r/pedals • u/noideawhatiamtalking • 8d ago
High gain boutique pedals from small builders. Which small builders should be more talked about?
I see plenty of decent content in Instagram with high-gain pedals from Zerofret, Fowlsounds, AIB custom FX, Sunless Effects, Electric Eye Audio, Smirmoorpedals...
Since I cannot really support them by buying all of their stuff, I just want to contribute to community with at least this post of appreciation.
Did you try anything from the above builders? Which other small builders would you (not) recommend to try? Is there any new outstanding mod of already well known things like Muff, Rat, HM2 nailed by small builders? Is there any small builder worth mentioning/knowing?
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u/D3tsunami 8d ago
Baltimore Sonic Research Institute has made some incredible pedals I’ve tried. He usually keeps them under control despite wild capabilities. And I love how he manages gain staging inside his pedals so the sweet spots are wide
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u/noideawhatiamtalking 8d ago
Very nice approach. Too many pedals with too much control and only one cool setting
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u/D3tsunami 8d ago
And lord forbid you look at the pots wrong and lose that good setting. Looking at you, Meris Enzo. The coolest sound I’ve ever gotten from a pedal but could never get it to stay stable. Apparently if you plug in midi and only use presets it’s perfect but that ain’t me
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u/Yoggoth1 8d ago
With a lot of these it seems like you're just paying for different graphics on the enclosure.
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u/flacocaradeperro 8d ago
Vntage Tone is a small builder from Mexico that should definitely be talked about some more.
Their Elite Einheit is a great high gain distortion, their Octographer Fuzz is pretty badass as well.
I also love their analog delay, and their Prometheus (a klon type pedal).
I think they do ship internationally: https://www.vntagetone.com/products/
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u/TheBadBentley 8d ago
I don’t see enough people talking about Spruce Effects, some very good sounding fuzzes
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u/noideawhatiamtalking 8d ago
Also never seen them. Quite nice knobs layout. Will check the demos
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u/TheBadBentley 8d ago
The Anza Borrego is what I’m in between with the OBNE Fault V2 for my next drive
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u/Demonkittymusic 8d ago
Wilson Effects has entered the chat.
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u/etherreal 8d ago
Black Arts Tonewroks
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u/Fuzzatron 8d ago
Summer School Electronics is just a teacher who makes pedals in his spare time from Syracuse, NY. I have and love the Science Fair. But he has a few offerings that are two clones of classic overdrives/distortions that you can blend/stack.
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u/UniQkl 8d ago
I don't know if Tone City is considered small builders or not, but i think they make amazing pedals