So in the wake of my ’9 Notable Brazilian Guitar Pedal Brands’ article I had a lot of people contacting me (as intended!) to tell me I’d overlooked this and that brand. The first mentioned was obviously Cachalote Audio which I liked so much that I did a separate article on that.
While altogether we had another 9 notable brands suggested - to include in this separate feature. In fact there are even more - including StarDust Electronic Art - where I’m waiting until I get enough suggestions to...
These Hangman fx pedals have been doing the rounds somewhat of late - both Emily Hopkins and the Superfunawesomehappytime chaps received bumper care package of these fairly recently. And Intheblue’s Shane Diiorio and Mike Hermans have at least one apiece.
I do hope Guitar Pedal X can be more involved at the front of these sorts of brand launch events. I mustn’t grumble really - I do get included in many a release schedule, and plenty gets sent my way - but weirdly I still feel like I’m ...
I made a post very near the start of this year - which featured mostly the same visual, now a little more refined - where I indicated a desire to land the latest Nichols 1966 variant. Intriguingly Danelectro picked up on my visual and used is a couple of times on their social media - so I thought I was surely in for a discount on the Nichols 1966 - the third in the series. But no - despite some gentle nudging - Danelectro weren’t about to offer me an ounce of generosity - win some loose some as...
As part of ThorpyFX’s 10 Year Anniversary Celebrations (born on 2nd November 2014) - they’re encouraging everyone to get a ’caked’ version of any of the current pedal models. Thorpy is obviously making the most use of his new super-duper Roland 4-Colour UV Printer!
And I had a lot of fun creating this visual on a background of 100’s & 1000’s / Sprinkles!
Single pedal editions will be base-coat painted yellow - with the cake design on both outward facing sides. I personally think there ...
Despite my extensive experience with fuzzes I had not really properly connected with the 1970 Classic Swedish Carlin Compressor Fuzz until now. I was aware of its existence - but only really in passing, no one was pressing me to check it out, and there was no artist that I was following that cited this particular rare Swedish fuzz variant as a core part of their sound.
Of course it carries the same name as my good friend Ben Carlin of Electric Love - and I expect that had something to do ...
I’ve just recently covered the phenomenal Tavysh HARM Multi-Gain pedal, and thought I should look at which similarly potent multi-gain pedals I had in the reference collection. In fact while doing the preliminary for this I realised I hadn’t yet acquired the All-Pedal Devil’s Triad Essentials - which landed around a fortnight ago. I had to go to Thomann, as there were none available in the UK at the time. I actually really like using Thomann - it takes a little longer to get packages from there...
So Fractal Audio Systems has thrown its hat in the ring with its first non-modelling device / unit - the VP4 Virtual Pedalboard Multi-FX Processor - which is quite a departure for the brand.
It’s obviously gunning for Line 6 and Eventide in particular, but also looking to knock out Boss and Strymon Workstation pedals. It has several of its own advantages, but with a number of caveats too. Overall it’s well priced for what it delivers - but for my own preferences it’s still somewhat over-...
Life is Unfair’s Grindle has birthed a monster gain machine here - which at its core is a totally killer improvement / evolution of Boss’s FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz, while it delivers a full gain range from Boost, through Overdrive, Fuzz / Octave Fuzz, and onto High Gain Distortion / Fuzzstortion. This is a general all-rounder gain machine, while most will use it for its more aggressive side no doubt!
This is a genuine collaboration between Grindle, and Mike Cunniff from the band Boston Manor - each ...
When I first glimpsed the HARM pedal - it very much appeared to me to be the full-fat embodiment of my ’12 Degrees of Saturation’ Methodology. Now that I’ve been road-testing it for 3 weeks, I can absolutely vouch for its potency, versatility, and prowess - its range of coverage is extraordinary!
This is the one compact pedal that can pretty much cover all your gain needs. That’s not to say it wholly accurately 100% replicates every gain pedal, while it most definitely gets well beyond the...
So I said I would expand the scope of the 10 Pedal Challenge to Mini and Large Enclosure variants if the original was well received. And in indeed that seems to be the case - with several readers encouraging me in particular to do the Large Pedals Edition.
So of course I’ve done the 2 remaining categories - Mini and Large! The Large Pedals were pretty much all obvious choices really and that board largely suggested itself. It was the Mini Pedals version that took the most cogitation!
It...