...so a new EHX Big Muff came out today...

[Pacafeliz]

https://reverb.com/item/78548030?utm_so ... t=78548030

Here ya go. First one offered, at €999
These people deserve a beating in a dark alley.

[JSett]

I had one arrive today.

It actually sounds really good, the Rams Head really is a great circuit. I have an acquaintance that has a real OG Rams head that he's been trying to sell me for £1000, I have been very tempted but that's a lot for a pedal.

[OffYourFace]

I had one arrive today.

It actually sounds really good, the Rams Head really is a great circuit. I have an acquaintance that has a real OG Rams head that he's been trying to sell me for £1000, I have been very tempted but that's a lot for a pedal.

We demand gut shots

[eilrahc]

It's cool and all and I really dig EHX and Muffs, but this phenomenon of pedals (and guitars, and amps, and anything vintage, and anythimg "out of production", and anything "first version", and anything "limited edition", etc.) turning into speculative investments is pretty fucking repulsive and has turned me off of buying new gear altogether.

For a long time I couldn't quite put my finger on why this whole phenomenon bothered me so much, apart from it driving up the prices of things, I just knew it annoyed me. Having had a little think, I think I just find it boring. It's boring that the second you see something like this announced, you just know that you can predict exactly what's going to happen like the OP did here. And it's boring that these are now Veblen items, and the chief concern that many of their buyers and sellers have is status and, like you said, their potential as an investment.

I suppose it's no different to the pretty much everything else in the world in that respect. It's all so depressing and just...dull.

[sal paradise]

Ok.. so what’s an unpredictable outcome of a company releasing a limited edition pedal?

Businesses are playing off their historical capital and using modern marketing techniques that are incredibly reliable. If anything, it’s great that Fender & EHX had already manufactured the pedals ready to ship. JHS Klon seemed more cynical, although they could have just completely ballsed up their predictions on the popularity.

Collecting pedals: when haven’t people done this? “Vintage” gear has been expensive ever since I started playing the guitar in the early 90s.

People have definitely been using guitars as investments since as long as I can remember.

I understand the frustration and the in-your-face commoditisation of customers- high resale costs on Reverb is just as important as selling out your special run quickly. Status creates status. That’s been Fender & Gibson’s game ever since mass manufacturing.

This is an unfair generalisation, and I don’t expect anyone to self-identify, it does seem like the anger is a lot of shaking fist at clouds. Offsets have got expensive, but I’ll list my MIJ for 4 figures as that’s what it’s worth. Collecting MIJ boss pedals has got too expensive: best make sure I hold on to the ones I’ve got for a few years longer and see if they keep going up. I am often complaining about the game whilst playing it. Nothing but gate keeping, I realise, so try to look at it in other ways.

The irony for me is that the democratisation of brands/building, especially pedals is actually the cause of all the aggressive marketing which is changing consumer behaviour by manipulating as all with massive loss aversion & YOLO regret.

TL:DR - I dunno ‍♂️

[JSett]

I make no bones about me flipping a lot of gear, it helps me afford to buy the things I actually want to keep. Someone offers me more money than I paid for something and I don't care if I keep it or not? Screw it, better than it sitting in a drawer. During Covid it was what paid my mortgage as I wasn't allowed to work.

Guitar shops and vintage dealers have been doing this since forever, it's just business. Thanks to the digital age everyone can run their own little 'shop' and make some money for themselves. I think it's good. And those that charge silly prices are the ones left holding the baby unfortunately. And no one moans when someone here decides to sell their 61/62/65/whatever JM for 8k rather than the 2k they paid in 2010. Supply and demand. 555 Big Muffs and 2000 people want one? Price goes up. That's just how it is.

I balance the karma books regularly, so I don't feel bad at all. I give a lot of gear away. I sell it to friends at reduced market value (normally what something owes me, or less). I'm all good.

[sal paradise]

You don’t owe anyone an explanation, Johnny.

Even with ticket touts- there’s no point blaming them. They’ll always be someone to take their place, and someone willing to pay the premium (I definitely have done from time to time).

It’s the system that’s fucked. The O2 are self-allocating huge swathes of tickets to sponsors & investors before the presale even goes out. And it’s in their interest to sell the presale out quickly to drive demand the following week. This creates the need a tour can fulfil.

Maybe this sentence would be better placed in the Taylor Swift thread: Ed Sheeran, you don’t want to lose tickets to touts? Tell your distributors to stop throttling ticket numbers aiming to artificially inflate scarcity.

And if your ticketing system can’t identify bots, then I fear for their IT security in the coming years.

/weirdtangentalrant

[BoringPostcards]

I make no bones about me flipping a lot of gear, it helps me afford to buy the things I actually want to keep. Someone offers me more money than I paid for something and I don't care if I keep it or not? Screw it, better than it sitting in a drawer. During Covid it was what paid my mortgage as I wasn't allowed to work.

Guitar shops and vintage dealers have been doing this since forever, it's just business. Thanks to the digital age everyone can run their own little 'shop' and make some money for themselves. I think it's good. And those that charge silly prices are the ones left holding the baby unfortunately. And no one moans when someone here decides to sell their 61/62/65/whatever JM for 8k rather than the 2k they paid in 2010. Supply and demand. 555 Big Muffs and 2000 people want one? Price goes up. That's just how it is.

I balance the karma books regularly, so I don't feel bad at all. I give a lot of gear away. I sell it to friends at reduced market value (normally what something owes me, or less). I'm all good.

So have you flipped it, or do you intend to use it a bit? You should be the only person in the world who actually uses theirs (then sell it or whatever you want).

[JSett]

You don’t owe anyone an explanation, Johnny.

I know, and I don't mind. I try to flip with a conscience and never scalp crazy money from people so as not to be a total dick.

So have you flipped it, or do you intend to use it a bit? You should be the only person in the world who actually uses theirs (then sell it or whatever you want).

Yeah, it's been sold. A regular buyer in Japan had it from me for not a lot more than what I paid. Hes become a bit of a friend as we both buy and sell for each other and help each other source rare pedals.

I think I walked away with £150 profit of which £50 went into the local food bank deposit box to feed the karma llama as usual. The other £100 went into the 'pay the old boy I bought the LP from a bit more money' tin.

I played it for a bit. It sounds like every other Rams Head out there to be honest, just gold I bought it with intent to keep and play it but it was pretty underwhelming

[BoringPostcards]

You don’t owe anyone an explanation, Johnny.

I know, and I don't mind. I try to flip with a conscience and never scalp crazy money from people so as not to be a total dick.

So have you flipped it, or do you intend to use it a bit? You should be the only person in the world who actually uses theirs (then sell it or whatever you want).

Yeah, it's been sold. A regular buyer in Japan had it from me for not a lot more than what I paid. Hes become a bit of a friend as we both buy and sell for each other and help each other source rare pedals.

I think I walked away with £150 profit of which £50 went into the local food bank deposit box to feed the karma llama as usual. The other £100 went into the 'pay the old boy I bought the LP from a bit more money' tin.

I played it for a bit. It sounds like every other Rams Head out there to be honest, just gold I bought it with intent to keep and play it but it was pretty underwhelming

I totally get that. If you really wanted a Ram’s Head, the current versions are just fine. Got one recently myself, and enjoy it.

[JSett]

I totally get that. If you really wanted a Ram’s Head, the current versions are just fine. Got one recently myself, and enjoy it.

I have a friend who's trying to sell me their OG 1972 Rams Head. I'm very tempted but have more pressing financial commitments at the moment.