Are Guitar Pedals Too Expensive?

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When you look at the price of guitar effects pedals these days ranging from $150 to $550, putting together even a modest pedal board with a few pedals might seem too steep for your budget. How can these tiny little metal boxes filled with tiny circuit boards and a few dangling wires hit my wallet so hard? My opinion, for what it's worth, is that for the most part putting together a padalboard of any size is much cheaper than the rigs of the near and distant past. I do admit that many pedal companies prices are too high; mostly due to the "hype" of the particular pedal or the "trendiness" of the particular company name on the pedal, but you can get a great rig happening for a fraction of the cost of rigs in the 1980's or 90's.

A Comparison worth Consideration

NOW                                                               

• $300  Strymon Blue Sky Reverb                              
• $450  Strymon Timeline Delay                             
• $450  Strymon Mobius Modulation                         
• $400  Analogman King of Tone Overdrive        
• $125  Xotic EP boost                                        
• $200  Wampler Pinnacle Distortion                  
• $200  Wampler EGO Compressor                      
• $200  Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2                     
• $200  Pedatrain Pedalboard                                  

THEN

• $2500  T.C. Electronics 2290 Delay                     
• $1200  T.C. Electronics 1122 Chorus                                       
• $2000  Lexicon PCM 70 Reverb                            
• $1000  Yamaha SPX 90 multi-effects                    
• $500    DBX 160 Compressor                                 
• $150    ProCo Rat Distortion                                   
• $100    ADA Midi Switcher                                      
• $200    Furman Power Conditioner                       
• $500    Anvil Rack for effects

This comparison between the 'NOW' state of the art pedal board with a price tag of $2,525 and the THEN' rack of effects with a price tag of $8,150 is a fair estimate in my experience as a professional player using gear in both eras of the music industry. One rack effect of the 80's/90's can exceed the entire price of your whole boutique pedalboard. This example breaks down a little with the thought that you could have used a pedalboard in the eighties and rack effects now but it's still a reminder to me that one can get great gear these days at a very reasonable price, even if you buy the top of the line stuff.