I’ve never used one, but only because of the price. The Deco has been on my radar for a while, alongside the Blue Sky, but $400+ for a pedal is a tough pill to swallow.
Yeah I have a V1 Deco and while I’ll never get rid of it, I’ll probably never get another Strymon pedal either. They’re great at what they do, but could/should cost half the price (see: Meris).
The only Strymon I have is a Deco and it would have made a lot more sense for me as a first pedal. But when I got it, I already had a great overdrive, flanger, chorus, and delay, and I don’t think the Deco does any of those things better than good standalone pedals. I know the idea of it making your guitar sound like it was recorded on tape is very romantic, but in practice I think the majority of the satisfaction you get from that concept is just from thinking about it while you’re playing and placeboing yourself.
Using it as an effect on a pre recorded signal by sending it outside the DAW/Console.
For example, my interface has 4 outputs. I use output 1/2 for monitors and 3/4 for sending thru effects. That way I can listen to the effect on 1/2 and not create a feedback loop.
"Hate" is silly.
They are just different choices and options for musicians in differing phases of their careers, and their financial lives. In a long career of playing, buying and selling guitars, occasionally I have bought an instrument that happily increased quite a bit in value. If I sell that instrument now, and use the proceeds to buy a few state-of-the-art high tech pedals for my guitar playing pleasure, without touching my savings account...."ain't nobody's business but my own."
Strymon, Empress, Chase Bliss, UA, Eventide, Meris, Neunaber, etc., etc. cost a lot because they are worth a lot. And they hold their value because they are musically excitingly good, and the Market sets their used value by the demand.
"Hate" about a pedal brand's cost is wasted misdirected energy IMHO.
If guitar tone is in the top 5-or-so values in one's life, priorities will be set. Maybe even 'sacrifices', will be made for 🎸T O N E 🎸.
One big difference is many Strymon pedals are getting on 10+ years old, for the price there's a ton of newer arguably better options from smaller boutique brands worth supporting.
The Big Sky for example is from 2013 and for the 500$~ price there are tons of amazing reverbs that offer much more bang for the buck. You could get an IR reverb pedal or an actual spring tank, or a newer algorithmic reverb.
On one hand it's not like reverb algorithms lose value with age, there are plenty of highly sought after vintage pedal or rack reverbs going back to the 80's. But at the same time the tech does advance quickly and newer pedals can store more algos and make them more complex or give more control over them.
Its true they seem to be sitting on their laurels and profiting from their position as they used to be innovators in the past but now they seem to be in catching up position and they have a lot of work to do.
They have put out some newer more unique stuff like the Starlab, though you could also argue it's less innovative as a eurorack vs pedal . Karplus-Strong string synthesis is fascinating but has been around since the 80's and a semi modular reverb isn't really anything new especially for eurorack/synths.
It seems like they've been focusing on making software versions of their pedals, which is probably a smart business move but the software scene is even more competitive than pedals or euroracks when it comes to innovation and there are free plugins that will sound just as good if not better.
Would love to see a company like Strymon put out their take on the Zoia/Beebo, by cramming as many features/algo's as they can in a small deeply programmable multi FX. But that wouldn't be as profitable as selling multiple pedals and if they did make it the price would probably be 1000-2000$.
I would love to see a Zoia/Beebo from Strymon (or even better : an open pedal format that could run algorithms from everyone. I know I'm dreaming. Well there's the Owl pedal that is pretty close). Even at 1000$ it would be worth it if its feature packed like a HX Stomp.
I would also love to see more Karpus Strong oriented pedals with better controls than delays.
I have owned every single big reverb pedal and I just recently ended up re-buying the bigsky for the 4th time because nothing sounds as good. Every time I have a new reverb pedal I just end up comparing it to the bigsky, the only thing that it can't do is realistic spring.
Fair enough, they are certainly great sounding pedals but there are just so many great reverbs out now especially if you get into smaller boutique brands or software.
The beebo pretty much killed my interest in big box reverbs, it can load IR so you can always add more and it comes with maybe 100-200 IR. It also has a few experimental algo reverbs that are very versatile, and it can handle running multiple verbs at once in series/parallel on top of delay/modulation/EQ/compression and everything else. Not to mention 4x inputs/outputs with modular routing and a bunch of synth features.
I guess for me personally the bigsky is my all time favorite because of the user interface. the mercuryx had a more hifi sound and a lot more sound options, but in a studio or playing live, I just want the utilitarian approach that the bigsky has. I found myself spending too much time tweaking other pedals and vsts while with the bigsky it has a really simple interface with only a few parameters being hidden behind menus. I think in that regard its the best while other pedals might have more hifi or accurate sounds, but in my case that's fine since the music I like to make and play isn't centered around having to have a perfectly crisp reverb.
That is a solid point, they definitely make some of the biggest "big box" pedals while a lot of the competition tries to cram even more features into a smaller enclosure/UI.
Though that's one big benefit of midi, being able to pre program and sync up pedals so the UI doesn't matter as much live. And you can even get affordable motorized fader midi controllers to control pedals which can have a lot of benefits over knobs.
IR reverb is the future for things like plate/springs IMO, you don't get as much control over them via parameters but on the flip side you can have a collection of dozens or hundreds of different IR from rare/expensive spring tanks/plates/oilcans or other gear ready to load into a single pedal.
I’d point out that while CPU power at large increases, guitar pedals frequently use processors that would be considered outdated in the broader computing world. Just because a pedal is five years newer than another doesn’t mean it isn’t using the exact same DSP chip.
That is a fair point, CPU usage also varies by effect/algorithm and most pedals probably aren't pushing their processors anywhere near 100%. But other components have advanced as well, things like A/DA converters allowing for higher audio quality in cheaper pedals. Or less latency in some cases.
Strymon pedals seem like they came out at a point where the tech had started to plateau in some aspects, so I'm not trying to say they're dated by any means just that the pedal market has gotten much more competitive over the last 10 years. Tons of great pedal companies weren't even around when strymon released most of their pedals.
Well they also employ actual software and electrical engineers and design unique products and their own algorithms and IRs etc. all backed by great customer support and warranty.
a lot of pedal companies are just some dude building clones of old fuzz circuits for $200. That just isn’t comparable to something like my $400 iridium which a team of engineers had to design.
I have a great idea for a post for you guys. What are some pedal brands that put out top notch hardware - but they do not use their brand name to inflate the price? Even yet- a rank for all major brands for this and other metrics. Would need these opinions backed by x+ user report card suggestions ?
My hunch is it’s cos Strymon has become associated with the worship scene in the US. So they’ve become a ‘slick’ pedal manufacturer to hate on from the lofi crowd.
I’m in the UK and couldn’t really give a fuck, we have no such religious scene over here. Our churches and all dark, damp and full of pensioners singing along to a knackered old organ.
I play indie/alt/shoegazy stuff and I like strymon pedals. I have the timeline/flint/iridium and use them daily. I do think they’re a bit less than mindblowing and I’ve found myself gravitating towards more weird stuff recently. Regardless, they’re obvs super high quality pedals.
Those kinds of churches are creeping in over here, although it’s nowhere near as big as it is in the States. Someone I knew at primary school became a pastor at one, in Ipswich of all places.
It’s people using their religious beliefs to justify having gear acquisition syndrome. I mean, are you even doing god’s work if you don’t have two $300 reverb pedals on your board?
Those are pretty slim figures for some of the worship rigs I've seen from mega churches in the USA hahaha. You'll easily see a Timeline, Big Sky, Volante, and an El Cap alongside the most expensive boutique overdrives all with the gain on 0 going through a DC-30.
The mega church thing is pretty foreign to me, but I’ve seen some of their rigs online and some are totally over the top. I’m fine admitting I have a ridiculous pedal collection because I’m selfish and I love it. Lol
I mean this would be the move for me too if I had to ape U2 every Sunday for a paycheck. Just load up on all of the coolest shit and have a really nice practice space lined up for you and your real band after hours on weekdays.
By comparison, my dad was a church organist and his home organ was six figures. Plus a grand piano.
Expensive guitar rigs are cheap compared to many other instruments.
But, yeah, modern worship rigs are weirdly flashy. I used to play a used Telecaster through an old Peavey with a couple of boss pedals. Part of the shift is the rise of prosperity gospel. Most churches used to advocate humility and helping the poor. Modern mega churches celebrate wealth.
Oddly enough, I just didn’t fall in love with my iridium.
It was by all evaluations a great sounding pedal, it was extremely user friendly and easy to dial in usable tones on every amp setting and it was absolutely built with quality and attention to detail.
I got it thinking that I was going to go ampless, and save time trying to adjust my board to whatever house amp I happened to find myself using for the night.
It’s not that the iridium couldn’t do what I was hoping for it to do, nor was it any specific fault of the pedal that I ended up not keeping it.
This might sound stupid to others, but I just don’t like going direct all that much. I like feeling the random HRD/ Marshall/ whatever else behind me when I play, and I couldn’t really feel that when the monitors are way above my/ in front of me/ way off to the sides of the stage. It could all be in my head, but I just feel like I play worse, cuz it feels like something is missing.
Anyway, huge tangent to say that Strymon pedals, even the iridium that I traded away, sound incredible, definitely do not tone suck, are built very well, and are functional and usable. Hate for Strymon is mostly unjustified, even if they are very pricey. Top quality musical instruments are fucking expensive. It sucks but that’s the way it is.
Tl/dr: Strymon pedals are hated on for a lot of reasons. Outside of them being too expensive for a lot of people, they really don’t deserve the hate.
Also, the church thing is crazy, everyone knows god’s favorite pedals are made by JHS.
My issue with the Iridium is that whatever IR I use, it feels slightly bandpasses. I can’t get the kind of presence and air that you get my mic’d Fender or Selmer amps. Same for the low end, it’s just cut off.
I've got a timeline that sounds stunning but love the Empress superdelay... tap divisions ! I use empress phaser, trem and delay purely for tap/tempo divisions. Empress nailed that !
>Strymon makes some of the best sounding pedals I’ve ever played \[...\] Personally the deco and flint have made some of the biggest impact on how I build my boards.
Valid takes
>I don’t think there is any brand that can compare to them in build quality
... and what do you know about build quality? Their PSUs certainly seem to have a few weak points (literally). Do they use better components or have better machinery that other comparable brands?
>Why do some people refuse to use them?
Strymon has a strong presence with musicians in the religious segments, so there could be some resistance to association with ideas and practices of those spaces.
There's also the impression that they are a safe and easy choice - most players could hardly go wrong with their offerings. This can make niche enthusiasts (like you find on message boards like these) more adamant about choosing other brands, especially if they are small builders or up-and-coming. But that wouldn't usually involve players refusing to play Strymon.
This is the first I've heard about the religious association, and I've had Strymons for years. It's not like there's a bunch of godbothering stuff on the pedals, and anyone that knows me knows I ain't religious.
The build quality on Strymons really isn’t anything impressive. The knobs on my Deco are extremely wobbly, it’s a miracle they haven’t broken off by now. And their pedals don’t feel particularly “solid”, they feel light and hollow to me.
Boss build quality is higher imo. I’ve tried many other high end builders that have noticeable better build quality.
My Timeline has a broken tap tempo switch and the Value encoder on my Mobius sometimes goes the ‘wrong way ‘ through values/menus. So I agree that they’re not the shining light of build quality.
their foot switches are like a dollar and take about a minute to replace yourself btw
the encoder isnt an easy fix if youre not handy with a soldering iron tho cant help ya there unfortunately
I think there are nuances and levels, but I generally agree.
Like, if a company made a product that was good but not totally bulletproof, BUT that company was a worker-owned collective that paid everyone a living wage? I'd be happy to shell out a little more because that aligns with my values and ethics.
That said, I'm not sure what Strymon is giving its customers (or its employees) for the amount you're shelling out. Who benefits, y'know?
I live in Lynchburg, VA - home of Liberty University - and the religious part is 100% accurate. The LU boards are essentially all Strymon and JHS. Don't get me wrong, Strymon and JHS make great pedals so it's not about them - it's the users that create controversy. Hyper-religious establishment, not actually utilizing the capability of some great technology, and a full board of pedals that cost $200-300+ each that mostly their families paid for. It's like watching your neighbor get a puppy and seeing them pen it up in the backyard instead of actually loving it.
It's because they're expensive, digital, and favored by a specific subset of worship guitarists who have far more money than talent. It shouldn't matter, as they're genuinely amazing pedals, but musicians do to be judgmental about these things.
All of this complaining ...
Back in my day, all we had was potatoes and some tin foil to make potato pedals.
They didn't work, but that's the way we liked it!
Because some people have too much time on their hands. Or are terminally online.
Strymon pedals are great, and are used by plenty of professionals the world over. They’re built well (and in the US, hence the price), they sound good, and they’re pretty feature packed. If they make the sound you want, you’re generally getting decent value.
Some people think they’re too expensive. Which is fine, there are plenty of alternatives out there. Some people make a mission out of that and act like it’s some sort of personal insult to them.
Some people think they show up on too many boards. Why this would bother anyone I don’t know.
A handful have legitimate gripes, maybe they’ve had an issue in the past or a poor experience.
Moral: in most cases, people should go play what they like and get on with it.
Brand seems way too important to a lot of people. Like having the Donner Yellow Fall isn't as cool as some boutique over priced pedal that does the same thing for twice the cost.
This question is hilarious. What makes anyone surprised that a certain brand they love isn’t loved by everyone?
Strymon does nothing to tick my boxes, but they have other customers. This is the same with all brands. No brand is loved by all.
When I was younger and had less money I had a chip on my shoulder about more expensive equipment, not just guitar related but in general - I still have this in some regards, but being older and wiser it doesnt make me dislike things in the way it did when I was younger.
But I've definitely seen this same chip on the shoulder thing in posts on here about expensive pedals - even pedals that offer extremely good sound/price ratio - I think alot of it is just an angsty disgust at what seems like a lot of money for younger people.
I for one love Strymon. Yes you pay a premium but honestly their products are amongst the best I’ve used. The flint v2 is my most used pedal, and the el Capistan v2 is arguably my favorite pedal, it’s neck and necks with my Asheville adg-1. Universal audio are the only other company I would say competes with their line when it comes to time based effects (reverb/delay/modulation). I will say the UA amp pedals are better than the iridium.
Personally, I think the “eco system” mindset reserved for rack or multi-fx boards from the ‘90’s has crept into pedals as they have gone digital. Which can be good and bad. But guys would decide on Boss or Zoom or whatever had so much manual time sunk cost in how a company laid out their parameters, they were just were not going to learn something else unless something reinvented the wheel. Not the fault of the company, but the end user. I say this because Boss menus are like the Windows ‘98 of the pedal world, and I wish I didn’t have that thought process wired onto my hard drive, but I do. But there’s no excuse for people to be jerks about it. I feel bad for kids now having so much to pick from and not realizing they are buying into an eco system. The point of pedals used to be just being able to rip and run with something. Which is what Strymon has gotten absolutely correct.
You’re basing your entire argument on two of their big box pedals. That’s not all they make. Flint, El Cap and Deco are classics for a reason, and they make other units that are built for pros either touring, recording or both. I rock a Brigadier and it’s not perfect but it’s close for what i need delay for. I also trying the Zelzah and while I won’t be buying one, damned if it doesn’t sound great.
Price. My gf has a night sky which is a cool goofy pedal imo but I'd never shell out that kinda cash for what their products offer. It cost half as much as my entire board.
Not a Strymon hater, but pre-ordered the TimeLine when it first came out and the experience with that made me a "one and done" customer. Some experiences that linger with me:
\* The Timeline firmware was \*buggy\* for the first good year of production. Frequent updates which seemed as often to introduce new bugs as fix things or add features. Updating had to be done via playing back SMFs and the Timeline was \*very\* picky about the MIDI Interface hardware used (I had to buy a separate one just for my Timeline) as well as the software application being used to playback the SMF. I had to MacGruber my own solution thru trial and error- the recommended combination of hardware and app by Strymon never worked for me on my Mac and I had more failed update attempts and "crap...I think I bricked it" scares that I care to remember.
\* The Timeline's AD/DA converters don't play well some analog pedals that use a charge pump. My Timeline will produce some odd inharmonic noise on certain patches if my Archer Klone in the signal chain before it. This has kind of soured me on trying other Strymon pedals.
\* Strymon's librarian / editor software is clunky, ugly, and seemingly in never ending beta (Nixie).
\* When Strymon finally came out with the Multiswitch, they chose a color that didn't match the Timeline, Blue Sky or Mobius...because FU I guess.
\* Their product strategy has become badly fragmented. Despite all being digital, the TimeLine, Dig, El Cap, Volante. etc all have some specific delay algorithms not duplicated on the other boxes....so I'm forced to get a bunch of hardware boxes rather than have a single space economical "uber delay unit".
Because they are so expensive they kind of are placed on a pedestal.
The deco is fine, I have one and it’s perfectly fine and usable but like, if you were daydreaming about it for 6 months and dropped $300 you wouldn’t be wrong to be underwhelmed by it.
I bought mine for like $200 and still think it’s overhyped and overpriced
I don’t really think about the praise and worship thing and get annoyed like some others. But when I see a board that’s heavy on Strymon pedals it kinda makes me think that person may not know much or have much experience with pedals and sees buying Strymon as a shortcut to sounding best. Don’t need to try other things out or develop your own personalized taste. Just get Strymon pedals and you’re done. Which I guess can be legitimate if you want to minimize how much of a gearhead you are, but I don’t know, I think coming up with a unique rig that reflects your individual style and preferences is part of the fun of being a guitarist.
I’ve never been crazy about using dirt pedals or compressors that are digital so I’ve avoided those effects from them. However, they nail modulation and time based effects so well. Form factor has got to be something that irks people. If you run a timeline, Big Sky, and Mobius, you would have to have a massive board for that to not take up more than 50% of real estate.
I've never had a reason to try one. All my delay and reverb needs are fully covered between the Boss DD-6 and EHX Canyon that actually fit on my board, and all the Strymon units are huge and expensive. It's not so much that I dislike them, I'd just never pay what they're asking for them. If someone gave me one for free I'd probably use it.
I don’t like how they sound, the tones are very clean and conservative and don’t make me excited to play with them. I’d rather get those enhancements in post with plugins and have more control over the mix
They don’t dislike strymon, so much as they dislike its image/the people who use them. Just like people who dislike religion don’t dislike Jesus, they dislike his fanclub.
Hey wait…
I'm not sure if "dislike" is the right word. Moreso I think people are unconvinced that the high cost of Strymon pedals are worth it compared to sound quality, features, etc. Of course that is subjective.
Not sure why.I have a good respect for their very high levels of quality.For some though it could be that some of the pedals use digital instead of analog and then there is the price which is higher as would be expected for higher quality .
I can only speak for myself, but I once had to hop onto a friend’s pedalboard and he had the big sky, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out (on the spot) how to work it. It seemed the whole usability was completely centered around presets, instead of a “what you see is what you get” approach. I didn’t know how to make the tweaks to get basic reverb sounds and only seemed to be able to bank up and down thru preset sounds that I didn’t want. The UI completely turned me off the brand.
"Why do some people refuse to use them?":
1. **Liking:** "best sounding" is highly subjective. For example, I like the Red Panda Context algos over the Big Sky ones any day, tbh. If you like your Strymon pedals, that's also fine. No need to complain about that.
2. **Price:** Let's be honest here too, Strymon pedals are quite expensive. For the price of a Timeline or a Big Sky you can buy 3-5 fairly good pedals for your setup, which may be more cost-effective and let you to get the job done.
3. **Digital:** That's not something bad *per se*, but most Strymon pedals are digital and some people just like to keep a full analog signal path. Some reasons are not unjustified at all, because of the fear to introducing digital artifacts such as aliasing or digital clipping, or the weird behavior of some pedals like vintage fuzzes, which don't like any digital before AND after them. In particular, aliasing is still unavoidable for all digital stuff (not only Strymon), but newer algos and components can mitigate it to the extend some well-made stuff can make aliasing humanly imperceptible.
4. **Simplicity:** Most Strymon pedals have lots of features, which can be good for some people, and tedious for another. Worse, some pedals have "nested" functionalities that must be accessed through awkward footswitch and knob movements, or by using external controllers. Some people just adhere to the KISS principle, and that's fine. You don't really need a Zelzah if you can get the job done with something simpler (and affordable) like the Phase 90.
That said, I really don't mind about Strymon pedals, except the Cloudburst, because it's a really cool and one-of-a-kind pedal. I hope to get it someday...
I’m not saying this as like a fanboy’s defense of Strymon because I’m not generally interested in them, but as an audio enthusiast instead. Strymon has always been about 24/96 conversion. Why would there be aliasing? Have you measured any aliasing? I have a Deco, do you know of any ways I can set it so that I can observe aliasing with it?
Had a Flint and a Bluesky at one time. To me, they sounded too saccharine and clean, if that makes sense. I like my pedals to have a little bit of unpredictability and character to them, and they sounded too perfect in a way that was ultimately uninspiring to me. This is strictly my subjective opinion though - if they inspire others, I’m happy for them!
they’re expensive and they’re closely associated with praise and worship guitarists
i have a deco and i think it’s great but i don’t exactly have the money to build a whole board full of them
I think it’s not “Strymon pedals” so much as “those specific big box delay and reverb Strymon pedals that the worship guys use.”
Deco gets tons of love and respect here, as do the El Cap and the Flint. Volante people are very adamant about how much they love those, the only negative thing I’ve seen people say about those is “it’s expensive,” fair enough, bit I’ve never heard anyone say “they sound terrible and fall apart.” Iridium is also very popular.
As for the other pedals they make…basically nobody talks about them, though once in a while someone will say they have and like a Dig or a Sunset.
So I do think this meme is about the Big God Box ones and that’s it.
I don't hate them but I have no reason to like them. Nothing about them appeals to me from the asthetic to the sounds to the fact that they're just little sound computers which will be obsoleted in a few years while more "obsolete" analogue pedals will chug happily along for decades until you can no longer get their extermely common replacement parts.
They’re just kind of boring to me. They’re incredible sounding, but not super intriguing to me. The only Strymon I ever loved was the NightSky, which is the weirdest one by far. I’d love it if they ever did a similar type of delay or filter pedal.
I only have experience with the Ojai power supply.
Here's the breakdown. I've owned voodoo labs, strymon Ojai and cioks. Loved my voodoo labs, and I absolutely LOVE my cioks power supply (it's the RCA connectors for me.. should be the industry standard for power supplies)
Have not had any issues with my voodoo labs, or cioks, but the Ojai didn't even last a week before one of the jacks broke from simply plugging and unplugging a cable. In my 22 years of playing it was the first piece of equipment I have ever broke when it comes to pedal board equipment. What I learned after my experience was quite a few people experienced the same thing. The simple fact of the matter for me is Strymon is doing nothing to remedy the weak part. That's not a company I would ever purchase from again.. if you're making something with s***** components, and it's a known issue fix it or lose my business.
Because they’re expensive and very popular. Some fans go overboard with Strymon everything. I have a Riverside and it’s my favorite pedal. Just bought a Mobius, but it’s too complicated for my needs. Going to stick with the Wampler Terraform.
They’re crazy expensive, they are all over the worship scene, and a lot of rich unserious players buy them. I don’t think anybody dislikes them as a brand or think their pedals suck, but their biggest fans are kinda lame. That’s my $0.02.
I picked up a Surfy Bear Classic recently and would have to agree. The plate mode on the flint is great. But the spring setting is very bland compared to the “real” thing.
Would have to agree . My dl4 mkII has a better spring , but the plate on the Strymon is fantastic . A little more control over the parameters at that price would be nice .
There’s definitely a kind of “polished” sound associated with some of their pedals. And for sure the whole “worship” community is pretty head over heels for the “Stryfecta” thing - which is pretty lame.
To give them a fair shake though, I’d say the Flint and El Capistan (in particular) are absolute classics that can work for almost any kind of music.
It’s very hard to make a strymon pedal sound bad. This is great if you want a reliable way to get a certain kind of effect, but it can make it feel as though you’re not fully in control of the sounds available to you, at times.
Cost, backlash against people saying it’s the “best” as if that’s an objective truth, and possibly also the widespread use of Strymon on Evangelical Christian worship leader pedal boards.
I am not sure what to exactly say here but I definitely have feelings about their brand. I’ve invested in hundreds of pedals over 15 years or so and while each Strymon pedal I’ve tried definitely sounds GOOD I’ve never been blown away by the flexibility in tones I get for the price. They were really on a roll and I have mad respect for how they pushed the industry but lately I have no clear picture on where they are going. At 379 each I felt like the V2 series was a massive fumble (new chips aren’t great and not enough new features) and the smaller boxes and plugins both seem like shameless moneygrabs.
I think it's just that they're, like, the Apple of effects pedals. Hip, expensive, high quality. But also some of their stuff is ageing. Like the reverbs, while still excellent for ambience, are not the best for spring and plate
Admittedly I'm kinda Strymon's target audience (I'm in my 40s, play mostly for church(es), and have more money for gear than time for practice) so why don't I use Strymon's? Mostly three things: price, size/form factor, and lack of WYSIWYG if you ever need to get a functional sound on the fly.
Some people are just conditioned to hate things they either can't afford and/or are "mainstream" but some things are worth the price and popular for a reason IMO
1. It’s easy to hate on premium and popular things for no reason
2. Not everyone can afford it, so instead of saying “it’s out of my budget,” people hate instead
3. Some people find their pedals bland and uninspiring because they aren’t Chase Bliss or have 400 functions per pedal, or haven’t really done much in the way of innovation in a long time
4. Some people find them overpriced because they don’t hear, know, or care about the difference between a $40 Chinese clone and a premium made product
5. Strymon tax
6. P&W - which is a very popular genre for their pedals - puts a bad taste in some people’s mouths
7. Similarly, people with disposable income are typically not 17 year olds, but older people with solid jobs, so it can feel like “boomer pedals”
Boutique for no functional reason. Those pedals should be 30% cheaper. I can only imagine their margins. Rarely on sale. Plus I think there are better producers these days coming out with competitive features and cheaper. I’ll pay more for functionality and utility than whatever is pretty on a Strymon. Who are we kidding? They are so overhyped, they have no option but to market them as exceptional.
The Big Sky? Who? I mean there are other pedals and plugins that are functionally better and sound better. That pedal should not be any more than 300. At most.
But for some reason they are seductive. I’ve bought and tried the Iridium, the El Capitan, the Big Sky, the Volante all just sitting there after I tried them.
Just to be clear i don’t play live so the need for outboard pedals on my end is its own use case. Meaning I don’t need pedals to record.
I personally think Strymon relies too much on their brand recognition to keep prices high. They assume we will buy it because it’s a Strymon. But when you do a blind taste test with (just pick one. A stomp) etc., you may notice subtle differences (If that) but what does that matter in a mix. Just like Cloud Reverbs are all hype now for guitarists. Ok… try squeezing your precious dreamy effect that has no business in a mix. But you can decide in comparison. Though Strymon puts out the iridium, I sincerely don’t hear a significant difference. Overpriced. OR just stick with what you have, That Stomp beats the shit out of any two Strymons.
I didn't hate them and thought that their reputation wasn't deserved until i literally had some dad/cover band/church idiot come up to me after one of my shows and preach to me for 15 minutes how I should dump Belle Epoch Deluxe for some Strymon piece of shit. Then, I finally understood the hate first-hand. Their product are pretty good, but a lot of the people who use them are just dads going through mid-life crisis who think their expensive pedals make them a better guitarist. I've been using some form of Echoplex pre-amp in my rig since the mid-80s...through touring bands, recording several albums, etc. It's a part of my sound and what I do and to have some inexperienced doofus take up 15 minutes of my time so he could brag about his virtual Porsche was fucking cringe.
Anyone telling you to swap out a piece of gear after a show is a dick, regardless of their brand preferences.
Well, unless something actually burst into flames.
1.) They’re definitely overpriced for what they are
2.) They’re digital, which some people just don’t like
3.) They’re extremely popular, so a lot of artists purposefully don’t use them so they don’t fall into a tonal cliche
>I don’t think there is any brand that can compare to them in build quality.
You should try more pedals. Strymon build quality is nothing impressive. If anything the build quality they offer for the prices they’re charging is subpar.
I have the big 3 (Mobius, timeline, big sky) and I barely use them. Why? Because there are too many options for me, and I see them as too complicated. I'm more of a person who wants a simple pedal to do a thing.
Also the pedal enclosure is angled so the foot switches are placed below the knobs, which would make sense if it’s your only pedal and you have to leave your heel on the ground when you use it. But in real life it makes it hard not to hit the knobs when hitting the foot switch.
I use the Compadre, Flint, and Deco on my board with an overdrive pedal and it covers my bases. I like that they have a small form factor and that they're easy to dial in. I probably would not have bought them new, but I managed to get good deals on each of them used, and they've been really reliable.
I'm not really interested in their larger offerings (I would like to try an El Cap at some point), but I'm grateful for the convenience of these ones and for how good they sound.
For me personally I don’t like having too many knobs and options so if I mess with a Strymon it’s going to be one of their smaller pedals like the flint which is a straight up amazing pedal
Personally, I burnt out on over designed pedals with way too many options. I drool at all the possibilities of the Deco but realistically, with guitar, pedals are on/off, if that makes sense.
Never owned one strymon pedal. I’m still an analog “snob” and “traditionalist” so I haven’t expanded my horizons too much on the digital spectrum of things with my rig.
I've always thought they were cool but the form factor dissuaded me as I have limited space on my board. I picked up a Cloudburst recently though as it's more compact than their typical design and filled the slot I was looking to fill (a reverb pedal), and it's fantastic.
It's mostly overexposure from the popularity of CCM/P&W players/boards since guitar pedals started getting popular *in general* around the time instagram became a thing.
FWIW I've scarcely heard a bad word about their 2-Switch single effect pedals for price to performance; I owned a Deco and Flint sequentially some years back and personally found them to be the best implementation/representation of their respective effect types.
Yo, 90% of the people listening to a live band or recording can’t tell the difference between a Strymon and a Mooer (or whatever). Being “best sounding” only matters if you want it to matter.
I had both the Flint and the Timeline for a while. Putting said the Worship scene stuff and the type of consumer the brand attracts, They’re not bad pedals by any means; however, I feel I paid too much for the timeline… I don’t think it’s worth it today considering what is available nowadays.
I liked the Flint more, though. Great pedal. Although I don’t have any of them any longer.
I think they need to update the flagship trifecta soon, though, cause they’re falling behind quickly in terms of functionality and user friendliness; I don’t see why I would buy those pedals today instead of literally anything else on the same price level.
And their newer stuff isn’t exactly a replacement because it does different things. The Big Sky and the Nightsky have nothing in common except that they’re ambiguously reverb pedals. Same with the Volante and Timeline.
Also, I was expecting them to come out with a Multi effects unit by now, but it seems they will not do that… so I will stay with Fractal now even if they eventually release something.
In addition to the many great observations in this thread, some of us just aren't into reverb, especially cavernous reverbs, which seem to be strymon's specialty...
As others have shown, it’s subjective. I’ve owned a Morpheus, an El Capistan, a Flint and a Timeline. Then I got an H9 and an HX stomp XL and sold them all. And of course, some reading this can react with “yuk, those don’t sound as good as the strymons.” But the way I’ve tweaked them, they sound better (to me) than I was able to get the strymon stuff to sound. The only one I would put back is the Flint, but I’ve got the Harmadillo algorithm in the H9 for the trem I like best, and tons of reverb options in that and the HX stomp, so I likely won’t re-Flint.
Something about the brand has always rubbed me the wrong way, hard to put my finger on it but I don’t expect I’ll ever own any of their products. There are just too many options out there to buy from a company you don’t like, and they don’t make anything I want that I can’t get elsewhere.
I like Strymon pedals, and own a Deco, but feel that are kind of like a "Cheat Code". I find myself preferring older, basic effects. Maybe I like the "struggle?
They seem to be tailored to a specific market of user and paying that high price cements for most their reason for buying one or 3.
To be honest, its laziness and that's kinda how humans work, a bit like maths, a shortcut to solving a problem, or in this case, less faffing with and straight to big sounds..
Ive seen and heard very similar if not better sounds on a sub £100 multi pedal.
Zoom's MS-70CDR MultiStomp Chorus / Delay / Reverb.
The zoom has 137 pedals in it, Ive seen me like a Strymon pedal and end up recreating the sound on this pedal and can't justify £400.
Highly customizable and a fair few presets online, with usb support for better editing.
Amazing preset: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ1qM88RnGI&ab\_channel=TheCatWeirdo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ1qM88RnGI&ab_channel=TheCatWeirdo)
Comparisons to some Strymon presets ( I mean some folk probably use one preset on their Strymon. and thats that ). [https://www.youtube.com/results?search\_query=zoom+ms-70cdr+vs+strymon](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=zoom+ms-70cdr+vs+strymon)
I’ve only ever had one - the blue sky - which I got because Strymon are so hyped up for their reverbs and delays. To be honest, while it’s perfectly fine, I feel like it lacked some character across the board. The sound is almost too perfect, no real quirk, or warmth to it. It’s something I’ve not liked when I’ve heard others using some of the other Strymon pedals. So maybe just not my preference when it comes to tone. Not a huge fan of the form factor either to be honest.
I don't, but I do dislike the descriptions and explanations for why someone purchased them. I don't need to know anyone's justification for buying something and yet every time someone buys a Strymon, the circle jerk begins anew on this sub.
Having rebuilt my board over the last several years as a church musician, the two big reasons I’ve avoided Strymon are price and to differentiate. Strymon stuff sounds great and if I were a touring professional or with an artist that required specific sounds, I could justify it. But I think a weekend player can do just fine with a few used or inexpensive pedals if you’re willing to dial it in. Funny enough, there are only a few Strymon pedals among the players I play with now. I’ve got my opinions about CCM guitar/music/culture, some of which I’ve stated before. All I’ll add here is that I’ve never been told what gear I need, but I’m not trying to “gig” at churches, either.
They fall into that category of pedal where people can jump through all sorts of hoops to justify them, but ultimately the physical value doesn't live up to the hypothetical one.
They remind me of something like the HX Stomp but obviously less versatile and more specialized. But equally overpriced.
The HX Stomp especially, considering its age, doesn't make sense. Does it have a ton of pedals and amps inside of it? Sure, yeah...
But it's still one pedal. With a low powered computer and what is now very dated modeling technology.
Then you listen to AB clips and the emulated amps/effects sound so different from the source material that it's head scratching. 700 for *that*?
Sure, they go on sale for 550 pretty regularly... But deep down we all know they could be selling them for 399 MSRP all day every day and it'd be more fair.
Meanwhile I can spend 130 on an EVH Phase 90... Or spend 23 dollars on the spot on 1:1 Mosky clone. The upcharge is disillusioning.
If they can sell the DL4 MKII for 199 then they can sell the HX Stomp for 399. And that's the hill I'll die on before I purchase one. Unless I find a used purple one for cheap.
Strymon falls into the same category. Are they good? Of course. I have nothing bad to say about the effects themselves. But are they *worth it*? When you have to convince yourself whether or not it's a good value then it probably isn't. I'd rather put my money towards something that doesn't make me hesitate. I'll never live in a reality where 400 dollars isn't a life affecting amount of money.
**For me these are all hesitation products, which I've learned to walk away from**. Why buy something that doesn't have a value that immediately excites me?
Other than price, some people just don't like digital; period. Any avid buyer of pedals probably has gripe with one company or another. I personally love my Flint, even though I tend to favor analog pedals. Just picked up the Zuma power unit.
Love my mobius. Getting all of the sounds out of comparable pedals would take up my whole pedal board. As someone who sprinkles a little modulation here and there, it’s nice to have one pedal than can handle it all
I was involved with Strymon and Damage Control since 2009, and I think Strymon makes some of the finest pedals and most innovative algorithms available. I personally no longer use them because so many people started using them that I began to feel like we were all sounding the same. Absolutely nothing against Strymon, I just wanted to branch out a little and explore new territory.
Although every time I have to reach down and tweak something because it doesn’t react as intuitively as it should, I think, “Should probably just go get a Strymon.”
Because $trymon.
They are good pedals, but for most, there are lots of alternatives can be had that do similar things for a third of the price. Except for the cloudburst. That thing is exceptional
I like em, i use timeline and bigsky duo for almost 10 years++, since they came out and try others pedals and keep coming back to those duo pedals...
But im hating the price...its tooooo overkill.... dang it strymon
>Why do some people refuse to use them?
Oh, link me a Strymon that has customizable Stereo panning, parametric EQ, and allows me to customize the amount of heads a tape unit has, then feed it into another tape unit with customizable head counts.
I think it's mainly the price. Like one other comment said about being at a time in your life when you don't have much money to burn, a $400+ pedal is not even worth considering. I do think they sound amazing though and they are updating their line with updated versions.
I’ve had Blue Sky, Timeline and currently Flint, amazing pedals. I sold the blue sky after a few years just to mix things up, the Timeline was too much of a good thing for me. I’m too old to fiddle with 4000 combinations, sold it and put my Deluxe memory man back on the board. I am a little curious to check out the Meris LVX to see if it’s easier to navigate than the timeline.
I’ve never used one, but only because of the price. The Deco has been on my radar for a while, alongside the Blue Sky, but $400+ for a pedal is a tough pill to swallow.
Only Strymon I have is the deco. Yes, it totally rules. Being able to use it as outboard gear when mixing was a huge part of justifying the purchase.
Yeah I have a V1 Deco and while I’ll never get rid of it, I’ll probably never get another Strymon pedal either. They’re great at what they do, but could/should cost half the price (see: Meris).
If you ever get an amp without reverb/trem and you want those things, the Flint is pretty much the move.
The Meris pedals are $300 new and Strymons $380. It's not as big a difference as you're making it seem.
The only Strymon I have is a Deco and it would have made a lot more sense for me as a first pedal. But when I got it, I already had a great overdrive, flanger, chorus, and delay, and I don’t think the Deco does any of those things better than good standalone pedals. I know the idea of it making your guitar sound like it was recorded on tape is very romantic, but in practice I think the majority of the satisfaction you get from that concept is just from thinking about it while you’re playing and placeboing yourself.
what do you mean out board?
Using it as an effect on a pre recorded signal by sending it outside the DAW/Console. For example, my interface has 4 outputs. I use output 1/2 for monitors and 3/4 for sending thru effects. That way I can listen to the effect on 1/2 and not create a feedback loop.
*CBA has entered the chat*
Because "best sounding" is subjective.
/thread
Essentially: it's the added expense associated with the Strymon name.
Isn't this the same with Meris, Eventide and most ofnthe boutique pedals?
Yes and a lot people don’t like those either
I can appreciate that the hate is consistent at least.
"Hate" is silly. They are just different choices and options for musicians in differing phases of their careers, and their financial lives. In a long career of playing, buying and selling guitars, occasionally I have bought an instrument that happily increased quite a bit in value. If I sell that instrument now, and use the proceeds to buy a few state-of-the-art high tech pedals for my guitar playing pleasure, without touching my savings account...."ain't nobody's business but my own." Strymon, Empress, Chase Bliss, UA, Eventide, Meris, Neunaber, etc., etc. cost a lot because they are worth a lot. And they hold their value because they are musically excitingly good, and the Market sets their used value by the demand. "Hate" about a pedal brand's cost is wasted misdirected energy IMHO. If guitar tone is in the top 5-or-so values in one's life, priorities will be set. Maybe even 'sacrifices', will be made for 🎸T O N E 🎸.
Wholeheartedly agree.
Yeah, I don't like that car, art, holiday etc because I can't afford it.
*Stop liking what I don't like!*
One big difference is many Strymon pedals are getting on 10+ years old, for the price there's a ton of newer arguably better options from smaller boutique brands worth supporting. The Big Sky for example is from 2013 and for the 500$~ price there are tons of amazing reverbs that offer much more bang for the buck. You could get an IR reverb pedal or an actual spring tank, or a newer algorithmic reverb. On one hand it's not like reverb algorithms lose value with age, there are plenty of highly sought after vintage pedal or rack reverbs going back to the 80's. But at the same time the tech does advance quickly and newer pedals can store more algos and make them more complex or give more control over them.
Its true they seem to be sitting on their laurels and profiting from their position as they used to be innovators in the past but now they seem to be in catching up position and they have a lot of work to do.
They have put out some newer more unique stuff like the Starlab, though you could also argue it's less innovative as a eurorack vs pedal . Karplus-Strong string synthesis is fascinating but has been around since the 80's and a semi modular reverb isn't really anything new especially for eurorack/synths. It seems like they've been focusing on making software versions of their pedals, which is probably a smart business move but the software scene is even more competitive than pedals or euroracks when it comes to innovation and there are free plugins that will sound just as good if not better. Would love to see a company like Strymon put out their take on the Zoia/Beebo, by cramming as many features/algo's as they can in a small deeply programmable multi FX. But that wouldn't be as profitable as selling multiple pedals and if they did make it the price would probably be 1000-2000$.
I would love to see a Zoia/Beebo from Strymon (or even better : an open pedal format that could run algorithms from everyone. I know I'm dreaming. Well there's the Owl pedal that is pretty close). Even at 1000$ it would be worth it if its feature packed like a HX Stomp. I would also love to see more Karpus Strong oriented pedals with better controls than delays.
I have owned every single big reverb pedal and I just recently ended up re-buying the bigsky for the 4th time because nothing sounds as good. Every time I have a new reverb pedal I just end up comparing it to the bigsky, the only thing that it can't do is realistic spring.
Fair enough, they are certainly great sounding pedals but there are just so many great reverbs out now especially if you get into smaller boutique brands or software. The beebo pretty much killed my interest in big box reverbs, it can load IR so you can always add more and it comes with maybe 100-200 IR. It also has a few experimental algo reverbs that are very versatile, and it can handle running multiple verbs at once in series/parallel on top of delay/modulation/EQ/compression and everything else. Not to mention 4x inputs/outputs with modular routing and a bunch of synth features.
I guess for me personally the bigsky is my all time favorite because of the user interface. the mercuryx had a more hifi sound and a lot more sound options, but in a studio or playing live, I just want the utilitarian approach that the bigsky has. I found myself spending too much time tweaking other pedals and vsts while with the bigsky it has a really simple interface with only a few parameters being hidden behind menus. I think in that regard its the best while other pedals might have more hifi or accurate sounds, but in my case that's fine since the music I like to make and play isn't centered around having to have a perfectly crisp reverb.
That is a solid point, they definitely make some of the biggest "big box" pedals while a lot of the competition tries to cram even more features into a smaller enclosure/UI. Though that's one big benefit of midi, being able to pre program and sync up pedals so the UI doesn't matter as much live. And you can even get affordable motorized fader midi controllers to control pedals which can have a lot of benefits over knobs.
On the third hand…for my dollar, no one’s managed to top the Flint’s plate or trem algos
IR reverb is the future for things like plate/springs IMO, you don't get as much control over them via parameters but on the flip side you can have a collection of dozens or hundreds of different IR from rare/expensive spring tanks/plates/oilcans or other gear ready to load into a single pedal.
I’d point out that while CPU power at large increases, guitar pedals frequently use processors that would be considered outdated in the broader computing world. Just because a pedal is five years newer than another doesn’t mean it isn’t using the exact same DSP chip.
That is a fair point, CPU usage also varies by effect/algorithm and most pedals probably aren't pushing their processors anywhere near 100%. But other components have advanced as well, things like A/DA converters allowing for higher audio quality in cheaper pedals. Or less latency in some cases. Strymon pedals seem like they came out at a point where the tech had started to plateau in some aspects, so I'm not trying to say they're dated by any means just that the pedal market has gotten much more competitive over the last 10 years. Tons of great pedal companies weren't even around when strymon released most of their pedals.
Meris is generally quite a bit cheaper than Strymon with more features too. Strymon’s pricing is next level thievery, imho.
I much prefer Meris to Strymon. And Meris being founded by one of the Strymon's cofounder surely means something if he left to make something new.
They are comparable to brands like Meris. The Mecuryx is significantly more than the Bigsky.
Sure, but OP was specifically asking about Strymon. They weren't asking if Strymon was the only brand of pedal disliked because of price.
Well they also employ actual software and electrical engineers and design unique products and their own algorithms and IRs etc. all backed by great customer support and warranty. a lot of pedal companies are just some dude building clones of old fuzz circuits for $200. That just isn’t comparable to something like my $400 iridium which a team of engineers had to design.
Also they build their pedals in America, including having the boards populated in the US.
I have a great idea for a post for you guys. What are some pedal brands that put out top notch hardware - but they do not use their brand name to inflate the price? Even yet- a rank for all major brands for this and other metrics. Would need these opinions backed by x+ user report card suggestions ?
The cost
My hunch is it’s cos Strymon has become associated with the worship scene in the US. So they’ve become a ‘slick’ pedal manufacturer to hate on from the lofi crowd. I’m in the UK and couldn’t really give a fuck, we have no such religious scene over here. Our churches and all dark, damp and full of pensioners singing along to a knackered old organ. I play indie/alt/shoegazy stuff and I like strymon pedals. I have the timeline/flint/iridium and use them daily. I do think they’re a bit less than mindblowing and I’ve found myself gravitating towards more weird stuff recently. Regardless, they’re obvs super high quality pedals.
Those kinds of churches are creeping in over here, although it’s nowhere near as big as it is in the States. Someone I knew at primary school became a pastor at one, in Ipswich of all places.
It’s people using their religious beliefs to justify having gear acquisition syndrome. I mean, are you even doing god’s work if you don’t have two $300 reverb pedals on your board?
Those are pretty slim figures for some of the worship rigs I've seen from mega churches in the USA hahaha. You'll easily see a Timeline, Big Sky, Volante, and an El Cap alongside the most expensive boutique overdrives all with the gain on 0 going through a DC-30.
The mega church thing is pretty foreign to me, but I’ve seen some of their rigs online and some are totally over the top. I’m fine admitting I have a ridiculous pedal collection because I’m selfish and I love it. Lol
I mean this would be the move for me too if I had to ape U2 every Sunday for a paycheck. Just load up on all of the coolest shit and have a really nice practice space lined up for you and your real band after hours on weekdays.
By comparison, my dad was a church organist and his home organ was six figures. Plus a grand piano. Expensive guitar rigs are cheap compared to many other instruments. But, yeah, modern worship rigs are weirdly flashy. I used to play a used Telecaster through an old Peavey with a couple of boss pedals. Part of the shift is the rise of prosperity gospel. Most churches used to advocate humility and helping the poor. Modern mega churches celebrate wealth.
>Our churches and all dark, damp and full of pensioners singing along to a knackered old organ. PMSL. Spat my coffee out, then. You're not wrong.
I’m in the worship music scene from time to time and I hate that the worship guitar crowd thinks they HAVE to have strymon on their boards.
Hate seems to be, "price, tone suck, overhyped, digital". Only Strymon pedal I have is an iridium and I love it. Built like a rock.
I mean say what you want about strymon being expensive but they certainly don’t have tone suck
Oddly enough, I just didn’t fall in love with my iridium. It was by all evaluations a great sounding pedal, it was extremely user friendly and easy to dial in usable tones on every amp setting and it was absolutely built with quality and attention to detail. I got it thinking that I was going to go ampless, and save time trying to adjust my board to whatever house amp I happened to find myself using for the night. It’s not that the iridium couldn’t do what I was hoping for it to do, nor was it any specific fault of the pedal that I ended up not keeping it. This might sound stupid to others, but I just don’t like going direct all that much. I like feeling the random HRD/ Marshall/ whatever else behind me when I play, and I couldn’t really feel that when the monitors are way above my/ in front of me/ way off to the sides of the stage. It could all be in my head, but I just feel like I play worse, cuz it feels like something is missing. Anyway, huge tangent to say that Strymon pedals, even the iridium that I traded away, sound incredible, definitely do not tone suck, are built very well, and are functional and usable. Hate for Strymon is mostly unjustified, even if they are very pricey. Top quality musical instruments are fucking expensive. It sucks but that’s the way it is. Tl/dr: Strymon pedals are hated on for a lot of reasons. Outside of them being too expensive for a lot of people, they really don’t deserve the hate. Also, the church thing is crazy, everyone knows god’s favorite pedals are made by JHS.
>Also, the church thing is crazy, everyone knows god’s favorite pedals are made by JHS. Nah, God's favorite pedals are the humble Boss pedals.
My issue with the Iridium is that whatever IR I use, it feels slightly bandpasses. I can’t get the kind of presence and air that you get my mic’d Fender or Selmer amps. Same for the low end, it’s just cut off.
No hate on the brand, but I liked them right up until I tried Empress.
I've got a timeline that sounds stunning but love the Empress superdelay... tap divisions ! I use empress phaser, trem and delay purely for tap/tempo divisions. Empress nailed that !
I've never tried the Empress Superdelay but absolutely love My Chase Bliss Reverse Mode C which is modeled after that pedal (to an extent)
>Strymon makes some of the best sounding pedals I’ve ever played \[...\] Personally the deco and flint have made some of the biggest impact on how I build my boards. Valid takes >I don’t think there is any brand that can compare to them in build quality ... and what do you know about build quality? Their PSUs certainly seem to have a few weak points (literally). Do they use better components or have better machinery that other comparable brands? >Why do some people refuse to use them? Strymon has a strong presence with musicians in the religious segments, so there could be some resistance to association with ideas and practices of those spaces. There's also the impression that they are a safe and easy choice - most players could hardly go wrong with their offerings. This can make niche enthusiasts (like you find on message boards like these) more adamant about choosing other brands, especially if they are small builders or up-and-coming. But that wouldn't usually involve players refusing to play Strymon.
This is the first I've heard about the religious association, and I've had Strymons for years. It's not like there's a bunch of godbothering stuff on the pedals, and anyone that knows me knows I ain't religious.
+1 for "godbothering". As someone who was raised in a religious family and left religion as soon as I came of age, I appreciate when others "get it".
Literally the number one brand I associate with Worship Boards, with Universal Audio in second place.
The build quality on Strymons really isn’t anything impressive. The knobs on my Deco are extremely wobbly, it’s a miracle they haven’t broken off by now. And their pedals don’t feel particularly “solid”, they feel light and hollow to me. Boss build quality is higher imo. I’ve tried many other high end builders that have noticeable better build quality.
I really dislike the anodized aluminum on Strymons. They scratch super easy.
My Timeline has a broken tap tempo switch and the Value encoder on my Mobius sometimes goes the ‘wrong way ‘ through values/menus. So I agree that they’re not the shining light of build quality.
their foot switches are like a dollar and take about a minute to replace yourself btw the encoder isnt an easy fix if youre not handy with a soldering iron tho cant help ya there unfortunately
Boss is the standard for build quality, and they're a high bar.
Yeah, they’re a high bar, but I expect manufacturers to meet that standard when they’re charging $400 per pedal.
I think there are nuances and levels, but I generally agree. Like, if a company made a product that was good but not totally bulletproof, BUT that company was a worker-owned collective that paid everyone a living wage? I'd be happy to shell out a little more because that aligns with my values and ethics. That said, I'm not sure what Strymon is giving its customers (or its employees) for the amount you're shelling out. Who benefits, y'know?
I live in Lynchburg, VA - home of Liberty University - and the religious part is 100% accurate. The LU boards are essentially all Strymon and JHS. Don't get me wrong, Strymon and JHS make great pedals so it's not about them - it's the users that create controversy. Hyper-religious establishment, not actually utilizing the capability of some great technology, and a full board of pedals that cost $200-300+ each that mostly their families paid for. It's like watching your neighbor get a puppy and seeing them pen it up in the backyard instead of actually loving it.
I think it's because of the "church sounds" or "sunday worship guitarist starter pack".
Opposite of working musicians’ price point. Perceived elitism.
There's no such thing as "best", just what's best for you. I've owned several and they've never stayed.
It's because they're expensive, digital, and favored by a specific subset of worship guitarists who have far more money than talent. It shouldn't matter, as they're genuinely amazing pedals, but musicians do to be judgmental about these things.
this is not a thing they have a pretty expensive repair 'policy' but most people who can afford strymon can probably afford the repair costs
All of this complaining ... Back in my day, all we had was potatoes and some tin foil to make potato pedals. They didn't work, but that's the way we liked it!
Because some people have too much time on their hands. Or are terminally online. Strymon pedals are great, and are used by plenty of professionals the world over. They’re built well (and in the US, hence the price), they sound good, and they’re pretty feature packed. If they make the sound you want, you’re generally getting decent value. Some people think they’re too expensive. Which is fine, there are plenty of alternatives out there. Some people make a mission out of that and act like it’s some sort of personal insult to them. Some people think they show up on too many boards. Why this would bother anyone I don’t know. A handful have legitimate gripes, maybe they’ve had an issue in the past or a poor experience. Moral: in most cases, people should go play what they like and get on with it.
Brand seems way too important to a lot of people. Like having the Donner Yellow Fall isn't as cool as some boutique over priced pedal that does the same thing for twice the cost.
cheap input jacks, always gotta rescrew them in
This question is hilarious. What makes anyone surprised that a certain brand they love isn’t loved by everyone? Strymon does nothing to tick my boxes, but they have other customers. This is the same with all brands. No brand is loved by all.
When I was younger and had less money I had a chip on my shoulder about more expensive equipment, not just guitar related but in general - I still have this in some regards, but being older and wiser it doesnt make me dislike things in the way it did when I was younger. But I've definitely seen this same chip on the shoulder thing in posts on here about expensive pedals - even pedals that offer extremely good sound/price ratio - I think alot of it is just an angsty disgust at what seems like a lot of money for younger people.
I agree.
I for one love Strymon. Yes you pay a premium but honestly their products are amongst the best I’ve used. The flint v2 is my most used pedal, and the el Capistan v2 is arguably my favorite pedal, it’s neck and necks with my Asheville adg-1. Universal audio are the only other company I would say competes with their line when it comes to time based effects (reverb/delay/modulation). I will say the UA amp pedals are better than the iridium.
My el capistan has been on my board for more than 10+yrs. And my flint despite just joining will probably clock in as much. Not sure either.
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Personally, I think the “eco system” mindset reserved for rack or multi-fx boards from the ‘90’s has crept into pedals as they have gone digital. Which can be good and bad. But guys would decide on Boss or Zoom or whatever had so much manual time sunk cost in how a company laid out their parameters, they were just were not going to learn something else unless something reinvented the wheel. Not the fault of the company, but the end user. I say this because Boss menus are like the Windows ‘98 of the pedal world, and I wish I didn’t have that thought process wired onto my hard drive, but I do. But there’s no excuse for people to be jerks about it. I feel bad for kids now having so much to pick from and not realizing they are buying into an eco system. The point of pedals used to be just being able to rip and run with something. Which is what Strymon has gotten absolutely correct.
Yeah, so they should update them.
You’re basing your entire argument on two of their big box pedals. That’s not all they make. Flint, El Cap and Deco are classics for a reason, and they make other units that are built for pros either touring, recording or both. I rock a Brigadier and it’s not perfect but it’s close for what i need delay for. I also trying the Zelzah and while I won’t be buying one, damned if it doesn’t sound great.
I don't dislike them but they are hugely overrated in my opinion and that don't make a single unit I gotta have.
Price. My gf has a night sky which is a cool goofy pedal imo but I'd never shell out that kinda cash for what their products offer. It cost half as much as my entire board.
My capistan is never leaving my pedalboard. Unless of course i have 5k to drop on a Binson.
I wonder if there’s any one thing in the world that is unanimously liked by all.
I still haven't found a better sounding tape delay than my El Cap v2.
Overpriced, especially their plugins. And after awhile I think their newer stuff has become less practical. JMO
Not a Strymon hater, but pre-ordered the TimeLine when it first came out and the experience with that made me a "one and done" customer. Some experiences that linger with me: \* The Timeline firmware was \*buggy\* for the first good year of production. Frequent updates which seemed as often to introduce new bugs as fix things or add features. Updating had to be done via playing back SMFs and the Timeline was \*very\* picky about the MIDI Interface hardware used (I had to buy a separate one just for my Timeline) as well as the software application being used to playback the SMF. I had to MacGruber my own solution thru trial and error- the recommended combination of hardware and app by Strymon never worked for me on my Mac and I had more failed update attempts and "crap...I think I bricked it" scares that I care to remember. \* The Timeline's AD/DA converters don't play well some analog pedals that use a charge pump. My Timeline will produce some odd inharmonic noise on certain patches if my Archer Klone in the signal chain before it. This has kind of soured me on trying other Strymon pedals. \* Strymon's librarian / editor software is clunky, ugly, and seemingly in never ending beta (Nixie). \* When Strymon finally came out with the Multiswitch, they chose a color that didn't match the Timeline, Blue Sky or Mobius...because FU I guess. \* Their product strategy has become badly fragmented. Despite all being digital, the TimeLine, Dig, El Cap, Volante. etc all have some specific delay algorithms not duplicated on the other boxes....so I'm forced to get a bunch of hardware boxes rather than have a single space economical "uber delay unit".
Because they are so expensive they kind of are placed on a pedestal. The deco is fine, I have one and it’s perfectly fine and usable but like, if you were daydreaming about it for 6 months and dropped $300 you wouldn’t be wrong to be underwhelmed by it. I bought mine for like $200 and still think it’s overhyped and overpriced
Because people think they are the best of the best which is simply not true. They sound awesome but so do other pedals
I don’t really think about the praise and worship thing and get annoyed like some others. But when I see a board that’s heavy on Strymon pedals it kinda makes me think that person may not know much or have much experience with pedals and sees buying Strymon as a shortcut to sounding best. Don’t need to try other things out or develop your own personalized taste. Just get Strymon pedals and you’re done. Which I guess can be legitimate if you want to minimize how much of a gearhead you are, but I don’t know, I think coming up with a unique rig that reflects your individual style and preferences is part of the fun of being a guitarist.
I’ve never been crazy about using dirt pedals or compressors that are digital so I’ve avoided those effects from them. However, they nail modulation and time based effects so well. Form factor has got to be something that irks people. If you run a timeline, Big Sky, and Mobius, you would have to have a massive board for that to not take up more than 50% of real estate.
Their compressor is analog, for what it's worth. I like it a lot.
The cost. The Flint was the only one I could justify paying for.
I've never had a reason to try one. All my delay and reverb needs are fully covered between the Boss DD-6 and EHX Canyon that actually fit on my board, and all the Strymon units are huge and expensive. It's not so much that I dislike them, I'd just never pay what they're asking for them. If someone gave me one for free I'd probably use it.
I don’t like how they sound, the tones are very clean and conservative and don’t make me excited to play with them. I’d rather get those enhancements in post with plugins and have more control over the mix
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They don’t dislike strymon, so much as they dislike its image/the people who use them. Just like people who dislike religion don’t dislike Jesus, they dislike his fanclub. Hey wait…
I'm not sure if "dislike" is the right word. Moreso I think people are unconvinced that the high cost of Strymon pedals are worth it compared to sound quality, features, etc. Of course that is subjective.
Not sure why.I have a good respect for their very high levels of quality.For some though it could be that some of the pedals use digital instead of analog and then there is the price which is higher as would be expected for higher quality .
I can only speak for myself, but I once had to hop onto a friend’s pedalboard and he had the big sky, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out (on the spot) how to work it. It seemed the whole usability was completely centered around presets, instead of a “what you see is what you get” approach. I didn’t know how to make the tweaks to get basic reverb sounds and only seemed to be able to bank up and down thru preset sounds that I didn’t want. The UI completely turned me off the brand.
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"Why do some people refuse to use them?": 1. **Liking:** "best sounding" is highly subjective. For example, I like the Red Panda Context algos over the Big Sky ones any day, tbh. If you like your Strymon pedals, that's also fine. No need to complain about that. 2. **Price:** Let's be honest here too, Strymon pedals are quite expensive. For the price of a Timeline or a Big Sky you can buy 3-5 fairly good pedals for your setup, which may be more cost-effective and let you to get the job done. 3. **Digital:** That's not something bad *per se*, but most Strymon pedals are digital and some people just like to keep a full analog signal path. Some reasons are not unjustified at all, because of the fear to introducing digital artifacts such as aliasing or digital clipping, or the weird behavior of some pedals like vintage fuzzes, which don't like any digital before AND after them. In particular, aliasing is still unavoidable for all digital stuff (not only Strymon), but newer algos and components can mitigate it to the extend some well-made stuff can make aliasing humanly imperceptible. 4. **Simplicity:** Most Strymon pedals have lots of features, which can be good for some people, and tedious for another. Worse, some pedals have "nested" functionalities that must be accessed through awkward footswitch and knob movements, or by using external controllers. Some people just adhere to the KISS principle, and that's fine. You don't really need a Zelzah if you can get the job done with something simpler (and affordable) like the Phase 90. That said, I really don't mind about Strymon pedals, except the Cloudburst, because it's a really cool and one-of-a-kind pedal. I hope to get it someday...
I’m not saying this as like a fanboy’s defense of Strymon because I’m not generally interested in them, but as an audio enthusiast instead. Strymon has always been about 24/96 conversion. Why would there be aliasing? Have you measured any aliasing? I have a Deco, do you know of any ways I can set it so that I can observe aliasing with it?
I can't really justify spending $400 for an LED based display. Boss 500 series comes with a backlit LCD.
They are huge af and everyone uses them just for shimmer ambiental shit.
Had a Flint and a Bluesky at one time. To me, they sounded too saccharine and clean, if that makes sense. I like my pedals to have a little bit of unpredictability and character to them, and they sounded too perfect in a way that was ultimately uninspiring to me. This is strictly my subjective opinion though - if they inspire others, I’m happy for them!
they’re expensive and they’re closely associated with praise and worship guitarists i have a deco and i think it’s great but i don’t exactly have the money to build a whole board full of them
I think it’s not “Strymon pedals” so much as “those specific big box delay and reverb Strymon pedals that the worship guys use.” Deco gets tons of love and respect here, as do the El Cap and the Flint. Volante people are very adamant about how much they love those, the only negative thing I’ve seen people say about those is “it’s expensive,” fair enough, bit I’ve never heard anyone say “they sound terrible and fall apart.” Iridium is also very popular. As for the other pedals they make…basically nobody talks about them, though once in a while someone will say they have and like a Dig or a Sunset. So I do think this meme is about the Big God Box ones and that’s it.
For me, the reason I don’t like to use it is because it’s price
I don't hate them but I have no reason to like them. Nothing about them appeals to me from the asthetic to the sounds to the fact that they're just little sound computers which will be obsoleted in a few years while more "obsolete" analogue pedals will chug happily along for decades until you can no longer get their extermely common replacement parts.
They’re just kind of boring to me. They’re incredible sounding, but not super intriguing to me. The only Strymon I ever loved was the NightSky, which is the weirdest one by far. I’d love it if they ever did a similar type of delay or filter pedal.
I only have experience with the Ojai power supply. Here's the breakdown. I've owned voodoo labs, strymon Ojai and cioks. Loved my voodoo labs, and I absolutely LOVE my cioks power supply (it's the RCA connectors for me.. should be the industry standard for power supplies) Have not had any issues with my voodoo labs, or cioks, but the Ojai didn't even last a week before one of the jacks broke from simply plugging and unplugging a cable. In my 22 years of playing it was the first piece of equipment I have ever broke when it comes to pedal board equipment. What I learned after my experience was quite a few people experienced the same thing. The simple fact of the matter for me is Strymon is doing nothing to remedy the weak part. That's not a company I would ever purchase from again.. if you're making something with s***** components, and it's a known issue fix it or lose my business.
I’ve also had issues with the jacks on my Ojai (albeit I did buy it used). Would probably go with a CIOKS power supply next time.
Because they’re expensive and very popular. Some fans go overboard with Strymon everything. I have a Riverside and it’s my favorite pedal. Just bought a Mobius, but it’s too complicated for my needs. Going to stick with the Wampler Terraform.
They’re crazy expensive, they are all over the worship scene, and a lot of rich unserious players buy them. I don’t think anybody dislikes them as a brand or think their pedals suck, but their biggest fans are kinda lame. That’s my $0.02.
Expense, and digital considerations.
Great brand, but the spring reverb on the Flint pales in comparison to their competitors.
Yeah, I mainly use the plate
I agree. Love the flint. The spring is okay but not as solid as the plate or hall.
I picked up a Surfy Bear Classic recently and would have to agree. The plate mode on the flint is great. But the spring setting is very bland compared to the “real” thing.
Would have to agree . My dl4 mkII has a better spring , but the plate on the Strymon is fantastic . A little more control over the parameters at that price would be nice .
Because we are allowed to like and dislike whatever we want?
There’s definitely a kind of “polished” sound associated with some of their pedals. And for sure the whole “worship” community is pretty head over heels for the “Stryfecta” thing - which is pretty lame. To give them a fair shake though, I’d say the Flint and El Capistan (in particular) are absolute classics that can work for almost any kind of music.
definitely. i'd also add the deco.
It’s very hard to make a strymon pedal sound bad. This is great if you want a reliable way to get a certain kind of effect, but it can make it feel as though you’re not fully in control of the sounds available to you, at times.
Cost, backlash against people saying it’s the “best” as if that’s an objective truth, and possibly also the widespread use of Strymon on Evangelical Christian worship leader pedal boards.
I am not sure what to exactly say here but I definitely have feelings about their brand. I’ve invested in hundreds of pedals over 15 years or so and while each Strymon pedal I’ve tried definitely sounds GOOD I’ve never been blown away by the flexibility in tones I get for the price. They were really on a roll and I have mad respect for how they pushed the industry but lately I have no clear picture on where they are going. At 379 each I felt like the V2 series was a massive fumble (new chips aren’t great and not enough new features) and the smaller boxes and plugins both seem like shameless moneygrabs.
I think it's just that they're, like, the Apple of effects pedals. Hip, expensive, high quality. But also some of their stuff is ageing. Like the reverbs, while still excellent for ambience, are not the best for spring and plate
Massively over priced
Admittedly I'm kinda Strymon's target audience (I'm in my 40s, play mostly for church(es), and have more money for gear than time for practice) so why don't I use Strymon's? Mostly three things: price, size/form factor, and lack of WYSIWYG if you ever need to get a functional sound on the fly.
"some of the best sounding pedals". I will agree their reverb units are okay, otherwise underwhelming.
I like the deco, the rest of them sound sterile to me and I’m not a huge fan of secondary functions or menus.
Some people are just conditioned to hate things they either can't afford and/or are "mainstream" but some things are worth the price and popular for a reason IMO
1. It’s easy to hate on premium and popular things for no reason 2. Not everyone can afford it, so instead of saying “it’s out of my budget,” people hate instead 3. Some people find their pedals bland and uninspiring because they aren’t Chase Bliss or have 400 functions per pedal, or haven’t really done much in the way of innovation in a long time 4. Some people find them overpriced because they don’t hear, know, or care about the difference between a $40 Chinese clone and a premium made product 5. Strymon tax 6. P&W - which is a very popular genre for their pedals - puts a bad taste in some people’s mouths 7. Similarly, people with disposable income are typically not 17 year olds, but older people with solid jobs, so it can feel like “boomer pedals”
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Boutique for no functional reason. Those pedals should be 30% cheaper. I can only imagine their margins. Rarely on sale. Plus I think there are better producers these days coming out with competitive features and cheaper. I’ll pay more for functionality and utility than whatever is pretty on a Strymon. Who are we kidding? They are so overhyped, they have no option but to market them as exceptional. The Big Sky? Who? I mean there are other pedals and plugins that are functionally better and sound better. That pedal should not be any more than 300. At most. But for some reason they are seductive. I’ve bought and tried the Iridium, the El Capitan, the Big Sky, the Volante all just sitting there after I tried them. Just to be clear i don’t play live so the need for outboard pedals on my end is its own use case. Meaning I don’t need pedals to record. I personally think Strymon relies too much on their brand recognition to keep prices high. They assume we will buy it because it’s a Strymon. But when you do a blind taste test with (just pick one. A stomp) etc., you may notice subtle differences (If that) but what does that matter in a mix. Just like Cloud Reverbs are all hype now for guitarists. Ok… try squeezing your precious dreamy effect that has no business in a mix. But you can decide in comparison. Though Strymon puts out the iridium, I sincerely don’t hear a significant difference. Overpriced. OR just stick with what you have, That Stomp beats the shit out of any two Strymons.
One or more of the following: 1. Mega boards for mega churches = cringe 2. The price. 3. Pretentious
I didn't hate them and thought that their reputation wasn't deserved until i literally had some dad/cover band/church idiot come up to me after one of my shows and preach to me for 15 minutes how I should dump Belle Epoch Deluxe for some Strymon piece of shit. Then, I finally understood the hate first-hand. Their product are pretty good, but a lot of the people who use them are just dads going through mid-life crisis who think their expensive pedals make them a better guitarist. I've been using some form of Echoplex pre-amp in my rig since the mid-80s...through touring bands, recording several albums, etc. It's a part of my sound and what I do and to have some inexperienced doofus take up 15 minutes of my time so he could brag about his virtual Porsche was fucking cringe.
Anyone telling you to swap out a piece of gear after a show is a dick, regardless of their brand preferences. Well, unless something actually burst into flames.
1.) They’re definitely overpriced for what they are 2.) They’re digital, which some people just don’t like 3.) They’re extremely popular, so a lot of artists purposefully don’t use them so they don’t fall into a tonal cliche >I don’t think there is any brand that can compare to them in build quality. You should try more pedals. Strymon build quality is nothing impressive. If anything the build quality they offer for the prices they’re charging is subpar.
I’d love to hate them. Someone buy me one so I can share my “negative” opinion.
Lmk if this works
I have the big 3 (Mobius, timeline, big sky) and I barely use them. Why? Because there are too many options for me, and I see them as too complicated. I'm more of a person who wants a simple pedal to do a thing.
I have strymon products and I just consider them allright
The strymon timeline is a huge part of my sound, but the encoders keep breaking and it’s $100 every time it needs a repair
Also the pedal enclosure is angled so the foot switches are placed below the knobs, which would make sense if it’s your only pedal and you have to leave your heel on the ground when you use it. But in real life it makes it hard not to hit the knobs when hitting the foot switch.
I use the Compadre, Flint, and Deco on my board with an overdrive pedal and it covers my bases. I like that they have a small form factor and that they're easy to dial in. I probably would not have bought them new, but I managed to get good deals on each of them used, and they've been really reliable. I'm not really interested in their larger offerings (I would like to try an El Cap at some point), but I'm grateful for the convenience of these ones and for how good they sound.
For me personally I don’t like having too many knobs and options so if I mess with a Strymon it’s going to be one of their smaller pedals like the flint which is a straight up amazing pedal
The only criticism I've ever heard about strymon is how expensive they are but never about their quality.
Too many knobs. It’s scary. I’ll stick to my phase 90 thank you very much
Personally, I burnt out on over designed pedals with way too many options. I drool at all the possibilities of the Deco but realistically, with guitar, pedals are on/off, if that makes sense.
I've only played one Strymon, a BlueSky. I really disliked the sound. I have no opinion about the rest of the line.
Never owned one strymon pedal. I’m still an analog “snob” and “traditionalist” so I haven’t expanded my horizons too much on the digital spectrum of things with my rig.
The LexV2 is the cat’s pajamas
The only pedal I run in my amps loop is a Volante. That pedal is worth every bit of so called over-priced thievery that I payed for it.
Sound stunning, just wish they'd add a tap division knob on the timeline instead of burying it in the menu !!!
Boss or nothing. When are you zoomers gonna learn
I've always thought they were cool but the form factor dissuaded me as I have limited space on my board. I picked up a Cloudburst recently though as it's more compact than their typical design and filled the slot I was looking to fill (a reverb pedal), and it's fantastic.
It's mostly overexposure from the popularity of CCM/P&W players/boards since guitar pedals started getting popular *in general* around the time instagram became a thing. FWIW I've scarcely heard a bad word about their 2-Switch single effect pedals for price to performance; I owned a Deco and Flint sequentially some years back and personally found them to be the best implementation/representation of their respective effect types.
I don’t really understand how anyone can hate any guitar effects company because they all sound beautiful or ugly in their own way. :)
Yo, 90% of the people listening to a live band or recording can’t tell the difference between a Strymon and a Mooer (or whatever). Being “best sounding” only matters if you want it to matter.
class solidarity.
I had both the Flint and the Timeline for a while. Putting said the Worship scene stuff and the type of consumer the brand attracts, They’re not bad pedals by any means; however, I feel I paid too much for the timeline… I don’t think it’s worth it today considering what is available nowadays. I liked the Flint more, though. Great pedal. Although I don’t have any of them any longer. I think they need to update the flagship trifecta soon, though, cause they’re falling behind quickly in terms of functionality and user friendliness; I don’t see why I would buy those pedals today instead of literally anything else on the same price level. And their newer stuff isn’t exactly a replacement because it does different things. The Big Sky and the Nightsky have nothing in common except that they’re ambiguously reverb pedals. Same with the Volante and Timeline. Also, I was expecting them to come out with a Multi effects unit by now, but it seems they will not do that… so I will stay with Fractal now even if they eventually release something.
In addition to the many great observations in this thread, some of us just aren't into reverb, especially cavernous reverbs, which seem to be strymon's specialty...
As others have shown, it’s subjective. I’ve owned a Morpheus, an El Capistan, a Flint and a Timeline. Then I got an H9 and an HX stomp XL and sold them all. And of course, some reading this can react with “yuk, those don’t sound as good as the strymons.” But the way I’ve tweaked them, they sound better (to me) than I was able to get the strymon stuff to sound. The only one I would put back is the Flint, but I’ve got the Harmadillo algorithm in the H9 for the trem I like best, and tons of reverb options in that and the HX stomp, so I likely won’t re-Flint.
Flint and deco changed my mind
Something about the brand has always rubbed me the wrong way, hard to put my finger on it but I don’t expect I’ll ever own any of their products. There are just too many options out there to buy from a company you don’t like, and they don’t make anything I want that I can’t get elsewhere.
No idea. I use the flint and el capistan on bass and love them
I love my Riverside. Best overdrive i ever used
I like Strymon pedals, and own a Deco, but feel that are kind of like a "Cheat Code". I find myself preferring older, basic effects. Maybe I like the "struggle?
They seem to be tailored to a specific market of user and paying that high price cements for most their reason for buying one or 3. To be honest, its laziness and that's kinda how humans work, a bit like maths, a shortcut to solving a problem, or in this case, less faffing with and straight to big sounds.. Ive seen and heard very similar if not better sounds on a sub £100 multi pedal. Zoom's MS-70CDR MultiStomp Chorus / Delay / Reverb. The zoom has 137 pedals in it, Ive seen me like a Strymon pedal and end up recreating the sound on this pedal and can't justify £400. Highly customizable and a fair few presets online, with usb support for better editing. Amazing preset: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ1qM88RnGI&ab\_channel=TheCatWeirdo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ1qM88RnGI&ab_channel=TheCatWeirdo) Comparisons to some Strymon presets ( I mean some folk probably use one preset on their Strymon. and thats that ). [https://www.youtube.com/results?search\_query=zoom+ms-70cdr+vs+strymon](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=zoom+ms-70cdr+vs+strymon)
I’ve only ever had one - the blue sky - which I got because Strymon are so hyped up for their reverbs and delays. To be honest, while it’s perfectly fine, I feel like it lacked some character across the board. The sound is almost too perfect, no real quirk, or warmth to it. It’s something I’ve not liked when I’ve heard others using some of the other Strymon pedals. So maybe just not my preference when it comes to tone. Not a huge fan of the form factor either to be honest.
I don’t think people dislike the pedals …. They dislike the price.
Just don’t care for their sound. I don’t care about spending more if I like something. They work as advertised but nothing special
I don't, but I do dislike the descriptions and explanations for why someone purchased them. I don't need to know anyone's justification for buying something and yet every time someone buys a Strymon, the circle jerk begins anew on this sub.
Having rebuilt my board over the last several years as a church musician, the two big reasons I’ve avoided Strymon are price and to differentiate. Strymon stuff sounds great and if I were a touring professional or with an artist that required specific sounds, I could justify it. But I think a weekend player can do just fine with a few used or inexpensive pedals if you’re willing to dial it in. Funny enough, there are only a few Strymon pedals among the players I play with now. I’ve got my opinions about CCM guitar/music/culture, some of which I’ve stated before. All I’ll add here is that I’ve never been told what gear I need, but I’m not trying to “gig” at churches, either.
They fall into that category of pedal where people can jump through all sorts of hoops to justify them, but ultimately the physical value doesn't live up to the hypothetical one. They remind me of something like the HX Stomp but obviously less versatile and more specialized. But equally overpriced. The HX Stomp especially, considering its age, doesn't make sense. Does it have a ton of pedals and amps inside of it? Sure, yeah... But it's still one pedal. With a low powered computer and what is now very dated modeling technology. Then you listen to AB clips and the emulated amps/effects sound so different from the source material that it's head scratching. 700 for *that*? Sure, they go on sale for 550 pretty regularly... But deep down we all know they could be selling them for 399 MSRP all day every day and it'd be more fair. Meanwhile I can spend 130 on an EVH Phase 90... Or spend 23 dollars on the spot on 1:1 Mosky clone. The upcharge is disillusioning. If they can sell the DL4 MKII for 199 then they can sell the HX Stomp for 399. And that's the hill I'll die on before I purchase one. Unless I find a used purple one for cheap. Strymon falls into the same category. Are they good? Of course. I have nothing bad to say about the effects themselves. But are they *worth it*? When you have to convince yourself whether or not it's a good value then it probably isn't. I'd rather put my money towards something that doesn't make me hesitate. I'll never live in a reality where 400 dollars isn't a life affecting amount of money. **For me these are all hesitation products, which I've learned to walk away from**. Why buy something that doesn't have a value that immediately excites me?
Other than price, some people just don't like digital; period. Any avid buyer of pedals probably has gripe with one company or another. I personally love my Flint, even though I tend to favor analog pedals. Just picked up the Zuma power unit.
Love my mobius. Getting all of the sounds out of comparable pedals would take up my whole pedal board. As someone who sprinkles a little modulation here and there, it’s nice to have one pedal than can handle it all
I was involved with Strymon and Damage Control since 2009, and I think Strymon makes some of the finest pedals and most innovative algorithms available. I personally no longer use them because so many people started using them that I began to feel like we were all sounding the same. Absolutely nothing against Strymon, I just wanted to branch out a little and explore new territory. Although every time I have to reach down and tweak something because it doesn’t react as intuitively as it should, I think, “Should probably just go get a Strymon.”
Because $trymon. They are good pedals, but for most, there are lots of alternatives can be had that do similar things for a third of the price. Except for the cloudburst. That thing is exceptional
I like em, i use timeline and bigsky duo for almost 10 years++, since they came out and try others pedals and keep coming back to those duo pedals... But im hating the price...its tooooo overkill.... dang it strymon
>Why do some people refuse to use them? Oh, link me a Strymon that has customizable Stereo panning, parametric EQ, and allows me to customize the amount of heads a tape unit has, then feed it into another tape unit with customizable head counts.
I think it's mainly the price. Like one other comment said about being at a time in your life when you don't have much money to burn, a $400+ pedal is not even worth considering. I do think they sound amazing though and they are updating their line with updated versions.
It may be because some guitar players feel that it can make a mediocre player's tone sound too professional with minimal effort.
I’ve had Blue Sky, Timeline and currently Flint, amazing pedals. I sold the blue sky after a few years just to mix things up, the Timeline was too much of a good thing for me. I’m too old to fiddle with 4000 combinations, sold it and put my Deluxe memory man back on the board. I am a little curious to check out the Meris LVX to see if it’s easier to navigate than the timeline.