Some of you have been asking what’s going on with these pedals I was gearing up to start selling ages ago so here’s an update…
I had some time booked off work to build a small batch of a couple circuits (a fuzz and a drive/distortion) in late April.
Then I got sick.
Bronchitis and pneumonia.
I was able to power through and finish a batch of the 1995/scuzz but that was super tough due to the amount of fatigue my body was in at the time.
Once I got better I started testing out my dirt circuit (1987/thedriver) with tons of different guitars and amps. It sounded perfect to me with my own gear but testing it through other amps with different guitars sent me back to the drawing board to make the thing more versatile with different set ups.
Fast forward to July and I’ve finally got a flexible pedal that can adapt to different rigs and captures the best elements of a range of classic hard clippers (DOD250/dist+/Rat/maxon od-01). Now I’m fully ready to start building these things.
Then I get hit in the back of the head (knockout game) which I am still very slowly recovering from. I’ve still got sort of blurry vision (which has made soldering boards super difficult) and feel like a huge pile of shit if I don’t get at least 10 hours of sleep every night.
Add to all of this my dumb full time job and the fact that I’m getting married in 12 days and you can sorta get the picture…
So basically once I’m back from my honeymoon in mid September I’m gonna build like crazy and finally get these things between some peoples guitars and amps.
What you should expect from blnk page dirt:
Anything I make should be usable for bass/baritone/standard guitar/anything you wanna plug into it.
No straight up clones. Ever.
1987/thedriver - classic hard clipping od/distortion with minimal loss of bottom end, zero fizz, flexible tone control, and a huge range of dirt from semi-clean 250 style boost (with an obscene amount of volume on tap) to super thick rat style grit.
1995/scuzz - thick gritty fuzz all the way back to shrill treble boost. Shit-tons of volume. Very interactive with a guitars volume and tone pots. Endless sustain. Controllable harmonic feedback. A surprising amount of different tones from two deceptively simple controls. This one has been a big hit with a handful of locals. Probably more like a van full.
Potentially available down the road:
1: Something based loosely on the ampeg scrambler with an added rat style filter. I own a reissue and have access to an original so I’m not talking outta my ass on this one… The scrambler is one of the brightest pedals ever made and normally hates being in a chain with any sort of buffer. It also despises humbuckers. I’m pretty close to solving both of these issues.
2: A pedal extremely loosely based on the V5 opamp big muff that actually sounds more like an HM-2. This one is almost ready. Just needs some minor tone stack tweaks.
3: a range of expression jack compatible control pedals. May include things like simple switches to toggle between settings and possibly external LFO boxes to add modulation of any parameter controllable through an expression jack. They’d be small, simple, and cheap.
Come mid September, please feel free to pester me about this stuff.
mr. sound boy king wrote:
Organic apples are not normal, they are special, like analog, whereas normal apples, like digital, taste sterile and lack warmth.
mr. sound boy king wrote:
Organic apples are not normal, they are special, like analog, whereas normal apples, like digital, taste sterile and lack warmth.
yeah, tell that Darrell dude to take it easy. His body's been through a lot. Understandable that he wants to get the ball rolling, but people can wait.
This is his long term health we're talking here.
psychic vampire. wrote:The important take away from this thread: Taoism and Ring Modulators go together?
…...........................… Sweet dealin's: here "Now, of course, Strega is not a Minimoog… and I am not Sun Ra" - dude from MAKENOISE #GreenRinger
Chankgeez wrote:yeah, tell that Darrell dude to take it easy. His body's been through a lot. Understandable that he wants to get the ball rolling, but people can wait.
This is his long term health we're talking here.
Exactly. Sucking down solder fumes his awful at the best of times, but when you have chest and respiratory complaints already it is a killer. Chillax dude! Good things come to those who wait.
also following this dude on tumblr! hope he feels good soon, really good ideas and seem to really know about/care about what hes talking about and doing
would fit in well here
Derelict78 wrote:That probably sounds awful in the best possible way.
Hey guys it's me! Finally a member here!
Thanks for all the interest and support!
I know this is a very old thread but here's an actual update on what's going on with me and building:
I've spent almost the last 2 years adjusting to married life (learning to balance work/making music/building pedals/marriage) and dealing with post concussion syndrome which now rarely gives me problems other than a very strange sleep schedule.
I've still been building now and then and just selling to local musicians and have become the go to repair guy In my local scene.
I recently moved from a tiny apartment with no room to move to an actual whole house and I've got a whole basement at my disposal for music making and building! Much easier to be productive.
I've been working hard the last few months and have 4 circuits I'm very happy with and am gearing up to get things rolling. I'll have small test batches of each available locally throughout April and will get feedback from users and make adjustments where needed.
Then I'm hoping to get an online store going towards the end of the summer and see how it goes.
Oh ya. I've changed the name from "blnk page dirt" to "Dirtkeeper Electric" due to a local art space using almost the same name.
I'd really appreciate some feedback from you guys on a few things...
Aesthetics -
The photo at the top of this thread with the rubber “stomp pad” and vinyl or aluminum labels is what I’ve been doing and would like to continue doing but…
Do they appear “cheap” or too “some guy in his basement made this”?
Or is “some guy in his basement made this” something that makes them desirable?
I am some guy and I did make them in my basement…
This aesthetic is pretty easy and cheap to do. I could potentially use engraved “plastic lamacoid” or metal machine plates (similar to what red sun fx and a ton of others use) in place of the labels but that would add 5-10 dollars to the final price of the pedal.
Would you pay more for a product that appears “more professional”?
Price -
I’d like to keep the price as reasonable as possible. I’m not trying to be “boutique” or ultra exclusive or anything like that and would like to make products for the every day musician who I know for sure is not rolling in cash. I also don’t want to sacrifice using quality parts or rush the building process just to keep costs down. That being said, I’m in Canada and the increasingly awful exchange rate which is also affecting local prices, is making this idea fairly difficult.
Here’s the structure i’m thinking for pricing: Cost of parts + the hourly wage I make at my day job for my time (not that bad but not that great)
Right now that puts the cost around $150-$170USD. Is this reasonable or a bit steep?
If you’re Canadian don’t worry. See below…
-Buying Local
Is it important to you to buy locally made/sourced goods and if so are you willing to pay more if it means you have to?
Personally I do believe in buying local whenever possible and have been trying to do so when sourcing parts. This works out pretty good price-wise with things like Hammond enclosures since they’re a Canadian company. I can pick those up at my neighborhood electronic supply store for almost half the price you'd pay in any other country. I can source nearly everything else locally with the exception of pots, 3pdt footswitches, most decent transistors, and certain ICs but at a slightly higher cost than ordering from an online supplier from the US or oversees. I see buying local as an important way to do my small part in keeping the doors open on local businesses even if the product is made elsewhere. Along with this I’m going to try using a one to one exchange rate as an incentive for Canadian consumers. So if the price for a pedal is set at $160 USD a Canadian will pay $160 CAD instead of the current exchange rate which would put it around $210 CAD. We deserve a break once in a while right? We’re just to polite to ask…
Ok that’s all I think.
Sorry for rambling...
Hey dude, welcome! Followed your adventures for a while now.
I'm down with the aesthetics and pricing for sure. I think you've just about nailed it.
I'm personally OK with the label maker stuff but if you could find a way to engrave the controls and branding cheaply it'd be super cool. Easily worth anotger $10 or whatever. Rubber pads are cool too. I'm assuming they hold up well as you've stuck with them. Good shit.
Welcome! Curious to hear your stuff! I would def. move on from the label maker stuff. it'll eventually fall off and you should always get the credit for your work. there are folks on this site that do some amazing etching or you could go to staples and have a silkscreen made and DIY your designs or you could even go the inkjet label route but those turn to shit overtime as well.
