Onion Madder's Mess O' Pedals

Hand-modded oddities, glitch boxes, and warbly loops.

If you like your pedals mass-produced and factory-fresh, you're in the wrong place. If you like them fully functional and looking like they were made in some chick's bedroom closet in the middle of the desert: welcome home.

Pedals

Straight from the bench, priced per build. Pedals ship for a flat $12, included in the checkout total.

A hot pink pedal photographed face on. The words kitty dripper are hand-lettered across the top in purple marker. Four black knurled knobs sit in two rows, marked dirty and load along the top and booty and sizzle below. Between the lower two knobs is a small silver toggle switch with the word moist written up its side, and under that a black LED and a silver footswitch. Three jack nuts show along the top edge.

Kitty Dripper - Boutique

a four-knob distortion that clips against LEDs instead of diodes, so it stays loud and open instead of squashing flat. Separate controls for the bottom and the top, and a Moist toggle that moves where the gain sits.

$160

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A tall black pedal photographed face on. Hand-painted green capital letters read FREQ. down the top left corner and WIMPY WHINES across the middle in two lines. A large silver-topped knob sits on a numbered dial skirt reading 0 to 10, a small round LED sits between the two words, and a silver footswitch stands at the bottom.

Wimpy Whines - Boutique

A wah with the treadle taken away and one knob in its place - park it on a vowel and every note comes out through that same nasal, mid-forward peak. One control, numbered dial, no volume to get lost in.

$145

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A tall black pedal photographed face on. Six black knobs with thin white pointer lines stand in two rows of three, each ringed by a thin painted circle. WET DOG is hand-lettered below them in blue and green capitals, with a small LED beneath and a silver footswitch at the bottom.

Wet Dog - Boutique

Six knobs of chorus, which is five more than most - from a clean wide shimmer to a seasick warble that will not hold still. Rate, Shape, Dimension, Depth, Animate and Intensity.

$145

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A tall black pedal photographed face on, flecked all over with hand-flicked green paint spatters. The word quacker is painted across the middle in silver lowercase script. Two knurled silver knobs sit at the top corners with a small toggle switch between them, a tiny LED sits below the lettering, and a silver footswitch stands at the bottom.

Quacker - Boutique

An auto-wah that plays itself off your picking hand - dig in and the filter jumps open, ease off and it stays shut. Attack, Decay and a Blend toggle, under green splatter over black.

$185

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A tall black pedal photographed face on. Hand-painted green capital letters spell FUZZLE across the top and VOL below the knob. A single large knob with a silver collar and a pointer line sits in the middle, a small round LED below it, and a silver footswitch at the bottom.

Fuzzle - Boutique

The small, mean end of the Muff family - a tight low-gain grind that acts more like a torn-up overdrive than a wall of fuzz. One knob, no gain control, cleans up off your guitar's volume.

$120

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A white pedal with a lightly textured finish, photographed face on, with CRUNCH8 hand-painted across the top in bright blue capitals. Six sky-blue knobs stand in two rows of three below the lettering, a small LED sits under them, and a silver footswitch is at the bottom.

Crunch8 - Boutique

Four octaves of square wave with a fader each - two down, one down, root and one up - so you build the chord yourself. Monophonic, all analog, and gloriously bad at behaving.

$145

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Bzzz pedal - neon yellow-green enclosure, four chunky blue-and-silver knobs, small LED, 3PDT footswitch, hand-lettered BZZZ in teal marker beneath the knobs

Bzzz - Boutique

A cocked-wah crossed with a boost - Systech Harmonic Energizer style. Zappa's “Hot Rats” sting and Prince's “Purple Rain” solo tone in a neon-yellow-green box. Volume, Gain, Frequency, Bandwidth. Bright as it looks.

$120

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Mr. Ownz pedal - metallic purple glitter enclosure with six silver knobs in two rows of three, a small LED, and a 3PDT footswitch; hand-lettered mR OWNZ in silver at the top

Mr. Ownz - Boutique

Warbly, seasick, pitch-warping delay in metallic-purple glitter. Named for my friend Myke, whose favorite color is purple. Six knobs (Delay, Speed, Depth, Wave, Blend, Feedback) that'll take you from a light vibrato through chorus into full tape-warp queasy.

$145

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The Cat's Pajamas pedal - a tall enclosure in pastel pink, blue and lilac spatter with “volume” stencilled across the top in pink and white, one speckled pale-blue knob, and a tarot-card label of a calico cat in a star-patterned nightcap and pajamas seated against a golden crescent moon and ringed with flowers; a silver footswitch sits over the lower edge of the card, above the words THE CAT'S PAJAMAS

The Cat's Pajamas - Prototype

One knob, one stomp, one very distinguished cat. An 8-bit sub-octave box on the Parasit Studio 8-Bitar circuit, dressed in a tarot-card wizard cat.

$60

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Circuit-Bent Oddities

Not pedals - bent, rewired, and re-purposed electronics that make sounds they were never supposed to.

Starjammer - pink and purple star-covered circuit-bent Toys R Us Dream Dazzlers toy guitar with added blue bend knobs, candy decorations, a whammy bar, and a line-out jack

Starjammer - Circuit-Bent Toy Guitar

A Toys "R" Us Dream Dazzlers guitar bent into a noise machine. Real touch-responsive strings play the riffs, buttons fire notes and built-in tunes, and the whammy bar warbles. Added bends: a voltage starve plus an echo with depth and feedback. Speaker pulled for a line out, custom pink LEDs throughout. One of a kind.

$180

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Factory Third - a circuit-bent late-1990s Kawasaki toy keyboard, black with a bright blue control panel of original 1990s graphics and 32 keys, FACTORY THIRD hand-lettered across the panel in colored marker, and two added black knobs and three toggle switches along the top edge

Factory Third - Circuit-Bent Kawasaki Keyboard

A late-1990s Kawasaki toy keyboard that shipped from the factory with a whine already in it. Rather than fix the defect the build hunts down the two resistors that make it worse and puts them on knobs, so the fault becomes the voice. Pitch off two photocells or a knob, a drone mode, and a wild mode that cycles the sound chip's voices about twice a second. Line out added, every stock feature kept. One of a kind.

$220

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Super Sound Warps - a cream 1996 VTech toy keyboard with dark blue speaker grilles and blue and cream keys, with three added toggle switches set through the right speaker grille and three small knobs down the right edge

Super Sound Warps - Crystal-Swapped VTech with Echo

A 1996 VTech toy keyboard with its clock on switches. Four crystals, three toggles, and the original is still one of them - so swapping it runs the whole toy fast or slow rather than just retuning it. A CD2399 echo with depth, feedback and mix, a switched line out, and every stock voice, drum pad and rhythm still working. One of a kind.

$175

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Synths & Noise Boxes

Instruments rather than effects - things with their own voice that do not need a guitar in front of them. Built from scratch, not bent.

A square tea tin painted with birds and flowers inside a mottled blue border, with two black knobs, two toggle switches, the photocell eyes and a touch probe on a black lead set into the lid

Duet Deluxe

Two 555 theremins in a tea tin, wired together by nothing but light. One sets the tempo, the other makes the tone, and your hands play both through two eyes in the lid. Its own amp, mixer and speaker inside, and a touch bend on a flying lead. One of a kind.

$150

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A red Texas Instruments Speak and Spell held up in one hand, its green display lit and its keypad untouched

Speak n Synth

A drone synth living inside a Speak & Spell, sharing its speaker. Nothing was bent to get it there, so the toy still spells, on its own AA batteries. Six knobs and three toggles through the back, a power starve on the synth, a 12V rechargeable pack with a charge port, and a line out carrying the toy and the synth together. Made to order on a donor toy, so no two look the same.

$225

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A round toy monster covered in shaggy red, orange and yellow fur with a hard plastic scowling face and dark photocells set into its eyes

Screaming Creep

A 555 optical theremin living inside a gutted Grumblies rage-monster, with photocells for pupils. Light is the instrument - shadow it, cup an eye, sweep a flashlight past it. Plays through its own speaker, no amp needed. One of a kind.

$150

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Kawasquawki - a dark blue Kawasaki toy keyboard with a carry handle and a big orange and yellow speaker grille, kawasquawki hand-lettered on the panel, with four added black knobs with blue pointers, a red record button, a black play button and three toggle switches

Kawasquawki - Oscillator and Recorder in a Toy Keyboard

A Kawasaki toy keyboard whose own circuit was beyond saving, with an NE556 Atari Punk Console built dead-bug inside it and an ISD1820 recorder beside it. Catch a few seconds of the oscillator and play it back at any speed, or run both at once and let them squeal over each other. Photocell pitch, 3.5 mm line out, and an RGB LED across the speaker. The keys still do not play. One of a kind.

$125

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Tape Loops

Hand-spliced cassette loops in recycled shells - $12 flat, shipping included, one of each. The label on every shell is whatever it used to be (gospel, polka, a Christmas comp) and has nothing to do with what's on the tape now. The audio is a random loop I picked, spliced to repeat forever - warble and hiss included. Don't like what's on it? Record right over it.

Clear cassette shell labeled Loop 014 on a blue strip, recycled from a 1987 Reno and Smiley gospel cassette with the original track titles still printed underneath

Tape Loops

Twelve hand-spliced cassette loops in recycled shells, each one a different tape and a different former life. The printed label has nothing to do with what is on it now. Pick a shell, or record straight over it.

$12

See all twelve

DIY Kits

Parts kits for the guides on my DIY page: a board, a power module, a battery and connector, jumpers, every component the build calls for, and a printed instruction sheet. Three formats - solderless breadboard, permanent breadboard, and stripboard - and you pick which build you want when you order. Every part in a kit is brand new. Unlike the rest of the shelf, none of it came off my bench secondhand.

Kits are not shipping yet. I am waiting on the battery connectors before I can assemble them, so the page below is the menu and the photos are still to come.

DIY Kits

Everything one of my guides needs, in a box, with the instruction sheet printed. Breadboard, permanent breadboard or stripboard, for nine builds I have made work myself. All parts brand new.

See the kits

Next Drop

New pieces appear in small batches. Want a heads-up? Email onionmadder@gmail.com with subject "Mess O' Pedals Drop List."