Some thoughts on effects pedal design and manufacture, at large

[sonarchotic]

 Every business market is flooded and especially if that business has a reasonable or low start up cost. Even business markets with huge start up costs are flooded. My point is that if you want to start a business you are most likely going to have a lot of competition in whatever field you go into.
Information is a web search away now. Want to build a house, fly a helicopter, race cars or build pedals? You and everyone else who wants to can get the information fairly easily compared to the pre-web days when that kind of info was likely college or work experience gained with maybe some help from the public library. This makes an upstart a lot easier to get going. This also means people will jump from one business idea to the next fairly quickly so turn over will be higher.
At least this little nitch doesn't have a reality show yet. 'Murica's Next Pedal Builder'. Then the flood gates would burst. Think of what madness that's caused to restaurants, bakeries, tattoo parlors, motorcycle shops, breweries, design, construction, landscaping and so on. "Yeah, I saw on T.V. were the pedal builder shows up to my house with twenty different pedals for me to try with five different amps and a dozen different guitars and then I stand over you while you and a ten man crew build it to my exact specifications for $45. That's what you do, right?"

[candidate]

Basically, how has the guitar effects industry not imploded yet?

I don't know. I watched in implode back in the 70s, go through a death valley in the 80s and a renaissance in the 90s and become the lemming-stampede it is now.

ohhh, the rack isn't death valley

So I started a supply company

...mining for TO-92 Jfets and optocouplers

Don't forget, Devi Ever sold off her company recently to Dwarfcraft Devices

For the last few years she seemed like an employee of the IRS.

[R.G.]

For the last few years she seemed like an employee of the IRS.

We are all just employees of the IRS. Just ask them. Or do something they think is not politically correct.

I wish I were joking.

[amptramp]

Understanding the customer is the first part of understanding the business.

1. One kind of customer is not that particular about the exact sound and may figure that with enough knobs, he should be able to get a pedal to do what he wants.  He is not looking for a specific sound, just a generic fuzz or delay or compressor or whatever.  He would probably stick with the major players and would consider that if Jimi Hendrix could get all the sounds he wanted with a Crybaby and a Fuzz Face, that's all he really wants to know.

2. A second customer is in a tribute band that want to replicate the sound of their favourite band.  They would want the same pedals their target group uses.  They may also want pots preset to the values their favourite band uses.  Let's face it - trimpots have a lot of advantages.  You throw the pedal in the van and the adjustment doesn't change.  You stomp with your size eleven's and hit where knobs would be, nothing changes.  But you can still make changes to settings with a screwdriver when you want to.  And the board space is a bit less.

3. There is a third type of customer who wants a distinctive sound.  Think of tuning the radio to a station and hearing Beatles music - even if it is one of their less overplayed pieces, the distinctive sound is easily recognized.  This customer wants to create a distinctive sound of his own and the boutique market caters to his wishes.  Maybe the sound of one of your pedals would give enough distinction that his music would be both recognizable and different from anyone else and this is the guy your marketing should address, even if there is only a slight tweak of circuit values from a commercial pedal.  Whether he is a virtuoso or can barely play an A major chord, he wants something no one else has so he can have a sound no one else has so that he cannot be replaced easily.  Maybe someone should build a pedal called "Job Security".   

4. There is a market that has been addressed by some of the production houses that hasn't really been touched by boutique pedal houses and that is a pedal with the ability to change from one complete set of settings to another on the fly.  Some digital pedals store settings and allow the user to step through preset pack 1, preset pack 2 etc.  You can use random logic (Geofex calls them "radio buttons", but you could also make them sequential) or take your PIC.    I really think this part of the market could get more attention.

5. There are die-hard fans of true bypass that want a Boss or E-H pedal but without the FET switching.  The boutique vendors have saturated this market.  How may true bypass Tube Screamers can you get now?

6. Someone wants a pedal that looks more artistic than the major vendors.  Just look at the picture threads then look at the commercial offerings and you can see how this would happen.

7. There is a real need for something that doesn't use 9V batteries or its own isolated wall wart.  Pedals with rechargeable batteries or rechargeable power sources are very useful.  Check out this rant from a musician on another forum:

In rock band parlance, we call them "wall warts" or "carpet carbuncles" and man do we hate them. Have the power supply jack fall out of a critical piece of gear and suddenly you are dead in the middle of a song. If you have a rack with some gear in it using these spawn of the devil PSU's, better check it after you unload because chances are the little black box disconnected itself from the power strip inside the rack

God forbid you get to the gig and find out you left one of these at home, if it's a critical piece of gear, you are screwed, it's not like you can hit the CVS on the corner and buy one, hell even Radio Shack (see the rest of the rant) is no sure bet....

Needless to say, with music/band gear, "internal power supply" is actually a big sales draw, people will buy one piece of gear over another one because it has an internal supply, no proprietary wall wart to lose, all you need is a regular IEC cable, readily available.

BUT when it comes to consumer stuff, this **** has just gotten into everything!

So thanks to wonderful Comcast the continued unplugging/plugging of my cable modem (reset button is hard to get to, on the back....which is stupid) my wall wart for the thing now had a short; in order to get it to work I have to tape the cord at an angle to the top of the modem - breathe on the thing wrong and it shuts off.

So I figure, how hard can this be to replace, I look at the specs on the PSU, and find an exact match elsewhere in the house (rechargeable shaver), so I plug it in and....nothing......

I take a look at the little pin jacks and they are different

I do a little research on the internet and find out with these barrel connectors there are many standards including one with a 2.1 opening and another with a 2.5 opening.

Yeah that's right, FOUR TENTHS OF A MILLIMETER DIFFERENCE.

Then looking at the tips I realize one is a lot shorter than the other.

So yesterday I go to Best Buy, and find a universal adapter with selectable voltage, it comes with like 8 different tips for common sizes.

Get home and the tip is the right diameter but too long, doesn't work

Oh yeah so I go by a Radio Shack as well and they have this display on the wall, and a keyring of cables with adapter plugs on the end - they are labeled like A through N or something, like 20 different varieties! Since I didn't have the old adapter with me (that would involve not having internet at the house) I just left there and went to Best Buy.

I go on the website of the maker of the modem, and they don't list ANYTHING about the specs of the PSU, and of course you can't buy accessories.

I'm looking around Ebay and such but it's really hard to find something so specific.

So here is my proposal, we find the parties responsible for this ****, then make a cat O' 9 tails out of every available external power supply on the market (this would make it a cat O' 20 tails I guess) and we flail and flog them to get revenge for this stupid *** lack of compability.

I can see a variance in voltage but seriously what kind of variability do you really need with barrel plugs for wall wart power supplies? One or two should be sufficient.

Geez don't even get me started on the fact some are one polarity and some are other polarities....

Anybody else seriously annoyed by these things?


I am sure I have missed some of the considerations, so feel free to add whatever else you can think of, but look over the list and see how few people are doing anything different that would make a difference to the customer.  More adjustments?  Fewer adjustments?  Better power supply?  Programmability?  Artistry?  If you don't have an edge, you just have a "me too" product and most people would rather deal with a commercial vendor with a warranty and a track record than some individual who may or may not understand the electronics.

[garcho]

^ brilliant! loved reading that. big +1

Speaking to what sonarchotic wrote, one of my favorite online forums is LTHForum, a Chicago-centric food-oriented forum (restaurants, cooking, shopping, gardening, brewing, smoking, etc.). I've lived so much better and healthier and cheaper since being a part of that forum. One trivial thing I like about it though, is a moderator puts up a selected quote on the main page for say, a week or two at a time. I'd love to see something like that happen here. I'd vote for this eloquent quote from amptramp's post above:

[potential customers want] a pedal that looks more artistic than the major vendors. Just look at the picture threads then look at the commercial offerings and you can see how this would happen.

[merlinb]

Apparently, cadmium LDRs are no longer exempt from ROHS. So what does this mean for pedal manufacturers?
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/directive-decoder/rohs2/happened-exemption-light-dependant-resistors-2014-02/

[R.G.]

Apparently, cadmium LDRs are no longer exempt from ROHS. So what does this mean for pedal manufacturers?

Are you familiar with the USA slang-acronym "SOL"?

[garcho]

^ WWII US Army is responsible for all the best acronyms. My personal favorite is SNAFU (situation normal: all f'd up).

[LucifersTrip]

^ WWII US Army is responsible for all the best acronyms. My personal favorite is SNAFU (situation normal: all f'd up).

FUBAR

[samhay]

Apparently, cadmium LDRs are no longer exempt from ROHS. So what does this mean for pedal manufacturers?
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/directive-decoder/rohs2/happened-exemption-light-dependant-resistors-2014-02/

The rise of the LDR smugglers?

[R.G.]

I'm fond of BOHICA, the last four letter of which stand for "Here It Comes Again".

[Mark Hammer]

Apparently, cadmium LDRs are no longer exempt from ROHS. So what does this mean for pedal manufacturers?
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/directive-decoder/rohs2/happened-exemption-light-dependant-resistors-2014-02/

I suspect it means even faster migration to digital.

[R.G.]

Don't you love it when governments decide that since some citizens might not be either responsible or moral enough to use a device or material that all citizens must be prevented from access to such devices or materials?

[Thecomedian]

Don't you love it when governments decide that since some citizens might not be either responsible or moral enough to use a device or material that all citizens must be prevented from access to such devices or materials?

A significant portion isn't. Anyone who can get away with something usually will try. Coupled with that and plain ignorance or people out there who actually have Monsanto quality sociopathy, and materials regulations do become important. People used to drink from lead pipes before it was discovered to be harmful to health; ignorance. Coca-cola and other corps that produce soft drinks with heavy metal byproducts move their plants to Africa so they can freely dump their hazardous waste material without proper care and control or oversight, because its cheaper = more profits; intentional.

[Electron Tornado]

Understanding the customer is the first part of understanding the business.


If you don't have an edge, you just have a "me too" product and most people would rather deal with a commercial vendor with a warranty and a track record than some individual who may or may not understand the electronics.

In the end, most people simply end up in the "me too" category. Note the endless tube screamer clones, with green being a fairly consistently used enclosure color. Despite cartoon graphics, an extra knob or a toggle switch, and a blue status LED, most people don't stray from whatever sound happens to be popular. 

[smallbearelec]

Apparently, cadmium LDRs are no longer exempt from ROHS. So what does this mean for pedal manufacturers?
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/directive-decoder/rohs2/happened-exemption-light-dependant-resistors-2014-02/

The rise of the LDR smugglers?

Exactly. I get to realize my long-held dream of being a Contrabandista.

[amptramp]

Understanding the customer is the first part of understanding the business.

If you don't have an edge, you just have a "me too" product and most people would rather deal with a commercial vendor with a warranty and a track record than some individual who may or may not understand the electronics.

In the end, most people simply end up in the "me too" category. Note the endless tube screamer clones, with green being a fairly consistently used enclosure color. Despite cartoon graphics, an extra knob or a toggle switch, and a blue status LED, most people don't stray from whatever sound happens to be popular. 

We have a thread called "DIY Predictions for 2014" located at:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=105617.0

A lot of the things were whimsical, but there are some gems of ideas there.  I find it sort of sad that people are still not just building pedals with designs that are over 40 years old, but getting excited about it.  It would be nice if these designs were timeless and had no flaws, but the Crybaby and Fuzz Face have known parts specification, thermal drift, power sensitivity and impedance problems that someone could address.  There are a number of people who try to set up a pedal business with little or no understanding of the electronics and some of them have appeared here wanting other people to supply them with free designs.

This leads to another question: should we (collectively) wait for the customer to demand something in a pedal or should we move the state of the art along before the customer is aware of its availability?  Even though I have a solid foundation in listening to what the customer wants, it is worthwhile to push the envelope a bit and show him something he doesn't know exists yet.

[jishnudg]

This leads to another question: should we (collectively) wait for the customer to demand something in a pedal or should we move the state of the art along before the customer is aware of its availability?  Even though I have a solid foundation in listening to what the customer wants, it is worthwhile to push the envelope a bit and show him something he doesn't know exists yet.

Completely agree - - - Also, I'm guessing that's exactly what the Fuzz Face did when it came onto the market But do you think that this hankering for 'vintage tone' etc is a sign of stagnation in the music scene as well, where people are maybe trying to rehash and repackage stuff over and over? I mean, if you compare the 'pop' music of the 40s (Charlie Parker sliding Stravinsky lines into bebop solos) to some of the stuff that gets airplay today....why aren't more guitar players _asking_ for novelty?

[Electron Tornado]

I find it sort of sad that people are still not just building pedals with designs that are over 40 years old, but getting excited about it.  It would be nice if these designs were timeless and had no flaws, but the Crybaby and Fuzz Face have known parts specification, thermal drift, power sensitivity and impedance problems that someone could address.  

This leads to another question: should we (collectively) wait for the customer to demand something in a pedal or should we move the state of the art along before the customer is aware of its availability?  Even though I have a solid foundation in listening to what the customer wants, it is worthwhile to push the envelope a bit and show him something he doesn't know exists yet.

This is actually what the early modders and boutiquers were doing (pushing the envelope), just not in the ways you described in your first paragraph.

There's nothing wrong with people building old designs, having fun, and maybe learning something along the way. What makes one fuzz sound different from another, and how many ways can you skin a fuzz? Most people here are building pedals as a hobby, and starting out with varying levels of electronics knowledge.  

[Electron Tornado]

Completely agree - - - Also, I'm guessing that's exactly what the Fuzz Face did when it came onto the market But do you think that this hankering for 'vintage tone' etc is a sign of stagnation in the music scene as well, where people are maybe trying to rehash and repackage stuff over and over? I mean, if you compare the 'pop' music of the 40s (Charlie Parker sliding Stravinsky lines into bebop solos) to some of the stuff that gets airplay today....why aren't more guitar players _asking_ for novelty?

I doubt it's a sign of stagnation. Popularity can be fleeting, but is also usually cyclic. (We also get periods of what feels like stagnation now and then.) Music, like many forms of art, often borrows elements of different styles.

Why more guitar players aren't asking for novelty is because given complete freedom, most people will end up following one crowd or another.