Do pedals change their sound as they get olderer??

[Sir Axeman]

I mean...I know nothing about how electronics are affected by age, but I guess chips n stuff do degrade over time? I've heard it said about caps n stuff on amps needing changing and a renewed tone come of a result of it..so pedals? Surely this must apply also?

[jpfamps]

The main components that deteriorate in pedals are electrolytic capacitors.

I frequently have to change these when repairing old pedals.

[jalapeno]

The main components that deteriorate are your ears !!!!!!

Harsh, but true !

[ICBM]

As jpfamps said, electrolytic caps do commonly fail, but they often do so progressively and in some cases can affect the tone without stopping the pedal working entirely. ICs (chips) and transistors can also fail but usually completely and will leave the pedal non-working.

Carbon-comp resistors can also drift in value and possibly could affect the tone in some very old circuits like original Fuzz Faces, although it's more normally a problem in amps.

But if you mean do pedals get "better" sounding as they age, no not really. You'd have to be very lucky with a leaky cap or a drifting resistor to get better operation than the proper value, and even then it would probably only be temporary.

[thermionic]

I changed the electrolytic signal coupling caps in my ancient Boss OD-1 when I realised it was well past the age when amps usually need their filter caps replaced! Can't say I noticed much difference though.