Today we get stupid with Simon, from JSA Effects!
Q: What was your first encounter with guitar and/or pedals?
A: In 1997 I got a Zoom 505 for my birthday. At the time it was fine, but by 1998 I wanted a distortion sound that wasn't angry digital bees trapped in a can with a rattlesnake, so the nice man in the guitar shop suggested a Boss BD-2 (which, with hindsight, is odd because I said my influences were Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica, and Nirvana)
Q: When did you start getting into building?
A: I started building pedals in 2017. Prior to that I had two very good friends who had been building for years - one of whom had been the guitarist in my last band - so when I started to dabble in building, they became my pedal gurus and I pestered then with questions
Q: When did you design your first pedal?
A: It's an odd one because it's the age old question of "what makes something and original design?" By 2018 I had modified a bunch of circuits beyond recognition, but the first pedal I wanted to build was a compressor; the pedal guru with whom I had been in a band with used two compressors and relied heavily upon them. However, he also often over compressed his tone, and when he'd turn one, or both, of the compressors off, it would usually sound much better. My background was in pro-audio where all compressors have some kind of metering, and I couldn't understand why pedal compressors didn't. I also couldn't understand why pedal compressors were either two knobs (which felt like too little control) or loads of knobs (which was overkill, especially with no metering). My plan was to build a compressor pedal for him that had some kind of metering, was simple enough to use, yet with enough controls to be versatile, and be forgiving enough that, even if he smashed it, it wouldn't sound bad. Long story short, that became the "Eureka" optical compressor, which he still has on his board and loves, and is now one of my main stay pedals in my store
Q: What do you do for a living?
A: Professionally disabled
Q: Any long term goals?
A: Just to keep plodding along. Because of my health I have no dreams of JHS level stardom or mass production; I pretty much build pedals just to pass the time, so as long as it funds itself, I'm happy. I desperately miss teaching, and I'd love to be able to do something more structured along those lines with pedals, but I'm also happy just answering questions via dm's and helping where I can
Q: Any other hobbies besides music?
A: Skyrim and napping
Q: Pets?
A: A cat called Awesome Kitty (named because she's awesome and, you know, she's a cat) and a tortoise called Tonks
