Akai Deep Impact

[MacDaddy]

As the title says. I've sent this to the Akai Ask A Question.

[i]The Deep Impact synth bass pedal is still sought after and prices on ebay are usually always over £300.00 so there is obviously a market for it. Why won't Akai make it again?[/i]

I'll post the reply.

[Kev]

I'm sure there will be a fundamental reason. A reason no doubt similar to why the bass whammy hasn't been reissued. Might not pass modern health and safety tests. Components may no longer be available from supplier. Who knows. I'll be fairly shocked if you actaully get an answer.

Edited February 2, 2010 by Kev

[phil.i.stein]

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='733411' date='Feb 2 2010, 08:13 PM']As the title says. I've sent this to the Akai Ask A Question.

[i]The Deep Impact synth bass pedal is still sought after and prices on ebay are usually always over £300.00 so there is obviously a market for it. Why won't Akai make it again?[/i]

I'll post the reply.[/quote]
i'm sure they're not stupid, and if they could make a commercial success of it they probably would.
i think your question to them is a good idea. maybe a bass players 'petition' type-thing could help ?
perhaps they need to know how much interest there is. and they could probably improve on it these days ..

[Pete Academy]

I bought the Akai as soon as it came out. I'd been looking for a bass synth pedal for years, one that tracked well and sounded like a proper synth. I got it specifically for a funk band I was in at the time. It was perfect, and the fact you could store patches to memory was a huge bonus.

The band split and I traded it in at my local shop for £50. The shop couldn't sell it and sold it for £30. I've seen them on ebay for £250+

I recently spoke to the Akai rep and advised him that the company should reissue this pedal. Why they haven't, I don't know.

[Paul_C]

just because the few that appear from time to time sell for big money (because there are only a few the demand is greater than the supply) it doesn't mean that they could shift enough units worldwide to make it worth their while - it may be that one or two components make the profit margin quite small,- I recall a mate telling me that the first run of the Whammy was the best because after that they used cheaper components that didn't work as well (though I believe the Whammy 4 is pretty close to the original)

[Doddy]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='733427' date='Feb 2 2010, 08:29 PM']I bought the Akai as soon as it came out. I'd been looking for a bass synth pedal for years, one that tracked well and sounded like a proper synth. I got it specifically for a funk band I was in at the time. It was perfect, and the fact you could store patches to memory was a huge bonus.

The band split and I traded it in at my local shop for £50.[/quote]

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

I remember being a little naive , and hungry for an effects unit back in the mid 90s.
(effects prior to then were more or less guitar only )
I used to be a regular reader of the 2 bass mags then. I ended up buying the Boss ME8-B,
which got a better rating than the Digitech Bass Whammy.

I found it fun in the bedroom ,but the instructions were a pain in the ass!
I got the guitar version of the Whammy sent to me in error,so I sent it back,as I hadn't a clue how to use it.

I still have the Boss unit,and may try using it with my band for a bit of fun.

From what I see now, you get better /more features for less dosh(the Zoom B21.U for instance)
Computers have made bass playing more fun (toneport gx etc) you get virtual pedalboards,
and some interfaces let you record too!

One thing I used to love about AKAI : Their cassette Decks!!

Edited February 2, 2010 by RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE

[Paul_C]

talking of Bass Whammys, I once won an EHX pedal (£100 worth) in a raffle which I swapped for a Bass Whammy

having plugged it in and played it for a bit I couldn't see any great use for it (though making my Roland Cube 30 try and play a low B an octave below std. was amusing) so I stuck it on ebay

... and sold it for £315

the next time I saw one on there it sold for £85, so I reckon I did alright

Edited February 4, 2010 by Paul_C

[iamapirate]

o.O

Anyway, Macdaddy post the damn reply!!

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='iamapirate' post='735079' date='Feb 4 2010, 02:31 PM']o.O

Anyway, Macdaddy post the damn reply!![/quote]

will do when it comes. [i]"Our typical response time is 24-72 hours."[/i]

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='Doddy' post='733473' date='Feb 2 2010, 08:54 PM']

[/quote]

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='Doddy' post='733473' date='Feb 2 2010, 08:54 PM']

[/quote]

[wotnwhy]

i know how you feel. bought and sold mine for £75. desperatly want it back. told this story more times than i actually used the pedal (which was a lot..)

[Kiwi]

I was in contact with the NZ and Aussie distributors this week to see if I could get mine repaired - the power track on the PCB has lifted off and broken repeatedly. The Aussie distributor said he didn't think there were parts available. The NZ distributor was really friendly and said he'd put in an RFI to Akai to see what the situation was currently. No way I was prepared to spend 60 quid an hour for the repair in London.

[civictiger]

to be honest.. why Akai dont make them anymore is unknown

But what is also unknown, is why another company dont make similar sounding one?! I mean come on.. if you cant beat them join them, so idk why another company hasnt made a 'clone' or a very similar sounding one without breaching copyright.

[happynoj]

Good luck on getting a reply. I sent them a similar message a couple of months ago and never heard anything back.


[quote name='civictiger' post='737158' date='Feb 6 2010, 01:24 PM']to be honest.. why Akai dont make them anymore is unknown

But what is also unknown, is why another company dont make similar sounding one?! I mean come on.. if you cant beat them join them, so idk why another company hasnt made a 'clone' or a very similar sounding one without breaching copyright.[/quote]
I suspect that no one has made a clone because it's a digital pedal, so all of the information is on the chip and difficult to get to.

Edited February 6, 2010 by happynoj

[Kiwi]

Its not necessarily the soundz that make the pedal good, its the tracking. Although it plays like it has a target frequency around the A string (440hz) and tends to track stingrays and P-basses best. Doesn't track two pickup basses so well, maybe because of the mid scoop?

[MacDaddy]

Still no reply so have sent them this:
[i]
Dear Sir/Madam

on February 2nd 2010 I sent this question:

The Deep Impact synth bass pedal is still sought after and prices on ebay are usually always over £300.00 so there is obviously a market for it. Why won't Akai make it again?

I have still not had a reply even though your typical response time is 24-72 hours.

[/i]

if I get any joy I'll keep you posted.

[squire]

got a reply yet ??

[Kiwi]

[quote name='happynoj' post='737308' date='Feb 6 2010, 03:30 PM']I suspect that no one has made a clone because it's a digital pedal, so all of the information is on the chip and difficult to get to.[/quote]

Someone has made something similar...

[url="http://www.chunksystems.com/os.htm"]http://www.chunksystems.com/os.htm[/url]

But only two buttons for accessing a relatively complicated set of functions. This pedal is begging for a USB interface.

[MacDaddy]

still no reply, but I'm not gonna let it drop.

[escholl]

I used to work for Akai, and while I don't know the answer to why they stopped making it, I can tell you that as of a year and a half ago, when I was laid off, they were scaling back massively and really throwing their weight behind the Numark and Alesis brands, and their own MIDI controllers and drum machines -- and were really cutting back their studio equipment, instruments, and signal processing lines.

They also binned a load of programmers, QA, and their entire Akai Digital division. Personally, I'd love to see this pedal and their others come back, and the Alesis Ion too, but I don't think either of those is likely.