Colortone Pedals leads the way with its own design of Cog Series knobs and Silicon Cap Headliners
Some of you may recall my seminal Knobs-focused Pedal Design 101 article from 2019 where I highlighted most of the more commonly used knobs, alongside some more distinctive and bespoke types - some made specially for / by those brands, where others have just been cleverly procured.
Some brands are very much instantly identified with a certain style of knob - while the majority of builders still make use of mostly Davies Moulding types and derivatives, Boss and MXR types in particular, some certain celebrated amp knobs, and other bits and bobs borrowed from various electronic devices sectors.
I've always said that the right knob choice has a significant impact on the quality and look and feel of a pedal - and therefore its overall appeal, and I generally encourage most to explore routes to having more distinctive knobs on their pedals.
The aim and end goal really for most brands is to end up with their own uniquely identifiable knobs.
To date I've not spurred that many into action, the first was Alex Millar from Zander Circuitry who completed a most fantastic brand revamp in 2020 with colour-coded line art and matching coloured knobs on raw aluminium enclosures. A really striking and distinctive look - where in the past I had remarked that Alex's pedals reminded me in particular of another quite famous brand. While after the re-vamp - those pedals were uniquely and distinctively Zander Circuitry - and wholly unmistakably so.
Another who took up the challenge in a big way is my good friend AD Hauser from Colortone Pedals - who's been working for 4 years to design and deliver the perfect knobs for his pedals. His brand identity was already strong - with very identifiably gleaming resin-filled geometric etched design artwork facia plates. And he had chosen some pretty rare chrome MXR style knobs to being with - while he had been heavily inspired by my above referenced article and really wanted his pedals to sport knobs of his own design.
Alex Millar made 1 design of knob in 8 vibrant colours, while AD Hauser has made 2 knobs - a Small and Medium edition essentially. AD sometimes refers to these new knobs as the SK Inspired Series - while I instantly thought they looked like cute little cogs - and thus they have come to be known as the 'Cog Series'.
When AD first presented the earliest prototypes to me - I immediately loved them - while I noted that the marker dots may not be that visible in low lighting conditions. So AD pondered on that challenge for a while, and came up with those superb High-Visibility Silicon Cap Knob Toppers - to which we gave the fairly apt 'Headliner' moniker.
The quality of the Cog Series Knobs and Headliner Caps is flawless - and you get a set of Headliner Silicon Caps with every Colortone Pedal - so you can decide whether to go 'nude' or pop a cap on it! The Headliners add a really tactile silky feel to the experience - which just screams quality - as well as having more visible markers. I love the knobs both with and without the Headliner Caps, while mostly I currently prefer having the Headliners in place. They are so well manufactured that they deliver the snuggest of fits - they just snap beautifully into position.
AD Hauser has hit a definite home-run with these - they are the perfect combination of Unique, Distinctive, Ergononomic, Practical and Tactile!
A lot of builders have been scared off by the presumed high costs of such a venture - and yes it does involve a certain upfront outlay and minimum order quantities in the 4 digits range, while the unit cost is not so different to that of of generally bought-in knobs.
Of course it doesn't necessarily make sense for small batch brands - but for sure if you're a growing or medium size brand - or have ambitions to be so - it makes total sense. Same goes for the Silicon Caps - minimum order quantities apply - obviously the cost of those is relatively minimal. I've suggested to AD that it would be cool to see a few more colour varieties of Headliners - in jewel colours of course - starting with a fetching dark ruby red variety!
In any case I'm very proud of all my friends who have ventured down this rabbit hole, and there's a forthcoming new pedal from a well-known UK brand due to be launched fairly soon - which also has custom-designed knobs onboard - with a really interesting story attached to those - all will be revealed in good time!
Note that I'm well aware that there is some room for innuendo in this article - and I've tried to be very careful with my wording - while it's kind of an uphill battle!
In any case I hope you enjoyed this overview and I hope it inspires many more of you to get out there and design your own knobs!
