Clones

dindude

Sporky said:

dindude said:

I've no problem with buying something like a Klon clone, because, not sure if anyone else has checked, YOU CANT FVCKING BUY THE ORIGINAL ITEM ANYWHERE.

I thought there was a new Klon out, just in a different box?

It's just a pedal and if the original maker can't be arsed to make enough to go around then tough titties.

I don't think that's fair. There's a limit to how fast pedals can be made, and taking on more staff isn't as easy a solution as it might sound.

It's worth pointing out that there are very few rich boutique pedal makers.

Thing is, he started making the newer KTR, but then as soon as they became anywhere near readily available, manufacture paused again, citing production issues. But really, it's now in a standard hammond enclosure, with fairly standard electronic parts (as far as I know) - colour me cynical that getting this thing produced is such a enormous feat of modern engineering.

Regarding the second point, it may be a bit harsh I guess but the market isn't massive, in fact it's massively niche, if you still can't fill it, but you want to make a living out of it, then you're really not trying hard enough.

On another note, what I really don't get is that the single pedal guys like the Klon and the Tim, is how they had the motivation and know-how to make a (fairly) innovative product (within the Overdrive pedal world), but then continue to make excactly the same pedal for the next 15 years.

I think I too would struggle to get up in the morning and stare at the same box of wires and think, yep I think I better get cracking with that 6 month waiting list.

 

Sporky

Certainly a big chunk of the original cost would have been the custom enclosure - I looked into getting some made a couple of times and while they're cheap per unit the setup cost is enormous.

I absolutely agree on the monotony thing - for me, twenty something Valvesporkers was starting to get a bit repetitive. It was always the design and prototyping I liked, not the management and assembly grind.

juansolo

I've built probably 20 odd Klones and it bores me senseless in all honesty. I can do them with my eyes shut. So I mix it up occasionally by doing them in small boxes and whatnot. If it wasn't for the fact we're in a fairly large deficit when it comes to the capacitor fund, I really wouldn't bother apart from requests (it's the only pedal I make that's not to request). But as has been mentioned, you can't exactly charge much for them if you want to sell them.

Dave_Mc

Sporky said:

dindude said:

I've no problem with buying something like a Klon clone, because, not sure if anyone else has checked, YOU CANT FVCKING BUY THE ORIGINAL ITEM ANYWHERE.

(a) I thought there was a new Klon out, just in a different box?

It's just a pedal and if the original maker can't be arsed to make enough to go around then tough titties.

(b) I don't think that's fair. There's a limit to how fast pedals can be made, and taking on more staff isn't as easy a solution as it might sound.

It's worth pointing out that there are very few rich boutique pedal makers.

(a) I thought they stopped making that new one, too? EDIT: ah dindude beat me to it.

(b) True, but when the manufacturer actually stops making the thing when he knows there's ridiculous demand for the thing (and where a cynic would even start to believe that stoking that hype by stopping making them is part of the business plan), that's different.

There's a world of difference (IMO) between there being scarcity of supply for the right reasons (e.g. with the Timmy- because there's loads of demand because the price is more than fair and it's a killer pedal and where Paul C is genuinely cranking the things out and unwilling to raise his prices) and there being scarcity of supply for the wrong reasons (e.g. alleged contrived scarcity and hyping). And even when it comes to the Timmy, if someone genuinely needed one quickly, I wouldn't blame them for buying a clone if they couldn't get hold of the real thing easily. I mean, I know I bought the danelectro clone to see if I liked it. I wasn't going to wait for 6 months or more for a pedal I wasn't even sure I liked. I keep meaning to get a "real" one, but the darn things sell out so fast I haven't managed it.

Axe_meister

It always seems odd to me that he average OD pedal does cost so much even more so a fuzz.
Whatever circuit you choose, they are no more complex than simple GCSE electronics.
In the 70s/80s electronics was a normal boys hobby, with kids building synths and even small mixing desks. i
Remember building a small transistor radio when I was 17.
With modern software it's easy to simulate your design and even come up with a PCB design.
Send the design off to China and they'll build it for peanuts.

Sporky

The factory made in China stuff is cheap - very cheap.

The hand made in Europe/America stuff is expensive.

It's almost entirely down to the relative cost of living.

Making a good fuzz, though, requires individual attention to match the transistors - and, if you want a really good fuss, matching the bias to those transistors too.

EdGrip

I think, Sporky, that if you sculpted the enclosure you wanted yourself rather than have a company do it, you'd find foundries around who would churn out casts of it for you for a lot less than you might expect - certainly at a cost that wouldn't be far off an Eddystone box. You'd have to drill and tap your own screw holes, of course, but then there's always drilling involved anyway...

Just a thought.

 - Ed

Sporky

The price wasn't awful once you hit about 1000 units, but at the time that would have been 20 years of production!

EdGrip

Y'see, my dad was making a replica of the Titanic's radio room. He found a vintage drawer handle like the ones he wanted on eBay, but the trouble was he needed eight of them. So he took it to a local foundry and said, "Can you make me 7 more of these, please?". 

They could, and they did, and they charged him about £7 each.

EdGrip

(My own ideal pedal enclosure is cast aluminium, with the company logo and control names raised. Then the whole pedal is painted with black wrinkle-finish paint, and then whacked face-down on a fine belt-sander for a minute to polish the paint off the raised areas, like the valve cover on an old V8.)