Where are your pedals made?
They’re built right here in Seattle, Washington, using parts from around the world. Resistors, caps, op amps, etc. mostly come from Asia. Pots, switches and knobs come from Taiwan. PCB’s are made in California. The aluminum Hammond enclosures are cast in Taiwan, CNC machined in New York and hand-etched and finished here in Seattle by Fromel Electronics. My custom steel enclosure (used on the Proton) is fabricated, powder coated and silkscreened right here in Seattle. All soldering and PCB assembly is done here by a local shop, and the final assembly and play testing is done by me.
What is “relay bypass”?
All 3Leaf Audio pedals use my custom soft-touch relay true bypass system. Unlike most pedals which use the standard blue 3PDT stomp switch for bypass, my system uses a silent soft-touch stomp switch that controls a relay on the circuit board. This is much more expensive than a traditional mechanical bypass, but the benefits are numerous. Audio doesn’t actually pass through the stomp switch, so your signal quality won’t degrade as the switch wears out. The relays I use are extremely reliable, and the soft-touch stomp switch is practically indestructible. The end result is a switching system that will never fail. Unlike traditional bypass, there is no pop when you engage the effect. And as a bonus, my relay system will automatically flip the pedal into bypass if the pedal loses power.
You use plastic jacks! Aren’t those unreliable?
The plastic Neutrik jacks I use are the most durable 1/4″ jack made today. I’ve used more than 5000 of them without a single failure. The problem with the popular metal Switchcraft jacks is that the shield ground connection is held only by the pressure of the tip connection. This can loosen over time and cause an unreliable ground connection. The Neutrik jacks I use have their own dedicated ground pin connector, so the ground connection will remain solid throughout the life of the jack.
How should I power your pedals?
Use a regulated, 9v DC power supply with a center-negative plug. Popular supplies like the 1Spot and the Voodoo Labs PP2 work well. Some of my pedals will run on 18 volts as well – see the manual for more information.
What is your warranty?
All pedals have an official warranty of 1 year from the purchase date. If your pedal breaks, just shoot me an email and I’ll fix it – even if it’s out of warranty, I usually charge little to nothing for repairs.
A note on repairs: 4 out of every 5 pedals I get back for repair have nothing wrong with them. Before contacting me for a repair, check your cables, power supply and everything else in your signal chain and make sure the problem doesn’t lie elsewhere.
What is your return policy?
Return it to me in new condition within a week for a full refund (minus shipping fees). A few of my dealers have more liberal return policies if you need more time than that.
How do you ship?
All direct orders ship via USPS priority mail, which takes 2-3 days in the USA. International orders take as little as 6 days to arrive, although this time can be much longer depending on your country’s customs department.
Do you do custom work?
Generally not. My enclosures are professionally machined and painted in bulk, so I’m not really setup to do custom pedals. On pedals with a Fromel paint job, I can do custom etchings for a fee.