I hate to sound like a JHS apologist here, but...
is it at all possible that Josh just doesn't spend any time on forums in the DiY scene and just builds his own stuff? that wouldn't explain every time this comes up, but like... some circuits are good. So good, that they're the best. So good, that if they hadn't been discovered before, they'd be discovered in exactly the same way. Especially simple stuff like fuzz.
with like the Devi situation, im willing to bet Josh ripped a circuit out of a devi pedal and put it in an enclosure with another circuit to get the bunrunner, and people liked it a lot so he started selling the astro mess separately. (getting this from its origin. The bunrunner was a 2-in-1 he made for the dude from Switchfoot.)
he has taken a lot from ROG, but idk, maybe he thinks it's online so its fair game? does ROG even sell pedals?
But in this case, it's a tonebender. isnt there only going to be so many different mods from clone to clone? so if two clones are similar, is it really they copied each other or is it that the same mod sounds good on the same circuit?
Finally, this is just how Christian people like Josh are. Theyre in their own bubble and they see the world through a glass bowl. So Josh probably doesn't participate in the diy scene, or even know anybody in the scene, unless they try competing with him. But he sees what DIYers do and says, "oh thats good, I could manufacture that." And he doesn't think to give credit to anybody cause he doesn't consider himself part of the diy scene, so he doesn't follow the diy ethic. It's definitely not good, and people ought to give credit. but when he finds a pedal or circuit online, he doesn't see the person who made it, he just sees the product.
Just my thoughts. im not a mind reader so I dont really know. (I do know that Christian culture, especially in music, is built on copying everything else). But just good to give the benefit of the doubt.
