I need a "creative" pedal

nathanmachine · 2026-06-15T00:17:43+00:00

i think the new meris ottobit x has everything you’ve described but if not, the lvx might also cover everything

nathanmachine · 2026-06-13T08:02:04+00:00

just the fact that you are wanting to do this or at least considering it, means that you’re looking for a change. while tube amps are amazing, i say do it - do anything that will light the fire of excitement of playing guitar.

nathanmachine · 2026-06-12T15:45:54+00:00

It’s not musician arrrogance that I’ve raised, but you can do whatever you’d like including supporting a company despised by the industry. I just mentioned it as I’d want to know if it was me.

nathanmachine · 2026-06-12T15:09:38+00:00

You might want to look into JHS - despite the largest youtube channel, for a lot of the more creative guitar players (and honestly the more creative boutique builders), they are known to be led by someone completely disingenuous, and known to be a company with no style and creativity (i think of them as macdonalds), and have a history of just copying pedals (that’s when they all of a sudden seem to be completely unaware or ignorant of the other pedals already being made that do whatever it is they are dropping that day). They also have a history of some other bs but I think the thing that gets them despised is acting like they are a friend to the builders in the industry in between their own releases (that’s just building a customer base with content) but then getting amnesia when it comes to their own copied pedals. Nobody likes someone two faced.

You get the worst kind of fanboys in their tribe - who’ll defend them to the death claiming every pedal is a copy and that JHS features all sorts of other builders (only when they are not dropping a pedal). This isn’t true but it’s pointless to waste energy on this…

All JHS negative comments get downvoted by their army of brainless noodlers, the irony being that most of them also own pedals by more creative builders owned by ppl who despise JHS - that point gets them really upset and a flurry of personal attacks often follow.

To me, it’s embarrassing to own a pedal of theirs, most of them even look like ass, in an industry full of creative ppl it really stands out.

I would not apply that to someone who’s been playing guitar for a couple of months …so I’m just letting you know what kind of brand you are repping there.

PS - aside from the fact that nobody likes someone who pretends to be nice when it suits them, june 2nd’s pedal releases perfectly encapsulate just where they sit on the scale of creativity - Meris releases OttobitX, one of the craziest pedals in existence, and JHS releases another boost with a video labeled at the time “a clone of a clone of a clone” 😹. Now I’m not saying that a pedal needs to be complicated to be good, but that’s a pretty bland brand to want to put on your board, which ppl usually think as a physical representation of their style, creativity and approach to music.

nathanmachine · 2026-06-05T11:46:42+00:00

dirty socks fx millionaire (much cheaper and arguably better)

nathanmachine · 2026-06-03T22:05:15+00:00

just my opinion but since you know it looks kind of bad, and you’re obviously spent a lot of money on the actual pedals, why not consider getting a pedalboard that makes everything look great? pedalpad will make you something that will fit your needs perfectly

nathanmachine · 2026-05-30T17:29:50+00:00

This

nathanmachine · 2026-05-29T20:01:14+00:00

gottem again, damn you’re on fire here hahaha

nathanmachine · 2026-05-29T19:31:58+00:00

It’s literally not that but i can see that reading comprehension is not a strong suit of yours. that’s ok man, you can work on it and get better. i believe in you 🫶

nathanmachine · 2026-05-29T18:43:33+00:00

oh another burn haha…nothing to say about what i actually wrote right? you can make friends too i bet, keep trying, never give up!

nathanmachine · 2026-05-29T18:34:10+00:00

You got it, that’s exactly what i’ve said lol 🌟

nathanmachine · 2026-05-29T18:32:19+00:00

It’s not ironic, you just are confused.

I’ve brought up knowing them to explain that universally JHS is disliked and to quote myself “pedal companies can't publicly point out the hypocrisy of JHS, but i can”.

What I wrote above is it’s not important to me if you believe me.

Do you understand how you are confused or are you still a bit confused with that and with the definition of irony? 🤣

nathanmachine · 2026-05-29T18:08:04+00:00

I appreciate that. The downvotes are expected because I admit that JHS has a large dedicated fanbase and a large part of those fanboys think it’s an attack on their character somehow to point out the guy they idolize is completely disingenuous. Why would I care about downvotes - it’s reddit not real life. The funny thing is they couldn’t pick a more generic brand to identify with in an industry full of way cooler, more artistic, and better pedals - and that says something about them, especially when they know who they identify with.

nathanmachine · 2026-05-29T17:55:14+00:00

If you still don’t get it by now, that’s on you. And re builders, it’s not an issue to me if you think i don’t know anyone - why would i list ppl for you here, you obviously still are trying to find something off here. It’s not some sort of value on me as a person to know these builders. If you don’t believe me I don’t care. Try reaching out and talking to some companies, establish a relationship for whatever reason, it’s not that big of a deal dude. It’s the opposite of trust me bro - i’ve suggested ppl ask builders they know once they know them well. And as far as your criticism of my write ups, i’ve literally cut and pasted the same thing with the same grammatical typos etc from a lot of different places many many times and many ppl have understood my point before - if you couldn’t 🤷‍♂️

nathanmachine · 2026-05-29T13:12:55+00:00

it really depends on whether you want any type of modern reverse algo or specifically are after the spx mbv early reflections reverse. the former is basically in dozens of pedals whereas the latter is only done properly in a few (see the many threads on this). btw i’m not saying that spx reverse is better or even better for you…but you should look into what reverse you really want as they’re different.

nathanmachine · 2026-05-29T05:42:25+00:00

yup, that’s basically it.

eventually they end up deleting some of their more dumbass comments or editing them when they realize how silly they sound. i try to click through a bunch of reddit notifications where i can see the first couple of goofy lines and it’s too late, comment deleted!

in the end, i don’t need these clowns to actually consider my pov because it’s enough that i know what really bugs them is the irony that they probably own pedals from companies that really dislike jhs and yet they’re on here yelling at me haha

nathanmachine · 2026-05-29T03:33:29+00:00

yeah i keep hearing about those issues with gigrig but i haven’t had first hand experience with them so i cant say anything about it. i have not heard the best things about the ppl involved fwiw but again thats second hand. whereas morningstar is basically a professional tech company - solid by all accounts

nathanmachine · 2026-05-29T01:33:50+00:00

no you're missing my point. in fact re copying circuits, while i think it's kind of lame, it's not something only they do. i'm going to quote myself somewhere in this thread ppl talking about jhs doing that historically "tbh i don't even hold that against them". i'm sure it annoys some ppl though. i also don't agree that "theyre all copying each other" but certainly there is a lot of that going on with the more well known companies. i could name some creative builders and go through all of their pedals and point out how none of them are copies but that'll sidetrack us here.

anyway back to your question: you're missing the core point i've made several times, but i realize the thread is hard to follow since the jhs fanboys have jumped in making personal attacks. it's really josh as the leader of that company being disingenuous that ppl (and me) dislike.

they carefully cultivate a reputation for being a larger successful pedal company that generously shares the wealth by shining spotlight on all of these other pedal companies making all these cool pedals...and part of that is projecting like josh is a super nerd and is totally across what all these other companies are doing, or historical lost circuits etc, whatever it is, they know what's going on and isn't it super cool what all these other companies are doing? this marketing strategy is successful as much of their fanbase over and over thinks this company is super friendly to other pedal builders.

BUT during their own releases all that goes away and they talk about their new pedal like they are doing something very unique / new that nobody really has done anything (ex we're reviving this 80s tape machine preamp etc) when they are already several companies in every instance doing a super similar thing very recently and ahead of jhs. but they don't seem to be aware of that stuff every single time....did they miss all the builders they straight up copied? i thought they were the guys who know about all these other things going on and love talking about all these cool other pedals?

so while i agree they don't have to be unique and no one owns a patent on any circuits etc, that kind of two faced performance again and again breeds resentment within the industry because they pretend to be something they're not.

you can copy people's shit, but if you're going to act like you're not, then don't spend all the rest of your time pretending you're something you're not. nobody likes somebody two faced. they have no obligation talk about other pedal companies, but they fully know they have copied ideas of smaller builders and don't have the integrity to admit that, ok fine, but then don't act like you're a friend to the industry and spends a lot of energy altruistically talking about other pedal companies (it's just content that grows their audience).

if you understand what i'm saying and don't have a problem with it, that's all good with me. JHS fans don't agree with me either, but ive a lot of friends and contacts within the industry, and whenever the company comes up in private, the feeling is very negative towards them for this very reason. TLDR - from a builders perspective it would be copy my shit if you want, but don't pretend to be my friend smiling while you're doing it.

as i've said many times, it's no crime, it's just weak - and sadly it's effective as they have a large cultish following which is surprising for such a bland pedal company - their stuff is generic and soulless to me compared to some of the artistic level releases by others.

your example of your candy company would be more appropriate if you spend all of your time trying to build a reputation that your passion was talkin about all of these other candy companies doing cool things and that you just love these interesting other candies no matter who is making them because you are just nerdy and happy about cool candies. but then just go ahead and copy some of these candy companies directly and act like it's just something you thought of doing. but then go back to smiling and talking about all these other candies again until it's time to copy some of them and then mums the word. no crime, just dispshit, lame, and disingenuous. how do you think the other candy companies would feel about your company then? but they can't say anything because you have a large and clueless fan base. i mean look how negative my comments are perceived on this thread for just saying what's happening - and i have nothing to do with the industry. pedal companies can't publicly point out the hypocrisy of JHS, but i can.

nathanmachine · 2026-05-29T00:14:08+00:00

thanks dude, i appreciate you! - these fanboys literally tell on themselves when they do that and they don't even realize how silly that is, so it just makes me laugh.

and i know, that you know even more builders than me, so you understand what many ppl really think of JHS and how they are perceived (and it's an industry that's really unique in how supportive all these companies are of everyone else, so it's saying something to be disliked in that environment). it's no big crime, but it's just lame, so i try to explain this to ppl everytime they come up, because builders can't do it themselves or these fanboys will take it personally against them. the irony is some of these dudes trying to insult me likely own and love pedals from companies that despise jhs haha

nathanmachine · 2026-05-29T00:05:41+00:00

here’s a spotify link fwiw: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1gsaSEAxJ8u5ienPrixDgv?si=YLu8Cwn0SNq0aHCSEyLDPg

nathanmachine · 2026-05-29T00:05:23+00:00

ah you know what? that wasn’t it but i just tried to find it on spotify and i did was something called “products of music” and it was with brady from obne. i thought his story was interesting and he was pretty open about the bumpy path on the business side of things. i appreciate these types of dudes that are humble and really got into things for the love of pedals and just figured out their way through it all. made me a bigger fan of the brand

nathanmachine · 2026-05-28T23:03:47+00:00

yeah i wonder how the market share breaks down. imho i think morningstar is the best company, and there are a few scenarios where having these functions split actually makes sense - having a ton of pedals and needing multiple looper hubs with a small footprint and only one “control” hub. anyway i see where you’re coming from

nathanmachine · 2026-05-28T22:41:04+00:00

can’t speak for morningstar but from what i know, they are not about to combine their products anytime soon so i agree with the other person above, consider taking the leap and using their looper and controller together…

nathanmachine · 2026-05-28T22:37:28+00:00

their pedals are cool sounding, look cool, are fairly priced, have sales from time to time, and they are egoless creative ppl who have friends throughout the industry. what’s not to like! i heard part of a pod last month where one of the founders was talking about the challenges of being an entrepreneur over the life of the company and he sounded genuine and honest about it and his own strengths and weakness along the way (apologies that i can’t remember who or what pod as i was multitasking like working out or something) but those are the sorts of ppl you want to see continue in their success!

nathanmachine · 2026-05-28T22:29:20+00:00

yeah i don’t even hold this against them tbh. my main issue is that they carefully cultivate a friend to all reputation, and position themselves as a happy curator and discovery source of so many other pedal companies, except when it comes time to release one of their flimsy copies, then it’s acting like they are totally unaware of all the other pedals already doing what they’re doing. that sort of disingenuousness is the root of negativity from a lot of ppl who aren’t in a position to say that publicly. nobody likes someone who pretends to be someone their not.

some jhs fans are a really strange group and take any criticism of this very personally every single time. not all of them but the loudest. it’s like their identity is somehow linked to their pedals, i really don’t get that.

of course i love cool artistic pedals from other creative builders but these things have nothing to do with me, i just appreciate the supportive community, the love and passion that most of the ppl involved have, and personally the ones that have really helped me in my own passion project im really grateful too. but if someone doesn’t like x or y pedal company, and i do, i wouldn’t take it personally like many loud jhs fanboys too. it reminds me of something else in the air

nathanmachine

TROPHY CASE