Anderton's Vertex video

deano

The funniest thing in this lot was someone calling me a millennial snowflake! Being born in 1967 and feeling my age more and more I think I ought to take that as a compliment!

To be frank, as I get older and life impinges more and more on me, this sort of stuff just seems tedious and small potatoes. In essence it boils down to the fact that some people were embarrassed because they fell for some marketing nonsense and paid a few hundred dollars for something worth far, far less. I bet when they bought it they were all over the internet forums saying "this is a keeper dude! It's on my board to stay!" and I bet the word "transparent" was used over and over and over...

There is no pedal in existence that contains more that a few quids worth of components. There is no pedal in existence that is worth more  than fifty quid. To say a pedal is "worth" hundreds of pounds/dollars is the same as saying a footballer is worth £300,000 per week. Of course he isn't! Nobody is, but that person is worth what people will pay to watch him play. And when he doesn't perform people get angry and demand that "something be done".

I think the best thing this guy has done is make people who buy pedals (or indeed anything with a subjective element to its main function) more aware of marketing hype. If people are now more careful buyers of gear because of this man then that is a good thing. Stop being so gullible. There is no distortion pedal that is any more special, or does anything more unique, than any other one. Nobody has golden ears. Sound is all subjective and because of that the best way of marketing them is to "sell the sizzle" (look it up) which means to sell the subjectiveness and how it will make you feel, so no distortion pedal will be advertised as "It adds harmonics which are clipped quite gently", rather as "It is a clear, focused sound that will open up your playing!" It is all nonsense in that none of it makes sense.

If he has broken the law I would like to see him prosecuted. That's the way we determine what is legal and what is not. If it is legal, and someone falls for marketing hype, then you have had a life lesson. As I said in my second paragraph, "as I get older and life impinges more and more on me..." what I meant is that now I can see through advertising guff much more readily. It is something that happens as you get more mature. Sadly it means that people like the chap in the video will always have plenty of victims, who are not as experienced and will spend silly money to buy something they think will make them "better" for any given definition of better; better tone (whatever that is), be a better player, be more attractive (the fashion and cosmetic industries are reliant on that), get a better job (the training industry), be a better person (self-help books and seminars).

On a second point someone said he "passed off" a BBE pedal as a Vertex pedal. No. Vertex is his own brand. He used his own brands reputation to sell the product. That is not passing off. If he has taken the BBE pedal and sold it as a Mad Professor pedal, that that would be passing off as he was using Mad Professor's reputation to get a sale. Using his own is not passing off. That is how the law works.

juansolo

deano said:

If he has broken the law I would like to see him prosecuted.

Sadly, as we know full well on this forum that the law doesn't give a shit about this sort of thing. It really only works if someone is prepared to personally take legal action, which is stupidly expensive so nobody does. Hence arseholes like this fella can operate with relative freedom from prosecution.

Musicman20

Part of me thinks this Mason chap may well be struggling with a mental health disorder, and I do not mean that in a derogatory way. Something isn't right abut his behaviour...

Or he could just be a complete crook trying to make money as easily and as quickly as possible. 

jonnygreentrees

Musicman20 said:

Part of me thinks this Mason chap may well be struggling with a mental health disorder, and I do not mean that in a derogatory way. Something isn't right abut his behaviour...

Or he could just be a complete crook trying to make money as easily and as quickly as possible. 

If I really had no clue about what I was doing and kept getting caught out I might think "maybe this isn't the career for me..."

Paul7926

jonnygreentrees said:

Musicman20 said:

Part of me thinks this Mason chap may well be struggling with a mental health disorder, and I do not mean that in a derogatory way. Something isn't right abut his behaviour...

Or he could just be a complete crook trying to make money as easily and as quickly as possible. 

If I really had no clue about what I was doing and kept getting caught out I might think "maybe this isn't the career for me..."

I think that is part of the problem and why it looks like a potential mental health issue.  From reading the mountains of info on all this I'm getting the feeling that the bloke actually believes everything he makes up.  He is not a con man in the sense that he fabricates things knowing them to be lies for the sole purpose of making money from people.  I actually think he is top of the list of people that have been 'taken in' by his hype.

Disclaimer:  My wife works in Mental Health so I'm always very jumpy about using the term because it's a complicated and very real thing.  I'm using the term here as rank amateur rather than as a professional diagnosis.

meltedbuzzbox

jonnygreentrees said:

Musicman20 said:

Part of me thinks this Mason chap may well be struggling with a mental health disorder, and I do not mean that in a derogatory way. Something isn't right abut his behaviour...

Or he could just be a complete crook trying to make money as easily and as quickly as possible. 

If I really had no clue about what I was doing and kept getting caught out I might think "maybe this isn't the career for me..."

It's a shame that recruitment agents and estate agents don't have these thoughts too

Wazmeister

Paul7926 said:

He is not a con man in the sense that he fabricates things knowing them to be lies for the sole purpose of making money from people.  

I think you may have this statement wrong mate, in all honesty...

RaymondLin

Paul7926 said:

jonnygreentrees said:

Musicman20 said:

Part of me thinks this Mason chap may well be struggling with a mental health disorder, and I do not mean that in a derogatory way. Something isn't right abut his behaviour...

Or he could just be a complete crook trying to make money as easily and as quickly as possible. 

If I really had no clue about what I was doing and kept getting caught out I might think "maybe this isn't the career for me..."

I think that is part of the problem and why it looks like a potential mental health issue.  From reading the mountains of info on all this I'm getting the feeling that the bloke actually believes everything he makes up.  He is not a con man in the sense that he fabricates things knowing them to be lies for the sole purpose of making money from people.  I actually think he is top of the list of people that have been 'taken in' by his hype.

Disclaimer:  My wife works in Mental Health so I'm always very jumpy about using the term because it's a complicated and very real thing.  I'm using the term here as rank amateur rather than as a professional diagnosis.

They say that about Trump too.

Personally, I think it's just a combination of living in his own bubble + massive ego + arrogance + severe lack in honesty. 

Giving it a "mental condition" seems like an easy way out.

Whether he believes in his own lie or not, he is compos mentis and that itself should mean he is responsible for his own actions.

Paul7926

Wazmeister said:

Paul7926 said:

He is not a con man in the sense that he fabricates things knowing them to be lies for the sole purpose of making money from people.  

I think you may have this statement wrong mate, in all honesty...

I'm not suggesting he is legit or someone you would want to do business with or that he is blameless in the things he has done.

My issue is that if I was a con artist and lets say I've 'got away' with everything he has and I knew all along I was scamming people.  I'd be moving onto my next scam.  I'd pick a different area to target where I was less well known.  I don't think I'd try to go back and con the same people in the area where I was eventually proven to be ripping people off.  Just on the basic principle that it would be harder to fleece the same crowd twice than a new crowd for the first time.  I'm not even sure I'd try to do legitimate business in the same area because of the history.

But then I'm not a con man so overlaying my thought process onto theirs is never going to work.

JezWynd

Musicman20 said:

Part of me thinks this Mason chap may well be struggling with a mental health disorder, and I do not mean that in a derogatory way. Something isn't right abut his behaviour...

Or he could just be a complete crook trying to make money as easily and as quickly as possible. 

Or he could be both. He's quite trumpian in his lack of shame or remorse over his actions.

The fact that he keeps working in the same field says that he thinks he's found an endlessly gullible set of marks. Andertons, take a bow.

Heartfeltdawn

deano said:

The funniest thing in this lot was someone calling me a millennial snowflake! Being born in 1967 and feeling my age more and more I think I ought to take that as a compliment!

To be frank, as I get older and life impinges more and more on me, this sort of stuff just seems tedious and small potatoes. In essence it boils down to the fact that some people were embarrassed because they fell for some marketing nonsense and paid a few hundred dollars for something worth far, far less. I bet when they bought it they were all over the internet forums saying "this is a keeper dude! It's on my board to stay!" and I bet the word "transparent" was used over and over and over...

There is no pedal in existence that contains more that a few quids worth of components. There is no pedal in existence that is worth more  than fifty quid. To say a pedal is "worth" hundreds of pounds/dollars is the same as saying a footballer is worth £300,000 per week. Of course he isn't! Nobody is, but that person is worth what people will pay to watch him play. And when he doesn't perform people get angry and demand that "something be done".

I think the best thing this guy has done is make people who buy pedals (or indeed anything with a subjective element to its main function) more aware of marketing hype. If people are now more careful buyers of gear because of this man then that is a good thing. Stop being so gullible. There is no distortion pedal that is any more special, or does anything more unique, than any other one. Nobody has golden ears. Sound is all subjective and because of that the best way of marketing them is to "sell the sizzle" (look it up) which means to sell the subjectiveness and how it will make you feel, so no distortion pedal will be advertised as "It adds harmonics which are clipped quite gently", rather as "It is a clear, focused sound that will open up your playing!" It is all nonsense in that none of it makes sense.

If he has broken the law I would like to see him prosecuted. That's the way we determine what is legal and what is not. If it is legal, and someone falls for marketing hype, then you have had a life lesson. As I said in my second paragraph, "as I get older and life impinges more and more on me..." what I meant is that now I can see through advertising guff much more readily. It is something that happens as you get more mature. Sadly it means that people like the chap in the video will always have plenty of victims, who are not as experienced and will spend silly money to buy something they think will make them "better" for any given definition of better; better tone (whatever that is), be a better player, be more attractive (the fashion and cosmetic industries are reliant on that), get a better job (the training industry), be a better person (self-help books and seminars).

On a second point someone said he "passed off" a BBE pedal as a Vertex pedal. No. Vertex is his own brand. He used his own brands reputation to sell the product. That is not passing off. If he has taken the BBE pedal and sold it as a Mad Professor pedal, that that would be passing off as he was using Mad Professor's reputation to get a sale. Using his own is not passing off. That is how the law works.

I'd like to see him prosecuted as well. But prosecutions are hard to get as law enforcement is swamped. Some folk on here as user and admin could vouch for how bloody hard it is to get the police interested in criminal acts of fraud. 

Your point about "There is no pedal in existence that contains more that a few quids worth of components" is noted. This is quite true. But the minute you claim that you've got a handmade specially designed unique component in yourpedal and you haven't, you are actively misrepresenting the pedal.  

By taking a BBE wah pedal and actually grinding off the BBE logo on the PCB, you're misrepresenting that pedal. 

This is why his dig at Keeley and Analogman is so fucking cheap. They did and do mod pedals. They never hid the source. They didn't grind off logos on PCBs. Mason trading as Vertex did. For him to poke the finger at Keeley and Analogman is rank hypocrisy and evidence of what a ethic-free little shit he is. 

Slimbert

Here a comment from Mason on yesterday's amp mod video (the one that he re-up'd).

He just can't stop stealing shit...

https://i.imgur.com/UEE6YC8.jpg

NelsonP

Slimbert said:

Here a comment from Mason on yesterday's amp mod video (the one that he re-up'd).

He just can't stop stealing shit...

https://i.imgur.com/UEE6YC8.jpg

That reminds me of that that Paul Whitehouse character, Chris the Crafty Cockney, 

"Ahhm a little bit woo, a little bit waahh....Darn't leave that there, I'll nick it. "

bingefeller

I think Mason calling himself the "Rig Doctor" could be him having a dig at LA Sound Design's "RACKDOCTOR".  Look at some of RACKDOCTOR's posts on TGP for interesting reading. 

Anacharsis

bingefeller said:

I think Mason calling himself the "Rig Doctor" could be him having a dig at LA Sound Design's "RACKDOCTOR".  Look at some of RACKDOCTOR's posts on TGP for interesting reading. 

The fact that early in his "career," Mason bought an LA Sound Design-built pedalboard, then put it on his website as his own work, would support that notion.

Anacharsis

After 800+ posts, the TGP thread finally got locked. People kept violating the rules - which is incidentally a great technique for shutting down a conversation of a topic you don't like. I don't think it was the case on this thread, but I do think people have entered threads and dropped political bombs specifically in order to make the topic go away.

digitalscream

Anacharsis said:

After 800+ posts, the TGP thread finally got locked. People kept violating the rules - which is incidentally a great technique for shutting down a conversation of a topic you don't like. I don't think it was the case on this thread, but I do think people have entered threads and dropped political bombs specifically in order to make the topic go away.

That's not the case at all.

TA22GT

Anacharsis said:

After 800+ posts, the TGP thread finally got locked. People kept violating the rules - which is incidentally a great technique for shutting down a conversation of a topic you don't like. I don't think it was the case on this thread, but I do think people have entered threads and dropped political bombs specifically in order to make the topic go away.

Not in this case. 

pmbomb

Musicman20 said:

Part of me thinks this Mason chap may well be struggling with a mental health disorder, and I do not mean that in a derogatory way. Something isn't right abut his behaviour...

same thought occurred. hope he sorts it out.

Slimbert

NelsonP said:

Slimbert said:

Here a comment from Mason on yesterday's amp mod video (the one that he re-up'd).

He just can't stop stealing shit...

https://i.imgur.com/UEE6YC8.jpg

That reminds me of that that Paul Whitehouse character, Chris the Crafty Cockney, 

"Ahhm a little bit woo, a little bit waahh....Darn't leave that there, I'll nick it. "

Maybe he's a new Sacha Baron Cohen character?!

I think I've finally cracked it!!