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Re: New DBA Signature Pedal coming in the future!
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 10:50 am
by Snufkino
jwar wrote:It is funny they labeled all the parts on the PCB. Like, here you go guys! Clone away!
I can't believe there's a guy on ebay in Europe openly cloning DBA pedals. Not even coy about it. Even includes a pic of some DBA pedals in his auctions and says he does it because "he loves DBA pedals". So much that he thinks he should profit from the designs! First time I've seen someone just copying an entire brand. Don't want to go near them on principle. Price is right, but no thanks. Plus the artwork is really shitty.
Re: New DBA Signature Pedal coming in the future!
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 11:51 am
by jrfox92
DRodriguez wrote:But I can't think of one modern pedal company more cloned and pseudo cloned than them.
Snufkino wrote:
I can't believe there's a guy on ebay in Europe openly cloning DBA pedals. Not even coy about it. Even includes a pic of some DBA pedals in his auctions and says he does it because "he loves DBA pedals". So much that he thinks he should profit from the designs! First time I've seen someone just copying an entire brand. Don't want to go near them on principle. Price is right, but no thanks. Plus the artwork is really shitty.
I'm pretty sure this company has been discussed in another thread and the general opinion was that the graphics looked horrible and the ethics were definitely questionable but the counter argument (IIRC, from the european socialists in scandiland

) was that they'd be selling cheap versions of pedals to people in an area that probably couldn't afford to buy the real deal, anyway, or something to that effects.
In any case, I'm certainly not interested in them.
Building a clone or two of a certain pedal and flipping it is one thing, but basing your entire "business model" (if you can call selling cheap pedals on Reverb/eBay a business model) on one companies' designs is shitty.
The funny part is, though, that their pedals are probably built better than DBA's.

Modern circuit boards, offboard switch wiring. If they just learned to copy DBA's graphic style, they'd probably actually manage to get some real business.
Now, with that being said, in my experience, a lot of DBA's designs appear to be based on another common circuit design that's just been "reimagined" in a way that tends to make EE's cringe.
Evil Filter=Anderton Tone Control, Fuzz War V2=Big Muff, Reverberation Machine=Tenebrion reverb, Echo Dream 2 is like most all other PT2399's with opamps except for its innovative (aka:weird as shit) modulation method, Octave Clang is a Bobtavia, etc.
I've probably been ragging on DBA a bit more since I really started figuring out their circuits, but that's mostly because there was a lot of mystery surrounding their designs due to all sorts of factors (mainly that people were afraid to take them apart because there was a decent probability they wouldn't work once you put them back together) and a lot of people still tend to view their work as if magical fairy dust was what made them sound the way they did.
Re: New DBA Signature Pedal coming in the future!
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 9:58 pm
by Snufkino
jrfox92 wrote:
I'm pretty sure this company has been discussed in another thread and the general opinion was that the graphics looked horrible and the ethics were definitely questionable but the counter argument (IIRC, from the european socialists in scandiland

) was that they'd be selling cheap versions of pedals to people in an area that probably couldn't afford to buy the real deal, anyway, or something to that effects.
This got me thinking, I wonder if it would be a good idea for US builders to license their pedals to builders in other countries? Get someone reliable who's work is up to scratch, send them the details and preferences of the build, artwork templates etc and get them to build it, and the original builder gets a small cut of each pedal sold. GAME CHANGED BITCHES.

Re: New DBA Signature Pedal coming in the future!
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 10:25 pm
by comesect2.0
Right, was thinking about how after all its not really a dick move to take the initiative and produce what some can't afford...always liked the raw aproach dba has had in all respects such as "wtf who soldered this?!" ....never owned one though that looked fucked...and super awesome customer service always kept me buyin more, just now selling off a few getting a new perspective on what I'm trying to create instead of gotta catchem all....lol...all I know is if anyone has a feedback looper...and a soundwave breakdown and a reverb machine..I highly suggest you put them together....anyways so wtf is this whitey? A fuzz?.....
Re: New DBA Signature Pedal coming in the future!
Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 1:06 am
by worra
Speaking of people doing lame clones, does anyone know who this Slunk Pedals guy is? Seems like he's doing ssbs clones (among others), with unimaginative ripoff names and enclosures that look like Fairfield/Pladask. Kinda lame if you ask me:
https://instagram.com/p/BQBsgW7BfYL/
Re: New DBA Signature Pedal coming in the future!
Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 1:28 am
by Jero
jrfox92 wrote:I've probably been ragging on DBA a bit more since I really started figuring out their circuits, but that's mostly because there was a lot of mystery surrounding their designs due to all sorts of factors (mainly that people were afraid to take them apart because there was a decent probability they wouldn't work once you put them back together) and a lot of people still tend to view their work as if magical fairy dust was what made them sound the way they did.
Ahh, the ol' Schumann trick
Re: New DBA Signature Pedal coming in the future!
Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 2:44 am
by jrfox92
worra wrote:Speaking of people doing lame clones, does anyone know who this Slunk Pedals guy is? Seems like he's doing ssbs clones (among others), with unimaginable ripoff names and enclosures that look like Fairfield/Pladask. Kinda lame if you ask me:
https://instagram.com/p/BQBsgW7BfYL/
I don't really care about the enclosures (it doesn't take a whole lot of imagination to smack a die on a pedal enclosure), but that name is soooooooooooooo obvious it's not even funny.
Looking through his IG, it seems like he's just another hacker that decided he's a pedal builder now that he's made a few vero pedals.
Maybe if he were cloning a mass produced pedal I wouldn't be so disgusted. But he's cloning a
currently available pedal from a small pedal builder.
Classic example of the shit I don't like about the DIY pedal world: guys that just fuck around with vero can create their own pedal companies where they just jack their competition's designs and undercut them.

Re: New DBA Signature Pedal coming in the future!
Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 11:40 am
by worra
Yeah, pretty much all of this ^
I mean the Sparkle Motion is a spiffy Rangemaster clone, but to make a copy of that and call it "sparkles" with no mention or acknowledgement of Brian's work is pretty dumb.
Re: New DBA Signature Pedal coming in the future!
Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:27 pm
by neonblack
"half a fuck"
Fuck that.
Re: New DBA Signature Pedal coming in the future!
Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2017 1:58 am
by freddy_von
I've got a feeling the new DBA pedal is going to be a different version of this.

Re: New DBA Signature Pedal coming in the future!
Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2017 2:08 am
by jrfox92
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I never thought about that.
You've got a point.

Re: New DBA Signature Pedal coming in the future!
Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2017 4:54 am
by smallsnd/bigsnd
neonblack wrote:"half a fuck"
Fuck that.

everyone should just call him out. i care way less about the sparkle motion obviously.
Re: New DBA Signature Pedal coming in the future!
Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2017 7:51 am
by worra
Called him out on "half a fuck" and now all his posts are gone. Wonder if he just blocked me

Re: New DBA Signature Pedal coming in the future!
Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2017 8:29 am
by spacelordmother
worra wrote:Called him out on "half a fuck" and now all his posts are gone. Wonder if he just blocked me

Yup, he did.
Re: New DBA Signature Pedal coming in the future!
Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2017 9:10 am
by Jwar
Isn't half a fuck a Mini?
Speaking of that, I want my dual mini back.