Why don't more pedals have cool art?

[xKingfisher]

1. Cost
2. Why risk alienating a lot of your potential audience? I'm sure young female (and a lot of men) would not be thrilled to have a "broke dick" pedal.

The Broke Dick is something of a special case, I think. It was a limited run, inside joke due to a particularly unhappy customer here on TB.

That said, your general point stands. I couldn't bring myself to get something called a Big Muff or a swollen pickle. The Photon Death Ray is fantastic though.

 

[dave64o]

Speaking for myself, my pedal board and the pedals on it are tools. I prefer a look that makes it easy to use my tools - seeing which pedal is which, where the foot switches are, making the switch/knob labels readable, etc. Fancy graphics can look cool, but they can also get in the way of seeing settings at a glance.

And speaking of switch/knob labels, I also prefer labels that tell me what they are. A pedal that labels them simply as Bass, Treble, Gain, Blend, etc. are much more helpful to me than a pedal with labels like Doom, Sunshine, Nature, and Spit. If I have refer to the manual to find out what the "Spit" control does, then I think the maker did me a disservice.

Again, I'm speaking only for myself. I don't have a problem with anyone who prefers more creative looking pedals. But I'm much less likely to buy that kind.

 

[40Hz]

My feeling is that anything that doesn’t contribute to the function of a piece of gear is superfluous. I prefer my art hanging on a wall or displayed on a shelf rather than lurking under my feet when I’m playing bass. Call me crazy, but that’s how I see it.

If it’s done really well it’s (maybe) one of those things that’s “fun to have” at best. But most times I find it’s annoying because it often obscures the control labels. And I think a cartoonish color riot on a pedal board is more an eye distracting hindrance than something I’d consider “cool.”

I like the approach MXR and BOSS take with color coding their pedals by effect family. Or JHS who is also big on flat color selection and a small and often rather clever logo.

Worst “art” I’ve seen on pedals I own are these two:



Examples of the type of pedal “look” I prefer:

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Or you could roll your own at Saturnworks!
Saturnworks Pedals - Shop

Get out a paint brush or air brush and make your own.
Or just get some label material and print your own.
Dirk

 

[ardgedee]

Some pedal companies produce their pedals in two batches, a regular run and a limited edition with special art. That's probably the best way to cater to both the people who want to collect pedals to look at and the people who want to use them.

 

[Killing Floor]

Some builders do offer simple and painted options. Some even offer one-off hand painted custom art, Zvex for example. I can see it both ways. I step on mine and don’t really get worked up if one gets scratched or covered with sticky Velcro because it’s for rock stuff and my shoe souls get pretty rough. I figure if it costs $50 or $400 it’s worthless when I’m done with it. But some are really cool looking.

 

[gpTron]

I appreciate the art on some of the pedals I've seen but I prefer pedals without art or at least simple art/logo. And yeah even as a teenager I found the thought of having something called a Big Muff and all the joke names/art it's spawned through the years to be super super lame.

And speaking of switch/knob labels, I also prefer labels that tell me what they are. A pedal that labels the simply as Bass, Treble, Gain, and Blend are much more helpful to me than a pedal with labels like Doom, Sunshine, Nature, and Spit. If I have refer to the manual to to find out what the "Spit" control does, then the I think the maker did me a disservice.

YES! Forever ago my friend let me borrow his Death Metal pedal for a little while. I don't remember the knob names but it was stuff like "GUTS" and "DECAPITATION!". I'm like, ok, *** does that mean? Read the manual and it was something like "GUTS controls how much Guts your tone has!". Like, come on...

 

[magyk8ball]

There are tons of effects with graphics.
EQD and Zvex come to mind. Im loving my Office inspired emerson custom pedals, they dont sound bad (on guitar) either!

 

[Peaveylover]

The only time I ever have as issue is when builders muck up their craft by promoting political movements I find abhorrent, as well as mucking up their graphics with said political statements. Several builders, who shall remain nameless, are forever on my no-buy list. I'm sure they are cool with that though. That's the nature of life in 2021. They are free to alienate potential customers and I am free to be alienated and take my dollars elsewhere. If I just had to have one of those circuits I would buy used so the builder sees no profit, but I've never done that.

Other than that I have no issue with any art on pedals. Would I buy a pedal with satan on it, or a penis? No. But I have no issue with it. It's called freedom of expression and that is everyone's right. This is still America, isn't it?

I love graphics on pedals and am aware of their ability to add value. I mean, we're here talking about special edition graphics all the time, no?

I add myself to this critique, but it's pretty obvious that a lot of art appeals to the childish psyche still left in all of us. I mean, I bought the Atreides partly because of its cool early 80's graphics that reminded me of my Colecovision from 83. While the pedal is cool, I never would have considered it if it was a bare metal enclosure. I am sure I am not alone.

Graphics are part of the fun to me.

 

[JakobT]

I actually quite like pedals that use leds creatively, since that is something that both looks cool and helps you on a darkened stage. A pedal builder in my neck of the woods does some cool stuff:

 

[wysiwyg248]

To me, the most important thing is the KISS effect (Keep It Simple, Stupid).

 

[Sushi Box FX]

I actually quite like pedals that use leds creatively, since that is something that both looks cool and helps you on a darkened stage. A pedal builder in my neck of the woods does some cool stuff:

View attachment 4190260

That is absurdly cool. Does the builder have a website where I can check out more? Seriously, super cool.

I really like graphics mostly because I appreciate how hard it is to make it look good. But I understand not everyone likes that, I like to offer both.

 

[JakobT]

That is absurdly cool. Does the builder have a website where I can check out more? Seriously, super cool.

I really like graphics mostly because I appreciate how hard it is to make it look good. But I understand not everyone likes that, I like to offer both.

Yes, I think so too. . I also quite like the idea of using symbols rather than text, it’s a quicker read, particularily if the symbols are good. He does have a website - you can find his pedals here:

Fjord Fuzz

 

[Fuzzbass]

I dunno. Why aren't there more amps with cool art?

I happen to own one! Darkglass 900v2 limited.

 

[40Hz]

I actually quite like pedals that use leds creatively, since that is something that both looks cool and helps you on a darkened stage. A pedal builder in my neck of the woods does some cool stuff:

View attachment 4190260

Gotta love laser cutters! That’s very cool!

 

[kesslari]

All things considered, I like good graphics, they get my attention. They also don't factor much into my buying decisions unless they're extra great or extra awful.
There's a fuzz pedal out there with a cool pharonic theme. Beautiful. Memorable (kind of - I don't remember the builder...) But I never bought one because I'm not a fuzz kind of guy.
OTOH the original Walrus Julia - that art was pretty disturbing to me. I wouldn't want to look down at my board and see that.
I hear it's a really great chorus pedal. I wound up with a Way Huge Blue Hippo, and am quite satiisfied.

 

[NortyFiner]

 

[NortyFiner]

 

[amper]

Good art, but the Japanese obsession with school girls is alarming to me.

It's not to me. I'm an Asian American woman who grew up in the big city taking the train to school, and I went to a Roman Catholic high school, too. Images of Asian girls in school uniforms riding trains with musical instruments is like looking at my high school yearbook.

I would submit that Japanese culture is no more "obsessed" with young girls and young women than American culture, but the fact that Japan is "exotic" to most Americans means that aspects of American culture which might reflect poorly on America are far more difficult to recognise than aspects of a foreign culture which is easy to stigmatise.

First cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

 

[BarfanyShart]

There is way more art on them than there used to be. They are marketing these to teenage boys (and teenage boys inside us all), and that obviously gets sales, which is good - but some musicians are not going to want these on their pedalboards at church and wedding gigs. It would be cool to have the option to get a monochromatic box on some of these.