Pedal prices?

[muttlegs]

I was interested to get a better understanding of how builder decides a price point for a pedal.

Is it the components? The rep? Ltd runs? Finishes?
Is it a simple equation of parts + labour + margin maths?
or is it just down to what the market will tolerate?

For example I was looking at this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=149&t=17897
This delay is $375 and the general consensus is that is way to high for the spec (delay time specifically).

I would like to know what the acceptable prices per category/type were?
Digital delay, analog delay (with or without tap tempo)
Overdive? Fuzz? Modulation?

There seems to be such a disparity between pricing.
I appreciate there is a dealer margin and manufacturer margin when not sold direct.
EHX, MXR, Boss etc have huge volume so it is better to keep then out of the discussion.

[Grrface]

I would imagine it's a little bit of your second two. Market toleration as a baseline - barrier to entry (due to things like a freaking boatload of fuzz being out there) + parts + labor + margin.

I would say your average price for a fuzz right now hovers around the $150-$175 mark. Overdrive is probably lower. Analog delays hang around the same mark (thinking of the Ekko 616 and DT Jr). Modulation is kind of all over the place.

[dubkitty]

extremely simple analog delays run around $175ish. if they have any kind of feature set at all other than time and depth you're looking at more like $250. i don't think the linked delay is "way too high"...i think if it were priced at the same point as the Lunar Echo, or perhaps $25 more, it'd be fine.

[SPACERITUAL]

i don't think the linked delay is "way too high"...i think if it were priced at the same point as the Lunar Echo, or perhaps $25 more, it'd be fine.

[Gunner Recall]

A lot of it is labor + a little wiggle room to cover repairs/returns.

A lot of the disparity comes from companies who use overseas slave labor which keeps prices artificially low.

That isnt taking into account the mojo fuzz market, which is its own kinda beast.

[Bassus Sanguinis]

There are a lot of factors to it, and the acceptable price can't be so easily measured as considering if it's a delay, a fuzz or a reverb.


Let's say I want as dogawful sub octave fuzz, something intense enough to wake up the audience. I can go and buy MXR Blue Box. Yeah, a specific and cheap tool for it, available from just about any shop, and sounds exactly like the Blue Box has always sounded so it can be pretty rad, as proven.

But perhaps I want something to brag about to the opening act guitarists, and something a little less obvious, and I settle for DOD Buzzbox. Slightly more madness, even less predictability - fuck yeah - and it costs a fuck lot more, if one can be found from eBay or B/S/T lists at all. BUT it also preserves it's resell value a LOT better if I don't like the pedal.

But I dislike the DOD foot switches and prefer true bypass to the buffered signal. Now I can go for a straight copy of it, Audible Disease Thirty-Three or the MASF Kidnapper. Both sound really bad ass but they sure as hell are not as cheap as the Blue Box. Then I realize I really want to go over the top so I end up looking for Dwarfcraft Robot Devil. Or I prefer it to react to playing dynamics and be really, really simple when I start to look for Fuzzhugger Phantom Octave.

Some use a fuck load more components than others and some are very tweakable, whereas the Blue Box pretty much nails one sound nice. Some are build with consideration to environmental issues, too, and some are made by hand, by persons who actually try to pay their bills and keep the business running by doing so, and some of these pedals are the dudes original designs!

There's some points to consider

[SPACERITUAL]

There are a lot of factors to it, and the acceptable price can't be so easily measured as considering if it's a delay, a fuzz or a reverb.


Let's say I want as dogawful sub octave fuzz, something intense enough to wake up the audience. I can go and buy MXR Blue Box. Yeah, a specific and cheap tool for it, available from just about any shop, and sounds exactly like the Blue Box has always sounded so it can be pretty rad, as proven.

But perhaps I want something to brag about to the opening act guitarists, and something a little less obvious, and I settle for DOD Buzzbox. Slightly more madness, even less predictability - fuck yeah - and it costs a fuck lot more, if one can be found from eBay or B/S/T lists at all. BUT it also preserves it's resell value a LOT better if I don't like the pedal.

But I dislike the DOD foot switches and prefer true bypass to the buffered signal. Now I can go for a straight copy of it, Audible Disease Thirty-Three or the MASF Kidnapper. Both sound really bad ass but they sure as hell are not as cheap as the Blue Box. Then I realize I really want to go over the top so I end up looking for Dwarfcraft Robot Devil. Or I prefer it to react to playing dynamics and be really, really simple when I start to look for Fuzzhugger Phantom Octave.

Some use a fuck load more components than others and some are very tweakable, whereas the Blue Box pretty much nails one sound nice. Some are build with consideration to environmental issues, too, and some are made by hand, by persons who actually try to pay their bills and keep the business running by doing so, and some of these pedals are the dudes original designs!

There's some points to consider

OOOOOOOR you wait till thom and i get it on with my sig pedal....which will be a dod buzzbox done fuzzhugger style with elements of the phantom circuit and maybe an eq and stupid graphics. Its going to kill whitney houston again then turn around and prove courtney killed kurt while secretly being responsible for the whole thing BEFORE THOM EVEN BUILT IT. THEN ITS GOING TO SHIT LIVE CATS OUT OF YOUR AMP.

[Bassus Sanguinis]

There are a lot of factors to it, and the acceptable price can't be so easily measured as considering if it's a delay, a fuzz or a reverb.


Let's say I want as dogawful sub octave fuzz, something intense enough to wake up the audience. I can go and buy MXR Blue Box. Yeah, a specific and cheap tool for it, available from just about any shop, and sounds exactly like the Blue Box has always sounded so it can be pretty rad, as proven.

But perhaps I want something to brag about to the opening act guitarists, and something a little less obvious, and I settle for DOD Buzzbox. Slightly more madness, even less predictability - fuck yeah - and it costs a fuck lot more, if one can be found from eBay or B/S/T lists at all. BUT it also preserves it's resell value a LOT better if I don't like the pedal.

But I dislike the DOD foot switches and prefer true bypass to the buffered signal. Now I can go for a straight copy of it, Audible Disease Thirty-Three or the MASF Kidnapper. Both sound really bad ass but they sure as hell are not as cheap as the Blue Box. Then I realize I really want to go over the top so I end up looking for Dwarfcraft Robot Devil. Or I prefer it to react to playing dynamics and be really, really simple when I start to look for Fuzzhugger Phantom Octave.

Some use a fuck load more components than others and some are very tweakable, whereas the Blue Box pretty much nails one sound nice. Some are build with consideration to environmental issues, too, and some are made by hand, by persons who actually try to pay their bills and keep the business running by doing so, and some of these pedals are the dudes original designs!

There's some points to consider

OOOOOOOR you wait till thom and i get it on with my sig pedal....which will be a dod buzzbox done fuzzhugger style with elements of the phantom circuit and maybe an eq and stupid graphics. Its going to kill whitney houston again then turn around and prove courtney killed kurt while secretly being responsible for the whole thing BEFORE THOM EVEN BUILT IT. THEN ITS GOING TO SHIT LIVE CATS OUT OF YOUR AMP.

Exactly. And EVERYBODY knows that all the above is PRICELESS!

[culturejam]

Some builders seem to price based strictly on the tolerance of the market. Nothing wrong with that, per se. It's simple econ 101. If you can get peeps to line up and wait several months to pay $300+ for a tubescreamer or some broken-sounding fuzz made on RadioShack proto-board, by god you are almost obligated to take their damn money.

This seems to be the tactic of the very small builder class (some of them). They're thinking, "Why build 20 of these at $150 when I can build 10 at $300. Less work, same money! More mystery and mojo!"

On the other hand, you have a company like EHX, which would rather have one (or more) of their products on every single pedal board in the world. So they figure out how to give you those products at prices that lots of people think are a great value.

It's the old debate of Mojo vs Value.

[cloudscapes]

Somewhere between:

1. Price of parts + Manhours to build 10 of them, /10 (pick a rate)
2. Market price for close competition.

I tend to price my things a bit lower than what a lot of people think they're worth (hollow earths often get ebayed for double what I sell them for). That said, they're still more expensive than Boss or Digitech or EHX things of similar build-complexity. I don't have factories in Taiwan and I don't buy my parts in the tens of thousands (except resistors) so it's often double or triple the cost of what it could be. lPlus my painting technique costs a bit. Something to consider whether you're just coating a color on a box, or your hand-painting and decaling it. Don't sell yourself short if you spend a lot of time on the aesthetics. Yeah yeah, it's a pedal, not meant to be looked at. But there you go anyway.

[autopilot]

it depends, but a general idea in my case

Parts (case, switches, pots, knobs, etc) +
Labor (amount of time to start, build, packing) +
Fixed costs % (Rent of workshop + utilities, etc) +
R&D % of developing the design +
Taxes / Fees %

i think it differs, if the buider is full time, part time , ocassional etc