Boutique pedals Vs Cheap pedals

[Callumjord]

I am really interested to hear what people's opinions are on this topic.

Would you you rather fork out a lot of money on a more expensive, custom, one off pedal or would you rather spend less money on a cheaper pedal?

I have just started delving into effects pedals (have always been a multi effects user before) and I am interested to see if a lot of the custom pedals out there meet expectations compared to a lot of cheaper branded pedals that are out on the market.

[AndyTravis]

Buy a few cheap ones see which area of effects you'd use and then invest in the posh ones.

I liked my ME50 boss, it taught me which types of effects I'd use.

[Callumjord]

Yea I have a bunch of cheap effect pedals at the moment. I wanted to replace my old zoon pedal with a pedal board and a lot of the pedals I have I really enjoy.

Recently I have been looking into more expensive compressor pedals, I am runnin a cs3 compressor (scored cheap off eBay) just now, like I said, I am happy with it but very interested into seeing what a more expensive, even a custom pedal would sound.

[0175westwood29]

ive got alot of pedals! they range from cheap to expensive!

i have no worries about buying a cheaper pedal, for instance the behringer trem if it does as good job as a crazy priced boutique!

but i must admit im a bit of a boutique guy, as they really do make the crazy stuff! however people like fuzzrocious and earthquaker devices (who are blowing up now) arent to bad price wise for what you get.

Andy

[Sibob]

Buy whatever sounds best to your ears and/or what allows you to acheive the sound in your head .
That said, I'll try and support a small family/startup company when I can

Si

[Cameronj279]

As Si said. Buy what works for you.

I've always found cheap distortions/overdrives to just not be usable in a live setting but Darkglass works amazingly (I'd say they count as boutique?) but on the other hand even the cheapest of reverb pedals is ideal for what I need.

[dannybuoy]

[quote name='Callumjord' timestamp='1452800081' post='2953669']
Would you you rather fork out a lot of money on a more expensive, custom, one off pedal or would you rather spend less money on a cheaper pedal?
[/quote]

I'd buy whichever one sounded best. However I'd be unlikely to go the custom one off route unless I needed something special built that didn't exist as an off the shelf product.

I'm the same with clothes - I don't care one bit about brands and labels. But since I'm fussy, so it's not very often that I find something that I like and also fits. So when I do find something special I'll buy it, whether it's Primark or Hugo Boss! As long as I can afford it, the price is irrelevant.

[ProfFrink]

Something to consider is that it takes a lot of investment to develop a new effect, and that it's very hard to recoup this unless it sells really well. Making a clone is much cheaper and "safer", but we do need the innovators in order to keep us fresh and have all the nice effects that we all love.

Also, using cheaper components and cheaper labour will have an effect on reliability and consistency. It's hard to gauge this, but we all know the stories about some of the cheaper pedal companies, and I'm pretty sure nobody wants to go "dead" in the middle of a gig.

Just saying...

Edited January 14, 2016 by ProfFrink

[AustinArto]

Some cheap pedals do the job better than expensive ones. Sometimes cheap pedals do a specific sound better than more expensive pedals that do lots of sounds but that specific sound is the one you want. It's not really about expensive pedals being better, necessarily.

That said, I recently swapped out a few pedals for a couple of others including an Eventide box which was stupidly expensive and I noticed the sound quality of everything generally improved.

That said, I've still not found a pedal to replace the Boss OC-2. And I've still got three OC-2s. And I won't be selling.

[ben4343]

I started getting in to pedals in 2015, and have about 10 or so now, ranging from dirt cheap Behringers and a Chord through 'standard' Bosses to what I consider upper-end mainstream (Nano POG, Mastotron). I guess I don't have anything boutique.

I would note that the cheap pedals can sound ok (my Behringer reverb sounds absolutely fine, and the Chord OD is amazing), and for very little outlay (£30 new? Less second hand?) are a fine way to see if e.g. reverb adds something to your playing. However, neither of my Behringer pedals (reverb and pitchshifter) play well with daisy chains, and need their own line from my power source. They also generate a bit of hum through the system.

The pedals from Boss and up are absolutely fine though. No issues; no hum, all work together on daisies...

I think as long as the boutique pedals give you what you want, then they are typically worth the money. However, the cheap ones are a great way to start to find out what that might be!

[dudewheresmybass]

I think, broadly speaking, that price is largely irrelevant.
If a pedal produces the sound I'm looking for, that is the end of the search for me. Heaven knows I've spend a vast amount of money chasing my drive tones, trying boutique this and boutique that, only to find the sounds that I was searching for ( and sat well in the mix!) via ehx and mxr ( bass soul food, glove, and bass fuzz deluxe. ) for my main band, and bass soul food and bass tube screamer/ cm2 for the others.
I still have my darkglass pedals here, but ATM I'm not using them. Shame really, as they are superb pedals, but just didn't give me the exact sound I was after.

[elephantgrey]

My pedals range from a joyo drive pedal (£30 new) to upper end mainstream (boss rc50/eventide) to boutique (iron ether/chase Bliss). I was going to get a custom pedal made up, but ended up finding a second hand discontinued pedal to do what I wanted (barge concepts feedback/blend loop).

The main reason I seem to go for more expensive pedals seams to be utility, mainly midi temposync. For some reason it buggs me allot if time based effects are out of time with each other, so I only get pedals that let me sync via midi.

Edited January 15, 2016 by elephantgrey

[mSz]

Bad thing about cheap pedals it that usually they are not true bypass. I found my berhinger tremolo sucking tone a lot, even when not engaged.

[elephantgrey]

[quote name='mSz' timestamp='1452858284' post='2954117']
Bad thing about cheap pedals it that usually they [i]have terrible buffers[/i]. I found my berhinger tremolo sucking tone a lot, even when not engaged.
[/quote]
Fixed.

Edited January 15, 2016 by elephantgrey

[cheddatom]

Same as above, I have pedals from all price ranges. Having said that, if I was buying a compressor, I would want one with more controls than the CS-3

[Sibob]

[quote name='elephantgrey' timestamp='1452860094' post='2954139']

Fixed.
[/quote]

Thanks. Saved me from fixing it lol

Si

[SimonEdward]

[b] Boutique pedals Vs Cheap pedals[/b]

I'm guessing (by the title) that this is mainly about price (?), in which case I would define 'Boutique' as anything *as new* over £150, and 'cheap' as anything below 50 quid.

In more than 25 years, I've gone from cheap : Rocktek Chorus, EQ etc costing £25; so I know what noisy/cr*p sounds like ... to a £170 boutique tremolo pedal, which was expensive and noisy/cr*p !!

In the defence of 'boutique' pedal makers; EQD, Alexander, Sub Decay, Strymon, RaygunFx etc etc are making great things - have we ever had it so good?

Then again, the £69 i spent on a certain OC-2 by BOSS in 1995-ish is STILL the best pedal I've ever had. I still have it, and will never part with it. Hardly 'boutique' in terms of £££.

[Guest FretNoMore]

I pretty much don't care whether a pedal is made by a big company or a small boutique builder. Price isn't really the deciding factor either, it's the perceived value that matters. A pedal or gadget can be cheap but still do the job if it works and sounds right, and it can be expensive if it does something exceptionally well or if it's unique in some way. It's a case by case thing.

[Skybone]

Having been through a large number of cheap & not-so cheap mass produced pedals, I approached some of the boutique pedals with a bit of trepidation, but was massively and pleasantly surprised.

HOWEVER, it really does help if you have invested in your signal path, not only one aspect of it. Good pickups into good pedals into a good amp = a good sound.

IMO o'course.