Pedal companies you irrationally dislike

[SillyOctpuss]

JHS makes me roll my eyes for absolutely no reason

I can't mention them in this thread as I have valid reasons for disliking their pedals.

 

[Whizzinby]

JHS makes me roll my eyes for absolutely no reason

They were the first company I thought of, but I didn’t think it was necessarily “irrational”.

 

[Whizzinby]

The thing with Strymon is they are almost so good that it’s boring.

 

[metropolis_4]

Getting a new Strymon is like the first day at a new job and inheriting the office chair of the last person who worked in your cubicle.

Yeah, it’s gonna work well and accomplish everything you need it to do… but you’re not gonna be excited about it.

 

[QQQ]

EHX, JHS, Jackson Audio, MXR, and Catalinbread all come to mind for me.

 

[sashimi]

Boss obviously boss makes great stuff, but my main problem is I can’t get true bypass without spending 250+ for a waza craft version of a 100 dollar pedal

EQD. I know they’re good but I hate the graphics on most of them, with some exceptions. Same goes for JHS

 

[bucephalus]

I guess Strymon for me too. I don’t hate them, I don’t even dislike them, but I am completely apathetic about them.

I don’t really even know why; it seems irrational because I know they have a great reputation for making high quality stuff everyone uses.

Yeah, feel a bit the same. I think the pricing also drives this a bit for me.

 

[metropolis_4]

Boss obviously boss makes great stuff, but my main problem is I can’t get true bypass without spending 250+ for a waza craft version of a 100 dollar pedal

EQD. I know they’re good but I hate the graphics on most of them, with some exceptions. Same goes for JHS

I forgot about EQD. I won’t buy anything from them, but for a practical reason.

I have a habit of not immediately lifting my foot off the switch when I turn a pedal on and their long-press-momentary switches drive me insane.

I had a Plumes and I would always step on it to turn it on and then when I lifted my foot it shut off again

 

[Chocol8]

I have no use for EHX due to issues mentioned. I have no use for Chase Bliss because their shit seems like it is just gimmicks and micro switches. Never found a Strymon I was excited about. No interest in Behringturd crap clones. Oh and Vertex because I never got to buy one of his all original Axis Wah's!

 

[richey88]

For me it’s TC Electronic. Have had several and they left me cold, except the Deluxe Reverb amp pedal. That one sounds amazing.

 

[spawnofthesith]

For me it’s TC Electronic. Have had several and they left me cold, except the Deluxe Reverb amp pedal. That one sounds amazing.

Oh yeah TC has always given me the ick for no real reason even before the Behringturd acquisition

 

[HotRats]

I won't say I dislike any brands other than behringshit and in general any brands that steal pedals form others to make them lower quality and price.

All that said there are few brands don't inspire me enough.

Biggest names are Strymon, Boss and Electro Harmonix. I have nothing against any of these brands I might buy their pedals if stars align properly.

Strymon: fantastic sounding pedals, nice looking, packed with features but I don't know, none of them screams buy me! And makes me want to spend that kind of money.

Boss: I haven't bought a Boss pedal in the last 40 years. I sometimes take them into consideration but they always loose the battle against alternatives. I don't dislike them, I just don't like them enough.
And I don't like the esthetics very much.

Electro Harmonix: poor look, poor feel, not very exciting offering (there are some EHX good pedals of course).

 

[dronerstone]

Hmm...

Apart from TC (not necessarily after Uli swallowed them) who I always perceived as kinda bland for no reason?

Strymon (not sure why, because I know they're really good)
Eventide (maybe due to pricing/marketing and "the Spiral Electric incident")
OBNE (too "wacky hip" for me if that makes sense, props to them tho!!!)
Chase Bliss (huge mehhhhh... )

 

[laxu]

I can't think of any brand I irrationally dislike. I feel I have very rational reasons to dislike brands. There are also several brands I acknowledge make good products, just products that aren't for me. Chase Bliss for example.

EDIT: I did actually think of a somewhat irrational one! Fairfield Effects. It doesn't matter how good they sound, I'll never buy one because I hate that they look worse than my DIY pedals.

TC generally does not interest me much. I feel they are in that "good idea, could have better execution" territory with e.g the Plethora stuff. Same for EHX.

Universal Audio I dislike very rationally: the stupidest feature set of digital pedals on the market with the lack of presets, MIDI, and expression control. I like their plugins, but won't touch the pedals.

Meris I avoid because I don't like their user interfaces, and many of their pedals are aimed at sounds I don't use.

Eventide I want to love, but all their smaller pedals are quite purpose built (for sounds that are not for me) and I don't like the H9/H90 concept.

Source Audio is a bit hit and miss. I love all they do on paper, but find myself liking my Strymon sounds better. I just sold a Nemesis and still own a Collider mainly for reverb.

But Strymon is the brand for me. I own a Compadre, Riverside, Zelzah, Deco V2, El Cap V2, Volante, and Flint V2. All great in their own way, and always easy to work with where they blend in with your base sound without overpowering it unless you want that.

I wish Strymon printed the secondary controls on the box, and had a straightforward Alt button to adjust them instead of holding footswitches. I wish they had SA/Eventide style preset number LEDs. But I can live with those compromises, and work around some of them via MIDI.

 

[keef]

Chase Bliss, Strymon, and JHS.

Chase Bliss - way too complicated for my caveman brain
Strymon - sounds fake/processed
JHS - Mmmm. no need to elaborate

 

[JiveTurkey]

Brands I flat out don't like or have issues with in one way or another:

EHX---Multiple failures of their pedals and their resistance to realize how people would use some of the cool features they have developed in a real time setting of a performance.

Boss---I like a TON of Boss pedals and I DO use them but their footswitches drive me nuts

JHS---Duh

 

[Orvillain]

Hmmmmmmm.... I genuinely don't have one. Genuinely. Not one. Genuinely.

 

[dronerstone]

Hmm...

Apart from TC (not necessarily after Uli swallowed them) who I always perceived as kinda bland for no reason?

Strymon (not sure why, because I know they're really good)
Eventide (maybe due to pricing/marketing and "the Spiral Electric incident")
OBNE (too "wacky hip" for me if that makes sense, props to them tho!!!)
Chase Bliss (huge mehhhhh... )

Update: I've bought a TC Magus Pro this afternoon, for a whopping 31€.

Mainly out of curiosity, and since it's been ages since I sold my Turbo Rat.