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-...

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...

Another strong month for sure! A little dominated by Keeley Electronics, but some solid releases over the month - with a crazy flurry towards the end - to coincide with Europe’s largest Guitar Gear Show - Mannheim’s Guitar Summit. It seems evident now that Guitar Summit is an event I should really be at - and I will make a concerted effort to be their next year.

As it was I attended just one guitar gear event this month - EarthQuaker Devices Showcase at GuitarGuitar in Camden - where I got ...

Considering my well documented fallout with this brand - this is a slightly odd article for me. I might not get along with said brand name head honcho - but Jackson Audio still make some very decent pedals. They’re not necessarily always the best sounding overall, but in terms of their format innovation, build quality, feature set and usability they’re still a formidable force.

Pedal industry relationships are always complex - as they don’t just involve the builders, but distributors and ...

Supposedly I’m one of the inspirations for this particular edition, which was simply based on my suggesting a more compact version of this excellent all-rounder original Parasite JFET Overdrive. I don’t take too much credit though - as my good friend AD Hauser did all the heavy lifting here!

I enormously enjoyed the partial collaboration on the new generation of Colortone knobs, and the creation of their ’Headliner’ silicon caps - for extra hi-vis legibility. I certainly had some say in ...

So it made sense that after I did one of the most obvious ’4 of a Kind’ initial groupings - with the 3-Band EQ Boost pedals - largely EQD Tone Job adjacent - that surely the almost as obvious Timmy quartet should be next up for this format!

Interestingly the first massively popular ’Transparent’ Overdrive - Bill Finnegan’s Klon Centaur - first materialised in 1994. Then in 1998 we had Brian Mena’s Menatone Red Snapper , and a full 10 years after the Klon in 2004 - Murfreesboro, Tennessee ...

So this particular Nordvang Custom Trio / Trifecta brings to mind another recent brand revamp - in terms of the somewhat similar King Tone Curved / Recessed Series of pedals that I featured back in April. Those are also extended range versions of Blues Breaker, Tube Screamer, and Timmy, while I feel I somewhat prefer Henrik Nordvang’s take on those classic circuits.

Unlike the King Tone trio - each of what I will be referring to as the Nordvang 1590B3 Series (Hammond Enclosure Designation -...

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 ...