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Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

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  • Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

    I am getting really tired of pedal reviews that start by saying things like "it's really high quality because it weighs a lot."
    Why does everyone believe that a plastic housing equals junk but a metal housing equals quality or durability??

    For years I used a plastic Arion stage tuner, throughout the entire decade of the 1990s. Hundreds of rehearsals and gigs, always thrown into a metal ammo box after every show. It has been stomped on, kicked, thrown, and dropped down entire flights of concrete stairs. It STILL looks pretty much like new and the only reason I got a new tuner around 15 years ago is because the input jack no longer holds the cable plug firmly so if it gets bumped you can lose your signal. It functions perfectly and if I cared to do so I could replace that input jack and keep using it forever.

    I'm sure we have all had pedals that stopped working for one reason or another (faulty switch, broken pot, etc.), but has anyone ever actually broken a plastic-cased pedal? (Running over it with a van does not count!)

  • #2
    Re: Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

    i broke the only behringer pedal i ever had, the plastic surface mount jack busted when my bass player stepped on the cable plugged into it. cable was fine but the pedal was shot. cracked the case, broke the jack, and when the jack ripped out from the board, lifted some traces. it was cheap, didnt sound great, and he bought me a bottle of jack so i wasnt heart broken

    those old arion pedals might be plastic but they are solidly built. i had the arion distortion pedal (my first pedal ever!) and i literally used it to hammer tacks into the wall since i had nothing else around and was dumb. pedal worked great till the day i sold it

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    • #3
      Re: Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

      I think the reason people stay away is two-fold. Firstly, those pedals are usually very cheap and the step up to used or even new Boss or TC are not that high. Secondly, even if the case won't break, it does mean they skimped on it, and then you never know what else might give up within a year. Most pedals people own gets sent down the river of second hand gear after a while but I've never ever met a guitarist who would buy a pedal that they were certain wouldn't last them at least a decade.

      That being said, the case is not the part that worries me when I buy pedals. My main concern - besides sound, ofc - is will I be able to repair this once the jack or switch give up the ghost?
      Last edited by Coma; 02-14-2020, 09:24 PM.
      --------------------------------------------------------
      1973 Aria 551
      1984 Larrivee RS-4 w/ EMG SA/SA/89
      1989 Charvel 750 XL w/ DMZ Tone Zone & Air Norton
      1990's noname crap-o-caster plywood P/J Bass
      1991 Heartfield Elan III w/ DMZ mystery pups
      1995 Aria Pro II TA-65
      2001 Gibson Les Paul Gothic w/ PG-1 & SH-8

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      • #4
        Re: Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

        Many plastic pedals aren't built the same. My Ibanez TS5 cracked, but that is from transport, not from using.
        Administrator of the SDUGF

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        • #5
          Re: Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

          Originally posted by jeremy View Post
          I broke the only behringer pedal i ever had . . .
          I don't think it counts when you hit it with a sledgehammer.

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          • #6
            Re: Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

            Plastic also changes.

            For example, constant UV exposure can make it much more brittle than it was manufactured at.

            Possibly pedals could be vulnerable to ozone cracking in extreme temperature changes (cold) just like tires are.

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            • #7
              Re: Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

              Good points. You have changed my thinking a bit.

              I can understand the jack ripping out of the side of the Behringer. I am pretty sure that's what damaged the jack on my Arion - the bass player in that band was a big guy who wore Doc Martins and he stomped all over my pedal several different times. I only noticed if he happened to hit the switch & kill my sound. BUT...I'm pretty sure the same treatment would have destroyed some of my metal pedals if he did that to them. Switches and pots would have been likely snapped or at least bent.

              Maybe I should flip it around: why do reviewers assume heavy means quality? Old DOD pedals weigh a metric ton and although they aren't fragile the knobs are unprotected, the battery doors get lost, and the switch got pretty finicky on one of mine.

              I dunno. It just makes me want to rebrand a bunch of Joyo pedals and add some lead to the inside of the cases. I can picture the reviews: "it is a really quality build with a lot of heft!" "You can feel the quality when you pick it up!" And maybe "Feels as solid as a Sherman tank."

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              • #8
                Re: Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

                Those Arion pedals were good pedals, not sure I'd put them in the same class as Behringer. And if your hefty bass player was stomping on the cord where it was plugged into the pedal, yeah, that would probably have damaged a lot of pedals, or snapped the cable plug.

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                • #9
                  Re: Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

                  After a few years the plastic can get weak & crack. Stepping on the plug can break the board as well, right angled plugs may help in lowering the chances of that happening. A switcher could be bougth and that will keep these going without needing to stomp on them.

                  What has the most chance of breaking would be a plastic wah or expression pedal.

                  IMO save a little more & get the tc pedals that were released lately which are mostly tweaked behringers with true bypass. Those would survive overweight people stomping on them for good.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

                    Are any of the new TCs a clone of the hyper/super-fuzz?

                    I'm on the Sweetwater back-order list for the sf300 super-fuzz for $25.
                    After a couple years of diligently hunting for a non-price-inflated hyper I decided that the $25 clone is worth a shot for a fun toy.
                    Maybe they'll do a waza hyper soon.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

                      I like my $25 Behringer tuner and eqs, they work fine. As a matter of fact, I went to step up to a $125 eq pedal and it was way worse lol! The Behringer reverb I got kind of sucks tho.
                      The things that you wanted
                      I bought them for you

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                      • #12
                        Re: Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

                        Originally posted by Dave Locher View Post
                        I dunno. It just makes me want to rebrand a bunch of Joyo pedals and add some lead to the inside of the cases. I can picture the reviews: "it is a really quality build with a lot of heft!" "You can feel the quality when you pick it up!" And maybe "Feels as solid as a Sherman tank."
                        So be Freekish Blues and Vertex?


                        I broke a Soundtank and seen broken Dano Food series. Basically the Joyos before Joyos.

                        I agree those old DODs were suspect. I had a few Ibanez 7 series (metal boss knockoff) that have broken micro switches, and they are metal enclosures.
                        Oh no.....


                        Oh Yeah!

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                        • #13
                          Re: Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

                          Originally posted by PFDarkside View Post
                          So be Freekish Blues and Vertex?
                          HA!
                          That was their mistake, they didn't add extra weight to the cases! ("No way is this pedal a Joyo - it weighs twice as much! I can FEEL the quality!!"

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                          • #14
                            Re: Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

                            Originally posted by Clint 55 View Post
                            I like my $25 Behringer tuner and eqs, they work fine. As a matter of fact, I went to step up to a $125 eq pedal and it was way worse lol! The Behringer reverb I got kind of sucks tho.
                            Is the Behringer eq pedal buffered or true bypass? None of the product descriptions seem to say.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Anybody ever physically broken a plastic-cased pedal?

                              I've read where people try to mod them to true-bypass, and apparently it's a pain.
                              I know with the super-fuzz it's a direct boss clone so it's surely not TB. (maybe they're like MXR "true-hardwire" lol)

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