What's up with all the band release pedals lately

[MrNovember]

I personally think there's two sides to signature/band related pedals. There's the collaborations by builders who love a band as Mr. Fuzzrocious just described, which I think is super awesome. Probably gains new fans for both the band and the builder and lets people come together and work with people they appreciate. Any time I see this kind of "signature" pedal from an artist I like I am immediately tempted. Not because I'm trying to recreate that artists sounds, but because I appreciate their ideas and their music, which can be really cool to see converted into an effect. Also, I really don't care if the band ever even uses the unit because again, not really trying to recreate any one else's sounds.

On the other hand, there's the "buy this pedal to sound like this artist" signature pedals, which are much more in the vein of selling out and attaching an artist's name to a pedal to sell more units. I really don't feel like most of these signature pedals even have any collaboration between the bands and the company beyond the lawyers getting the right signatures and cashing the checks. I mean this may be slightly off base and is clearly targetted to larger companies and more successful bands, but generally, to sound like a specific band, you really don't need a signature pedal because the gear they use is usually widely available and well known.

Also, kind of surprised TC Electronic's toneprints haven't come up in this thread. They kind of fall in both camps of "signature" pedals. Some seem to be trying to recreate an artist's exact sound, while others seem to be an artist messing around and finding sounds they like.

[D.o.S.]

I'll jump in .
My take on the band pedal thing, as someone who helps make that happen, is that they are AWESOME for the bands. There is nothing else a band does, besides folks donating money to them where they can see a high percentage of take home cash. They make nearly nothing off of albums. Shirts are decent for profits. Folks don't buy as much merch or come out to shows like they did years ago.
Being able to work with a band I love to create a new sound, specific sound, etc. is insanely special. The Bongripper collab took 7 or 8 trips back and forth over a full calendar year to make the pedal perfect. On the Fuzzrocious side, we definitely do not make a solid profit off of band release stuff, but artistically and work ethic-wise, it's amazing. Plus, becoming closer with a band is a plus.
So, in short, I love doing the band collabs and can't wait to do more.

I played a Bongripper and it was rad but I think I preferred the Dark Driving or the Grey Stashe (aka I liked the Chocolate but Strawberry and Coffee are more my flavours).

Also I just looked at your site and nearly all the pedals I recognize are retired.

[rfurtkamp]

Also, kind of surprised TC Electronic's toneprints haven't come up in this thread. They kind of fall in both camps of "signature" pedals. Some seem to be trying to recreate an artist's exact sound, while others seem to be an artist messing around and finding sounds they like.

Artist presets go back 30 years to rack stuff. Usually they're "whatever somebody was dicking around with stuff", especially back then.

I don't really consider them to be signature items per se; they're a value-added thing to those that want them, or just to see what someone does with a unit.

[MrNovember]

Also, kind of surprised TC Electronic's toneprints haven't come up in this thread. They kind of fall in both camps of "signature" pedals. Some seem to be trying to recreate an artist's exact sound, while others seem to be an artist messing around and finding sounds they like.

Artist presets go back 30 years to rack stuff. Usually they're "whatever somebody was dicking around with stuff", especially back then.

I don't really consider them to be signature items per se; they're a value-added thing to those that want them, or just to see what someone does with a unit.

That's fair. I didn't realise there were similar things available in rack units. I really don't have any experience with rack units though.

[rfurtkamp]

Since the dawn of presets there have been artist presets!