Mason of Vertex Effects comes clean.

It take's a special type of person to be so dishonest. What a creep. I wonder how many people purchased misleading products and how much he intends on refunding them. I don't see that happening.
 
I bought into the hype and bought 2 of his cables. Now in all honesty, I really prefer them over the Planet Waves Circuit Breakers that I was using before. I like what those Belden cables do for my tone.

But, like I told Mason, I would never have paid what he sold them for if I knew from the get go that they were just regular Belden coax cables.
 
Pete Cornish has done the same thing with his cables for years and gotten away with it.
Apparently its simply an off the shelf Belden hidden in a braided sleeve.
Noone slags him off for it !!!

The BBE is the same situation magnified many times over.

In the UK , Ford put a new body shell on the Mondeo, re-badged itas a Jaguar and charged 1000's more.

This crap goes on throughout every industry, Mason simply got caught out and instead of coming clean immediately, tried to lie his way out.
Now he has to accept the consequences and they won't be pretty.
 
He's offering refunds for the wah and the cables but in all honesty, I'm not holding my breath. I'll chalk it up to me being gullible.

Michael Landau, on the other hand, is refunding anyone who bought anything Vertex that has the Landau name on it. The Landau Chorus and the Landau Boost. He's paying out of pocket. Good man!
 
That was very honorable of Landau to do that and it is probably what pushed Mason over the edge on coming clean, but I would despise anyone who went to Mike for a refund. The refunds need to come from Mason and if they don't - then his 'coming clean' thread is just another charade. I can't believe the number of people jumping on the forgiveness bandwagon
:doh:

Yes he needs to come clean and yes he deserves forgiveness for that at some point but his thread is a bit over the top. I can sense that he already feels vindicated. And the whole P&W crap :confused: Give me a break.

Someone who can lie on so many levels about so many aspects of their business and then double down on the lie and have the audacity to send Cease and Desist orders out to those speaking against your product/business is pretty much unforgivable in the near term - in my book. I never bought any of his products, I'm just a bystander to this train wreck.
 
What exactly did he do? I mean, I read his whole letter, but I'm not entirely clear on what happened, went wrong, etc. Was it just lying about his products saying they were something that they really weren't?
 
Too hard to explain Bronco in a short forum response. If you search on 'Vertex', 'Mason' or 'Vertex Fiasco' on The Gear Page you will see multiple threads (of high post counts) that walk through it.

Basically, it was discovered that his Vertex Axis Wah is just a standard BBE Wah. It is true that the pot was changed out but it is a Chinese pot and in no way should reflect the 'Hand crafted in California' marketing verbiage nor the $350 price tag. This is just part of the ordeal. He lied or misled people on his custom cables, volume pedal and potentially some other products.

He denied the facts even after undeniable evidence was shown. My friend CodeMonk from UG de-gooped his Axis Wah and compared it to the BBE Wah. Mason then sent cease and desist orders out to those that brought this to light and claimed libel. He double-downed on his lie for about a month or so and finally came clean yesterday.

That said, his apology is weak in my book and actually only demonstrates more of his disconnect with reality than what he had before. For those that want to forgive him - great. More power to you.

https://smg.photobucket.com/user/CodeMon ... 2.gif.html

Disclaimer - I don't know Mason. I don't use his products. I'm just a bystander. Yes, I believe in forgiveness.
 
311splawndude":2lguj7q2 said:
Too hard to explain Bronco in a short forum response. If you search on 'Vertex', 'Mason' or 'Vertex Fiasco' on The Gear Page you will see multiple threads (of high post counts) that walk through it.

Basically, it was discovered that his Vertex Axis Wah is basically just a standard BBE Wah. It is true that the pot was changed out but it is a Chinese pot and in no way should reflect the 'Hand crafted in California' marketing verbiage nor the $350 price tag. This is just part of the ordeal. He lied or misled people on his custom cables, volume pedal and potentially some other products.

He denied the facts even after undeniable evidence was shown. My friend CodeMonk from UG de-gooped his Axis Wah and compared it to the BBE Wah. Mason then sent cease and desist orders out to those that brought this to light and claimed libel. He double-downed on his lie for about a month or so and finally came clean yesterday.

That said, his apology is weak in my book and actually only demonstrates more of his disconnect with reality than what he had before. For those that want to forgive him - great. More power to you.

https://smg.photobucket.com/user/CodeMon ... 2.gif.html

Disclaimer - I don't know Mason. I don't use his products. I'm just a bystander. Yes, I believe in forgiveness.
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Wow...well that answers my questions for sure...thanks!
 
What a scumbag. He deserves no forgiveness. He only offers his false apology because he got found out. If never exposed he'd be more than happy to continue raking in profits.
 
What a strange situation. All I can think is that I'm not sure he spoke to a lawyer before issuing that statement, but he probably should have.
 
cardinal":1tu2td5k said:
What a strange situation. All I can think is that I'm not sure he spoke to a lawyer before issuing that statement, but he probably should have.
Click to expand...
He may end up in a lot of trouble before it's all over with. Advertising products as made in the USA, even thought they were rebranded Chinese. Rebranding other manufacturer's pedals without their knowledge. Advertising Belden coax cable as something else. Pathetic.
 
So I can buy a BBE Ben Wah for a $135 and basically getting what he was selling the $350 Vertex Axis Wah! Also I loved how at one point he said he had a company in Cali that was making his cables a special way and it was just Belden cable. He said it was a company that make computer and other special cables and took a lot of testing to get it right. Sorry but this guy can never trusted again!
 
Re-branding.....gone wrong. So many in this industry don't have an inventive cell in the brain and are nothing more than thieves.
 
Here's Joe's entire post on the situation:

Hey Guys,
I'm sorry to be chiming in so late but I must warn all you fellow gear nerds to stay away from Vertex effects and pedalboard services. Mason is not truthful nor is his work good or in most cases his own. He had me on his site without permission as a user and happy customer. I am/was neither happy nor do I use any of his products. My pedalboard sounded awful, took tons of gain away, and added a huge ground hum. It also cost $1400 and that was after I pitched a fit when the $2000 bill came to my tour manager all the while seeing unauthorized You Tube videos of my " new rig" a rig I never tried nor signed off on. Fortunately Dave Friedman at Rack Systems came in and saved the day for $400. All I wanted and asked for was to have some cables cut to size. I didn't want to waste Dave's time so I gave it to Mason. BIG MISTAKE.... I am very disturbed by his actions and have heard recently that he has been called out on some Wah Wah pedal stuff. Bad News Bear that cat is unfortunately.
So... In closing...
Just trying to keep my fellow guitar nerds from getting ripped off like I was.
 
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