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  • December 21, 2008 at 10:01 pm #77420
    skippytdi
    Member

    Hi Ya’ll,
    Names Kenneth,
    i’m just curious how EHX defines made in USA, its part of the reason why i chose to shop EHX for pedals exclusively, but wanted to know the EHX’s definition of the term. Any help is obliged.
    KC

    December 21, 2008 at 10:09 pm #89389
    Ned Flanders
    Moderator

    From my understanding, all the effects that use trough hole components (not SMD) are entirely made in NYC. The SMD effects have their PCB’s populated in asia or some far flung country and are assembled in NYC.
    Don’t quote me on this as I’m not 100%, Scott will be able to tell you for sure.
    Even if the SMD effects are populated outside the US its irrelevant to me, they are still an American company that sells some US made effects and all the effects are at prices that cant be beaten. Outsourcing a small percentage of the labor doesn’t harm the product at all IMO.

    December 21, 2008 at 10:28 pm #89391
    skippytdi
    Member

    Hi Ned,
    Quality wasn’t really an issue, i went to take the battery out of one of my die-cast pedals (little big muff style box) and saw a big made in china stamp in the casting. Just threw me off a bit.
    I agree with you on the extent of the quality, features and price. No doubt about features and price, i bought, awhile ago, a boss gigadelay and could have gotten twice the features at a 80 dollar discount by going with a EHX pedal.
    As far as being an item being made in the US, some is better than none, and in that respect i have a heavy respect for EHX, i was just curious about the percentages and their general definition of Made in USA.
    Tanks for the reply.
    KC

    December 21, 2008 at 10:56 pm #89396
    electro-melx
    Moderator

    It makes no difference to me either way because I’m not American. I like to buy British made products when I can but that is becoming very difficult these days, pretty much everything I buy is ‘foreign’ made, so from my point of view I’d rather it was ‘foreign’ and inexpensive than ‘foreign’ and expensive (made in USA) if you saw the price of MIA fenders here you’d understand.

    EHX are a gobal company….you only have to look at their tube manufacturing in Russia to see that, they sell pedals all around the world and to do that they need to be competitive or they wouldn’t survive and if that means getting stuff done somewhere else then they will.

    I know that doesn’t answer your question about “how ehx defines made in usa” but I don’t think they are any different from any other company who I would guess all use Pots, cases, switches knobs and electrical components that are made/part assembled elsewhere…..technically I would think that most ‘made in USA’ products are infact ‘assembled in USA’

    There are Cars that are ‘made in England’ that come with a German built engine, japanese made electronics etc etc…..’Made in England’ just means that everything is put together in a factory in Birmingham and I’d presume that’s pretty much the same for everything, EHX included.

    December 21, 2008 at 10:59 pm #89399
    electro-melx
    Moderator
    Quote:
    Hi Ned,
    Quality wasn’t really an issue, i went to take the battery out of one of my die-cast pedals (little big muff style box) and saw a big made in china stamp in the casting.
    KC

    Hi mate, yeah that mark refers to the cases that are made in china…along with 99.9% of all diecast electronics cases.

    Don’t worry about it. I’m not sure but I doubt the old bent steel cases were made in USA either!! :thumb:

    December 21, 2008 at 11:07 pm #89402
    julian
    Moderator

    No guitar pedals are 100% made in the US.

    Because even if you’re buying boutique- the parts were made all over the world. A lot of boutiques use Tantalum capacitors for better fidelity, and those come from Africa and are made using Coltan Ore, which is pretty controversial in itself.

    December 21, 2008 at 11:16 pm #89409
    Ned Flanders
    Moderator
    Quote:
    No guitar pedals are 100% made in the US.

    Because even if you’re buying boutique- the parts were made all over the world. A lot of boutiques use Tantalum capacitors for better fidelity, and those come from Africa and are made using Coltan Ore, which is pretty controversial in itself.

    Very good point julian, I was just about to post that most caps are made in china in the same factory, no matter what brand they have on them, the famed “blue 3PDT” is made in china too, people think that if it has a blue 3PDT its a high quality USA made effect, it is high quality but its not USA made.
    Boutique effects are “assembled in the USA” at best.

    December 21, 2008 at 11:28 pm #89412
    skippytdi
    Member

    Thank you Julian and Electro-melx for the replies.
    I’m not an engineer, i’m not going to nitpick, obviously, the way the world is currently set-up, there is no way something is gonna be 100%, i understand that.
    I also understood that, when i ripped open my pedal, the made in china casting didn’t necessarily mean the whole pedal was made in china.
    I’m into communication accuracy and honesty. At this point, even if you said EHX was actually made in china i would still buy just their pedals.
    But there is a point where english must match what is said. I noticed alot of fender and pro-tools crap clearly states, “engineered in the us, manuafactured in so and so”, and i have seen stuff that says “assembled in us (sometimes mentioning “from parts manuafactured in so and so”). To me this means their are some limitations to the claim “Made in the US.”
    If EHX pedals are assembled in the US with ALL foreign parts, then the pedals that are so and are also labeled made in USA are being slightly dishonest.
    That was my only worry, now if there are american parts, regardless of percentage (lets just say at least 20%) and the pedal is assembled in the US, then i don’t see a problem.
    Like ya’ll said, this is a global economy, and saying made in the us is a selling point. Its a reason why people buy stuff. The same as if the pedal was marketed as a flanger but didn’t flange. You would be, at the very least, mad, no?
    Thats my only point and my main question.
    As a funny side note, i have heard a general story that china went so far as to name a region of their country USA so that they could legally put the words Made in USA on their goods. Funny, though probably untrue.

    December 22, 2008 at 12:18 am #89419
    julian
    Moderator

    I know for a fact that the pedals are assembled in the EHX factory in New York.

    I don’t know where the enclosures are made or the SMC boards are populated though. I don’t think they have the equipment in the EHX factory to populate SMC boards.

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