Biggest rip-off pedal manufacturers?

[janimarj]

I think paying over 200$ for ANY dirt pedal (vintage/new etc...) is stupid. Stuff like delay would require much more R&D so the high prices are understandable.

 

 

Well, if that dirt pedal becomes a staple of your sound, I think it's well worth it. It could be a 20$ pedal or a 200$ pedal for that matter.

 

I don't know anything about pedal designing but I would guess that even if the pedal is simple, it doesn't necessarily mean that it was simple to design. Let's take making music as an example. Lately I've been trying to keep my own music as simple as possible, but that doesn't mean that I don't try a lot of different things to see what parts work the best together.

[The Great Waldo Pepper]

can we get back on subject people. i have one white nike sock. anyone got a match?

You and I should start a website... Online sock mating service!

[Kayzer]

This whole discussion is leading to nothing!

 

There are cheap pedals that sound great and there are expensive pedals that sound like poo!

I made the experience that higher priced pedals have a higher percentage of sounding outstanding than cheap ones!

 

For Example:

 

Line6 FM-4: has some pretty cool sounds but a {censored}ty tracking on most of the synth stuff and this pedals was not even cheap with 349$ retail price (not discussing the much cheaper used price here!)

Pigtronix Mothership: cost 100 bucks more, has a few less features but the tracking and sound quality blows the FM-4 totally!!!

 

Reverse example

 

Death By Audio

[Phil O'Keefe]

sounds like a hornet locked up in a can full of goose{censored}

 

[slevin]

This whole discussion is leading to nothing! There are cheap pedals that sound great and there are expensive pedals that sound like poo! I made the experience that higher priced pedals have a higher percentage of sounding outstanding than cheap ones! For Example: Line6 FM-4: has some pretty cool sounds but a {censored}ty tracking on most of the synth stuff and this pedals was not even cheap with 349$ retail price (not discussing the much cheaper used price here!) Pigtronix Mothership: cost 100 bucks more, has a few less features but the tracking and sound quality blows the FM-4 totally!!! Reverse example Death By Audio

[boytbpc]

I stand corrected regarding conclusions. Yes, you can draw a conclusion regarding price / budget, even without playing or hearing something. I guess what I was driving at is all the people who will post such and such opinions about X piece of gear based solely on what they've read from other people, and then pass it off as their own opinion based on their personal experience. I see a lot of that on the forums - especially in recording forums, and it does tend to annoy me. My apologies to boytbpc if I misunderstood the nature of the conclusions he was drawing.

Apology accepted. That was exactly what I was talking about. I make many conclusions, but I don't pass off my ideas as a 'review' unless I've actually used the item being reviewed. That said, if I know that company X uses switch Y, and switch Y has a verified history of failing after a few months of use, I can conclude that company X's product will fail after a couple of months of use, and thus avoid it.

To go further, if I have played hundreds of dirt pedals, and I know how much they each cost and I rank them according to my ordinal scale of 'awesomeness', I could statistically state that I'm 95% sure that no dirt pedal is worth more than x dollars based upon my 'awesomeness' scale.

This might appear to be nonsense, and to a degree it is, but the reality is this is how most minds work unbeknownst the one making the decision.

Anyway, look for my review of the Infinite Improbability Drive soon.

[Liberty Belle]

Charging $360+ for a new non collectible 2-3 transistor fuzz pedal is {censored}ing absurd but whats more absurd is people will kill you to pay it!

[Kayzer]

Charging $360+ for a new non collectible 2-3 transistor fuzz pedal is {censored}ing absurd but whats more absurd is people will kill you to pay it!

I had a few of these but ended up selling most of them cause i am not looking for the sound hendrix and clapton had around 1966! To be honest it sounded terrible to my ears, maybe the vintage stuff is not made for EMG81 Pickups

[Kayzer]

if i ever need to know anything about a pedal i feel i should ask you since you've owned like a combined 4 billion pedals and your wallet seems to have no end on their prices.

 

 

My Wallet has an end and thats called "dropping 2K for a used PLL" ;-)

[slevin]

My Wallet has an end and thats called "dropping 2K for a used PLL" ;-)

[Kayzer]

in case i got lost in translation, i WONT drop 2K for a PLL

[slevin]

in case i got lost in translation, i WONT drop 2K for a PLL

oh god lol i thought you said YOU DID.

[Kayzer]

oh god lol i thought you said YOU DID.

No way i drop that price tag without having a real warranty on a pedal that is supposed to or often reported to have troubles and issues due to a whack solder job

[Let It Burn...]

in case i got lost in translation, i WONT drop 2K for a PLL

what if it was 1999

[fruvai]

Yeah, the sweet honey OD and the blue delay. Very nice, no doubt, but not worth the cash, IMO. A Carbon Copy and an OCD will get me those sounds and I can keep the other 400$ it'd have cost me for both.

[enuenu]

We in the US don't know how good we have it in terms of music equipment. Go to a shop in the UK, France, Japan or Australia and look what they pay for boss and digitech pedals.

 

Me and my friends here in Australia only buy our amps and plectrums here. There are even heaps of 110V amps here running through step down transformers. Pedals are easy, I don't even bother looking in shops here. Straight to PGS or Tonefactor for a 25% to 50% discount.

[IvIark]

The comparison may not be entirely lol-worthy. Personally I couldn't give a toss about pedal prices, people should pay what they want, but the Carbon Copy is a pretty well regarded analog delay, the Deep Blue Delay is a highly regarded modified Rebote digital delay which has been a DIY project for years. If someone came on here and said their Carbon Copy sounded better than their home made Rebote everyone would be thinking "well of course it is", so it's quite reasonable that someone could think the CC can perform as well as the DBD. Why not?

[Invader.CC]

Sounds like a new thread: Biggest rip-off socks manufacturers. I'll start, Gold Toes

 

 

+1 they get holes in the heel as fast as cheap walmart socks...Yeah the toes may hold up longer but what difference does that make if you have holes in the heel...

[thebazaar]

It may be pointless for some... ultimately i suppose discussing just about any opinion is ultimately pointless. Even if you change someones mind that $400 pedal is still $400. In terms of "sides" meh. I know some will try to put it in those terms, but when you get past the "f*** you's" there's ultimately some valid points, valid questions, and a much larger majority who probably could not care less either way. As far as BFJE/MP goes he's got a ton of upfront costs simply because he runs a business in one of the most expensive places in the world to run a business. We in the US don't know how good we have it in terms of music equipment. Go to a shop in the UK, France, Japan or Australia and look what they pay for boss and digitech pedals.

i like this post.
because we pay $200 for a new in box MT2 here. i think mine cost $350 about 10 years ago as well thats an ebay KOT price

there are some strangely priced pedals out there, but ultimately the price is set by demand, and usually not the builder.
i.e - T-rex make a relatively cheap and damn fine 808 pedal in the alberta. They also make a $399rrp analog voiced digital echo with a subdivision button. that said, i have never owned a nicer delay. i would happily pay the price of one if i could only one delay for the rest of my life. And the fact that they have sold a number of pros on this fact as well probably helps justify the price. gilmour replaced a cornish TES with one. not bad in my book

another case in point is the KOT list. Mike builds what i consider the best bang for buck pedal in the world here. $235 for a dual drive, 3 mode pedal that sounds outstanding. 2 channels, options to switch between boost, od and distortion, and the ability to cascade. thats decent value
however, he cant build to keep up with demand and people have found a decent cash cow. get on the list, pay 235, put on ebay and make a profit. Is that mikes fault? no. if he were to charge $350 a KOT, the list would shrink, the pedal would still be worth it and the profiteering would probably stop. However, he set a very generous price and for those who buy to try and possibly keep, you get one of the best deals out there.

this is the nature of a market economy and i dont think its going anywhere anytime soon, so having a crack at the builders is a bit harsh. they just build boxes we like. and if we dont think they are worth it, we dont buy them.

[fruvai]

The comparison may not be entirely lol-worthy. Personally I couldn't give a toss about pedal prices, people should pay what they want, but the Carbon Copy is a pretty well regarded analog delay, the Deep Blue Delay is a highly regarded modified Rebote digital delay which has been a DIY project for years. If someone came on here and said their Carbon Copy sounded better than their home made Rebote everyone would be thinking "well of course it is", so it's quite reasonable that someone could think the CC can perform as well as the DBD. Why not?

The was really directed at the OCD being able to cop the sound of a SHOD. The OCD is more a Marshall sounding pedal whereas the SHOD isn't going for that sound at all. The CC and DBD would be sort of similar but I think the BYOC delay would nail the DBD sound (I think its a rebote digital delay too) for cheaper.Both the OCD and Carbon Copy are fine pedals though, I wasn't implying that they were inferior pedals at all.

[AuttumAttic]

but not worth the cash.

...say's you. what a dou....

[Dr.Picklebottom]

i think music equipment, in general, is overpriced. its priced as a revenue generating tool, which was the original intention. most of us dont use it that way, though.

itd be like buying a $20k commercial copier/ fax/ printer/ etc and using it to print pictures of our dog and saying it costs too much.

its expensive because they build it in canada! IN CANADA!

[wodbs_2004]

LOL interesting post.
I am quite sure that I am one of the biggest fans of ibanez tubescreamers in the entire world but TS-808HW is just priced out of the world....
The price tag is simply {censored}ing ridiculous
Not that it is a bad pedal, but way overpriced.

[neoflox]

Anyone mentioned Sitori effects? It's an 100% original tonepad kit od, goops the tonepad references, labels it in Comic Sans and sells it for around $200.

:poke:

[Mr. Awesome]

Do you honestly think a dirt pedal that sounds the same as half the dirt pedals out there is worth 350$? Or a 3 knob analog delay?? I just can't see paying that much for anything that doesn't do multifunctions.

Then I guess a Les Paul, Telecaster, Marshall Plexi, Fender Twin Reverb etc...would be out of the question. You can't possibly be this retarded or is it the meds.

Most of the best stuff I have used does one thing really well not 10 things half assed.