DEC. 23 2015 to DEC. 23 2021 ... 5 years of decadence ...having had too much to think

DEC. 23 2015 to DEC. 23 2020

UNDER CONSTRUCTION  WARNING DO NOT READ

It is another anniversary for Stomp Box Steals. 

I had got out of music for a time. I went back to school and took Interior Design and Decorating which included Industrial Design as part of the course. The idea was to have a 'real job'. I was never less than top of my class through the whole thing. I found it fascinating. It was all about studying and learning from designers from the past who rejected how all the buildings and their furnishings looked. They saw these things like they were acoustic guitars that the best anyone had come up with is slapping on a pickup. In short everyone was a Leo Fender with a Telecaster idea.

Surprise, surprise after graduation one finds that the real world jobs are like jobs in music. Or to put it another way if a building and its furniture were a guitar everyone wants a Stratocaster and the most I will get to do is pick the color. 

The short story is I am only cut out to be an artist. Being an artist is NOT something you choose, it chooses you. It has nothing to do with skill or aptitude. Do not confuse the artisans with the artists. Once an artist draws a circle he goes on to draw a square. An artisan draws a circle and spends a lifetime drawing better and better circles. You can make a better living drawing circles but it is not as much fun, lol.

I as always, digress.

STOMP BOX STEALS

I needed new gear when I got back into music since I only played original music since my 20's I was highly skilled at surviving being poor. I discovered the made in China pedals and online stores like AliExpess to buy direct from the source. I found that some pedals made by some Chinese makers were both equal to and even as well made as others in the West. When I started there were many screaming 'clone, copy, rip off' Had these people taken apart the pedals of every maker in the West  they would have found everyone had for example cloned the Japanese Ibanez Tube Screamer or a Japanese Fuzz by only changing a diode or two. Exactly what the Chinese makers did. Add to this most of the early Chinese makers were just one guy or a family business making their own version, not a direct copy. They were meant for Chinese guitar players who could never ever afford a pedal from the West. Also keep in mind that the average Chinese guitar player knows what is cool and sounds great as much as you and I. He likely has even less money than us but expects a great sound. Brands like Nux, Joyo, Caline and Byang would have been out of biz before the West bought them if they made crap. Actually selling internationally came almost accidentally because online international retailers needed product and pedals to them were no different then toasters or shoes just 'product'. Makers soon found that the myth of a deliberate clone sold pedals. It was best to keep their mouth shut. The bottom line it was not a rip off conspiracy from the guys that made them and family businesses are not sweat shops run by tyrants.

 

Anyhow like most Xmas holiday times one has overkill busy, busy over busy festive times followed here and there with total dead time.

I thought I would share what I learned especially with young guys in garage bands at school or had a McJob. I thought over the holiday I would do maybe 4 or 5 posts then just move on. Big BUT! It went viral. Keep in mind the You tube thing was small time then and stuff on gear was mainly infomercials for MXR, Boss, E-H etc. You got only the established names with budgets for promotion. Anything really cool was totally under the radar. Small companies that sold regionally were all over the planet. I had to hunt for them. I often went to online stores all across Europe that were not in English and get the name of a new pedal and trace the company from that. I wrote to the companies who often got a friend or staff member that spoke English to help. I still do. I also watch vids in foreign languages so I hear a pedal played by different players using a different kit and playing in different styles.

1,884 PEDALS LATER

Of all these pedals I have bought about 200+ for myself. I also flipped off the bottom of as many and did my best to find out what I was looking at and researched how they worked. I also learnt how to 'LISTEN' and look. In short I can tell what in a review on a video review is the sound of the pedal or the guitar or amp and what is post produced surgery that makes a pedal sound better or even different then it will if a guy has getting it has a modest rig. No, I do not get it right every time so it is best to wait for my Hands On attachment to the review.

After carefully listening to over 1800 pedals there are very,very few that I have not covered that are not the best or the best value for money or simply very Pro but stupidly cheap.

I have added other things I considered 'Need To Know' stuff.

Like guitars that are innovative or reissued brands from the past or again, are great value for money. I also try and explain some basic tech used in making pedals so you can compare and know what you are getting. 

I also try and break 'Myths'. A finished guitar or pedal may create magic but the parts used are not the magic and some parts are merely cosmetic or structural but do not create the sound. Like a light bulb that creates a different look from its light does not do so because your house has vintage wire behind those walls, lol.

For example different wood types change the sound your guitar makes. Wood on a solid body guitar does vibrate and keep you strings ringing. Wood mainly absorbs sound. The frequencies it absorbs are going to be removed from the strings and NOT be transferred to the pickups. The result of literally whats left 'IS' your sound. So think of wood as removing bad sound not producing good sound. Tell that to your friends that say they know that science has proven wood doesn't matter :-).

 

WHAT'S NEXT?

The market has morphed into those that use digital modeling to replace amps and pedals without an amp at all to on the other end Marshall stacks with a few pedals. On the whole though there is bit of everything. Good  pedals and a tube amp are what created the vocabulary of rock. 

There is a loop between the player with his guitar and the amp that cause literally a signal coming back from the amp going back thru the pickup and into the amp again that causes an effect which a player can learn to control and create complex changes in tone and sustain and even make the overtones be stronger then the root note they are playing. With digital this is lost. To over simplify when playing digital one is playing a recording of the guitar amp end of the chain. It is not unlike sampling tech on a keyboard where the plastic keyboard is really a just electric switches that you turn on and when you lift your finger the switch turns off. What you are hearing is a recording of a piano note. There is zero nuance. Yes modeling has nuance but it is not remotely more than a fraction of what comes from a real tube amp. It is appealing to new players as it hides sloppy and inarticulate playing. Things like making a concise clean note free of fret rattle and still be able to mute unused strings at the same time that are a skill that take countless hours of very hard work and frustration are never mastered. In short in totally dumbs down the electric guitar as unique instrument with a unique voice. 

Fortunately their is enough backlash to create a hybrid using real tube amps that are loud enough to allow for enough feedback to create all the advantages of a real tube amp. Modeling has allowed for and will continue to make new ambient sounds and modulation effects that can enhance ones sound without in the least rip the guts and soul out of one playing, technique and sound. Only a few years ago many reviewers predicted the end of analog pedals and the amount of choice would soon shrink. Go figure it has not shrunk there is more than ever. Thankfully more choice of skilled and creative makers has killed off hundreds of amateurs virtually selling us 'kit' pedals as serious product.

From me it will be more of the same. If it's not broke don't fix it. Everything here is relevant and the only other real review Blog is Guitar Pedal X. Other blogs review by sales they never listen to them. In what's new you find things like a standard model Boss SD-1 WTF! I comment often on the Pedal X site. I suggestive he should publish the price. He now does that and now uses YT video's as well. He does his from London UK. He has a lot of contacts with local builders and I am sure has got himself on the grapevine with a lot of makers in Brit and Europe. 

I bought a camera and mixer to do YouTube video's of my hand's on. Only to find the software, operating system and Laptop to do it right needs at least a $700.00 USD model as a minimum for a Pro rig. A sit and talk show

is fine with my system but not audio that needs headroom.

THE NEW MADE IN CHINA

A made in China Mercedes car is dead equal to a made in Germany car. In short it is not about a lack of skill or know how etc. It is all about perception. If you make a $30.00 USD pedal in China it can be as good as a $100.00 USD pedal made elsewhere. If you make a $100.00 USD pedal in China it will be equal to a $300.00 USD pedal made elsewhere. Dah!!! The problem is perception. We over simplify because we ignore the price and think that within our collection none of our best pedals are made in China. It makes us feel a $100.00 made in China pedal is not as good as a $200.00 pedal made elsewhere. The fact is it can easily be as good as a $300.00  pedal we have. A few young makers in China are trying to change that. I just got a killer pedal, the handmade LILT Gladiator 1 which is a $112.00 USD pedal (with free shipping) of the Cornerstone Gladio that once you add shipping is $400.00 USD. 

Do you think the Gladio is over three and a half times better??? You better otherwise WTF are you thinking???

At a hundred bucks the Chinese builder can afford to NEVER have to dumb down a any parts or take any shortcuts.

My main point is this year and am going full circle and keeping a daily eye on this new underground group of builders.

MORE GOSSIP

Lots more 'Need to Know' sh@t which of course 'must' include gossip will be here for sure. 

Nearly all the pedals that seem only to appear online on Ali Express sell in Asian Music stores. I have contacts with some who give me a heads up on ones without a Western vid. Guys in sales occasionally get to go to small Chinese trade shows or factory visits. I also get all the gossip and secrets about who does and who makes what under a different brand name. Things like the head of Mooer's wife owns and even runs Joyo. Mooer also own Flamma. Mooer also had a state of the art factory fitted out by the guys that did it for BMW. It puts out 2000 units a day!!! A company with a serious Fratal Axe-FXIII clone is negotiating with Mooer to make it. Ballpark price is guesstimated at $500.00 USD. Yes, you heard it here first. I know a lot more but if I say my source would bail as I would be dropping him in 'it'. I am not killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

One thing for sure is every couple of years you will see a company move production to China. They will keep a small Pro shop but the gear you can buy will be MIC. The quality will be just fine but do not expect a deep discount. At least one such company will be a big name. Once one does they all will.

LET ME MAKE A POINT 

The big money guys are predicting by 2030 ALL cars will be made in China. The money being invested in electric vehicles is rising at 20% a year. Sales of Chinese made electric cars increased by 40% in 2020. That's insane for only one year.

Telsa just finished a massive factory in China that are bring out a $22,000 compact car in 2022 that has a 200 mile range and blows a $60,000 Audi out of the water in style, performance speed and comfort. 

A prototype battery with a 200 mile range that juices up in 6 minutes is being tested and is hoped ready for production 2023. The company making it are neighbors of the near ready massive new Telsa plant. 

My point? Expect the unexpected in music gear too.