Bob Feldman
Shin-ei
Austin, TX USA
www.shin-ei.com
How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place?
I’ve been playing guitar since 1965. That’s fifty-three years! Damn!! I had friends from school and the neighborhood that played guitar and other instruments. They got me interested in playing. I tried trumpet for about a New York minute but fell right into the guitar and haven’t put it down since.
Who have been some of your major musical influences, past or present?
Initially, I thank the Ventures, The Beatles, The Stones, The Beach Boys and a ton of great 40’s 50’s and 60’s radio artists for my early musical inspiration. They were followed by Clapton, Beck, Hendrix, the Who, The Doors, B.B, Freddy, Albert etc. I’m also a huge fan of movie score arrangers and composers. Very few guitarists can hold my attention today for longer than thirty minutes. Jeff Beck and Michael Landau are two exceptions.
What led to the start of Shin-ei? How long have you been in business? How big is your operation/how many employees do you have?
Eric Johnson’s guitar tech Dustin Sears, was making awesome clones of the original Honey and Shin-ei Uni-Vibes here in Austin, TX. After playing one I thought it would be fun for us to manufacture a high end modern day extension of the original Uni-Vibe that addressed the needs of both the old school and modern guitarist. The Vibe-Bro was born. Electronics guru Lee Jackson, was quite instrumental in designing some of the relay circuitry that allows the Vibe-Bro to function in a somewhat different manner than an original Uni-Vibe without sacrificing any tone. This is my third year as owner of the reincarnated Shin-ei company. We have deep respect for the history and tradition of the original Japanese company’s products. This will always be the driving force behind what we are doing today. Along with the shin-ei.com domain name, I acquired the registered trademarks for the three vintage Japanese effects pedal companies: Shin-ei, Honey and Companion.
These were the interrelated companies that produced some of the coolest vintage pedals from the 1960’s like the Uni-Vibe, FY-6 Baby Crying Super Fuzz, Special Fuzz, FY-2 Companion Fuzz and the Psychedelic Machine.
We are a very small boutique company with big ideas and intend to stay that way. When you are small you have time to get to know the guitarists and musicians that purchase your products. I chat with our clients all the time. I enjoy hearing their ideas and thoughts about playing and their never-ending quest for improving their tone. We at Shin-ei never want that relationship to change. What guitarist doesn’t want to chat about gear, more gear and tone??? So with us, less is more.
Did you have formal schooling, or are you self-taught? Take us through that story:
MUSIC EDUCATION: I went to Manhattan School of Music for a short while but am basically self-taught. When I was fourteen I locked myself up in my bedroom with a record player, a copy of John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, Fresh Cream, Are You Experienced, Truth and just figured it all out. These artists had literally just arrived on the scene “last Thursday” so I had no one to go to for mentoring. No guitar teacher I knew had any idea who Hendrix, Clapton or Beck was so I had to teach myself. There was no Internet, no You Tube vids, no tabs, just amazing recordings and a kid armed with an RCA record player with a 16rpm option.
I have been fortunate over the years and have played both live and in the studio with many well known recording artists. There was some serious education for me right there.
BUSINESS EDUCATION: Business has always come naturally to me. I was put on this planet to play guitar and make deals.
What drives you as far as new pedal creation is concerned? How long does it typically take for an idea to come full circle and become a demo pedal? What’s the process behind new gear, and the eventual release of it to the public?
Our #1 mission at Shin-ei is to produce ultra high quality pedals with great tone. Thus our phrase: “Serious effects for Serious players”. We look at our products as if we are building a Ferrari or a Rolls Royce. We use the highest quality new and N.O.S. components wherever possible.
Our products are low production. We are a boutique company. This allows us to have a personal hand in every unit that we sell. All models are built around stamped steel enclosures like Shin-ei used back in the day.
Arguably we believe steel pedal enclosures actually sound better than the die cast aluminum boxes used by just about every pedal manufacturer on the planet. I can tell you for a fact that a our pedals built with cold rolled steel sound better than the same device made with galvanized steel. This process makes our effects costly to build compared to ninety-nine percent of the other pedals in the marketplace. We cater to serious musicians looking to add complimentary and unique effects to their rigs. We never cut corners on quality in Shin-ei Land.
We are very blessed that we have history on our side. We have a solid historical foundation of vintage effects to build on. Shin-ei made some really cool products back in the 1960’s and 70’s. We have plans to release exact replicas of the original Honey “Baby Crying” FY-6 Super Fuzz and the Companion FY-2 Fuzz in the very near future. These products will be built with many vintage N.O.S components and include old school Shin-ei features such as original metal enclosures, period correct labeling and of most importantly, great tone.
The time it takes to bring a Shin-ei product to market varies. The Vibe-Bro took two years from its initial conception to it’s release and is still in a constant state of evolution today. It is a living breathing entity and we still make changes to improve it if humanly possible.
The B1G 1 Preamp Gain Boost (BIG sound, ONE knob) was conceived and brought to market in only fifteen weeks. Back in September of 2017, designer Lee Jackson came to me with an effects pedal preamp gain boost circuit he engineered that he believed to be the world’s highest db along with the maximum amount of headroom ever made. It had a massive +30db of gain!!
Lee thought doing a joint effort with Shin-ei would make sense and we’d have a lot of fun as well. One minute of playing it was all it took for me to green light the project! The B1G 1 is basically an API 312/Neve 1073 vintage channel strip in a pedal sized enclosure. It is quite a versatile product. Within two weeks we had a working, ready-for- production circuit board and a prototype steel enclosure. The circuit sounded amazing from day one. No changes were made after that.
The B1G 1 body is so strong (14 gauge steel) you can literally drive a truck over it without damaging it. We tweaked its design a few times to get everything to fit perfectly. After that I designed the artwork in a couple of days and had a completed final prototype in hand two weeks later. We are associated with an amazing team of metal fabricators, silkscreen printers and metal finishers. Thanks to them, we had the B1G 1 on the market by Christmas.
When you add the B1G 1 to your pedal board and step on the gas, you will not want to turn it off. It adds major fatness to your tone without changing its color. It is a very very infectious addition to your signal path as attested to by all that are using it. Your rig will seem lifeless without out it by comparison if you turn it off. The B1G 1 Preamp Gain Boost is currently being used by a diverse array of artists and industry professionals such as Eric Johnson, Tommy Shaw/Ricky Phillips from STYX, and pickup manufacturer extraordinaire, Ron Ellis to name a few. Besides the original concept of using it for electric guitar, the B1G 1 sounds killer when used with acoustic guitar, bass and even vocals! Guitarist Eric Johnson is currently using the B1G 1 on tour with his acoustic rig. He claims it makes his live rig sound like he is in the studio, which is quite the complement.
What are some of the biggest concerns facing your profession today?
I believe there are too many effects pedals on the market today. It is so oversaturated I don’t see how any smart businessman looking to get into the industry could actually convince one’s self they could grab a piece of the market big enough to prosper. I always like to say: “The last thing the industry needs is another fuzz box.” I don’t believe this condition will change over time however. Parts are cheap and circuits can be found online by a simple web search. Anyone with a little desire and a few bucks can build effects pedals, slap a label on them and sell them. Conversely, there are very few innovative circuit designers out there. Those that are innovative will be around for a long time.
Where do you see pedal building going in the future?
I don’t see any ground breaking, game changing devices coming out in the future. There are basically a handful of vintage circuits that all analog effects pedals are based on be it a wah, a fuzz etc. etc. The effects pedal language and alphabet was written six decades ago. Nothing new is really new.
Digital technology makes it possible to create some interesting products but for the most part they all sound sterile to my ears. We are old school guys around here and are of the belief that they did it right the first time back in the day. Guitarist Pete Townshend once said: “The best gear I ever recorded with was the FIRST gear I ever recorded with.” That about sums up the Shin-ei philosophy regarding our current and future plans. We may build products with necessary features added to cater to today’s guitarist, but never at the expense of great tone.
Who are some of your favorite builders in the industry right now?
Due to the proliferation of pedals in the marketplace I am not up on all the current manufacturers and their product lines. I can’t really say I have a favorite builder. I’m using older effects on my pedal board for the most part (no big surprise there) but I do like the original Vemuram Jan Ray for instance. Mike from Analog.Man also makes some great products as well.
Name the last 5 records you listened to:
1. Everything Jeff Beck ever recorded. I’ll lump them all into one choice.
2. Wheels Of Fire
3. Electric Ladyland
4. Kind of Blue
5. “Once Upon A time In America” Film Score by conductor/composer Ennio Morricone.
Klon hype: Love it or Hate it?
Cool pedal but not my favorite in that genre. It makes the tone a bit nasal in my opinion. Crazy aftermarket pricing on that baby as well!!
Any last comments, or anything you’d like to talk about?
Keep on rockin’ everybody!!!!
Thanks so much to Bob for taking the time to answer some questions! Make sure to go check out the Shin-ei website as well! Cheers!
Check out some of our other interviews here:
Nick Johns & J.B. Brisendine of Brother Hawk
Woody Weatherman of Corrosion of Conformity
Efren Castro of Paradox Effects
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