Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
4 of a Kind - Iconic Pedal Pouches
Key Points
Prompted by arrivals of first two Asheville Music Tools pedals and a Pedal Pawn Freaky Fuzz, this post spotlights iconic pedal pouches—inner protective drawstring bags typically canvas, cotton or hemp—evaluated by aesthetics, finish and impact.
Asheville Music Tools: deep green velour/velvet drawstring bag with white embroidered logo.
Foxpedal: dark grey coarse wool flannel pouch with snap closure and embossed russet-red logo.
Pedal Pawn: faux leatherette black drawstring bag with crisp white printed logo.
Spaceman Effects: silver metallic holographic sheen drawstring bag with black semi-debossed printed logo.
Foxpedal is gone; Spaceman no longer uses the higher-quality bags and produced three versions.
As part of a pedal’s packaging you typically get an inner protective pouch / drawstring bag - usually made of canvas, cotton or hemp, but also in a variety of more exotic materials and fabrics. A lot of those are unbranded, but a fair amount of them have logos stamped, embossed, printed, appliquéd or embroidered even.
This post was prompted by 2 fairly recent arrivals - my first 2 Asheville Music Tools pedals, and my first Pedal Pawn pedal. I had actually first thought about doing such an article when I saw the initial Asheville deep green velour / velvet bag with embroidered details. That was then cemented by the arrival of my Pedal Pawn Freaky Fuzz - which arrived in a somewhat special interests faux leatherette design.
I then got to thinking I should probably do a ’4 of a Kind’ of the most iconic pedal pouches - where the very first thought that came to mind was Spaceman Effects - who’ve ruined their legacy a little by currently going with a cheaper shinier unbranded bag. The original Spaceman Effects bag / pouch was real quality - the fabric had a vintage and holographic sheen to it - and the printed-on Spaceman design looked fantastic - with its kind of semi-debossed imprint - likely a side-effect of the printing / stamping process!
I struggled for the 4th choice for a while - I turned out all my drawers and hidey-holes - until I came across an old Foxpedal snap closure pouch made from a coarse wool flannel and with an embossed / applied logo in dark red / russet red even possibly.
Here then are my 4 champions - in alphabetical order :
- Asheville Music Tools deep green velour / velvet drawstring bag with white embroidered logo
- Foxpedal dark grey coarse wool flannel pouch with snap closure and embossed logo in dark / russet red
- Pedal Pawn faux leather black drawstring bag / pouch with a crisp white printed logo
- Spaceman Effects silver metallic holographic sheen drawstring bag with black semi-debossed printed logo
There's not much more to be said here - this is obviously a mix of aesthetics, quality of finish, and overall impact!
I'm sure there are further examples - fitting of this accolade - let me know which pedal pouches you feel are iconic and should be added to this list.
Alas Foxpedal is no longer with us, and Spaceman Effects is no longer using those higher quality bags (they haven't for several years now) - they should bring them back! Actually there's been at least 3 versions of the Spaceman bag - the earliest highest quality original one (as pictured), a shinier fabric version with a worse quality of print, and the current worst of all larger shiny bag with no markings! A gradual diminishing returns spiral!
www.ashevillemusictools.com
www.instagram.com/foxpedals/
pedalpawn.com
spacemaneffects.com
