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Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
I think it's great that the boutique market has moved past "one person soldering in their spare bedroom", and SMD means more complex circuits can fit into the same box, and possibly offers better reliability (though arguably inferior repairability).
I think it may be less great that there's still a lot of "lovingly built by hand" marketing for products that are churned out of a build-to-order factory.
A lot of pedal makers started out modding existing effects. Or making variations on them. Some of the biggest in the industry did this and there is always a proliferation of companies that have tried to jump on that bandwagon seeing it as a way to make a quick buck. Now I'm not saying bootweaking is invalid, of course it's not, things can be improved. But there are an awful lot of chancers out there just randomly changing odd components and charging silly money for other people's circuits.
DIY is a way of learning about all this and how circuits work, so people from that area usually come from a place of knowledge. A few make building pedals their job and make a bloody good stab at it. The rock and the hard place part of that comes from trying to get people to buy your original stuff. Say what you want about people selling clones, but if your original effect has no hype around it, people will simply not be interested. This is why there is a treasure trove of effects in the DIY world that few people ever hear about or experience (Vale points to a few in his earlier post).
Are commercial pedals inferior. Nope, not in the slightest. Tone chasing can get ridiculous, and if you want a distortion, a SD-1 could be all you need. They are robust, machine built and mass produced so good value.
There are parallels to be made with amplifiers and guitars of course. Why doesn't everyone just play a Telecaster? They're cheap, robust, versatile. Does what every other electric guitar does. Same goes for amps a simple Fender or Marshall is all you need. Yet all these variations on a theme exist that do ostensibly the same thing, running the same gamut as pedals: Chinese cheap clones, mass produced big brands, DIYers, cheaper clones, bootweak and boutique. Is there really any difference?
i tend to stay away from cloning/copying conversation and accusations nowadays. I am quite strait laced in this regard, but I’ve found it very difficult to tell fact from oft-repeated personal opinion. Plus, in pedals, almost everyone seems to be copying from original designs in one way or another.
but, unlike others here, I have had some Boss failures - so in my opinion, every pedal can fail. However, I’ve had free component replscements and repairs from some smaller manufacturers - like both Wampler and JHS. These happened long, long after warranty expired, and I may not even have bought the pedals new. So a lifetime warranty exists with some of these brands, which I find admirable.
true bypass is something else that Boss seems to struggle to offer.
Personally, I like the Boss modulation pedals more than their drives. I genuinely feel that Rockett, Wampler, JHS and many others produce vastly superior sounding drive pedals. I totally accept that the audience may not hear it. But I can hear it (and more importantly feel it) and that’s what counts to me.
That definition would make a Danelectro Transparant Overdrive a bootique clone of Paul Cochrane's Timmy!
I'm less pleased that they've started using round metal footswitches on their new multi pedals, even though they are actually 'soft' switches. I won't be buying any of those.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I went to see Circa Survive years ago, stood right at the front and I could see the guitarist had about 3 boutique delays on his board. I looked forward to watching him swap between them so I could hear the differences. Absolutely nothing. No difference whatsoever.
That said, the resources of the bigger companies means they can do some interesting stuff too - the Boss GT series with the internal LFO stuff and assignable envelope control springs to mind.
I find most great boards are mixture of mainstream and boutique.
Barriers into the industry are much higher and require more capital - hence fewer "guy in the shed" Strymon-like pedals in the market.
I'd say digital multi fx sit in their own group.
I have had lot's of drive pedals over the years but I just like the Boss OD3 for medium gain through my amp.
It does chords well and mid gain solo's which is where I reside tonally.
I think most people would use the BD2 for that but I like the fatness of the OD3. Whatever suits your amp and guitars works.