Let's talk colors...

temol

temol

Well-known member
How much importance do you attach to the color of the enclosure, color of the knobs, graphics?
Also - do you match color to the pedal type? Distortion - black or red, delay - blue, etc...
Would you postpone the build because you don't have knobs that match the enclosure? :)
Is there any color you would not use even if the enclosure was free?
 
I think it can be important for selling, white enclosures with red knobs sell really well for me I’ve noticed.

When I was building vero board clones I either went with a name related to the pedal, purple plexi is purple or the color I thought the effect should be. Delays are blue to me for example.

As for things I wouldn’t want, I love hammertone stuff that other people do, but I don’t really see myself getting much use out of it, I guess I associate it with vintage fuzz and that’s not really what I make mainly because germanium seems like a small nightmare or big expense to get quality.
 
To me the color doesn’t matter as long as the build looks like a “complete” unit. For a while knobs didn’t really matter since I only had a handful of mix and match types until I bit the bullet and ordered things I liked for future builds. Then I’ll design the artwork based on the effect type and have the knobs work with the design
 
I will more often than not choose a color to give a nod to the original, I like my pedals to a least have basic lettering, and I do prefer knobs that add something whether it be contrast or color coordinated
 
I spend a lot of time choosing knobs (both, type and color), playing with different fonts, thinking about best color for the box. For me it's probably the most important aspect of entire build. In the end, even ugliest PCB lands inside the box, invisible for the user.
 
It is very important to me because I believe that if the gear looks cool it will get used more. Every pedal I sell has to have a painting that looks cool and the whole thing has to match and have some cohesiveness to it.

I spend way more time thinking about the aesthetics then the inside because ultimately I am going to look at the outside way more than the inside.
 
I rarely box things up anymore, but...

I really like the look of full color graphics on a raw aluminum enclosure, similar to what EHX does.

As far as color choices and coordination, it really depends on the pedal and the design...

Just as important as it is for a pedal to look cool, I also feel like it's important not to go overboard. A design can go from excellent to tacky in a matter of seconds. There are some great pedals out there that look terrible because someone didn't tell the designer to Stop!
 
My color/knob choices are based sometimes on what the original looked liked, sometimes I just pick a color because I like it and pick knobs to coordinate. And get your pitchforks ready cuz here comes Diynot to piss off the Illuminati, but I have had plenty of commercial pedals that had tight outsides that were tossed in the corner because I hated what they sounded like. If/when I get around to adding artwork to my builds, it will because I feel the pedal is worth the effort and has inspired me in some way.
 
Robert said:
I rarely box things up anymore, but...

I really like the look of full color graphics on a raw aluminum enclosure, similar to what EHX does.
Click to expand...
I’m with this 100%. My latest and best looking builds have been graphics on a bare enclosure.

jjjimi84 said:
It is very important to me because I believe that if the gear looks cool it will get used more.
Click to expand...
I also agree with this 100%.
 
I don’t do colors based on type of effect so much as to match the theme I’m going for. I’m really into doing the graphics, and since I never hook up a circuit until I have the graphics for it, that’s actually what slows down my building the most (other than having to wait months before I can buy the parts I need a lot of the time). I’m meticulous about color choice, but it’s 100% artistically influenced rather than attempting any sort of cohesion
 
I spend as much time in Illustrator as I do sourcing parts. Typically, I don’t do any finish until after the build and I know I like the pedal, since the way I like to finish the pedals (using transfers for the lettering) is fairly expensive. Also, now that I’m retired I don’t have daily access to a spray booth, or as much desire to machine my own knobs.

If the pedal is a clone, I’ll often have some visual reference to the original, but not necessarily.
 
For some pedals I try to match mine's color to the original, like my tubescreamer is green, crunchbox is red, riot is purple, charlie brown is yellow. It's mostly because I have that association of color to pedal in my head. If I haven't made as strong association already in my head, I'm less likely to try to match the color. For example, I just ordered a few fuzz pcbs, and I don't even know what color the originals are so I'm just trying to use colors I don't already have.

For knobs I'll just try to go with what looks nice to me, and I'm less finicky about matching the original.
 
I used to not care, then started to do pink/purple for fuzz, yellow/red for OD/dist, black for delay/reverb, blue for modulation.. then I ran out of enclosures to match and stopped..

I am leaning towards @thewintersoldier approach, where the entire thing is a project in itself, with thought put into all parts. (I may not practice this yet :D)
 
temol said:
How much importance do you attach to the color of the enclosure, color of the knobs, graphics?
Click to expand...
It's a very big deal to me. For decades my DIY builds were extremely janky but now I find it very easy to just throw money at it and enjoy the great options we have these days. I haven't built all that many pedals (yet...LOL) but no two have looked the same so far, and I'd prefer to keep it that way. OTOH, I tend to use the same fonts for everything and my amps and outboard stuff all tend to mirror a "house style", I reckon.
 
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I used to have a rule that ODs had red LEDs and fuzzes had blue, but then I built some delays and felt they should have blue LEDs. So that rule went out the window.

I have a degree in design but prefer very, very minimal graphics. And most of my pedals have none. Possibly a little extreme... I like matt green matt white and texture black for the enclosure powdercoat. The copper hammertone os cool too. I lean towards the little Davies clone pointer knobs because they're a good size and have a pointer (!) but I also like some knurled aluminium knobs too, as long as I can see where they point.

I really like the stomp switches which have the LED as the washer. One less thing to clutter the box. One less hole to drill. And it's fun to use the stomp switch knob over it - add similar pot knobs and it starts to look very sci-fi.
 
My enclosure art has been... evolving... over time. I started without much in the way of theme. I grabbed whatever art I could find as it was all for "personal use" at the time. I've done several enclosures that were an homage to the original (Boss, Cornish, and EHX mostly). Now I'm evolving into more dino-themed pedals with all licensed or original art to go with the studio theme. Some of them still have elements of an homage to the original, but more often than not I'm going for something new at this point.
 
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