Boutique pedals vs “regular” brands

TTBZ

For the "staples" such as delay, modulation and drives I tend to want to stick to the standards - Boss, MXR, Ibanez, ProCo etc. If I want something different and/or fuzzy i look at EHX and then the boutique stuff before realising I can't afford it, then try to find a clone kit of the one I want for a fraction of the cost. Maybe a bit unethical but some of the boutique prices are insane.

Sporky

vale said:

i don't have a problem with smd circuit boards at all. and i think a lot of the slippery and dishonest 'mojo woo' around boutique pedals comes from a basic misunderstanding of that 'thru-hole = good & smd = bad' confusion.

Absolutely - I'm not anti-SMD, I am anti marketing bullhonky.

I think it's great that the boutique market has moved past "one person soldering in their spare bedroom", and SMD means more complex circuits can fit into the same box, and possibly offers better reliability (though arguably inferior repairability).

I think it may be less great that there's still a lot of "lovingly built by hand" marketing for products that are churned out of a build-to-order factory.

juansolo

Vale's post above is nailed on.

I'll add some of my own thoughts on the whole boutique/bootweak/DIY/Commercial thing. Purely from my POV of a DIYer for many years, we've deconstructed quite a few holy grail pedals and found them lacking (not wanting to get too much into it all). That's not to say that in this segment there are not things that are outstanding, there absolutely are, but there is a lot of tat out there also...

A lot of pedal makers started out modding existing effects. Or making variations on them. Some of the biggest in the industry did this and there is always a proliferation of companies that have tried to jump on that bandwagon seeing it as a way to make a quick buck. Now I'm not saying bootweaking is invalid, of course it's not, things can be improved. But there are an awful lot of chancers out there just randomly changing odd components and charging silly money for other people's circuits.

DIY is a way of learning about all this and how circuits work, so people from that area usually come from a place of knowledge. A few make building pedals their job and make a bloody good stab at it. The rock and the hard place part of that comes from trying to get people to buy your original stuff. Say what you want about people selling clones, but if your original effect has no hype around it, people will simply not be interested. This is why there is a treasure trove of effects in the DIY world that few people ever hear about or experience (Vale points to a few in his earlier post).

Are commercial pedals inferior. Nope, not in the slightest. Tone chasing can get ridiculous, and if you want a distortion, a SD-1 could be all you need. They are robust, machine built and mass produced so good value.

There are parallels to be made with amplifiers and guitars of course. Why doesn't everyone just play a Telecaster? They're cheap, robust, versatile. Does what every other electric guitar does. Same goes for amps a simple Fender or Marshall is all you need. Yet all these variations on a theme exist that do ostensibly the same thing, running the same gamut as pedals: Chinese cheap clones, mass produced big brands, DIYers, cheaper clones, bootweak and boutique. Is there really any difference?

johnhe

I think Boss are great. I’m certain cases, I’m very, very happy with their pedals. In other cases, I prefer the sound of another brand. I personally don’t care if something is boutique or not - if I like the sound of a pedal best then I tend to use it if I can afford it.

i tend to stay away from cloning/copying conversation and accusations nowadays. I am quite strait laced in this regard, but I’ve found it very difficult to tell fact from oft-repeated personal opinion. Plus, in pedals, almost everyone seems to be copying from original designs in one way or another. 

but, unlike others here, I have had some Boss failures - so in my opinion, every pedal can fail. However, I’ve had free component replscements and repairs from some smaller manufacturers - like both Wampler and JHS. These happened long, long after warranty expired, and I may not even have bought the pedals new. So a lifetime warranty exists with some of these brands, which I find admirable.

true bypass is something else that Boss seems to struggle to offer.

Personally, I like the Boss modulation pedals more than their drives. I genuinely feel that Rockett, Wampler, JHS and many others produce vastly superior sounding drive pedals. I totally accept that the audience may not hear it. But I can hear it (and more importantly feel it) and that’s what counts to me.

PFAllen2

Teetonetal said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

What defines bootique?

Someone else's circuit with minor tweaks component changes and call it your own?

That definition would make a Danelectro Transparant Overdrive a bootique clone of Paul Cochrane's Timmy!

57Deluxe

+1 for the Dano Trans OD - a superb and adaptable pedal even if it wasn't a Timmy clone

bwets

Same with everything: cost is not equal to quality.

The smaller 'boutique' brands almost definitely spend (way) less on marketing than bigger brands. Most of the stuff on Youtube is from places that are selling the product. Just tune out if it bothers you.

You have to accept some marketing. Look at that DIY stuff above- so cool and I'd never heard of any of it! Ripping off someone else's idea is another thing and is plain wrong.

Just enjoy the plethora of options and buy what you like the sound of.

ICBM

johnhe said:

true bypass is something else that Boss seems to struggle to offer.

Which I'm very pleased about - it's a terrible method. Although it has to be said that the standard Boss buffered bypass is not ideal either.

I'm less pleased that they've started using round metal footswitches on their new multi pedals, even though they are actually 'soft' switches. I won't be buying any of those.

DefaultM

I've had loads of boutique and expensive delays, but I've currently got a Boss DD3 on my board. I sort of wish it had a tap tempo and subdivisions, but otherwise it's fine for gigging covers.

I went to see Circa Survive years ago, stood right at the front and I could see the guitarist had about 3 boutique delays on his board. I looked forward to watching him swap between them so I could hear the differences. Absolutely nothing. No difference whatsoever. 

BintyTwanger77

As Oscar Wilde said, "It is absurd to divide pedals into boutique or regular. Pedals are either charming or tedious." Well he... almost said that, but you know what I mean.

PolarityMan

DefaultM said:

I went to see Circa Survive years ago, stood right at the front and I could see the guitarist had about 3 boutique delays on his board. I looked forward to watching him swap between them so I could hear the differences. Absolutely nothing. No difference whatsoever. 

Was that on the coheed tour?

Sporky

To be fair, one of the things that the good boutiquers do is add in "odd" functionality. So if you want a sequenced tremolo, or a delay that has a loop for you to add effects to the repeats, or something else unusual, you're more likely to find it from a small builder with a more agile development process than from Boss et al.

That said, the resources of the bigger companies means they can do some interesting stuff too - the Boss GT series with the internal LFO stuff and assignable envelope control springs to mind.

Gadget

Tongue in cheek, but it seems to me lately that a 'boutique' label is a good way to sell lo-fi and glitchy as something desirable...

Lo-fi pedal + boutique manufacturer + high price tag = a jolly interesting and genuinely inspiring take on an oft maligned and overlooked genre of harmonically complex and discordiantly pleasing sounds to elevate your sonic meanderings into blissfully uncharted territory.

Lo-fi pedal + budget manufacturer + low price tag = sounds crap.

BBBlues

It’s simple. Don’t discriminate between mainstream or boutique - try stuff out and see what sounds good to you which you can afford.

I find most great boards are mixture of mainstream and boutique.

Sporky

BBBlues said:

I find most great boards are mixture of mainstream and boutique.

I certainly had a mix. Boutique wah and two of three drive pedals, everything else big-brand. 

crunchman

Where do the likes of Strymon fit into this?  They are a big brand these days, and are the total opposite of the guy in the shed with a soldering iron, but they aren't exactly in the mass market like Boss.

BBBlues

crunchman said:

Where do the likes of Strymon fit into this?  They are a big brand these days, and are the total opposite of the guy in the shed with a soldering iron, but they aren't exactly in the mass market like Boss.

That's because its hard to make digital multi fx without a team of software developers - most of which will have graduated with a decent degree and won't work in a shed-like conditions for an initially loss making start-up.

Barriers into the industry are much higher and require more capital - hence fewer "guy in the shed" Strymon-like pedals in the market.

I'd say digital multi fx sit in their own group.

VJIves

BBBlues said:

I find most great boards are mixture of mainstream and boutique.

100% this. I've got Boss/EHX/Digitech on mine, but nothing mass-made is going to replace my Judder or Count To Five.

57Deluxe

If someone produced a pedal and just called it The Pedal and put it out there and let everyone define it personally, then it would be categorised a different 100 ways...

TA22GT

BBBlues said:

It’s simple. Don’t discriminate between mainstream or boutique - try stuff out and see what sounds good to you which you can afford.

I find most great boards are mixture of mainstream and boutique.

This really.

I have had lot's of drive pedals over the years but I just like the Boss OD3 for medium gain through my amp.

 It does chords well and mid gain solo's which is where I reside tonally.

I think most people would use the BD2 for that but I like the fatness of the OD3. Whatever suits your amp and guitars works.