chuck levin

Wheaton, MD (August 30, 2018) -- A legend is reborn. Nearly 50 years ago, Chuck Levin commissioned a limited run of Wah Wah pedals from Italian wah pedal manufacturer JEN. In 1969, JEN had taken over worldwide production for the Cry Baby pedal – also making pedals for brands such as Fender and Gretsch. “The Big Chuck” was a high-end, warm, vocal sounding wah wah pedal encompasing the classic ‘70s sound. Part of its inimitable charm: a misspelled vinyl bag. A lost-in-translation situation resulted in all the pedal bags being printed with the words “big chuch” on the outside. All of them. The true mark of an all original Big Chuck.

For our 60th Anniversary we decided to bring this relic from our past back to life. Chuck’s grandson Adam Levin found a perfect working original, “big chuch” bag and all, on Reverb.com a few years ago, laying the foundation used to rebuild the pedal. Working with some of our most steadfast partners (Dunlop, KORG, Right On! Straps, Whirlwind), we sourced all the parts for the reissue to be as close to the original as possible, down to the “big chuch” bag. Accessories Manager and 33 year Chuck Levin’s veteran Mark Rishebarger, and guitar tech Dru Lore, disassembled the components to be modified to match the original by Wah Wah Master Joe Gagan, and reassembled the pedals back at the shop once the modifications were complete.