- Jun 25, 2006
- 3,226
- 341
- Disclosures
- Owner, Pike Amplification & 3Leaf Audio
I'm honestly surprised at all the negative response and it's made me physically ill this morning so I'm gonna try my best to clear everything up.
The reason for the new company is to try some different ideas with branding. I wanted a brand that's just for bass players without any ambiguity. I was also getting really burned out and I needed a new creative outlet. It has nothing to do with "keeping the 3Leaf Audio name out of the muck" as there is no threat of legal action here. I'm not infringing on any trademarks and I didn't break any contracts. I'll still be running the 3Leaf brand, and that will be focused on all the fun and weird stuff I've always made, while Pike will be more utilitarian products for bass.
As to why the pedals look similar to the old USA-made DG pedals: Doug and I had a partnership and I designed those pedals. He came to me with the schematic for the audio section of the circuits, and I designed the bypass switching and did the physical designs. I also fronted the money for every production run and managed the entire production myself. I don't think most people realize how collaborative that partnership was...I wasn't just a hired gun if that was the impression that was given off. I won't get into the ending of that partnership other than to say that Darkglass stuck me with a few hundred enclosures that were already drilled for those pedals. I couldn't afford to just throw those away since I had already paid for them, so I had to come up with a design that would work in that box. I was originally thinking of making it a limited run just to get rid of the few hundred enclosures I had, but then Darkglass changed the look of their pedals to the point that my aesthetic design was no longer there, and it was a design I was really proud of so I wanted to 'reclaim' it so to speak. I obsess over the look and feel of the products I design and I didn't want to see my work die out with the end of that partnership.
Regarding the circuit: I wouldn't have done any of this if I were just going to copy Darkglass. I don't think it's fair to my customers to release a product that doesn't bring anything new to the table. The Vulcan circuit is inspired by my knowledge of the Darkglass circuits but taken in a direction that I think makes them appealing in a totally different way. I worked with those circuits for years so I learned what makes them sound good, but I also found lots of ways to change it to make it work more to my taste. The big difference with the Vulcan circuit is that it's actually two entire overdrive circuits in parallel that get blended together to form the complete sound. It's a very complex circuit design...the Vulcan circuit has 117 components and the XL has 173. In practice it sounds a lot different than a B3K or something like that, so I hope you guys get the chance to try one for yourself before just assuming that it's a ripoff since it has a similar look. I've spent most of the last year fine-tuning and obsessing over every detail of these pedals and I'm really excited about the results.
Sorry to be long-winded, but I needed to be thorough because all the speculation on here gave me an anxiety attack. It really wasn't my intent to ruffle any feathers. I'm currently putting the finishing touches on a series of onboard preamps with a really cool twist, and I think you guys will like them.
The reason for the new company is to try some different ideas with branding. I wanted a brand that's just for bass players without any ambiguity. I was also getting really burned out and I needed a new creative outlet. It has nothing to do with "keeping the 3Leaf Audio name out of the muck" as there is no threat of legal action here. I'm not infringing on any trademarks and I didn't break any contracts. I'll still be running the 3Leaf brand, and that will be focused on all the fun and weird stuff I've always made, while Pike will be more utilitarian products for bass.
As to why the pedals look similar to the old USA-made DG pedals: Doug and I had a partnership and I designed those pedals. He came to me with the schematic for the audio section of the circuits, and I designed the bypass switching and did the physical designs. I also fronted the money for every production run and managed the entire production myself. I don't think most people realize how collaborative that partnership was...I wasn't just a hired gun if that was the impression that was given off. I won't get into the ending of that partnership other than to say that Darkglass stuck me with a few hundred enclosures that were already drilled for those pedals. I couldn't afford to just throw those away since I had already paid for them, so I had to come up with a design that would work in that box. I was originally thinking of making it a limited run just to get rid of the few hundred enclosures I had, but then Darkglass changed the look of their pedals to the point that my aesthetic design was no longer there, and it was a design I was really proud of so I wanted to 'reclaim' it so to speak. I obsess over the look and feel of the products I design and I didn't want to see my work die out with the end of that partnership.
Regarding the circuit: I wouldn't have done any of this if I were just going to copy Darkglass. I don't think it's fair to my customers to release a product that doesn't bring anything new to the table. The Vulcan circuit is inspired by my knowledge of the Darkglass circuits but taken in a direction that I think makes them appealing in a totally different way. I worked with those circuits for years so I learned what makes them sound good, but I also found lots of ways to change it to make it work more to my taste. The big difference with the Vulcan circuit is that it's actually two entire overdrive circuits in parallel that get blended together to form the complete sound. It's a very complex circuit design...the Vulcan circuit has 117 components and the XL has 173. In practice it sounds a lot different than a B3K or something like that, so I hope you guys get the chance to try one for yourself before just assuming that it's a ripoff since it has a similar look. I've spent most of the last year fine-tuning and obsessing over every detail of these pedals and I'm really excited about the results.
Sorry to be long-winded, but I needed to be thorough because all the speculation on here gave me an anxiety attack. It really wasn't my intent to ruffle any feathers. I'm currently putting the finishing touches on a series of onboard preamps with a really cool twist, and I think you guys will like them.
