2023 January Pedal-Chain Update - Episode I - A Mighty Start

2 of these actually came in before Christmas (Eventide H90 and Norldland ODR-C 30A) - but since this is the first official Pedal-Chain Status Update since then - of course they feature here. The other 15 pedals all came in during January, and are all on the board, apart from the Mini Rage Machine and Riot!

There are so many really cool pedals in this selection - it's one of the strongest arrangements ever - and very unusual for the first month / update of the year! I keep saying I could just stick a pin in it now and chill for the rest of the year - I can't imagine that there are going to be many significantly better pedals release this year - it's surely a good omen for what's to come I supposed.

The Distortion Contingent is the strongest this month - largely because of my Mini 12 Degrees feature - while the other new pedals are split fairly evenly across the Overdrive / Fuzz / Modulation / and Multi-FX / Utility Pedals selections. Just all enormously impressive!

One of the strongest selections ever - each of these is at the top of its respective genre - all are must-haves as far as I'm concerned and will surely be in high rotation for many months to come - truly some of the very finest overdrives to be found anywhere!

• Nordland Electronics 30th Anniversary ODR-C Pearlescent White & Gold Edition
• Ohmless Pedals AKC-4 Klone + Boost
• Poly Effects Josh Smith Flat V Signature Dual-Channel Overdrive Pedal

Two of the new breed of dissonant / discordant distortions - in the guise of the Exploder and Roger That - which are suitably impressive - then followed by the 3 Minis that I was inspired to buy emanating from my recent Mini 12 Degrees of Saturation feature - all sound superb - while the Jubilee Red could so with just a little more output volume for my preferences!

• Beautiful Noise Effects Exploder Sunburst Distortion w/ White Noise+
• Fairfield Circuitry Roger That FM Demodulating Distortion
• Mooer Rage Machine Mini High Gain Distortion
• OneControl Jubilee Red AIAB Mini Distortion
• Suhr Mini Riot Distortion

The Bixonic Axentric is the surprise package here - while not exactly 100% in authentic Expandora territory - but a hugely impressive really versatile and vibrant sounding Overdrive, Distortion and Fuzz. The Donetsk and Goblin are much more traditional here - where the Donetsk is actually pretty smooth for a Ram's Head, while the Goblin is just as raw and visceral as you would want. Three really cool fuzzes to kick off the new year with aplomb - each is very different. The lightshow on the the Axentrix - makes that one a particularly fun to mess round with - and it can produce some really awesome tones!

• Bixonic Axentrix A1 DREP DSP Overdrive / Distortion / Fuss
• Drunk Beaver Donetsk Ibanez JD-01 Jet Driver Ram's Head style Muff
• Humanoid Pedals Goblin Tone Distorter Fuzz

Again - it's rare to get such varied and potent modulations all in at the same time. Tom Majesty's latest Gen Loss is just magnificent - and the ultimate tape style effect ever really - with so many cool variations onboard. Then we have the sleek Drunk Beaver Dnipro - which you can instantly flip between Flanger and Chorus Modes. And then the beautifully textured wobbly Leslie style vibrato of the Fjord Fuzz Njord - all distinctly brilliant at what they do - and each a classic in its own right!

• Chase Bliss Generation Loss MKII Stereo Magnetizer
• Drunk Beaver Dnipro Jet Flanger (Ibanez FL-9 [1981-84])
• Fjord Fuzz Njord ReslyTone Style Proto-Uni-Vibe Leslie Simulator

The killer category of the month for sure - with so many heavy hitters here - each at the top of its game - like the above overdrive trio. All of these are so expansive and brilliant in their own way - the Evil Pumpkin Ghazala was always on the cards - while the Muir Audio Morpthone EQ was a really pleasant suprise. And the H90 and Microcosm happened far sooner than anticipated. In fact the Hologram Microcosm only came about as I decided to move the Meris LVX off the follow - whiich left a big enough gap for it - that corresponded with a singular Ebay auction for a once-unboxed Microcosm - that I smartly snagged at a very preferential rate. In fact getting it significantly cheaper and quicker than  would have gotten it otherwise - where the only option is straight from the manufacturer. Those Microcosms are in such high demand that Reverb.com scalpers can put the up for sale at vastly inflated values. I  did briefly consider if I wanted to pay a premium for a limited Black edition of said pedal - but the Ebay auction was just too good an opportunity to not get in on - and I played a blinder really - sneaking in my final bid just in the nick of time!

• Analog Music Company Evil Pumpkin Ghazala
• Eventide H90 Harmoniser Multi-FX Workstation
• Hologram Electronics Microcosm Granular Looper Glitch Multi Effect Pedal
• Muir Audio Design Morphtone EQ Morphing Dual Parametric EQ

Amusingly although alphabetical - those are almost in order of priority too! For sure the Greer Black Mountains is high on the list as I've already ordered in a Greer Royal Velvet (Vox) to take over as the Brian & Eddie pairing for slots #17 and #18 for a rotation or two - and where I already know which will be the follow-up pair also.         In any case there's 5 pedals from this month that  didn't get yet and which I'm kind of interested in getting and on the board. While I'm already expecting quite a few pedals that are being sent in for February - and since I'm deliberately trying to limit my intake to no more than 10 pedals per month - then there is some fuzziness as to when and if some of those acquisitions may take place - but most would be fairly opportunistic!

• Greer Amps Black Mountain Crunch Drive
• October Audio MNTNS Phase / Vibe / Gain
• OneControl BFE Silver Bee OD 4K
• Summer School Electronics Science Fair
• Wonderful Autio Technology Fuzz Lands

So 17 Slots updated this month - meaning all the new pedals bar a couple of the minis got straight in on the board in January - and what a cracking assortment they are - I can see several of these getting through to the end-of-year Class of 2023 Selection!

Slots : #4, #10, #11, #12, #15a, #15b, #19, #20, #21, #23, #25, #30, #31, #34, #35, #38, and #39 are all changed up. With two very significant pedals being the Eventide H90 and Hologram Microcosm - those are the strongest possible pedals for those slots - and I don't see anything materialising this year that will knock either of those out of alignment - but we of course live to be surprised.

Several of these monthly selections are sidewise moves for the board - not really massively evolving things forward - just adding slightly different flavours - while this one is a genuine big step - as there are so many heavy hitters in this selection - which will either hold their slots through this year, or else stile the strongest candidate come the ned of the year - even if there have been some in-between rotations and alterations!

Colin Muir's Muir Audio Design Morphtone EQ Morphing Dual Parametric EQ is a fantastic EQ Pedal - super low noise floor, and super responsive. It allows you to carver out some beautiful frequency profiles in the most elegant way possible. The pedal is very obviously beautifully made - with custom knobs and lots of high quality detail touches. The only niggle really is its size - which is kind of necessitated by all those additional Send / Receive FX Loop ports. Overall though a really clever and distinctly new type of EQ which came at just the right time as the recently added Analog Music Company Evil Pumpkin Ghazala slightly colours the signal chain - and the Morphtone EQ helps bring things back to normal!

The Nordland Electronics 30th Anniversary ODR-C Pearlescent White & Gold Edition is immediately one of my favourite ever overdrives - it just sounds killer every which way. In fact it sounds so killer that I felt compelled to change the knobs to Gold metallic ones to match the other gold details on the pedal. The Nordland ODR-C was already brilliant - but this latest version raises it a notch above that even. The new Hi / Low Gain switch seem to really extend the granularity and range of the pedal.It really sounds superb - everyone should have one.

I mentioned in my overview of the Ohmless Pedals AKC-4 Klone + Boost - that there are sort of 3 extended range Klones right at the top of the tree. Matthews Effects' The Architect V3 was the first to be released, and the JA optimist (with Timmy voicing also), and this AKC-4 are more recent additions. The nature of the AKC-4 is quite similar to the JA typical format, wile the Oprtimist diverges a little from that multi-clipping template. Overall the AKC-4 format is my favourite and overall yields the most versatility for the Klone circuit - making it my favourite Compact Klone - to complete the grouping with the Decibelics Mini Golden Horse, and Medium-size Golden Royale - that trio really has me fully covered for all my Klone needs!

I've long since loved the D*A*M Meathead style of Doomy High Gain Fuzz Face style output - and the Humanoid Pedals Goblin Tone Distorter Fuzz is a distinct and unique member of that family with twin gain controls - in fact derived from D*A*M's sister brand EFE's Black Acid circuit. This is typically a little more potent than the average Meathead circuit - with a slightly louder and better balanced output. It can be really beautifully visceral at times - and has that super appealing raw quality to it that usually only the best fuzz circuits have. A very simply pedal overall - but really potent!

I've mostly completed the review of Analog Music Company Evil Pumpkin Ghazala Reconstructive Circuit-Bending Experimental Noise Machine - while creator Kostiantyn Kozlovskyi is still working his way through the instructions manual and there are a few essential bits and bots missing - including a few more core preset recommendations - so that project is very much a WIP and will hopefully materialise soon. The Ghazala is simply the best circuit bending format yet conceived - a sot of live bread-boarding experience where you connect different parts of the circuit together via 11 key switches on a separate module - which render all manner of cool effects - including various gain styles, drones, LFO modulations, bitcrushing, glitches and the like. It requires a certain explorer's mindset - but is enormous fun when you get stuck in. Note that there can be some impact on the rest of the signal chain - so that the Ghazala is actually best deployed indvidually or as part of a looper-switches based rig - where you can isolate that pedal's impact! t's a glorious 'Noise Box' in any case!

I've long wanted the OneControl Jubilee Red AIAB Mini Distortion - and my recent Mini 12 Degrees exercise finally gave me the motivation to spring for one. Björn Juhl definitely has a knack for Marshall circuits - and this one sounds fantastic - albeit the output is a little too quite for my preferences - meaning that the Strymon Sunset and Empress ParaEQ Deluxe boosts come to the rescue once more. This totally captures that core Marshall amp tone - it just needs to be a little louder to be perfect in my opinion!

So as the Drunk Beaver Donetsk Ibanez JD-01 Jet Driver Ram's Head style Muff is a Pedal Drop edition - i.e. rapid prototyping project - it basically means no demo, only 15 of these were made. it's a pretty rare take on a short-lived Ibanez Muff circuit - which actually renders a touch smoother than most equivalent Ram's Heads - and has a unique Germanium transistor Mod / Option which yields even more exquisite flavours. I believe this is my 100th Big Muff style Muff, while I most likely lost count some while ago - and this one is actually somewhere on the 100+ scale - in any case I considered it sufficiently unique and distinct to include in an already very crowded capsule collection. All of Vitalii Bobrov's pedals are pretty special actually!

The Poly Effects Josh Smith Flat V Signature Dual-Channel Overdrive Pedal is kind of the big surprise of the year as I certainly did not see this one coming. I've kind of decided what to do with it now, and am working my way through 6 core preset creations currently - one for each Clipping type, and one with Amplitude Modulation, and the other with Resonance Modulation. it's involving a lot of back and forth ad the moment - but I'm taking my time to make all those presets perfect. t's a really cool pedal - and I love its aesthetic and touch-screen natures - while some of the operation is a touch quirky and needs some taking used to. Overall though a proper revolution - and so worth it!

The Beautiful Noise Effects Exploder Sunburst Distortion w/ White Noise+ was something I was hoping to get in before Christmas - while it arrived very early January instead -  I see this as a new and current kind of trend - for slightly harsh and dissonant noise-makers - where you can put the Evil Pumpkin Ghazala and Fairfield Circuitry Roger That into the same category. I expect to see quite a few more gain pedals of that ilk this year - which are about adding unusual noise and inference. As a proper noise-maker myself - I genuinely love these kinds of pedals - where this Exploder is actually largely rather elegant - when compared to the Ghazala and Roger That!

So the Bixonic Axentrix A1 DREP DSP Overdrive / Distortion / Fuzz is actually a really original and worthy take on the Expandora - while somewhat more refined. This is particularly evident on the Fuzz Mode - which renders very smoothly indeed - and doesn't have those same ebb and flows of the original analog types. That said - this still sounds amazing - and is so easy to dial in - with 3-Band EQ on tap and so many clever secondary features - even the saving and selecting of presets is effortless - this is an undeniably cool pedal and a real joy to deploy.  I can pretty much control everything with my toes - and have set up my 3 presets with consulate ease - in factt tweaked those dozens of times. The accompanying light-show just makes it even more special. Its shape, function and output are all pretty exceptional while not entirely authentic Expandora to my ears - definitely worth getting in on though - just a beautifully cleverly design pedal all-round. The hugely bulky remote preset footswitch makes no sense - it's enormous - and you really don't need it - as I can hit the on-pedal presets with my big toe! I really can't recommend that additional footswitch - and it really weighs a tonne as its made from pretty solid steel!

Fairfield Circuitry's Roger That FM Demodulating Distortion is a really cool discordant radio-frequency-interference distortion - which sounds like you're getting a really ropy reception from a distant radio station. The way you dial in the amount of 'inference' is really cool - and involves safe-cracking delicacy on the dials - as tiny changes can often yield huge results. For me this is at its best when it sounds slightly aliased and bitcrushed - which is fairly easy to achieve.This is a sort of harsh and nasty noise-maker - and all the better for ti really. Certainly not for all you Eric Johnson smooth and elegant overdrive tone types! This particular breed of pedal is raw and visceral - as it should be!

I was a touch surprised when Fjord Fuzz released their Njord ReslyTone Style Proto-Uni-Vibe Leslie Simulator pedal so close to the recent Frei Uni-Vibe - while I need not have been worried as they're very different modulations - and the Njord is much closer to a wobbly sea-sick vibrato - which also renders really beautiful Leslie Rotary Speaker style tones. The Njord and Frei are totally different modulations - and I deploy them totally differently. For me the Frei sounds best in front of gain pedals with minimal Rate - while the Njord sound best post-gain - with maximum Rate applied! You can quite happily apply both in your signal chain to great effect - which I indeed did to during testing. Both of those really sound superb and combine brilliantly with all manner of different effects pedals - their controls allow them to sit very precisely in the mix - just really cool instant flavour and simple to deploy modulations! 

Another Drunk Beaver Pedal Drop release - the Dnipro Jet Flanger (Ibanez FL-9 [1981-84]) - which Christmas kind of got in the way of for me - so I get both Ibanez inspired pedals early this year. Both are superb - and work really well together - super smooth! The Dnipro is particularly handy as it delivers both superb core Flanger and secondary Chorus voicings - where you can simply flip the switch across for instant satisfaction. The PastFX PX65 already on the board can do superb Chorus and Flanger voicings too - but you need to dial things in differently to get optimal results. While for the Dnipro you can dial it in such that you can instantly and on-the-fly flip between Flanger and Chorus Modes - and both work really well - smooth and elegant, and flavoursome!

I had hoped that the Chase Bliss Generation Loss MKII Stereo Magnetizer might have arrived before Christmas, but it got to me in early January instead -which is still significantly ahead of schedule as the plan was initially before the end of January. USA customer got theirs even quicker - we in Brexit-bound UK need to wait a while longe these days to get pretty much everything - as it mostly lands first in USA, the EU, and the UK about a week or two later. In any case I'm really proud of my friend Tom Majesty - as his latest Gen Loss is a total classic - an incredibly machines really - and full stereo too! 'm already having a tone of fun with this device - while I'm really just scratching the circuit - there are so many fine nuances between the individual Tape Models that you can spend a week on each exploring the different possibilities. If you're into tape effects - then surely you have the Gen Loss already - or at the very least it's on your wishlist!

The Eventide H90 Harmoniser Multi-FX Workstation arrived much earlier than planned.  I was considering getting this in within the first quarter of this year - but came across the last one for sale on Juno.co.uk - all the other UK-bound ones had been sold already - so I decided that I should pounce on it. This of course meant I had to update my power supplies as I was already using all the outlets - and this one required a lot of power. This is for sure the moat power-greedy of my pedals - and takes several seconds to go through a start-up routine - like the computer it is - every time you power it up. I still find it a little disconcerting when it's making those weird clicking noises during power-up as if something is not quite right - but it of course snaps into action pretty regularly. I'm still navigating the various presets and trying to decide on which algorithm are to my preference - before I program in the latest Josh Smith Rotary Leslie settings - he's touched on it briefly on one of his videos (fast horn, slow rotor - and split across 2 channels) - just waiting for him to share those full details. The large screen etc. makes it a joy to use really - and it's somewhat significantly more user-friendly than the Meris LVX! So far so good!

In bringing in the Eventide H90 - this of course meant that the H9 Max that used to be on this slot was surplus to requirement - and  I decided that the Strymon Zelzah Multidimensional Phaser / Flanger / Chorus / Rotary / Tremolo would be the perfect stand-in for that. This will likely be a highly rotational slot - and I"m of a mind to get in some more of the Red Panda Lab pedals - which will also rotate on this slot - including the Context and Raster, and Tensor possibly too - while I've still to get a Bitmap - which will of course go in the front of the chain. In any case the Zelzah is a great Multi-Modulator - and really deserves and extended stint on this slot - before I start experimenting with those Red Pandas!

I've always loved the output of the Hologram Electronics Microcosm Granular Looper Glitch Multi Effect Pedal - while I could never see myself fitting it into my already heavily congested pedal-chain - where there really was no practical available slow. That was until I moved the Meris LVX onto one of the Mic-Stand shelves - which makes that much more practical to deploy - now at hands-reach. While its removal from the floor real-estate made that it opened up a space for the Microcosm. Apologies to my competitor on the Ebay auction for a mint version - I played that one just right - calculating what new one would cost me plus delivery charges and customs fees - and I scored a pristine one for significantly less than that! So far I'm still fairly rooted to the Micro Loops and Granules Modes - which seem to be the most popular in any case - I'm still getting to grips with the subtleties of this pedal - while at its core its really easy to dial in - and pretty much instantly satisfying!