I also have designed pedals in the past - I agree with you it is loads of fun but probably hard to make money on. As I see it, there's two issues working again

I also have designed pedals in the past - I agree with you it is loads of fun but probably hard to make money on. As I see it, there's two issues working against you in this regard. First, guitar players in general seem to be somewhat driven by crowd mentality and not entirely open to embrace anything that isn't already tried-and-true. That makes it hard to get anyone to try something that isn't a clone or tweak of an existing design. Second, like you said, the market is very saturated, and even if you do have a unique design, the aforementioned mentality largely works against you I think. All that being said, there's a whole world of exploration and discovery out there when it comes to analog circuit design and that alone I think makes it an incredibly rewarding hobby.