state of the stomp

When it comes to power supplies, don’t underestimate their importance—an unreliable, low-quality one can lead to serious pedal malfunctions.

Let’s begin this article with my personal experience as a pedal builder and a novice musician. One day, a customer messaged me, sounding a bit frustrated. “I received the pedal, but it won’t light up. Did it get damaged during shipping?” they said. I promptly began troubleshooting.

I started with clarifying the signal source, checking if the installation of the input and output jacks was correct, and, finally, inquiring about the power supply being used. To my surprise, he replied, “I’m using a laptop power adapter. Shouldn’t that work just fine? My laptop is in good shape with it. Have I made a mistake? By the way, this is my first pedal ever.”

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In a world of widely shared components, don’t just dare to be different. Insist on it. Aesthetics matter.

Regardless of the number of companies swimming in the pedal pond, I often find myself thinking about aesthetic diversity. We builders tend to all use the same components when designing our devices. It’s how we use them that is the subject here. And I’d like to focus primarily on the external components and how they are presented. Finish and graphics play a big part in a company’s branding and identity. However, I’d like to almost solely talk about knobs, footswitches, toggles, and LEDs. These are the most common things that you’ll see on a pedal.

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Lauren Audio’s latest puts Neve’s coveted 1073 circuit in a stompbox.

After our columnist had a serious accident, respected indie pedal maker James Mackey organized the community to help. Here’s his story.

Summer 2022 sure was crazy for me. Between trying to keep my small pedal business alive and juggling the few other hustles I have going to survive financially in this current economic climate, things were pretty hectic. Then, in August, I was involved in a serious car accident … a head-on collision. Thankfully, the airbag and seat belt saved my life. I stumbled out of the car, completely shocked and humbled to be in one piece after I saw the wreckage. While I will most likely be dealing with the resulting lumbar issues for the rest of my life, I can’t express how grateful I am to still be here.

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