warlord custom guitar pedal advantages

The 9 reasons you should buy a Warlord Custom guitar pedal

1.Human contact

Warlord Custom is a very new company. It’s a small business, a workshop, which launched its web page 6 months ago. We love building analog pedals of high quality with san excellent value for money ratio. Our philosophy is “treat customers the way you would like to be treated”. So, there is no automated answering machines, or automated mail services in Warlord custom. Human contact is the most important thing for us. It helps building trust, it let’s us understand the needs of a musician and lets us help him/her make the right product choice.

2.Building Philosophy

Warlord Custom has a very narrow and basic product line for bass pedals & guitar pedals. The basic product line is made out of must have units for any musician, no matter the kind of music he plays. They are clones based on legendary pedals from the past (you can check our cloning & replicating philosophy here). Many “custom” pedal builders, have a very wide product line. Sorry, but that’s not custom building to us. For Warlord, custom building means :

1. Listen to the needs of the customer, his taste on tone, his intended use for the pedal e.t.c.
2. Suggest a product build for the customer that fulfills his needs 100%
3. Estimate a price
4. Build it

Warlord custom needs to know your needs, your requirements, your personal taste in tone. We want to know what’s the tone you’re looking after. The more info you can provide, the better your pedal will be. For example, you may need a distortion pedal. But if “distortion” is the only info you’ll provide, that’s bad. There are so many distortions we can build! But If for example you say “I’m looking for Zakk’s tone” that’s helpful. The more precise you are when describing your needs, your tone, your inspiration, the better we can build your pedal. That’s what we love doing in Warlord custom. Talk to us. Tell us what you need, and we’ll tell you what we can do.

3.Building Quality

Warlord Custom builds pedals by hand. No robotics or automated systems here. All pedals are hand wired. We even build stuff point to point (in some models) with no extra charge (compared to other companies). All components are carefully selected for their performance and quality. We use precision resistors of max tolerance 1%, and film capacitors for maximum tonal performance where needed. Enclosure drilling, painting, finishing is done by hand too. It requires more time, but quality goes first. Assembly is also done by hand. We offer value for money units. Not quantity over quality.

4.Intergraded BONUS circuits

Warlord Custom aims for the maximum performance of its units, includes in every unit, 2 integrated “bonus” circuits. The first one is the “Polarity protection” circuit. The second one is the “Power supply noise filter”. Most of the pedals out in the market use a single Diode ( a diode lets electrons to move in one direction only) to protect the circuit in case of wrong polarity. That works fine, but a diode can fail, or even at the very moment it does protect the circuit, it may leak so damage may occur. Warlord uses a sophisticated internal switching system that shuts the pedal down when wrong polarity is present. In case of extreme voltage abuse, the polarity protection circuit will kill itself. The repair cost for such a case does not even worth mentioning!!! The point is, that the pedal circuit will be saved at its integrity.

The “Power supply noise filter” is an innovation that’s missing in the products of the “big companies”. This filter kicks out every voltage rectification leakage that may introduce power noise to your pedal. Power supply noise is audible even when the instrument is unplugged. So, with such an extra circuit, we are sure that no matter what power supply you’ll plug into your Warlord pedal, noise (if present in your transformer or brand X power supply unit) will be kicked out. If not all, most of the noise. Why big companies don’t to the same? 1)A circuit like this, requires some space inside the enclosure and 2)It costs a little bit. All pedal companies suggest you to buy their power supply units. They even warn you not to use anything else but their own. It’s because they want to make sure (and let the responsibility up to you) you won’t damage the unit, because the unit is not protected.. Warlord doesn’t say that. Warlord says ” Check the polarity of your power supply”. You can buy a Warlord pedal, and plug whatever power supply unit you own so far. You can even visit your local electronics store, and buy a $10 9Volts transformer. The pedal will work fine. Of course Warlord can build power supply units. But, we care about musicians, not about making money from stuff you don’t really need or from stuff you already have. We’re sure you already have a power supply unit to feed your pedals. So why bothering buying a new one?

5.Limited lifetime warranty

There is a very detailed post on the Warlord limited warranty which can be found here

6.Pedal clones & replicas

Warlord custom can clone and replicate pedals. We can do it if that’s what you need. But keep in mind that when you clone stuff you clone its problems too. So a better approach for a build is to suggest a pedal you’d like to clone, and make a further step to improve it. It’s even better to create a unique design that stand out.That’s what we like to do. Create unique designs. More about our approach on replicating pedals and cloning pedals can be found in our pedal clone article. A very good example on this, is my amp switch pedal “the Switch”.

7.Ultra gloss surface

Warlord custom uses a special technique, borrowed from jewel crafting to finish the top surface of the pedals. It’s a unique finish, and so far has not been applied in any other pedals in the market. It is done by hand, it requires 2 days for a single pedal to cure, and it creates a glossy, strong and hard surface that will last for many many years. It’s very beautiful and unique. Check this product out

8.Shipment cost

Warlord custom doesn’t charge anything for shipment cost. No matter at which point you live on planet earth, shipment is free!

9.Turn around time

Warlord custom does not stock pedals. All pedals are unique to us. Every unit is produced after an order has been placed. It usually takes 2 weeks to build a pedal that belongs to the guitar or bass pedal series. In case of pure custom pedal build, Warlord requires at least 3 to 5 weeks for new, unique, build from scratch designs. Time may vary depending on production workload or project’s complexity.

By George Liagas – Google