Pike Amps, pure douchery

[deftones]

I'm honestly surprised at all the negative response and it's made me physically ill this morning so I'm gonna try my best to clear everything up.

The reason for the new company is to try some different ideas with branding. I wanted a brand that's just for bass players without any ambiguity. I was also getting really burned out and I needed a new creative outlet. It has nothing to do with "keeping the 3Leaf Audio name out of the muck" as there is no threat of legal action here. I'm not infringing on any trademarks and I didn't break any contracts. I'll still be running the 3Leaf brand, and that will be focused on all the fun and weird stuff I've always made, while Pike will be more utilitarian products for bass.

As to why the pedals look similar to the old USA-made DG pedals: Doug and I had a partnership and I designed those pedals. He came to me with the schematic for the audio section of the circuits, and I designed the bypass switching and did the physical designs. I also fronted the money for every production run and managed the entire production myself. I don't think most people realize how collaborative that partnership was...I wasn't just a hired gun if that was the impression that was given off. I won't get into the ending of that partnership other than to say that Darkglass stuck me with a few hundred enclosures that were already drilled for those pedals. I couldn't afford to just throw those away since I had already paid for them, so I had to come up with a design that would work in that box. I was originally thinking of making it a limited run just to get rid of the few hundred enclosures I had, but then Darkglass changed the look of their pedals to the point that my aesthetic design was no longer there, and it was a design I was really proud of so I wanted to 'reclaim' it so to speak. I obsess over the look and feel of the products I design and I didn't want to see my work die out with the end of that partnership.

Regarding the circuit: I wouldn't have done any of this if I were just going to copy Darkglass. I don't think it's fair to my customers to release a product that doesn't bring anything new to the table. The Vulcan circuit is inspired by my knowledge of the Darkglass circuits but taken in a direction that I think makes them appealing in a totally different way. I worked with those circuits for years so I learned what makes them sound good, but I also found lots of ways to change it to make it work more to my taste. The big difference with the Vulcan circuit is that it's actually two entire overdrive circuits in parallel that get blended together to form the complete sound. It's a very complex circuit design...the Vulcan circuit has 117 components and the XL has 173. In practice it sounds a lot different than a B3K or something like that, so I hope you guys get the chance to try one for yourself before just assuming that it's a ripoff since it has a similar look. I've spent most of the last year fine-tuning and obsessing over every detail of these pedals and I'm really excited about the results.

Sorry to be long-winded, but I needed to be thorough because all the speculation on here gave me an anxiety attack. It really wasn't my intent to ruffle any feathers. I'm currently putting the finishing touches on a series of onboard preamps with a really cool twist, and I think you guys will like them.

Pathetic, look how defensive and guilty he is. What a sack of shit and even worse is the TB crowd.

your screen name makes me sad. i played with Deftones in a band i was in in High School a bunch of times before they blew up. and then a year or two ago played a show with this way too young band, bass player looked familiar, had a beat up cab with DEFTONES STAGE LEFT written on it.

was Chi's kid.

played with him when he was a few years older than me, then played with HIS FUCKING SON.

ugh.

That is sad, but it's good his spirit lives on.

[Jwar]

Damn they gave Ben the ban hammer. Those bitches.

[behndy]

i am crushed. just..... DESTROYED. this.... this will be a hard weekend.

keep me in y'all's thoughts.

[Dark Barn]

My hat's off to you.

[Scruffie]

i am crushed. just..... DESTROYED. this.... this will be a hard weekend.

keep me in y'all's thoughts.

It's okay Behndy, i'm sure they'll have you on the EHX forums

[behndy]

hee. well. now all is BEAUTIFUL AGAIN.

*wistful sigh*

eeeeeee..... hhhhhhhhh........ xxxxxxxxxxxx.........

[JonnyAngle]

It's a totally different place now. A lot of key people got to banned camp over the last year or 2

[behndy]

yeah. fuck that place. i used to dig the efx forum, always bothered me that you can't say ANYthing about the mods, but it was fun for a bit.

Unwiped Butt Zone now.

MEH.

[JonnyAngle]

It's always more fun when there are more rules!

[Snufkino]

No.

[Snufkino]

there is no threat of legal action here. I'm not infringing on any trademarks and I didn't break any contracts.

As to why the pedals look similar to the old USA-made DG pedals: Doug and I had a partnership and I designed those pedals. He came to me with the schematic for the audio section of the circuits, and I designed the bypass switching and did the physical designs. I also fronted the money for every production run and managed the entire production myself. I don't think most people realize how collaborative that partnership was...I wasn't just a hired gun if that was the impression that was given off. I won't get into the ending of that partnership other than to say that Darkglass stuck me with a few hundred enclosures that were already drilled for those pedals. I couldn't afford to just throw those away since I had already paid for them, so I had to come up with a design that would work in that box. I was originally thinking of making it a limited run just to get rid of the few hundred enclosures I had, but then Darkglass changed the look of their pedals to the point that my aesthetic design was no longer there, and it was a design I was really proud of so I wanted to 'reclaim' it so to speak. I obsess over the look and feel of the products I design and I didn't want to see my work die out with the end of that partnership.

Pathetic, look how defensive and guilty he is. What a sack of shit and even worse is the TB crowd.

I'm only going by that single Spencer post, and I've not been aware of the Pike pedals thing until I read this thread, so I only have what's in front of me, and that reply doesn't sound too bad... or at least not 'bag of dicks' bad... I guess? That's only assuming what he's saying is all true of course, although there's still the fact that he didn't design the circuit of course, and I don't think adding bypass switching counts as design, nor does the 'physical' design which is surely just "I'll put that pot there, that switch here"? But what parts clearly aren't true? And has Doug said anything about all this?

[psychic vampire.]

God FUCKING damn, Behndy, I knew your na,e just from lurking the effects forum, you were one of the most helpful and informative content creators on that board. Fuck that place right to hell, a bunch of babies who like to shit where they sleep.

[Dark Barn]

I think many people who have paid attention to the saga have wanted both builders to drop their squabble and move on in separate directions. Doug has done this, Spencer had seemed to do this as well until deciding to release this Vulcan pedal, which shares numerous similarities to Darkglass pedals. I this quote Spencer brags that it is based on that platform with his own modifications, of which he shares one, the others are anyone's guess.

The things he says in there that seem untrue to me are that he is shocked by the negative response, and that Darkglass had changed the look of their pedals to the point that "his" aesthetic design was no longer there.

I see it as an attempt to grab a little of Doug's action, which of course will provoke some negative feelings, especially in context of the history between the two builders. And I just don't see what Spencer is talking about in regards to the aesthetics of the pedal, which have only changed very subtly since before and after the partnership. Everyone who has familiarity with the Darkglass B7K instantly makes the associative leap when looking at the Vulcan XL.

Background: I don't own pedals by either builder but have tried a few from each. The B3K is confoundingly popular, I really don't care for it but it has rabid and loyal devotees. During the partnership break up I paid little attention but conventional wisdom says that Spencer threw a petulant social media tantrum and Doug took the high road and kept his cool. Despite the fact that I don't care for the B3K I do look at it as novel and unique in the pedal market, which is ethically different than cloning/borrowing from a circuit that is rampant or out of production. It's my personal choice, I don't care what the rest of you all do, but I prefer to see my pedal money go to the innovators even if the expense is greater, provided the circuit is in production and does what I want it to.

[Jwar]

What a lot of those TB asshat's don't know is that Spencer has done a LOT of fucked up shit that Doug has only shared with a select few people. I happen to be one and won't say what it was because I respect the man. Doug, not Spencer.

Doug barely knows me, but is a friend. I mean, he bought me fucking dinner with Sheldon Dingwall and his whole crew and treated me like I was one of the gang. Who does that? A sincere, great human being, that's who.

Spencer is a spiteful little twerp. He'll learn later in life. Dude is only like 24-25, so with age, hopefully comes wisdom.

[Chankgeez]

Can we cut Spencer a little break because he seems to like purple?