KMA Audio Further Improves Look of Logan Transcend Drive with Limited Edition Desert Colourway
I don’t typically feature coverage of simply 2nd iteration limited edition artwork or colourway pedals - unless there is some sort of significant underlying change. While on this occasion I would kind of like to raise the issue of ’First Mover Disadvantage’!
By which I mean getting in on the first round release of a pedal - where soon after you acquire one - you kind of regret not holding out slightly longer - as an even better version materialises later on. This happened recently with the Beetronics FX Octahive Series - where the latest batch of custom editions includes ergonomic as well as enclosure graphics improvements. I like my own limited edition of the same, but really wish it had the more practical dual footswitches of those later editions.
Another recent release I was unable to act on was the Yvette Young -painted 2nd batch limited edition of the Zvex Instant Lo-Fi Junky - which is so much more appealing in that tropical goldfish artwork than the original largely typographic style.
Dan Steinhardt of That Pedal Show frequently says we hear pedals / guitars / amps with our eyes too - in that we go out of our way to secure a better looking version of something over and above something which potentially might sound better. Every guitar frontman there ever was chose their guitar first for its looks, and then tried to find the one that sounded best within that aesthetic. You rarely get a celebrated guitarist with a hideous monstrosity of an amazing sounding guitar. Looks are important to the all-round sensory and ownership experience.
I have fortunately quite a short list of second-tier looks pedals - as I go out of my way to find the right combination of features and aesthetics when I track something down - like me various SolidGoldFX editions. But I do have my fair share of aesthetically inferior first edition pedals! Where I really do wish I had held on a little longer before I hit the trigger. I'm not quite so petty as to feel the need to sell and trade editions for something that looks better - which I know some individuals indulge in. For me it's a little like pet ownership in that you form some kind of bond with the runt of the litter anyway - and it becomes your version of said pedal. But you do occasionally glance over your shoulder and imagine what might have been!
I wish for instance that my Beetronics Royal Jelly was a later Black or Red edition rather than the original green colourway. There is nothing per se wrong with the Green one - it's just that the others look sleeker - and you get more of a joyful placebo effect when deploying them.
So my question to KMA, Beetronics, Zvex and the like - is why do the better looking editions need to be artificially constrained or limited? I guess you could says that Spaceman Effects Zak has made a whole career out of artificially constrained limited editions. I do admire the recent change to offering standard varieties - as I typically find the standard black-facia editions the most attractive anyway. I would probably prefer an all-round black box, but I really don't mind the raw steel enclosure with the standard facia plate and knobs. If you really care you can change the knobs yourself and the LED to your preferred colourway.
Which all leads me back to the new Logan Desert Edition which to me is quite evidently more appealing than the original. I feel that probably the original could be improved by utilising those red knobs too - so can Enrico give us an option on that - or at least let us know where to source the alternative knobs from.
In my opinion the Logan is a particularly finely crafted extended feature-set overdrive which is made better somehow by the paler red-knobbed colourway - this should be the new standard edition is what I'm saying. Otherwise surely there would be lots of future customers getting post-purchase dissonance when they laid their eyes on the better looking alternative! The better looking alternative is currently available at select dealers - but limited to only 100 units in total.
Am I alone in these musings? What say all of you?
