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Best pedal graphics?

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 4:58 pm
by fuzzjunkie
Electro Harmonix? Lovetone? Basic Audio? Boss? Death By Audio? Morely? D*A*M?

I nominate Mu-Tron.

I love the use of color blocks and control placement on those big vintage boxes!

Re: Best pedal graphics?

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 7:45 am
by Zork
Earthquaker Devices and/or vintage Electro Harmonix (folded metalsheet big boxes).

Re: Best pedal graphics?

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:21 am
by marqueemoon
Vintage:

Colorsound
Maestro
Roger Mayer

New:

Land Devices
Spaceman
Catalinbread (There are some hits and misses though.)
Rainger

Re: Best pedal graphics?

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 9:36 am
by Jazzmastervsjaguar
The winner for me is Boss. Same format keeps things simple, big fat foot switch that's hard to miss, and the Colors to separate the categories of effects. I'm fully aware that I will probably be the minority in here.

Re: Best pedal graphics?

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 9:36 am
by MechaBulletBill
the boss re20 is so cool. it's secondhand cool from the space echo, but the way they've scaled it down really works for me.

love old coloursounds, dba, moog

Re: Best pedal graphics?

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:07 am
by marqueemoon
MechaBulletBill wrote:
Mon Apr 15, 2019 9:36 am
the boss re20 is so cool. it's secondhand cool from the space echo, but the way they've scaled it down really works for me.

love old coloursounds, dba, moog
Good call on Moog. I’ll add Lovetone to the mix too.

Re: Best pedal graphics?

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:59 am
by rumfoord
Walrus Audio


Lots of companies have some great ones, but easily my consistent favorite.

Re: Best pedal graphics?

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:49 am
by shadowplay
Original compact Boss. Design not mere styling, Boss are the Bauhaus of pedals*.

IMO too many pedals suffer from a whiff of bellbottom, roadside organic vegetables for sale cheesecloth soaked naive signage, baw sack tighteningly embarrassing blooze vernacular appropriation and other boomer dog whistles, sub novelty greeting card twee, tired video age graffixxx that could only be conceived by someone who only experienced the the 80's through Stranger Things, arse clenching attempts at looking a bit dangerous, at least what a preteen boy would think dangerous and myriad other dark alleys from the land that taste forgot.

D

*except when they have the fucking Waza logo on them which is like looking at Eva Green and thinking 'what she really needs is Dave Navarro's wanker goatee'.

Btw on OSG DIYI like Parry's pedal graphics which aren't like any of the things listed above, having more of a specialist gentlemans grooming product sort of aesthetic. The Lance amplification guy has also done fine work outside of the typical Dudes n Broses naff gear design grief support group.

Re: Best pedal graphics?

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 12:03 pm
by StevenO
Parry
Fairfield
Boss
Moog
EHX (vintage)
Mutron

Re: Best pedal graphics?

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 12:41 pm
by Bert Camenbert
Almost every company uses standard size hammond boxes these days, and I find them booooring, even when they're covered in cool graphics. I love the old smiley arbiter fuzzfaces, the distinctive boss and maxon/ibanez boxes and colours, the old Proco Rat boxes, the old univox superfuzz enclosures, the roland Beebaa, the interfac harmonic percolator, the new Watson superfuzz, the Mayer spaceship pedals, the Klon Centaur, pedals that have a distintive graphic look and a cool shape.

Re: Best pedal graphics?

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 12:45 pm
by Singlebladepickup
I like smallsound/bigsound's. Simple but eye-catching

Re: Best pedal graphics?

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 1:20 pm
by somanytoys
There are a few that I like, not sure if they all qualify as just "graphics", or best, but the ones I like the most.

Anything by Tenabi (I have the Zenkudo) - I love the white mother of pearl with the black English & Kanji printing. The abalone ones look cool, too.

VFE had some nice ones towards the very end, my White Horse compressor and Pale Horse OD are very interesting, detailed graphics. I also like the Knobs graphics on my Klein Bottle, simple but effective.

And almost as an opposite of graphics, I like the GTC Bloody Finger, barely any words but made of all mirrored plexiglass.

Re: Best pedal graphics?

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 2:20 pm
by JVG
I've grown an appreciation for Fulltone graphics. They clearly don't give a shit about appearances, even down to the use of Comic Sans on the OCD!

I own several Fulltones, and find beauty in their ugliness. The build quality and sound is amazing without exception. I respect that approach; they look like workhorses, not toys.

Cheers!
J.

Re: Best pedal graphics?

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 2:47 pm
by MechaBulletBill
Singlebladepickup wrote:
Mon Apr 15, 2019 12:45 pm
I like smallsound/bigsound's. Simple but eye-catching
yeah i love their stuff, much more personality and sensibility than the eqd stuff (which i find confusing for some reason?? like i can never tell what they're meant to be?)

Re: Best pedal graphics?

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 3:29 pm
by nanamour
A lot of what's being churned out in this golden age of pedals looks like a mid-naughties JC Penny graphic tee clearance rack regurtitated onto a hammond enclosure...no, grazie. It's often so bad it actually depresses me, to the extent that I've scraped graphics off or rehoused pedals I otherwise love but can't bear to look at into bare metal boxes.

Like Bert Camenbert, I'd love to see more proprietary enclosures out there; something like the Roger Mayer spaceship (impractical as it is) or the holy form/function marriage of the Boss Compact enclosure are instantly recognizable from a cross a room or dark stage with nary a skull in sight. I can see how this might be an unrealistic manufacturing/sourcing hurtle for smaller brands though.

I do love the cheery color blocks and big boxes of the old Maestro and Mutron units and have a warm and fuzzy place in my heart for the fuzz face or really any big hammerite covered box with dusty old Ge or Si transistors within.

As far as modern stuff is concerned the Boss compact line is the gold standard in my eyes, but I appreciate how Hudson Electronics' Broadcast and Sidecar do the humble Hammond enclosure proud without making it look like a preteen's poster wall, and I quite like the bare bones DIY aesthetic Fairfield Circuitry has going on.