Feb. 2023

Gift Ideas:

February means Valentine’s day. You know what makes the best gift for the musician in your family? Time. Time to use the gear they already have. So give them space. Not just space but “guilt free” space. It takes time to be creative. It’s not often something you can turn on or off immediately. You have to work into the “flow state”. If you’re here you probably already understand this.

…But also an RMLfx pedals are an incredible gift. Its kinda like that watch you’re supposed to get at retirement. Except better, because you can use it now and you’re not retired. Or maybe you are but that watch doesn’t help you make sound that express how you feel inside. So for a special occasion for the musician in your life a top shelf musical contraption/gadget is a great way to go. And thats not just for Valentine’s day, it’s for every holiday and birthday.

I’ve had some great gift purchases from very notable customers over the years. It’s been an honor to be part of someone’s special moment even though I’m not really there. I always feel conflicted about dropping names so I don’t usually. But let’s just say a lot of great A list celebrity musician often find there success with the support of their partners/spouses or good friends.

Website:

Don’t know exactly when it happened but the website lost a lot of features. The menus vanished along with various other widgets. I’ve been working to put them back in and iron out the kinks. I don’t really have a lot of time to deal with technical problems so please bear with me. I’d much rather be wood working or boxing up orders. A while back a plugin update broke the site and I lost a few days of productive time trying to fix it. Right now I cant seem to replace that “NOVO” with “RMLfx Home” in the upper left hand corner. Might be a bug in the “Novo” theme. So please forgive the mess.

EFC Studios:

Pictured above is the Dual Hyde distortion Studio rack with an EFC Studio. Pretty sweet stack. I have a hard time photographing this stuff. It’s quite massive in real life.

Progress on the EFC Studios! I’ve already hit a few people with surprise invoices. I have finally been able to procure additional 19″ racks. That means we can finish several more this month. (Still waiting for the racks to arrive) …but soon I think.

This last year if it’s not one thing it’s another. There are things in the supply chain that are just missing. It’s frustrating.

Social Media:

I have been annoyed with Instagram turning into TikTok. One of the last places you could go and just browse your friends gear posts. Almost instantly you get sucked into the reel section. What bothers me is the feeling of my brain melting as I digitally lobotomize myself.

I also just haven’t had physical time to do a lot of posts. Its nice we’ve reached a spot where advertising is not that necessary and word of mouth is somewhat automatic. I keep telling myself I’ll post more soon. I do worry a little that people will think we are not actively working on their orders since I’m not posting the shop activities. Truth is we are working everyday. I just don’t find saw dust that inspiring to take photos of.

One offs:

We have had a lot of one offs flying out of here. Seems like they only last an hour or so before someone nabs them off the site. I don’t always get time to post photos. We will do more builds time permitting. Some of the boxes are pretty iconic. Here are a couple you may have missed:

Jan. 2023

It’s the new year! My father in law is snowed in over in Nevada. Thats his dog enjoying the fireplace.

Hard to believe I’ve been building pedals for over a decade now. You might think things would finally feel “easy”. Truth is every day is another challenge. And every day I don’t feel like I get enough things done. Thats just the way it goes.

I’ve done some really great Hyde/EFCcv and Dual EFCcv combo boxes lately. Since my focus on social media has taken a back seat I haven’t had much of a chance to share them or do call outs before shipping. Here are a few below:

This mid December 2022 Jared Scott has rejoined the RMLfx team. For years he was one of our main guys helping getting projects finished up. Highly skilled and really keeps me moving. He will be helping us get through the EFC Studios currently on order over the next few months. In the meantime we’ve put together a few “B-Stock” Jekyll n Hyde Serpa Customs. #954 with cool wooden ears and a round meter. I like the look. The Jekyll n Hyde Serpa Custom boxes have been officially discontinued, I’ve got a couple remaining enclosures that we might use time permitting. I really like the wooden ears look. I may steel that idea for another box down the road.

The other Jekyll n Hyde Serpa Custom #956 gave me a chance to finally use this upside down meter. Iv’e gone through a lot of meters (over a thousand) and I’ve never used one like this. So its pretty special. A little strange. I keep thinking Im looking at the box upside down.

I’m about to officially release the newest version of the Hyde Distortion Filter (retro) box. I’ve switched to a high quality illuminated meter. This will be standard. Those cheeper low cost meters never sat well with me. I’d rather be remembered for making impeccable products. Not corner cutting to save costs.

I believe gear should inspire you. When you look at it, it should bring you joy. I’ve had a lot of requests for illuminated meters over the years. Thats not something we can do with 99.8% of the vintage meters. So I was happy to find these. Here is a preview. I’ll have these available for special orders on this site soon!

Sept. 2022

This last few months have been quite an adventure. We got hit with covid pretty hard. This set us back quite a bit with orders. When I got sick I wasn’t able to have anyone over to help pick up the slack. Our shop is in the basement of our Portland home (ground zero). We kept a strict quarantine on the house. Avoided sending out orders during infection time. This essentially shut down operations for several weeks. It wasn’t until about 3 weeks past and we were testing negative that we could start things up again.

I really thought I’d be able to “work through it” during that time but I was greatly mistaken. All the usual symptoms, fog, fever for days, aches and pains, congestion, loss of smell and taste. But the worst was the cough for which I am just now getting over. It’s been a few months now. During the most violent part of the cough I herniated myself and I may be looking at surgery to fix that. Trying to cough in such a way that Im not hurting myself more has been trying. Wood working also not easy on the edge of coughing fits. Else I’d say I got out of it unscathed as far as I know.

Ugh, Website: It’s been a pain. There has been massive lag thus preventing updates. Endless spinning curser. It just wouldn’t work. Part of the reason the last blog update was in February. I’ve had a few friends look at it and tried to enable some suggesting but it was a hit or miss. With the latest updates to WP and the plugins I seem to have access again. I don’t have hours to sit down and stare blankly at a screen. So I get frustrated and do something else.

Instagram: I don’t even recognize it anymore. I let myself stop feeling obligated to post constantly. It’s been nice. We’ve had plenty of foot traffic so lot of promotion hasn’t been necessary. Still I’d like to share more but every time I go to post I get distracted by the dang reels. Lots of content from people I don’t follow. I miss the old instagram. If I want TikTok I’ll use TikTok.

Jekyll n Hydes: I’m finishing the last of them now for people that got their orders in. I look forward to creating a new dual box with something new and exciting. Perhaps designing it with a little less wiring. Honestly when I started back in 2011 I thought of this as a way to supplement my income by noodling on the weekends and during my off time. Mass production wasn’t considered and simplifying the process wasn’t high on the list. Now it’s essential. I hate having to ask people to wait while we finish orders. I look forward to taking all the knowledge and skills I’ve gained over the years to create a more easily assembled monster.

EFC Studios: They are coming I promise. We’ve got many orders sitting in the cue. These require quite a bit of work to make happen. Each one is going to take several days of work to complete. If I had the luxury of just focusing on them without having to source parts, answer e mails or package up orders, send out invoices or battle with the website I’d get through them a lot faster. 🙂

At first the balanced driver/xlr chips were backordered indefinitely and we couldn’t get them. When a majority of EFC Studio orders started coming in I was still working by myself doing covid lockdowns. Chips came in and that was wonderful news but then other parts were lacking. As I’ve been able to add other RMLfx people back in the mix we are slowly catching up. It’s taken a lot of time to clear through the backlogs. So soon!

Supply Chain: Everything is getting more expensive. Wood is now twice what it used to cost. I can’t get European Beech right now. Powder coating also a huge increase. Some of the usual stuff I still can’t get. A lot of knobs still are not available. In order to keep things moving I reserve the right to substitute what ever needed at the time. I do get requests for “black knobs only”. I’d love to be able to accommodate that but if I don’t have them then I don’t have them.

I’ve been trying hard not to increase the costs but its hard. It’s something everyone is dealing with across many different parts of the current economy.

Dual EFCcv Combo Boxes: Haven’t really been pushing these much since we have been low on panels. Good news is I’ve just had a major restock of panels done. They are currently with our power coater. I may have some nuclear winter white ones available soon, but for now I’ve said too much on that. 😉

The year hasn’t been all that bad. Myself and Mrs_RML did get to go on some trips to eastern Oregon and Hawaii. Here is a tranquil moment from the Big Island.

Feb 2022

End of the line for Jekyll n Hyde boxes:

Greetings, I will be ending production on the Jekyll n Hyde boxes this month. It’s been a difficult decision. The issue is vintage meters. It’s getting harder and harder to get quality pieces at good prices lately. Combine that with the fact that we never know if they will work until we have them in hand. So if someone is asking $$$ for one, I order it and it doesn’t work, I’m out that investment. I would say about 40% of them are workable or reparable. It starts to add up and it slows down production. Cracked glass, corrosion, unacceptable meter movements and frozen parts are all disappointing and add to the daily stress of filling orders. Ultimately I don’t want to send anything out the door that isn’t perfect.

If in the future I come across acceptable meter stock I may consider making a small run but I will no longer be taking special orders for them.

Final thoughts: I love the Jekyll n Hyde boxes and they are very special to me. I’m very proud of them and have a feeling they will outlive me. Congratulations if you have one or have one currently on order. I’ve sent them all over the world and to many established musicians. I am incredibly grateful they have been so well received.

The Serpa Custom will also be available until the end of February 2022. I’ve been able to use a wider variety of meters for those but ultimately it still comes down to the same meter issue.

New Hyde Distortion Filter Retro:

In other news we will be focusing on the new version of the Retro Hyde Distortion filter with a modern illuminated meter. While these meters are also expensive I know they work every time and the circuit components need not be modified or adjusted per unit. It will be nice to have them standardized. Ultimately this speeds up production and may allow me to work on some new designs. The illuminated meters are sexy AF. The Retro version of the Hyde Distortion Filter has the 1/4″ in/outs on the back and 1/8th cv jacks on the front (top) panel. It’s the big brother to the euro pedal version. The panels will be laser cut and laser etched. Photos soon. Pricing to be announced.

JUNE: 2021:

We had our first long time team member back after a year long absence brought on by lockdowns and safety concerns. Our next team member will be back soon. All this made possible by vaccines. I am feeling extremely privileged. I know many parts of the world are still under serviced when it comes to vaccinations. I am grateful myself, my wife and team members have had access. Let’s hope this does the trick. 

I look forward to getting back to doing the heavy lifting more frequently. Wood working, metal work, PCB designs, ordering parts and taking care of e mails. All the fun stuff. It will still take a little time to get fully up to speed but it’s a start. It’s been challenging to say the least.

We have new panels for EFCcv and GPI eurorack modules coming in any day now. I am phasing out the PCB panels for the GPI (Guitar Pedal Interface) modules and will only be offering the aluminum panel version. It’s closer to my quality standards. There will still be “B-Stock” PCBs available for a little while. Those panels have minor scratches or irregularities.

There are still parts shortages. Thats been a little difficult. Nothing too critical yet. 

I’m extremely backordered on EFC Studio racks. So I will not be taking any orders for those until I get caught up. Now that I have help at the shop I hope to start tackling those soon.

I still need to find a source for the new Utility box enclosure. I get frustrated looking for parts. That activity can take up a lot of time. While Im doing that sort of thing I am not doing the other work that needs to be done. So I default back to filling orders. 🙂

My Obliterations twitter was hacked. I still haven’t got control over it. I got a warning about an attempted log in from a foreign location and that I should change my password immediately. I thought to myself. “Its late, I’ll do that tomorrow”. Well someone got in and changed the reset email. So if I request a password reset it goes to someone else.

Last I checked the twitter account was suspended for violation of twitters rules. I have no idea what happened there or if twitter has just locked it while they work things out? To be honest twitter is not high on my priority list. I haven’t been pestering them that much. 

Thats about it for now. Stay safe out there- Jonathan

FEB: 2021:

Nobody is sick (so far) Both myself and Mrs RML remain in our 2 person bubble with our two cats.

Seems like not a lot has changed since the last update. Still working alone and juggling everything myself like a bear on a unicycle. I desperately would to have our crew back so I can expand on a lot of long running projects that I just haven’t had time to address. 

I am getting through orders as quickly as possible. Though part of me feels like if I could get sick at any time and end up in the hospital, stressing myself out would be a crappy way to spend the last few months of my life. So I’m trying to keep limits on how much stress I hit myself with. Things will continue to move at a slower rate until we can get the general admission vaccinations going. 

I miss having time to create music and video. Even if it’s just on instagram. I’ve backed off the platform a little bit. Frustrated with the throttling. We were growing exponentially and and then hit a “pay to play” algorithm thats capped us in the 12k range. I’ve done some sponsored adds but it always seems like organic growth is the best. I know the platform is a business to make Facebook money. It’s a fact of life. I do wish they would throw the old advertising models out and just let small businesses pay a monthly subscription. 

This last month we had an update of the Utility Box. It’s  not  yet officially  available. I still  need  to  source  some  enclosures.

One of our customers had requested each of the buffers have an adjustable gain. The gain pushes the 1:1 buffer circuit into full distortion. That required a PCB redesign. So this will replace the previous version with just one adjustable buffer. I admit this is a very niche pedal. The idea was to send a clone of yourself to an additional amp. It’s a 1 in and 4 out buffer pedal. No bypass. You ether turn the output on or off. 

Imagine if you will… your on stage playing with your band. You have your regular amp with you. It’s your clean tone that you use to play most of your music. When the chorus kicks in you hit channel two that sends your signal to a 2nd amp with full distortion. The crowd goes wild. They have never heard such a huge sound coming from one person. Because the amp is a different manufacture with different specks its going to have a doubling effect. This works with bass too. Clean bass, hit channel two for a distortion without losing your bass low end.

You can even send a third channel as a DI. So even if your just doing studio work it gives you some pretty cool options.

 

We also did an update on our 432k rev2 and made the “432k Levy2” double pedal.

David Levy is working on the next Doom sound track and had requested this. I happened to have a panel large enough and a box that I had set aside for a personal project and it worked out very well. BUT…. had to hand drill all those holes and my OCD wont let me do that haphazardly. It gets to the point that anything slightly off even by a small mm drives me nuts. I think for this to be a regularly available item Im gonna have to have some panels laser cut. I’ll likely be doing that soon. 

Johnathan-

Oct. 2020:

Hey everyone. Nobody is sick. This is just an update on whats going on in our little closed loop. Been extremely worried about catching covid. Not just a little, like a fuck lot. So I am fortunate enough to be able to work from home in the shop alone. My usual crew of people that have worked with RMLfx for years now is now off doing their own things to survive.

As I mentioned before the RMLfx shop is in our home. I have a full basement shop the size of our house. Its wonderful. I do the wood working, the building, the shipping all from here. Also a music studio set up where I test all the pedals and product that goes out the door.

To rent that kind of space separately at a different location would cost $$$. The down side, this is a closed environment, Not a lot of air flow, one bathroom, and the break room is our kitchen. I had people on in the beginning of the pandemic and I couldn’t handle it. I tried, but the paranoia of the virus had me following them around with cans of lysol. I can vouch for our limited exposure with the world, but with employees drilling them about how many people they see and what they are doing in their personal life just didn’t feel right.

So I’m working alone. That means every time I need to build a pedal I’m not able to simultaneously do the wood working, or shipping. Flip that around in any order and its the same. Things are taking extra long to get done.

So be warned. We are still taking orders. I’m working my butt off to get you those orders. Its just gonna take time. Hopefully I’ll get sick and not die. Then for a short time I can feel safe and immune and can be around others. Maybe a vaccine soon? Then I can get my crew back. And we all can get back to the way life was.

-Johnathan