Ancient history: anybody know if gray vs metallic bronz FX40B same or different guts?

[Dave Locher]

Short version of a long story: I bought a DOD FX40B graphic eq pedal brand new in the early 1990s. It was a dark metallic gray/bronze color. I sold it last year and almost immediately regretted it.
So...i just bought a DOD FX40B on eBay, but it is an older model that is a plain medium gray. It is pretty ugly.
I can't a/b the two, for obvious reasons, but I swear the older one has less background hiss when on and the buffer is less noticable when it's in bypass mode!
Is this possible? Did they make internal changes when they changed color?
Or is it just that it works better with the speakers I have now? The buffer sounded bright and glassy to me before, and now seems much more neutral but I also had brighter speakers when I dumped the first one.

[Dave Locher]

Re: Ancient history: anybody know if gray vs metallic bronz FX40B same or different g

Nobody knows? I was hoping for something like "after 1990 they switched to less expensive diodes" or "no, they are exactly the same and your ears are deceiving you."

[Van Noord]

Re: Ancient history: anybody know if gray vs metallic bronz FX40B same or different g

The FX40B Equalizer was a seven-band graphic equalizer. Initially the pedals were grey with red graphics and slider covers. Circa 1992, the cosmetic appearance of the FX40B was revised with brown paint/white graphics and all-plastic slider pots, eliminating the risk of losing a rubber slider cover. In 1998, when all other pedals were revised to the final version casing (in preparation to the made-in-China VFX series), the DOD FX40B remained the same (albeit with new graphics at the top of the pedal), probably to help use up the supply of old casings.

http://www.americaspedal.net/fx40b/

[Dave Locher]

Re: Ancient history: anybody know if gray vs metallic bronz FX40B same or different g

I found that, too, but it neither confirms nor denies any internal changes.