Building pedals, naming, modding, selling or building to build...

The Gator

The Gator

Well-known member
I bring this up because i am not sure what is acceptable.
If I build an overdrive from a pedalpcb circuit, do I have to name it the pedalpcb name or the original circuits name for it to be acceptable?
What about modding? If i modify the circuit does naming matter?

Also if I sell a pedal or two because people like the look and or sound, does the name matter? Do I owe it to them to tell them what circuit it is?

I am just new to this and somebody wants to buy a pedal I made. I am trying to understand what is acceptable behavior to the pedal building community.

Thank you for taking the time,
~ Gator
 
In the pedal building community there's builders who make straight up clones and market them as unique, and ones who are transparent about the origin of their circuit. This is true from the smallest builders up the big name companies.

A lot of pedal consumers don't know the difference, but the builders, hobbyists, and pedal geeks know.

Who would you rather buy from?
 
If it's a clone of something else I'll say it. And I'll also mention where the PCB comes from. I don't like builders who hide it but that's just me. I wouldn't pass it off as an original for sure.

I also dislike it when someone sells a pedal saying it's based on another one but it's actually an exact clone. Just say it instead of pretending to have done mods or improvements to a circuit.

Me and my morals...
 
Thank you to all of you for the replies.
I am not really interested in selling pedals. I just like to build stuff. Also I am not interested in paying collector's prices for things i want to try. So i build. I built a super stevie circuit here recently. https://forum.pedalpcb.com/threads/super-stevie-build-stratodrive.12696/
It said it was like a love pedal super six stevie mod. Which from what I see is a timmy circuit.
I called it a stratodrive and made a graphic playing off the word stratosphere and stratocaster. A friend saw it and wanted to buy it. I explained that it was really a timmy and i did a simple mod to add a boost on a toggle. He said he uses a timmy now and still wanted to buy it. He liked my finish work.
So I am thinking of making another one for him. I just feel like i want to make sure i am not over stepping boundaries.
Thank you again
~ Gator
 
LOL.
I really do not blame anyone if they are the atcual inventor of a particular circuit.
Other than that I hate that crap.
My job is working with a lot of security electronics. When i see epoxied circuits, i know it's going right in the trash when it fails.
 
The Gator said:
Thank you to all of you for the replies.
I am not really interested in selling pedals. I just like to build stuff. Also I am not interested in paying collector's prices for things i want to try. So i build. I built a super stevie circuit here recently. https://forum.pedalpcb.com/threads/super-stevie-build-stratodrive.12696/
It said it was like a love pedal super six stevie mod. Which from what I see is a timmy circuit.
I called it a stratodrive and made a graphic playing off the word stratosphere and stratocaster. A friend saw it and wanted to buy it. I explained that it was really a timmy and i did a simple mod to add a boost on a toggle. He said he uses a timmy now and still wanted to buy it. He liked my finish work.
So I am thinking of making another one for him. I just feel like i want to make sure i am not over stepping boundaries.
Thank you again
~ Gator
Click to expand...
LOL, your graphic were a little more subtle than mine :D
 
Rule of thumb for me is to never sell a clone of something that is still being sold by the original maker and is readily available. Out of production pedals are great for clones, especially if there's still demand for them.

So are extremely hard to get ones that are sold by certain boutique makers. Use your best discretion with this category though. Personally, I don't see any problem selling clones of the King of Tone, Klon Centaur, and the like. Originals are stupid expensive and out of reach for the average guitar player so clone away!

As for naming, you can use the same name as what was given to the PCB if you want...or come up with something different. Completely up to you. Nothing wrong with being original.

But you do have to be careful about using the original name of the pedal you're cloning. I got flagged a lot with that early on. For instance, I sell the Parentheses Fuzz, which is a clone of the EQD Life Pedal. Any mention of EQD or Earthquaker Devices tends to flag it. So I have to be clever and describe it in ways that gets around the algorithms and doesn't flag it. Which I find strange given that I don't think EQD even gives a shit if we're mentioning their name on a clone of something they don't sell anymore.

Also have to be careful about making anything that looks way too close to what the original manufacturer does. I have a few BOSS clones that have designs that give it that sort of BOSS flavor...but they're not outright plageristic. Best to be wholly original with the designs.

That's my two cents. :D
 
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