There’s a reason why the above background is purple - for it indicates the provenance of this particular pedal - which is sort of based on Tom Majeski’s long discontinued Cooper FX Outward pedal - where the ONWARD extrapolates and expands on the Envelope-based sampling prowess of that device.

This is one of the simplest Chase Bliss pedals to deconstruct / decipher - while as always there are some smart hidden options and secret modes to be found here.

In effect this is a Dynamic ...

I last did a roundup selection for Harmonic Percolators back in May 2019 (around 5 years ago!), where this time around I near enough double down on the possible options. Of course the late 70’s Ed Giese designed pedal was absolutely ginormous, and famously with just 2 slider controls - one for ’Harmonics’ or input gain, where the second ’Balance’ one represented Volume / Output. Interestingly this was a hybrid Fuzz circuit - which originally featured 2N404 Germanium, and 2N3565 Silicon ...

Thanks first to Ross from Cusack Music and Simon from Guitar FX Direct for helping to make this happen. This is a super limited release and I’m truly fortunate to be able to get my hands on one. I explained in the launch article how I had acquired pedals direct from Cusack Music in the past, while post Brexit complexities mean that they are among a number of American builders who don’t ship direct to the UK any more. Just as well then that we have Simon’s Guitar FX Direct as the UK Dealer for ...

Readers will be aware that I recently added 2 further Dumble style Overdrives to the reference collection. First the Menatone Dumbstruck V2, and then most recently the superb Tanabe Zenkudo.

I’ve decided that I’m at a point now where this selection is fully representative of this genre, of course I do have a few more targets in this category, while I feel I now have most of the major top-tier contenders. Notably missing here is Robben Ford’s evidently much loved Lovepedal / Hermida Zen ...

Around the same time last year as Luca Romanelli announced the retirement of Mastro Valvola, my good friend Mike Vickery announced that his Vick Audio would cease pedal production too. Not many know that Mike was my Big Muff Mentor really, and I really got the full grasp on what distinguished one Big Muff variety from another - via a series of highly involved chats with Mike back in 2020.

Mike is / was one of the very best producers of Big Muff style fuzzes - with the general acceptance ...

I always get pangs of sorrow when a pedal brand retires for one reason or another. Late last year Luca Romanelli announced that he was pulling the plug on his Mastro Valvola pedal brand - which at times I have referred to as ’The Strymon of Italy’.

There are so many complications and complexities with pedal-building in general - chip sets and key components increasingly harder to source, and numerous challenges with logistics and red tape. It’s a wonder more of these don’t go to the wire. ...

The StarCrash 70’s Collection re-skins 4 Catalinbread classics (Adineko, Katzenkönig, SFT, and Valcoder) and adds 2 brand new period correct pedals - a Screamer-type SideArm Overdrive, and a 70’s style StarCrash Sustaining Fuzz.

I really like the styling of these - which enclosures come in a really appealing apple-green sparkle, and where prices vary from $179 to $209 for the Adineko delay.

I only own the standard Katzenkönig from this circuit selection, I’ve had the SFT on the wishlist...

Back in 2019 I coined the term ’Turbo Dane’ - meaning using the just then released Heavy Water in combination with The Peacekeeper Overdrive. As I detailed in last week’s Heavy Water Origin Story, the Peacekeeper circuit was involved right at the start of The Dane development project, but where that latterly headed off in its own distinct direction. The Dane (MKI and MKII) is obviously Pete Honoré’s signature Drive + Boost pedal - specifically designed to bring out the very best in Pete’s ...

This new King Tone format has turned out to be something of a Marmite project for the brand - with consumers having mixed feelings on this new shape - which I feel owes a lot to the Danelectro Billionaire Series, which in turn surely took its form-factor in part from a computer mouse shape.

King Tone is beset with so many grey and black market fakes of its signature pedals, that these new designs are designed to both enhance the specific pedal performance and experience, but also make it ...