Pedal Plagiarism

gearJunkie said:
Just received the DemonFX Gladiator from Amazon. Build quickly far exceeds the $65 price point.

Having a blast gaining up the Two-Rock CRS. The right side of the pedal is way too bass heavy when pushing gain past noon, but the left side adds an excellent high gain "channel" to the CRS. I like it.
Click to expand...
The original Gladio has trim pots and dip switches, one of them is for bass, I believe.

Does the Gladiator have them?
 
dronerstone said:
The original Gladio has trim pots and dip switches, one of them is for bass, I believe.

Does the Gladiator have them?
Click to expand...
On channel 1 (left) it has a "comp" switch that reduces dynamic range when active. Channel 2 (right) has a jazz/rock switch that cuts or boosts treble frequencies.

In the middle is a switch for single or double mode. Single allows one side at a time where double stacks the 2 channels.

Left side is a soft clipper and right is a hard clipper.
 
gearJunkie said:
On channel 1 (left) it has a "comp" switch that reduces dynamic range when active. Channel 2 (right) has a jazz/rock switch that cuts or boosts treble frequencies.

In the middle is a switch for single or double mode. Single allows one side at a time where double stacks the 2 channels.

Left side is a soft clipper and right is a hard clipper.
Click to expand...
I know. No reason to explain photos to me. 😁

I meant trims and dips on the inside.
 
gearJunkie said:
:facepalm :rofl
I haven't opened it up yet. I'll take a look at it later today and report back.
Click to expand...
Nice, thanks much!!!

Mine is in the mail, but since it's coming from China it'll take some time.

Unfortunately, Amazon over here only sells the more popular Demonfx pedals (KOD, Duellist, for example) and the Gladiator isn't one of them.
 
dronerstone said:
Nice, thanks much!!!

Mine is in the mail, but since it's coming from China it'll take some time.

Unfortunately, Amazon over here only sells the more popular Demonfx pedals (KOD, Duellist, for example) and the Gladiator isn't one of them.
Click to expand...
There are two trim pots labeled presence and bass.

There are also two slider switches. One is not labeled, and the other is labeled "dual/split" (set by factory as dual).

Too early in the morning here to experiment with the switches to determine what they actually do. Will report back later.

:beer

1000001357.jpg
 
gearJunkie said:
There are two trim pots labeled presence and bass.

There are also two slider switches. One is not labeled, and the other is labeled "dual/split" (set by factory as dual).

Too early in the morning here to experiment with the switches to determine what they actually do. Will report back later.

:beer

View attachment 23847
Click to expand...

Niiice, looks like it's indeed a "faithful" copy of the original. Good to know! :geek:

DAMN, that PCB even says "Gladio 2.1c" in the bottom left corner. :eek::eek::eek:
 
dronerstone said:
Niiice, looks like it's indeed a "faithful" copy of the original. Good to know! :geek:

DAMN, that PCB even says "Gladio 2.1c" in the bottom left corner. :eek::eek::eek:
Click to expand...
It looks like the unlabeled switch in the lower left of the PCB adds some hard clipping diodes to the soft clipper channel.
 
The main problem with the cheap pedal brands is they often have errors in the schematic they've used. How big the error is will determine how different they are from the original. Robert at pedalpcb has had a look at a few of these clones and found errors with a lot of them.
 
spawnofthesith said:
Meh. there’s a reason this stuff isn’t considered IP or eligible to be patented. Clone away imo. Even better to clone with small tweaks which I think is kind of the norm
Click to expand...

I think if you come up with a recipe that's really good it should be cloned, tweaked, augmented. there's really not many og circuit designs that actually do something unique (like individual amp distortions recipe are different), thinking harmonic percolator, sansAmp, HM-2. the gazillion clones/variations of tube screamer are just a gazillion techniques to grill a steak.
 
SillyOctpuss said:
The main problem with the cheap pedal brands is they often have errors in the schematic they've used. How big the error is will determine how different they are from the original. Robert at pedalpcb has had a look at a few of these clones and found errors with a lot of them.
Click to expand...
^^^Truf dat. And most often it means the incorrectly copied pedal don't sound that good.

I like the idea of happy accidents. Where a company tries to clone a circuit and messes it up. And in messing it up they come up with something new and cool sounding.
 
Received the Gladiator this morning, and I'm afraid to say it, but it's surprisingly good, and a huge joy to play.

Which is not a surprise, imho, because they 1:1 stole the PCB design, it even says "Gladio 2.1c" in the lower left corner.

I expected to like channel 2 more, but I'm leaning towards channel 1 at the moment. Both are nice, that's for sure.

It sings!

Also, no import taxes. Cost me 55€ in total.

Well done, China, well done.

PS: maybe I shouldn't be too worried, since the full-size Gladio isn't in production anymore. 🤷‍♂️
 
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