Absence, update and reflective thanks

[LaceSensor]

Howdy friends

I wanted to check in here as I embark on something new, which has given me pause to reflect on the past and this amazing hobby of building effects pedals and the great community here.

Last November I lost my job. It was the darkest period of my life. I work in biotech, and suffered severe burnout, stress, anxiety and ended up being let go. Subsequently the job market has been severely impacted by world events, and I am still out of a day job to this day. I would be lying if I said I didn't spiral to dark places, but what pulled me out in part was the opportunity to do some things that I should have done ages ago. The culmination of this will be me launching my own line of pedals next week – under the re-imagined "Gigahearts FX" brand which some people will remember from years gone by. I always dreamed of having a pedal company, ever since I realised I was too old and not talented enough to make a living in a band as a musician and it feels like now or never (!)

I have been leaning again on the DIY community for inspiration, learning and skills. I have learned PCB CAD design from the ground up. I have been breadboarding and modding and building, even using vero again for some prototyping. I learned illustrator having relied on MS paint of all things for many years, allowing me to get enclosures professionally UV printed. For the first designs I'm doing good old 3PDTs, but I have got relay bypass schemes on my bench and breadboard, and have been programming Arduinos to make Attiny85 micro controllers. Wild... I've had the time to dedicate to learning for the first time in many years, and its been super fun, and its amazing just how rich the community is with shared knowledge. The generosity of folks is ever impressive. If like me you thought some of this was beyond you, give it a try. YouTube is amazing!

So why I am writing this? Honestly, I am trying not to be a schill. Hopefully people e-know me enough to trust that. Regardless, everyone here can do everything I have done, and more, and better. I don't think you need to buy pedals from me (!) but of course feel free if you really like something I am doing. However, it would be amazing if you wanted to follow me on Instagram and take a look at what I am doing, like it, share it perhaps? I would like to grow my audience and make a proper attempt at this. Hey, if nothing else I am being honest about needing help. Feedback would also be really helpful to me now, coming from a point of, honestly, the lowest self confidence base I have ever had in life.

Also, I am writing this to say thankyou. While I haven't been active in the community recently (I got married and had a kid a couple years ago, that with a destructive job really gives you so little time for "fun"), and as per usual I have leached more than I can ever pay back, I wanted to address how much I value the people here and the skills I have been able to pick up and build upon. Thankyou also for the inspiration. I still browse the forums and see what people are making and designing frequently.

Anyway. Cheers to you all. I hope to give back as much as I can.

The new designs are things I like, inspired by classic circuits. While there is nothing truly new here, I have approached this from the aspect of continuous progression, performance lead feature improvements, and refinements that I think people will enjoy.

Cheers

Ian / LaceSensor / Gigahearts

www.gigaheartsfx.com launches Tuesday 16th September 2025 4pm GMT / 8am PST / 1pm EDT
@gigahearts_fx

[lars]

This sounds like a awesome endeavor, and I look forward to seeing what your design aesthetic is. It's tough to stand out in the pedal business, and sometimes I think companies try to get too gimmicky. Ultimately, tried and true, functional pedals that feel like a nice piece of gear always stand out.
I would recommend that if you make a Phase 90-style clone, add the Wampler "tremolo" mod on a footswitch. It's a really unique-sounding mod that I've never seen MXR make available, and it would really help your pedal to stand out in the sea of phasers. In fact, always put mods on a footswitch. No companies seem to do that. They always either have a ton of options on toggles, or nothing. And how many times do we play these pedals and think, "that would be a great feature on a footswitch"? How many overdrives could basically be two drives in one, but they give you only one footswitch? Just about all of them.
Players want footswitches, not knobs and toggles. We set tone controls and leave them (maybe switchable tone modules would be better than a tone knob?). Drives and fuzz pedals rarely have bias controls. Personally, I would rather have a bias knob than a tone control, because the tone control is probably just a Big Muff tone circuit slapped in there, or a simple treble cut.
Boring.

[jessenator]

Congrats! Big step to make it for yourself out there. Don't know if I'll always have an answer to questions, but looking forward to see what you put out there.

[LaceSensor]

This sounds like a awesome endeavor, and I look forward to seeing what your design aesthetic is. It's tough to stand out in the pedal business, and sometimes I think companies try to get too gimmicky. Ultimately, tried and true, functional pedals that feel like a nice piece of gear always stand out.
I would recommend that if you make a Phase 90-style clone, add the Wampler "tremolo" mod on a footswitch. It's a really unique-sounding mod that I've never seen MXR make available, and it would really help your pedal to stand out in the sea of phasers. In fact, always put mods on a footswitch. No companies seem to do that. They always either have a ton of options on toggles, or nothing. And how many times do we play these pedals and think, "that would be a great feature on a footswitch"? How many overdrives could basically be two drives in one, but they give you only one footswitch? Just about all of them.
Players want footswitches, not knobs and toggles. We set tone controls and leave them (maybe switchable tone modules would be better than a tone knob?). Drives and fuzz pedals rarely have bias controls. Personally, I would rather have a bias knob than a tone control, because the tone control is probably just a Big Muff tone circuit slapped in there, or a simple treble cut.
Boring.

Thanks for the feedback

All the first pedals I'm putting out are in the dirt category.

Interestingly I agree with your thoughts on footswitchable options so a couple of mine do have that, mostly to change the bias or character on the fly.

Also I have a fuzz face with a wide ranging bias on the front (0.7 to 7.2v approx) so a wide range of, again, character available. Nothing ground breaking but useful.

Interesting you mentioned big muff tone controls. One of my things has a big muff front end but where the tone control is there is a set of state variable filters and a resonant frequency control to dial in a stupidly broad array of sounds, many of them borderline unusable (according to your taste of course).

So thanks for validating some of my features

I'll be dropping teasers over the next few days on instagram of the aesthetic. Again. Nothing wild just a style I like, clean, not gimmicky, colourful. Inspired by 90s boutique (think Lovetone, way huge etc)

[jimilee]

Dude, you're legendary in these parts. Your work on the lovetone stuff hasn't been matched. Looking forward to your offerings.


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[lars]

One of my things has a big muff front end but where the tone control is there is a set of state variable filters and a resonant frequency control to dial in a stupidly broad array of sounds, many of them borderline unusable (according to your taste of course).

This sounds amazing.

Nothing wild just a style I like, clean, not gimmicky, colourful. Inspired by 90s boutique (think Lovetone, way huge etc)

Perfect. There's a reason 90's boutique pedals are now some of the most valuable ever made:  Klon, Flange with No Name...good grief, those are 2 to 3 grand now.

[LaceSensor]

Dude, you're legendary in these parts. Your work on the lovetone stuff hasn't been matched. Looking forward to your offerings.


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Cheers jimi

Reels are going up on Instagram; more and more details to come

[jwin615]

Congrats on the big step and good luck. I'll try and push some likes on Instagram, whenever I log in once every 3 months...

[gordo]

Congrats and wishing you the best in the market.  It's good to see you being able to step away and follow your heart.

I lost my job about 14 years ago and I totally understand the "dark period" you went through.  I had a number of people tell me it would be the best thing that happened to me.  While I thought they were out of their minds, in hindsight it really was.

[Bret608]

That's awesome that you're stepping up to doing this! You PIF'd me an awesome "starter pack" during the holidays back in like 2011 when I first started building, and I have not forgotten than (and got years of mileage out of those parts, no less). Looks like you're going live tomorrow so I'll be sure to check the site out!

[LaceSensor]

Hi Everyone

thanks for the kind words of encouragement

www.gigaheartsfx.com goes live today 4pm Uk / 8am west coast / 1pm east coast
Other time zones may vary

Even if I dont make any sales, its been a fun ride. Ive learned a heap, way more than I imagined, and I can make cooler stuff than I ever could in the previous 10 years I reckon.

Cheers
Ian