We’re about to move to a new location, so we won’t be able to produce more Mini-VUMPs or Analog-VUMPs until the move is complete and settled, which will be sometime around March 2023!! Please be patient as we restart production.

Coming soon: Buy discount, rare, and awesome parts/equipment direct from me – No extra fees associated with those auction sites! Check out joyemusic.com/shop!!

Customers have been asking about an old-school analog voltage unit meter pedal. Well, it took me a few months, but here it is!! The Analog-VUMP!! Now XLR input/output, AND stereo or mono 1/4″ input/output! Beautiful backlit display is easy to read. Features slow-fast response, level scaling knob (calibration), and compatibility with XLR Phantom Power. Reserve one today!

Thank you all for making 2021 a strong year for the Mini-VUMP. Lots of happy customers! Lots of pedalboards equalized, lots of pickup heights adjusted, lots more awesome guitar music! Please don’t keep the Mini-VUMP a secret… pass the word on to your friends. More Mini-VUMPs are being handmade this week. I’ll be up to serial number 80 soon.

Mini Voltage-Unit Meter Guitar Pedals are shipping out. Twenty-five happy customers and counting! I just got a new batch of parts to make another 40 units. 20 new pedal cases have been completely machined and are ready for powder painting and engraving. New PCB blanks are in stock and ready for assembly!

I just ordered a shipment of 200x more mini guitar pedal boxes and another 50+ displays to make you all more Mini-VUMPs! Plus I’m eager to get started on a handful of other new guitar pedal ideas I have:

• A Mini-Reverb pedal (stereo!), using the high-end Accutronics/Belton reverb modules (24-bit, 96kHz).
• A mini notch filter for removing 60Hz hum for people who use single-coil pickups in noisy environments, called “Y-NOTch?”
• A mini-pedal based on magnetic saturation for overdrive, unlike any electrical overdrive pedal out there. This will sound like saturated magnetic tape overdrive!
• Mini-pedals using new-old-stock micro, made-in-USA vacuum tubes.

The first batch of 20 Mini-VUMPs are almost all spoken for! First ones shipped out today! Check out the HOT new Mini-VUMP videos below!!

Here’s a diagram for an easy way to add an auxiliary jack to your antique mono radio so you can play guitar through it. See my video below on YouTube too. The theory is quite simple — The volume control varies the level of an actual AC audio signal — Not audio high-voltage DC on a tube plate, or some weird radio IF frequency, so you know it’s an easy place to put an auxiliary signal in. The only downside is you don’t know how strong that signal is going to the volume control, so if you plug a guitar directly in there, you may have to crank up the volume all the way. There are possibly better places to put the guitar signal in that would give you more gain, but you’d have to trace the circuit, understand it, and then put your aux jack in — It’s a LOT more work.

I’m still waiting eagerly for my PCB blanks to arrive for the mini-VUMP project! I made the mistake of using USPS as the carrier, so it took a week or two longer than DHL. My previous PCB designs were carried by DHL, and it typically took under 2 weeks to get around the world. It’s nearing about now, but the status update says “Out for delivery”!!

The Mini-Voltage Unit Meter Pedal is coming along nicely. Check out the page for updates. I expect the first circuit tests to be wrapping up by the end of Feb ’21. Then it’s on to finishing the pedal cases — Powder coating, machining, CNC-engraving, testing, and shipping them out to you all!

I’m also just finishing up restoration of a vintage tube Akai M-7 Reel Player — This is a rare Made-In-Japan Akai unit, not a rebranded Roberts unit! My brother has first dibs on it for his film scoring work to get that “vintage” sound. He’ll get it with this thing alright!