Loco Box Tubemaniax Overdrive 1980-85 - Orange

Loco Box Tubemaniax late 70's Japan, older version with screw in control knobs.

Controls

Level

controls the output level

Gain

controls the amount of overdrive

The History of Locobox

Information about the origin of the Locobox effects pedals is few and far between. In the beginning in the late '70s, all the pedals were handmade in a small factory in the city of Urawa, in Saitama, Japan. There were virtually only three men (the president, the designer and his boss) as well as six or seven women part-time jobbers. They did all the R&D, construction, testing, and even the silkscreening themselves. 
They started out selling their pedals to Arai Boueki (Aria), and these had the brand name "Locobox." The main brand name was Locobox, but they did make a few small runs of other brands that are exactly the same pedal. 

When the pedals switched to a more generic ABS resin casing in the early '80s to save money, they also changed the circuitry. So, the '80s compressors are not the same as the original Chokers...for instance. They made the same exact pedals with the Locobox brand and other brands such as Cutec, Pearl, Gig, Powervoice, Studio Series and even some Yamaha pedals. They simply changed out the brand name sticker on the pedal. Later on they were acquired by Aria (from what I can tell) and made pedals, rack gear and guitar and bass amps with both the Locobox and Aria brand names.