This market is incredibly saturated. Seems like there are thousands of people making boutique pedals -- most just slight mods on established designs. Throw in the clones (Chinese and North American) and the miniaturized versions of already established pedals, and you can't see the forest through the trees. It then becomes a game of marketing dollars rather than innovative designs and sounds.
You would think that DSP and multi-effect pedals would rule, but it's clear that there's something very emotional and enduring about a single pedal with knobs that only does one thing well, and can be put in any order in the signal chain. And of course can be resold. It is quite amazing that such singular analog pedals made with SMT components and PCBs -- assembled in China but with American brand names -- can command prices in the hundreds. The margins on these must be high.
But hey -- if Gibson can sell a Les Paul historic reissue for $8K -- with poor quality control -- to the uninformed masses, what's a few hundred bucks for a pedal? Alas the guitar pedal acquisition syndrome is alive and well!
You would think that DSP and multi-effect pedals would rule, but it's clear that there's something very emotional and enduring about a single pedal with knobs that only does one thing well, and can be put in any order in the signal chain. And of course can be resold. It is quite amazing that such singular analog pedals made with SMT components and PCBs -- assembled in China but with American brand names -- can command prices in the hundreds. The margins on these must be high.
But hey -- if Gibson can sell a Les Paul historic reissue for $8K -- with poor quality control -- to the uninformed masses, what's a few hundred bucks for a pedal? Alas the guitar pedal acquisition syndrome is alive and well!
