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Where some of the cheap clones do scrimp though is in the quality of the supporting hardware, like the enclosure, the footswitch and the pots. That's because it's these parts that actually cost the most .... the electronics in your average boutique drive pedal will cost less than a tenner but the rest of the pedal might run into £25 or so
You can actually make a clone that is "better" than the original. I had an MXR Microamp that I loved but had the useless MXR bypass and sucked tone horribly when not on.
I built myself a clone with proper switching, but also with better components than the original. There was a 1uF capacitor in the signal path that was electrolytic in the original that I replaced with a metal film cap. That has to be an improvement. Although looking around online now, I've seen three different values for that cap in different circuit diagrams!
The key difference is that "clone" and "fake" are not the same thing, so you're drawing a false analogy.
It's worth pointing out that not all "clones" are cheaper than the pedal they're derived from, and that not everyone knowingly buys clones- it's often only hinted at in the naming, design or marketing of a pedal that it's based on something else, using language that guitar saddos like us will understand, but that less gear-obsessed guitarists won't.
Likewise, many of the desirable pedals that get cloned by Chinese budget brands are themselves clones, or close derivations, of other pedals- very few pedals are particularly original. If you're going to condemn Chinese copies of Tubescreamers that cost half what an Ibanez pedal does, surely you have to condemn the "boutique" copies that cost twice as much too.
Also this.
Don't talk politics and don't throw stones. Your royal highnesses.
Some of the bedroom cloners aren't even making any profit - they're basically subsidising their sales with the income from their day-job, but don't look closely enough at the numbers to realise...
It probably depends on how you look at it.
They don't have to pay rent/rates etc. on a workshop, but they have to pay for somewhere to live anyway, so not counting that as a cost is probably fair enough.
If they can buy parts for £30 and sell something for £70 they will make a small amount of money from it, but if a pedal is 4 hours of work then the hourly rate is nothing to write home about. By the time you add in costs for tools etc it will get even less. If you want a pillar drill for drilling enclosures then it will cost quite a lot. That might be a one off cost but bits will wear out, soldering iron tips will wear out. If these guys build one pedal a week then they aren't getting rich off of it and they are nowhere near the point they will make a living off of it.
I was quite deliberate about that with MonkeyFX - going through stuff with the accountant we'd always end up that my hobby had cost me nothing; there was profit even allowing for my time, but it went into things like the PCB machine, software, books and tools, which I still have.
With clone pedals it is the design that is being copied, whereas with counterfeit clothing etc it is usually the trademark too. Unless a pedal designer takes expensive and time-consuming legal steps to protect their design (or covers the circuit board with goop), other manufacturers will step in with cheaper alternatives under different names.
I have had fun building a couple of clone pedals - Fuzz Face, Orange Squeezer - and I think I'm right in saying it is fine to do a one-off for your own use. I also bought off eBay a BYOC version of a Boss CE2, which was awful - not only had it been assembled by a shaved chimp, but the design sent the signal right past the clock, with predictably noisy results. After I had re-flowed a load of the joints, re-worked the signal path, and modded it for a faster Leslie-style rate, it sounded great, and now graces my 'big' pedalboard.
I believe that Jamie from EQD also started out making clones etc.
Some good interviews out there actually
Most pedals are clones.
Instagram is Rocknrollismyescape -
FOR SALE - Catalinbread Echorec, Sonic Blue classic player strat and a Digitech bad monkey
"Most pedals are clones. " As indeed are most valve guitar amps . So long as the cheap copy does not purport to be something else and is "stealing sales" there is little harm.
From my experience "they" did not try to rip off the HT series because I am sure they found it was already made (V well!) at as competitive price as it could be for a very complex device as pedals go. The same might NOT be true for the later "LT" versions?
I am very pissed off by the blatant copies, down to cosmetics of the HT-5 and HT-20 amps (any others about?) but in this Global market there is very little companies can do unless you have Fender's lawyers on the payroll.
Dave.