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Pedal Genie
- Thread starter CfoScoop
- Start date
It seems like it would be a lot cheaper to simply buy pedals used, then sell them for the same price when you are done with them. You pay shipping (which is what, $6 for a pedal?), but it doesn't cost $34.95 a month.
I'm currently a member. At first I was on the fence but I think I can recommend it, but there are a few things to keep in mind to help you decide if it is for you.
Firstly, lets get the facts straight. Yes it's like a Netflix for pedals. NO you do NOT pay shipping. Your pedal shows up complete with a Priority Mail envelope to mail it back. You just request a label when you're ready. They email it to you, print it, stick it in the pouch on the envelope, stick it in the mailbox. Wait for next pedal.
First month is $1, then normal price is $35 a month. I think it's definitely worth $36 for two months (at least give them that much, come on!) and it's worth the price if you want to try a lot of pedals.
Now, MY experience with Pedal Genie can be a little skewed because I have only a narrow focus of pedals I want to try, and all of them are high end boutique type pedals. That being said, they've always shipped me a pedal when it's time which is awesome, because I don't have any 'normal' pedals in my queue. I've got about two weeks left on my second month and I will probably cancel but only because I just don't need to try any more pedals. I could keep going forever, but I've got to stop sometime!
I joined on July 15th, and so far I have gotten these pedals from them:
MXR M87
Wren & Cuff Box Of War
Darkglass B7k
Darkglass Duality
Mad Professor Snow White Auto Wah
SolidGold FX Funkzilla
That's a pretty impressive list of pedals, the MXR is the only one I would consider being mainstream. I mean, that's 1 pedal per week. You can't ask for better than that really. And they are high end pedals. Really I probably never would have gotten to try a Box Of War, Snow White, or Funkzilla any other way except for buying them somewhere that has a return policy and I wouldn't want to take advantage of them like that, not to mention I'd have to pay shipping to send them back. So, 6 pedals at $7 each for shipping = $42.
I just sent the Snow White back so I should have another one shipping soon. There was a strange week long delay when they sent the Snow White, not sure if it was them or USPS but the tracking sat at 'label printed' until it showed up. That cost me a pedal right there, as I would have been getting the next one today or tomorrow. So that plus the holiday kinda screwed me. Oh well!
One gripe I have is the queue..there's no way to change the order without clearing it out and starting over. So if your needs change and you want another pedal ahead of everything else, you have to empty your queue, add the pedal you want first, then add everything else back after it.
So yes, I can recommend them. Just make sure to keep 10 pedals in your queue at all time. If you're open to pedals like Boss, Digitech, and other everyday stuff you won't have any problems at all.
Firstly, lets get the facts straight. Yes it's like a Netflix for pedals. NO you do NOT pay shipping. Your pedal shows up complete with a Priority Mail envelope to mail it back. You just request a label when you're ready. They email it to you, print it, stick it in the pouch on the envelope, stick it in the mailbox. Wait for next pedal.
First month is $1, then normal price is $35 a month. I think it's definitely worth $36 for two months (at least give them that much, come on!) and it's worth the price if you want to try a lot of pedals.
Now, MY experience with Pedal Genie can be a little skewed because I have only a narrow focus of pedals I want to try, and all of them are high end boutique type pedals. That being said, they've always shipped me a pedal when it's time which is awesome, because I don't have any 'normal' pedals in my queue. I've got about two weeks left on my second month and I will probably cancel but only because I just don't need to try any more pedals. I could keep going forever, but I've got to stop sometime!
I joined on July 15th, and so far I have gotten these pedals from them:
MXR M87
Wren & Cuff Box Of War
Darkglass B7k
Darkglass Duality
Mad Professor Snow White Auto Wah
SolidGold FX Funkzilla
That's a pretty impressive list of pedals, the MXR is the only one I would consider being mainstream. I mean, that's 1 pedal per week. You can't ask for better than that really. And they are high end pedals. Really I probably never would have gotten to try a Box Of War, Snow White, or Funkzilla any other way except for buying them somewhere that has a return policy and I wouldn't want to take advantage of them like that, not to mention I'd have to pay shipping to send them back. So, 6 pedals at $7 each for shipping = $42.
I just sent the Snow White back so I should have another one shipping soon. There was a strange week long delay when they sent the Snow White, not sure if it was them or USPS but the tracking sat at 'label printed' until it showed up. That cost me a pedal right there, as I would have been getting the next one today or tomorrow. So that plus the holiday kinda screwed me. Oh well!
One gripe I have is the queue..there's no way to change the order without clearing it out and starting over. So if your needs change and you want another pedal ahead of everything else, you have to empty your queue, add the pedal you want first, then add everything else back after it.
So yes, I can recommend them. Just make sure to keep 10 pedals in your queue at all time. If you're open to pedals like Boss, Digitech, and other everyday stuff you won't have any problems at all.
I was thinking of joining this. I mean, it sounds ideal for guys like us pedalheads. I hear good and bad. But you get what is advertised. Which is good. So I hear.
I don't want to gripe, but it just seems a bit high of a price. I would get it right away if it was something like 20-25 bucks a month.
Get it for 3 months and the average is $23.60 per month.
I cancelled today. I've got 11 pedals in my queue and they don't have any of them.
Overall I'm kinda 'meh' about the whole thing. I had one pedal shipment that stayed in 'label printed' status for a WEEK so I got screwed out of getting another pedal. But hey..that happens. They didn't care though. I figured they'd offer me an extra pedal shipment for their screwup, but nada. They were just like 'oh well'.
Overall I'm kinda 'meh' about the whole thing. I had one pedal shipment that stayed in 'label printed' status for a WEEK so I got screwed out of getting another pedal. But hey..that happens. They didn't care though. I figured they'd offer me an extra pedal shipment for their screwup, but nada. They were just like 'oh well'.
I think this is excellent. Try the pedals during rehearsal or even the gig and then you may decide.
How good is that?
How good is that?
We'd be happy to make it up to you somehow (we've been sending out extra bonus pedals to some users), but we never got a chance. From your history, it looks like you got a pedal nearly every week during your membership.
I just checked your wishlist and the following pedals are here (at least today):
Wren and Cuff Pickle Pie B Hella Bass Fuzz
EarthQuaker Pitch Bay Octave
Way Huge Swollen Pickle Fuzz
Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian Fuzz
Darkglass Vintage Microtubes
Darkglass Vintage Deluxe
I get it though, it's not for everyone. So no hard feelings.
And yes, we're still learning some things as we grow. We just changed the way we store pedals to make the return/inspection/turn-around times faster, for example.
And we continue to add pedals. New this week is Fulltone. Last week we added SubDecay and Dreadbox.
While you can't change the order of your wishlist, you can add comments to any pedal on your wishlist to indicate a preference ("send first!" or "please please please"). But any sorting or ordering is a preference and while we try very hard to get you what you want first, anything on your wishlist is fair game.
Yeah would have loved to have tried any of those, but my returned pedal was delivered back on the 8th and my next pedal had not shipped on the 10th so I checked on the status and they said that since my month was up on the 15th, I would be charged for another month if I wanted another pedal. But had I not cancelled, maybe it would have shipped on the 11th, I don't know. If so, it would have arrived the following Monday, which is 7 days in between pedals. That can be improved. You already know when a pedal is being returned because you have to send the shipping label. So, once the label is emailed, the next pedal in the queue should be ready to go upon arrival of the returned pedal. No need for a 4 day delay.
But I did enjoy the service, and like I said before....the pedals I want are not exactly mainstream pedals. 6-8 months ago I would have used it more but now I've got my pedalboard pretty will nailed down. Yes I'd join again if my situation changed. Trisha was always very helpful.
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My pedal genie experience has been mixed. It's a great idea and cool service. Signing up, paying $1, and having a B7K in my hands a few days later was pretty awesome! Very large range of pedals to choose from.
Two things are going to make me cancel (I'm at the end of month 1). First, the turn around time from when you return a pedal and PG ships your next one isn't insubstantial. I got 3 pedals in the first month and I didn't keep any of them around very long. It seemed to take a while for PG to ship out the next pedal. Add in weekends and the delays get longer. In other words, I didn't spend too much time actually trying out the pedals the last month, most of the days were spent without one, waiting for processing and shipping. The return shipping is 1-day, which I appreciate. But then it takes maybe a week before you are actually holding your next pedal.
Second, only my first pedal was one I listed as a priority (the B7K). The first week my list said: send me some Darkglass (I had 4 DG pedals on the list), and I got Darkglass - awesome! The next two times I ranked my priorities in my list by number, about 1-7 and then 1-9 if I remember correctly. There were 12-15 or so pedals on the list, so there was a bottom half that wasn't ranked. Pedals 2 and 3 were sent from that un-ranked bottom half. As technocraft said above, that is "fair game." Which is fine, I put them on the list after all, and I get the logistic factors involved on PG's end - it's just not exciting enough for me to keep paying for the service as I only got one of the pedals I really wanted in a month.
All in all it is pretty cool, but my experience has been: don't expect to get a ton of pedals, it takes a while. It seems PG inspects what you send back to them before they ship the next pedal out, and that takes a couple days. It would be fantastic if they could work out a way to send your next pedal as soon as USPS tracking registers your return package as en route. I'll probably pay full price for the next month and then cancel. I'd say this service is more useful for someone new to effects who wants to try out a wide range of pedals. I have more specific goals for my effects so it is not as useful to me when I get a pedal outside of my top priorities - still cool, but not worth paying for for very long. I will also "tighten up" my list for the next month so that I only have the minimum of 10, minimizing the chances of getting something from the bottom of the priority list (lesson learned).
Two things are going to make me cancel (I'm at the end of month 1). First, the turn around time from when you return a pedal and PG ships your next one isn't insubstantial. I got 3 pedals in the first month and I didn't keep any of them around very long. It seemed to take a while for PG to ship out the next pedal. Add in weekends and the delays get longer. In other words, I didn't spend too much time actually trying out the pedals the last month, most of the days were spent without one, waiting for processing and shipping. The return shipping is 1-day, which I appreciate. But then it takes maybe a week before you are actually holding your next pedal.
Second, only my first pedal was one I listed as a priority (the B7K). The first week my list said: send me some Darkglass (I had 4 DG pedals on the list), and I got Darkglass - awesome! The next two times I ranked my priorities in my list by number, about 1-7 and then 1-9 if I remember correctly. There were 12-15 or so pedals on the list, so there was a bottom half that wasn't ranked. Pedals 2 and 3 were sent from that un-ranked bottom half. As technocraft said above, that is "fair game." Which is fine, I put them on the list after all, and I get the logistic factors involved on PG's end - it's just not exciting enough for me to keep paying for the service as I only got one of the pedals I really wanted in a month.
All in all it is pretty cool, but my experience has been: don't expect to get a ton of pedals, it takes a while. It seems PG inspects what you send back to them before they ship the next pedal out, and that takes a couple days. It would be fantastic if they could work out a way to send your next pedal as soon as USPS tracking registers your return package as en route. I'll probably pay full price for the next month and then cancel. I'd say this service is more useful for someone new to effects who wants to try out a wide range of pedals. I have more specific goals for my effects so it is not as useful to me when I get a pedal outside of my top priorities - still cool, but not worth paying for for very long. I will also "tighten up" my list for the next month so that I only have the minimum of 10, minimizing the chances of getting something from the bottom of the priority list (lesson learned).
I should also say that the mechanics of the whole thing are super easy and hassle free. You get a pedal delivered to your door with return packaging inside. Request the return label from PG, print it out, USPS picks up the pedal from your mailbox and you wait for the next one to arrive. Couldn't be simpler in that regard, it has worked really smoothly for me.
It doesn't sound like a negative experience for anyone involved. If I were at a point where I was really trying to put together a pedalboard, then it seems ideal.
And frankly - if they had the service in Europe, I would try it for a month or two just to try out a few Strymon pedals that I have always been curious about. But they don't.
And frankly - if they had the service in Europe, I would try it for a month or two just to try out a few Strymon pedals that I have always been curious about. But they don't.
scottfeldstein
Roots and fifths and a little extra.
My guitar player showed me this earlier today. I think we're going to get a joint account. I want to try out some Darkglass gear and I think he has some goodies in mind as well...
scottfeldstein
Roots and fifths and a little extra.
Update: I joined with a standard membership. Added a few things to my queue. Then I decided to upgrade to pro, thinking my guitar player wants to investigate tremolos while I search out new forms of dirt.
Nothing happens for a couple of days. Then I find in the FAQ that you have to have at least 20 pedals in your queue. So I added a few more. Then I get an email from them (very nice people) asking if I really meant to upgrade to pro (yes I did). So they charged me the $60 or whatever it is. Then they told me that there's a $300 refundable deposit needed, AND you only get one shipment per month ($25 per if you want additional shipments.)
At that point I said to heck with it I'll just have a standard membership.
I still have received nothing.
I know what it is to work in a small company/start up. Everyone wears a lot of hats and you're understaffed. Often you don't have a lot of process in place for scalability. I'm getting that sense from these guys.
Still, I really want this to work so I'm waiting to see how the experience plays out...
Nothing happens for a couple of days. Then I find in the FAQ that you have to have at least 20 pedals in your queue. So I added a few more. Then I get an email from them (very nice people) asking if I really meant to upgrade to pro (yes I did). So they charged me the $60 or whatever it is. Then they told me that there's a $300 refundable deposit needed, AND you only get one shipment per month ($25 per if you want additional shipments.)
At that point I said to heck with it I'll just have a standard membership.
I still have received nothing.
I know what it is to work in a small company/start up. Everyone wears a lot of hats and you're understaffed. Often you don't have a lot of process in place for scalability. I'm getting that sense from these guys.
Still, I really want this to work so I'm waiting to see how the experience plays out...
