Would you spend $549 on an OD pedal?

[phector2004]

Jesus!

What's a DIY guy doing surfing a site that sells $180 cables! 

[MmmPedals]

What gets me is that the rest of their pedals are priced normally. $189 for boutique stuff is fine in my book. That's what I sell stuff for.

[fpaul]

I'm basically using my 50watt plexi clone as an OD pedal, slaved into another amp.  I think I spent right around $550 on it.  I'm pretty happy with it, actually...

[JKowalski]

I'm just curious how many people on THIS PLANET are in their target demographic?

I was in a fly fishing shop in Boston once, looking for fly tying supplies. They didn't have much, and what they add was way over priced!. Then I started to talk with the owner (a very nice man).And He gave me a lesson in marketing.

He told me there are two kind of people working in this building, lawyers and bankers. They don't care about the price and most of them don't even care about the product! All they care about is bragging rights. Most of them only go out fishing with guides on private streams.  All they care about is having something to brag about when they are having a drink at the country club.

I did purchase some stuff from him (old dusty fly tying supplies he basically gave me). He said these guys don't tie flies! They all got the high end vices and books (purchase mostly by there wives). But have no idea what a wipe knot is!


So I guess  what I saying is that their target demographic might be people like that (and mostly there kind but un-informed wives)

I know how to tie some flies (I can crank out midges like a production line!) but I have never been out fly fishing  

I suppose it fits with the fact that I ain't the best at guitar but I can build everything you'd ever need to play guitar (including the guitar itself)


And, to be on-topic I would never buy a pedal over $50. DIY does that to you.

[Jhouse]

The most I have ever spent on a pedal is $180 and that was for my TS-808 reissue pedal (which is a God among pedals). I wouldn't even shell out $350 dollars for the new hand-wired TS-808 reissue. This OD pedal would have to like spit fire and shoot lighting at my fingers while I play my guitar for it to be worth it.

[Strategy]

I wouldn't spend $549, but sometimes I like things not-DIYed by me because stuff that other people do has ideas or build quality I would not think of or be able to execute.

I bought an OG (not vintage...80s or 90s prob) Roger Mayer Octavia even though I could have built that or any number of other octave-ups. But the RM one off the shelf is from Roger Mayer and is shaped like a dang space ship. I never regretted paying for it, it is just an awesome oddity and little slice of history and style. But it's not anywhere near $549, either, esp back when I bought it, and it's more particular an effect than an overdrive.

My favorite OD's are the cheap, small gnarly sounding ones anyways. Save your $549 for something whiz bang that you could never build.

- Strategy

[joegagan]

this forum has responded to the question asked in a most predictable manner. it's like asking an  OBgyn doctor which is the best looking






scapula

[joegagan]

don't take it the wrong way - love you guys. the responses to this question are interesting. we should all be hoping that somewhere, out there,  tens of thousands of customers are dreaming of a 549 dollar  Od pedal.

[azrael]

http://www.toneczareffects.com/pedals-echocz.htm

what about an 800 dollar delay? 

[deadastronaut]

master series?....those enclosures look like the thin 2 piece cheapo's...no no no.....

good luck to him...

[DougH]

For the record, the pedal is the Masterbuilt Rockett Boost by Rockett Pedals. I didn't mean to imply they are fleecing the rubes or gouging. I was just curious who was in the market for a $549 stompbox. I'm a huge fan of the Nobels ODR pedals, and they apparently make a really nice "recreation".

http://www.rockettpedals.com/Rockett_Pedals/Master_Built_Series.html

I suppose this could be a valuable piece of kit for a studio player, but I have no idea what those guys using these days. They could all be using laptops.

K

This is kind of funny since the Nobels factory schematics are all over the place online. So it's not that these guys are privy to "secret information" like the BSM guys supposedly are with all their Ritchie Blackmore treble boosters supposedly tailored to different phases of Ritchie's career. I wonder what their angle is?

Personally, for that kind of money I would expect all those toggle switch functions to be assigned to separate stomp switches. No way I would want a pedal with micro toggles on it, esp located so close to the stomp switch. That's just asking for trouble.

[DougH]

we should all be hoping that somewhere, out there,  tens of thousands of customers are dreaming of a 549 dollar  Od pedal.

And why is that?

[earthtonesaudio]

The nerve of some people, charging more for non-essential items than I want to pay!

[joegagan]

it was a joke doug, but along the lines of goose and gander sort of thing. even if a hobbyist here doesn't make pedals for profit , the trickle down effect of the cycle of idea>improvement>marketplace> more R&D>= more cool pedals to learn from. everybody wins. the effect of this cycle over the last ten years is pretty cool in my book.

i am often amazed and proud of the ideas that were baked here, either coincidentally and probably actually 'borrowed' ,later found in commercial products. i sure wish the makers would acknowledge the origin of some of the stuff, but such is life. i see remnants and kernels of circuit parts i publicized heavily 8, 9 years ago, i am glad to have possibly influenced these people and/or the market. the input cap blend was of course a jack orman trick ( thank you, jack),i gave this circuit bit wide noteriety in all of my commercial pedals - it has become a very common feature out there. i had the idea that a fuzzface could be made easily and consistent by the Si Ge hybrid, this feature has since been seen in dozens of famous fuzzes. i know people used that combo prior to my arrival on the scene in 2000, but i believe the easyface schematic was the first to heavily promote that exact combo. i don't want any credit, i am just happy that these things might have had an impact.

gus smalley has had many of his ideas show up on commercial products, as have all of the longtimers. thanks to all of you.

[joegagan]

oh, and doug, i agree with you about the micro switches. they just don't belong on a box that has 'stomp"in the name.
minor exception if they are completely shrouded by a beefy knob, as in the fulldriveII etc.

but i have a funny feeling that if you spent 549 on shiny copper box, the last place would be using it is at your local bar so johnny sixpack can come up and spill something on it.

[DougH]

I haven't seen a lot of what I'd call "innovation" in the boutique industry. Most of it seems to be "perfecting the perfect mousetrap". OTOH I have seen some pretty good advancements in the music electronics industry as a whole, but it's mostly in the DSP arena. EHX is IMO the prime example, with their ingenious use of DSP coupled with their talent for providing organic/analog "feel" to the controls. Other examples IMO are the newer mini-moogs and hammond organs (not necessarily DSP) that sound fantastic, but are more compact and easier to use.

The $500 OD customer base benefits the "mousetrap" guys more than anything. If it's big enough, it helps keep the parts business alive for the hobby guys before everything goes completely SMD. But I don't think it will ever be that big, really.

I really don't have a problem with the $500 OD pedal. God bless 'em if they can get it. I'm just curious what their angle is. What are they doing to make a $500 OD palatable?

I don't understand people taking offense at a high price. It's all based on demand. If there's something you are passionate about and want bad enough, the high price doesn't seem so bad. Sometimes it's sentimental, rarely rational, but I've been there myself, not for a pedal, but lusting after a guitar or amp with a high price tag.

Sorry to get so serious about your joke, Joe. Oh btw, the secret word in your other OB/Gyn post is "vagina".

[JRM]

With $549 I'd change my amp or buy a quite nice 4x12 cab. That money for an OD stompbox never! I'll spend about $25 building one!

[wyleegee]

The fact of the matter is, as alluded to in the post about Shipping Autopilots.  There is a type of shopper out there that equates quality to price.  The price is bumped up on certain 'premium' products/services/options where the extra cost of production is minimal.

What you generally get below that is the 'Goldilocks' price which is 'Just right' which is a more 'reasonable' price compared to the premium product/option, has 80-90% of the features, but usually ~100% of the features people generally want.

Comparing the Goldilocks price to the premium price makes the lower one seem really attractive; but the manufacturer's still making a decent mark up on the the one that sells more (the Goldilocks model).

[jacobyjd]

^^^ That's pretty much it.

It's the same reason someone would drop $2000-4000 for a name-brand suit, when they could easily have a bespoke suit tailored for them with better fabric and fit for $1500-2000.

[Kearns892]

http://www.toneczareffects.com/pedals-echocz.htm

what about an 800 dollar delay? 

Haha, you're mistaken. The delay is $700 and he charges a $100 fee to have the box polished.