A slightly uneventful month in many ways - just the one event - the excellent sophomore Leeds Pedal Show - where I ended up picking up 3 pedals.

Some killer releases during the month, with a strong final flurry to make up the 10 notable article highlights. I’ve been very busy all month - and plenty of work has gone into this as usual, while there was somehow fewer large-scale rundowns and marquee features - more of that next month for sure.

HIGHLIGHTS for APRIL :

[Click on Images for ...

There were all kinds of weird rumours going around before the launch of this pedal - I though it was more likely to be a sympathetic resonance modulator / filter style thing - where there are filters here - but used rather to define the different delay voicings.

This is mostly a digital device, I’m not 100% clear on the inflection of ’Hybrid’ in respect to Delay here - as there are no specific analog / BBD delay-line components that I’m aware of. This is very much a sibling to the CXM 1978 ...

While this new Eclipsa is based on a different model to the Pulse predecessor - Dawner’s two iterations of rotary effect devices do have a fair amount in common (at least superficially), with the newer device being the more evolved, granular, and refined - with additional controls - while both have the same 5 key controls - Slow Speed, Fast Speed, Distance, Intertia, and Blend / Mix.

Both devices also have two footswitches - with similar functionality. While the Eclipsa has an additional ...

This post is in part due to mutual friend Mike Hernandez - who has championed Lane Holloway’s Cryptic Effects for a while. Cryptid’s Siam Howler has come across my radar a couple of times too - and I was meaning to do something with that also - but when I saw the Indrid Cold - I immediately knew what my visual was going to look like - it was a creative spark - and so that gets covered first here.

Lane has very evidently upped his artwork game here - with a highly arresting design - that ...

I am a huge fan of the Crazy Tube Circuits Constellation Series - where I own each of those 3 rare Germanium Editions - OC45, OC41, and CV7003 (Milspec OC44). Those were relatively simple devices with just a variable Volume and Gain Control, and then a 6-way Rotary that took you though the different modes :

I was all et to get the Big Talker Modulator next in my ongoing coverage of the complete Empty Head Effects roster - but Nick tweaked his The Lover 2-Stage Transistor Drive & Fuzz - which was initially in Zvex-style Landscape format, while nearly everyone positioned the pedal vertically in Portrait mode on their boards. So Nic decided in the end that he should relocate the jacks to the top edge and shift some of those elements around for a more elegant control topology the the more pedalboard-...

Thermion famously started off its affordable €125 PowerBolt Series back in May of last year - with two amazing Modulation pedals - The PowerTrem - in part based on JAM Pedals’ Harmonious Monk, and the PowerVibe - a superb compact take on a Shin-ei Uni-Vibe - not nearly as expansive as DryBell’s Vibe Machine - but near enough as flavourful. I was hugely impressed at the time and quickly acquired the pair of them.

This time around I’m a little behind the curve - as the pedals have already ...

Another fantastic show in an amazing venue - and the weather gods definitely smiled on us!

Congratulations to Ross on another supremely smooth show - wish that it’s duration could be a little more extended - as it’s a struggle to get around all the stands in the time available.

This year’s show was a little beset by fall-outs - as initially Boss and HiWatt withdrew from the roster - which was great news for my friends Ian from Gigahearts and Stephen from Northern Stompboxes - as those were ...

The Bolster Dual Fuzz consists of a 3 x 2N5088 Transistor Tone Bender MKII adjacent High Gain Fuzz on one side, and a single knob OpAmp Speaker-destroying Fuzz on the other side. The 5-knob Transistor Fuzz has an enormous gain range from drive and fuzzy-drive through to fairly searing high gain fuzz - and then when you add the More Fuzz in - you kind of blow the doors off - in the best possible sense.

All the finesse is on the first channel, while the More Channel - comes in somewhat high-...