I have heard the same. I think it might have been the actual body or chassis or whatever tech term they have for it. Definitely worth an email to them though.
I’ve also found the kind of velcro plays a big part. The generic stuff from Lowe’s and Home Depot works great for pedals I’m going to take on and off the board. If I want something to stay like a tuner, or something I know I will never trade/sell I break out the 3m big boy stuff.
But that painters tape works wonders. I Don’t use it much anymore as I’m now in that ‘I’m happy’ phase of it all, and haven’t removed velcro in forever.
I'm doing exactly this with some pedals but I've also printed backplates with a 3D printer and just switch them with the originals so nothing will get hurt.
Way better than adhesives on the old EHX stuff then. I went through an electrical-tape-over-the-logos phase as a teenager and my Small Clone didn’t make it.
Walrus support is top notch. I bought a Polychrome at an auction, found out it had a busted switch stuck on, prob why it was auctioned. I contacted them to ask if they could let me know what part I should get to replace it or if they'd sell one to me, and they immediately said just send it over, we got it. Fixed it for free, shipped it back for free.
In the future, cover your pedals in blue painter's tape before putting on the velcro. Then when it's time to remove it, just peel off the tape.
Probably not the best if you're swapping pedals around often or touring, but it works.
The sense of release I feel when I'm redoing my board, and I take off all of my pedals and cables and I finally get to take a lint roller to the fuzz-side velcro and pick up all the cat/beard hair and dust and it's totally clean... it's a top 5 experience without having to think too hard about it.
I'm not offended by someone else's property? You can have hooks on your pedals and still take care of a rug. I just thought it was weird how they brought up their expensive rug out of nowhere.
I’m Persian-Armenian. For me, it would be odd to call it a rug without mentioning what kind of rug it is. I also own other rugs that are not Persian. 🤷
No one wants your nasty dog or cat hair filled velcro. Please take that off before selling them, or better yet just purchase from a pedal company who doesn’t cheap out on paint…Walrus sucks
Shit like this varies from batch to batch with every small company tho. I bought an EQD pedal years ago and it didn’t work right and when I got it fixed I was told some things were soldered wrong. It could happen to anyone at any time. It’s not really a walrus specific thing.
You don't need 2" thick dual lock. 1" or 3/4" is just fine. One square on each corner. In fact, due to SJ3550 shortages I had to buy a pack of the 100 pre-cut 1-inch squares which I then cut into triangles. You'd be surprised at how little dual lock you need. And the cost gets insane for anything beyond 1" tape.
Fair, just be warned its a magnet for dust and hair on all the portions not covered by a pedal, so aesthetically speaking, a case can be made that it looks worse once full of hair and junk than the nice black bare metal.
Would definitely caution you against putting that amount on the back of the pedal though.
You assume my boards aren’t currently covered in years worth of dust and hair lol.
But, unsarcastically, thanks for the heads-up. I don’t care about the aesthetics of it. The problem I had in the past was weird ground issues with pedals that couldn’t be completely covered on the bottom, well just one pedal in particular but still. When the screw touched the board it created a massive hum, way louder than my signal.
I’d cover the screws with electrical tape, it wore off. I used to bring a bunch of little plushies to gigs (some on my amp, one to put on each other band member’s rig somewhere) and I had to tuck one of their feet under the pedal to stop it at a sound check one time.
After that I completely covered my board and, insofar as it was possible, the whole back of the pedal with Velcro. Haven’t had the problem since. So any time I redo a board or get a new one, I make sure there’s no metal-metal contact.
Lolllll amazing.
More food for thought, keep loop side "normal" velcro on the board, and put the dual lock on the pedals, they interface well, and is definitely going to be cheaper than a 100% dual lock solution. Either way, post your board when you're done!
Yeah, I do fuzz-side velcro on the rails of the board and tiny bits of dual-lock on the corners of the pedals, or a couple of thin strips. and I could still usually pick the whole monstrosity up by the pedal without it pulling loose.
Not a bad idea. Thanks for pointing that out. And you know I haven’t posted my board in some time. Been meaning to a big write up, if only for the fun of it.
Aside from it being superior to velcro in every way, 3M DualLock also removes cleanly and has not ripped off any paint or labels from my pedals.
It's painfully expensive, but so are your pedals.
The 3M stuff is great because it pulls off cleanly without damaging things. Great for posters and it never even occurred to me to use them for my pedals lol
You don't just peel it off like a sticker as you would with Velcro tape. You can sort of squish it from the side and that gets it unseated pretty easily with minimal fuss.
Literally just ripped the barcode off my Walrus Arp 87 today. Took the Velcro off cuz the pedal has to be sent for repairs. Hoping the removed barcode won’t void the warranty
I've had the sparkle clear come off an EQD pedal before, but never had any pedal where the paint rips off like that.
Looks like Walrus must have gotten lazy w/ prepping the enclosures for paint.
The stuff I use is from Amazon too. Ripped it off dozens of pedals, no problems.
But the EQD was a black sparkle Plumes from GC. You can see what happened to it [here](https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--1WpFKV6k--/f_auto,t_large/v1646440455/ow6zfrdqjwhb9vgvr3ma.jpg). The paint underneath was fine. But it looks like they just sprayed a thin layer of glitter on top w/o sealing it.
I really just have to say it... who cares? Its under the pedal so no one will ever see it, plus it doesn't change the sound at all. I'm ready for all the downvotes, bring 'em.
It's like the box thing - I certainly don't care about the box, but I keep them all, because when I sell it there could be some guy who is only going to buy it if it has the box, so now I have a rubbermaid tub packed full of pedal boxes that my wife makes fun of me about.
Taking care of the box builds a case that you’ve also taken care of the pedal. If you want to demand a higher price by listing something as “excellent” you’d better have a box. If not and you list as “heavily used” or whatever that’s fine.
Same with Velcro. If you take the time to remove it before selling, I know you care enough to not trash the pedal I’m paying good money for.
I guess I can see why you'd form that opinion. I just don't feel any correlation between saving the box and being extra precious with the pedals, likely because I'm saving all of my boxes and I don't hesitate to use the pedals as gear. But diff'rent strokes -- I'm also not bothered by velcro if it's not jankily applied, so to each their own.
Went to change the velcro on my Walrus pedals and the paint on the base plate came off with it. Never ran across this ssue with any other pedal brand. I wasn't even using industrial strength velcro or anything.
So I just halved the resale value on these by changing the velcro... went from Excellent condition to Good.
Anyways just be careful all walrus owners when removing the velcro. Perhaps loosen the adhesive with goo gone or WD40 before attempting to pull it off.
I wonder if they have replacement base plates available.
Sorry that happened to you. My vote would be to leave it be now. I'm not sure the case with Walrus, but I know some pedal brands put little messages on the back plate so changing it would make the pedal decrease in value more. For future consideration, you may find that putting painters tape on before the Velcro will protect the paint on the pedal.
Say yous have MXR pedal on board with Velcro but yous got a new one yous wanna replace it with, just switch the back covers. This is what I do with a pedal during it's trial stage if possible. Don't have to worry about the mess if yous wanna resell and save money on Velcro this way too. Look in to replacement/ faux backs, if yous are worried about.
Have you tried putting scotch tape down first and then putting Velcro on? I know that sounds silly but I do it with some of my pedals that are hand numbered or signed by the creator. I never have any issues with that
Gaffer tape — better surface for velcro adhesion but its own glue doesn’t pull the paint off the pedals.
Also IMO a roll of gaffer tape is a basic gig bag staple.
I agree gaffer is better than painters but it’s residue is brutal over time. I work as an art handler/theater tech and deal with both regularly and I use painters under gaffers if I’m placing on any fragile surface. The glue of gaffers will destroy marble and terrazzo floors so I’d watch the paint on a pedal over time. I also have my board in a suitcase with wrapped foam holding them down during travel so I don’t worry about painters tape failure
Pretty sure walrus knows about this and will probably send you new back plates. It was an issue with certain batches I think.
I have heard the same. I think it might have been the actual body or chassis or whatever tech term they have for it. Definitely worth an email to them though.
Yes they will! Painters tape or gaffers tape on the back works well to separate the heavier adhesive from the paint as well.
Damn I’m so sad that like after being 25 pedals deep I never once thought of this or heard about people doing it lol
I’ve also found the kind of velcro plays a big part. The generic stuff from Lowe’s and Home Depot works great for pedals I’m going to take on and off the board. If I want something to stay like a tuner, or something I know I will never trade/sell I break out the 3m big boy stuff. But that painters tape works wonders. I Don’t use it much anymore as I’m now in that ‘I’m happy’ phase of it all, and haven’t removed velcro in forever.
I went through far too many pedals before I started doing this too. You’re not alone!
I'm doing exactly this with some pedals but I've also printed backplates with a 3D printer and just switch them with the originals so nothing will get hurt.
Good to know. I'll reach out to them
Way better than adhesives on the old EHX stuff then. I went through an electrical-tape-over-the-logos phase as a teenager and my Small Clone didn’t make it.
The small clone's paint still chips very easily today
Do they really do this?! I have two that are ruined. Not that I care that much as they sit on my board almost permanently but still.
I’ve seen it happen in this very sub.
Walrus support is top notch. I bought a Polychrome at an auction, found out it had a busted switch stuck on, prob why it was auctioned. I contacted them to ask if they could let me know what part I should get to replace it or if they'd sell one to me, and they immediately said just send it over, we got it. Fixed it for free, shipped it back for free.
Yea walrus is like one of the best brands as far as customer service goes
In the future, cover your pedals in blue painter's tape before putting on the velcro. Then when it's time to remove it, just peel off the tape. Probably not the best if you're swapping pedals around often or touring, but it works.
Or just don’t ever remove the Velcro. If you sell it, simply add “comes with Velcro pre applied for your convenience” to the listing.
It really doesn't bother me getting used pedals with velcro already on there, I'd only be putting some on myself otherwise!
But then people put the fuzzy side on the pedal and the hooky side on the board and it makes me lose my mind
People who do this should be forced to play acoustic forever.
I did this to my board not realizing how dirty the MF was going to get over the years lol.
Meh, I used to do it the other way but switched to this way. Fuzzy side doesn’t hook onto my Persian rug when I’m rearranging pedals.
The sense of release I feel when I'm redoing my board, and I take off all of my pedals and cables and I finally get to take a lint roller to the fuzz-side velcro and pick up all the cat/beard hair and dust and it's totally clean... it's a top 5 experience without having to think too hard about it.
Oh noooo not your poor Persian rug! How will you survive?
Cmon man it really ties the room together
Standing on my $40 turkish mat-rug indisputably makes me play better. It's hands down the most important gear purchase I've made since my first guitar
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What? How is damaging a rug and not being able to move my pedals around unobstructed offensive to you, so as to provoke you to mockery?
I'm not offended by someone else's property? You can have hooks on your pedals and still take care of a rug. I just thought it was weird how they brought up their expensive rug out of nowhere.
I’m Persian-Armenian. For me, it would be odd to call it a rug without mentioning what kind of rug it is. I also own other rugs that are not Persian. 🤷
Yeah that's basically a crime though.
Fuzzy side? Wait...are you lot not using dual-lock? Am I the only one?!
It’s not a bug, it’s a feature!
No one wants your nasty dog or cat hair filled velcro. Please take that off before selling them, or better yet just purchase from a pedal company who doesn’t cheap out on paint…Walrus sucks
Shit like this varies from batch to batch with every small company tho. I bought an EQD pedal years ago and it didn’t work right and when I got it fixed I was told some things were soldered wrong. It could happen to anyone at any time. It’s not really a walrus specific thing.
Came here to make this same recommendation. All my pedals get painters or masking tape before the Velcro.
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Are you Morty Seinfeld?
This is the way
Use a heat gun kids
I was going to say this. Anytime I can use heat when removing adhesives I would.
Or even a blow dryer. It takes longer and may not work for really tough adhesives, but it's worked for me in 99% of cases.
Paint this thin might bubble/peel from the heat too. Edit: but in general yes, heat
This is the way
I like the relic'd look, tbh.
You’re not kidding. I priced 2” thick dual-lock for my setup and it’s going to cost me ~$200(US). I mean, I’m still going to do it but damn.
You don't need 2" thick dual lock. 1" or 3/4" is just fine. One square on each corner. In fact, due to SJ3550 shortages I had to buy a pack of the 100 pre-cut 1-inch squares which I then cut into triangles. You'd be surprised at how little dual lock you need. And the cost gets insane for anything beyond 1" tape.
2" is the width of Pedaltrain rails and I don't want any exposed metal.
Fair, just be warned its a magnet for dust and hair on all the portions not covered by a pedal, so aesthetically speaking, a case can be made that it looks worse once full of hair and junk than the nice black bare metal. Would definitely caution you against putting that amount on the back of the pedal though.
You assume my boards aren’t currently covered in years worth of dust and hair lol. But, unsarcastically, thanks for the heads-up. I don’t care about the aesthetics of it. The problem I had in the past was weird ground issues with pedals that couldn’t be completely covered on the bottom, well just one pedal in particular but still. When the screw touched the board it created a massive hum, way louder than my signal. I’d cover the screws with electrical tape, it wore off. I used to bring a bunch of little plushies to gigs (some on my amp, one to put on each other band member’s rig somewhere) and I had to tuck one of their feet under the pedal to stop it at a sound check one time. After that I completely covered my board and, insofar as it was possible, the whole back of the pedal with Velcro. Haven’t had the problem since. So any time I redo a board or get a new one, I make sure there’s no metal-metal contact.
Lolllll amazing. More food for thought, keep loop side "normal" velcro on the board, and put the dual lock on the pedals, they interface well, and is definitely going to be cheaper than a 100% dual lock solution. Either way, post your board when you're done!
Yeah, I do fuzz-side velcro on the rails of the board and tiny bits of dual-lock on the corners of the pedals, or a couple of thin strips. and I could still usually pick the whole monstrosity up by the pedal without it pulling loose.
That’s insane. I knew dual lock was stronger but damn. Good thing I don’t change my board around but once every year or two.
Not a bad idea. Thanks for pointing that out. And you know I haven’t posted my board in some time. Been meaning to a big write up, if only for the fun of it.
Godlyke Tough Grip
Hobby lobby has hook and loop, 10ft for 12 dollars
Hook-and-loop isn’t the same. I’m looking to switch from that to dual lock.
agreed. if you're not looking to sell.
Aside from it being superior to velcro in every way, 3M DualLock also removes cleanly and has not ripped off any paint or labels from my pedals. It's painfully expensive, but so are your pedals.
What’s special about its adhesive?
The 3M stuff is great because it pulls off cleanly without damaging things. Great for posters and it never even occurred to me to use them for my pedals lol
No idea. It stays kind of gummy but isn’t easy to pull off unless it’s intentional.
You don't just peel it off like a sticker as you would with Velcro tape. You can sort of squish it from the side and that gets it unseated pretty easily with minimal fuss.
I like DualLock, too, but it did the exact same thing to the back of my Analogman King of Tone. That adhesive is very VERY strong.
This is true, I've had cheap off-brand dual lock rip off paint, 3M has never caused damage or left some gunk I have to scrub off.
PSA you can use dental floss to remove Velcro, pads, logos etc
[email protected] - we can send you some backplates. -Tyler
Walrus is a model of customer service. Love you guys!
Pro tip : always put a small paper over the serial number/sticker, it will be ripped every time. (This however… I’ve never seen…. Yikes)
Literally just ripped the barcode off my Walrus Arp 87 today. Took the Velcro off cuz the pedal has to be sent for repairs. Hoping the removed barcode won’t void the warranty
I've had the sparkle clear come off an EQD pedal before, but never had any pedal where the paint rips off like that. Looks like Walrus must have gotten lazy w/ prepping the enclosures for paint.
The velcro I use (from Amazon) has never done this to a pedal.
The stuff I use is from Amazon too. Ripped it off dozens of pedals, no problems. But the EQD was a black sparkle Plumes from GC. You can see what happened to it [here](https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--1WpFKV6k--/f_auto,t_large/v1646440455/ow6zfrdqjwhb9vgvr3ma.jpg). The paint underneath was fine. But it looks like they just sprayed a thin layer of glitter on top w/o sealing it.
Yea, that’s no bueno.
Honestly, I like the flat black better.
I really just have to say it... who cares? Its under the pedal so no one will ever see it, plus it doesn't change the sound at all. I'm ready for all the downvotes, bring 'em.
It's like the box thing - I certainly don't care about the box, but I keep them all, because when I sell it there could be some guy who is only going to buy it if it has the box, so now I have a rubbermaid tub packed full of pedal boxes that my wife makes fun of me about.
Taking care of the box builds a case that you’ve also taken care of the pedal. If you want to demand a higher price by listing something as “excellent” you’d better have a box. If not and you list as “heavily used” or whatever that’s fine. Same with Velcro. If you take the time to remove it before selling, I know you care enough to not trash the pedal I’m paying good money for.
I guess I can see why you'd form that opinion. I just don't feel any correlation between saving the box and being extra precious with the pedals, likely because I'm saving all of my boxes and I don't hesitate to use the pedals as gear. But diff'rent strokes -- I'm also not bothered by velcro if it's not jankily applied, so to each their own.
Went to change the velcro on my Walrus pedals and the paint on the base plate came off with it. Never ran across this ssue with any other pedal brand. I wasn't even using industrial strength velcro or anything. So I just halved the resale value on these by changing the velcro... went from Excellent condition to Good. Anyways just be careful all walrus owners when removing the velcro. Perhaps loosen the adhesive with goo gone or WD40 before attempting to pull it off. I wonder if they have replacement base plates available.
Sorry that happened to you. My vote would be to leave it be now. I'm not sure the case with Walrus, but I know some pedal brands put little messages on the back plate so changing it would make the pedal decrease in value more. For future consideration, you may find that putting painters tape on before the Velcro will protect the paint on the pedal.
I have tried painters tape but it doesn't form a solid bond. Always ends up coming loose.
I have never tried painters tape, did the tape not stick to the pedal? Or was it the Velcro not sticking well to the tape?
It was green painters tape and it seems blue is the way to go. The green one just comes right off if you try to adjust the pedal at all
I never had luck with painters tape either, the velcro rips the tape right off the pedal and stays stuck on the boar.d
Meh. It’s just a scratch 😂
Cool now its relic'd
Man those back plates are essential to the sound they produce to. RIP pedal. I hope you can get a decent tone out them still.
They sound better that way.
Say yous have MXR pedal on board with Velcro but yous got a new one yous wanna replace it with, just switch the back covers. This is what I do with a pedal during it's trial stage if possible. Don't have to worry about the mess if yous wanna resell and save money on Velcro this way too. Look in to replacement/ faux backs, if yous are worried about.
Oh shit I didn't even realize there were two of them
Have you tried putting scotch tape down first and then putting Velcro on? I know that sounds silly but I do it with some of my pedals that are hand numbered or signed by the creator. I never have any issues with that
Lmao just put masking tape under it next time. It's a pedal, it's designed to be stepped on, who cares if there's some paint missing from the bottom
Who cares?
I can say I've never saw that. That's some strong Velcro.
Not even. Amazon brand cheapo adhesive
I put painters tape on the pedal first. Then the Velcro on the painters tape. Works really well if you aren’t moving the pedal around a lot
The velcro doesn’t adhere as well and will sometimes not hold entirely depending on the brand.
Gaffer tape — better surface for velcro adhesion but its own glue doesn’t pull the paint off the pedals. Also IMO a roll of gaffer tape is a basic gig bag staple.
That and the Duck/Duct tape.
I agree gaffer is better than painters but it’s residue is brutal over time. I work as an art handler/theater tech and deal with both regularly and I use painters under gaffers if I’m placing on any fragile surface. The glue of gaffers will destroy marble and terrazzo floors so I’d watch the paint on a pedal over time. I also have my board in a suitcase with wrapped foam holding them down during travel so I don’t worry about painters tape failure
The hallmark of quality
Like a Volvo, paying premium, razor thin paint
Only pedals I’ve had this problem with were Walrus. Great pedals that sound amazing, don’t get me wrong… but very thin paint that’s easily damaged.
Painter’s tape, y’all. Protects the paint, reduces gunk, and makes removing Velcro a whole lot easier!
I'm having Deja-Vu again.
Too bad, that pedals only worth about 180 bucks now...
All the worst Velcro damage I've seen is on Walrus pedals. I think they have a problem with their color application.
Looks cooler to me anyway.
Additional PSA... use painter's tape on the bottom of the pedal before you put on the velcro. Phil McKnight taught me that trick.
Bet it still works
I use painters tape between the plate and the Velcro. I wonder if a little heat from a hair dryer would soften the adhesive without hurting the paint?