What are everyone's thoughts on Boutique Pedals? I haven't heard much about them on this forum but I hear they are excellent pedals.
Oh, there's a few people on this board that have 'em. I'm sure they'll cover ya, Andy
Grand Rapids '04, Detroit '06
JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
"Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
Some are nice, some are so so, I like a few . . .
Of coarse I like the regulars: Keeley, Fulltone, Indyguitarist (Wampler), Roger Mayer, Xotic, Carl Martin, it's all decent stuff.
I've played a lot of pedals, and I have to say that when I played some of the most sought after pedals I was like, uhmm okay?
What comes to mind most recently was the Klon Centaur - a studio buddy got a hold of a real one, and gave me a call. So I
immediately went to go check it out - I was like, let me see that thing dude - I got to see it - MMMAAANNNN it's one of the
older ones, aahhhhahhhh - OMG, I can't wait to hear this thing - we went and plugged that bad-boy into some tube amps.
The first thing I noticed was that it didn't have all that much gain, so it's not a typical OD - I'm thinking it's probably more
of a booster OD than your typical OD - sounds a little like a TS-9, but without the available gain - it might be able to hit
an amp enough to clip it a little (but that's about it - you need to crank your amp to get the real tone) - it doesn't have
as much note clarity as a typical booster has (like Xotic's AC or RC Booster - both of those are really great booster pedals).
Overall, it was a decent pedal - it had thicker tone, and made the guitars signal edgy, not raunchy (it seems to be more
of a blues player's pedal than a rock players pedal). However, it's not what I'd come to expect from something so revered.
The Centaur was kind of grainy & a little lackluster for what I expected. I've read about it, and I kind of agree, it's missing
a bit of the "touch sensitivity, clarity, and transparency" that I feel a really good OD pedal or booster pedal should have.
It did look really cool (I dug the box and centaur decal), but I have to say I didn't find anything exceedingly special about
it (but the price), and at that price I've kind of come to expect a little more (something that kind of blows me away).
Cheers . . .
Only "boutique" pedal I currently have is a Fulltone OCD. I'll be getting a Skreddy Lunar Module fuzz and a Paul Cochrane Tim in a few months though. Will post reviews when I get a good chance to try them out.
If idle hands are the devil's workshop, he must not be very productive.
I've had a few. Since I've gotten into diy I don't have much interest in them anymore. I still have a keeley bd-2 but the rest are gone.
Boutique fuzzes and overdrives and the biggest scam on a value to complexity scale but I think really high quality delays, vibes etc are worth it sometimes.
Boutique can range from genuinely individual superior items, to low-budget DIY kits assembled and labelled with a groovy graphic and spammed into prominence.
They are most often re-creations of vintage pedals, appealing to people who want exclusivity etc.
ZVEX are probably the most remarkable exception to this, being wildly different, new ideas, or older ideas taken to a new extreme, rather than just more of the same old. I wouldn't mind the full set of steak knives there, just for giggles.
I guess I have a couple of boutiques, if you count a Fulltone Supa-trem and a Teese Pic wah, but I hadn't thought of them that way. Just bought them on recommendation and sound.
I do like the art on them though, some really nice looking graphic designs at times.
Depends on what your looking for. Expecially with germanium fuzzes. The good transisters are getting more and more rare, expensive and hard to find.
E. Lansing-98 Columbus-00,03,10 Detroit-00,03 (1&2),06, 14 Cleveland-03,06,10 Toledo-04, Grand Rapids-04,06 London-05, Toronto-05, Indianapolis 10, East Troy (1&2) 11, Chicago 13, Detroit 14
I generally like the concept of one guy or a group of people who are passionate about something sitting in a room and building stuff they are passionate about to try and make a living in thier spare time.... as opposed to 400 people in a warehouse making 2 dollars an hour to stamp units toegther... with that said QC is pretty good in more than a few large companies and they are coming along. Depending on the boutique company sometimes it's hit and or miss. There are a lot of great ones, and some duds just like with the big boys.
That's my general thought on it. Ultimately, there are plenty of good sounding effects at all price ranges. They simply work better in some rigs than others. If you want to break into the boutique world we can make some suggestions but it's not like you have to spend 300 dollars to get a great sound or anything. I just know the one pedal I did trade 3 for has been one that won't leave my board ever.
My first overdrive pedal was technically "boutique" but it was $99. The Barber Direct Drive. I simply listened to it and played it and found it to be better than the $99 tubescreamers I'd heard.
My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
i guess i still have my barber tonepress too. i guess i didn't count that as boutique as i bought it used and they are affordable in the first place.
That's true, Zvex and BJF are definately boutique.
What counts as boutique and what counts as small pro shop I guess is a line of demarcation.
To an extent, I guess if you wanted to say boutique means something so expensive most people can't have it. There is probably an upper eschelon that should probably be considered boutique. I just lumped everyone in that was not giant corporate shop.
My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
i suppose they have to be expensive (at least the small-shop builders) since they don't have much volume (and can't generate that much volume) and need bigger margins to actually support themselves (assuming it's intended to be a full time endevour).
i suppose they have to be expensive (at least the small-shop builders) since they don't have much volume (and can't generate that much volume) and need bigger margins to actually support themselves (assuming it's intended to be a full time endevour).
right, and in several cases, they are paying artists too to make thier products unique and different.
It's kind of funny how boutique sucess largely based on the internet is changing the industry for the better.
My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
it's also extremely saturated though. how many overdrives does the world need?
i really don't know how anyone survives. you always get the initial buzz for something but then it just disappears. or they have a big hit and just stop making them.
shannon is an example. so is antelope.
re: antelope "holy shit people love my EQ and i'm charging through the nose for it, better stop making them!"
Jam10
Posts: 654
Comments
JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
"Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
Of coarse I like the regulars: Keeley, Fulltone, Indyguitarist (Wampler), Roger Mayer, Xotic, Carl Martin, it's all decent stuff.
I've played a lot of pedals, and I have to say that when I played some of the most sought after pedals I was like, uhmm okay?
What comes to mind most recently was the Klon Centaur - a studio buddy got a hold of a real one, and gave me a call. So I
immediately went to go check it out - I was like, let me see that thing dude - I got to see it - MMMAAANNNN it's one of the
older ones, aahhhhahhhh - OMG, I can't wait to hear this thing - we went and plugged that bad-boy into some tube amps.
The first thing I noticed was that it didn't have all that much gain, so it's not a typical OD - I'm thinking it's probably more
of a booster OD than your typical OD - sounds a little like a TS-9, but without the available gain - it might be able to hit
an amp enough to clip it a little (but that's about it - you need to crank your amp to get the real tone) - it doesn't have
as much note clarity as a typical booster has (like Xotic's AC or RC Booster - both of those are really great booster pedals).
Overall, it was a decent pedal - it had thicker tone, and made the guitars signal edgy, not raunchy (it seems to be more
of a blues player's pedal than a rock players pedal). However, it's not what I'd come to expect from something so revered.
The Centaur was kind of grainy & a little lackluster for what I expected. I've read about it, and I kind of agree, it's missing
a bit of the "touch sensitivity, clarity, and transparency" that I feel a really good OD pedal or booster pedal should have.
It did look really cool (I dug the box and centaur decal), but I have to say I didn't find anything exceedingly special about
it (but the price), and at that price I've kind of come to expect a little more (something that kind of blows me away).
Cheers . . .
- Ian
<b><font color="red">CONTACT ME HERE</font>: www.myspace.com/ianvomsaal</b>
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7/9/06 LA 1
7/10/06 LA 2
10/21/06 Bridge 1
Boutique fuzzes and overdrives and the biggest scam on a value to complexity scale but I think really high quality delays, vibes etc are worth it sometimes.
They are most often re-creations of vintage pedals, appealing to people who want exclusivity etc.
ZVEX are probably the most remarkable exception to this, being wildly different, new ideas, or older ideas taken to a new extreme, rather than just more of the same old. I wouldn't mind the full set of steak knives there, just for giggles.
I guess I have a couple of boutiques, if you count a Fulltone Supa-trem and a Teese Pic wah, but I hadn't thought of them that way. Just bought them on recommendation and sound.
I do like the art on them though, some really nice looking graphic designs at times.
https://www.facebook.com/aghostwritersapology/
That's my general thought on it. Ultimately, there are plenty of good sounding effects at all price ranges. They simply work better in some rigs than others. If you want to break into the boutique world we can make some suggestions but it's not like you have to spend 300 dollars to get a great sound or anything. I just know the one pedal I did trade 3 for has been one that won't leave my board ever.
My first overdrive pedal was technically "boutique" but it was $99. The Barber Direct Drive. I simply listened to it and played it and found it to be better than the $99 tubescreamers I'd heard.
That's true, Zvex and BJF are definately boutique.
What counts as boutique and what counts as small pro shop I guess is a line of demarcation.
To an extent, I guess if you wanted to say boutique means something so expensive most people can't have it. There is probably an upper eschelon that should probably be considered boutique. I just lumped everyone in that was not giant corporate shop.
right, and in several cases, they are paying artists too to make thier products unique and different.
It's kind of funny how boutique sucess largely based on the internet is changing the industry for the better.
i really don't know how anyone survives. you always get the initial buzz for something but then it just disappears. or they have a big hit and just stop making them.
shannon is an example. so is antelope.
re: antelope "holy shit people love my EQ and i'm charging through the nose for it, better stop making them!"
7/9/06 LA 1
7/10/06 LA 2
10/21/06 Bridge 1