Boutique boxes - no more for me

[Asrial]

All you need is a distortion and a delay! Tuning by ear ftw

 

[Guitarmiester]

I find it odd that people mention Circa Survive because when they played in the UK recently I was at the front and could look at the (none bald) guitarist's pedalboard and it was packed with expensive pedals.
I remember him having an Empress Super Delay and a few other similar delays because I left thinking that at the volume they were playing you just couldn't tell them apart from something like a Boss DD3.

It was that band that made me have similar thoughts to the OP in that you can have all these expensive pedals but the audience at a gig really can't tell a difference.

I wouldn't be surprised if they changing things up, but for the longest time they were touring with Ibanez DE-7's. The last time I saw them, over the summer, they were using Boss DD3's or DD7's.

 

[ZeeW]

Were they brightly colored with goofy hand-painted graphics??? I'm a sucker for those.

They were brightly colored with hand painted graphics - many originated from Scandinavia and the UK.

 

[Speedy Fingers]

I stand sort of in the middle on all of this. For me, I find there is a noticeable difference between a stock TS9 or a Boss BD-2 and my Fulltone FD2 or my Xotic BB+. I know they're very different pedals but sometimes it pays to go a a little high end on the effects that really matter. As for pedals like the Diamond Memory Lane, I just couldn't fathom spending at least $500 on one pedal.

Regardless, just use your ears and listen and go with what sounds best for you. If that ends up being the boutique pedal, so be it!

 

[ZeeW]

What I'm saying is that I have been preoccupied with tone chasing and trying to reach utopia and I thought at that time, after spending so much time researching pedals, that boutique was always the way.

For me, in many instances an off-the-shelf pedal works as well as a boutique one, similarly an off-the-shelf pedal usually costs a fraction and from my experience a modern pedal tends to offer more than the original vintage one.

The maxim of what works for you is right.

Well the cash I've made from selling my kit means I'm looking to buy something from ESP

 

[Ketzer]

There's no better pedal in the world than the Boss HM-2