I’m totally in awe of the technical prowess presented on this killer dual analog amps in a pedal format.

It’s actually a very compact device at just 125 x 105 x 65 mms, and carries so many advanced functions here almost entirely in the analog domain. There’s not a single sub-menu here - this is surely WYSIWYG perfection - while it does use every available surface to cram in all the technology that is needed to support all those features.

At first encounter this all seem wholly intuitive...

This is truly quite a feat of engineering, and it’s all so beautifully executed too. That said Boss’s Katana : Go had a useful tiny screen, and Bluetooth connectivity to its app - which this devices could really have benefitted from. I’ve long grown tired of having to USB-cable-connect my pedals to a laptop app for updates - it should all really just be bluetooth to an iOS or Android mobile phone app by now.

In any case, the operation of this device could not be easier - you first of course...

I was a touch critical about the HX One - possibly overly so - as it’s really decent for what it delivers and how. While I could not be more effusively positive about this new POD Express!

For anyone starting out in guitar effects - you get everything you need in one smart little box - with intuitive and mostly surfaced control (vs Noise Gate).

If I was thinking of buying in my very first guitar effect pedal - then I don’t think I could do better than this. It contains 7 Amp & Cab ...

Wow, The Guitar Show was certainly a rollercoaster of an event with the busiest crowd I’ve witnessed to-date. At times it was quite a struggle to make your way through the packed waves of attendees, which did though start to peter out just a little after 3 o’c. For me it was fast and furious from the start - and I found it a little awkward navigating around the hall - as the stand layout seemed to have all kinds of little nooks and crannies - which made some booths incredibly easy to overlook ...

As mentioned, the KMA Machines Endgame Duality Calibrator has been several years in the making, and no expense has been spared in delivering the ultimate end-of-chain tone-enhancer - this thing is wholly feature-packed!

It combines True Stereo Double-Tracking, with stereo width enhancement, with Stereo FX Loop, Celestion IR / Cab Sim, with further Tube Power Amp Sim - options for Bluetooth or TRS inputs, alongside Ambient Space Simulation, and a plethora of connectivity - with pertinent ...

So we featured 120 pedals across the 5 Genre categories this year - as you’ve witnessed over the last 5 days, and those have been whittled and distilled down to these 27 Magnificent and Exceedingly Flavoursome candidates.

Picking out the very best of those is obviously a slightly subjective exercise while based on a series of exacting criteria - including innovation, versatility, practicality, variability, playability, quality of manufacture, quality of output and sheer enjoyment.

Here ...

The Modutility roundup combines Modulation, Utility and Pitch type pedals - it also includes Multi-FX and Multi-Modulation pedals of course. Some years this selection is relatively sparse - while this year it’s totally chock-a-block! In fact it was a struggle to whittle the Longlist down - and inevitably some pedals I wanted to feature did not make the cut - including the Endorphin.es Ghost Pedal Multi-FX and Subdecay Prometheus 3 Dual Super Filter.

I still feel that this selection of 26 is...

So right at the end of last month Rob Chapman posted up a YouTube video of a rundown of his all-time favourite guitar pedals. He initially states he’s going to name his 10 most favoured ones - but goes on to mention 20 - which I’ve fully included here.

Rob has a great ear for tone - as countless of his own and Anderton’s videos have proven time and time again. And I really love his everyman approach to guitar gear. I’ve encountered him in person 2 or 3 times now over the years - and he’s ...

Boss has really pushed the boat out with its super neat and actually incredibly potent compact IR-2 Amp & Cabinet simulator. You get 11 superior quality amp types - loaded with Celestion Digital IRs - as detailed below. For a simply huge range of sounds - with the minimum of fuss. You don’t quite have the granularity of some of the more advanced IR pedals - where you can define mic placement down to the centimetre - what you have is instant satisfaction though - and you can deploy this ...