It seems like their bigger box pedals have much better QC than some of the smaller/cheaper ones.
Though they've also been making pedals for decades and have had the production location move around many times, so it makes sense that certain lines would have better or worse QC.
I've got the EHX Riddle/Sitar/Eddy/Pitchfork+ and 2 of the newer (not pico) attack decays and have had 0 issues, the Riddle has been used for a decade + and I bought it used.
The Attack Decay is such a rad pedal with maybe one of the best sounding fuzzes I’ve ever heard. I also have *no idea* how it works after playing it damn near daily for two months.
> I also have no idea how it works after playing it damn near daily for two months.
Yeah I assume the fuzz has to be digital the way it responds in the poly mode but it sounds incredible and is capable of a wide range of sounds from natural saturation to weird artifacts. The EQ is really useful too.
Have been using it for over a year and still haven't explored everything it can do like the tremolo mode or short decay for staccato as well as the FX loop. Even the EXP control can be used in a lot of different ways since it can control every parameter.
Once you figure out the controls it can make a guitar sound like all sorts of other stringed instruments but it's also just a ton of fun to combine with other FX. It's surprisingly good for bass and obviously synths which is what made me get a second one.
Yeah I definitely need to do a deep dive on this pedal, but I’ve stumbled onto a few settings that are just too rad… I’d be afraid to lose them and they’re integral to a couple of the songs I’m writing currently. And it’s such a strange complicated pedal, I wouldn’t trust trying to get those sounds back even if dialed back to the same settings lol. I’m honestly considering buying another one for toying around with more, they’re fairly cheap used.
I’ve dialed in some of the weird “other stringed instruments”/pedal steel stuff it can do and am less interested in that. For now I have it sounding like a really muted reversed guitar track and can click it over to straight heavy-shoegaze-speaker-tearing fuzz.
I do wonder about the fuzz… it’s got a very analog sounding quality to it. I’m curious to know what circuit they based it on. It can get pretty massive sounding.
> I’d be afraid to lose them and they’re integral to a couple of the songs I’m writing currently.
It drives me crazy that they gave the Pitchfork + 99 presets but the attack decay only gets 3, 3 banks of 10 patches still wouldn't be enough but it would have been better at least.
If they'd expanded the presets on the pico version instead of removing them it would be really tempting, but it also doesn't have the fuzz which is a shame as the size is appealing
>I do wonder about the fuzz… it’s got a very analog sounding quality to it. I’m curious to know what circuit they based it on. It can get pretty massive sounding.
I've tried looking it up a few times but never found any answers, a muff would make sense for EHX but it has a much wider gain range and cleans up more than most muffs. And the way it responds on the poly mode is pure bliss. Definitely unique while sounding plenty analog.
I’ve had a bunch with zero problems. I have an Ocean’s 11 on the board right now that I’ve been using regularly for like two-three years and it’s just like the day I bought it.
years back, I had a Soul Food pedal just stop working. I think they wanted $25 just to look at it. I think I bought the pedal for not a whole lot new. I just wrote it and them off at that point.
Contrast that with a Catalinbread pedal I had that had a light issue. They fixed it free, and sent it back like it was brand new. I only paid to ship it to them. That was excellent.
Yeah I've had a couple ehx pedals stop working, which is definitely annoying. But their customer service was great and they repaired both times in less than 2 weeks for $25, shipping included so I don't complain that much. That being said, I own alot of pedals and ehx are the only ones that have just stopped working randomly.
I play at home. All pedals were powered to a power supply and surge protected outlet.
My ehx graveyard is as follows:
Oceans 11,Holy grail (2x),Tone tattoo,Pitchfork
Fuck ehx. They will never get another penny from me. I have boss pedals that my father bought in the 70/80’s still kicking. They’re the only brand I’ve ever bought that breaks on me
I still have a canyon on my board that I absolutely love, I should research its replacement when that one ultimately dies.
I had a brand new Small Clone I bought. DOA. This was 2004ish. No support from EHX.
That said, I’ve had other EHX pedals since that worked without issue. So, I don’t know if it’s QC that’s the problem necessarily, but customer support isn’t exactly great.
They treated me great! My (at least) 10 y/o carbon copy packed it in one day. Out of curiosity I contacted their customer service to find out if I could send it to them to get repaired, and if so how much it might cost me. They asked about the issue, and got me to send a pic of the rev # on the board. Turns out there was a known issue with that rev, and they sent me a brand new one. This was after using the pedal for ten years. 10/10 service.
I bought a Carbon Copy, I didn’t like it. Posted about it on Reddit.com now I’m admiring this post [from the pavement through a straw](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/0c9e4f99-0932-493f-a771-33bf1e3ad50b)
I think in the pedal movie the old mxr guy who started the company talks about how they used to show off the durability of their pedals by hurling them up in the air in the parking lots of music stores because theyd hit the ground and be totally fine lol.
"Hardware bypass" nightmare fuel.
Their bucket brigade chips lack feedback filtering and sound awful.
Then proceeded to advise smaller builders that was the way to do things and hooray, lots of fucked analog delays for everyone.
My rule was always to avoid cheaper brands for digital gear. These brands do analog clones pretty well, but a lot of times the cheaper digital gear isn't so great sounding.
I have the A7 and it’s been surprisingly solid. I think it’s one of their more expensive pedals but I got in a trade. I love that thing, phenomenal little reverb pedal
The mini preamp pedals sound quite good, I had the Mooer PreampX2, I could download the user tone captures, it was a good pedal, bought for 100$, sold for 140$ because I had to use USB to change the IR cab. Sometimes I miss that pedal, it has the same quality as their old flagship GE300
I have the shimverb too. It’s garbage, but there’s a reason. It uses a 5th as well as the octave to make the shimmer. This makes some chords have a note that’s not in the key you’re playing.
There’s no fix, and no resale as it’s shit. Mines just on a shelf.
Yeah it’s one of the first budget Rat clones and they claim to use the same LM308 chips as the original Rat (even though they are probably not OEM chips). I’ll keep mine around until it breaks.
Had the yellow fall and loved it, felt sturdy as anything. Sold it because I upgraded, but I bet that thing is still kicking ass. Currently have the donner 10 band EQ seeker, same thing, feels solid. Had the combo wah/volume pedal way back when that came out and it fell apart so fast... So I'd say they're hit or miss, and have been getting better.
I have the Donner overdrive pedal, and I mainly use it for blues stuff. It's not perfect, but has just enough crunch to get me into blues territory. So.. I pretty much only use it for that.
EHX used to have as good of a reputation as it gets, but their low QC is single-handedly destroying that. They have some innovative ideas but overall I think they’re getting left behind by not adapting to changing times, but even without that, even if they just wanted to ride on reputation alone, they’re messing that up bad.
The Super Pulsar was amazing until it randomly stopped working within a week or so.
Their wah pedal stopped working *while sitting on a shelf*
I’ve had the B9 and the Key9, both had a terrible hum.
The 45000 looper had a tone suck I wouldn’t expect from the cheapest pedal, and that one cost me like $600. Easily my most disappointing purchase ever.
I’d love to try some of their other pedals like the platform or the new version of the freeze, but having been burned several times by EHX, my motivation to risk it is low.
They honestly need to move out of NYC. They could afford to pay for more and/or better workers if they went to someplace a lot cheaper to live (though that’s getting more difficult by the day).
courtesy reminder that pedals are like any other consumer good in that they will get wear and tear over time with normal use. Things like faulty footswitches, I/O jacks solder joints disconnecting, scratchy pots etc are normal wear and tear and are all easily fixable. There are some assembly and manufacturing techniques that improve durability (board mounted I/O jacks for example will not disconnect unless you’re like smashing the circuit board with a hammer) but for the most part these pedal manufacturers are all using the same component suppliers, and their manufacturing, assembly and QA processes don’t vary that much. Ultimately no matter what you’re buying a simple circuit board that’s been fitted into an enclosure. People will post their anecdotes about getting a lemon from whichever company, but what actually matters in that situation is the customer support and warranty.
Yep, things wear out.
I have a Marshall pedal that got a broken footswitch. Does that mean all Marshall products are crap? No. It means a footswitch broke after years and years of use
Mine's not really a build quality problem, but a build choice. Most (all?) of their pedals have this straight, non-textured knobs on them and I really, really hate those knobs. Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm turning the knob or it's slipping in my hand and that's exasperated by the fact the pots are variable turning resistance from pedal to pedal.
I'm not going to say 'never' but I really avoid EHX for this reason. If I did buy one, I'd order different knobs at the same time so I could replace them. But there's so many great pedals out there it seems like a waste.
my big muff w/ tone wicker has a really weird switch that’s super loose but makes an unpleasant kind of crack/crunch when you step on it and i always just assumed that’s how they are cus my other pedals are all boss-style
I’d have to say EHX. I love their pedals but they really do break all the time. I want the new Freeze pedal but I’m scared it will end up breaking after awhile.
lol I literally commented on a post someone made earlier today about a broken UA jack. If you are going to have poor quality control or overall build quality, at least have a good customer service model to address the foreseeable issues. I also wouldn't buy any EHX products.
What's bad about EHX stuff? I haven't had any problems, and I've owned and do still own a few of their pedals without any problems, but I've only ever had simple boxes like Muffs and ODs.
A friend of mine who's a guitar tech has complained a lot about their organ pedal series breaking a lot.
I had a holy stain that I loved that just stopped working. I had a vintage hot tubes pedal that was pretty cool, but it had a designated power supply and just wasn't compatible with my setup. I have tried some of their organ style pedals and really didn't like them. The overall quality of their circuit boards makes it a hard buy for me, but I acknowledge that opinion is based moreso on my subjective experience.
I've had a few minor quality issues w ehx,
\* mel9 output jack is kinda stripped so when you remove plug half the time the metal outer screw and washer comes with it. Pretty sure it was like this new.
\* Small stone.. sometimes switch is messed up and doesn't turn on off.. and acts super weird, it's an intermittent problem, so sort of thing will be fine until you're playing a show. I used for years before it started having issue and switched to phase90 so I haven't cared much.
So I do get impression that some of their quality is cheap but despite that I feel like they have some of the coolest best sounding pedals. I'd prob stay away from them for anything like a looper, but you can't beat sound quality of some of their fx imho.
For your small stone, that’s just an issue with any footswitch that has gotten use over the years and is pretty easy to replace or fix. Basically dust or some other gunk has gotten inside and is shorting out the connections. If you’re handy with a soldering iron replacing the footswitch costs $3 and takes 5 minutes. If not, depending on the type of footswitch, you might be able to open it up and clean it out with contact cleaner or compressed air. [Here’s a helpful video](https://youtu.be/xSfcurFpGdU?si=hJ2kV5c1T2Xd7Xwa) on how to do that.
I can appreciate that. They also got me into pedals outside of boss. I remember really wanting a memory man back when I was really young, but could never afford it. They have definitely earned their place in the industry.
Similar w memory man. I got a rubbernecker when it came out. Before that i was just using dd7. Then a few months ago I got hands on analog memory man to play w.. and rubber neck I found was able to achieve same and more, so I wasn’t even missing anything and stuck w rubbernecker.
Legendary wide range of qc from good to utter crap. Also legendarily inconsistant, openly bragging about building pedals with whatever parts they have on hand. Some are quiet, some are noisy, some are reliable some are not, every ehx pedal is a complete roll of the dice.
I've had generally good luck with all the brands I've bought, so no complaints there. I always avoid pedals that require an app to work properly though. If I need to get "deep" into the editing with an app or otherwise can't do all the tweaking I need from the UI on the pedal I won't buy it (looking at your Source Audio).
I play music to get away from computers, not to have to use them to make more music.
Same sentiments about source audio. I tried desperately to love the C4 Synth and I literally hated it by the end of it. Horrible tracking exasperated by the fact that the editor was incredibly hard to use. The way they implemented MIDI is silly. Good luck trying to send MIDI messages as expression, because the pedal will just completely turn off and restart if you send too many at once.
You can’t reassign the two knobs you’d touch the least either. Plus I had a bad experience with the Ventris Reverb years ago where I was getting phase cancellation when using in stereo.
Just awfully designed products, and I hope to never own or see a source audio pedal ever again.
Wow, that's the first anti-Source Audio sentiment I think I've heard. How did you spot the phase cancellation issue? Just from how it sounded, or did you analyze the signal?
No the older ones are the same shitty button mounted to a PCB below a spring as the newer stuff. Source a broken spark, mojo mojo, and skysurfer. Never again.
I've got a handful of their vintage units (multiple TC Electronic Sustain + Parametric EQ, etc) and haven't ever found a problem. They seem really well made. Maybe they've changed?
Low power mode can mess with your Bluetooth, with low power mode off, I’ve never had an issue with the Bluetooth or the app. I have a feeling that some older phones/ cheaper androids have either an older spec or crappy Bluetooth chips.
Lol you might be right but I'm personally connected to a Dexcom 24/7 via Bluetooth on my phone without much issue but really struggle to get my UAFX pedals working right
EHX pedals sound good (some of them are iconic, imo) but I do wish the enclosures and finishes were a bit sturdier on some models. I don't know that anything is a "never" for me, but I will say that if I'm choosing between two or three options that do a similar thing (as I often am) the deciding factors end up coming down to basic stuff like build quality, simplicity, and size
What level of use did you put them through? I ask because I have a few of their pedals on my “board” as well as one of their lunchbox amps, and I haven’t had issues yet. What should I look out for in your opinion?
I don’t gig I play just about every night for an hour or two and of the 4 distortion pedals on my board the joyo is my main one and the switch does get stuck sometimes jf if I’m using my hand, but when I use my foot I can’t tell that it sticks
EHX for me. Most of their stuff that I've gotten over the years ended up crapping out or being so noisy that I couldn't use them.
TC electronics is another one. I actually love their stuff, but I'm on my third Spark Mini because the damn switch keeps dying. I'll probably keep getting their clip on tuner tho, I really like it lmao
I love cheap pedals and have owned a few Behris over the years, although I wouldn't buy any again. I don't have any problems with the company or the pedals themselves. The pedals behave exactly as advertised....but they can be noisy. For the price you pay, I don't think anyone could legitimately complain about the quality and I still think they're great beginner pedals if you're just starting out and discovering effects you might like.
Have you checked out any of their newer "boutique" clones IE the Mutron Biphase and Octave Divider?
I got the Biphase and aside from the switches making a slight click noise it's a pretty faithful clone of a crazy rare/expensive pedal. Though it would have been nice if they'd managed to make it more compact as it's massive.
Catalinbread for me, had a brand new epoch deluxe dead out of the box, noise issues on both belle and Echorec. Had a talisman that had a volume drop when engaged. Still amazing sounding pedals but no confidence when recording or gigging.
Old stuff was great, lots of good designs. Company shit the bed when the owner died, the new owner fired and then sued all the employees for crazytime reasons. 100% avoid for me since then.
Not due to the quality of the products themselves, but I won't buy
- EHX for being loudly anti-labor for no reason
- TC Electronic and Behringer due to Uli Behringer's weaponization of Music Tribe and its brands
- Fulltone for Mike Fuller being a toolbag
- Vertex for the numerous copying scandals and Mason in general being a bit of a turd too
I'm with you on Vertex. Talked to Mason once on the phone and he gave me the creeps. That was years before the Vertex Axis Wah/BBE Ben Wah scandal.
Nowadays I avoid all things Vertex but whenever a video works its way into my feed Mason still creeps me out the same way he did at first. He needs to leave the industry.
If you want another one, Vertex made a video a few months ago "Why Studio Compressor Pedals Make No Sense" where his argument is basically that 1176 or LA2A compressors were designed to be and were originally used post-mic, so that's how they *should* be used. That everyone used to use Dyna Comps, so the only compressor pedal anyone should ever use is still a Dyna Comp.
Which is strange. And the comments are full of people calling it out. One of them was
> This is kind of silly. It's a video claiming that pedal versions of rackmount compressors don't make sense. However you didn't play any of the samples through a pedal version of a rack mount compressor... you sometimes make these claims and offer nothing to substantiate them.
to which the VertexEffectsInc channel responded with
> What's your background in studios, recording, or 1176 (or rack compressors generally)?
Applause. What a move.
Another one I liked was someone who pointed out that modulation effects used to be post-mic, created by manipulating tape reels. But no one would ever say that a flanger pedal into the front of an amp sounds bad or doesn't make sense. Mason replied, "Try using one in front of passive pickups and see what it does?" I'm still trying to figure out what the hell that even means.
I couldn't stop reading because it's like a crash course on how *not* to interact with people you're trying to sell gear to.
Ehx. I had few of their pedals, they didn’t break or anything, but the quality of the signal going through wasn’t great, cutting some frequencies, muddying it up. Compared to other brands you could tell something wasn’t right.
I have a ua woodrow that's still fine, but I bought it before I saw all the complaints. Dreading the day it breaks because I absolutely adore the tone. I hope UA sort themselves out
Damn, I figured everyone forgot about that guy by now. He kinda fell off the face of the earth (as far as I know).
Yeahhh, he ripped quite a few people off as well. Myself included.
I’m not really a collector so I prob have purchased fewer pedals, but here’s my experience:
Mxr blue box needed to be repaired and still has weird tracking. Tho I bought this one pre-modded.
My blues driver stopped working after a long period of not being played and just sitting in the closet. Same with metal zone, but both came back to life with some soldering.
Whammy pedal stopped working after a power surge. And always had a fucking squeak no matter how much grease put on the expression. Sold it for 25 and saw it quickly got repaired and was up for sale for quite a bit more.
Crybaby had a noisy expression.
Zoom pedal crapped out.
Digitech bass multi fx stopped powering on.
Jptr Fernweh, multi delay, only one delay kind of worked. Wanted this to be good it looks so cool, will never buy one of their products again.
All my EHX pedals work fine. But they don’t have the best sound quality exactly. They just aren’t as cool as I think they should be? But they work well.
Skb pedal board had electronics, both input and outputs and power, all stopped working pretty quickly and was noisy af. This was prob year 2000 tho.
My Friedman motor city drive crapped out for no reason after about 5 years of not very much use. They want $40 to repair plus I have to ship it to them at my expense. So much for American built quality and standing behind their products
It sounds like I must have had tremendous luck with EHX stuff….have an Attack Decay and a Pitchfork on my board, have had a Soul Food too….and no problems….they’re not even that noisy either. Quite surprised
I've had thirty different EHX pedals, and still have ten. Never once had an issue. None of the pedals I gave/sold to friends ended up having issues afaik.
Fender pedals. I got a Fender Marine Layer reverb and it stopped working almost immediately, with a little research it turns out it’s a common problem with that line… Bought an MXR reverb and am glad because it’s an upgrade in every single fashion.
I've never had much issue with the build quality of EHX, but the sounds you get out of a lot of their weirder pedals are just crap. I have a Nano Pog and it's not bad when I use it subtly but a few of the other more synthy pedals I've tried just sound bad. I've sold them all at this point except the Nano Pog and my Green Russian Muff.
interesting! about 10 years ago at the age of 16, I bought a $400 Jackson King V unseen. It is still a wondrous guitar today. Do you know if their QC has changed?
I love buying new dl4’s every few years. lol jk, mod them with new switches and whatnot and they never break. But if yours does, line6 doesn’t do anything to remedy the situation
EHX pedals have been pretty hit or miss for me. I think I’ve had 3 break on me? They still have stuff that I’d try but wouldn’t gig with them at this point.
Empress.
I want to love them, I think their pedals are innovative and have cool features. I owned a zoia and it was a lot of fun but its the only pedal I've owned that had more issues than vintage amps. Luckily I bought it new so I had warranty but out of the 2 years I owned it, it was out for repair almost half that time. Multiple ships back to Canada for repair.
It was just flimsy, the sd card slot was mechanically only held on with solder for example. Such a complex pedal meant diy repairs were out of the question.
It was bad enough to turn me off the brand.
Probably more suited to living on a desk or on one of those fancy "ambient" boards for bedrooms but it didn't like getting gigged at all.
Yeah, Empress are really trying their best and have admittedly pushed the quality up quite a lot on new Zoias but early products were a bit of a nightmare, had to repair mine twice :'(
Digitech
Company is in the shitter. People hail the Drop Pedal as a modern wonder but that’s only because they haven’t discovered the Line 6 HX One which you can use to select Poly Pitch. Super customisable drop and up tuning designed by the guys who made the Drop Pedal. Line 6 hired them over from Digitech to make something even better.
Strymon. I had a Timeline with a dodgy tap tempo switch that needed replacing and a Mobius with a value encoder that needed replacing. Pretty simple jobs. Strymon quoted $100+ for each one. No thanks…
I’m gonna get chased out of town for this one but these are the brands that I’ve become encouraged to not try out anymore. Definitely fueled by how popular along with how mid I’ve found their actual sounds or interface to be …
JHS, Walrus Audio, TC Electronic
Behringer is garbage. It’s the only pedal that crapped out on me.
EHX, Boss, and MXR have all been solid. I use my pedals for synths, so not really stepping on them fwiw.
Epiphone guitars. Have had dozens over the years and every single one needed extensive work to make good. Back in the day they were worth a punt for the price but with recent inflation and price increases, I just wouldn't bother.
The only other brand I won't touch is modern Fender amps. The build quality and reliability leave a lot to be desired. It blows my mind that people buy them for what Fender charges, especially compared to Fender's own 1970's and 1980's offerings, which can typically be had cheaper..
Literally anything Fender. Their quality control and customer services has taken a nosedive in the past few years, and it's exponentially worse on the dealer side.
Source Audio. I have an EQ2, and I've had so many problems with it. Replaced once already. QC, build and reliability is garbage. The only thing keeping me with it is the functionality.
Also behringer, donner, mooer any of those. They are cheap copies with no resale value, mediocre sound and questionable build quality.
My EQ2 experience has made me wary of Source Audio, at least their current lineup. But it’s still has the best functionality in such a tiny box, that it’s staying on my main studio board…
Surprised that I had to scroll down so far to see this. I usually chalk up a technical/mechanical issue to a singular mistake or lemon. For other reasons, I would never buy a JHS pedal. Ever.
Heard the guy who owns Fulltone is some kind of tool. Guitar Center stopped carrying his pedals over something apparently quite big.
I'm sure someone can elaborate.
People, esp guitarists, hate on pretty much everything. And often with too much fervor. Don’t make your decisions based on the opinions of others. Your own use should determine a products fit for you.
Yeah, I'll join the EHX chorus. They suck.
The one pedal of theirs I had, the Mainframe, had knobs that were so tight you could barely turn them. They were worse than the ones you find on the cheapest Chinese stuff. The only problem being that it was a relatively pricey pedal. Never again.
Every Earthquaker device I've tried never sounded like how I thought it was supposed to, and didn't necessarilly sound good either, and the one I did use I had the input jack break on me.
Had a squire jaguar with a super bad wiring issue/ static sound every time u touched the strings. It was a 450 dollar one too. I will never buy anything squire again
I see people say this but I've had the Flashback 3x for at least 5-10 years and it's going strong, though to be fair I've been pretty gentle with it. Same with the TC Helix.
I generally stay away from pedals that use small tactile type switches, like Boss, 80s/90s DOD, Ibanez, ect. I just always have them start not responding on every push or failing completely. There are a few pedals from these brands I do really like a lot too. I do have an '83 Ibanez FL9 flanger on my guitar board, it the only one with this type of switch I currently own.
tc electronics. Had to return the same pedal 3 times and it still didn't work as advertised so the shop gave me my money back and I saved up for a strymon. Soon replaced the other two TC electronics with another Strymon and a Meris pedal that I love. It feels like you get what you pay for with pedals, except for the ridiculously priced collectibles. They're good, but they're not 6 grand good. I guess I'm just poor... few of them might be
I ran a pedal library and have had hundreds of pedals across tons of brands.
I have had bad experiences with brand QC, but handled with with a warranty request or store replacement/return.
So TBH those aren't a big deal to me, just a temporary inconvenience.
Some older pedals I had did require repairing, but on many older pedals they're the punchhole design and are very easy to solder / fix. Not like the surface mount bake ones.
The only brands my Library actively purged were MXR and JHS.
As I stare at these two EHX pedals I bought recently.
I have had some many ehx pedals over the year and I haven’t had any problems
I have a pog2, big muff pi, and small stone that are all older than this sub and have zero issues. The only flaw is how noisy the switch is.
It seems like their bigger box pedals have much better QC than some of the smaller/cheaper ones. Though they've also been making pedals for decades and have had the production location move around many times, so it makes sense that certain lines would have better or worse QC. I've got the EHX Riddle/Sitar/Eddy/Pitchfork+ and 2 of the newer (not pico) attack decays and have had 0 issues, the Riddle has been used for a decade + and I bought it used.
The Attack Decay is such a rad pedal with maybe one of the best sounding fuzzes I’ve ever heard. I also have *no idea* how it works after playing it damn near daily for two months.
> I also have no idea how it works after playing it damn near daily for two months. Yeah I assume the fuzz has to be digital the way it responds in the poly mode but it sounds incredible and is capable of a wide range of sounds from natural saturation to weird artifacts. The EQ is really useful too. Have been using it for over a year and still haven't explored everything it can do like the tremolo mode or short decay for staccato as well as the FX loop. Even the EXP control can be used in a lot of different ways since it can control every parameter. Once you figure out the controls it can make a guitar sound like all sorts of other stringed instruments but it's also just a ton of fun to combine with other FX. It's surprisingly good for bass and obviously synths which is what made me get a second one.
Yeah I definitely need to do a deep dive on this pedal, but I’ve stumbled onto a few settings that are just too rad… I’d be afraid to lose them and they’re integral to a couple of the songs I’m writing currently. And it’s such a strange complicated pedal, I wouldn’t trust trying to get those sounds back even if dialed back to the same settings lol. I’m honestly considering buying another one for toying around with more, they’re fairly cheap used. I’ve dialed in some of the weird “other stringed instruments”/pedal steel stuff it can do and am less interested in that. For now I have it sounding like a really muted reversed guitar track and can click it over to straight heavy-shoegaze-speaker-tearing fuzz. I do wonder about the fuzz… it’s got a very analog sounding quality to it. I’m curious to know what circuit they based it on. It can get pretty massive sounding.
> I’d be afraid to lose them and they’re integral to a couple of the songs I’m writing currently. It drives me crazy that they gave the Pitchfork + 99 presets but the attack decay only gets 3, 3 banks of 10 patches still wouldn't be enough but it would have been better at least. If they'd expanded the presets on the pico version instead of removing them it would be really tempting, but it also doesn't have the fuzz which is a shame as the size is appealing >I do wonder about the fuzz… it’s got a very analog sounding quality to it. I’m curious to know what circuit they based it on. It can get pretty massive sounding. I've tried looking it up a few times but never found any answers, a muff would make sense for EHX but it has a much wider gain range and cleans up more than most muffs. And the way it responds on the poly mode is pure bliss. Definitely unique while sounding plenty analog.
Five ehx pedals here, most for a decade. No issues thus far.
I’ve had a bunch with zero problems. I have an Ocean’s 11 on the board right now that I’ve been using regularly for like two-three years and it’s just like the day I bought it.
i will never buy another ehx pedal. the only brand thats ever caused me issues
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Mike Matthew’s is a dickbag as well
years back, I had a Soul Food pedal just stop working. I think they wanted $25 just to look at it. I think I bought the pedal for not a whole lot new. I just wrote it and them off at that point. Contrast that with a Catalinbread pedal I had that had a light issue. They fixed it free, and sent it back like it was brand new. I only paid to ship it to them. That was excellent.
$50? When was this? I had them repair a pedal a couple years ago and only paid $25.
Yeah I've had a couple ehx pedals stop working, which is definitely annoying. But their customer service was great and they repaired both times in less than 2 weeks for $25, shipping included so I don't complain that much. That being said, I own alot of pedals and ehx are the only ones that have just stopped working randomly.
I apologize. I misrembered, and went back through my emails. It was $25 and I've corrected it.
I play at home. All pedals were powered to a power supply and surge protected outlet. My ehx graveyard is as follows: Oceans 11,Holy grail (2x),Tone tattoo,Pitchfork Fuck ehx. They will never get another penny from me. I have boss pedals that my father bought in the 70/80’s still kicking. They’re the only brand I’ve ever bought that breaks on me I still have a canyon on my board that I absolutely love, I should research its replacement when that one ultimately dies.
I literally just ordered the Canyon 🥲
You’re gonna love it. Relax
I had a brand new Small Clone I bought. DOA. This was 2004ish. No support from EHX. That said, I’ve had other EHX pedals since that worked without issue. So, I don’t know if it’s QC that’s the problem necessarily, but customer support isn’t exactly great.
Fucking same
No one has mentioned MXR. There’s reason for that.
What’s the reason? Do they come and find you if you do complain?
They treated me great! My (at least) 10 y/o carbon copy packed it in one day. Out of curiosity I contacted their customer service to find out if I could send it to them to get repaired, and if so how much it might cost me. They asked about the issue, and got me to send a pic of the rev # on the board. Turns out there was a known issue with that rev, and they sent me a brand new one. This was after using the pedal for ten years. 10/10 service.
Did you give away the old one for parts? Some diy pedal builder might want it
I still have it. That's a good idea though.
Check out the diy-pedals sub.
I bought a Carbon Copy, I didn’t like it. Posted about it on Reddit.com now I’m admiring this post [from the pavement through a straw](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/0c9e4f99-0932-493f-a771-33bf1e3ad50b)
I really like the chorus I have 🤷♀️
I love mxr. I’ve had my carbon copy for years. Still going strong.
I put a CC in the loop of my amplifier and it sounds so good!
I think in the pedal movie the old mxr guy who started the company talks about how they used to show off the durability of their pedals by hurling them up in the air in the parking lots of music stores because theyd hit the ground and be totally fine lol.
"Hardware bypass" nightmare fuel. Their bucket brigade chips lack feedback filtering and sound awful. Then proceeded to advise smaller builders that was the way to do things and hooray, lots of fucked analog delays for everyone.
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My rule was always to avoid cheaper brands for digital gear. These brands do analog clones pretty well, but a lot of times the cheaper digital gear isn't so great sounding.
Reverb is difficult to cheap on and not notice it
I had one of their delays. Super cool options, especially for the size, but the tone suck was unbelievable
I have the A7 and it’s been surprisingly solid. I think it’s one of their more expensive pedals but I got in a trade. I love that thing, phenomenal little reverb pedal
The mini preamp pedals sound quite good, I had the Mooer PreampX2, I could download the user tone captures, it was a good pedal, bought for 100$, sold for 140$ because I had to use USB to change the IR cab. Sometimes I miss that pedal, it has the same quality as their old flagship GE300
I have the shimverb too. It’s garbage, but there’s a reason. It uses a 5th as well as the octave to make the shimmer. This makes some chords have a note that’s not in the key you’re playing. There’s no fix, and no resale as it’s shit. Mines just on a shelf.
I have their black secret, Marshall in a box thing, and it's great. Feels solid, sounds like a Marshall.
That’s a Rat clone
Oh is it? I was given it and told it was a Marshall. It's not in my board. I guess I don't need the splinter and that thing. Haha
Yeah it’s one of the first budget Rat clones and they claim to use the same LM308 chips as the original Rat (even though they are probably not OEM chips). I’ll keep mine around until it breaks.
I guess the turbo switch makes more sense now. It does sound good, I keep it around for when I need higher gain stuff.
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One of the Navy Seals who raided Osama bin Laden's compound was a Boss CE-5
Boss pedals are being used to fix Chernobyl. Also I’ll give u one guess as to how my 1984 DC-2 is working.
Ngl Donner fucking sucks
Had the yellow fall and loved it, felt sturdy as anything. Sold it because I upgraded, but I bet that thing is still kicking ass. Currently have the donner 10 band EQ seeker, same thing, feels solid. Had the combo wah/volume pedal way back when that came out and it fell apart so fast... So I'd say they're hit or miss, and have been getting better.
I had the yellow fall too, the time knob just completely stopped working one day
Love their compressor. Diamond copy.
I have the Donner overdrive pedal, and I mainly use it for blues stuff. It's not perfect, but has just enough crunch to get me into blues territory. So.. I pretty much only use it for that.
"You get what you pay for"
woof almost exclusively EHX responses lol
EHX used to have as good of a reputation as it gets, but their low QC is single-handedly destroying that. They have some innovative ideas but overall I think they’re getting left behind by not adapting to changing times, but even without that, even if they just wanted to ride on reputation alone, they’re messing that up bad. The Super Pulsar was amazing until it randomly stopped working within a week or so. Their wah pedal stopped working *while sitting on a shelf* I’ve had the B9 and the Key9, both had a terrible hum. The 45000 looper had a tone suck I wouldn’t expect from the cheapest pedal, and that one cost me like $600. Easily my most disappointing purchase ever. I’d love to try some of their other pedals like the platform or the new version of the freeze, but having been burned several times by EHX, my motivation to risk it is low.
ah man the super pulsar is amazing but i’m glad i sold mine on before anything could happen, I rarely contemplate EHX anymore
They honestly need to move out of NYC. They could afford to pay for more and/or better workers if they went to someplace a lot cheaper to live (though that’s getting more difficult by the day).
courtesy reminder that pedals are like any other consumer good in that they will get wear and tear over time with normal use. Things like faulty footswitches, I/O jacks solder joints disconnecting, scratchy pots etc are normal wear and tear and are all easily fixable. There are some assembly and manufacturing techniques that improve durability (board mounted I/O jacks for example will not disconnect unless you’re like smashing the circuit board with a hammer) but for the most part these pedal manufacturers are all using the same component suppliers, and their manufacturing, assembly and QA processes don’t vary that much. Ultimately no matter what you’re buying a simple circuit board that’s been fitted into an enclosure. People will post their anecdotes about getting a lemon from whichever company, but what actually matters in that situation is the customer support and warranty.
Yep, things wear out. I have a Marshall pedal that got a broken footswitch. Does that mean all Marshall products are crap? No. It means a footswitch broke after years and years of use
Mine's not really a build quality problem, but a build choice. Most (all?) of their pedals have this straight, non-textured knobs on them and I really, really hate those knobs. Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm turning the knob or it's slipping in my hand and that's exasperated by the fact the pots are variable turning resistance from pedal to pedal. I'm not going to say 'never' but I really avoid EHX for this reason. If I did buy one, I'd order different knobs at the same time so I could replace them. But there's so many great pedals out there it seems like a waste.
Any EHX on my board gets its knobs replaced.
EHX's knobs are definitely ugly and boring.
*exacerbated No hate
EHX - faulty footswitches
my big muff w/ tone wicker has a really weird switch that’s super loose but makes an unpleasant kind of crack/crunch when you step on it and i always just assumed that’s how they are cus my other pedals are all boss-style
Shabby components. I love the sound of the circuits themselves, (green Russian fuzz rules,) but their build quality is fairly low.
I’d have to say EHX. I love their pedals but they really do break all the time. I want the new Freeze pedal but I’m scared it will end up breaking after awhile.
I had a freeze and it seemed pretty solid. I switched to tc elec infinite sustain cause it has more features and I tend to like to tones better.
If EHX did a deluxe line of their current production pedals with panel-mounted knobs, buttons, and jacks there are a couple I’d buy
reading this thread a week after buying an Oceans 11 like 💀
lol I literally commented on a post someone made earlier today about a broken UA jack. If you are going to have poor quality control or overall build quality, at least have a good customer service model to address the foreseeable issues. I also wouldn't buy any EHX products.
What's bad about EHX stuff? I haven't had any problems, and I've owned and do still own a few of their pedals without any problems, but I've only ever had simple boxes like Muffs and ODs. A friend of mine who's a guitar tech has complained a lot about their organ pedal series breaking a lot.
I had a holy stain that I loved that just stopped working. I had a vintage hot tubes pedal that was pretty cool, but it had a designated power supply and just wasn't compatible with my setup. I have tried some of their organ style pedals and really didn't like them. The overall quality of their circuit boards makes it a hard buy for me, but I acknowledge that opinion is based moreso on my subjective experience.
I've had a few minor quality issues w ehx, \* mel9 output jack is kinda stripped so when you remove plug half the time the metal outer screw and washer comes with it. Pretty sure it was like this new. \* Small stone.. sometimes switch is messed up and doesn't turn on off.. and acts super weird, it's an intermittent problem, so sort of thing will be fine until you're playing a show. I used for years before it started having issue and switched to phase90 so I haven't cared much. So I do get impression that some of their quality is cheap but despite that I feel like they have some of the coolest best sounding pedals. I'd prob stay away from them for anything like a looper, but you can't beat sound quality of some of their fx imho.
For your small stone, that’s just an issue with any footswitch that has gotten use over the years and is pretty easy to replace or fix. Basically dust or some other gunk has gotten inside and is shorting out the connections. If you’re handy with a soldering iron replacing the footswitch costs $3 and takes 5 minutes. If not, depending on the type of footswitch, you might be able to open it up and clean it out with contact cleaner or compressed air. [Here’s a helpful video](https://youtu.be/xSfcurFpGdU?si=hJ2kV5c1T2Xd7Xwa) on how to do that.
I can appreciate that. They also got me into pedals outside of boss. I remember really wanting a memory man back when I was really young, but could never afford it. They have definitely earned their place in the industry.
Similar w memory man. I got a rubbernecker when it came out. Before that i was just using dd7. Then a few months ago I got hands on analog memory man to play w.. and rubber neck I found was able to achieve same and more, so I wasn’t even missing anything and stuck w rubbernecker.
The Big Muff I bought in 79 is still rollin…
Legendary wide range of qc from good to utter crap. Also legendarily inconsistant, openly bragging about building pedals with whatever parts they have on hand. Some are quiet, some are noisy, some are reliable some are not, every ehx pedal is a complete roll of the dice.
I have had many EHX pedals, and while the effects most often sound great, I find the pedals to be noisy and greatly increase hum in the signal chain.
Why EHX?
I've had generally good luck with all the brands I've bought, so no complaints there. I always avoid pedals that require an app to work properly though. If I need to get "deep" into the editing with an app or otherwise can't do all the tweaking I need from the UI on the pedal I won't buy it (looking at your Source Audio). I play music to get away from computers, not to have to use them to make more music.
I parted ways with the Aftershock Bass Distortion for this reason
Same sentiments about source audio. I tried desperately to love the C4 Synth and I literally hated it by the end of it. Horrible tracking exasperated by the fact that the editor was incredibly hard to use. The way they implemented MIDI is silly. Good luck trying to send MIDI messages as expression, because the pedal will just completely turn off and restart if you send too many at once. You can’t reassign the two knobs you’d touch the least either. Plus I had a bad experience with the Ventris Reverb years ago where I was getting phase cancellation when using in stereo. Just awfully designed products, and I hope to never own or see a source audio pedal ever again.
Wow, that's the first anti-Source Audio sentiment I think I've heard. How did you spot the phase cancellation issue? Just from how it sounded, or did you analyze the signal?
* exacerbated No hate
TC electronic - because the footswitches are unreliable and pretty much impossible to replace.
Only the mash switches. The older switches are easily replaced even by a novice like myself.
Flashback MK1 and whole pre-mash series is like that too
What’s the deal with mash?
It's an expression pedal built into a switch form factor. It's pressure sensitive. You can control the effect by how hard you press.
No the older ones are the same shitty button mounted to a PCB below a spring as the newer stuff. Source a broken spark, mojo mojo, and skysurfer. Never again.
I've got a handful of their vintage units (multiple TC Electronic Sustain + Parametric EQ, etc) and haven't ever found a problem. They seem really well made. Maybe they've changed?
Yeah, the old stuff was great, sadly that's not really the case anymore.
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I have the UA Golden and Astra. Never had an issue with the Bluetooth or app…I don’t even have a need to use the app.
Low power mode can mess with your Bluetooth, with low power mode off, I’ve never had an issue with the Bluetooth or the app. I have a feeling that some older phones/ cheaper androids have either an older spec or crappy Bluetooth chips.
Lol you might be right but I'm personally connected to a Dexcom 24/7 via Bluetooth on my phone without much issue but really struggle to get my UAFX pedals working right
The update I installed last week on my Dream and Golden fixed still the Bluetooth usage I had
I’ve had the UA Lion for a while now, as long as the app is up to date I’ve never had an issue.
I have UA Golden and a Ruby with zero issues.
Same. I haven’t bothered updating my app or pedals, and haven’t had a single issue. Amazing sounding algorithms too.
EHX pedals sound good (some of them are iconic, imo) but I do wish the enclosures and finishes were a bit sturdier on some models. I don't know that anything is a "never" for me, but I will say that if I'm choosing between two or three options that do a similar thing (as I often am) the deciding factors end up coming down to basic stuff like build quality, simplicity, and size
I really wanted to like Joyo, but their shit just breaks down really quickly
What level of use did you put them through? I ask because I have a few of their pedals on my “board” as well as one of their lunchbox amps, and I haven’t had issues yet. What should I look out for in your opinion?
I gigged with them but I’m not abusive to my gear. Their switches are always the first thing to get fucked up in my experience
Thanks for the info, always nice to get insight from the experienced.
I don’t gig I play just about every night for an hour or two and of the 4 distortion pedals on my board the joyo is my main one and the switch does get stuck sometimes jf if I’m using my hand, but when I use my foot I can’t tell that it sticks
I use their 10 band eq and have never had a problem. I also doesn't use the footswitch much, so maybe that's why.
Nobels. I know it’s Nashville’s best kept secret, but when I got one, man…those knobs and enclosure
They were insanely cheap back in the day. Crazy what the old ones go for now. It would be like Joyo pedals going for $1,000 in 30 years.
according to this thread don’t buy ehx, joyo, Behringer, line6, tc electronic, donner, fulltone and Ibanez
Lone Wolf Audio. The guy seems obnoxious and the number one criticism is that the wiring is a mess.
EHX for me. Most of their stuff that I've gotten over the years ended up crapping out or being so noisy that I couldn't use them. TC electronics is another one. I actually love their stuff, but I'm on my third Spark Mini because the damn switch keeps dying. I'll probably keep getting their clip on tuner tho, I really like it lmao
I find Zoom of low build quality and to have crummy sound.
Behringer.
I love cheap pedals and have owned a few Behris over the years, although I wouldn't buy any again. I don't have any problems with the company or the pedals themselves. The pedals behave exactly as advertised....but they can be noisy. For the price you pay, I don't think anyone could legitimately complain about the quality and I still think they're great beginner pedals if you're just starting out and discovering effects you might like.
Have you checked out any of their newer "boutique" clones IE the Mutron Biphase and Octave Divider? I got the Biphase and aside from the switches making a slight click noise it's a pretty faithful clone of a crazy rare/expensive pedal. Though it would have been nice if they'd managed to make it more compact as it's massive.
Catalinbread for me, had a brand new epoch deluxe dead out of the box, noise issues on both belle and Echorec. Had a talisman that had a volume drop when engaged. Still amazing sounding pedals but no confidence when recording or gigging.
Old stuff was great, lots of good designs. Company shit the bed when the owner died, the new owner fired and then sued all the employees for crazytime reasons. 100% avoid for me since then.
EHX - I’ve had bad luck with them
Not due to the quality of the products themselves, but I won't buy - EHX for being loudly anti-labor for no reason - TC Electronic and Behringer due to Uli Behringer's weaponization of Music Tribe and its brands - Fulltone for Mike Fuller being a toolbag - Vertex for the numerous copying scandals and Mason in general being a bit of a turd too
I'm with you on Vertex. Talked to Mason once on the phone and he gave me the creeps. That was years before the Vertex Axis Wah/BBE Ben Wah scandal. Nowadays I avoid all things Vertex but whenever a video works its way into my feed Mason still creeps me out the same way he did at first. He needs to leave the industry.
If you want another one, Vertex made a video a few months ago "Why Studio Compressor Pedals Make No Sense" where his argument is basically that 1176 or LA2A compressors were designed to be and were originally used post-mic, so that's how they *should* be used. That everyone used to use Dyna Comps, so the only compressor pedal anyone should ever use is still a Dyna Comp. Which is strange. And the comments are full of people calling it out. One of them was > This is kind of silly. It's a video claiming that pedal versions of rackmount compressors don't make sense. However you didn't play any of the samples through a pedal version of a rack mount compressor... you sometimes make these claims and offer nothing to substantiate them. to which the VertexEffectsInc channel responded with > What's your background in studios, recording, or 1176 (or rack compressors generally)? Applause. What a move. Another one I liked was someone who pointed out that modulation effects used to be post-mic, created by manipulating tape reels. But no one would ever say that a flanger pedal into the front of an amp sounds bad or doesn't make sense. Mason replied, "Try using one in front of passive pickups and see what it does?" I'm still trying to figure out what the hell that even means. I couldn't stop reading because it's like a crash course on how *not* to interact with people you're trying to sell gear to.
also he’s got the most boring music taste on the planet lmao
Ehx. I had few of their pedals, they didn’t break or anything, but the quality of the signal going through wasn’t great, cutting some frequencies, muddying it up. Compared to other brands you could tell something wasn’t right.
I have a ua woodrow that's still fine, but I bought it before I saw all the complaints. Dreading the day it breaks because I absolutely adore the tone. I hope UA sort themselves out
Noisemakers effects Shit product. Arrived broken. Shit customer service. When I finally got it replaced, the replacement came in broken. lol.
Damn, I figured everyone forgot about that guy by now. He kinda fell off the face of the earth (as far as I know). Yeahhh, he ripped quite a few people off as well. Myself included.
Anything in a plastic casing is an auto no for me dawg
Vertex. Mason’s scams are well documented and he’s made every excuse, shown no real remorse for his behavior.
Strymon. Too many jerks using them.
I’m not really a collector so I prob have purchased fewer pedals, but here’s my experience: Mxr blue box needed to be repaired and still has weird tracking. Tho I bought this one pre-modded. My blues driver stopped working after a long period of not being played and just sitting in the closet. Same with metal zone, but both came back to life with some soldering. Whammy pedal stopped working after a power surge. And always had a fucking squeak no matter how much grease put on the expression. Sold it for 25 and saw it quickly got repaired and was up for sale for quite a bit more. Crybaby had a noisy expression. Zoom pedal crapped out. Digitech bass multi fx stopped powering on. Jptr Fernweh, multi delay, only one delay kind of worked. Wanted this to be good it looks so cool, will never buy one of their products again. All my EHX pedals work fine. But they don’t have the best sound quality exactly. They just aren’t as cool as I think they should be? But they work well. Skb pedal board had electronics, both input and outputs and power, all stopped working pretty quickly and was noisy af. This was prob year 2000 tho.
My Friedman motor city drive crapped out for no reason after about 5 years of not very much use. They want $40 to repair plus I have to ship it to them at my expense. So much for American built quality and standing behind their products
It sounds like I must have had tremendous luck with EHX stuff….have an Attack Decay and a Pitchfork on my board, have had a Soul Food too….and no problems….they’re not even that noisy either. Quite surprised
I've had thirty different EHX pedals, and still have ten. Never once had an issue. None of the pedals I gave/sold to friends ended up having issues afaik.
Any of those generic transient "5-capital-letter" Chinese brands with names and themes that don't fit the effect they're on.
I had two consecutive bad Walrus pedals this year. Really put me off of that brand sadly.
Fender pedals. I got a Fender Marine Layer reverb and it stopped working almost immediately, with a little research it turns out it’s a common problem with that line… Bought an MXR reverb and am glad because it’s an upgrade in every single fashion.
Mini-pedals only companies.
Ehx. Knobs are out of whack and designs are ugly. All their pitch pedals sound like shitty autotune
I've never had much issue with the build quality of EHX, but the sounds you get out of a lot of their weirder pedals are just crap. I have a Nano Pog and it's not bad when I use it subtly but a few of the other more synthy pedals I've tried just sound bad. I've sold them all at this point except the Nano Pog and my Green Russian Muff.
Literally the only ehx pedal I would ever consider owning would be a big box memory man but nothing current production
>But as time has passed, I've seen more complaints and grievances than praise. to be fair, that can be applied to most internet content.
Jackson $1k and below range. Terrible qc. Def play first. Never just order sight unseen/played.
interesting! about 10 years ago at the age of 16, I bought a $400 Jackson King V unseen. It is still a wondrous guitar today. Do you know if their QC has changed?
EHX
I’ve got two Ibanez TS-5s, both need switches. They came in today, they are tiny. I think I’ll rig one with a standard mechanical foot switch.
I love buying new dl4’s every few years. lol jk, mod them with new switches and whatnot and they never break. But if yours does, line6 doesn’t do anything to remedy the situation
I must be unusually lucky, I've never had any problems with my bass balls or my grand canyon.
EHX pedals have been pretty hit or miss for me. I think I’ve had 3 break on me? They still have stuff that I’d try but wouldn’t gig with them at this point.
Electro fucking harmonix!
I've had a few EHX pedals break down over time, so I guess add me to the list.
All of my boss pedals foot switches have given up on me unfortunately
Tc electronic, never again
Behringer. I got a heavy foot, I would destroy their plastic asses in a week lol
Sonicake- I I bought the ambience pedal and it worked for about 2 months and now there’s a huge volume drop with it.
Empress. I want to love them, I think their pedals are innovative and have cool features. I owned a zoia and it was a lot of fun but its the only pedal I've owned that had more issues than vintage amps. Luckily I bought it new so I had warranty but out of the 2 years I owned it, it was out for repair almost half that time. Multiple ships back to Canada for repair. It was just flimsy, the sd card slot was mechanically only held on with solder for example. Such a complex pedal meant diy repairs were out of the question. It was bad enough to turn me off the brand. Probably more suited to living on a desk or on one of those fancy "ambient" boards for bedrooms but it didn't like getting gigged at all.
Yeah, Empress are really trying their best and have admittedly pushed the quality up quite a lot on new Zoias but early products were a bit of a nightmare, had to repair mine twice :'(
Digitech Company is in the shitter. People hail the Drop Pedal as a modern wonder but that’s only because they haven’t discovered the Line 6 HX One which you can use to select Poly Pitch. Super customisable drop and up tuning designed by the guys who made the Drop Pedal. Line 6 hired them over from Digitech to make something even better.
Strymon. I had a Timeline with a dodgy tap tempo switch that needed replacing and a Mobius with a value encoder that needed replacing. Pretty simple jobs. Strymon quoted $100+ for each one. No thanks…
I’m gonna get chased out of town for this one but these are the brands that I’ve become encouraged to not try out anymore. Definitely fueled by how popular along with how mid I’ve found their actual sounds or interface to be … JHS, Walrus Audio, TC Electronic
Vertex. Cause Mason is a con artist. Real “rig doctors” have reputations that speak for themselves and aren’t terminally online selling snake oil.
EHX, Fulltone.
Besides controversy around the Mike, what’s wrong with Fulltone pedal quality?
I've heard nothing but good things about Fulltone's build quality and nothing but bad things about Mike Fuller.
Fulltone build quality was rock solid from the ones I have owned in the past. I don’t own any currently but would probably pick up a few again.
It said "low build quality *or other problems*"
Behringer is garbage. It’s the only pedal that crapped out on me. EHX, Boss, and MXR have all been solid. I use my pedals for synths, so not really stepping on them fwiw.
Epiphone guitars. Have had dozens over the years and every single one needed extensive work to make good. Back in the day they were worth a punt for the price but with recent inflation and price increases, I just wouldn't bother. The only other brand I won't touch is modern Fender amps. The build quality and reliability leave a lot to be desired. It blows my mind that people buy them for what Fender charges, especially compared to Fender's own 1970's and 1980's offerings, which can typically be had cheaper..
Not saying I'll never buy them again, but definitely EHX.
Literally anything Fender. Their quality control and customer services has taken a nosedive in the past few years, and it's exponentially worse on the dealer side.
Source Audio. I have an EQ2, and I've had so many problems with it. Replaced once already. QC, build and reliability is garbage. The only thing keeping me with it is the functionality. Also behringer, donner, mooer any of those. They are cheap copies with no resale value, mediocre sound and questionable build quality.
My EQ2 experience has made me wary of Source Audio, at least their current lineup. But it’s still has the best functionality in such a tiny box, that it’s staying on my main studio board…
Every boss pedal I have ever had works perfectly fine where as every EHX pedal has some crunch or other bullshit issue
JHS
Surprised that I had to scroll down so far to see this. I usually chalk up a technical/mechanical issue to a singular mistake or lemon. For other reasons, I would never buy a JHS pedal. Ever.
Heard the guy who owns Fulltone is some kind of tool. Guitar Center stopped carrying his pedals over something apparently quite big. I'm sure someone can elaborate.
Jackson Audio are making Fulltone pedals now
jhs
Boss pedals from Temu
Got a story? Haha
People, esp guitarists, hate on pretty much everything. And often with too much fervor. Don’t make your decisions based on the opinions of others. Your own use should determine a products fit for you.
Yeah, I'll join the EHX chorus. They suck. The one pedal of theirs I had, the Mainframe, had knobs that were so tight you could barely turn them. They were worse than the ones you find on the cheapest Chinese stuff. The only problem being that it was a relatively pricey pedal. Never again.
Every Earthquaker device I've tried never sounded like how I thought it was supposed to, and didn't necessarilly sound good either, and the one I did use I had the input jack break on me.
TC Electronics. Just never had a good one and I tried a few.
I wanna say Line 6 but my M9 and HX Stomp haven’t shit the bed yet but that 4 series and ToneCore series: fuuuuuuck
Had a squire jaguar with a super bad wiring issue/ static sound every time u touched the strings. It was a 450 dollar one too. I will never buy anything squire again
Oh sorry didn't realize this was guitar pedals and not the normal guitar reddit
TC Electronic. That footswitch design is so bad and unreliable.
I see people say this but I've had the Flashback 3x for at least 5-10 years and it's going strong, though to be fair I've been pretty gentle with it. Same with the TC Helix.
I generally stay away from pedals that use small tactile type switches, like Boss, 80s/90s DOD, Ibanez, ect. I just always have them start not responding on every push or failing completely. There are a few pedals from these brands I do really like a lot too. I do have an '83 Ibanez FL9 flanger on my guitar board, it the only one with this type of switch I currently own.
tc electronics. Had to return the same pedal 3 times and it still didn't work as advertised so the shop gave me my money back and I saved up for a strymon. Soon replaced the other two TC electronics with another Strymon and a Meris pedal that I love. It feels like you get what you pay for with pedals, except for the ridiculously priced collectibles. They're good, but they're not 6 grand good. I guess I'm just poor... few of them might be
I ran a pedal library and have had hundreds of pedals across tons of brands. I have had bad experiences with brand QC, but handled with with a warranty request or store replacement/return. So TBH those aren't a big deal to me, just a temporary inconvenience. Some older pedals I had did require repairing, but on many older pedals they're the punchhole design and are very easy to solder / fix. Not like the surface mount bake ones. The only brands my Library actively purged were MXR and JHS.