How much longer can pedal makers keep on churning out "new" pedals?

Travisthedog

I mean. Essentially we all have our favourites and I reckon if all the members on here listed the drive pedals they use on a regular basis it would be a list of 8 maybe 9 pedals even though there hundreds, maybe thousands available

I often wonder as guitarists whether we are unique creatures who are supplied with gear by manufacturers who are just re inventing the wheel!

And we just lap it up!

EricTheWeary

I can't recall the exact quote but it was something like golfers are the perfect customers because they will pay 100% more for 1% improvement in performance.
Now guitarists are more complex creatures than golfers and performance means different things to different guitarists. But, yes, it probably wouldn't impact greatly on anybody's playing if there was never a new pedal, amp, guitar, lead, odd shaped plectrum, strap,etc, on the market ever again. Of course there are game changers, things that genuinely bring something new to the table but these are few and far between. When was the last new effect type? Or at least the last new effect type that got used. When did the list of fuzz,chorus, flange,delay,etc, last get added to?

Travisthedog

That's a good point. - what was the last bit of gear that truly was a game changer - I can't think of anything?

midiglitch

For as long as people believe spending money will make them better

Travisthedog

midiglitch;44491" said:

For as long as people believe spending money will make them better

That's the money shot right there!

ThePrettyDamned

The soundblox distortion was pretty unique...

But I know what you mean. It's the same in the amp world, where there are loads of boutique people remaking deluxes and stuff. Thing is, small component differences are enough to change the sound a bit, and sometimes that's all we want.

Because we love nothing more than buying new shit

juansolo

Every now and then I think that I must be getting to the stage where I've built everything, then something else comes about or is rediscovered. It's actually quite impressive that in 4 years of solid building, there's still tonnes of stuff out there that I haven't built yet!

RocknRollDave

The polytuner thing was something of a new take, but FX-wise, can't think of anything

not_the_dj

The EHX Freeze was pretty unique wasn't it? (although I think one of their other pedals had the hold function). 

The first looper pedal (whatever that was) was also a step forward  

The TC Electronic Toneprint functionality was pretty revolutionary (although I've still not actually bothered with the editor yet).  

Drives etc are certainly just reinventing the wheel...but I'm still a hamster running around in there chasing my tail ;-)

viz

Some pretty good digital post production effects - auto tune, the thing that allows you to change pitch of somthing without altering the speed, etc. i want to use ring mod more but the g system hasn't got it. Is there a good pedal?

frankus

Looping pedals

Fez

It's a fair question, with Vox and Blackstar putting out new lines of pedals (mostly drive/distortions) there doesn't seem to be any let up. When will Marshall revamp their range?

My son plays Warhammer and that is very similar. In fact Games Workshop have a very strong business model and their marketing strategy has worked for years. New products (games, figures books, cd's) are released on a regular basis and you have to have them, they are limited edition, better than the last one etc. Sound familiar?

I think Midiglitch has in a nutshell though.

digitalscream

Travisthedog said:

That's a good point. - what was the last bit of gear that truly was a game changer - I can't think of anything?

The pedal makers won't like this, but I'm pretty sure the last game-changer was the POD 2.0.

ICBM

digitalscream said:

Travisthedog said:

That's a good point. - what was the last bit of gear that truly was a game changer - I can't think of anything?

The pedal makers won't like this, but I'm pretty sure the last game-changer was the POD 2.0.

I think you might be right.

I had a similar thought regarding amps, which was asked on an old forum - probably TGP, which makes it funnier - the last truly revolutionary valve amplifier - ie one that changes the perception of what an electric guitar and guitar music can sound like, and is then copied or at least 'nodded to' by most other makers - was the Mesa Dual Rectifier. (1991 - that's a long time ago!) Since then, all developments in valve amps have been to either re-discover old designs or to make existing newer ones more convenient - not to take 'tone' where it hasn't been before. Pretty much every digital modeler contains a 'Recto' setting as its most modern sound unless they have a generic 'silly amounts of gain' one that isn't based on any real amp.

Guitar sounds have slowly become set in stone/concrete/fossilised/however you want to describe it. So it's not surprising that pedals have gone the same way.

Rocker

Travisthedog said:

That's a good point. - what was the last bit of gear that truly was a game changer - I can't think of anything?

Looper pedals. Clean boost. So far I have not found a pedal that fools listeners into thinking I can play a guitar or that I have some idea of what I am doing with a guitar in my hand

[Deleted User]

Apart from the occasional EH oddity and the Digitech Whammy, has a 'new' pedal (as in genre, as opposed to variant of an existing one) been produced since chorus pedals came out?

Players seemed far more willing to use pedals to make guitars sound genuinely different in the 70s and early 80s (David Gilmour, Fripp, Andy Summers, Adrian Belew, 'The' Edge, et al) than they do now.

EricTheWeary

I think I could go with the increased availability of digital tuning as the biggest thing in the last 30 years. Making playing the guitar in tune more widely accessible.
Although they dont effect what you hear in recorded music much. Which is also the problem with loopers - they don't offer anything new in the studio/ to the listener. It might be a more convenient package but that's about it. It seems rare to hear them integrated well into anyone's live work ( I might just be listening to the wrong people I suppose) you just get people doing the obvious looper song. I think they have been more of a game changer for pedal makers than the listening audience.

JohnPerry

Roger Linn's Adrenalinn III contains all the standard fx, but the way they are combined and beat-sync'd reinvents some of them. Listen to the clips on his site and you'll see what I mean. Aside from that the most useful "new" effect I have is the rather excellent EHX Superego.

stonevibe

Mark my words "Relic Pedals" its the way forward....

Sporky

stonevibe said:

Mark my words "Relic Pedals" its the way forward....

I was doing those years ago!

http://www.monkeyfx.co.uk/pictures/ABominiser.jpg

Drew_TNBD

That's not a relic. That's a monkey playing guitar in space.