steel string supreme - a thread (Re: new statements from Mason/vertex)

[Fenderblender68]

Mason is definitely my favorite sociopath pedal maker. I love threads about Vertex, keep 'em coming.

 

[homeunit]

Funny, I just listened to the sss the other day. I have a Gladio inbound so my feed tends to fill up with like minded searches.

I lasted a minute past the copy and bailed on it. Rather unremarkable.

 

[JackfromAK]

I’ll say this about Vertex threads, they’re attracting fewer of his defenders these days. That’s somewhat reassuring. Glad to see fewer people decrying that he hasn’t gotten enough chances at redemption despite the fact that he uses every opportunity to fleece more folks.

Fool me twice, won’t get fooled again.

 

[Frankentar]

time is money. I fully believe this. I never understood this until I had to start adding my travel time to my salary. I used to leave work at 2am in NYC (when all the trains decide to go t0 45 min wait times) and I had 3 trains to take home... on a bad night I'd end up at home at 5am when I'd have to wake up at 10am to get back to work by noon. it was DEFINTIELY worth it to take the $30 cab ride home (some nights) to get a decent nights sleep.

TIME IS MONEY!

MASON!!! GIVE THIS MAN HIS MONEY BACK!

...and you get what you pay for...most of the time

 

[Tumulte]

Good f*cking lord. This thread is everything that’s toxic about the internet. Came here for info about a dumble style pedal… and it’s 9 page of people f*cking trying to bankrupt a business… based on 6 years old stupid (but harmless) mistakes… that were apologized and repaid for.

What else do you need ? Do you need to see people lose their job and see Marangella be miserable ? Will this make you happy ? Will this make you feel righteous ?

Is it so hard to see the positive side of the whole story : that a con artist managed to turn his business into something legit (it doesn’t happen that often)?

Why does it rub you the wrong way so much that you got to deny everything but the old story ? Does it make you anxious to admit the world isn’t black and white, that people can change ?


If you want to be angry: your bloody phone was made by slaves, you bloody coffee was harvested by children, … there’s no shortage of stuffs to be pissed at.



F*cking hell.

(PS : I’m not related to vertex in any ways. I don’t even own any of their pedal. But this bullsh*t definitely convinced me to support the brand and get a SSS (also it does sound great).)

 

[OotMagroot]

Really, the best thing to do is to ignore Mason, his YT videos, and his products. Our little community here is not likely to impact his operations in anyway - but, it's a start!

I find it odd that he builds pedals, but can't design his own buffer?

 

[Jim Marciano]

Good f*cking lord. This thread is everything that’s toxic about the internet. Came here for info about a dumble style pedal… and it’s 9 page of people f*cking trying to bankrupt a business… based on 6 years old stupid (but harmless) mistakes… that were apologized and repaid for.

What else do you need ? Do you need to see people lose their job and see Marangella be miserable ? Will this make you happy ? Will this make you feel righteous ?

Is it so hard to see the positive side of the whole story : that a con artist managed to turn his business into something legit (it doesn’t happen that often)?

Why does it rub you the wrong way so much that you got to deny everything but the old story ? Does it make you anxious to admit the world isn’t black and white, that people can change ?


If you want to be angry: your bloody phone was made by slaves, you bloody coffee was harvested by children, … there’s no shortage of stuffs to be pissed at.



F*cking hell.

(PS : I’m not related to vertex in any ways. I don’t even own any of their pedal. But this bullsh*t definitely convinced me to support the brand and get a SSS (also it does sound great).)

if you like vertex you should definitely check out freekish blues

 

[sonichronic]

Good f*cking lord. This thread is everything that’s toxic about the internet. Came here for info about a dumble style pedal… and it’s 9 page of people f*cking trying to bankrupt a business… based on 6 years old stupid (but harmless) mistakes… that were apologized and repaid for.

What else do you need ? Do you need to see people lose their job and see Marangella be miserable ? Will this make you happy ? Will this make you feel righteous ?

Is it so hard to see the positive side of the whole story : that a con artist managed to turn his business into something legit (it doesn’t happen that often)?

Why does it rub you the wrong way so much that you got to deny everything but the old story ? Does it make you anxious to admit the world isn’t black and white, that people can change ?


If you want to be angry: your bloody phone was made by slaves, you bloody coffee was harvested by children, … there’s no shortage of stuffs to be pissed at.



F*cking hell.

(PS : I’m not related to vertex in any ways. I don’t even own any of their pedal. But this bullsh*t definitely convinced me to support the brand and get a SSS (also it does sound great).)

Why would you read 9 pages of content you weren’t looking for?
This thread was clearly not about getting that Mayer sound you’re so angrily looking for.

actually I’d be surprised if you found anything on TGP about vertex that is positive.

if you really did scour this thread for information on how to pay $300 for an AMZ boost pedal with the dumble font... you surely didn’t read any of the content if you think this is about the wah.

On that note since you think that fraud is a “mistake” and it’s only about that 6 year old “mistake.” I’m not going to entertain this any more.

 

[Naigewron]

Well this is certainly ironic

 

[mcdyas]

I picked up a used Vertex SSS locally today and I like it. Sorry about that.

 

[_Vector_]

I picked up a used Vertex SSS locally today and I like it. Sorry about that.

 

[kowalski440]

I picked up a used Vertex SSS locally today and I like it. Sorry about that.

And you felt the need to bump a thread that didn’t need to be bumped just to tell us?

 

[mcdyas]

And you felt the need to bump a thread that didn’t need to be bumped just to tell us?

i feel such shame, doubly now

 

[Fenderblender68]

Good f*cking lord. This thread is everything that’s toxic about the internet. Came here for info about a dumble style pedal… and it’s 9 page of people f*cking trying to bankrupt a business… based on 6 years old stupid (but harmless) mistakes… that were apologized and repaid for.

What else do you need ? Do you need to see people lose their job and see Marangella be miserable ? Will this make you happy ? Will this make you feel righteous ?

Is it so hard to see the positive side of the whole story : that a con artist managed to turn his business into something legit (it doesn’t happen that often)?

Why does it rub you the wrong way so much that you got to deny everything but the old story ? Does it make you anxious to admit the world isn’t black and white, that people can change ?


If you want to be angry: your bloody phone was made by slaves, you bloody coffee was harvested by children, … there’s no shortage of stuffs to be pissed at.



F*cking hell.

(PS : I’m not related to vertex in any ways. I don’t even own any of their pedal. But this bullsh*t definitely convinced me to support the brand and get a SSS (also it does sound great).)

Yeah, it was just "some stupid (but harmless) mistakes"!

Mason Marangella's Greatest Scams!!!

0) “I’m sorry to be chiming in so late but I must warn all you fellow gear nerds to stay away from Vertex effects and pedalboard services. Mason is not truthful nor is his work good or in most cases his own. He had me on his site without permission as a user and happy customer. I am/was neither happy nor do I use any of his products. My pedalboard sounded awful, took tons of gain away, and added a huge ground hum. It also cost $1400 and that was after I pitched a fit when the $2000 bill came to my tour manager all the while seeing unauthorized You Tube videos of my " new rig" a rig I never tried nor signed off on. Fortunately Dave Friedman at Rack Systems came in and saved the day for $400. All I wanted and asked for was to have some cables cut to size. I didn't want to waste Dave's time so I gave it to Mason. BIG MISTAKE.... I am very disturbed by his actions and have heard recently that he has been called out on some Wah Wah pedal stuff. Bad News Bear that cat is unfortunately.” -Joe Bonamassa

1a.) BBE wah scam ($85 pedal resold for $400, rebranded, gooped)


*1b.) Cease and desist letters to individual who exposed the scam


*1c.) “All of my customers got their product. They just got a product that wasn’t what they thought it was.” - Mason, Vertex


*1d.) “I was too oblivious to admit or acknowledge that I was selling a lie.” - Mason, Vertex


2.) Belden cable scam


3.) Dynamic Distortion SD9 scam (hat tip @Jim Marciano )


4.) “Mason came to me (LA Sound Design, RACKDOCTOR) as a client to have a board done. He never even soldered before. He then represented the board we built him as his work on his website and started his company and thus the lies began.”


5.) Passing off a Paul Trombetta fuzz as the Vertex 109 Fuzz


6.) Vertex Boost expression jack design lie: “out of the audio path”


7.) Boss FV-500 volume pedal mod scam


8.) “I’ve got a EE from Berkeley“


*8a.) “I did go to the University of California, Berkeley and graduated with a BA in Sociology and a minor in Education. I do not have a degree in electrical engineering and did not clearly represent this to my customers, dealers, and artists.”


9.) “Berkeley d/c’d their EE program”


10.) “I modeled this pedal after the Dumble” (not a real Dumble)


11.) “I modeled this pedal after a Dumble” (actually a Jack Orman circuit design)


12.) Name-dropping/claiming artist endorsement where there is none


13.) Demoing dangerous amp mods, showboating as the RIGDOCTOR


14.) rinse, lather, repeat without remorse

 

[mcdyas]

You know, I still like the pedal though.

 

[kowalski440]

Thanks for posting that, Fenderblender68.
Some people need to learn about what went down with this scam artist extraordinaire.

 

[Fenderblender68]

You know, I still like the pedal though.

Even scam artists need to pay the bills!

 

[InkblotNebula]

Yeah, it was just "some stupid (but harmless) mistakes"!

Mason Marangella's Greatest Scams!!!

0) “I’m sorry to be chiming in so late but I must warn all you fellow gear nerds to stay away from Vertex effects and pedalboard services. Mason is not truthful nor is his work good or in most cases his own. He had me on his site without permission as a user and happy customer. I am/was neither happy nor do I use any of his products. My pedalboard sounded awful, took tons of gain away, and added a huge ground hum. It also cost $1400 and that was after I pitched a fit when the $2000 bill came to my tour manager all the while seeing unauthorized You Tube videos of my " new rig" a rig I never tried nor signed off on. Fortunately Dave Friedman at Rack Systems came in and saved the day for $400. All I wanted and asked for was to have some cables cut to size. I didn't want to waste Dave's time so I gave it to Mason. BIG MISTAKE.... I am very disturbed by his actions and have heard recently that he has been called out on some Wah Wah pedal stuff. Bad News Bear that cat is unfortunately.” -Joe Bonamassa

1a.) BBE wah scam ($85 pedal resold for $400, rebranded, gooped)


*1b.) Cease and desist letters to individual who exposed the scam


*1c.) “All of my customers got their product. They just got a product that wasn’t what they thought it was.” - Mason, Vertex


*1d.) “I was too oblivious to admit or acknowledge that I was selling a lie.” - Mason, Vertex


2.) Belden cable scam


3.) Dynamic Distortion SD9 scam (hat tip @Jim Marciano )


4.) “Mason came to me (LA Sound Design, RACKDOCTOR) as a client to have a board done. He never even soldered before. He then represented the board we built him as his work on his website and started his company and thus the lies began.”


5.) Passing off a Paul Trombetta fuzz as the Vertex 109 Fuzz


6.) Vertex Boost expression jack design lie: “out of the audio path”


7.) Boss FV-500 volume pedal mod scam


8.) “I’ve got a EE from Berkeley“


*8a.) “I did go to the University of California, Berkeley and graduated with a BA in Sociology and a minor in Education. I do not have a degree in electrical engineering and did not clearly represent this to my customers, dealers, and artists.”


9.) “Berkeley d/c’d their EE program”


10.) “I modeled this pedal after the Dumble” (not a real Dumble)


11.) “I modeled this pedal after a Dumble” (actually a Jack Orman circuit design)


12.) Name-dropping/claiming artist endorsement where there is none


13.) Demoing dangerous amp mods, showboating as the RIGDOCTOR


14.) rinse, lather, repeat without remorse

Number 9 is my favorite. I googled it after he said it in the Andertons video. Not only do they very much have an electrical engineering program, because of course they do, it's ranked number 2 in the entire country.

 

[Boris the Blade]

I didn't know there was all this drama regarding vertex. I picked up a tone secret in a trade a few months back from a friend. Only used it for about 20 minutes before putting it back in the box. Guess I'm gonna have a hard time getting rid of it lol.

 

[TRGuy]

There have been plenty more examples (very recent) of him being a complete fraud. I help run a John Mayer Gear page on Facebook and we actually had to ban Mason as he was using his ridiculous hyperbole to try and sell his pedals to everyone claiming they would make people sound like John Mayer. As soon as we banned him, a fake account with stock photos suddenly joined and started doing the same thing, we highly suspect that he joined on a fake account to continue the scam. We actually collected good evidence (this fake account was talking almost exclusively about pedals that are on Masons personal rig).

In the comments of some youtube videos recently, he's actually been defending himself and claiming the BBE Wah scandal was fine, as he bought the pedals from BBE as a company and not an individual. He's actually been saying that he did nothing wrong there.

He's also claimed in comments that he took the SSS pedal to Bill (Two-Rock designer) who said that it sounded "exactly the same as a real Steel String Singer." Again - this is a conversation that I know for a fact did not happen.

I won't comment on the influencers that endorse him. I'm actually a big fan of Rhett Schull, and Gabe is a great guy, but I do really question the commerciality of their endorsement in the long term.

I have screenshots of all of this, I'll post if I can be bothered.