Hello Everyone!
This newsletter is long overdue!
Well, it's moving week. That's right ... we're moving from Minneapolis MN to Boston MA! That's the short story. The long story? Please read on...
In December I lost my engineering contract which was the main source of income for me and my family. 3DA sales brings in some money for our finances but not nearly enough to keep family and home life going. That engineering contract was special in that it paid well enough to afford me time to work on 3DA effects R&D and pedal building. With the loss of that income, I had to make a tough decision in the interest of career and family; recommit to a full-time engineering career and lower my time commitment to 3DA.
That was a hard decision to make. My dream was to grow 3DA to a sustainable business. I've spent the last ten years learning how to make guitar pedals, how to write the algorithms, how to produce the PCB's, how to manufacture cases, and how to take orders and deliver them to you all. The last two years were intense as these were the years that Erin and I really focused on turning what I learned into a real pedal business. And we did pretty well! We sold a few hundred pedals in 2022.
I have to admit that at this point I'm pretty tired - maybe a little burnt out. During 2021 and 2022 we made Bygones V1, V2, and V3, the Rewire, Bygones Pro, pre-production beta units for 15-knob products (Lumen, Taps, and Bygones v4), prototypes for a Rewire follow up called Reflow, the Eddies MIDI controller, and various demo units for NAMM. Any of these products requires a few PCB assembly attempts to get things right as well as firmware development and debugging. Recapping what we've been doing, it's no wonder I feel tired!
But alas ...3DA is not ending rather its just adapting to fit our new life demands as I start a new engineering role in Boston. I started doing effects because I love to make them. And I'll continue researching, learning, making, and sharing/selling because it's really what I'm interested in the most and I just cant stop! But it does mean that the product line will be simplified and the rate we release new pedals will slow down.
So what does this mean for 3DA pedals right now? As you may have seen on our website, the Rewire, Bygones V3, and Bygones Pro are all discontinued. The only pedal we're planning on making for 2023 is the Hue multi-effects pedal. This pedal is special though and it really means a lot to me. Since I don't have the time to release lots of pedals, and since I love to create effects algorithms, I've put all of my effects work over the last two years into one pedal! The Hue is my way of sharing all of (or most of) my effects development in a way that's viable given life's new demands.
ABOUT THE HUE PEDAL
Let me tell you a bit about the Hue pedal. This little gem has a custom machined, black anodized aluminum case and has 15 black knobs, stereo in/out, MIDI control, and user presets. Any of Hue's presets can be set to use one of seven effects. The built-in effects are:
The Audion preamp with noise gate and compressor
The Taps multi-tap delay
The Lumen harmonic tremolo and reverb
The Camber 5-band parametric EQ
The Bygones v4
The Pulse granular delay and synth
The Ether quad detune delay (inspired by the Axe FX Pitch Block).
There are plastic graphic overlays for each effect that fits onto the case to label the knobs appropriately.
HUE BLACK CASE PROTOTYPE
HUE GRAPHIC OVERLAYS
THANK YOU everyone for supporting 3Degrees Audio, especially those who put hard earned money towards our products. And stay tuned! 3DA will still make pedals ... someway, somehow. And lastly; check out the Hue pedal ... it may be the only pedal that I make in 2023 and it will be in low volume.
Best,
Mark Seel
BYGONES PRO PRODUCTION UPDATE
To those of you who are waiting on your Bygones Pro's. This last batch of 10 are still in production. The cases and the PCB's are both made in China. The Chinese New Year is a 15-day celebration that starts in mid January; this has delayed our production by a couple of weeks. Also our move from Minneapolis to Boston will add a short delay as the components will be sent to Minneapolis, then also sent to Boston for final assembly and testing. But these Bygones Pro's are moving through the production process with out any technical issues. I'm sorry for this delay though :-). We'll update you regarding the fulfillment once we've received the components, and have started final testing.
PS - drop me a line with your comments, questions and ideas!
