What is this about? Duncan 805 new, old-stock pedal, Rev 000, original version.

[Aceman]

The super reverb and delay pedals like the Silver Lake are cheap for everything they do.

But there you are trying to edge into a market that is Strymon, Source Audio, Chase Bliss, etc....

The Duncan pedals are solid, no doubt. Even the first series was generally very well received. I'm not sure how well they do overall. I just really feel the have managed to hit weird market spaces with a lot low them.

 

[LLL]

I don't think the color has much to do with it. SD pedals are overlooked no matter what color they are.

I'd venture to guess the reason for this is because SD made their name doing pickups, not pedals.

People's heads have been hammered for decades that SD does pickups and does them well; the precedent is there and decades-old.


Imagine if MXR, who has been around since the 70's, decided suddenly to do pickups.

It's the way people are, and you can't fight human nature (& brand recognizance) no matter how good the product is.


Here's a thought: stop using the Seymour Duncan name on the pedals, start a new company (under SD in the "background", or DBA) using a different name.

 

[beaubrummels]

Here's a thought: stop using the Seymour Duncan name on the pedals, start a new company (under SD in the "background", or DBA) using a different name.

You mean like the fantastically successful D-Tar line?

 

[Aceman]

I have two of the old ones: Shapeshifter and Mayhem.

 

[LLL]

You mean like the fantastically successful D-Tar line?

Who came up with that ridiculous name ("D-Tar")

 

[LLL]

Here's a pedal company name:

Super Juicy Tone

 

[Mincer]

Who came up with that ridiculous name ("D-Tar")

It was a collaboration between Seymour and Rick Turner.

Here's a thought: stop using the Seymour Duncan name on the pedals, start a new company (under SD in the "background", or DBA) using a different name.

Here's a thought. Research this stuff. The Duncan name is what sells every single product we make.

 

[Mincer]

The reason I gave them a shot was because they were MIA Seymour Duncan products. I have five now, and they are all great.

This is most peoples' experience.

 

[Bogner]

The color was one of the reasons I bought it. I think if you
made it look dark and menacing, people would expect it to
do all the work of creating a modern metal tone when run straight into a clean amp. It would be like people slagging the YJM-308 because they thought it was supposed to give them instant Yngwie tone in front of a clean amp.

People who buy the pedal know what it is capable of and how to use it in most cases I would hope. That is where knowing what a boost, overdrive and a distortion pedal is and actually does comes into play.

 

[LLL]

Here's a thought. Research this stuff. The Duncan name is what sells every single product we make.

Yes, and that's possibly the fatal flaw for the pedal side of things; as explained previously.

Again: The Duncan name is associated with pickups, not pedals... in people's heads. For decades.

SD has already set a specialized brand precedent, and that's what people refer to when making a purchase decision between an SD pedal or "x brand" pedal.

As also questioned previously - how well do you think MXR would do with selling pickups under their (already well established with stomp boxes) name? Prolly the same as SD does selling pedals.

Ideas to kick around - food for thought. Anyways, that's what I would do as an established pickup maker if I wanted to branch out into other gear areas - DBA another company with a different name, so it appears each company name specializes in "x" gear... all because of the psychology in the way people think and consider brands.

 

[Aceman]

The reason I wouldnt buy pickups by MXR is that I think they are pretty dicey with pedals. Seymour is aces with pickups; it is not like Marshall coming out with a guitar line.

I was gonna put out that Marshall ran a very successful line of pedals. And Ibanez is known for a number of things...but someone might get butt-hurt and we wouldn't want that.

I think it is called "relying on brand strength to break into related markets" or something like that. Especially when your Core Competecies are Tone, Electronics, and Manufacturing.

Bah - what do I know.....

 

[LLL]

Here's a fine example of a company (and I hate this term) "diversifying" their brands (brand names). In fact, they have a metric shit-ton of brands.

You may have heard of them - they are called "Procter & Gamble":

Here is the full list of their (diversified) brands:

https://us.pg.com/brands/

So, all these different brands (brand names) under one umbrella.

And there's plenty of other companies that do the same.


So for example, they don't sell their diapers as "Procter & Gamble's Diapers", they sell them as "Pampers".

They don't sell their pit-scrape (deodorant) as "Procter & Gamble's Deodorant", they sell them as "Old Spice".

etc...

 

[LLL]

I think it is called "relying on brand strength to break into related markets" or something like that. Especially when your Core Competecies are Tone, Electronics, and Manufacturing.

I get this, but to be specific, it should be called, "relying on phenomenal pickup brand strength to break into the already over-saturated pedal market".

It's actually apples to oranges.... they're both fruit (guitar gear), but not the same (pickups vs pedals).

 

[Aceman]

You make my point. Given that Pedal market is oversaturated, it would be foolish to expect that anyone who is unknown could get in. But Duncan is not unknown.

That said - only a small proportion of any guitar player ever changes their pickups. We are a small small minority in the musical mod arena. And we all know about Duncan, and about pedals, and are so deep in that we wouldn't be worried about pickups vs pedals based on only the brand 'word of mouth' on pickups.

Pickup guys know Duncan as Quality => expect quality pedals and know what they are.

Non pickup guys don't know Duncan, so just another pedal.

They have a base purchaser in the pickup buyers, and the ability to gain new ground with the non pickup familiar. It would be silly to do a startup in pedals and NOT use their name.

And then they cross sell between the two. When a pedal buyer finds out about pickups.....

 

[LLL]

The thing with the (oversaturated) pedal market is, it's a relatively cheap and easy "new buy" fix for the typical person who owns guitar equipment.

They want to buy new gear (many times not for any specific reason) from time to time just to feel the "new buy" endorphins... they go and buy a pedal.

So, the fact the pedal market is oversaturated isn't as big of a detriment as it would seem.

It also would seem to be one of the easier markets to get into, as evidenced by all of the basement-dweller pedal junkies testing circuits who sell one-offs, grow, then make it big (Wampler, JHS, Klon, Analog Man etc), not to mention the incredible amount of brand names to pick from.

 

[Aceman]

The thing with the (oversaturated) pedal market is, it's a relatively cheap and easy "new buy" fix for the typical person who owns guitar equipment.

They want to buy new gear (many times not for any specific reason) from time to time just to feel the "new buy" endorphins... they go and buy a pedal.

So, the fact the pedal market is oversaturated isn't as big of a detriment as it would seem.

It also would seem to be one of the easier markets to get into, as evidenced by all of the basement-dweller pedal junkies testing circuits who sell one-offs, grow, then make it big (Wampler, JHS, Klon, Analog Man etc), not to mention the incredible amount of brand names to pick from.

You are probably right.

 

[ErikH]

The thing with Wampler, JHS, Klon, Analog Man etc, they all started out 20 years ago, some before that, before the market got as saturated as it is now. They started doing mods on the big name brands making names for themselves and then established their own designs little by little. At that time, there was a lot more room in the market. I wouldn't want to try that now.

 

[Mincer]

How did those Basslines pickups work out?

We still make them, under the Duncan name now.

 

[LLL]

Seymour Duncan Basslines... pickups?

You said "pickups", right?

Makes sense.

 

[Mincer]

Well, yeah, but the separate branding was something you have moved away from. The Seymour Duncan name, then, seems like more asset than liability in that market.

Absolutely, it is an asset.