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greigoroth wrote:I know why it is now. It feels like their pedals have been designed by a committee. The features committee (featuring lawyers) and the hipness committee (featuring accountants).

You know, I think subconsciously I feel the same way - that's why I don't own any Tortuga.

My buddy has the Sasquatch germanium and it KILLS on bass - probably the only think I would want. (and this flanger if the price wasn't an ass rape)

excane wrote:Yep, I WISH there was a width control (kinda need it for a flanger) cause that's where the magic happens.

Yeah, I like my flangers with four knobs.

That being said, I just a Carl Martin classic flange (new square enclosure, not the retarded curved ass-cheek-spread)

REALLY nice for $130. demo coming soon, but alreay the 2nd footswitch for doubling the rate is SUPER handy.

Yeah I want knobs on flangers. That is the only thing keeping me from going totally ape over the new Subdecay. On the other hand it has lots of waveforms, but I kinda want the standard 4 knobs on Boss flangers. Plus additional knobs.

Still, this thing sounds really sweet.

this is the snob in me talking, but i find their artwork to be really cheesy...sounds nice, but the art on some of their pedals would definitely be a problem for me

madmax1012 wrote:this is the snob in me talking, but i find their artwork to be really cheesy...sounds nice, but the art on some of their pedals would definitely be a problem for me

Yeah, the graphics on their dirt pedals are just OK, but I don't like any of 'em really.

madmax1012 wrote:this is the snob in me talking, but i find their artwork to be really cheesy...sounds nice, but the art on some of their pedals would definitely be a problem for me

Agreed. I would take that shit to the grinding wheel and belt sander in a second.

Call me shallow but I can't stand the names or graphics of Tortuga pedals. I'm not interested in baseball or alcohol graphics on my pedals because I'm not a 15 year-old jock.

i prefer knobs that are labelled with the actual functions...when i'm in the middle of something i don't need to have to stop and think "what does the 'Whiskey' knob do again?' "

dubkitty wrote:i prefer knobs that are labelled with the actual functions...when i'm in the middle of something i don't need to have to stop and think "what does the 'Whiskey' knob do again?' "

insubordination wrote:Call me shallow but I can't stand the names or graphics of Tortuga pedals. I'm not interested in baseball or alcohol graphics on my pedals because I'm not a 15 year-old jock.

Both of these things. I wish tortuga thought about them, although they won't because we're not really the target market.

If I need to look at a pedal and think about what the knobs do, I want it to be because the pedal is nigh incomprehensible, not because the controls have silly names.

I hate knowing that I'm so shallow that I won't buy a pedal because of it's cosmetics, but fuck, at least now I know that. That dude who posted the awesome source audio reverb demo and this thread have convinced me that I really couldn't buy an awesome sounding pedal that didn't float my boat visually. I've justified my thinking ex post facto by the following reasoning: Most of the shitty dives I play in, when I do get to play, are filled with drunks, or disinterested randoms. Most of the sound guys are disinterested and drunk. The difference between a Boss DS-1 and a Mesa Triple Rectifier under such conditions is negligible. Therefore I buy pedals to inspire myself. The visual aspect, including the size and colour of the box, the layout, the labels on the knobs, which functions exist and which don't, the range of the knobs, - all of that is to somehow make me want to play more or find new ways of playing stuff. Fuck you Tortuga. I'm with Insubordination.

greigoroth wrote:I hate knowing that I'm so shallow that I won't buy a pedal because of it's cosmetics, but fuck, at least now I know that. That dude who posted the awesome source audio reverb demo and this thread have convinced me that I really couldn't buy an awesome sounding pedal that didn't float my boat visually. I've justified my thinking ex post facto by the following reasoning: Most of the shitty dives I play in, when I do get to play, are filled with drunks, or disinterested randoms. Most of the sound guys are disinterested and drunk. The difference between a Boss DS-1 and a Mesa Triple Rectifier under such conditions is negligible. Therefore I buy pedals to inspire myself. The visual aspect, including the size and colour of the box, the layout, the labels on the knobs, which functions exist and which don't, the range of the knobs, - all of that is to somehow make me want to play more or find new ways of playing stuff. Fuck you Tortuga. I'm with Insubordination.

This is nothing to be ashamed of, in my opinion. Inspiration can come from anywhere, and no one should judge that. If you are inspired to write a poem or a guitar piece after you see a squirrel killed by a lorry on the motorway, so be it. I'm inspired every time I go out to my music room and just look at what I have. Some are inspired by their fans, while others are inspired by the money they make. Whatever it is should be at least respected to the best of your ability. If your motive for rape is because you're a sadistic pig then that shouldn't be condoned, but you get what I'm saying.

I'm glad someone finally admitted to it, anyway. I think there are far more folks out there that let on who enjoy buying things based on their visuals as well as their sonic attributes and functionality. We buy things because of affordability, right? So why wouldn't we buy something because it's cosmetically pleasing to us? I like aged and worn looking guitars, whether naturally or artifically, not because it makes me look like I'm well-played or 'ran the circuit', so to speak. It's because it looks beautiful.

Ultimately, whatever you use to get your ass out of bed in the morning, as long as does not affect others, is fine with me and should be cool with everyone else as well. I started out on acoustic, writing songs, discovering rhythms and chords. Then I moved on to shredding and theory, practising three hours a-day on sweep techniques and scales. Then I joined bands and began writing and performing in public. Then I learned to appreciate gear and became obsessed with it. At the end of the day, I'm still playing music.

i can live with the Source Audio stuff, but i won't buy anything that i think is flat-out ugly...after all, i'm going to have to look at the thing every time i use the board. if there was something with hideous graphics i couldn't live without, i'd paint it or re-house it. i also won't rock gear with iconography i can't stand behind; i don't buy stuff with Communist or Fascist symbols (thankfully the latter is almost never seen), Satanist imagery, stuff i find unpleasantly sexist, etc. because i don't want to look at those images while i play or have them associated with my vibe. i'm even worse about guitars. i couldn't possibly own an Agile because the combination of the headstock and the cheap, tacky typeface/ornament thereon is so ugly to me. i could stand the Hagstrom's Big Boy headstock if they just had a decent logo. and i literally rooted through about 70 Tokai Les Pauls on eBay before i found the one with the sunburst, back grain, and top pattern i liked best.

The thing that bothers me about the Tortuga stuff is that the graphic schemes aren't just ugly and dumb, they actually interfere with using the product. what fun trying to pick out the knobs from those polychrome backgrounds in stage lighting!

greigoroth wrote:I hate knowing that I'm so shallow that I won't buy a pedal because of it's cosmetics, but fuck, at least now I know that. That dude who posted the awesome source audio reverb demo and this thread have convinced me that I really couldn't buy an awesome sounding pedal that didn't float my boat visually. I've justified my thinking ex post facto by the following reasoning: Most of the shitty dives I play in, when I do get to play, are filled with drunks, or disinterested randoms. Most of the sound guys are disinterested and drunk. The difference between a Boss DS-1 and a Mesa Triple Rectifier under such conditions is negligible. Therefore I buy pedals to inspire myself. The visual aspect, including the size and colour of the box, the layout, the labels on the knobs, which functions exist and which don't, the range of the knobs, - all of that is to somehow make me want to play more or find new ways of playing stuff. Fuck you Tortuga. I'm with Insubordination.

Well said, especially the last bit.
But no, really I've passed on a number of pedals because of their aesthetic/name/some dumb thing for the exact reasons you stated. I guess I am missing out in some instances where I think some pedals sound killer but just look dumb as fuck, or have terrible names (e.g. Granny Puker, which I actually don't have any idea how it sounds, but it's a good example of a terrible name). And then I see cool bands with a board full of Boss/Digitech/whatever pedals and realize that live it makes little to no difference and it's all in the eye of the beholder, or like you said, it's whatever inspires the player. So in that case, if someone sees like the Manhattan or Mai Tai or whatever and thinks "Hell yeah!," good for them. I'm taking a pass.