of submarine ever built: the Soviet Project 941, or Akula (Shark) Class, ballistic missile submarine built in the 70s and 80s.

Ed's comments:

     My goal in designing this pedal had 5 main parts:
1. Design a Vibe that could be used as an "always-on" modulation, giving movement and dimension to your guitar tone without overpowering it. I wanted the majority of the controls to sit in that area, but still have the ability to do out front Vibe sounds, too.

2. Create a signal path with NOS Soviet silicon transistors

3. Design a unique analog LFO to drive the bulb that could go both really slow, AND fast enough to create a legit vibrato sound (about 7 hz).  This is where I feel that a lot of Vibes suffer- they don't quite go fast enough to get into good Vibrato territory.  I also wanted the LFO to drive a vintage Soviet panel meter to indicate the rate.

4. Design a unique final amplification stage, so that the pedal could be used clean, but also included its own post-vibe overdrive sound, using the same NOS Soviet transistors.

5. Create feedback paths that could be switched on to give the Vibe different modes, for the times when you really want it to stand out, or even to sound crazy

  Because this was the biggest design challenge I had ever undertaken, I thought it needed to be named after a Cold War project that was a huge undertaking for the engineers of the time. Thus I chose the Project 941 submarine.  Like the 2 previous entries in the Cold War series, I tried to make the aesthetic reminiscent of a control panel in the submarine (or rocket, as in the N-1).