That Pedal Show... cure for insomnia?

thecolourbox

I've not watched much I must admit, but I find their presenting style to be a bit like how I'd imagine my dad to be if he was presenting a chat show about his and his friend "Dolores" new found love of cross dressing

TimmyO

EricTheWeary said:

wesker123 said:

guitars4you said:

I have suggested to both @Jason who runs the Birmingham show and Peter who runs the shows at Kempton, Haydock, Aintree, Leeds, North East about booking these guys for a guest appearance/seminar/clinic - feel it would add interest to the show etc  and would be popular - Apparently they can't be bothered - Not interested in taking the show out of its format to a live audience - Pity IMO

They did the Boss 40th Anniversary in London last September. Did they actually say "we cannot be bothered"?

And they went all the way to the USA to do one, you’d think they’d make it to Birmingham ( although I spotted Neville Marten there this year so maybe Mick wants to avoid his old boss). 

lol - Nev and Mick are firm friends

TimmyO

guitars4you said:

I have suggested to both @Jason who runs the Birmingham show and Peter who runs the shows at Kempton, Haydock, Aintree, Leeds, North East about booking these guys for a guest appearance/seminar/clinic - feel it would add interest to the show etc  and would be popular - Apparently they can't be bothered - Not interested in taking the show out of its format to a live audience - Pity IMO

that's a very pejorative way of putting it - so they said no, so what 

mburekenge

It goes to show that travelling down the rabbit hole of 'tone' for an extra 0.001% of juicy nuance from your fuzz/overdrive/phaser is THE LEAST important thing in guitar playing.

But how many people would tune in if it was genuinely about improving your playing?

Ultimately, you only improve your tone with better technique and inspiration. people like to think spending an extra £100 On their low gain overdrive is going to do that for them.

I enjoy the show for what it is. 

#edit# still lusting after a revival drive, ryra Klone and KOT. 

Teetonetal

The biggest problem with it, is that for a pedal show, neither Dan or Mick are creative pedal users. They are all about tone chasing and have no idea what to do with a quirky or off the wall fx pedal, or even how to use standard pedals in interesting ways. I'd love to see a show really go into detail about how to create soundscapes through combinations, or look at complex pedals in detail, but any attempt TPS make is embarrassing. 

The show is what it is, a middle-aged, blues / rock orientated look at the tone chasing pedal market.  They do it well and clearly have a market. But the subject matter is only so interesting or varied. They reached the bottom of their barrel a long time ago.

peteri

Teetonetal said:

The biggest problem with it, is that for a pedal show, neither Dan or Mick are creative pedal users. They are all about tone chasing and have no idea what to do with a quirky or off the wall fx pedal, or even how to use standard pedals in interesting ways. I'd love to see a show really go into detail about how to create soundscapes through combinations, or look at complex pedals in detail, but any attempt TPS make is embarrassing. 

The show is what it is, a middle-aged, blues / rock orientated look at the tone chasing pedal market.  They do it well and clearly have a market. But the subject matter is only so interesting or varied. They reached the bottom of their barrel a long time ago.

Completely agree with this, and that's why I think it's running out of steam a little.

As I said I've nothing against the show, I learnt a lot from it (more than I should have done, embarrassed to say) - but I don't think the ideas are so easy to come by, some of it all feels a little forced now.

It was interesting that someone responded to an earlier comment of mine in saying that Dan knows his stuff but in a narrow area, that's really the same thing - and actually fits with my Gigrig experiences too (not with Dan but with the products) - I've owned two quartermasters and a G2 all from Gigrig themselves, they're all great products - within a narrow field, if you go outside of that field you quite quickly hit a brick wall.

And I do think it's perfectly valid to criticise shows such as this, I know there's the whole argument 'it's free if you don't like it don't watch it', which a lot of Youtube producers instantly crank out when people criticise (I've heard similar from some at Andertons for example).

I don't pay for ITV, unless I buy the product shown in the ad breaks, but I can still criticise it - the fact is if you're publishing entertainment, or information in the public domain - you're open for criticism, whatever the delivery method.

In the past it was a great show, they've talked about with the new premises moving to stuff in a more band context, I think that's an excellent idea and hopefully will be the jolt they need.

Now if only they could criticise some pedals more, and read (and understand) the manual before the show - we'd have something

Boromedic

I agree wholeheartedly with peteri above, and Teetonetal, they never do anything that interesting from a pedal perspective. It's all the same tone chase involved, I hope the move gives them some impetus to change their methods a tad. 

As an aside based on what peteri said, can anyone think of a pedal reviewer that does actually criticise pedals properly? Or is this whole YT review market based on the same economics as the guitar mags? To issue a genuine constructive review would be counter productive, to the reviewers ability to receive further pedals for free and review them? Anyone who cycles may have heard of DC Rainmaker and he manages to get free gear to review before buying his own, he manages to be more constructive in his reviews, surely someone could follow that lead perhaps?

impmann

peteri said:

Now if only they could criticise some pedals more, and read (and understand) the manual before the show - we'd have something

Trouble is, they aren't Andy ex of PGS now with Reverb. Its clear he absorbs the pedal and its controls before filming and as such delivers a concise, well rounded video that shows whatever it is he's showing in the best light or shows how cack it is in a non-attacking way.

My problem with criticism these days is nobody seems to be able criticise without being personal or overtly negative. Whilst its true that if you publish anything you open yourself up to everyone and their dog to think they can do it better - yet few actually do. Its easy to criticise, not so easy to organise. And I say that after working in publishing for many years.

Musicman20

impmann said:

peteri said:

Now if only they could criticise some pedals more, and read (and understand) the manual before the show - we'd have something

Trouble is, they aren't Andy ex of PGS now with Reverb. Its clear he absorbs the pedal and its controls before filming and as such delivers a concise, well rounded video that shows whatever it is he's showing in the best light or shows how cack it is in a non-attacking way.

My problem with criticism these days is nobody seems to be able criticise without being personal or overtly negative. Whilst its true that if you publish anything you open yourself up to everyone and their dog to think they can do it better - yet few actually do. Its easy to criticise, not so easy to organise. And I say that after working in publishing for many years.

Andy is one of those players that understands the value of the 'riff' and not just soloing/shred/blues noodling. He hears a pedal, then clearly finds a popular cool riff and uses the pedal to show how to do it. The guy has chops but it's his style of playing and love for good music that I enjoy.

Moltisanti

they've done a lot of episodes now, and if you've watched all (or almost all) of them like me there's a lot of ground being covered over and over again. The problem they have is that the show is "successful" in terms of subscribers/views so they have to keep going.

It's like anything - after 150 shows every week anything becomes a bit samey.
The problem with Youtube vs traditional TV is that with a TV show you get 13 episodes then 9 months off to forget about it before it comes back for another season, by which time you are ready for another batch of content. If it's every single week without fail, with a very small source of content (2 guys who aren't writers) it's going to show after a while.

Look at Top Gear, they had a massive budget, a top level production team, writers etc but after 100 episodes that was getting hard to watch even with the annual break...

Octafish

peteri said:

.....And I do think it's perfectly valid to criticise shows such as this, I know there's the whole argument 'it's free if you don't like it don't watch it', which a lot of Youtube producers instantly crank out when people criticise (I've heard similar from some at Andertons for example).

I don't pay for ITV, unless I buy the product shown in the ad breaks, but I can still criticise it - the fact is if you're publishing entertainment, or information in the public domain - you're open for criticism, whatever the delivery method.....

Totally agree with this. It's utter nonsense to claim "it's free, you don't have to watch it" as a response to any critcism, particularly someone like Andertons who are selling/advertising their products /business, not providing content out of altruism.

I assume those making and posting Youtube guitar/pedal demos/videos such as TPS are not doing so simply as a vanity project and therefore they need to appeal too, engage and attract an audience. They can tell anyone who is critical 'it's free, like it or lump it', but that's no good if you end up with no watching. Only a year or so ago this forum had many singing the praises of TPS, this forum is where I first heard of the show. That's changed.

Octafish

Musicman20 said:

impmann said:

peteri said:

Now if only they could criticise some pedals more, and read (and understand) the manual before the show - we'd have something

Trouble is, they aren't Andy ex of PGS now with Reverb. Its clear he absorbs the pedal and its controls before filming and as such delivers a concise, well rounded video that shows whatever it is he's showing in the best light or shows how cack it is in a non-attacking way.

My problem with criticism these days is nobody seems to be able criticise without being personal or overtly negative. Whilst its true that if you publish anything you open yourself up to everyone and their dog to think they can do it better - yet few actually do. Its easy to criticise, not so easy to organise. And I say that after working in publishing for many years.

Andy is one of those players that understands the value of the 'riff' and not just soloing/shred/blues noodling. He hears a pedal, then clearly finds a popular cool riff and uses the pedal to show how to do it. The guy has chops but it's his style of playing and love for good music that I enjoy.

Andy is excellent, as you say he plays the music/song and with great feel, none of that yawnsome blusak widdle. Plus he does it all in under ten minutes.

bingefeller

Nearly every thumbnail for the show has Dan with his head back and he's laughing.  It seems contrived and it puts me off.  The only long Youtube videos I tend to watch are Lee Anderton's interviews with guitar players - his last one with Andy James was great. 

Fretwired

impmann said:

peteri said:

Now if only they could criticise some pedals more, and read (and understand) the manual before the show - we'd have something

Trouble is, they aren't Andy ex of PGS now with Reverb. Its clear he absorbs the pedal and its controls before filming and as such delivers a concise, well rounded video that shows whatever it is he's showing in the best light or shows how cack it is in a non-attacking way.

My problem with criticism these days is nobody seems to be able criticise without being personal or overtly negative. Whilst its true that if you publish anything you open yourself up to everyone and their dog to think they can do it better - yet few actually do. Its easy to criticise, not so easy to organise. And I say that after working in publishing for many years.

Wis awarded. Spot on.

hotpickups

Octafish said:

Musicman20 said:

impmann said:

peteri said:

Now if only they could criticise some pedals more, and read (and understand) the manual before the show - we'd have something

Trouble is, they aren't Andy ex of PGS now with Reverb. Its clear he absorbs the pedal and its controls before filming and as such delivers a concise, well rounded video that shows whatever it is he's showing in the best light or shows how cack it is in a non-attacking way.

My problem with criticism these days is nobody seems to be able criticise without being personal or overtly negative. Whilst its true that if you publish anything you open yourself up to everyone and their dog to think they can do it better - yet few actually do. Its easy to criticise, not so easy to organise. And I say that after working in publishing for many years.

Andy is one of those players that understands the value of the 'riff' and not just soloing/shred/blues noodling. He hears a pedal, then clearly finds a popular cool riff and uses the pedal to show how to do it. The guy has chops but it's his style of playing and love for good music that I enjoy.

Andy is excellent, as you say he plays the music/song and with great feel, none of that yawnsome blusak widdle. Plus he does it all in under ten minutes.

Isn't that more about selling what Andy does etc though?I know it's s blurred line that the TPS does meaning it is selling / promoting a pedal they demo but it's more about differences and choice and tastes at the end of the day. I could be wrong of course but I've never bought a pedal off the back of one of their shows but I have on one of Andy or Mike Hermins demos - damn them

ChuckManual

I don't think I've liked every single episode of anything I've ever watched - even the things I've liked enough to actually watch every episode there is.

Frasier, The Sopranos, Dads Army... Why should TPS be held to a higher standard than any of those?

HPhillipsmusic

It's a show where you put your guitar down to watch someone else play gear that you probably don't have. Not surprising it bores people. I dont mind it when i'm killing time, pretty good gearporn.  Even if i hated it, I'd sooner pick the guitar back up than check into a forum and slag it off. Yet here I am, meters away from my guitar, defending a show about guitars on a guitar forum against guitar players. Inceptioned myself.

mbe

I don't watch it because it has nothing to do with rock'n'roll. Esteban on QVC is more entertaining. 

Modellista

I'm grateful to the show for explaining some pedal arcana that I would otherwise not be aware of, and of course demoing sounds that would be very expensive to achieve by buying the gear personally.  I like both guys' playing, Mick is a strong blues-rock player and has some lovely chops, and Dan knows his way around a few tasty arpeggios. 

Yes there are some episodes stronger than others. And Dan's sycophantism does need to be reined in at times. The episodes when they invite a guest player to talk playing as well as gear work the best for me. Hopefully the move to new premises will see the relaunch of TPS v2.0 in perhaps a more structured format - maybe fortnightly instead of weekly. Even though it has been patchy I'd miss it if it wasn't there. Plus it's a very handy research library if one is considering a new pedal purchase. 

Pretty good value for free. 

thegummy

ChuckManual said:

I don't think I've liked every single episode of anything I've ever watched - even the things I've liked enough to actually watch every episode there is.

Frasier, The Sopranos, Dads Army... Why should TPS be held to a higher standard than any of those?

There are definitely tv shows where I've liked every single episode.

But this is YouTube videos of 2 guys talking about guitar pedals for an hour each week. The fact it's lasted this long before people got bored of it is a miracle.