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Even with this distinguished title, I used another name when I started registering on the various online guitar forums: Non-Digital Tom. Here's the story behind that - at some point in 2002, Mike wanted to start using a different email address for shipping and customer service. He told me to open a Hotmail account using "analogman" as the user name. When I tried to open the account using that name, it wasn't allowed because (according to the error message that came up) the user name contained the word "anal." I asked Mike what I should do, and he said, "Sign up as non-digital man." So I did... It was sort of an inside joke at the shop, so I thought it would be funny to use as a forum moniker.
While the business was growing steadily, at some point I realized that my position there would always be somewhat limited. In the meantime, I had also moved to a town that was almost an hour's drive from the Analog Man workshop. So it seemed likely that at some point I would have to move on. But I had so much invested in the pedal scene; I had completely immersed myself in it, made a lot of contacts and built new relationships with people in the business, and gathered so much knowledge and information. So I started brainstorming ways I could apply all of this to a new venture of some sort.
Eventually, I had the idea to write a book about vintage guitar effects. At that time, there were dozens and dozens of guitar books available, but there was only one pedal book -
Stompbox by Art Thompson. So I decided to try writing the
ultimate pedal book. And I decided to call it
Analog Man's Guide To Vintage Effects, since I worked for Analog Man and he had a reputation in the effects community (I also thought at that time, no one is going to buy a book called
Tom's Guide To Vintage Effects). But in addition, Mike did help me with some info, gave me some contacts of people I should talk to, and of course I had access to his extensive collection of vintage effects. In December 2004, when I had finished writing the book, I published it myself and started my own business,
For Musicians Only.
The book has been quite successful, and continues to sell to this day. But due to lack of traditional distribution, it's never reached its full market potential. I quickly realized my new business had to be about something other than the book. So, for better or worse, I fell back on my old standby of buying, selling, and trading gear, which I had always done as a side hobby. I set up the FMO Gear Shop and officially became a dealer.
The five years since I started FMO have certainly been an adventure. Just as I did with the book, I had no idea what I was doing and got in way over my head. I seem to have this recurring habit of throwing myself in the deep end and forcing myself to swim. Being an entrepreneur isn't for everyone, but I love it! And I have to say, I now have a lot more empathy for Analog Mike than when I worked for him.
I ran the business out of my house for the first few years, just myself with the help of various assistants I've had along the way. In the summer of 2008, I took on a business partner, bought Black Cat Pedals, and then moved into a new workshop location that would accommodate both businesses. I first had the idea of doing something with Black Cat sometime in 2006, I think. It seemed kind of off-the-wall and farfetched at the time, and whenever I mentioned it, no one took me seriously. But I just saw a lot of unrealized potential in the brand and I thought it was a shame to let it go to waste.
I've always been a fan of Black Cat pedals. I liked the designs of the products and I really admired Fred Bonte's ability as a design engineer. He was one of the authentic "old-school" gear techs, in the days before people could just copy schematics and info from the Internet. That's why I chose to include an interview with him in Analog Man's Guide To Vintage Effects. Fred was Eric Johnson's guitar tech in the 1970s when Eric played in The Electromagnets. In fact, it was Kyle Brock, the bass player for The Electromagnets, who came up with the name "Black Cat" for Fred's products. Fred officially started business using the name Black Cat in 1993, and his pedals soon became popular with a lot of great guitarists, such as Scott Henderson, Billy F. Gibbons, Trey Anastasio of Phish, Steve Lukather, Michael Landau, and many others.
Unfortunately, the ability to create great electronic effects does not necessarily make one a great businessman. Fred always seemed to have difficulties with running his business. Over the years, since the time I worked at Analog Man, I tried to offer encouragement and ideas to Fred, but things never seemed to improve for him.
Another problem with the original Black Cat products was the way they looked. In the past 10 years or so, the boutique pedal market has come to expect the appearance and cosmetics of products to be aesthetically appealing. The hand-painted pedals made by Z Vex in the late '90s set a new standard for the custom boutique look. Fred's pedals, in contrast, were housed in large, clunky project boxes that used press on labels for graphics. Pedals such as the Bass Octave Fuzz and the Ring Modulator looked big and ugly compared to the average boutique quality pedal. He did have silk-screens for some smaller pedals, such as the OD-1. But Fred did everything himself, and the results were very inconsistent.
Fred could only buy small quantities of parts at a time, due to poor cash flow, so he wasn't able to make a proper production run of any of the Black Cat products. There were also increasing problems with quality control. Fred is a big ol' Texas dude with big, fat hands, and his solder work would sometimes get kind of sloppy. I discussed all these points with Fred and he agreed. I was always routing for him, hoping things would somehow work out, but it just never seemed to happen.
Eventually, I had the idea that Fred would actually make more money if he just sold the business to me, so I could get the pedals made properly. From my experience at Analog Man, and what I had learned from running my own business, I felt like I pretty much knew everything about how to run a large-scale boutique pedal company. Everything, that is, EXCEPT how to create an electronic circuit design. I can read a schematic and build pedals, but I'm not an engineer. If you want to know the truth, I'm still a pretty mediocre tech. I'm okay, but not great. With everything it takes to run a business, I've never been able to put in the kind of time it takes to develop those skills. Fortunately, I found a GREAT builder to make the new Black Cat Pedals!
The new Black Cat Pedals feature the same designs that Fred created for the originals, so the circuits are the same. There were a lot improvements to be made in the products themselves, as well as with the manufacturing process and business model. But as a true fan, I've been conscious of preserving the original spirit of the Black Cat products, and Fred is still involved as a design consultant.
In 2009, the new Black Cat Pedals brand released the OD-1, Super Fuzz, OD-Fuzz, and Bass Octave Fuzz. This year we will release the famous Black Cat Vibe and the Black Cat Ring Modulator, among others. Eventually, we will release the entire original line of Black Cat products, including a few pedals that were only sold in the Japanese market. We also have a few surprises in store! For one thing, there were several prototype pedals Fred made that never went into production because he didn't have the resources to make it happen. So we'll be working to bring all these ideas to life. In addition, there is now a Black Cat Custom Shop, which will be featuring short runs of limited edition Black Cat pedals.
All the new Black Cat pedals are made in the same workshop location as the FMO Gear Shop. I feel incredibly fortunate to be working with a great crew of people. Our head tech is Greg Radawich. He's the one who is building the new Black Cat pedals, and he also does repairs, modifications, and custom work. Greg had been building pedals on his own for 5 years before I hired him. His work is meticulous, and he has a great attention to detail. Greg's wife is a professional graphic designer. She's super talented and has been helping us with all the pedal graphics. She also designed the
Black Cat Pedals website.
We also have a guy named Chase, who helps Greg with various pedal building tasks, such as drilling enclosures and preparing subassemblies. And then we have Black Cat Sara. She's the girl who appears in our magazine ads, and she'll be doing some Black Cat demo videos. Sara handles a lot administrative tasks for the company. And she also plays the guitar, so she helps with final testing of the Black Cat pedals. Actually, everyone on our team plays the guitar (although Greg is really more of a bass player).
As if that's not enough, I have another project in the works. For the past year, I've been working on building a vintage keyboard and synthesizer studio, with the help of another gear enthusiast I met, "Keyboard Mike" Thompson. So far, we've been doing a lot of restoration work, but we're aiming toward launching a vintage keyboard project studio. I guess it's safe to say, my love of gear knows no bounds.
Visit Black Cat Pedals current line at:
