Did JNC just get PWNED by JHS???

[DrewJD82]

I just stumbled on a Facebook post about Vertex awful history and holy crap I will never watch another second of his crap. What a shady character. I love that Joe B called him out for his BS too.

The Vertex saga is probably my favorite gear-drama to pop up. I watched that one go down in real time, checking threads daily as people un-gooped the truth one component at a time as Mason kept doubling down, right up until the very end. Each day there’d be a new discovery.

What I find extremely interesting is that the OG thread on TGP seems to have been deleted. It was still there last year and would pop up whenever Googling ‘vertex pedal controversy”. Following links to it via Reddit or other forums just brings up a blank, white page. Totally not shady at all.

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

My favorite of his video was “Do Gibson guitars go out of tune” or something like that. He’d tune up, play for 30 seconds and then check tuning. He was trying to prove they don’t but they did go out of tune every time. “Good enough for Rock n Roll” he’d say.

Ha! That is the second time I hear that phrase today. At That Pedal Show. Mick, new strat.. tunes it a bit... "good enough for Rock n Roll". I guess I am also a Rock N Roll type of guy. As long as my Stomp is "green", I am good with it.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

I just stumbled on a Facebook post about Vertex awful history and holy crap I will never watch another second of his crap. What a shady character. I love that Joe B called him out for his BS too.

There's a very thin line, I guess, but people have allowed unethical nonsense on the boutique pedal community for decades. Even the "mainstream" pedal community has a history of taking a circuit, putting a different diode, roll off frequencies through parts, and calling it a new pedal. It is kind of difficult to get spun up over stuff like JHS rehousing a Deviever effect, not disclosing what a pedal's circuit is based on, putting a Joyo pedal in a new box for 8 times the price, or slapping your name on a BBE wah.

For instance, it is seen as "okay" to steal a Bluesbreaker, Rat, or Tubes Screamer circuit, even if you make zero changes, with not much more than "better quality parts" as the reasoning. However, it is not "okay" to take a Timmy or some other boutique creation and do something different with it.

Sorry, but I don't really care enough.

(Just to note: trade dress is a different matter, especially when it isn't similar, such as the BE-OD Deluxe rip offs, but is a complete recreation, such as the Analogman King of Tone rip offs.)

 

[Someoldqueenorother]

I just stumbled on a Facebook post about Vertex awful history and holy crap I will never watch another second of his crap. What a shady character. I love that Joe B called him out for his BS too.

Back in the days of HCFX, watching that whole saga unfold was amazing. Freekish Blues was obviously crazy, some issues with builders who took money and didn't deliver for ages on an end product, the whole world of Devi Ever, but Vertex stood out because of the owner's self-righteous bullshit.

And then the mind remembers Taylor-McGrath Guitars.

 

[spawnofthesith]

There's a very thin line, I guess, but people have allowed unethical nonsense on the boutique pedal community for decades. Even the "mainstream" pedal community has a history of taking a circuit, putting a different diode, roll off frequencies through parts, and calling it a new pedal. It is kind of difficult to get spun up over stuff like JHS rehousing a Deviever effect, not disclosing what a pedal's circuit is based on, putting a Joyo pedal in a new box for 8 times the price, or slapping your name on a BBE wah.

For instance, it is seen as "okay" to steal a Bluesbreaker, Rat, or Tubes Screamer circuit, even if you make zero changes, with not much more than "better quality parts" as the reasoning. However, it is not "okay" to take a Timmy or some other boutique creation and do something different with it.

Sorry, but I don't really care enough.

(Just to note: trade dress is a different matter, especially when it isn't similar, such as the BE-OD Deluxe rip offs, but is a complete recreation, such as the Analogman King of Tone rip offs.)

I don't think cloning circuits is comparable to what vertex was doing in the slightest lol

 

[DrewJD82]

Back in the days of HCFX, watching that whole saga unfold was amazing. Freekish Blues was obviously crazy, some issues with builders who took money and didn't deliver for ages on an end product, the whole world of Devi Ever, but Vertex stood out because of the owner's self-righteous bullshit.

And then the mind remembers Taylor-McGrath Guitars.

I forgot about the TMG one, that was another good read!

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

I don't think cloning circuits is comparable to what vertex was doing in the slightest lol

JHS had a horrible reputation for their circuits and not disclosing what they are. The two reasons that has changed is the YouTube channel and they no longer hide or lie about how the circuits came about.

Also, you're kind of glossing over what I was saying.

 

[HomespunEffects]

And then the mind remembers Taylor-McGrath Guitars.

I don’t remember this one. What was it about?

 

[Jarick]

There's a very thin line, I guess, but people have allowed unethical nonsense on the boutique pedal community for decades. Even the "mainstream" pedal community has a history of taking a circuit, putting a different diode, roll off frequencies through parts, and calling it a new pedal. It is kind of difficult to get spun up over stuff like JHS rehousing a Deviever effect, not disclosing what a pedal's circuit is based on, putting a Joyo pedal in a new box for 8 times the price, or slapping your name on a BBE wah.

For instance, it is seen as "okay" to steal a Bluesbreaker, Rat, or Tubes Screamer circuit, even if you make zero changes, with not much more than "better quality parts" as the reasoning. However, it is not "okay" to take a Timmy or some other boutique creation and do something different with it.

Sorry, but I don't really care enough.

(Just to note: trade dress is a different matter, especially when it isn't similar, such as the BE-OD Deluxe rip offs, but is a complete recreation, such as the Analogman King of Tone rip offs.)

Clones are common, but Vertex was literally rehousing someone else's product, covering the insides with goop, and charging three times as much.

JHS for me is both pretty transparent about the lineage and uses his major social media presence to directly and genuinely promote his competitors. I don't mind them at all, although the only JHS pedal I own is an A/B switcher (which is really solid for $60 or whatever).

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Clones are common, but Vertex was literally rehousing someone else's product, covering the insides with goop, and charging three times as much.

JHS for me is both pretty transparent about the lineage and uses his major social media presence to directly and genuinely promote his competitors. I don't mind them at all, although the only JHS pedal I own is an A/B switcher (which is really solid for $60 or whatever).

JHS wasn't always transparent about it, though. Prior to him becoming a forum darling, he was pretty despised for not being forthcoming about circuits.

My point was that the effects companies have stolen each other's circuits, some of whom have not been very forthcoming. It was only a matter of time before a Joyo was rehoused and sold for a lot more money ad something "boutique" or Mason rehoused a wah and claimed it as his own.

If you let people get away with stuff like this long enough, it ceases to be any surprise that they are doing as little as possible while trying to make as much money as they can.

 

[DrewJD82]

JHS wasn't always transparent about it, though. Prior to him becoming a forum darling, he was pretty despised for not being forthcoming about circuits.

My point was that the effects companies have stolen each other's circuits, some of whom have not been very forthcoming. It was only a matter of time before a Joyo was rehoused and sold for a lot more money ad something "boutique" or Mason rehoused a wah and claimed it as his own.

If you let people get away with stuff like this long enough, it ceases to be any surprise that they are doing as little as possible while trying to make as much money as they can.

Mason didn't even rehouse them. Just covered up all the labels with his own and a tube of goop. Then went on lying about it for days when called out, weeks even.

And I don't know anywhere where Josh from JHS is a "forum darling", that dude gets hate no matter if it's TGP or Reddit.

 

[holoholo]

Never trust a guy with no eyebrows

 

[spawnofthesith]

Never trust a guy with no eyebrows

 

[JiveTurkey]

Stevie!

 

[Jarick]

Mason didn't even rehouse them. Just covered up all the labels with his own and a tube of goop. Then went on lying about it for days when called out, weeks even.

And I don't know anywhere where Josh from JHS is a "forum darling", that dude gets hate no matter if it's TGP or Reddit.

Yeah, Reddit absolutely hates Josh. Which makes me like him more because I'm kind of a bastard.

 

[Someoldqueenorother]

I don’t remember this one. What was it about?

tmgfraud

tmgfraud.wordpress.com

TMG- how are they doing now?

So I've heard and read various reports that TMG Guitar Co (Taylor McGrath) has a bad rep, mainly from posts aged 3-5 years. I was wondering if anybody has dealt with them lately and if they've seen improvement in customer support and general product quality since then. I have not played any TMG...

www.thegearpage.net

I recommend getting snacks before reading.

 

[Blix]

The TMG saga was downright epic to follow in realtime

 

[GuitarBilly74]

You know a thread is hot when even the Beatles go under the bus.

 

[TubeStack]

The Vertex saga is probably my favorite gear-drama to pop up. I watched that one go down in real time, checking threads daily as people un-gooped the truth one component at a time as Mason kept doubling down, right up until the very end. Each day there’d be a new discovery.

Same, watched it all in real time, too. There’s a few of those over the years, the Fat Sounds debacle being another one.

 

[PLX]

You know a thread is hot when even the Beatles go under the bus.