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Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Doesn't stop me constantly trying different ones though... I love the taste of snake oil!
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
Where FX pedal builders have really turned up the stupidity is in pretending that the subtle nuance between two circuits with slight component changes offer HUGE improvements in clarity, drive, feel, tone etc, etc and will change your playing life. There is so much bullshit floating around the marketing. It's a saturated market with more companies than really required. It's fairly easy to claim being a designer / builder when you are not (couple of high profile cases over the years) and the whole industry needs guitarists to believe that buying new gear will bring the missing "x" factor to their playing or increased enjoyment.
most people could get buy with 1 or two guitars, 1 amp and a couple of FX - but that's no good to the industry, it requires us to constantly search for something more, to spend more money, to invest.
The sad fact is that almost everyone would be much better off diverting their time into learning who to play better, rehearsing more often, doing more writing, recording and gigs vs trying to buy the difference.
That said, there are companies who make outstanding gear and are redefining what we can do with FX and long may they continue.
I have to say I've watched a few of those That Pedal Show vids on YouTube, and you see them doing their 'cum faces' over the latest £300 OD pedal and I just don't get it. Half the time I don't think they sound any better than a £30 Joyo tubescreamer clone.
Light break-up
Smooth midrange overdrive
Heavy scooped distortion
Fuzz
Beyond that, how it's EQ'd, fits into the mix, and what the player does with it are the main factors in 'different' sounds.
That doesn't mean there are only four types of pedals of course, but you can probably get by with only one each of those and cover nearly any sound if you know how to use them effectively.
Yes, but it's also amazing how much variation you can get with just one fuzz and an EQ pedal.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
As a market one of our main sources of information now is via YouTube - infomercials that are compressed to buggery ( and often watched/ listened on things like ipad speakers) extolling sonic virtues of expensive little boxes. I really, really like youtube demos as I like pedals but they only really show me what a pedal does and how it is operated, it's extremely ballpark in terms of the actual sound ( let alone how that little box would work with my particular gear).
I don't doubt ( okay, I slightly doubt) that if given the opportunity to A-B a bunch of overdrives and fuzzes I could hear differences, even quite subtle differences between ostensibly different pedals. But the difference between one reasonably built TS type pedal and another reasonably built TS type pedal by the time it is in a band context I'm really, really uncertain of.
I'm sure there are parallel markets with their own forms of mojo and it's not just guitarists who suffer a lack of almost any kind of objective critical review of products. I guess that's a gap that social media attempts to fill. If you ask what is the Ibanez mini TS like and 20 people tell you it's exactly like every other TS then it probably is. Although how many of those people are just passing on internet wisdom and how many have actual hands on experience of both would be another matter.
So, err, in conclusion be careful out there and buy some old Boss pedals.
nobody needs to start their potential buying days with this sort of negativity.
Robben Ford would sound like me if he played though a Laney, that’s why I need his gear to sound like him now.