high-end / low-end pedals

[hecube]

Has any of you tried to replicate the tone you get from a signal chain made of high-end pedals with a chain made of low-end pedals?

It would be an interesting challenge to take on and see how close can one get...

 

[Slasher]

As a user of the 'low end' pedals, I'd be quite interested to see what people can come up with.
Although I must admit my pedals have been getting more expensive just lately.. And sounding a fair bit better..

I think some sound clips are in order!
(not by me, I haven't got the gear to record a useful clip)

 

[Tiboy]

Can you define the price point when a pedal passes from low end to high end?

 

[dickjonesify]

I would think something like:

High end-- >$200
Low end-- <$100

Hard to pin point exactly where the line is drawn.

 

[Stuart_tate41]

Could be fun trying to match tones from your real Klon with all of our Klones. I've opened a can of worms there!

 

[acstorfer]

I've tried some low end pedals and some of them were quite good. I had a Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal that was fantastic. My Frankentone fuzz pedal I got on the cheap (used) and it's one of my faves. The only bad experience I had with a cheap pedal was with some Guitar Center metal pedal. It sounded alright for what it was, it was just the background noise that was unbearable.

 

[SWeAT hOg]

I cannot speak for the high-end stuff, because I have never played on it. However, I regularly use my Digitech Bad Monkey (TS clone) and LMP (Cornish g2 clone).*






*Thank you Batman for getting both of these into my grubby hands.

 

[kboman]

My most recent addition is a Zoom MS-70CDR. It's a multi-effects unit where CDR stands for chorus, delay and reverb. It has a large selection of each and also a handful of phaser, flanger, tremolo and EQ algorithms.

Apart from "standard" sounds of each category it also has algorithms design to mimic sounds from Eventide, Strymon and Line 6 as well as several vintage echo/delay units. It is stereo through and has very modest mA requirements for a digital unit and a small footprint.

You can set up your own patches with up to 6 effect blocks per patch (depending on DSP power), in any order you want. It sounds very good.

Price? Less than a third of a new Strymon! A stunningly good deal.

Edit: I should probably write a separate review on this one. Watch this subforum!

 

[RockerDuck]

It would hard to beat the Bad Monkey and Boss SD-1 if you compared them to every high end pedal side by side.

 

[Rhust]

well, I wouldn't spend $200 on a pedal... so maybe that leaves me out... but I don't feel any effect is worth double it's $100 counterpart... esp if you consider used...

what delay is really twice as good as a dd7? or reverb twice as good as a hall of fame?

or fuzz face twice as good as a hendrix mini? the list goes on...

I'd say, personally, it would be harder to find the 'high end' that you can't get the job done with a cheaper pedal... the only one I've even wanted to try is to see if the OCD is twice as good as the ultimate drive... and even then, by the standards above, the OCD isn't a $200 pedal... so not a 'high end' enough ?


personally, I let my ears be the judge, and only think about price when it comes to if I can justify it...

 

[Batman]

well, I wouldn't spend $200 on a pedal... so maybe that leaves me out... but I don't feel any effect is worth double it's $100 counterpart... esp if you consider used...

what delay is really twice as good as a dd7? or reverb twice as good as a hall of fame?
...

Yeah I said that as well until I tried Strymon and found myself with a $300 delay and an even more expensive reverb unit.

These are the staples of my sound and make me smile every single time I play the guitar. Are they worth the price? In this case they are to me.

Now, for OD, by far my favourite is a modified Boss SD-1 (made in Taiwan) that I bought used and not functioning for $20. .. throw in another $10-$20 for parts and some of my time and I have a pedal that has kicked Klon clones, Barber, Fulltone, VFE and other notables to the curb.

 

[dickjonesify]

I hear you, Rhust. Good points, especially for dirt and fuzz.

BUT a Strymon El Capistan is worth 10 DD-7's and then some to me. And my Stereo Wet is easily worth two HoF's.

 

[Rhust]

I can see that... maybe if I felt like reverb and delay were more important to me, I'd feel differently... for me I like dirt and wah, and everything else is just walnuts on the sundae... I didn't ask for walnuts... but whatever.

 

[Batman]

I can see that... maybe if I felt like reverb and delay were more important to me, I'd feel differently... for me I like dirt and wah, and everything else is just walnuts on the sundae... I didn't ask for walnuts... but whatever.

and this is what makes music so cool. . .we all want something different and it's all there for us to have!

 

[mmd]

i think expensive pedals are dumb. my whole board is MXR and i am more than pleased with the sound. i gig reguarly and do sessions and i use the MXR stuff. they never give an issue and deliver the sounds i need.

 

[dickjonesify]

MXR/Dunlop/Way Huge makes great stuff!

...but ouch on the 'dumb' remark.

 

[st.bede]

With music there is always hype and hyperbolic statements.

Boutique and modded pedals can get different flavors of tone, that were not being offered by MXR, EH, BOSS.

Basically until there was an explosion of boutique pedals, choices were limited. Since the explosion EH and MXR had to up their games. A lot of pedals that are now mass produced started as boutique brands: Fulltone, Lovepedal, and Way Huge.

When you buy an boutique pedal typically you are paying for one person or a small group of people to hand build a pedal.

Expensive pedals are not stupid but really have re-invigorated the pedal market.

We are now seeing large pedal makers cloning boutique pedals. There are good and bad things about this. Typically a large company can sell a certain pedal even at a loss to drive the competitor out of business. Then they can increase the price up again. Then after a while they can lower the standards of the product.

Will this happen? I would be willing to place a bet. I think one indicator is that Fulltone, Lovepedal, and Way Huge have become more mass produced.

Enjoy the wild west while you can and later (if so inclined) we can bemoan the structural dysfunctions of a capitalist system. (Bust and boom, always bust and boom).

(BOSS and Roland seem to be stagnate at this time. Maybe they feel safe due to their immense size. That hubris is typical bad).

 

[st.bede]

MXR/Dunlop/Way Huge makes great stuff!

...but ouch on the 'dumb' remark.

I addressed that for you. Peace

 

[mmd]

MXR/Dunlop/Way Huge makes great stuff!

...but ouch on the 'dumb' remark.

hahaha, yeah - that was a bit brutal. to me it's dumb. i have a problem buying little boxes that claim to be some special when at the end of the day if you are cranked up onstage it doesn't really matter. or if you are in the studio and you record dry (unless your tone uses fender reverb) and the engineer adds PCM90 plate to your sound during mixdown.

i have always seen the high-end pedal market as being more for the bedroom guy that chases tone rather than the player that is out there "doing it" and just uses workhorse gear because he realized that was all that was needed.

like right now i am using the MXR board into a marshall amp and cab. great set-up. gives me everything i need.

 

[hbucker]

Has any of you tried to replicate the tone you get from a signal chain made of high-end pedals with a chain made of low-end pedals?

Isn't this what everybody does? Maybe a more accurate question is who doesn't do this?

I like most of the points made here. Personally, I see spending more on time based effects - and some of that cost goes into the programability of these effects so they become more useful on the fly. Not all of the cost, but a good part of it.

I have a Wampler Pinnacle Limited and it is a great pedal. It hasn't been life changing good for me though, and on some level it still sounds like a pedal when compared to the overdrive my amps generate.

I also have a Bad Monkey, for a variety of reasons (mostly stemming from the kind of overdrive pedal it is) it gets a lot more use than my Pinnacle.

The cost of pedals doesn't really have to indicate how useful they are when the rubber meets the road. It may have more to do with how great they look in Youtube demos...