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Vintage threads from the first ten years

Half-assed designers

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10/18/1999 9:13 AM
Aron	Half-assed designers from: http://www.lbcfx.com/faq.htm 3 great quotes: "Battery compartments are the mark of a wus pedal. " "Most fuzz pedals employ half-ass circuitry which allows them to get away with using only one 9v battery." "Because I hate talking on the phone. I don't even like talking on the phone with people I know, much less (no offense) customers." I love it.

10/18/1999 12:40 PM
CJ Landry	Did you notice where he was from??? I wonder if he was a cab driver before he started building and selling pedals? Maybe he still is a cab driver?? Jeeze!!!! CJ

10/18/1999 2:23 PM
Dave Chun	I like their thinking that you need two adapters for +/-9V. Why does their H8 come with only 1 adapter then?!

10/18/1999 2:57 PM
nic	I saw that at deja and was pretty smug to the guy. I said to him, "Hey! Those Hammond cases are built like tanks. And it's a good thing I will need a screwdriver on stage to get to the TWO batteries inside!" I never got a response. Not to say there are any laws on how to use a case but asthetically wouldn't use agree that the screws should be on the bottom? nic

10/18/1999 6:42 PM
Aron	hehehehe. Pretty funny. He does charge a low price though. Pretty fair for what he offers. Hey, need a lift somewhere - hey you're a musician, wanna buy a distortion pedal? Aron

10/18/1999 6:07 PM

Some possible translations

quote:
""Battery compartments are the mark of a wus pedal. ""

"Battery compartments cost money and are hard to put in boxes, so I don't want to offer them."

quote:
""Most fuzz pedals employ half-ass circuitry which allows them to get away with using only one 9v battery.""

"I don't want to put in the time and effort needed to make circuits work right on just one battery - I'd rather make my customers put up with the additional costs and inconvenience of dual batteries. Well, OK, I don't really know how to do them with just one battery, because the circuits are pulled from app notes that use dual supplies, but I'd rather not talk about that. Besides, using two batteries lets me leave out parts that I'd otherwise need."

quote:
""Because I hate talking on the phone. I don't even like talking on the phone with people I know, much less (no offense) customers.""

"I wish to high heaven people would just send me their money and not pester me with their petty, sniping, trivial concerns."

10/18/1999 8:52 PM

There is probably a kernel or two of truth in your decodings. On the other hand, if you have a hankering to make fuzz boxes, and make a bit of money to subsidize your fetish, you have to have a broad range of skills these days, not the least of which is being an HTML/Java jockey and webmaster. These are skills which I don't think Roger Mayer ever had to devote time to acquiring. The number of design choices to select from is also somewhat larger (although there is certainly more of a design textbook to start from). Indeed, I think the contemporary upstart pedal maker (which, judging from the looks of the pedals, LBC is) has to engage in a great deal more knowledge management than their predecessors.

If Mr./Ms. LBC isn't a PR wizard, I think they can be forgiven. Lord only knows what Clyde McCoy or Roger Mayer would have said on their web-sites way back when they were starting out. That LBC can turn out a product which makes people happy and gives them fair value for the money is probably enough. True bypass, custom tone, and an indicator LED for $40? Sold.

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