RoboPimp's weekly boutique rant: What makes you so good?

[NoirAbattoir]

All of this is just a hobby. Kind of like stamp collecting, or something. I doubt there is a player here who couldn't actually get by with all boss pedals and come across just fine live. It's just they choose to tweak and find stuff that suits their hobby for tonez.

[NetStar]

I doubt there is a player here who couldn't actually get by with all boss pedals and come across just fine live. .

 

 

And there, I think is our answer.

[NoirAbattoir]

On the other hand, I live in Austin and I have seen at least 1 boutique type pedal at every show I have seen for the past couple of years. They are starting to catch on. .

I've got to admit, down here in the land of cover bands, almost every guitarist I see has boutique stuff on their board. Then again, there was this one dude who sounded just as good as most, and he was playing a Chinese Schecter direct into a Roland Cube 60. He sounded great, too, but he really could only muster one tone: 70s classic rock crunch.

[NoirAbattoir]

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There appears to be a crack in your theory.

[QuestionableMan]

The problem is you people give a {censored} what others think.

[bt2513]

To all those wondering of how boutique is defined in Robo's argument, I think what he's questioning is why people buy certain pedals, regardless of boutique-ness/cost/etc.

Well the thread was about his weekly "boutique rant" so I thought it was worth defining.

I, for one, don't play out anymore (its been years now), don't have any serious guitar playing friends to show off my stuff to, and don't really post a lot here considering I've been around this board longer than most. Therefore, I really have nothing to gain but my own satisfaction in experimentation with different things. Its a hobby - as its already been stated. I may not be the norm, though.

Back when I was playing out, I was using a Strat, Crate Vintage Club combo (sounded great IMO), a TS7, RAT, and DD-5. I remember one of my earliest gigs taking all of my gear and using nothing but the TS7. If you're not pioneering anything new, why take anything but what you need to entertain your audience?

This topic is as old as this forum but I don't post much and felt like contributing this time.

[Fender&EHX4ever]

The most beatiful, diverse and unique guitar tones I've ever heard recorded by anyone on this forum are by Fender&ehx4ever.........using Electro harmonix and Boss pedals into a fostex porta studio.

thanks for the props, mate!

Most of the clips are also using a DOD FX80b. Vive le DOD!

[Bobby D]

I see boutique pedals at nearly every gig I go to down here in South Florida.

Last week....my buddy Eric Austin was using a "baked mod" Keeley TS-9.

Some young kid that came up to jam (prob about 18) had a Fulldrive II.

I just found out the Alfonso Hermida lives a few miles away from me, and I am headed over to his place soon to try out a Mosferatu in person and pick his brain....Bob Sweet lives here too, but he is not in great shape right now....hoping he gets better.

There's a guy (who is on the forums here ) who lives a little north of me that has teh PINK FLESH from Skreddy....but he won't sell it to me. DRAT!

But I also have a BOSS pedal on my board (PN-2), as well as a Maxon PT999 phaser....pretty much NOT boutique.

I used to be the only guy around that had all the weird and exotic pedals...but now everyone is getting into them.

But in some ways, ROBO is right. I have seen artists like Prince and RObert Smith from the Cure both come out with BOSS BCB-6 pedalboards loaded with boss pedals, and ROCK....and any of us could do the same. I know I could use nothing but BOSS pedals and do a good gig and no one would know the difference except me...but I would miss my Skreddy fuzz for sure. And my Catalinbread Ottava Magus.....stuff that BOSS doesn't make.

[m_Calavera]

There appears to be a crack in your theory.

[Bobby D]

I'm convinced that the Fender HRD line is the official blues combo of all pub bands everywhere.

 

 

TRUE THAT.....the Fender Hot Rod series is damn near Ubiquitous. I see them everywhere. And I don't really like the way they sound, having owned them and played through them myself. The only one I had that sounded good was one that George Scholtz had completely rebuilt, and that cost $300, nearly as much as the amp cost used. They have a very "jagged" clean sound that I just didn't get along with. But damn, I see them everywhere. I think they are multiplying....

[AcheWater]

"Boutique" as a sound is a made-up concept. Hand-wired has nothing to do with good tone. Either a pedal is good or it isn't, regardless of who made it.

 

 

 

BINGO!!

[gold_soundz]

Because 90% of 'tone' comes from amp and guitar, not pedals. Very few pro guitarists go for od pedal into a clean amp to get distortion, so don't need any of the multitude of boutique OD pedals available. Most guitarists don't use a heavilly effected sound either.

Good off the shelf tube amps and guitars (fender, gibson, marshall, orange etc) sound like, well, electric guitars! Which is what the aim is right?



ps I love my zvex pedals!

[RoboPimp]

lol diversity...

[amp_surgeon]

Why do people buy boutique pedals? I have to admit, this question has had me stumped for a while. You can see from the comments in this thread that there is no single answer. It's a complex mix of a lot of different reasons, many of which seem to be more psychological than logical.

For example, newbie guitarist Johnny posts asking how he can get the tone of . A few people bother to find out what sort of gear was actually used by . But then there's the endless parade of recommendations for boutique pedals, many of which didn't even exist when was around. Yet, they swear that they can nail that magical tone only using their Super Deluxe Ballbuster, hand made by crippled nuns in the Cascade mountains, using NOS transistors that were dipped in holy water and blessed by the Pope.

For those particular people (but not necessarily for everyone who buys boutique pedals) I think the attraction is the rarity of the pedals. They WANT to be on the waiting list for eight months before their pedal ships. They WANT that two digit serial number hand written by the pedal maker on the inside of the enclosure lid. Maybe it's part of the rebellious nature of being a rock musician. Big corporations bad - little builder who didn't "sell out" to Guitar Center good. Along these same lines are the pedal makers who seem to feed off of this attitude, promoting themselves as being on the fringe, socially and politically, making themselves as perceptually different from the mega corporations as they possibly can. "We're in this together, comrade!"

For some, there is unfortunately the gullibility factor. They don't sound good, and they have no idea why. When they ask people from the group above, the invariable response is "You ain't using the right pedals, fella! All yer pedals are from Japanese and German "B" companies, or American "E" companies. You need pedals from companies named after tone gods!" Occasionally, a grizzled old vet will tell him "Forget all that crap, son. Turn off all them pedals for a while so you can hear what yer doin, and just practice a lot more." Nobody wants to hear that they don't sound good because they can't play good. After all, they scored over 300,000 on Guitar Hero II!

I stopped trying to psychoanalyze this stuff, and I just accept that everyone is different. If it makes you feel better about yourself or your playing, if you really do like the tone, and if the price tag doesn't mean skipping the rent this month, then go for it! People spend a lot more cash on a lot less useful junk to make themselves happy.

There's only one right answer to the question of "why", and that's "Because I like it!" Anything else is probably an excuse.

[Clorox]

Why the hell does it matter? If you want to use Boss pedals for your setup and you can get a good sound, great. If you need $5000 worth of boutique pedals, that's your right. I don't see why everyone is suddenly up in arms about how stupid it is to buy boutique effects.

[cubistguitar]

I used to play with a group years ago and for several years my efx were the two amp channels and the spring reverb. It worked for the music we played and so it worked.

 

Currently, the group I play with has been efx heavy and the goal of pedal collecting was to find some sounds that others didn't exactly have. Not that the efx made anything original, it was the increasing use of effected tones in ways I had never tried that has pushed my "hobby" over the top. I not only own a lot of pedals I use a lot of cool pedals to MAKE MUSIC.

 

Boutique never entered into my mind until I came to places like this that are obsessed with labeling the things outside the context of what the tools do. A fuzz is a fuzz to me, and the price is there to prioritize my need for it versus my desire.

[mewithoutlouie]

tone is subjective...

i dont spend over $200 on a pedal, but that's because i don't have loads of money. if i did, i'd probably buy boutique to check 'em out and then flip it.

[melx]

Why the hell does it matter? If you want to use Boss pedals for your setup and you can get a good sound, great. If you need $5000 worth of boutique pedals, that's your right. I don't see why everyone is suddenly up in arms about how stupid it is to buy boutique effects.

 

 

It's probably because of posts that go "Boss pedals are {censored}, I used to use them when I was 17...but now I have (insert boutque brand of choice) etc etc and they are much better..I wouldn't use that crap anymore."

 

It pisses people off you who use them, nobody likes people telling them their gear is crap....especially when it isn't, it's just ignorant and rude. I kinda feel if there wasn't so much boutique snobbery around there wouldn't be posts like robo's in the first place....to every action there's an equal and opposite reaction.

[Fender&EHX4ever]

It's probably because of posts that go "Boss pedals are {censored}, I used to use them when I was 17...but now I have (insert boutque brand of choice) etc etc and they are much better..I wouldn't use that crap anymore." It pisses people off you who use them, nobody likes people telling them their gear is crap....especially when it isn't, it's just ignorant and rude. I kinda feel if there wasn't so much boutique snobbery around there wouldn't be posts like robo's in the first place....to every action there's an equal and opposite reaction.

QFT!

[Wood Chuck]

I see countless working musicians every weekend playing their asses off making good music. They sound great, they have great tone, blah blah. EVERY band I see, they ALL use "mass produced" gear. Fender, Gibson, Squier, Epiphone, Ibanez, Boss, Digitech, Line 6, EHX. I don't see a single "boutique" pedal ANYWHERE! Somehow they get by with this stuff and still get killer tone. Yet I see people here all the time "I couldn't get a usable tone with XXX, then I got Magicman's boutique screeming tube ocverdrive and my tone was killer" what makes you so "good" that you need a $300 dirt pedal to get your tone?

 

I agree with you. One can get "more" inspired so to speak but in general The ones that have the "natural talent & ability can sound great with anything. My buddy uses an MXR Dist + and a cheap Crybaby & holds his own with any one. Me? I just like variety but still sound like me no matter what.

[NetStar]

I'm going to say it.

I will NEVER pay a three figure amount for a clone of pedal I can get for a fraction of it.

[bt2513]

There's only one right answer to the question of "why", and that's "Because I like it!" Anything else is probably an excuse.

 

 

I think this pretty much sums it up in an economic sense.

 

I also agree that some just prefer to feel like they are getting something as personalized and unique as their music.

 

In the end, I think most people scour this board and one's like it for the thrill of the hunt.

[archlilim]

Yeah, I really don't even think about the distinction between either. Just see a video clips or sound byte and if it sounds like something I could swing then that's good enough. Looking at my board and gas list though, it's about half and half.

[Exdeath]

Where do you draw the line at boutique, really? Is Fulltone boutique? Keeley? MI Audio? Visual Sound? All of them are pretty damn well-known and run large-scale operations, so.

 

For me it's not so much hilarious booteek cred as liking the sound and looks and being able to get it at a nice price on the used market.

[Belt]

 

This is classic

 

 

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