Has peak pedal been reached?

jp_nyc

Kick Henry Jackassowski
Has the pedal industry peaked? It seems like in the last few months people’s enthusiasm for pedals has careened. And it seems like most of the pedals being released now are rehashes of rehashes—a bright version of a delay, stacked reverbs, fourth-generation muff derivatives, old chips in pedals with new knob names and graphics, and clones of clones of Klons. Is this just a normal summer lull before the xmas push, or have the pedal pushers run out of ideas that can get people to open their wallets?
 
The market will only support so many flavors of drive or delay no matter how good they are. It unfortunately means some of the boutique makers will crash and burn.
 
The market will only support so many flavors of drive or delay no matter how good they are. It unfortunately means some of the boutique makers will crash and burn.

You would think that the market would collapse under just the weight of TS clones alone....but it hasn't for the past decade plus. To me, it seems like every time one trend in pedals runs out of gas, a new one comes along to occupy the endless acquisition and turnover cycle that some forums seem chock full of. Not to say that there aren't a slew of great builders putting new twists out there or coming up with fresh designs but guitarists are so quick to fall in line for the next big thing and buy stuff they really don't have an application for because it's cool.
 
I still see some cool pedals being produced, but yeah, there are a lot of pedal makers out there, and I can't imagine they're all making decent money. I wonder if some flameouts or consolidation is in the cards.
 
Nah...I think the industry is going to take a slight diversion to more specific/niche applications, though (see EHX organ pedals, fer instance).
 
Nah...I think the industry is going to take a slight diversion to more specific/niche applications, though (see EHX organ pedals, fer instance).
I would hope so.

Someone making a pedal that did a decent analog synth sound without a special pickup would be beautiful.


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With really no new innovations coming out I agree that it has peaked. I remember back in the late 70's when EHX was a big innovator of many different pedals that was not matched by other companies. MXR was an alternative and then Boss and Ibanez hit the market. Boss like EHX pushed the envelope of different variations and new innovations.

Today I really have only seen new innovations from EHX in terms of different sounds - I am sure their are a few others but nothing in comparison. Companies like Strymon have taken the rack time effects and put them into compact pedals. Wampler has gone for the amp in the box concept. TC has also shrunk their time efx and has entered their take on overdrives. Xotic has produced innovative OD's and pushed the transparent term like Keeley and Analogman. There have been some innovative entries-Klon, Whammy, etc. but you not a lot changes. Many clone companies out there for users to purchase from as well as numerous variations of the same product - Dunlop Crybaby's, OD's, etc.

Personally yes I am saturated (5 pedalboard). For a while I was in a buying frenzy not so much to have the latest and greatest but more buying for the need of specific genre's. Some might say a compressor is a compressor or an OD is an OD. Not true to my ear but many hear things differently.
 
As a guitar player who's not a gear collector, and in particular not a pedal-head, there have only been a few pedals that have a) gotten my attention through the chatter and b) made the case for actually being useful and not just neat. When I started 20 years ago, it was Tube Screamer replicas and the new wahs, with photo resistors instead of mechanical ones. Around the same time, the DD-6 was super versatile but also very simple to use. Five years later, it was the Dano minis, which were cheap and fun and fit the music I was into at the time. Then it was the loopers, culminating with the ditto. Other than that, the rise of true bypass registered with me, I tho I never pursued the mods, it's something I consider when making a purchase.

I'm currently excited about some Strymon products, particularly after seeing Mark's demonstration of their Leslie simulator, which is a sound I've been looking for for at least a decade (pity the souls who got caught buying previous attempts at a Leslie faker--they all sound awful). We'll see if my interest sustains, or if this is just a flash in the pan.

Have we reached peak pedal? It's already a tiny niche in an ever dwindling market. There will always be lawyer guitars, and there will always be lawyer amps and pedals. There will continue to be interesting innovations.
 
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