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D*A*M Tone Bender TB-00 Review


modeerf

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I think that DAM markets fuzz pedals for rich guys with $$ to spare on their fuzz hobby, the same people that buys sport cars or vintage Leica lenses. Good for him though!. He has a clever system, and his limited runs sell for insane prices.

 

I saw a couple of these tb00 for sale here in Japan, one was dark green, and they were asking 70.000 Yen for it, about US$850. Not that bad, I should have bought one and ebay it for $2000

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I think that DAM markets fuzz pedals for rich guys with $$ to spare on their fuzz hobby, the same people that buys sport cars or vintage Leica lenses. Good for him though!. He has a clever system, and his limited runs sell for insane prices.

:facepalm:

 

For once I'm keeping my opinion to myself but please be aware it is happening and it's very {censored}ing unnecessary.

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^^^

 

FWIW the market is where the prices are driven to those extremes, Dave didn't charge that much for it. These pedals are highly sought after, therefore supply and demand determines the percieved value in the end. We must remember that D*A*M is just two people building some 9 standard line pedals plus the now 5 sola sound models among other various limited builds here and there. Then there are the side manifestations such as Rogue Sound, ect...That is alot to do to keep up with the demand of the public. He isn't some marketing genius or calculated madman, basically he builds stuff that he is into. Its up to the general consensus whether or not others are as well.

 

I have quite a few D*A*M/SolaSound/Rogue pedals and I never once paid aftermarket inflated prices for them. Its not Daves fault that flippers turn his pedals for obscene amounts of money, Its also not his doing that people pay obscene amounts of money for them. Should he let that stop him from deviating from his standard line at all? No. Does that lead people to percieve it as bad practice...Only uninformed people. If you must point fingers please blame the sellers not the builders. He isn't the one getting that kind of money for these even though he should be.

 

I was sought out by someone and offered $1500 for this pedal which is over three times what I paid for it, but I declined. I am by no means rich and make a fairly modest living. Im not working at Mcdonalds but I'm not even well-off. Most of my life I've done construction and other back breaking laborous jobs including more recently working oil riggs. The rich comments are just nonsense unless you only see the inflated market pricing which is only greedy people flipping these fantastic pedals for as much as they can get out of them. It is a misconception that D*A*M had anything to do with that. Dave is a straight up good guy who loves to make fuzzes, he doesn't deserve the bad wrap and misconceptions associated with his pedals. The flippers do. Of course you would have to be insane or rich to afford a $1500 fuzz especially in this economy and personally I would never pay that much myself and have never had to. But to turn down that money for a fuzz says something right? I'm not in it to contribute to that end of the market, besides why would I want to... this pedal is glorius.

 

Thank You for checking out my review and blog. I hope some got enjoyment from just admiring a master builders creme-de-la-creme. Daves a good dude, cut him some slack. Like me, you can get D*A*M pedals at the prices they were intended to sell for but because of the high demand you will have to atleast wait it out or be at the right place at the right time. I think he knows people want his stuff and is trying to be as fair as possible. He has gone through several revisions as to how the pedals were made available to the public but in the end he has left it up to others (Joes Pedals/Downstroke Music) to tend to that so he can just do what he does. Its really not as complicated or devious as it may seem.

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^ That's actually quite sad that he doesn't make the insane profit that his pedals sell for on the open market.

 

 

he sometimes does ebay auctions for stuff--like i got my Fleshhead that way. mine was by far the cheapest at just under $800. glad David got the money and not the speculators.

 

DAM makes top notch {censored}, the hype is well worth it imho. Are the prices worth it? probably not, but i have no plans on selling my Fleshhead even though i have been offered twice what i paid for it--my favorite fuzz ever.

 

very cool pedal Modeerf, clips would be good!

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I apologise to modeerf, I obviously entered the thread on the wrong way.. you know how easy is that around here.I never questioned the quality of the product, and I'm glad someone can get a life making fuzz pedals. However, they got to a price range that most guitar players won't/cannot reach to pay. That tb00 I saw was new in box from the shop, not an auction, and $850 is questionable to say at least.

 

I do hope people that got them are players and not just collectors.

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I think it is a mix of players and collectors who have his pedals. I would say the vast majority of the pedals he builds are in line with other british pedal prices. It is the limited runs that bring out the insane prices, and that will be the case with any company. At least you do get top quality with DAM pedals and the Sola Sound reissues come in the real enclosures.

 

That said, I do own the Colorsound MK1.5 Tone Bender built by DAM. I got it straight from the dealer (Macaris) and it cost a lot, but it was worth every penny. It cost twice as much as my guitar, and about the same price as my amp, but I have no regrets. I take it to {censored}ty club gigs and nobody knows what the hell it is, but it's big and gold. I guess it's my own guilty pleasure.

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I recently played 3 identical one-knob Coloursound Fuzz circuits - an original, and DAM, and one built by my homey Bryan.

 

The DAM sounded the best to me - it had a very horn-like vowelly attack that was friggin' awesome. Bryan's was second - less pronounced but very similar - if I didn't have the DAM to A/B I'd have this one on my board and be none the wiser. The original was looser, less focused - and rather boring compared to the others. I tested these blind, BTW.

 

Parts matter in simple fuzzes. A lot. Sometimes the expensive parts sound better, sometimes they don't - but parts matter and that's one major reason why the DAMs are expensive.

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I want a Tonebender soooo bad it hurts! I was on the waiting list for one while I was deployed and making good money, when the order was shipped, I was back in America, and the money wasn't so good, thus I couldn't afford it. What a shame!

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