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Comments
Edit: accusatory language
With TPS, sometimes the humour gets a bit much for me.
I recognise that they have to entertain as well, and simply having a "geography today" monotone presenter would be horrendous.
They have imparted a huge amount of information for free which is brilliant. I do find it a tad elitist at times (the £800 pedal boards and £1000 switchers for instance). That aspect screams mid life crisis to me, hey ho different folks/ different strokes.
It would be great if they focused on cheaper gear or solutions.
But i do think as others have pointed out that would lead them down a digital road.
Andy at Reverb/ PGS is the best demoer for me.
Property shows, who wants to watch Location Location Location on a council flat in a drug-infested area? Is that what people aspire to live in?
Car channels, most of them want to show case expensive and fast cars. Top Gear almost always showing off the cutting edge stuff. Now and again people write in and complaint they never review a shopping trolley hatchback, then they do and the statistics will show people don't watch them!
It's the same thing everywhere else, I bet it's the same for pedals. You might not like how they always show off their expensive boards and expensive pedals but they get more views. Plus most people will want to strive for better gear which in turn is more expensive. No one really strives for entry-level gear unless you got none. Then I think TPS is way too overwhelming as a show anyway. If you have a handful of TC Electronics or MXR pedals, chances are you know a bit already therefore you want some more pedals, better pedals, more boutique, and as a result, more expensive pedals.
Higher-end stuff get more views, you can't blame them for that, blame the viewers, us.
Like Topgear testing a GT40, a wet dry wet rig with say a Matchless, a handwired marshall and a boutique fender amp is out of reach for most people.
I prefer jhs videos tbh when he spotlights bargains etc. I guess I'm an old fart now. I just think of a kid getting into thousands of pounds of debt, because he or she feels they have to have a Suhr into an expensive pedal board and then into an expensive flavour of the month amp. And again that's nothing to do with TPS, we've all lusted after gear for no apparent reason.
I do like TPS like I've said they've offered up some stonking information for free. I'm on a bit of a zen quest atm, downsizing and looking at what I actually own. Compared to what I actually need.
I sold a strat I wasn't using and even talked myself out of buying another guitar last weekend. I blame the 5watt world videos!
I think at this point, the world of pedals is firmly in the realm of a bona fide sub-culture, with its own language, totems etc. I think that's what TPS is very shrewdly catering for.
Not long ago I was doing a bit of googling because I wanted to buy a Leatherman and didn't know which model to get and that made me aware of the world of Every Day Carry (EDC) which I had no clue even existed....a whole community of people focused on what you leave the house carrying, complete with acronyms, an aesthetic etc. A lot of similarities in that there are people building a community and culture around things which other people might see as more utilitarian.
Still doesn't mean I will like the pedal after I buy it though, but that's the risk you take if you can't try something in person with your own rig!
5 or 6 minutes attention span is about my limit.
TPS isn't trying to service where the whole effects market is going, TPS is trying to service a niche crowd, the pedals loving crowd. It would be like there is a genre of people who are into vinyl. You don't expect them to review a streaming set up because the people watching knows what they are in for.
TPS (as the name implies), one can argue they are catering for the pedals crowd, and there is nothing wrong with that. If you want to know about Kemper (or about which digital streaming service has the best quality), you watch another channel.
p.s. we all won't go into digital, like we all didn't all embrace digital music, like there will always people who love tea in a tea pot and not brew in a mug or people who swear they will never get an electric car because they like the smell and the sound of a real V8. There is an audience, the pedals audience, TPS is servicing the pedals audience.
I mean, the guitar world is a backwards looking one, people still want old guitars, they will always be a LARGE section who think pedals are best because of this. Hell, you can argue it's not a guitar world thing, not a pedals world thing, it's a human thing.
I have my preferred focal length. Give me a camera, pretty much any modern camera and that single prime lens and I can do most of what I like to shoot. My own skill can carry the rest, everything becomes much simpler,, lighter and what comes out is more me because the road i am on is much more narrow.
Least favourite is the Living Room guy. Lousy playing. Does the products no favours.
From music gear to fitness to camping gear they all do it. You're falling behind if you haven't put out a "this is why all this is bullshit" video.
1 off art pieces. There is nothing inherently valuable about a canvas and some paint, except the name on the corner, the person who made it and that there is only 1 and that a bunch of rich people are willing to spend millions and millions to have the right to own this single piece in existence.
This is the same with pedals, pedals have a price of entry, especially expensive ones, or limited edition ones. Plus you want to be able to show it off, you can't really show off a Kemper Profile.
It would be great if that's all we are after, the tone, but the truth of the matter is, there is a side of human traits that wants the tangible, the exclusivity, something else no one else has.
p.s. I am guilty - I ordered a Boss Pedal.