Real vs Clone

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impmannimpmann Frets: 12643
And I'm not talking about Klon Centaurs... ok?

General question - why do people buy clones of commonly available pedals for similar or sometimes higher prices than the original goes for?

Example: Big Muffs. A lot of BS spoken about them - and lots of clones out there. So why buy a clone of one, when you can buy the real thing for similar cash?

Not driving at anything in particular - just trying to understand "why"?
Never Ever Bloody Anything Ever.

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Comments

  • frankusfrankus Frets: 4719
    I've a Zenkudo - it's a bit like a clone of a Zendrive - it looks fabulous :D sounds great too.

    I've got an Analogman BiComprossor - it's a clone of a Ross Compressor and an Orange Squeeze - it sounds great :)

    There aren't that many really original designs out there.... so it's really about the build quality for me :)



    A sig-nat-eur? What am I meant to use this for ffs?! Is this thing recording?
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  • EHX isn't really known for great build quality, I've had to have a couple of switches replaced.  

    Which is why, from now on, reliability is my main thing - gimme boss or VS enclosures with those fancy switches anyday.  

    Big Muffs also come in a lot of different flavours.  Most of which are no longer available :( if EHX *did* redo all of the old ones in a big range of muffs (lol see what I did there?) they'd sell like hot cakes.  And the boutique industry would suffer a bit! 

    Same for circuits like the Marshall Guvnor.  

    The ones I really don't get are boutique clones of... Er... Boutique pedals.  They often have a bit of extra blurb and a slightly different price.

    Unless it's a Timmy.  I wish PC would get it mass produced.  I don't like the sound of a Timmy, but loads do and the main reason they're cloned is because of the waiting list.  I just googled it and, asides from a couple of US shops and eBay having a couple, I wouldn't know where to buy one.  
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  • BidleyBidley Frets: 2912

    Big Muffs comes in loads of different iterations, i.e. Ram's Head, Triangle etc. Then there are clones that have additional features like mid-cut/boost amongst others too.

    Most of the other clones are of pedals that aren't made any more. Why people spunk hundreds on fancy Tubescreamers I'll never know.

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  • meltedbuzzboxmeltedbuzzbox Frets: 10337
    EHX isn't really known for great build quality, I've had to have a couple of switches replaced.  

    Which is why, from now on, reliability is my main thing - gimme boss or VS enclosures with those fancy switches anyday.  


    I have broken more Boss pedals than EHX ones...

    As for the clone thing I am too ignorant to know if anything is meant to be a clone, I just usually go for something if it sounds nice.
    Although I have just bought a £30 clone on a whim, I wouldn't pay the £300 it would cost for the real thing. 

    I dont know why anyone would clone a big muff, they have one sound, those dials are just for show
    The Bigsby was the first successful design of what is now called a whammy bar or tremolo arm, although vibrato is the technically correct term for the musical effect it produces. In standard usage, tremolo is a rapid fluctuation of the volume of a note, while vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch. The origin of this nonstandard usage of the term by electric guitarists is attributed to Leo Fender, who also used the term “vibrato” to refer to what is really a tremolo effect.
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  • ThePrettyDamnedThePrettyDamned Frets: 7472
    edited June 2014
    EHX isn't really known for great build quality, I've had to have a couple of switches replaced.  

    Which is why, from now on, reliability is my main thing - gimme boss or VS enclosures with those fancy switches anyday.  


    I have broken more Boss pedals than EHX ones...

    As for the clone thing I am too ignorant to know if anything is meant to be a clone, I just usually go for something if it sounds nice.
    Although I have just bought a £30 clone on a whim, I wouldn't pay the £300 it would cost for the real thing. 

    I dont know why anyone would clone a big muff, they have one sound, those dials are just for show
    Wow, really?  The only thing I've ever broken on a Boss was a knob, and that was because I dropped it down the stairs...

    My old Double Muff and BM Pi would break if you looked at them funny :(
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  • GIJoeGIJoe Frets: 213
    Again with the big muffs, they are massive!  A clone could be just as much about a 'normal' size.

    "Nobody is really researching robot jokes"

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  • shuikitshuikit Frets: 224
    I have a nano muff which I haven't used in a long time so it was put away in it's box within a study plastic box with other pedals which I don't use but want to keep.  It now doesn't work, it worked fine when it was put away....
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  • meltedbuzzboxmeltedbuzzbox Frets: 10337
    I broke the switch on my BF3 through normal usage, never bothered to fix it. 
    I have seen a DS2 cook its own board, DS-1 pedals seem to lose knobs a lot. 
    I had a gt3 which had dodgy switches. 

    EHX... never broke one. 

    The Bigsby was the first successful design of what is now called a whammy bar or tremolo arm, although vibrato is the technically correct term for the musical effect it produces. In standard usage, tremolo is a rapid fluctuation of the volume of a note, while vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch. The origin of this nonstandard usage of the term by electric guitarists is attributed to Leo Fender, who also used the term “vibrato” to refer to what is really a tremolo effect.
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  • BidleyBidley Frets: 2912
    I've had pissloads of Boss and EHX pedals, not had one break on me (touch fucking wood).
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  • gubblegubble Frets: 1737

    I have broken more Boss pedals than EHX ones...




    Whoa there hang on a minute. I thought i was the only person ever to have broken a boss pedal ? They did kindly replace it FOC though
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  • impmannimpmann Frets: 12643
    OK I get the switch thing. But that can be modded in the original pedal - usually for only a couple of quid. The switchable mids thing on muffs - really? Want mids... buy something other than a muff. Simples. Or stick a booster on with it a la Gilmour...

    So why else?
    Never Ever Bloody Anything Ever.

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  • joeyowenjoeyowen Frets: 4025
    Slightly more functionality maybe?

    Sometimes an additional switch for diodes/clipping/bass boost etc can really make a pedal shine.

    I don't often use clones, although I do have  Joyo classic phase which is a true bypass phase90 for half the price which has served me really well so far
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  • mike_lmike_l Frets: 5700
    Only as a gig tool so as valuable/irreplaceable pedals aren't put at risk

    Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21) 

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  • crunchmancrunchman Frets: 11413
    There are different reasons for clones.

    A lot of are obviously because of cost e.g. Soul Food, Mooer etc.

    As mentioned above, size is an issue as well.  I had a Fulldrive that I really liked the tone of, but it was too big and I never used the boost side so I built myself a TS/Fulldrive type pedal .  After experimenting a little bit I ended up with the assymetrical clipping of the Fulldrive although some of the other circuit values I used are more TS than Fulldrive.  It works for me.

    No longer available is another reason - again covered above.  I might have a go at a Bluesbreaker Mk1.  It's the one pedal I've sold and look back and regret selling it.

    The other reason that I'm not sure has been mentioned so much is when there is some shortcoming in the original.  The first clone I built was of an MXR Microamp which I did because the original sucked tone.  (I don't know if MXR have fixed the bypass on newer ones).
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  • BeexterBeexter Frets: 597
    impmann said:
     
    General question - why do people buy clones of commonly available pedals for similar or sometimes higher prices than the original goes for?

    Example: Big Muffs. A lot of BS spoken about them - and lots of clones out there. So why buy a clone of one, when you can buy the real thing for similar cash?

    Not driving at anything in particular - just trying to understand "why"?

    In my case, 1) Sound 2) Availability 3) Price 4) Size

    Here's some examples - Big Muff's often sound subtly different - it is well documented that in the early days, no two sounded alike due to the variation in component values. The clones are generally a bit more consistent. Some (not all) builders will take a bit more time sourcing and matching component values to get (in their opinion) the best possible tone from the circuit. I've got four different big muffs - they all sound slightly different with different noise floors but they are all basically big muffs in character. Variety is good. Each of the four I own are smaller than the originals on which they're based, which suits a smaller pedalboard. I didn't pay top dollar for any of them and each we're cheaper than the now out of production originals on which they're based.

    Fuzz faces are another one - sure, some of the prices being charged for such a simple circuit are eye-watering but again, the variation is huge. I have three BC108 based silicon fuzzes, some with additional controls but they all sound different - some are sharper/ spikier, some are darker/ smoother. I don't have the unlimited resources of someone like Eric Johnson who can compare umpteen originals to get the one that is "just right" A boutique clone is likely to be more consistent.

    If you take a builder like Skreddy, he will discontinue a pedal once he runs out of the correct spec components and that's when the prices soar - much like the original pedals on which they're based. Supply and demand.

    The grass isn't always greener. It just is sometimes.

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  • Dave_McDave_Mc Frets: 2326
    edited June 2014
    Bidley said:

    Why people spunk hundreds on fancy Tubescreamers I'll never know.

    To be fair, a lot of the people who are making those expensive fancy tubescreamers aren't exactly terribly forthcoming about what they are...
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  • juansolojuansolo Frets: 1773
    edited June 2014
    They're usually Bootweakers. Which is essentially wrapping up a tubescreamer in flowery bullshit and selling it at vastly inflated sums to the cork sniffers. Biggest return for the least amount of work. Takes no imagination. Indeed the shitter you build it, the more you can charge.

    There's a lot of it about.
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  • Dave_McDave_Mc Frets: 2326
    Yeah. I don't think it's fair to blame people for being fooled when people are trying to fool them.
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  • timmysofttimmysoft Frets: 1962
    Ive always used real rats, but ive recently moved over to the m5's modelled rat. Its not the same but its 90% of the way.
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  • frankusfrankus Frets: 4719
    I like Paul Cochrane and Alphonso Hermida wanting to do a job they enjoy - I don't see why they should have to go from solder jockey to manager overseeing shipments and QA just so more people can get their mitts on a pedal.

    As for booteek clones of booteek pedals - well, good pedal builders gotta start somewhere, recreating the masters to begin with perhaps.

    If you look at the situation from the point of view of the maker, rather than the buyer - it makes more sense.

     


    A sig-nat-eur? What am I meant to use this for ffs?! Is this thing recording?
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