2025 London Synth and Pedal Expo Highlights from Studio 9294, Hackney Wick
So - we’ve had 3 incredible guitar gear events this month - covering Birmingham, then Woking, and now London - in probably my favourite venue on the circuit. Studio 9294 is such a unique place - having the outside canal-side terrace, and superb next-door restaurant and bar - in the guise of Number # 90 - which always serve up a very decent lunch! With the sun out - like we experienced at the weekend - this venues is wholly glorious - there’s a cool nearby Sainsbury’s, and indeedned ’Bad Coffee’ coffee shop.
Main show runner Paolo does such a great job of instilling a chilled and positive vibes atmxospehre - that the whole event feels incredibly friendly and relaxed!
I had another fabulous show - I picked up 2 new pedals, and was able to see a slew of forthcoming releases!
The format of this article changes between years - particularly in how these entries are ordered. I’ve ordered them previously by order of encounter, and in simple alphabetical order by brand - where this time around the order is following the layout of the floorpan essentially - first the outer perimeter - starting with Face Mi as you first enter the Pedal Room, and then the inner perimeter - again starting with the stand nearest the entrance - which is Origin Effects for the inner circle.
As per previous years - not all the intended exhibitors made it - and this year the Heathrow Airport power substation fire - kind of wrecked the plans for a few brands - which were unable to reschedule their arrival. Also some of the pedals / boards got held up in a similar fashion - and ended up being scheduled for arrival on the Monday - vesus the original Friday or Saturday.
There’s always a few snafus each year - some which can be sorted relatively easily and some which cannot. It was not at all obvious in having missing gaps - as Paolo neatly re-arranged things to make most use of that space - it all went off very smoothly in the end - with both exhibitors and attendees generally in high spiriis!
Marco from Italy’s Formula B gets the cover slot here - largely by virtue that this is the first UK event he’s exhibiting at, and intends to do quite a few more - so will be nice to see him on the UK circuit - more of that later!
We start with Face MI as below - the first stand you encounter when entering the pedal room!
First we pay homage to the organisers / show runners, and then there’s a little update on the venue - before we get stuck into the different stands.
Note that the constantly changing lighting conditions and differing contrasts - made photography very tricky at the show - there were strong blue downlighters which made near enough everyone have strange blotches on their faces in pictures - which had to be edited out in PhotoShop. The window contrast for Kernom made things tricky also - as were the back-lit screen on the D’Addario stand - I spent a full 24 hours just editing the photos down to a usable level - and some still look a little uncanny - so apologies for that.
There will undoubtedly be some typos - as this is a nigh biblical work - only I am crazy enough to of stuff like this - so do have some patience when browsing - and if you see typos - do let me know - as they’re easy to resolve! I’ve been on this since the show ended - in fact I did some editing even on the the in-between Saturday night - this has been a fairly massive project - I hope you enjoy - skimmesr and deep-divers alike!
Showrunners - Paolo and Paige
delicious-audio.com/the-london-synth-pedal-expo/
Here we pay homage to the wonderful showrunner and good friend Paolo - who was ably assisted by Paige this year. The team was supposed to be slightly larger as Paige's parents Safia (Rabbit Hole FX) and Mike are usually there to help with setup and breakdown - but got waylaid by the Heathrow snafu this year. Their daughter Paige had arrived a day early to make it in time - so it was mostly all up to her and Paolo's efforts - with a little help too from Patrick of Intensive Care Audio, and Sam of new brand AM FX - who I had been quite unaware of until this show.
I think Sam's was the only new brand to me at the show - while a few brands were appearing here for the first time.
The venue had been recently refurbished - but with a lot less power-points, and nothing at all for the central area. Cables and adaptors has to be used extensively to provide everyone with electricity - which worked out quite wonderfully in the end - but made for a very challenging setup. You normally have wall sockets every couple of meters - but there were really only a couple of main outlets per wall of the room - and no island in the middle.
The whole place had been entirely refurbished - but the electricicity provision seems to have been ill-considered for such a venue. In the end it was an easily solvable challenge - wihich did though require some smart thinking.
In any case Paolo and Paige organised and served the show beautifully and delivered an incredibly smooth running event - nicely free from drama!
Empty Refurbed Pedal Room - very Scandinavian!
Since last year - the venue has gone through quite a transformation - gone are the carved toadstool mushrooms and psychedelic artworks that previously filled the room - while some felt they were a little too grimy / grotty! I actually quite liked all of that - but approve also of this very Scandinavian Woody treatment - the place looks a lot more modern and polished now - even though the power supply side of things has been compromised.
I was aiming to take a picture before everything started - and one when everything was setup and at full capacity! I got the first one in as above - but then got caught up in the show and never remembered to do the follow-up picture for said pedal room.
I always think it would be nice to have a vending machine in the foyer - so you can grab a bottle of water or a coke. Which otherwise means you taking a 20 minute detour to the nearest Sainsbury's Local. You do also have 2 quite closely restaurants to get drinks from - while it would be convenient to have some kind of bottle dispenser in the foyer of the event! I keep nudging Paolo to do that - maybe next year!
Face MI - Niels and Timo
Featured Brands - Beetronics | Carl Martin | Crazy Tubce Circuits | J, Rockett | Radial Engineering | Walrus Audio.
So first up are my Belgian buddies Niels and Timo.
New for this year I'm picking out a couple of pedals for each stand - typically a slightly older already favourite and a new or forthcoming big hitter!
For Face MI - my established favourite could not be anything other than the Beetronics Larva Dual Morphing Phaser - greatest ever phaser as far as I'm concerned - the smartest and best full-fat sounding phaser ever - I love it!
New pedal here is the current runaway best-seller Crazy Tube Circuits Venus - which has proved to be something of a nightmare for me - I've suffered every kind of snafu you would really hope to avoid - it's been a cavalcade of customer service failures, where I did manage to secure a unit (twice actually). The one in play now was due to land here yesterday - but Royal Mail are now playing silly buggers with the package - someone put it on hold for some wholly unknowable reason - and I've been onto Royal Mail 3 times in the last 24 hours - with a waiting time of over 90 minutes for one of those calls. I've spoken to 3 unhelpful idiots so far - the system really isn't working - whatever they're doing they've not resoled it yet - the packaging is down as Held / Pending at the delivery office - it just needs to be released for delivery - they're already a day late and a dollar short - while one of those useless idiots tells me that their charter / SLA gives them as much as 10 days to 'resolve' my complaint. Surely it's just a single release command - no one can tell me why the parcel is still being held - they're trying to get it released - but so far failing horribly.
The Venus sounds great in demos - but mine seems to be possessed / cursed - I'm still kind of looking forward to is arrival but not enjoying the process - which is just one let down after another - I've been in pursuit of this pedal since it was first revealed - I don't know why this has to be so hard - perhaps this is just the new reality of the Trumpian Era - that more and more things are just destined to falter and fail more often! The Royal Mail is woefully inept at the best of times - with each owner just gaming the service level agreements. No self-respecting pedal builder should ever rely on Royal Mail - I deal with all the courier companies and they are the worst in every department - their customer service is abjectly and unreasonably poor for a business in this day and age - I'm all for re-nationalising the post-office - it's not working as is!
Audio Distribution Group - Tom and Andy, Bruce in part
Featured Brands - Cioks | Death By Audio | Diamond Pedals | Dreadbox FX | Emma Electronic | Fulltone | Jackson Audio | Keeley Electronics | KMA Machines | KSR Amps | Maxon | Meris | Nobels | Old Blood Noise Endeavours | Peterson Strobe Tuners | Solidgold FX | Source Audio | Tsakalis AudioWorks
The big news for ADG was that the demo Enzo X had arrived in time for the show (it didn't make it in time for the Birmingham Show!) - the other units are still making their way into Europe - shipping, customs clearance etc. all takes some significant time! So the Meris Enzo X was certainly the star of the show for ADG.
With the OBNE Dark Star Stereo Textured Reverb also still making a big splash. That device is actually more compact than I expected - and not too different really from Strymon's square pedals.
A Dark Star is definitely on the cards for me at some stage - while I'm still kind of undecided on the Enzo X. Meris' Janni has encouraged me to try here prEDITOR app - which I can connect wirelessly buy using a Yamaha dongle - which is fitted to both 5-pin-din MIDI cable ports. I have the Meris LVX - and I've made a commitment to Janni to check out her app - so the LVC will be back in circulation in a month or two.
For the Meris - it's a mix of format, and how much I actually need and use synth tones - where I feel that the Boss SY-200 is still the most appropriate device for me - I'm not sure I want to dedicate as much as the Enzo floorspace for a synth effect - however good. Also most of the additional things on the Enzo are extras - modulations, delays etc. - not nevecessairly more 'synth-like' functions and features.
The Enzo was the most popular pedal on the stand for ADG nonetheless!
Chase Bliss : Euro Dream Team - Doug, Tyler, and Liz
It's wonderful to see the Euro Dream Team on their second official outing all-together - their inaugural event was last year's (#2) Wassup Nerds Bristol event. Such lovely people - and I bumped into them for morning coffee too. I've known Doug for quite a while now - and Tyler and Liz are equally nice.
Tyler and Liz of course just hot-footed from completing the Mystery Box maillout. Over 10,000 of those were shipped with around a fifth handled by Tyler and Liz for EU / UK.
There should likely be a couple of new pedals this year - which launches are always big events for sure.
Most recent Chase Bliss pedal - The Clean is featured, as a future classic - alongside its already classic status predecessor the Onward Dynamic Sampling Device.
I'd still quite like one of those Billy Strings Wombtones, I'm less fussed about the Dirt Bird - and I still need to get the CXM 1978 in at some stage - while I'm cool to gamble for that across a number of Mystery Box events.
Mystery Box will very likely return this year - but there will be some limits in place - only one box per person, and probably an overall ceiling too - likely somewhat reduced from the 10,000+ peak of this first inaugural one.
That project has been in action for nearly half the year now - and it takes up so many resources - which likely holds up other parts of the operation. I really like it though - it's such a great community that it's relatively easy to swap for the pedal you want! I obviously lucked out with my bonus pedal - the AC Noises Ricorda - which I love. I'm happy to gamble again in the future - albeit there are fewer and fewer of those for me to snag.
I have a feeling that a Dark Wold Stereo edition will be occurring in the not-too-distant future - that remains one of the most most obvious stereo conversion projects - and one that probably takes the least effort per say - as that pedal is alwayred so well rounded!
Kernom - Jérémy, Antoine, and David
It's always a grand occasion for me to see my now favourie French brand - and I'm on very friendly terms with all the principles - Jérémy, Antoine and David. I did not have quite as epic an encounter at this show as I did at Birmingham - we really had a wonderful in-depth conversaiton about everything Kernom.
And similar to Chase Bliss really - I so look forward to every new release. Kernom have devised such a clever format - the engineering prowess on display here just cannot fail to impress. And these are probably overall the best built pedals out there - the quality of fit and finish is really next level - That duck blue sparkly eggshell finish of the recent Elipse feels wonderful under the fingers.
I feel that Kernom have similarities with a lot of my favourite industrial designers - including Dieter Rams at BrAun, and Teenage Engineer's Jesper Kouthoofd.
I've of course selected my favourite Kernom here - the Moho Magmatic Fuzz, alongside the current superb release - the Elipse Modulation Playground!
BOSS - Mark, Matt B, and Matt K in part
I always get such a warm welcome from my Boss family - just mostly Mark and Matt B this time around - as Nico has some sort of leg injury / sprain I think - we of course wish Nico a speedy recovery. Matt K was there also for a chunk of the Saturday - but alas I was unable to catch a moment with him - we're quite far into 2025 already with no proper catchup to date - which is rare in these circumstances. Seems like the next Boss releases are somewhat later in the year!
Some of these shows are increasingly starting to feel like family reunions - and particularly in this venue - there's a very comfortablele pattern to proceedings now.
There's no surprise that the IR-2, BP-1W and Katanta : Go are still doing well - those were generally the bestsellers at the show - with some interest in the SL-2 also. Weirdly though demand seems to have cooled off a little for the really well received SDE-3 - It was riding high for a period - I guess Boss need to remind everyone of its virtues once more - these things can slip a little under the radar after the initial big splash. Also - these sort of things always come in waves - and.while there are slower periods - things usually pick up again!
Everyone loved that Big Boss Knob prop - which apparently featured also at the Birmingham Show - but perhaps not so obviously as here. Boss really needs to up its Merch game with those - I can foresee Acorn Amps style coffee cups, trinket boxes and even a sort of bedroom bin / waste-paper basket - where the metal top rotates. revolves in typically bin flap fashion. I would hope to see some Big Knob Boss merch in the next couple of years - if Boss is on its game of course. That is surely an untapped opportunity! We could for sure do with some more Boss Merch!
Great Eastern FX Co. - David
David ia undoubtedly one of my favourite humans - he is so genial at all times - in fact much like Doug over at Chase Bliss. He's always a delight to catch up with - I feel like I've known him forever - while in real human years - it's actually not been more than a few years.
He's a very smart circuit designer - and of course with that great ear for tone - particularly on the fuzzier side of things. His circuits have an easy simplicity to them, but with an expanded and versatile delivery of tones.
I picked up the very last of the OC201 Preamps - which David had set aside for me - a really wonderfully textured fuzzy-drive pedal. And it was decided that I could take away the show edition of the forthcoming new pedal due on Friday - and which I feel very privileged to have in my possession. It kind of made sense in the circumstances that I should take that one away - rather than David needing to mail me out another - this keeps things a lot more tidy and more hassle-free for both sides.
I can't say much about the pedal at all really - until Friday - those at the show would have witnessed it for sure - it was front and centre on the Great Eastern FX stand. This is a really smart further innovation - and I look forward to sharing the final details in a few day's time!
I've yet to get both of those on the board - as I'm still finishing this mammoth Show Report write-up.
The two pedals featured here are the OC201, and a silhouette of the new one - all will be revealed on Friday!
Mad Professor - Jussa and Mikko
It was lovely to meet Jussa and Mikko for the fist time. I think Mad Professor have exhibited in the UK before - but not for a very long time! This is though their first time in years - hopefully they become par of the UK circuit now!
The big news on the day was the return of the Simble - my very first Dumble Drive pedal - and one which I still really love. Mad Professor reached out to original designer Lassi Ukkonen - where I believe this latest red edition is a 10th anniversary upgraded release - in very fetching red colourway (vs the original brown). I think the release date is some time next month / April - I will definitely look to add one of those at the time.
The other featured pedal is the Matt Schofield signature Supreme Dual Drive - which still remains on my wishlist - alongside the Amber Overdrive Custom, Bluebird Overdrive and Sky Blue Overdrive - all those are on the acquisition list - where the priorities cycle around furiously on each and every day - obviously based on opportunity and availablitliy - I always look to acquire pedals in the most cost effective way possible!
Sometimes that involved waiting for an offer I can't refuse - as happened recently with Fredric Effects - I can't really count on those too readily - and obviously need to budget accordingly therefore!
D'Addario - Pete and Luke
daddario.com/wykyk/pedalboard-essentials
D'Addario were at Birmingham too - where I alas missed them. Great to get acquainted here - the NYXL are still my favourite strings - while this show was all about the,
For this show D'Addario were focusing on their two smart <XPND solutions - <XPND Pedalboard and <XPND Power Lead Daisy Chain.
The first has a wonderfull snap lock mechanism to allow you to swiftly transform your board to larger or smaller format. While the <XPND Daiyschain allows you to freely move those power terminal plugs along a self-healing cable - which is all powered beautifully by a 10 hour clean power lithium rechargeable battery.
The <XPND Boards can accommodate a vast number of be pedals - while the <XPND Daisychain is probably better suited to smaller boards. Netierh solution is really for my 52 pedal rig - but for on-the-go boards - these are really smart solutions!
I laud D'Addario for its continued innovations - they consistentlyy come up with some really smart smart products - very much like the two categories here!
Rainger FX - David and Baptiste Saturday, David and Matt Sunday
Another family where I always get a warm welcome. I've done more onsite visits to Willesden Junction than any other pedal workshop - and am back in the fold again in June for another new release! All I can say about that is that it's the same enclosure format as the Pull Focus - and that it's a Hybrid circuit. I've picked up on a couple of clues as to what it might be - as always David has promised that it's unique and something never attempted previously! Another brand where every release generates a certain ripple of excitement.
Two of the Mini X-Series pedals are doing very well at this moment - the Mk.gee supported Reverb-X, and the hitherto somewhat under the radar Echo-X gated delay. The latter is one that I definitely need to add to my Rainger FX roster - alongside the new one that I'm picking up some time in June!
I very much look forward to sharing the details of the new pedal when it's fully ready for launch!
Intensive Care Audio - Doctor Patrick
Last I knew, Doctor Patrick was working on his DSP programming - but obviously hit some kind of roadblock for that - and has diverted down a different route now - as highlighted by his 'weird sounding' Death Muff - which features both Input and Output Gain controls - besides the usual Volume and Tone.
The artwork is also more jovial and slightly bolder with more white than the previous sort of ouline graphics. Patrick is always great with gain - and comes up with some really distinct tones and textures on his pedals - the Death Muff will of course stand out from the crowd - and I look forward to acquainting myself with that new format in June - which will involve another visit to Stoke Newington - and another hopefully Franco & Manca Pizza lunch.
I've paired the new Death Muff pedal - with my favourite from the range - the super versatile Vena Cava Filter / Distortion - which everyone should have!
Formula B - Marco and Mauro
formulab.it/store/en/12-pedals
A mentioned - Marco is this year's Cover Star / Poster-Boy - by virtue of the fact that this is his first UK show - of many hopefully. And he's updated the That Screamer Pro pedal with external Mode toggle-switches - which most of my readers were clamouring for. I don't really need another Screamer - I have at least 30 already. While wit the mode switches - this pedal is well worth it - particularly in the dark green sparkle enclosure colourway - that looks gorgeous. Marco should also make the That Screamer Super Pro - by adding in a 4th Countour / Mids control. In fact if this were my circuit - I would make the Tone control a Tillt-EQ and then add in the Mids Sweep / Contour - so a 4 knobs design!
I've paired the That Screamer Pro with my other current favourite Formula B Pedal - the Eighty Master JCM 800 Preamp - which also delivers great Hot Modded Plexi Tones. Moreover the Vinage Vibe is probably my favourite sounding Uni-Vibe overall - it has the most beautiful rich texture - which though doesn't get flubby / woofy when you put higher gain pedals through it!
Props aslo to my friend Jim at Boost Guitar Pedals - who's the sole UK Formula B Dealer - he's done a quite superb job for Marco in the UK.
Westside Distribution - Adam
westsidedistribution.com/brands/
Featured Brands - MXR | Way Huge | Jim Dunlop.
First time I've met Westside's Adam - who looks after the Jim Dunlop roster - including of course MXR, Way Huge and CryBaby Devices.
My 2 favourites here are all-time favourite Way Huge pedal - the Atreides Multi-FX, alongside the latest MXR Rockman X100 - the Tom Sholz classic - which is currently somewhat unobtanium. I made a strategic miscalculation - in that I did not predict how quick the X100 take-up would be. I had an opportunity around mid February - but prioritised other acquisitions at the time - and found out quite quickly that I had missed out - as re-stocks are not due until mid-April or so.
There are still at least 2 further MXR acquisitions on my list - the Joshua Delay, and Layers Sustainer - where I'm just waiting for the right opportunity. I did have the opportunity to get the Joshua at significant discount - but as is often the case - had higher priorities on at the time.
So there's still a few more MXR's for me to get here at least!
Jam Pedals
First time meeting Nikos also - UK Ambassador for JAM Pedals - in a similar capacity to Doug over at Chase Bliss. Most of us had already seen the Standard Octaurus Octafuzz - which Jannis revealed at the recent NAMM show. I have the pricier suede-covered original while you can get the same limited NOS Transistors - courtesy of the Standard NOS release. In fact two options are being offered - one with the NOS Transistors - and one with equivalent values, but Non-NOS and more affordable.
So one of the pedals was always going to be the new Standard Octaurus which launches in the next month or two - and the other here is my all-time favourite harmonic tremolo - the Harmonious Monk - MKII edition. The new Rattler MKII is also excellent of course.
Generally I'm pretty well up on my JAM Pedals acquisitions - I'm not sure there's anything on that roster that is still a priority - I think I already have most everything I want really!
Origin Effects - John and Jacob
Always a delight to catch up with John and Jacob - but we already had a pretty substantial chat at the Birmingham Show and nothing has really changed in the meantime.
I've selected the same two pedals as for my Birmingham Highlights - the very recent compact Cali76 Stacked Compressor - and of course the now perennially popular Deluxe 55!
I still have a few Origin Effects Pedals on my acquisitions / wishlist - I will probably end up with all of the Adaptive Boost. & Overdrive ones eventually - while Origin don't really do discounts - so I need to bide my time for some opportunistic acquisitions - it's forever about juggling priorities and opportunities.
I've always wanted one of the Revival Drive RD Compact Hot Rods - while I feel that Origin Effects are gradually moving everything across to the smaller enclosure size - so I will probably wait and see what materialises in due course there - I think the plan is to increasingly bring those pedals across to the small enclosure format - obviously depended on the nature and complexity of the source circuit.
Headstock Group - Simon and Dan
Featured Brands - Ibanez | Laney | Truetone.
So last year I feel that Laney was being repped by one of its own staff - Fenn, while this time around it's the parent Headstock Group that's repping that brand - alongside its other behemoth brand - Ibanez - with quite a few Truetone One Spots dotted aroudn the stand for good measure.
I have a couple of the Ibanez Minis - including the Mini Tube Screamer - it would be nice also to get my hands on the hand-wired Overdrive Pro edition pictured above.
While for Laney's Black Country Customs Imprint - I'm still looking to get my hands on some of those - including Andy Timmons' favourite Spiral Array Chorus!
Nice to meet Simon and Dan for the first time - Dan who is very well acquainted with Mark from Boss - apparently they've been friend for a long while but not been in touch recently until this show!
I'm very familiar with the Ibanez pedal range - including the new ones - while I've still to get properly stuck into Laney's Black Country Customs - I was due to get the Tony Iommi Boost for a period - but other priorities got in the way - and during my Andy Timmons coverage I was intending to get to the Spiral Array- but didn't get around to adding it to the roster - it will happen in due time. So many priorities to juggle - it's all about the timing and what opportunities are available at that given time!
AM FX - Sam
First show for AM Effects's Sam - where I might have mentioned that his logo looked a little weak and small on those enclosures. I would recommend a block device - like I did for Ritual Devices - that would make the logo pop nicely - albeit said logo could do with some nipping and tucking. Sam has been toying with 'AM Effects' - while I've shortened it to the snappier AM FX - and incorporated the typography into the sine-wave ident - so that it looks like some sort of scientific notation. The 'X' is a doubling up of the sine wave in each direction - I think it looks pretty neat - but needs a proper deigner for a tidy-up!
Sam is very new here - his pedals are so far only featured on the ttps://affordaboard.co.uk website - in fact just his Germanium Treble Booster / RangeMaster thus far - a very simple one knob job - most alternatives to those now have a range selector too - so 2 knobs / controls rather than the one. While you can't argue with the simplicity or the pricing here - @£90.
At the show Sam also had a Ge Germanium Fuzz Face, and was teasing a 'Coming Soon' Silicon edition - very simple editions all round. As a first attempt they look very good - with a cool knob selection. While I personally won't buy a Germanium Fuzz which doesn't have a 3rd External Bias Knob - in fact I really prefer those on Silicon editions too - as you get so many different voicings out of adjusting the bias - the tone and timbre changes significantly!
So it's a strong start in most regards - needs a stronger logo, and for my preferences and sensibilities - each of those pedals are a knob / external control short! They still look very cool, and sound great!
Source Distribution - Nico
Featured Brands - Eventide | Warm Audio | Vega-Trem.
First time I encountered Source Distribution's Nico - who looks after Eventide, Warm Audio and Vega-Trem brands.
Both pedals selected here are Eventide - I've obviously had the H90 pretty much from the start - so don't really ned the Knife Drop - but would get the Knife Drop if they changed how the presets work. On that enclosure format you can usually advance presets by holding down the right-hand footswitch I think it is - or something like that. While Jack While somewhat annoyingly asked Eventide to make it so that footswitch only ever takes you to the first favourite preset. If you want to access the other presets you need to buy into a MIDI Switcher - which is kind of whack! Once Eventide make a more standard functioning Knife Drop I will rprobably spring for that - even though said tones can also be created from within the H90.
There are two brands I don't typically support - Warm Audio and Behringer. Warm Audio actually started off well - tipping its hat in tribute style pedal editions to past classics - while for its second batch of 3 - they sailed entirely into Trade Dress Plagiarism territory - which is something I won't stand for. I've been involved in too many trademark challenges during my Advertising Years - to turn a blind eye towards the ripping off of someone's else's design. I had a really cool Luhta ski jacket for many years - which though C&A did an inferior copy of - which ruined the whole experience of that that jacket - it undermined and undervalued it - as happens when you rip off someone else's design and then undercut their pricing - it's just not cricket for me.
The below infographic explains my sentiments. The latest Warm Bender also turned out to be miles from what was advertised - I actually did a fairly favourable feature initially - but when the entire lack of authenticy was exposed - I had to stick an advisory note on that article!
Nico was very nice and understanding throughout - while for me Warm Audio (on the pedal-side) seems to be somewhat brazen and shameless at the moment - and yes there are all to many brands like that - while I promote decency, independent thinking and innovation - over straight up plagiarism!
Warm Audio started off well with its pedals - nice and respectful - but went rogue when copying existing and current brands. At the time Seab Michael al Lovepedal was and still is making Hermida Zendrives - as licensed editions, and Musitronics Mu-Tron - was and still is active with its own Mu-Tron devices. Fulltone was on hiatus for a period - but is now fully back in cooperation with Jackson Audio.
As a similar example - Josh Scott made some proper Klon Klones when Bill Finnegan took a hiatus / sabbatical - while when Bill came back with his Klon KTR - which is still manufactured to this date - Josh ceased making all his Klones at that time. While Warm Audio are still going strong with their total ODD rip-off - where they've even copied the side lugs of the Fulltone OCD enclosure - I cannot in good conscience support such a brand - as I feel such conduct is inherently dishonest!
I feel Warm Audio do good things generally with studio equinement - but they've gone a step too far with their most recent pedals - they can just look at what they were doing initially - which is the right approach - I find that conduct somewhat suspect - and as I already support those original pedal makers - I can't in good conscientious support plagiarised versions of my friends' pedals!
First three mostly GOOD - Second three entirely BAD!
Universal Audio - Sam and colleague
So I had my first clash of the day - in fact the only one for the whole show - with Starsky and Hutch over on the UAFX Stand. I evidently irked Sam's colleague - whose name alas I don't have - I'm not deliberately snubbing him - just forgot his name. I did check LInkedIn and thought I might have recognised him on one of those profiles - but I really wasn't sufficiently sure!
Sam was very much the Hutch persona in being very cool and laid back about everything - while 'Starsky' seemed a little more agitated. I was to be fair a little disparaging about the design of their budget line of pedals - which I felt vere visually poorly conceived and not really offering the lineage and upgrade path up the line to those beautiful milled aluminium enclsorures - with the scooped / indented facias - that form factor is just superb. While the smaller ones don't have an inkling of recognisably similar design language tropes - they don't look like they came from the same brand. There's a brand building exercise - say like for Armani Exchange / Jeans / Enporio / Giorgio - where you have a very evident and obviously aspirational brand upgrade path - I felt UAFX had missed a trick here - and those budget pedals could have been entirely differentiated - but sill have some obvious traits in common - besides some of those knobs! There are moreover some superb knob designs already out there - as exemplified by Oirgin Effects (Off-the-shelf), Rainger FX (Unique / Custom) Cornerstone (Unique / Custom), Colortone (Unique / Custom).
In any case - when I asked 'Starsky' if we were getting more UAFX pedal releases this year - he replied with one of those 'I can neither confirm or deny' statements - the only individual that offered me such a nonsense response at this show - I wasn't after any details - just wanted to know if we could expect anything new this year. Every single other brand - said they were working on 1, or 2, or 3 releases - schedule permitting and all that - no release dates or details were sought - just how many new devices we were likely to see this year - 'I can neither deny or confirm' is such a nonsense brush-off - it comes across as overly haughty and somewhat arrogant. It was late in the day on Sunday though - and I was already starting to feel fatigued. I just wish the conversation had ended on more pleasant terms.
It warrants saying that Donner have copied some of the aspects of the larger UAFX enclosures - so those designs are evidently reaching ubiquity now. I don't feel that they're really rip-offs though - the new Donner Yellow Fall is never going to be confused for a UAFX Pedal. While I don't think there will be anyone trying to emulate that UAFX budget line - there really is no take-away or residual there!
I'm still down to try the Ruby and Lion at some stage - but am waiting for the right opportunity to occur. I'm accustomed to discounts and gifed pedals these days - I feel I've earned that postion - albeit UAFX very evidently don't know me or my works - I just have to bide my time until something opportunistc comes up. Having me on side is really very beneficial to all parties - but of course not everyone sees that.
John Mayer famously said that all young players should get a UAFX Enigmatic Dumble Drive - as if all fledgling pedal fans can easily afford a $400 pedal. it's as misjudged as to say all young watch aficionados should get a Rolex Daytona, and all young car enthusiasts should have a Ferrari SFSC Spider.
In any case the Enigmatic feautures here - even though my friend and Dumble expert Henry Kaiser feels it'a a little laggy. The other one here is the Lion Plexi - which is on my wishlist with the Ruby - I'm definitely due to try those out - that's been on the cards for a while - but Im waiting for the right opportunity - say labor day sail or similar - which UAFX mostly doesn't participate in, It's a similar thing with Origin Effects - both those brands are nigh impossible to get at a discount - and so the wait goes on.
I wish Sam and his colleague well in any case - god bless you Starsky and Hutch!
Teenage Engineering
This is my one hat-tip to the Synth part of the show - it was the only stand in that room I was really excited to see. - in the upstairs mezzanine for that room. While I'm nor sure who was repping Teenage Engineering here - whether KMR or Source Distro.- there was a bit of that at this shows - many brands - but often as part of a Distro Roster - so no direct representation!
I own the very originall TE OP-1 Synth - which I got right at the start for something like £600-£650. That model was briefly retired when they ran out of OLED screes - which had doubled in price. The price went up to £1,200, then £1,600, and is now circa £1,800 / $1999 for the latest OP-1 Field edition.
I was most taken by the 6 channel strereo channel mixer - which looks like a prop for a doll's house / action man. TE's Jesper Kouthoofd is defitnielyt the Dieter Rams of his era, Teenage engineering have done some quite brilliant industrial deisgn - even for the likes of IKEA - I really can't speak more highly of any contemporaty brand.
I pretty much want all fo those devices pictured - where the most likeliest acquisition is that Medieval MCP style device - which is actually rather large - when initially based on those much smaller Pocket Operators - which I think I own aa couple of.
In any causee I'm far too busy still acquiring pedals - so all those TE devices will need to wait their turn!
Phantom / Unattended Boards and Sundries!
So as for most of these shows there were a number of 'phantom' or unattendedd boards - some of which were under the somewhat relaxed supervion of the GuitarGuitar staff members.
These included :
- Cornerstone - notable for the absence of the still to be released Nucleo Reverb - which is a little in development limbo currently!
- DigiTech - had all their NAMM related pedals - including the HamerOn which is out next month - and which I'm definitely getting!
- DOD - a cool little board - nothing new obviously
- EQD - featuring the recent Chealsea x LCD Soundsystem Bass Fuzz - or rather Bassline Fuzz - still something of a target for me.
- Neural DSP - I didn't really notice the Neural DSP Board - while one of my friends bought a Quad Cortex at the show - I've encountered him several times now - in the company of his equally musical son - but alas can't recall the name of either - really lovely people though
- Pigtronix - Some interesting pedals - nothing must-have there for the moment.
- Wampler - notable for the absence of the quite superb recent Cryptid Fuzz - which I have and love!
The following did not make the show because of the Heathrow Snafu :
DSM & Humboldt, Mooer, Rabbit Hole FX, REVV Amps
Note that I had intended to feature some shots of the unattended boards - but the combination of mesh wiring and bright blue downlighters really messed up most of those photos. The Wampler board was also rather large - too large really for a single photo. The lack of the Cryptid really annoyed me - so I decided to scrap all those pictures - it would have taken way too much re-trouching to make those look semi decent!
