My take: Many pedals will become more scarce in the next year.

[Magnets And Melodies]

I think there's going to be a sudden lull in production of a lot of pedals we buy.

A lot of builders I've talked to recently have mentioned to me that there are year+ long wait times for specific parts to their pedals. I'm not talking rare BBD's or Transistors, I'm talking other components that were seemingly plentiful before. Some of them are using up their last stock now and don't know when they'll be able to get more.

It doesn't seem that way right now because you can still go buy them online so it seems plentiful, but some guys are down to the last 10-20 of their current stock.

I work in a different industry but we've been pulling rabbits out of our hats for the last 2 years just to ensure continuity in our products... tons of component changes due to shortages, dual vendor approaches... lots of patchwork to keep business going. This seemed to be getting worse, and that was BEFORE the war. People don't yet really understand how much the war will impact the supply chain yet, but its a lot.

I think it seems to some like the scarcity issue is getting better and will go away, but I think this is a false association with just things opening up from the pandemic. I think you'll see it quite significantly in the pedal world later this year and certainly next.

 

[Anachronic Gearhead]

I've never seen a market as saturated with bizarre/quasi useless pedals as it is now.

Maybe it will have a positive effect, pun intended, on music.

 

[Magnets And Melodies]

I've never seen a market as saturated with bizarre/quasi useless pedals as it is now.

Maybe it will have a positive effect, pun intended, on music.

Personally I totally agree with you on that. There's more pedals than ever out there but many of them are completely useless to me. Seems like many pedals are built to entertain the user for a few hours of tweaking instead of as a useful musical tool... to each their own and all of that I know. It's "subjective". Just my take.

This isn't isolated to just those though. I think it's a good time to grab what you've been on the fence about.

 

[msquared]

Luckily we're in a space where it's hard to find pedals that objectively suck. So even if the next couple years see some builders pull back to one or two designs or drop out entirely, it's not like we're stuck with garbage.

I agree that ultimately it will be beneficial if it happens.

 

[Magnets And Melodies]

Luckily we're in a space where it's hard to find pedals that objectively suck. So even if the next couple years see some builders pull back to one or two designs or drop out entirely, it's not like we're stuck with garbage.

I agree that ultimately it will be beneficial if it happens.

I might disagree with you on the first line there. TBH I think there are so many options out there, that to me, is really hard to sift through a lot of the noise and find the gems. Then once I do find them, they're rare as hell or get bought up in minutes. Just like there are more great pedals than ever right now, I think there is also more garbage than ever.

 

[Anachronic Gearhead]

I tried a few Earthquaker pedals a few years ago, based on Andy's reviews, but they didn't do it for me in person. I find myself allergic to pitch modulation.

 

[Magnets And Melodies]

I tried a few Earthquaker pedals a few years ago, based on Andy's reviews, but they didn't do it for me in person. I find myself allergic to pitch modulation.

I'm allergic to EQD pedals.

 

[msquared]

@Magnets And Melodies I'd be interested in hearing what you consider to be garbage. I certainly have my preferences but I feel like if I was on tour and lost my board I could walk into any guitar store in America or Canada and find something to approximate what I had which would sound 90% as good as my favorite stuff.

 

[Hofnarr]

It will be interesting indeed to see what happens ... and not just with guitar pedals.

 

[LaXu]

I might disagree with you on the first line there. TBH I think there are so many options out there, that to me, is really hard to sift through a lot of the noise and find the gems. Then once I do find them, they're rare as hell or get bought up in minutes. Just like there are more great pedals than ever right now, I think there is also more garbage than ever.

Yeah there’s a lot of pedals but less truly relevantly unique sounding ones, especially for overdrives where the market is hugely oversaturated. Pun intended.

I think it is hard to find truly bad pedals though.

 

[rotarytone]

If what you’re saying actually comes to pass, guitar pedals will be the least of our problems.

Personally, I think by next year everyone will be worrying about some new thing, while buying just as much stuff as usual.

 

[modernp]

But the used market will still be huge.

 

[KBN]

It's going to be terrible when each of us is forced to play the 100 pedals we already own.

 

[Magnets And Melodies]

If what you’re saying actually comes to pass, guitar pedals will be the least of our problems.

Personally, I think by next year everyone will be worrying about some new thing, while buying just as much stuff as usual.

Guitar pedals are the least of our problems now.

To be clear, this is not really "a problem". Just an observation. I see the used market getting crazier with pricing in the next while, not the opposite.

 

[Magnets And Melodies]

But the used market will still be huge.

Huger even.

 

[Magnets And Melodies]

It's going to be terrible when each of us is forced to play the 100 pedals we already own.

People actually play them? I thought we just speculate, hype, buy, claim victory, then rinse and repeat.

 

[JoeYello]

It's going to be terrible when each of us is forced to play the 100 pedals we already own.

Oh, the humanity! LOL

 

[Anachronic Gearhead]

There are more pedals than ever available, and like wife says "they can't all be winners".

 

[Tabor]

People actually play them? I thought we just speculate, hype, buy, claim victory, then rinse and repeat.

Anyway… back on topic:

 

[KBN]

People actually play them? I thought we just speculate, hype, buy, claim victory, then rinse and repeat.

You forgot the most important step -- criticism.