Happy new year, all. Sorry I’ve been so scarce — mostly, I’ve been practicing guitar! I’m trying out lots of challenging new things (for me, anyway) and I’ll share some of them as videos very soon. I’ve also been finalizing the four new Joe Gore pedals I’m debuting at NAMM 2018. Lookit!
[L-R]: Screech Octave Fuzz, Porkolator Distortion, Cult Germanium Channel, Purr Vibrato
They’ve already gone into the production, and they’ll be available via Vintage King very soon. I have yet to make demo videos and detailed spec sheets, and we still haven’t finalized the prices. (It depends how much the damn germanium transistors in Cult Germanium Channel and Porkolator wind up costing.)
In the meantime, here’s the info sheet I’m distributing at NAMM. Also, Premier Guitar is scheduled to record a demo video at the show and post it on their site. (I’ll share the details when that happens.) I hope I sound less like a squirrel on meth than I did for last year’s show-floor video.
If you’re attending the show in Anaheim, please visit me at booth #15517. (It’s a huge booth run by my distributors, M1. I’ll be crammed behind a tabletop somewhere within.) I’d love to say hi.
Congratulations on the new pedals Joe!
I’m really curious about the current state of the pedal market. Given the more or less fixed size of the pie and the continuing rapid increase in the number of pedal makers, surely the market must be approaching, or have reached, saturation?
Given your position as a music journalist, small pedal builder, NAMM attendee, sound designer, expert set of ears and great musician, I would love to read your thoughts on the matter.
The whole booteek pedal thing has to implode at some point , yes this is the golden age of pedals. Never before in all of history have there been so many good pedals available worldwide. Probably the same thing can be said for guitars and amps too , more people are building better gear of all types than ever before.Nice stuff from NAMM Joe , is always funny/unexpected to hear you talk.(was quite a few years before we ever heard you speak in a vid) New pedals look great good luck with the next batch you are working on now !
Thanks for the good wishes, guys. I have some of the same questions myself. Fortunately, my finances don’t rely heavily on stompbox sales. This is definitely a labor-of-love pursuit. Or to put it another way: My money-bleeding hobby is slowly transitioning to a barely profitable business. 🙂
Having said that, making niche products like mine is probably an advantage here. It would be a far tougher sell if I were just making the usual clones.
My one goal for NAMM 2018 was not to sound like a squirrel on meth in the guitar mag videos. Sadly, it was mission NOT accomplished.
You sound fine in the videos geez , don’t be so harsh on yourself. Think the market for new versions of the same pedals is about to reach complete overload any second now! Would be nice to see people making NEW things with NEW ideas one day ?
I’m not sure if/when we’ll reach maximum saturation. But that’s one reason I work simultaneously in digital and analog. (I’ve probably told you the story of how I only picked up a soldering iron after writing many hundreds of digital sounds for clients.) I’ve recently started doing some soon design for Line 6, and I find myself asking a similar question from the digital side. I paraphrase you, Oinkus: “Think the market for new models of the same old amps and pedals will reach complete overload any second now. Would be nice to see people making NEW digital sounds full of NEW ideas someday.” I get that sentiment — but digital is probably the likelier battlefield. 🙂
Having been around since just about the first of everything in digital gear we have come so far from the first multi effect units and digital delays that we are no longer even in the same universe!
True — but I’m talking about the possibilities of digital audio that have nothing to do with aping analog gear.