The Jennings Musical Industries Queen's Award Wah-Wah pedal: late 1967 and early 1968

Updated, August 2025

For an overview of Jennings Musical Industries wah pedals, and a growing register of surviving examples, . The "Queen's Award" pedals, scarce these days, take their name from their fancy base plate, which hears at top the symbol of the award, conferred on JMI in April 1967 - .

These pedals were probably made for Jennings at the Vox/Eko factory at Recanati (a little south of Ancona) in the last third of 1967. The new EME factory at Macerata only got underway in 1968:

  • The E.M.E. factory at Montecassiano ready for production, November 1968

EME was a joint venture between Jennings, Eko, and Thomas Organ. Thomas had or at least claimed title to the Vox name in the USA. Reports from the "Coventry Evening Telegraph", 27th October, 1966; and "Billboard" magazine, 2nd November, 1968.

A page on the production of Vox guitars and organs at the Eko factory in Recanati can be found on the . Initially Earle C. Wolfe was "point man" for Thomas in Italy, overseeing the various realms of Vox production there.

The Queen's Award pedals were evidently produced side-by-side with a small but distinctive batch of Clyde McCoy "script" or "signature" wahs nominally produced for Thomas Organ. These last however were not exported to the States, but sold locally in Italy.

The two sets of wahs are identical - potted (sealed up) circuit boards, English Arrow wafer switches, the same wiring schema - the only difference being the base plate.

One never finds McCoy script wahs with potted circuit boards in the U.S.A.

Queen's Award symbol (the award made in April 1967) on the base plate, produced in Italy for Jennings. Serial number (provided in England) - 07857. Note the red paint on the inductor to mark it has been inspected/tested.

Wah nominally made for Thomas Organ but sold locally in Italy. Serial number 5992. No red inspection mark on the inductor. This pedal came from Rome.

Italian-made "Clyde Script Wah" serial number 5612.

Five McCoy script wahs have come to light in Italy so far, four with serial numbers in the 5000s - 5612, 5628, 5631, 5992 - the fifth unknown. Thanks to Ulrik for information relating to 5612. So far as one can tell, the numbers of these pedals belong to the main Thomas Organ sequence, which (very) provisionally seems to be:

August 2025: the serial number sequence now corrected thanks to Dustin.

Beginning of run to c. 2500: Clyde McCoy "picture" wahs - a picture of McCoy on the base plate.

c. 2500 - 11000s: Clyde McCoy "script" wahs - base plate as above.

12000s - 25000s Long run (transitional): same circuit, the base plate plain but for an applied detail from one of the Thomas Organ adverts.

The pedals with potted boards therefore appear to have been made relatively early on in the sequence of McCoy script wahs.

Presumably the potting was thought necessary to prevent companies in Italy and England copying the circuit. One has to assume that it would not have been easy to import wahs (with unpotted boards) from the States.

Standard Clyde McCoy "script" wah made in Italy and exported to the USA - unpotted board. Some have tropical fish capacitors, others green Arco.

At least one McCoy script wah in the USA has a circuit diagram in its base, probably drawn in Italy - the writing is European not American. Others are said to have, or at least to have had, the same, though for the moment the photo below is the only firm evidence.

Schematic, drawn in Italy, for the McCoy script wah

Numbers are given in continental form - angled heads to "1", crossed "7", and so on.

The circuit is given also in the PRELIMINARY SCHEMATIC published by Thomas Organ in April 1967, but expressed in a different form, and with different transistors - 2N3900A rather than the 2N5232A of the drawing above.

Descriptions of parts and component numbers were provided on a separate sheet, also dated April 1967. Service schematics of course would not keep the circuit from prying eyes any more than a screwdriver would.

A good deal of sorting out remains to be done. The assertions made over the years about early Thomas Organ wah pedals - some still current - need proper testing out.