The Influx of New Cheap Pedals
amazonbasics guitar pedals
I am a fan of Josh Scott, founder of JHS Pedals. He is passionate about his work and the people that he employs at JHS. Forty people, pedals made in the USA. A pretty wide range of options, often based on a popular pedal from the past, but extended to be something more than the inspiration. For this, a buyer pays a fair, but not low, price and for the most part, seems to like the pedal. I own a few products from JHS, preamps, switchers, a really cool box that goes in the effects loop to reduce the volume of the amp without needing a big chassis or complex modelling, along with a couple of more traditional pedals. The build quality is excellent and while I have not loved one or two, overall, I am inclined to encourage folks to give them a try.
I am also aware of some Internet based hate a thons pertaining to Mr. Scott. I have never met the man, but have friends who know him. If you hate him, your business, I don't care and it has nothing to do with this article.
Recently JHS released their 3 series. These are what one would call basic circuits in a plain white box designed to hit the $100USD mark. I am in Canada, so by the time they get here, it's more than just US-CAD exchange, and the deal is less outstanding. While being basic circuits in plain white boxes, these sound very good and are made in the same factory, by the same people. In business this is recognized as simplification and margin reduction in order to gain volume.
The COVID pandemic has to a large extent helped the guitar and effects marketplace. Sales of guitars, effects and amps are up in every shop or online only seller that I have talked with. Pickup makers like Bare Knuckle are busy. The only big concern for independent stores is how much stock they have to buy now in preparation for the next phase / mutation of the COVID virus.
We can agree that there are already more pedals out there than any one player can own. Some, like those from Strymon, are expensive, state of the art constructs. Others are ridiculously priced remakes of pedals from the sixties that were noisy, tone sapping, volume sapping junk, but they were "vintage man" and fortunately for owners of the original stuff there are more than enough people with lots of money who will sacrifice a vital organ to get a mid sixties whatever because they think it's better. I'm ok with this. I have some really old pedals that I don't use, that I can scuff up and call vintage and sell to someone on Reverb or eBay and then buy a couple of brand new pedals that work and sound a lot better.
If you want to see a great comparison of vintage and new, head over to this episode of The JHS Show.
It was successful because it induced either dark laughter or apoplexy depending on your level of delusion about old capacitors and resistors.
Now about those cheap pedals. They are coming from Asia, with a lot of them coming from China. There are folks who will not buy from China for emotional and political reasons and in that to each their own, but not buying goods made in China is pretty darn tough. Yes the people get paid less. Yes the quality control is not there (yet). Yes they may use components of lower quality or consistency. However since the average buyer is chasing the last dime, none of this matters to the majority. Your super expensive Apple or Lenovo computer is made with components produced in China and may actually be built there. If you have a smartphone, it's coming from Asia. It's all pretty to kvetch about China but sorry to tell you, that ship has sailed.
A Chinese manufacturer called NUX is in the market offering inexpensive, read cheap, pedals. Construction quality is meh, there is nothing special here, and the circuits are copies of other circuits done elsewhere for years. In China there is no such thing as copyright or patent protection. Not just China of course, but that's another conversation. The NUX stuff hits a price point and could make it possible for a buyer whose circumstance prevents buying a TC Electronic or ElectroHarmonix pedal to get a decent sounding pedal for not a lot of money. This should not cause fear for good makers, but in all the yap about free markets, there is also a lot of yap about protectionism. As Robert E Heinlein wrote, "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch", or to paraphrase you cannot have a free market while creating protectionist policies.
I credit Josh Scott for his attitude here. He understands that the person buying a cheap product is not the person who would be buying a JHS pedal today. However, if that person enjoys their pedal, and plays more, that person may at some time choose to upgrade to something better. My box of old stuff is there because that's what happened with me. Delivering pizzas in my teens didn't generate enough spare cash to buy higher end kit, so I went with what I could afford. And back then, it was all good. When I decided it was no longer what I wanted to hear, I replaced it, and that has continued for 45 years.
Now Amazon in the US has added guitar pedals to their AmazonBasics lineup. This line recognizes a marketplace for low price commodities. That pedals are to some extent a commodity is excellent news for the music industry. It means that there are lots of people playing and buying guitars who want effects. The AmazonBasics stuff is made by NUX. They sell for less than the NUX branded boxes which are identical. The difference is that you might get decent packaging and a bit of support from NUX and you won't from Amazon beyond a flexible return policy and a low price.
I understand that there are people whose heads explode when you say Amazon. Ok, they hate Amazon, everything about the company, its practices, its business model and would like to burn Jeff Bezos. Here's an idea. Instead of twisting one's shorts into a private part crushing tourniquet, don't deal with Amazon. Don't shop there. Don't support the business. Move on and enjoy life. Your ranting on some forum on the Internet will not change anything and it's bad for your blood pressure.
Am I going to buy an AmazonBasics pedal? No. Because for me, as an alleged musician, a pedal is not a commodity. I much prefer the Cornerstone Gladio made in Italy to anything from effects monster Boss, let alone a Chinese made clone of someone else's design.
Heck I will pay more for nicely soft non-tearing toilet paper, so I guess even that is not a commodity.
I choose to buy Duracell batteries. I have tried the AmazonBasics. It did not go well, and I will never buy them again. However, for the young person who needs a stack of 9V for their pedal array, they will get the job done. Maybe poor consistency and with a higher failure rate but when they cost about 25 cents a piece instead of two bucks a piece, that's going to be ok with some folks.
If you think an AmazonBasics effects pedal is a horrible idea, don't buy one. But don't give a bunch of grief to the ten year old kid cutting lawns all summer so he or she can get a couple of effects on the floor. That kid could be the next Hendrix, or the next person who just plays for his or her own pleasure and in either case, it's not your problem nor your business.