I did as I said would. 2024 NAMM went great. Everybody loved the Super-Freq as well as all of our other offerings. We made a small of batch of Super-Freq and they sold out quickly.
I was happy to deprecate the product and shifted to complete the Multi-Filter which would become the Multi-Tron. It is a stereo version the original Mutron III state variable filter circuit with foot actuation, envelope actuation and DCO sample and hold filter. Has the BI-Phase routing and is very flexible and fun to play.
Then all the race horses started showing up on the forums. And just as I had expected, they put out their own mono version of the Super-Freq as they had INTENDED to do all along. That moment. when you realize somebody was LYING to you the whole time just to manipulate you into doing something. I did notice the 9V DC on the case which means they pretty much STOLE our power supply design to make it work, or some variation thereof.
Well when I saw they had done that I said all bets are off and I will put the Super-Freq back in production. And just for low hanging fruit I decided to make a mono version called the Mini-Freq in our $279 product tier. I’m certain they will corner the dead head market with their $795 as they continue to trash talk me on their elite forum of which I am blocked and not allowed to comment or defend myself. I am just trying to build useful tools for musicians that never existed before.. It has always been about the music for me. And all of my true musician and industry friends know that!
I think this pedal will be great and plenty of our non-dead head fans are excited. We will see where our loyalty lies. It is very difficult at this point as these people have been bashing me and Musitronics on forums, to venues, bands, and even my friends. It really hit me hard when a long-time luthier friend cancelled orders on products because he believed in what they had to say. He didn’t want to, but he had gotten into bed with them and sort of had to. It was a break he was waiting for. Subsequently, he called up, apologized and made a small order. It made me wonder what was the extend of this damage which was pre-meditated , threatened and executed.
And if that was not enough, I went to a celebration of life Jam for an old friend and dead head photographer in Venice, and some of the top musicians of LA dead scene whom I have know for over 30 years all made remarks of how I have been bashed and accused of stealing, etc. They all told me how they knew my passion for music and pedals and being part of that scene for so many years and that they stood behind me. That made me feel a lot worse as the extend of damage was even greater (as promised).
With all that said, I was compelled to complete this documentation of what really went down. As I began doing this I came across the following:
So it seems that Alembic is in the game as well. I noticed the 9VDC here as well, so I wonder if they shared notes on this. Or was there fallout between the parties? I’m glad Alembic decided to rightfully do their own version. I hope to speak with someone there soon about what went down. I hope I get a straight answer.
After speaking with colleagues regarding this topic, I found out of yet another company from Canada producing such a device.
It’s once again pretty much the same features as the Alembic version. I’ve heard Broughton does good work and at $185, they should do pretty well. The question is if consumers see this an ethical product. It is pretty much direct copy of the Alembic filter and they use the same labels as for the functions as Alembic. They used the generic, scientific, electronics text book name of “State Variable Filter”, which they may not be able to trademark for that very reason. Also, not sure what the tariffs against Canada may do to such an item.
I hope that whomever reads this will be able to form their own conclusions. These are just the facts that I have struggled to put into a chronological timeline to support my side of the story. I really wish I had recorded some of the phone conversations as those were even more telling. And I will NEVER do anything outside of a contract again!
UPDATE: 02/13/2025 – I was able to make contact with someone at Alembic. We had a great conversation and they cleared up a few things. The schematics sent to me by Mr. X did not come from them and that he had no right to send them to me to do such a project. Rick Turner was no longer a part of Alembic since 1978, and non of his children ever worked there either. Also, that the filters in the Mission Control bass were NOT the SF2 SuperFilter, but instead an entirely different filter designed by George Mundy. However, I found out that when the Bass guitar was sold it was stuffed with the guts an of an actual rackmount SF-2 Super Filter. I had also read somewhere that Mr. Wickersham did not want to double down on development/support so that putting the SF2 PCB from the rack mount inside the bass. From a manufacturing standpoint this sure makes sense to productize the secret sauce.
UPDATE: 02/14/2025 – I was contacted by The Grateful Guitars Foundation and they told me that there had been no mention of me being involved with the Mission Control. They had some of the replicas that they have been gifting to various musicians. They stated that had they known of my involvement, they would have had me at the show as a VIP and that my trip would have been paid for. Well, based on the timeline Mr. X was still part of The Grateful Guitars Foundation……..He was on the board of Directors at this time! This is a guy who likes to talk a lot. It’s hard for me to beleive that he WAS on the board of directors and they did not know.
UPDATE: 02/24/2025 – I was contacted by The Grateful Guitars Foundation once again and had a long telephone conversation with the primary director. He apologized for the situation and again reiterated the distancing of the organization and Mr. X subsequent to his involvement with the foundation. They did not know of the situation as he had been allowed to “run with the ball”. They had been put into an equally awkward predicament dealing with the Mission Control replica instruments.