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danieldanger wrote: all very good info to know, thank you kit. as mentioned, i think i just got super paranoid about the whole thing playing out the way that it did that i really just needed a few more sets of eyes on it to go "nah, looks legit." i appreciate the input.

One thing I have noticed is that most of the examples I have seen posted online throughout the years are really clean looking. I borrowed one several years back to trace the circuit. It had some (very) minor surface scuffing, and the guts showed no signs of age. Either the Japanese in general take really good care of their pedals, or these are not as old as most people think. The ones marked Electro Sound are the earliest, and ones marked Elk Incorporated or Elk/Gakki are the later made production. I had a collector friend who lives in Japan, and he was not really sure, but he thought the first iteration was from around 1973, but he also said these were made into the late 1970s. He was of the opinion that the onese marked Elk/Gakki were made into the early 1980s, but I have read that Gakki phased out the Elk brand in the late 1970's. Anyway, based on the components used I suspect the versions you and I have were made sometime around 1975-77, possibly later, but not 1972-73.

For anyone interested, the triangle BMP circuit the Japanese cloned for this was from a mid to late 1972. Not the most common EXH triangle circuit variant by any means, but it's the same common triangle schematic that was used for clones in the late '90s through the mid 2000's, like the Dice Works Muff Diver, BYOC Large Beaver Triangle V1, General Guitar Gadgets BMP Triangle, and many others.

That is interesting, Kit. I have a Wren & Cuff The White Elk and love it. Any idea which version triangle that's based on?

Assuming Matt at W&C had a real Elk to trace, it should be the same common triangle schematic I mentioned above. He would not even have needed a real Elk. If you are familiar with the common triangle schematic, all you have to do is look at the component values in Elk circuit photos and it is pretty obvious which version they used. Other than the one I traced and the one I own, I have photos of about a dozen Elk circuits, from the early to later examples. They all seem to follow the exact same 1972 triangle schematic, with a minor value substitution here and there.

EDIT - I should point out there is one difference from the EHX circuit that I have seen on a few of these. The high pass cap in the tone section is 330pF, not a standard triangle value. This change brings the treble up when you turn the tone pot full to the bass side. It makes the bass range a bit more useful I suppose, but it also messes up the overall volume level. It increases as you dial into the bass side.

Thanks, Kit, I think Matt did trace one that he had. Of course, I could always just ask him.