Chase Bliss Audio opens direct-to-customer sales, clears dealer backlog
May 1, 2022 · 2 sources
Chase Bliss Audio opened direct sales of its pedals through its own web store, founder Joel Korte wrote in a post dated May 1, 2022. The company had announced its intention to move to a pure direct-to-consumer model just over five months earlier and stopped taking dealer orders that day1.
Korte wrote that the old dealer backlog is now empty, with one exception: the discontinued Tonal Recall, for which some dealer orders remain to be filled over the following months1. The move also served as a relaunch of exp, the company's expression roller, which had a limited run about a year earlier. It carries new branding, and toggle switches on the outside now let players change the direction of the roller, a change Korte said came from customer feedback1.
Lead times for individual products will vary. Korte cited Thermae at a 4 week lead time against MOOD at "ships within 3 days," and wrote that lead times will constantly be in flux. Orders mixing in-stock and out-of-stock items ship separately unless the buyer asks for them together1.
"Our old dealer backlog is empty and we can now focus all of our efforts on serving YOU."
Guitar.com reported in June 2022 that Korte explained the change was made to prevent the prices of the company's products from being further raised. The shift was also said to bring expanded in-house customer support, more ready availability of pedals and repairs for US and international customers, and a 30-day "no hassle" return policy. Guitar.com described the model as moving all pedal sales from physical stores to a sole web store, except in Japan2.