Failed Pedal Lines and Companies

[Jwar]

Not sure if Ben and Louise want it common knowledge but yes she bought it back. The details are their first private business.

Louise built an NDA into the contract when we sold it back to her.
I feel like I've been over this a few times, but let me break it down
ONE
LAST
TIME.

We bought Devi Ever FX outright. Every circuit, every image, every name, every design, every webpage, all of it. We were pretty fuckin sure Devi would make that really hard for us eventually.
In the meantime, our operating budget, visibility, press coverage, and dealer count skyrocketed. Louise got the fuck out of a software job and back at Dwarfcraft. I did some of the best design work of my career. We sunk all that Devi Money into big projects, most of which are still making us money today.
Then Devi made things very difficult for us. So we stopped working on that brand, let it rot on the vine until we had collected the last of it's drippings, and then sold the moldy husk back to Devi Ever because it wouldn't do anyone any good to leave it there, and it felt increasingly petty to hang on to this dead brand as time passed.
In addition to Louise and myself we have two full time employees, one part time builder, and a couple freelance digital engineers on the team, and we've recently moved to a bigger, better workshop. Our pre-orders sell out. Our pedals still make sounds you haven't heard before.

So yeah, we're doing fine.

[Bassist_Diver]

Not sure if Ben and Louise want it common knowledge but yes she bought it back. The details are their first private business.

Louise built an NDA into the contract when we sold it back to her.
I feel like I've been over this a few times, but let me break it down
ONE
LAST
TIME.

We bought Devi Ever FX outright. Every circuit, every image, every name, every design, every webpage, all of it. We were pretty fuckin sure Devi would make that really hard for us eventually.
In the meantime, our operating budget, visibility, press coverage, and dealer count skyrocketed. Louise got the fuck out of a software job and back at Dwarfcraft. I did some of the best design work of my career. We sunk all that Devi Money into big projects, most of which are still making us money today.
Then Devi made things very difficult for us. So we stopped working on that brand, let it rot on the vine until we had collected the last of it's drippings, and then sold the moldy husk back to Devi Ever because it wouldn't do anyone any good to leave it there, and it felt increasingly petty to hang on to this dead brand as time passed.
In addition to Louise and myself we have two full time employees, one part time builder, and a couple freelance digital engineers on the team, and we've recently moved to a bigger, better workshop. Our pre-orders sell out. Our pedals still make sounds you haven't heard before.

So yeah, we're doing fine.

Glad Aen & the rest of Dwarfcraft didn't get fucked by the deal and made lemonade out of Devi's lemons. What a whackjob.

And that's enough digging up skeletons for me. Thanks for the info, Jwar!

[oldangelmidnight]

Let us remember that without Devi, there would be no ILF. She was the founder and there's a little of that crazy in all of us. I'm just glad she gave it over to Thomas before she totally went off the deep end. Fuzzhugger forever!

[BetterOffShred]

I like a lot of her shit. I have a test pattern, which is pretty neat .. and yeah fuzzhugger forever!

[Bassist_Diver]

Let us remember that without Devi, there would be no ILF. She was the founder and there's a little of that crazy in all of us. I'm just glad she gave it over to Thomas before she totally went off the deep end. Fuzzhugger forever!

[Jwar]

Let us remember that without Devi, there would be no ILF. She was the founder and there's a little of that crazy in all of us. I'm just glad she gave it over to Thomas before she totally went off the deep end. Fuzzhugger forever!

Tis true for sure! Without Devi the industry itself would probably have been drastically different.

[UglyCasanova]

[coldbrightsunlight]

You can admit she was influential without having to say you like her or her business practices. Simple fact that selling weird "boutique" pedals for cheap was new and interesting. A lot of the builders of today got their start with the market Devi made on her forums and then here. Glad someone more stable took over this place though, hats off to Tom.

[Jero]

so perfect

I do think she deserves credit however.




Also, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, in a way we wouldn't have Dwarfcraft Devices without Devi (aen and wife, feel free to put me in my place). Pretty sure I remember early days of Aen posting on the DE forum and learning how to build stuff...and then they ended up owning DE. Kind of epic.

[UglyCasanova]

Yeah, I just love that gif.

Devi has obviously done cool stuff. Just being a goofster.

[Jero]

It makes me laugh every time I see it

[echorec]

Without Devi the industry itself would probably have been drastically different.

This seems like a bit of a reach to me.

She's not exactly Bob Moog, Roger Mayer, or Zachary Vex. Nor is she Mike Matthews, Glenn Snoddy, or David Cockerel. Nature abhors a vacuum, and I imagine without her, we'd still have plenty of DBAs, Frantones, Fairfields, & Red Pandas.

When I think about the companies that I support the most frequently (EQD, Chase Bliss, Meris, Hologram, Empress), I just don't see Devi serving as anyone's muse. Many of the best builders are either formally-educated engineers or people who are largely autodidactic.

Yes, you can see a direct influence on Dwarfcraft, but that's 1 out of hundreds of builders worldwide. There are certainly some others who were inspired by seeing cheaper DIY designs, but unfortunately, I think what's set her apart is her antics above everything else.

[D.o.S.]

Without Devi the industry itself would probably have been drastically different.

This seems like a bit of a reach to me.

She's not exactly Bob Moog, Roger Mayer, or Zachary Vex. Nor is she Mike Matthews, Glenn Snoddy, or David Cockerel. Nature abhors a vacuum, and I imagine without her, we'd still have plenty of DBAs, Frantones, Fairfields, & Red Pandas.

Devi was the first builder to really gain notoriety for building boutique pedals at a price point that was lower than, say, Boss or Digitech while being broadly available. That's her main legacy in the pedal universe. Her influence is on smaller level builders than the ones you're mentioning in the above (and your favorites are decidedly all horses of a different colour, save EQD who definitely felt more akin to the Devi thing early on).

The first brands that spring to mind are now mostly defunct or very low key, but builders like Mellowtone, Infanem, McSpunkle, Copilot, Holowon, etc. are or were more closely aligned with the Devi universe of pedals than Frantone or DBA.

[Jwar]

I bet a ton of builders had the inspiration to even start building based on shit Devi did or the companies that branched from her doing. Like DOS said, those are not close to the type of companies I was talking about and most of those aren't even in the same realm of pedals.

[goroth]

Without Devi the industry itself would probably have been drastically different.

This seems like a bit of a reach to me.

She's not exactly Bob Moog, Roger Mayer, or Zachary Vex. Nor is she Mike Matthews, Glenn Snoddy, or David Cockerel. Nature abhors a vacuum, and I imagine without her, we'd still have plenty of DBAs, Frantones, Fairfields, & Red Pandas.

When I think about the companies that I support the most frequently (EQD, Chase Bliss, Meris, Hologram, Empress), I just don't see Devi serving as anyone's muse. Many of the best builders are either formally-educated engineers or people who are largely autodidactic.

Yes, you can see a direct influence on Dwarfcraft, but that's 1 out of hundreds of builders worldwide. There are certainly some others who were inspired by seeing cheaper DIY designs, but unfortunately, I think what's set her apart is her antics above everything else.

Jwar could not be more correct.
Any opinion to the contrary just shows ignorance of the boutique pedal industry.
And this site for that matter...