Between rising prices and the weak yen, buying new pedals in Japan has become absurd. Becos, EQD, MXR... What used to be just "buying a pedal" has now turned into a planned investment. I'm sorry for pedal manufacturers, but nowadays I only buy used pedals.
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Origin Effects ~23% price hike?!
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That’s odd for me to hear, in the US,
since all of my Boss pedals say
‘Made in Japan’. Do they not do the job for you? I have a Yamaha YC88 electric piano too, that I wish I could have bought over there, among other Japanese stuff.
Oh, my. How vindicative Talkbass tends to be sometimes.
Well, I’d say that most Boss pedals haven’t been made in Japan for decades. And I don’t see any Boss pedal offering what the aforementioned EQD, Origin, or Becos do.
Having spent thousands of dollars on compressors over the years, I agree nothing tops Origin and Becos.
I’m not familiar with EQD, but I will say this: when I played guitar, I preferred my Boss Blues Driver to my Analogman King of Tones and my Boss Delay to my Strymon delays. The two Boss pedals were the Waza versions, which I believe are/were made in Japan.
I’m still disappointed Boss did a digital OC-5 as opposed to an analog OC-2 Waza.
I’d say you’re incorrect, and TB is not
“vindictive”, whatever you mean by that. My pedal, and others are less than
10 years old.
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They said “most.” I think only the Waza line is made in Japan nowadays. Loved that pedal on guitar too! The CE-1 mode was so crunchy?
You know, now that I think of it, I preferred a lot of Boss pedals over boutique pedals when I played guitar (except for the Cali76 and I had the red Klon thing that was amazing).
Yes, I use it on guitar. And many other
Boss pedals.
Recent MIJ Fender Tele Deluxe.
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I said "vindicative", not "vindictive".
I'm well aware that some of the Waza line is made in Japan, but most of the range is not. As far as I recall, they even moved from Taiwan to Malaysia.
Fender Japan guitar prices have risen by around 40% since 2020.
Ok, sorry. I read it quickly. I’m still not sure what you mean, but ok.
I don’t know the whole MIA, MIJ arrangement, which goes back a long time. I would not buy from a Japanese shop on Reverb because I find the whole thing confusing. As others have pointed out, a lot of Japanese shops there show the same photo of a bass or guitar. It looks rather disingenuous. I bought my guitar, new, from a shop in England. I thought the price was fair and it’s not sold in the US. Some people on TB buy successfully directly from Japan. I can tell you that Japanese new car prices here have risen significantly. They are mostly hybrids, and the one Toyota EV offered, I believe is close to $70-80k (the average new car price in the US ~$50k now).
BTW, I worked several weeks in Japan about 15 years ago. I stayed at the hotel at the train station in Kyoto and took a local train to a small ecological institute. I took a fast train to Yokohama, then Tokyo. The music CD jazz stores there are amazing, with a lot of Japanese sessions of American artists that are not available in the US. Many fine musical instrument stores too.
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I’ve been in Japan for +20 years. Gear prices have gone up considerably. Boss OC-2’s were $40 not so long ago.
Record stores are still great, but tourists have snapped up everything rare or special.
that’s another thing altogether, but mostly at eBay. There are dozens of resellers who simply copy listings from Yahoo Auctions; they post items without actually owning anything and charge a significant markup to make a profit.
(Sorry for the multiple off topic)
I run IT for a 125 person nonprofit. Between February and June the Lenovo 14" laptop model I favor went up about 40%. I placed 2 orders in June less than a week apart, and the price went up about $80 more! My 3rd party IT co. told me to order more soon if we need them in the next 12 months, because you guessed it...prices keep going up!
I follow the Japanese bass market very closely and have purchased from there. You're fine if you buy from a real store (Kurosawa, Ikebe, Ishibashi, Blue Guitars, Bass Geek in Box, etc.) - or Danny J. Stewart at Bass Japan Direct. If you know where to look, you can correlate their listings to (I forget exact url but it's something like) digimart which seems to track more or less the flow of instruments from manufacturers to legit dealers.
As you note it's the re-listers to watch out for, you can find the exact same pix/description from multiple entities on eBay, and more and more on Reverb. From my understaning it's not necessarily a scam per se, BUT you're trusting some rando to make a transaction on your behalf, take care of logistics, and fix problems with shipping, packing, customs, etc. if things go awry. They have to be taking a cut along the way.
Back OT, probably best to buy sooner than later even if prices just went up...
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Thank-you. That was informative.
I bought on Reverb years ago a CIJ
Fender Jazzmaster guitar that was very well made. I’ve shown elsewhere my Japanese transistor radio, that still works, from ~60 years ago, and my Japanese made microscope- both fond childhood treasures.
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Data center build-outs are placing huge demand for memory chips, driving prices on related gear sky high. I went on Amazon to buy a USB thumb drive and was shocked at the current prices for a simple memory stick.
I don't see a recent Origin Effects pricing increase here in the US.
Buying Origin Effects from Thomann in Germany now results in a 17% import/handling fees to the US. That is perhaps a bit less than the VAT tax added for European buyers. I used to be able to buy Origin Effects imported from Germany at a significant discount to buying from my US-based authorized dealer. That was because we (individual consumers in the US) had the odd situation of being able to avoid VAT, US State Tax, and Import Fees.
I don't see a recent Origin Effects pricing increase here in the US.
Buying Origin Effects from Thomann in Germany now results in a 17% import/handling fees to the US. That is perhaps a bit less than the VAT tax added for European buyers. I used to be able to buy Origin Effects imported from Germany at a significant discount to buying from my US-based authorized dealer. That was because we (individual consumers in the US) had the odd situation of being able to avoid VAT, US State Tax, and Import Fees.
