Do pedals looks affect your buying choices?

[Hanbali13]

For me, the aesthetics play a big part. I chose to buy a jester over a stage hog due to tgp's rave reviews, and the jester just looks so much nicer

 

[vbf]

No

 

[archtop]

absolutely.

even to the point of keeping the colors complimentary on my board.

 

[zephaniah zion]

Looks effect everything we do and buy in some way, shape or form. Unless you are blind, just about everybody falls into this group. Ibanez Vai distortion pedal or Timmy? Either way the looks drive a portion of the decision. "What's the biggest room on earth? The room for improvement! Badoomcha!!!

 

[StompBoxBlues]

No

Actually...YES. Just because a pedal looks beat up doesn't mean the owner doesn't care, in fact...just like "relic'ed" guitars, some folks want that "road-weary" look in their pedals. Just like in martial arts, a new black belt always wants his belt to look all worn, faded.


The thing is, we don't always KNOW when the looks affect us.
Read a recent thread where we discussed "blind testing" of pedals. With eyes open, we "hear" one thing, without knowing which one we're using we hear quite another.

I'm sure they affect me without me knowing it. I would knee-jerk say "oh no...I don't care about looks, I just care about what my ears tell me" but that's what I THINK...have proven to myself now and again my own self-image isn't always as solid as I thought.

 

[PanicProne]

I'm real weak when it comes to good looking pedals.. in the end the sound off course is the one thing that matters but still..some pedal I'll probably never buy since they're so ugly..

If I ever get a fuzz factory I won't be going with a vexter, that's for sure.. Now, call me corksniffer or whatever you like

 

[burnbritney]

Definitely... Lookswise EHX is an absolute no go for me for instance. I'm sure they're great pedals but they just look plain aweful to me.

 

[Toe]

Of course, I think the only reason I'm considering a Boiling Point is its looks. I actually don't need another overdrive ...

 

[Blix]

No never. Pedal size can affect my decision though, pedalboard real estate is limited.

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

 

[lank81]

Its not about the looks, it's about the sound. Looks only go metal deep. At least that's what my mom taught me.

 

[Hanbali13]

Of course, I think the only reason I'm considering a Boiling Point is its looks. I actually don't need another overdrive ...

really, i hate the looks of the boiling point

 

[chervokas]

No never. Pedal size can affect my decision though, pedalboard real estate is limited.

Really. I mean, who is looking at your pedal board? Are any of these answers even serious? I'm shocked. I honestly never thought for a second about, say, pedal finishes and colors. And the idea of paying a premium price for a hand painted ZVex always seems absolutely nuts to me. Now size, ergonomics, yeah, big factor, but if you mean, like color, finish, hand painting (a lot the zvex), etc--not in the slightest.

 

[vbf]

My two criteria are sound and size.

 

[vesper]

Yes

 

[SackvilleDan]

No

This is the pedal that I would have said, "YES looks are important!" and bought it. I love the way that Rat looks like it's been through the ringer!

 

[DemoColorScheme]

No, it doesn't affect me at all, but when I get an old crusty pedal wist dust and stuff on it, I do clean it up, but that's it.

 

[StompBoxBlues]

Really. I mean, who is looking at your pedal board? Are any of these answers even serious? I'm shocked. I honestly never thought for a second about, say, pedal finishes and colors. And the idea of paying a premium price for a hand painted ZVex always seems absolutely nuts to me. Now size, ergonomics, yeah, big factor, but if you mean, like color, finish, hand painting (a lot the zvex), etc--not in the slightest.

First off..YOU are looking at your pedal.

For another, looks isn't just whether it is hand-painted 60's...it's about how it LOOKS. Some pedals look well-designed, even down to the controls, some look like jokes...with joke names, and "silly" names for the functions of the knobs, some look no-frills-businesslike (from your statement, just a guess, but I bet even maybe without knowing it you might be more impressed with this kind, than the same internals in a hand-painted pedal) and all points in between.

Some people like the "looks" of some pedals, just viscerally, and couldn't even tell you why...maybe even without noticing, but in our culture more than maybe any that has gone before, looks matter.

We judge an awful lot of things by their looks. Our eyes are actually, usually the most used senses. Like I say, people get very surprised when they do "blind tests"...and actually even experience hearing things differently when they haven't used their eyes.

How many folks here have actually adjusted a knob on say...the wrong fader or equipment that was not in the signal path, and been SURE that we were affecting the sound?

We get fooled by this a lot, but study after study in marketing show that packaging has a HUGE efffect on evaluating a product. Even though we like to think we aren't easily fooled, and we "just use our ears..that's all that matters" if one is honest, and tests that, I think most would find perception (non-audial) affects what we think we hear.

 

[woodie]

I might get a little more interested in a pedal if it looks cool, but it's all about performance, size, and what I need for the job, for me. I'm a graphic designer, and yeah, a lot of times it PAINS me to have a great pedal laid out in comic sans or some other horrible font, but I get over it if I like the sound.

 

[gag halfrunt]

I'd like to think that I'm not, but I probably am.


But I definitely choose them by size. As was stated earlier, pedalboard real estate is limited.