People Behind The Pedals
Interview with Luis Etscheid
In the latest instalment our ‘People Behind The Pedals’ blog series, we chat to Luis at Mantic Conceptual about the early days at Mantic and the new Pendulum
How was Mantic Conceptual born – what’s the concept!
After years of circuit bending, taking things apart, modding and repairing pedals, we decided to start selling them per suggestion of our band’s producer at the time, Ikey Owens.
How many people are in the Mantic team?
Caleb Henning and I are the only full-timers/owners.
Gosia Stacha does design, photography and packaging from time to time.
Our man LJ also helps out as needed if he’s not on the road doing tech work for Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats.
What was the first pedal you ever built?
Ampeg Scrambler Clone.
It didn’t work!
When it comes to developing new pedals, where do you draw inspiration from?
It’s tough to say, really.
Probably from many places consciously and not.
Many of our ideas seem to start out of curiosity as an answer to a “What if…?”
What makes your pedals different from other brands / similar models?
Depends on the product.
We only release things that we feel represent us as artists and genuinely contributes something that the market lacks.
What makes your pedals different from other brands / similar models?
I’m not current on the world of pedals or fashions of players so I can’t speak of how others do it.
My recipe is great sounding guitar > great sounding pedal ((s) but not too many) > great sounding amp. That’s the classic recipe.
I build to that end.
Can you talk us through the creative design / branding process of each product? Do you come up with the visual ideas yourself, or do you work with third-party illustrators?
It’s changed over time.
In the early days we would bust out a proof of concept of sorts and then design a circuit layout around that.
Caleb and I usually work closely defining the possibilities and limitations that a proposed hardware/interface design presents, as well as considerations on the manufacturing front.
Going from there, Gosia Stacha has been doing a great job with the graphic design work, many times interpreting fairly esoteric and abstract frameworks from with which I’ll suggest her to work in.
What have been your biggest learnings in pedal production, and business in general, to date?
A couple things come to my mind. First off, the learning never stops!
New challenges are constantly arising as the landscape in which we operate is ever changing. It can be frustrating but also very exciting and rewarding.
Leading to my second thought:
Often times, successes or failures hinge on things that are simply beyond one’s control. Learning to accept that, even embrace it, is perhaps the most important and difficult thing, to me.
What’s in the pipeline for Mantic Conceptual?
Caleb has started working on a couple digital things that we’re excited about. That’s all I can really say at this time…
What are your hopes for the future – more pedal designs?
Definitely more pedal designs but not necessarily limited to that.
What is your Mantic Conceptual career highlight to date - ‘pinch me’ moment?
Hearing Jack White use the Flex prototype during in a rainstorm at a sold-out Red Rocks back in 2014 is probably at the top.
Just how serendipitously that whole circumstance came together and how incredible it sounded.
It was a validating and invigorating experience and it felt like, “okay, yeah, we are definitely supposed to be doing this”.
Photo: jackwhiteiii.com : David James Swanson
Personal favourite of all your pedals?
Right now, the Pendulum.
It’s a very unique pedal and I love how it encourages people to think a bit differently about how they use/integrate their effects.
It’s our first digital pedal so I’m really proud of all the new things we learned and all the work we did to make it a reality.
Excluding your own brand, what’s the one pedal you wish you had created yourself, any why?
Probably the Digitech Whammy. It’s so ubiquitous because it’s a very fun, expressive pedal that can do everything from wild, experimental sounds to straightforward and subtle.
What’s the guitar riff/song you immediately play when picking up a guitar?
I can’t say there is one, I usually just noodle about.
Many Thanks Luis! – can’t wait to find out more about the new digital products
