Can you buy Mojo?
First lets address the Elephant in the room: Yes! Cheap pedals and clones can often
sound just as good than expensive ones. Or at least near-enough no-one cares.
And I could talk about dull things like parts quality, or about supporting innovation, or
just because nice things are nice, but most of us don’t actually care and would
rather save the extra expense.
But, personally there’s one reason above all to spend that extra cash….
Mojo!
Can you buy Mojo?
Wait? What? Shuttup!!! Mojo isn’t real! It’s total BS you clown….
You’re all pursuing one of the most creative professions or hobbies on earth. Every
musician, from bedroom widdlers to cover band guitarists to those living the dream,
we all secretly want to write a new hit song that connects with people and moves
them and just makes the world a better and more awesome place.
But it’s really hard to feel that inner inspiration and get in touch with your inner muse
if you aren’t in love with your gear. I’m not saying you need fancy gear, you certainly
don’t! but you have to feel in love with your gear. You have to feel you paid a price
and took your time to connect with that gear. You have to feel you worked for it and
earned something powerful that sets you apart. Because those emotions and belief
in yourself is the heart of creativity.
And THAT is Mojo!
So maybe that price you need to pay is working around the quirks of a battered old
pedal, maybe it’s because you have this guitar you pulled from a dumpster and
restored, maybe you’ve just been on a sonic quest for the right speaker trying out
cab after cab for years until you found one that you just gelled with. Maybe it’s
the dedication to learning how to get the best from any piece of gear is essential to
great sound.
You see how a great player has a certain guitar they won’t part with. And yet if you
play that guitar it sounds lousy, right? But if the Mojo is in the player, why don’t they
use any old guitar? Because Mojo is a bond that is earned between player and
gear.
Race-car drivers spend ages getting their car exactly right. Footballers only use
specific shoes. It’s the symbiosis that matters.
I’ve got gear you will prise from my cold dead fingers, like my Selmer TnB50 head,
by Rico Ironbird and my BOSS PS-2. And really, it’s not that any of this gear is better
than other gear, it’s just that I connect with it. When I use it it fires me up and makes
me wanna play.
And that’s what boutique is about.
It’s about the manufacturers’ ethics, effort, style, passion and love. Each of us is
putting our heart and soul into these little boxes in the hope that our ‘extra’ is what
inspires you to play awesome. Because we wanna be a part of your journey! We
spend thousands of hours putting our heart and soul into what we do and bonding
with our designs to generate some kind of Mojo that we hope will fuel your Mojo so
that the end result is an amazing cacophony of epic sound!
If I just wanted mere money I could ring around the universities and get a better
paid job today. It wouldn’t be hard: I’m a qualified lecturer with a Doctorate in Robotics.
But instead I work insane hours for lousy pay because I am a creative just like you!
And just like you I have a dream of how I want my art to be. And I want my art to
inspire other artists (you!) so I can be a small part of this huge thing that is music.
This thing that has saved my life a hundred times and made my day better a
hundred-thousand times.
None of us ‘pay more’ simply for better parts (although that’s a nice perk too). We
don’t ‘pay more’ simply for better tone (although, again….). We do it because nice
things are nice, and we want to live in a certain kind of world, where things are just
‘better’, and the shredding is always magnificent.
And because Mojo is real.
Party on dudes, dudettes and those yet to make up their mind!
Lydia Fey Mandrake
3rd October 2025