# Guitar FX Pedals count



## Luke (Jul 31, 2014)

How many different pedals out there? (not counting the ones from private home hobbyists):

I'll post a loose number of 10,000. Take a crack at it and adjust the number with any info.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Go to http://www.effectsdatabase.com/, and you may add another zero to that figure. Mind you, the boundaries between commercial pedals and "private home hobbyists" can get pretty fuzzy on occasion.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

How about, let's count how many pedals each member here have and make a running total of it.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Chito said:


> How about, let's count how many pedals each member here have and make a running total of it.


That's what I thought this would be.

I currently have 11.


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

6 here.

And I don't generally use pedals at all.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

So far-17

I don't use all of mine most of the time either.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Somewhere in the neighbourhood of 50+.


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

You guys want me to actually get off my slowly growing ass and go count something? No can do, muchachos.


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## Luke (Jul 31, 2014)

mhammer said:


> Go to http://www.effectsdatabase.com/, and you may add another zero to that figure. Mind you, the boundaries between commercial pedals and "private home hobbyists" can get pretty fuzzy on occasion.


100K is amazing!!! considering they basically started in the 1960's.

But then again that's roughly 2,000 per year on avg. - averaging is also very deceitful as the true number keeps increasing every year where there may have been 100/year back then.

The lesser known Euro market certainly got me.

Thanx for the link. Will look at it deeper during the coming weekend.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The number of "companies" that pop up each year, never ceases to amaze me.


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## Luke (Jul 31, 2014)

Chito said:


> How about, let's count how many pedals each member here have and make a running total of it.


88 so far and love them all but only use 1 or 2 per practice session and use a different combo of pedals every session. 

Life wouldn't be the same without them. They definitely open up channels of creativity.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Probably in the past twenty years it started picking up.
In the last ten years, it started to boom.
In the past five years, it's become a saturated market.

I don't envy someone getting into the game at this stage, so much competition.

I stopped counting what I have @ 100, there's some more on shelves here too. 8/
Two full boards, that's thirty right there. One other PT-1 to do up then a purge is needed. 80


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

I thought I was bad LOL I got 68 at the moment.


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## TA462 (Oct 30, 2012)

WOW, some of you guys have a ton of pedals. What do you use for a pedal board, a 4x8 sheet of plywood? LOL. I have 4 but have a few I want to get.


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## Option1 (May 26, 2012)

I have 8, but want 1 more, maybe 2... and so it goes.

Neil


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

I have n.

Of course my goal is to have n+1.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

High/Deaf said:


> I have n.
> 
> Of course my goal is to have n+1.


You always need just one more.


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## Luke (Jul 31, 2014)

sulphur said:


> Probably in the past twenty years it started picking up.
> In the last ten years, it started to boom.
> In the past five years, it's become a saturated market.
> 
> ...


Nice, but ...

I have a folder on my desktop that I update with each purchases (Brand, Model #, Serial #, and $ amount paid). I then transfer it on a USB flashdrive + I also send myself an email for extra pc malfunction or virus protection. Why? For insurance purposes (in case). Everything else I own is also categorized and has its own folder (books, CDs/DVDs, and collectible toys).

Funny you say that. If I was to start another career or recommend one to an electronics engineer it would be in pedal manufacture as there seems to be more room in the market. The avg price paid for my 88 pedals are $120. Members at this forum (according to their pedalboard pics) is a bit above $200. Seems most own a couple $300 pedals and also one or two $500 ones. That means there is interest in quality and money is not an issue or they will find a way to get it sooner or later. Key here is in advertising and promotion for success. We're all looking for that distinctive tone to set us apart from others so I see more and more in that aspect. I wouldn't think twice to invest in it if I had the extra cash for it. But that's just me.


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## bduguay (Jul 15, 2009)

No kidding!
In all fairness though, I've noticed a number of them disappear too.
That's mostly why I'm hesitant to be one of those "new" companies. That and I have little to no cajones.
B.


mhammer said:


> The number of "companies" that pop up each year, never ceases to amaze me.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Barber is one line that actually under priced his pedals to the extent that people overlooked them.

There seems to be some correlation between price and quality with the consumer.
Strange, but it's pretty evident on a thread in that forum "down south".


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

bduguay said:


> No kidding!
> In all fairness though, I've noticed a number of them disappear too.
> That's mostly why I'm hesitant to be one of those "new" companies. That and I have little to no cajones.
> B.


I always remind "the kids" that "You'll never get rich making and selling fuzzboxes. You MAY make a respectable living if you have a great head for business AND you just _happen_ to make fuzzboxes."

One of the reasons so many of these "businesses" crop up and vanish is because the cost of entry into "the business" is so low. If you have an internet account, you've got webspace for a site. Fabrication houses will crank out professional-quality PCBs for you cheaply. Component distributors sell stuff for a fraction of what it cost 20 years ago, often providing prepared Hammond boxes (painted and drilled) for minimal cost, and you can pretty much start a "business" on the desk in your dorm room. This is why there are tons of "pedal-makers", compared to both guitar and amp-makers.

People tell me all the time "You should go into business and make pedals!"/ Thankfully, my late father showed me what happens whent you have gobs of enthusiasm but no business smarts.


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## Luke (Jul 31, 2014)

mhammer said:


> I always remind "the kids" that "You'll never get rich making and selling fuzzboxes. You MAY make a respectable living if you have a great head for business AND you just _happen_ to make fuzzboxes."
> 
> One of the reasons so many of these "businesses" crop up and vanish is because the cost of entry into "the business" is so low. If you have an internet account, you've got webspace for a site. Fabrication houses will crank out professional-quality PCBs for you cheaply. Component distributors sell stuff for a fraction of what it cost 20 years ago, often providing prepared Hammond boxes (painted and drilled) for minimal cost, and you can pretty much start a "business" on the desk in your dorm room. This is why there are tons of "pedal-makers", compared to both guitar and amp-makers.
> 
> People tell me all the time "You should go into business and make pedals!"/ Thankfully, my late father showed me what happens whent you have gobs of enthusiasm but no business smarts.


Not disagreeing with your pov but I let myself think that people post 1960s have much more disposable income especially with both parents working compared to before the '60s. Recession or not the percentage of that disposable income increases a bit every decade in excess to the cost of living. Teenagers can now work and buy themselves a starter kit guitar, amp, and a couple pedals easy with a month salary. 

(I'm an enthusiast and never let a negative thought seep in my train of thought. I've been a private home painting contractor for the last twenty years and it's how I came to the above conclusion).

I agree you will not become rich making pedals (just like a painting biz) but I still would for the love of sound.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The sort of quality one can get in starter packages these days, for peanuts, is nothing sort of remarkable. The various Japanese budget instruments I would drool over in department stores in the 1960s, cost 2-3x as much, in relative terms, as today's starter package instruments, if not more.

But the sort of quality one can get for ridiculously low prices also means that the competition is fiercer. I suppose if one deals with higher-end clients most of the time, then charging pedal prices in the $200+ range is feasible. But the glut of well-made stuff that one can buy for under $50 means one has to have an exceptional product to capture the attention of enough people to make a go of it. Either that, or a very understanding partner who makes a good-enough living that paying the rent or mortgage is not a problem.


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