Starting a pedal company, suggestions?

[ChopperDave]

Phaser w/ a g-----m mix knob, as another poster suggested (expletives mine). Because I prefer phasers over choruses for my modulation, but can't use them because most don't have mix knobs.

Octave-up. Loved my MicroPOG, but I didn't have a use for the octave-down (hmmmm, I should post that on the Am I the Bass Satan thread), and the sheer size of the pedal has made it expendable. Mini-box (like the TC Electronics Ditto), dry volume + wet volume knobs, that should do it.

 

[rsmith601]

This is very admirable. PLEASE be aware of the huge challenge that it is to make any money in this market. I do OEM product development and manufacturing for many companies in this market and see what they go through to try to become successful.

At NAMM I was speaking with the Sales Manager of a large company that had just decided to get OUT of the pedal market - even though they had very very good, unique pedals. He said that he bought a market study that showed that there are nearly 200 makers of pedals, and 95% of pedal sales are from the top 10 makers such as Boss, etc. So that leaves just 5% of the market to be divided between the remaining 190 makers.

Even if you had something really unique - the marketing effort to get people to buy it is enormous! A Pedal is something that the user has to try - it is very personal. And the effort and cost to get dealers to take it on is even larger.

If you are doing this for fun and to make a few pedals here and there, have a good time. If you are looking to make money at it - I'd say don't quit your day job.

If you had something REALLY unique and interesting, I would go to one of the big pedal makers and license the design to them for a royalty of 2-5% of the product cost. Let THEM do all the hard work making, stocking, advertising, distributing and selling it - you'll make more money in the end.

Good Luck!

Wow. You are spot on with all of this.

We started with a unique idea (Hot Hand), a deep strategic relationship with Analog Devices (they make the key chips at the heart of all Strymon and Source Audio pedals - I worked there for 20 years prior to SA), and a strong engineering team from Analog and Kurzweil. Despite all of these advantages, it is a VERY challenging market.

 

[bongomania]

Phaser w/ a g-----m mix knob, as another poster suggested (expletives mine). Because I prefer phasers over choruses for my modulation, but can't use them because most don't have mix knobs.

Bear in mind that both phaser and chorus depend on mixing ALREADY. The reason phasers and choruses don't tend to have a clean blend knob is precisely because the clean signal mixed in is an inherent part of what makes the signal sound "chorused" or "phased".

Yes it is possible to mix MORE clean signal in, or mix it differently; so maybe that's something an effect builder could experiment with.

 

[The Celestials]

Hey man,

If you want to really get the attention of a niche pedal fan base that will be incredibly loyal and love you and spread your product around amongst the forums online, you MUST get the attention of the shoegaze crowd. Many, many pedal geeks like myself are shoegaze fanatics, and we all live indie and small pedal companies.

You should make a high gain fuzz with two switches.

1) Bypass

2)Feedback Loop (momentary)

As a pedal builder myself, I love to see other pedal builders. I am still in high school, so trying to start a pedal business is rather chaotic. But besides that tangent, good luck.

And that was just a friendly suggestion. I am not seriously going to hunt you down and make you do it

 

[fishtx]

I wish for an overdrive that has a wide sweep when going from clean to distorted.. Instead of straight to buzzsaw.. And while im dreaming have a frequency selector so you could pick the frequencies effected. ...

+1...build this and give me all the volume and gain on the back half of the controls...so it increases slowly until it gets to about noon...then starts to get louder and dirtier...

Another thing is build a pedal like the Fishman Fission Powerchord that actually sounds good, and you don't need to drag a guitar rig with you...

 

[Tomkat8]

+1...build this and give me all the volume and gain on the back half of the controls...so it increases slowly until it gets to about noon...then starts to get louder and dirtier...

Another thing is build a pedal like the Fishman Fission Powerchord that actually sounds good, and you don't need to drag a guitar rig with you...

I guess what i was getting at with the frequency control would be a variable hi pass filter that sweeps from entire signal to only hi signal effected

 

[groooooove]

in the boutique pedal world, there are a lot of options.

in order to be unique, you need to tackle the stuff thats not easy to build. anyone can build a fuzz.. making a really awesome one may not be easy, but nonetheless there are literally hundreds of options.

if you could build a good synth pedal, TBers alone would buy a ton of them if they were good quality / usable sounds.

 

[DonaldR]

id love to see a bass effective pedal sized dclass power amp. Do that and become a wealthy man.

+1000

 

[Spencer!]

If you had something REALLY unique and interesting, I would go to one of the big pedal makers and license the design to them for a royalty of 2-5% of the product cost. Let THEM do all the hard work making, stocking, advertising, distributing and selling it - you'll make more money in the end.

That's the problem - most people would rather design a tube screamer than something unique or interesting.

 

[crockb]

There are a ton of great builders out there. I'm inspired by all of them. I'm not trying to become a gazzilionaire in making pedals. I just really enjoy music and art. Kind of at the ground floor with all this. Hopefully I can come up with some unique stuff people will dig.

Related to the fuzz comment, don't some of you guys just like a straight forward great sounding fuzz? I can appreciate the complex pedals and the down right simple ones too I guess is what I'm saying.

How about Fuzzrocious Pedals where most of their pedals are dirt and fuzz? I think they offer pretty cool products.

 

[Tomkat8]

There are a ton of great builders out there. I'm inspired by all of them. I'm not trying to become a gazzilionaire in making pedals. I just really enjoy music and art. Kind of at the ground floor with all this. Hopefully I can come up with some unique stuff people will dig.

Related to the fuzz comment, don't some of you guys just like a straight forward great sounding fuzz? I can appreciate the complex pedals and the down right simple ones too I guess is what I'm saying.

How about Fuzzrocious Pedals where most of their pedals are dirt and fuzz? I think they offer pretty cool products.

True. But not 1, that I know, that gives the sweet tube overdrive on the top end, without sounding like a buzzsaw... That sound has it's place... But not a lot of in between..not everyone can afford or wants to carry a svt or a big brute tube amp... But a pedal thats the ticket... IMO

 

[SactoBass]

An octave pedal like the micro pog but analog or more analog sounding.......in a tiny box...that would be perfect!

+1

Octave up. Something that makes a 4 string bass convincingly sound like an 8 string (octave courses) bass.

Oh, and one humble suggestion: try to avoid naming your pedals after various human body parts. It's so junior high schoolish, IMO.

 

[Bassmike62]

Bassmike 62 I have a pedal that is based on the old Seamoon Funk Machine pedal like what Larry Graham had used I believe. I've added a blend knob and internal boost. Will probably make that one available for those interested.

Wow. I've read about that pedal around here, never really heard it and I'm salivating.

TB = instant efficient market research. We're full of opinions around here

 

[PDGood]

No more "emulating"..... what we need is "INNOVATING"

+1

How many distortions are out there? Is it even possible to count? Same with chorus, tremolo, delay and everything else you can think of.

I would imagine it would be quite a challenge to mangle sound in a truly creative way, but that would be a great goal to have. In the meantime what about preset effect combos? For example a fast swell that ends in balsy roar of distortion and then mangles the sound as it fades out? (But no distortion at the beginning). It would be like a giant future machine fart.

 

[zwkoch]

Whatever you build, take the time to add as much expression control as possible. I would love a delay pedal that has a send/ bypass expression pedal option. Most dirt pedals do not have exp control with the exception of Source Audio. This would be very nice to be able to control gain levels or blend levels with an expression pedal. The world is full of great sounding pedals, but few have expression control options. Just my two cents.

 

[Mystic Michael]

If anyone is interested in one or has suggestions I would love to hear them!

My suggestions are:

• quality is more important than quantity - develop a small number of very high-quality products, rather than a large number of mediocre products
• make your products very bass-centric
• innovate - create a niche in products that no one, or very few others, are offering
• invest in your brand - set yourself apart from the pack in a meaningful way
• don't make the mistake of trying to be all things to all people - stick to your niche and dominate it as completely as possible

This guy has got the right idea:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Examples of bass-specific products: compressors, noise gates, signal conditioners, frequency optimizers, high-pass filters, etc. Much better options than guitar-centric effects, such as fuzz, distortion, tremolo, delay, etc.

MM

 

[Mystic Michael]

This is very admirable. PLEASE be aware of the huge challenge that it is to make any money in this market. I do OEM product development and manufacturing for many companies in this market and see what they go through to try to become successful.

At NAMM I was speaking with the Sales Manager of a large company that had just decided to get OUT of the pedal market - even though they had very very good, unique pedals. He said that he bought a market study that showed that there are nearly 200 makers of pedals, and 95% of pedal sales are from the top 10 makers such as Boss, etc. So that leaves just 5% of the market to be divided between the remaining 190 makers.

Even if you had something really unique - the marketing effort to get people to buy it is enormous! A Pedal is something that the user has to try - it is very personal. And the effort and cost to get dealers to take it on is even larger.

If you are doing this for fun and to make a few pedals here and there, have a good time. If you are looking to make money at it - I'd say don't quit your day job.

If you had something REALLY unique and interesting, I would go to one of the big pedal makers and license the design to them for a royalty of 2-5% of the product cost. Let THEM do all the hard work making, stocking, advertising, distributing and selling it - you'll make more money in the end.

Good Luck!

This is undoubtedly true. I don't work in this vertical, so I can't confirm it by direct experience, though it certainly corresponds with what I know about the market for musical gear.

But I do work as a marketing consultant, and I know something about how hard it can be to achieve visibility in a crowded field of entrenched competitors - to say nothing of establishing a distribution network, in the case of retail products. Most start-ups and small businesses vastly underestimate the amount of time and resources it takes to establish a new brand. They're impatient, unrealistic - and stingy. They expect way too much, way too soon, and they're not willing to pay for it. The bane of my existence...

MM

 

[bongomania]

don't some of you guys just like a straight forward great sounding fuzz? I can appreciate the complex pedals and the down right simple ones too I guess is what I'm saying.

Yeah but there are a million of those already.

How about Fuzzrocious Pedals where most of their pedals are dirt and fuzz? I think they offer pretty cool products.

No offense meant to Ryan of Fuzzrocious, who is a TB'er and seems like a cool guy; but asking "how about them" is like pointing to a tank full of crabs at a restaurant and asking "how about that one crab... not the dead one on the bottom, but the one just on top of him... about 20 crabs from the top... he looks scrappy!"

 

[crockb]

Yeah I in no way meant it that way in pointing out a brand. Lots of good conversation here for sure. Glad to be part of the TB community.

 

[crockb]

Thanks MysticMichael!