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Comment by copperx | Hacker News Reader

> Guitar pedals are aesthetically gorgeous.

The writer lost me here. Sure, some have beautiful artwork. But pedals themselves are perhaps the ugliest contraptions I have laid my eyes on. Just look at the form of BOSS pedals. As always, there are a few exceptions. But in general, guitar pedals are an eyesore. To make matters worse, musicians put them on pedalboards in all sorts of kitsch arrangements. When you couple that with the pathological American dislike of feet and everything associated with feet, you end up with an object only worthy of contempt.

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I get where you're coming from, but I think you're expecting too much from the "form" part of design, when guitar pedals are basically pushed entirely towards "function". There's obviously a spectrum (Walrus Audio, Earthquaker Devics for two that manage good function and good form), but BOSS pedals are beautiful to me in just how easy they are to use - that big ol' flap covering the switch makes it to where I have to try _really_ hard to not turn the pedal on when I stomp on it. And that's the primary thing I want to do with a pedal - turn it off and on. BOSS's pedals actually very literally are laid out in proportion to how I use them - the dials get maybe 20-25% of the enclosure's usable space, while the rest is dedicated to making it easy to do the thing I care about. It might be brutalist and basically entirely function over form, but there's beauty in just how usable it is.

I just want to say you missed Chase Bliss when mentioning good function and good form. Especially their Automotone series pedals (e.g. CXM1978 and their preamp). I find all of their pedals aesthetically pleasing and easy to use (with some bit of mystery akin to Eurorack like another commenter mentioned)

What is this part about a "pathological American dislike of everything associated with feet"?

I've lived here my whole life and never heard of this.

Zappa: https://youtu.be/HrmtAQvmfN8

Recent developments in certain sub-sections of internet media definitely point to the exact opposite, in fact.

No, that's just a small niche. Shaming barefoot people is now a national pastime. Especially in airplanes and offices.

Yeah because for the type of people who feel the need to ventillate their foot in the middle of the day in the workplace or in an airplane do not exactly have odorless sweat. When was foot odor tolerated? The 1800s?

It's 2022. Most people use deodorant.

On their feet?!

What on earth since when o_o

Here's one example:

https://borntolivebarefoot.org/hate-sites-promote-shaming-of...

And here's one person's experience:

https://www.reddit.com/r/barefoot/comments/vnnbpz/cover_your...

What's so bad about Boss pedals. I _love_ how they look. Their retro-futuristic vibe (it's genuine vibe, they haven't changed since 80s).

Also wondering what parent means...IMO the Boss form factor is by far the best of any mass market pedals from the '80s. Indestructible footswitch the width of the pedal, thumbscrew for battery compartment access, easy to AC power, large text/high-contrast color schemes & LEDs easy to read on dark stages, (some but not all) knobs big enough to twiddle with your feet.

In comparison - DOD had terrible footswitches and detachable (read: instantly lost) battery covers, and their jacks always came loose if you just looked at them; MXRs from that era typically had non-true bypass switches, no external power jack or quick battery access; the little square Ibanez/Maxon footswitch was harder to hit; and while Electro-Harmonix stuff is/was cool and strange, the build quality was always a crapshoot.

Boss pedals are functional masterpieces, but that doesn't make them aesthetically beautiful. They're ugly as sin. Just like work boots.

I also love Boss pedals, so many pedals now are the same rectangular box in one of two common sizes. At least the Boss ones are unique!

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