Failed Pedal Lines and Companies

[Jwar]

If you think about it, Devi impacted the mainstream pedal world as well. I mean JHS ripped off her designs for crying out loud. They are HUGE now. That's evidence right there. They are no Boss but they are becoming (if they aren't already) a household brand.

[spacelordmother]

I think Devi was also influential as being relatable and available as a person (for better or worse) more than just her pedals. Like -- "Who" is Boss? I remember the Devi forum days and it was so cool to talk pedals and what would be rad in a fuzz and then boom, there it was. It's a lot more commonplace now, but I don't know of any other brands that were really doing it back then.

[whoismarykelly]

I think Devi was also influential as being relatable and available as a person (for better or worse) more than just her pedals. Like -- "Who" is Boss? I remember the Devi forum days and it was so cool to talk pedals and what would be rad in a fuzz and then boom, there it was. It's a lot more commonplace now, but I don't know of any other brands that were really doing it back then.

The core of a lot of early boutique brands was having a personality behind the pedals. Lovepedal, ZVex, Frantone, Earthquaker, Fulltone, etc... were all heavily dependent on the person behind the brand as much as the pedals themselves. The difference in the last 10 years is that all the personalities behind pedal brands are folks who have been posting on some forum for 10 years and say, "hey btw Im launching a pedal brand..." so they seem more grassroots compared to the companies that put out a product and also had a guy that was answering the phone while he was designing the next thing.

[friendship]

Like -- "Who" is Boss?

[calfzilla]

Like -- "Who" is Boss?

JOHNNY D!!!

[friendship]

Mr. Boss himself!

[spacelordmother]

Touche!

[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.

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.

So she didn't influence the builders with the most advanced current designs...

&

she deserves credit for influencing builders that are "mostly defunct"?

It seems like you're agreeing with my counterpoint, that the industry really wouldn't be much different today without her offerings.

[friendship]

She also helped re-popularize fuzz. Back then people thought it was weird that she offered so many different flavors of it, and now it's a pretty normal thing for a pedal company to offer a few different fuzz pedals instead of having one fuzz face clone.

[aens_wife]

She definitely isn't the most important person in the industry and her influence has waned considerable over the years.

But - she was early in the wave of using video demos like she did. We all do that now. She helped the DIY community, which created a lot of customers because she was open with them. She was one of the first small builders in Musicians Friend, which you could argue legitimized our weird little underground industry. That she squandered some of those opportunities isn't really the point.

I don't understand why you'd argue that she wasn't important at all. You can say that she changed the industry (both good and bad) and that she didn't impact actual current pedal design all that much. Both can be true.

[echorec]

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.

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

ZVex was launched in 1994, and according to Devi, she started building in 2003. I don't have a perfect timeline of all the companies who came out between 1994 & 2003...but there many of them---dozens & dozens of small outfits were reviewed on Harmony Central and discussed on long-forgotten forums, before Bart (DiscoFreq) got Effects Database rolling.

I understand that for many people on this board who weren't buying pedals in the late 90s, that her influence is exaggerated, because of when they became exposed to pedals outside of BOSS/Ibanez/Danelectro. It's no different than a band emerging from a small scene and everyone remembers the band that broke through, even if they weren't necessarily the first or the best of that scene.

I'm not erasing her, I'm just saying that she's not really a pioneer in my book, because she sold handmade fuzzes for cheaper than Zvex. Without her time in the spotlight, I just don't think the industry would be "drastically different" as you phrased it. You've got people building loopers, glitch devices, DSP delays, frozen reverbs, and tap-tempo modulation pedals all over the world, whereas Devi focused on fuzz. Therefore I don't agree with said sentiment----unless by industry, people mean something else entirely---because fuzz is one component of a much broader industry. As far as the pedal industry at-large, I think her influence is somewhat minimal, not drastic.

[whoismarykelly]

I'd say Devi's strongest influence was showing people that you could sell a pedal with a really sloppy board wrapped in electrical tape for $100. Around 10 years ago it seemed every other "cool new pedal" that showed up from a trade from one of the new small Devi-esque builders was an insane mess on the inside that I had to rebuild before it worked properly.

[Chankgeez]

I don't have a perfect timeline of all the companies who came out between 1994 & 2003...

Why not?

[echorec]

I don't have a perfect timeline of all the companies who came out between 1994 & 2003...

Why not?

Well if I published an authoritative history on effects, then I'd just be putting a conclusive stamp on what a jackass Goroth is and I certainly don't want to do that.

[Chankgeez]

I don't have a perfect timeline of all the companies who came out between 1994 & 2003...

Why not?

Well if I published an authoritative history on effects, then I'd just be putting a conclusive stamp on what a jackass Goroth is and I certainly don't want to do that.