"Boutique" pedals

lincolnblue · November 2018

I was chatting to a friend yesterday and he was referring to one of my pedals being made by a company who are "boutique"

I know this term gets brandished about a lot but I just wondered what people's perception is when they hear that word? Does it actually mean anything or is it the gear equivalent of calling food "detox" i.e. it means nothing?

Not trying to cause issues, just curious and I don't really know what it means!

Sporky · November 2018

It's a pretty vague one; I think originally it suggested small scale building and small scale distribution.

Now it seems to include OEM built stuff that rolls off a production line but has a nice paint scheme.

RaymondLin · November 2018

These days, even Moog, Strymon and Bogner pedals are boutique but they are all made in a factory line. Everything over £200 now are boutique.

It is usually referred to something The Hungry Robot, 1 man band, Eric who makes them, or the original Klon or Analogue Man pedals (pre PCB).

For me, it should be hand built, can be adjusted to your order and even made to order. That's boutique, something original.

munckee · November 2018

I've always taken it to mean price justifies being sold in a boutique as opposed to main market or low cost market.

RaymondLin · November 2018

munckee said:

I've always taken it to mean price justifies being sold in a boutique as opposed to main market or low cost market.

Boutique is also used in other industries. In hotels a boutique hotel is normally a single location hotel, not a chain, usually a little up market but it doesn't always translate to be the most expensive. It is often a themed, slightly off the rail decor interior too.

meltedbuzzbox · November 2018

RaymondLin said:

These days, even Moog, Strymon and Bogner pedals are boutique but they are all made in a factory line. Everything over £200 now are boutique.

It is usually referred to something The Hungry Robot, 1 man band, Eric who makes them, or the original Klon or Analogue Man pedals (pre PCB).

For me, it should be hand built, can be adjusted to your order and even made to order. That's boutique, something original.

Moogerfooger pedals are/were hand assembled and I think the boards are soldered by hand. It's been a while since I looked or cared

Minimoogs are probably chruned out though.

joeyowen · November 2018

I prefer faux boutique tbh, much like Keeley and Analogman

jpttaylor · November 2018

I think with the increased saturation at both ends of the pedal market, it's just become meaningless.

10 years ago when I first started taking an interest in gear, plenty of people saw Zvex as boutique, but I'm not sure it has that connotation anymore, or if it ever deserved it. Maybe the original Fuzz Probe and the hand painted series were, but there's a few PCB pedals at the lower end - are they boutique? Is the brand itself boutique? I don't know.

The worst thing is that I've genuinely seen overdrive/distortion pedals described as having a "boutique sound," whatever the hell that means. I suppose it's just marketing spiel used to try and make their products seem more premium or expensive, even if it costs £30.

Maybe the only safe thing to say is that any of the mass produced pedals made by companies like Boss, EHX, TC Electronic etc. don't fit that generalisation.

Sassafras · November 2018

To me it means Vertex, Devi Ever and Freekish Blues.

menamestom · November 2018

To me it means any pedal that is over £50 but only uses a few pounds of tone generating mechanisms (components).
I reject all other notions.

Anacharsis · November 2018

When I hear the term, I picture a place where fancy ladies buy hats with big bows.

I get how the term spread into common use, but I don't think it's very useful. Like most things, gear manufacturers populate a broad spectrum, from BOSS to Chase Bliss, with every manner of production scale, pricing, and manufacturing arrangement somewhere along the continuum.

Cols · November 2018

It means that it’s specialised in some way, limited production quantities and the cost is massively out of kilter with what it actually does.

GoldenEraGuitars · November 2018

Small quantity, high quality, usually hand made/built

Teetonetal · November 2018

Boutique for me means designed and made produced in house.

quite a lot start out as boutique then go beyond that due to their success, which is cool!

Always happy to see a company like chase bliss do so well. A properly innovative pedal company. But moving beyond boutique.

AlexC · November 2018

It usually means the pedal has a piece of graphic art on it. That looks like a 1970s Prog Rock Poster. And a silly name. And a £250 price tag.
Bargain!

menamestom · November 2018

I remember pre boutique I had some pedals, but they all killed your clean sound due to really bad bypasses. EHX Green Russian Muff, EHX Micro Synth, Boss SD-1, various drives and wah's etc.

The true bypass thing seemed to be the catalyst for the whole movement but people lost sight of the fact many non-true bypass pedals sounded great already. But then the likes of Boss dropped their analog circuits in favour of not as good sounding digital variants opening up a market for pedals based on the circuits they had moved on from.

Then Boss came out with Waza, which were copying boutique copying previous boss. So it's all come full circle!

AlexC · November 2018

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yEZ0yzswOt4&t=842s

I found this this a few weeks ago and thought it very interesting. He deals with ‘true bypass’ and the whole ‘boutique notion.’ If you've got 20 mins- watch it.

guitartango · November 2018

AlexC said:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yEZ0yzswOt4&t=842s

I found this this a few weeks ago and thought it very interesting. He deals with ‘true bypass’ and the whole ‘boutique notion.’ If you've got 20 mins- watch it.

Mmmmm a better link on him
https://realworldworship.org/2014/02/25/the-people-vs-jhs-pedals/

johnhe · November 2018

joeyowen said:

I prefer faux boutique tbh, much like Keeley and Analogman

Analogman and keeley are definitely “Boutique” in the pedal world in my opinion. I agree that in our industry, it’s a vague word.

57Deluxe · November 2018

'Boutique' is just:

Image: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ci5DebvUkAEyIkf.jpg

AlexC · November 2018

@guitartango Well, that’s an interesting read. Essentially the guy’s a complete knob. Thanks for the heads up. I won’t watch anything by him again.

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