Worst Pedal Names?

[Pepe]

Soul Power always had some "gems".

Can't find the old shop website though. Here is his WordPress: http://spi-soulpower.com/wordpress/
Here are some photos http://spi-soulpower.com/wordpress/?page_id=125

Instrumetns.

[Olin]

I agree Olin it's not impossible that he did it by accident, who knows. I'd never heard of the word before and as you say maybe he looked it up in a Latin dictionary that didn't have the definition that is the first Google hit. However, now I know that meaning, even if it was an accident I'd rather not have it on my board (good thing I didn't want one so this was never a dilemma). Same thing with swastikas, good analogy. It's possible for someone to do it out of a different cultural background but I couldn't buy it because even if they're the other way round symbol that isn't the Nazi one it's not a great look in Western (for now) Europe

Thanks for a measured and helpful response, this type of response is completely impossible to have issue with because there are no absolutes and you aren't making vitriolic and sweeping statements about how evil it is, rather that in your context (which I admit I was being quite broad and idealistic about when mentioning context) you'd rather not take the chance.

[ibarakishi]

We've literally had this exact discussion about swastikas because a certain eastern pedal builder covered his pedals with swastikas for a hot second. Cultural differences exist, and being ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that symbols and words mean the exact same thing to everyone worldwide is a bad take, period.

No one said things don't have other meanings. This is a bad faith discussion already. Man-on-the-street segments are not representative of populations as a whole - they interview hundreds of people, and then edit it down to the 5 or 6 responses that reflect the view they want to present. People in Japan by-and-large aren't oblivious that WWII happened. Swastikas having other associations doesn't negate the fact that one of those associations (globally, the most pervasive association) is to the Nazi party. You can use swastikas when it's appropriate, but throwing caution to the wind when doing so is probably going to justifiably upset a lot of people. Engineering plausible deniability by hiding behind "intentions" is just being a troll. It's like calling a pedal "fuzz f*gg*t" and then saying "how do you know I didn't mean a bundle of sticks?". Even if that's the intention, it's a dick move, and everyone knows why.

its just funny to me that you really believe that people, younger generations especially, actually study rigorously about WWII in japan, while in reality it is so far from the truth. It would be like you believing that in thailand all of our youth actually studied the Thammasat University massacre ( nobody does, literally erased from their textbooks by the military regime), or the communist resistance with all the lives lost (erased by the royal family), or the current erasing of the local history and even language from all public schools by military order in the southern provinces of Muslim children. Which isn't a man-on-street segment from me.

its also interesting that you think that people are trolls for simply, and politely at that, presenting you a very organised and extremely culturally sensitive perspective that is well informed while also tries its best to come at a discussion with good faith (despite you not believing so), which is probably one of the most understated and valuable stances to take in any discussion involving logic.

It would be great for you to see what interesting and quite shocking translations occur in the fashion streets of larger cities here when people only have 10 or 20 years old English to Thai, Thai to Japanese, or even Japanese to English books available at their ready along with google translate if they are lucky. And then see you go on to try and use your same line of thinking as above.

As olin pretty clearly stated, the possibility exists that he could have well known and chose to use offensive language anyways. but until that is proven, which i am also open for, i can't help but give the benefit of good faith towards the pedal builder (who up until this point i am not aware that he has ever had ill intention towards anyone else through his work, happy to be provided evidence of the opposite) that there are plenty of other meanings that could have been intended instead. To anyone who has tried to actively learn and use multiple languages, you just cannot in good faith throw so much weight at something like that immediately without walking away feeling not good about yourself. Or at least i can't...

not making this emotional or personal. people that don't feel comfortable with it aren't going to buy it anyways. and i highly doubt anyone is going to read about Somsak Jeamteerasakul

[Blood_mountain]

Hmm, yeah, that’s no good.

[Blood_mountain]

This one is pretty bad.

19AA0185-9812-4095-8E1F-169C612757AB.jpeg (37.2 KiB) Viewed 2088 times

[Blackened Soul]

Wait a sec here... not to offend... ok to offend... none of you have japananoise 45s in your record collection with super fucked up names/song names/artwork? really? WTF? 'm not saying I condone or agree but.. for the genre of art that MASF are part of that isn't a abnormality...

[Jwar]

This thread is ridiculous. If a name offends you, go back to grade school and learn how to not allow stupid shit to offend you. Being offended is a choice. You don’t like a builder? Don’t buy! Easy? Done! Want to fight injustice in the world? Get out from behind your fucking keyboard and actually do something instead of bitch and moan that a pedal shouldn’t have the word pussy on it. Who fucking cares and why do you care? The atrocities of this world are so much greater than this mundane bullshit.

[UglyCasanova]

I'm not offended, but the names are still bad ideas.

[kaeth]

Intentions matter less than real-world effects. I have a hard time believing that at no point during the development process or the subsequent 5 years of sales, he never googled the word "raptio", and no one else did and gave him a heads-up that it's a rape thing. He knows it's a rape thing by now, and he has decided that it's cool and worth keeping. That's his prerogative, and he's allowed to do that, but normalizing rape isn't a nice thing to do, whether that was the original intention or not. No one is saying this guy should face any more severe consequences than losing some sales from people he made uncomfortable.

[Jwar]

Is there a dual meaning? I have no clue. I don’t own that pedal. Rape is horrible. I wasn’t trying to negate that. The name thing in general is just stupid though.

[Blood_mountain]

This thread is ridiculous. If a name offends you, go back to grade school and learn how to not allow stupid shit to offend you. Being offended is a choice. You don’t like a builder? Don’t buy! Easy? Done! Want to fight injustice in the world? Get out from behind your fucking keyboard and actually do something instead of bitch and moan that a pedal shouldn’t have the word pussy on it. Who fucking cares and why do you care? The atrocities of this world are so much greater than this mundane bullshit.

I mean, I get where you’re coming from, but I do think it can be beneficial to have the conversations given the parties involved are willing to hear the other side, consider a different perspective and if nothing else, hopefully be able to show mutual respect while still potentially disagreeing.

I think there is an overactive sense of self-righteousness and that people are perhaps more easily offended over things that are relatively low on the scale of meaningfulness. That said, I also don’t think that simply accepting or ignoring names and imagery that are hurtful is productive if we want the world of effect pedals to be open and inclusive. That’s what I’d like to see, but maybe that’s not everyone’s ideal.

Really, I just wanted to start a fun thread to point out some dumb pedal names. I guess I had to know it had the potential to create some controversial discourse.

And so, in closing:

[Blood_mountain]

Soul Power always had some "gems".

Can't find the old shop website though. Here is his WordPress: http://spi-soulpower.com/wordpress/
Here are some photos http://spi-soulpower.com/wordpress/?page_id=125

Instrumetns.

I like “poisonas”

[Olin]

Is there a dual meaning? I have no clue. I don’t own that pedal. Rape is horrible. I wasn’t trying to negate that. The name thing in general is just stupid though.

There's a potential dual meaning, and the "rape" that can be involved with raptio is not the same sexually violating rape that we use today, it's more the plundering kind of rape. There is absolutely sexual assault connected to that kind of raptio, but to level raptio as modern rape is entirely inaccurate, and comdemning MASF for that is the exact opposite of giving the benefit of the doubt. Raptio (like I've mentioned before) is a word on its own that has a meaning beyond the most common wikipedia search, which means "abduct", my idea for why he named his pedal that is because the signal is "abducted" and that I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because that actually makes sense and the other way round does not. Raptio being a word that already existed was later used to describe an event that happened at that time period, and has been semi-popularised by that. Even if he was aware of this, he could have chosen to A) not care and continue to use the name because he liked the sound of the word and how it fit in with his producr and acknowledged that words can have more than one meaning or B) apparently committed to his hatred of women by naming his pedal maliciously and normalising rape culture via boutique effects pedals in Japan (or something, who even knows).

This is without even mentioning blackened soul or ibarakishi's points, which are also good and could be argued on their own. At absolute worst, it's an unpleasant name for a pedal, at absolute best, it's a latin name for a stutter/freeze pedal, either way the stakes don't seem very high.

Also, as ibarakishi said, calling people trolls for disagreeing with you is pretty fuckin' rude, there's no need for that.

Here's another hot take of a pedal with a bad name from a company I bet most of us have something from

[VREEEEVROOOOOW]

Wait a sec here... not to offend... ok to offend... none of you have japananoise 45s in your record collection with super fucked up names/song names/artwork? really? WTF? 'm not saying I condone or agree but.. for the genre of art that MASF are part of that isn't a abnormality...

I think those are dumb too. But the difference is that I certainly don't have 45s like that *on stage when I'm performing*. There's a difference between listening to a 45 with fucked up song titles in private, and being on stage playing a "Pussy Melter" or whatever at a show with impressionable 16 year boys who think that's cool, or whatever. Of course, you could just give it a paint job or whatever. But like UglyCasanova said—the names are still bad ideas.

[kaeth]

the "rape" that can be involved with raptio is not the same sexually violating rape that we use today

This type of pedantry is really where you want to take the discussion? That the plundering kind of rape is not sexually violating? And that makes it fine?

he could have chosen to A) not care and continue to use the name because he liked the sound of the word and how it fit in with his producr and acknowledged that words can have more than one meaning or B) apparently committed to his hatred of women by naming his pedal maliciously and normalising rape culture via boutique effects pedals in Japan.

It was likely A. No one has disputed that. In fact, it's the same thing I just said. No one said he hates women. You're the one who keeps escalating. Good intentions don't launder the effects of problematic behaviour. Rape culture is not the product of malicious woman-hating, and yet, it exists. The reason for discussing it is just to advocate for a position that throwing rape around indiscriminately should not have some sort of absolute protection from criticism. My goal is really only to talk about it, so that the next time someone googles "raptio" they might find this thread, and be presented with dissenting views that may lead them to reconsider. Your goal seems to be to shut down all criticism, instead of just letting people read it and decide for themselves.

calling people trolls for disagreeing with you is pretty fuckin' rude, there's no need for that.

I was saying that a pedal manufacturer that used a tasteless name and then hid behind "intention" would be trolling - and even that was hypothetical. I didn't realize that the word "troll" was so much more upsetting than rape. I'm sorry. My intent wasn't to offend so harshly, but I'll reconsider my behaviour if it's that problematic. It's the least I could do, really.