opinions wanted: buyer interest?

[vdm]

Hi everybody (hi doctor nick),

I've been working on a few new stompbox designs and have a nice little series worked out - I'm just a little unsure as to whether there will be much buyer interest in what I'm building. I'd like to sell a few of these to make a few extra bucks, but I certainly don't plan on making it a living - just a fun project for weekends. I don't want to go too much into the visual design, but it is something I'm very proud of, and can't wait to get the whole box together with a nice circuit to show off. The aesthetics of the pedal will be what gets the attention I want for them (i think), and then hopefully people will see them and want to hear what it sounds like, then hear it and really like the possibilities.

I will be using rotary switches on all of the pedals as a kind of trademark type thing. So I've been spending the last few weeks devising a bunch of different ways I'd like to use them. So here we are with the ideas. I'd really like opinions of the ideas themselves as well as their commercial relevance.

*NOTE* when I refer to a 'boost' control its just the volume control with minimum at unity gain. (bad idea?)

*Distortion~
Opamp gain stage pushing a switchable array of (4) 2nd stages.
Gain control is output volume of the OA stage to directly overdrive the different sounds.
switch options are: opamp w/ feedback loop diodes, OTA overdrive, Mosfet OD, and a transistor stage (big muff/ bazz fuss)
It will have gain and boost controls.

*Boost~
nothing new here, but a simple mosfet (i think) boost, with switchable input caps (treble, normal, fat), and a forth setting for either midboost, midcut, or adding clipping diodes to the normal setting (LEDs).
It will have the rotary switch and a knob for boost. I was considering adding a tone control, but not sure it would be too useful, as the rotary switch covers a lot of ground.

*Colour~ (This is the main idea I'm not sure about. I love the idea but not sure if others will)
2 different pedals
Only control is a 4 position rotary switch
The pedal is meant to 'colour' your tone, to be used to spice up a boring sound or for an interesting solo tone.
I have a number of different ideas for the effects, but I want some input here too:
    12ax7 preamp stage (simulated with FET - similar to fetzer valve w/ personal changes)
    EF86 preamp stage (simmed with MOSFET)
    Compression (orange squeezer style comp)
    Tape saturation (original design)
    Standard lowpass (simple cap to ground - has very effect on my strat as the tone control)
    Resonant lowpass (havent fleshed this idea out yet, but for nice filter effect)
    Presence (adds presence to tone)
    LFO wah (similar to idiot wah)




Wow.. sorry for the long message. Please anyone with opinions let them be heard, and I would *love* more ideas for the Colour pedals as I'm not very happy with some of the tones that are listed.

Thank you,
Trent G

P.S. I have more pedal ideas but Im trying to get these few done first and see if my idea is useable..

[A.S.P.]

be sure, switching won`t "pop"...

[bioroids]

He I dont think is that easy to know if something will sell.

I think the best aproach for a boutique is to do something others dont do (of course that something has to be usefull and/or cool, and well done). Your rotary switch stuff seems interesting, but be sure you're not just replacing the regular "tone" pot with it.

Luck!

Miguel

[Dave_B]

You might try to sell a couple on eBay to test the waters.  The trick for me as a buyer is knowing you'll stand behind the thing (however you would ensure that) and getting to hear audio samples.  It helps a lot to be already established on eBay with a reasonble amount of good feedback.  If you're trying to convince people of your warranty when your feedback is "2"...