Getting into pedal building, anybody need anything?

[bassjam]

Originally Posted by MostlyBass

+1

something like the tone hammer (without distortion) would be awesome. and the ability to run it off of a 9V 1spot. totally interested!

Thats funny-I PM'ed him about the exact same thing.Im using a Tonehammer and never use the distortion. I could deal with 18volt though. I prefer the sweepable midrange and also asked him about possible sweepable lows and highs(stacked knobs) Im interested to see what comes of this!!

[enjoi1018]

Originally Posted by bassjam

Thats funny-I PM'ed him about the exact same thing.Im using a Tonehammer and never use the distortion. I could deal with 18volt though. I prefer the sweepable midrange and also asked him about possible sweepable lows and highs(stacked knobs) Im interested to see what comes of this!!

This would be absolutely awesome. If you could make the ranges wide and (possibly) add Q switches, you'd basically have a ParaEQ in a custom enclosure. I'd save up in a heartbeat, maybe even as you describe above! I wanna hear how it turns out.

[jamestown94west]

It looks to me like Mr Mike has a future in pedal building

[bassjam]

Originally Posted by enjoi1018

This would be absolutely awesome. If you could make the ranges wide and (possibly) add Q switches, you'd basically have a ParaEQ in a custom enclosure. I'd save up in a heartbeat, maybe even as you describe above! I wanna hear how it turns out.

Haha,we will see. Also the topic of enclosure size came up.He mentioned a few different possibilities(including possibly a tube!!!!) but really Id be happy with a Tone Hammer "like" pre/DI in a smaller package. Kind of like the 3Leaf Enabler with sweepable mids.(looks like a nice pedal BTW) Also Im not crazy about where the lows are centered on the Tone Hammer-a bit low for what I like at 40Hz.

I had a Genz Benz ShuttleMax for a while and one thing I liked is it had Sweepable lows,mids,and highs. I liked being able to find the sweet spot in the lows and mids especially.

[bassjam]

Originally Posted by jamestown94west

It looks to me like Mr Mike has a future in pedal building

Sure looks like he might be busy!

[BassManMike73]

I just got a chance to catch back up on this thread. The support I'm getting from you guys in this is amazing! I'm really happy I chose TalkBass as a starting point to get myself into building pedals.

So, here's an update from me:

The preamp is something I do plan to commit to whole heartedly. It is however on the back burner for a while all except for the pre-planning I'm doing with deciding what features I want to include. So, if anyone else would like to suggest ideas for me to include send me a PM!

I had a meeting with a web designer friend the other day, and I'm having a website built! Along with a proper logo and business card! We've decided to go with McNees Music Technology based on my last name! I'm going to have pedals and road cases (I build those too) right away and hope to add custom pedalboards within the next 6 months, and speaker cabinets by the end of 2013!

I'm committing myself to making this my career (thinking about getting a degree in electrical engineering too) and am really happy with how things are going so far! I'm working through some kinks (BassVirtuoso, looking at you) but I'm proving my finishing and building methods more and more with every build.

I'll try to keep everyone posted with more developments!

Thanks for all of the support!
-Mike

[nukes_da_bass]

Subbed. Tube compressors?

[Shinyflavors7]

PMed

[Guimdonatron]

Dude, McNees Music Technology? As soon as I read this I thought you were a student at McNeese State University (the college I attend for Music Performance). I was like, WHAT!? GOTTA MEET THIS DUDE! Hahaha.

Nevertheless, awesome stuff, man! Much appreciation for pedal builders! I'll be PM'ing you for sure!

[BassManMike73]

Originally Posted by Guimdonatron

Dude, McNees Music Technology? As soon as I read this I thought you were a student at McNeese State University (the college I attend for Music Performance). I was like, WHAT!? GOTTA MEET THIS DUDE! Hahaha.

Nevertheless, awesome stuff, man! Much appreciation for pedal builders! I'll be PM'ing you for sure!

Haha! I had no idea that school even existed! Can't wait for that PM!

Coincidentally, does anyone have any ideas for graphics on a pedal? Probably not the best place to ask, but water slides failed miserably, lol!

[MostlyBass]

Ideas? No, but some guidelines... Simple, clean, computer done - no handwritten crap (I know some people like it but professional, clean line text and graphics are timeless and classy)

[MostlyBass]

I once reviewed a method book series and it was done in Comic Sans! I was like, really? You want to sell this to professional educators?

[tocs100]

RE: graphics. Print on glossy cardstock, lightly glue to pedal, then clearcoat/bake. Worked well on my Eq prototype:

[jamestown94west]

When I was looking into pedal building, I struck a deal with a local transportation graphics shop. They agreed to print me vinyl decals that I could lay over the pedal and use to mask it for paint, or the stickers could've been applied over finished paint. Each decal was printed to look like the top of the pedal, so I use the stickers on one pedal, the I could use the backing to mask the next pedal. So I got two pedals with graphics from one sticker. They cut.me a deal on the stickers because.I ordered them in bulk.

[low2groove]

Painted graphics of some type over powder coat still seems to be the choice of most I believe.
Durability is paramount because from the sales threads only about half actually take care of their pedals

The finish on digitech, way huge, and radial pedals seems to be sufficient. If you can achieve that a big part of the battle will be won!

It seems about half keep their boxes or manuals. So plain white boxes like Spencer uses for 3 leaf and printable online manuals would be the way I would go.

In my eyes boutique pedals are also way over priced. Quality lower priced pedals will sell more and get more of your product out there.

[jamestown94west]

Originally Posted by low2groove

In my eyes boutique pedals are also way over priced. Quality lower priced pedals will sell more and get more of your product out there.

Yep. I figured out a way to make analog, true bypass, clean boost pedals for about $30. I put a teaser thread on harmony central asking for opinions about starting a business and inadvertently ended up selling almost 70 pedals at $35 dollars a piece. All I did was make ONE post on a forum, just seeing what people thought, and I still sold plenty of pedals. There is an untapped market for handbuilt pedals made in USA that don't have artificially inflated prices. I figured out a way to make a finished pedal, with graphics, true bypass, the whole 9 yards, sold it for $35ea, and I made enough money to keep doing it if I wanted to. It can be done.

[low2groove]

Even at $70-100 each that is still more than reasonable depending on the complexity of the pedal.
At $200-400 a pedal, many can't afford to even try out a single pedal never mind make any kind off comparison with their own equipment.
I like the FEA dual band optical compressor/limiter but at $345 there won't be one on my board any time soon. At $150 new there could be a sale.

Even the way huge pork loin is $169-199. I found Music 123 selling them on Amazon for $120 and free shipping, that's almost reasonable.

[Guimdonatron]

Shot you a PM. By the way, I could actually do some designs myself. I'm an illustrator.

[NoxNoctus]

Add me to the growing crowd of people wanting a compressor. Working with an MXR DynaComp and looking for something better

[Spencer!]

Originally Posted by bassjam

Kind of like the 3Leaf Enabler with sweepable mids.(looks like a nice pedal BTW)

That turns out to be easier said than done (the pedal in general, not the sweepable mids).