2024 London Synth and Pedal Expo Pedal Highlights

I borrowed the above pic from David Greeves Great Eastern FX Instagram - as I did not take any pictures on the first day. This one was taken when the show was in full swing. The Saturday was the busier day, and for a period it was so busy you could hardly move!

David Greeves deservedly was the cover start for the show - in launching his really cool brand new Great Eastern FX XO Variable Crossover pedal at the show. A real treat for the more experimental tone voyagers among you - where you can frequency-split and combine two pedals in very interesting ways.

I'm not going to say too much about the new pedal here - you can mostly figure it out from my below visual. I will be getting deep under the skin of this pedal over this week, and will be exploring which pedals combine best trough the XO - and in what ratio!

I will be doing some serious digging into the entirely of my reference pedal collection - in order to figure out interesting combinations - and will be reporting back with a full review within the next couple of weeks or so! 

You very elegantly have two Send/Return loops where you can combine the Low Frequencies of one effect pedal, with the High Frequencies of another, and vice-versa. All very easily and smartly configurable via the perfect complement of controls.

NOTE - the XO Variable Crossover pedal is not officially released until April 10th - so please don't hassle David before then!

A lot more to follow ....

Cornerstone's Emilio has been working on significantly refining his brand over the last few years - which culminates in the superb quality of finish on his next generation of pedals - where those have been imbued with the most incredibly attention to detail - including some of the coolest custom knobs I've witnessed to date!.

I'm sworn to secrecy for now - I believe the official launch is on the 29th of this month. And all I am allowed to say is that this new next generation of Cornerstone Pedal is Emilio's long-awaited unique take on a Classic Fuzz - of course with a twist!

Emilio has done 3 teasers for this pedal to date - which I've compiled into the above visual - which should give you some idea as to the quality of finish and superior attention to detail!

I've known and corresponded and spoken to Panos for a number of years now, but this was the first time we got to meet face-to-face!

Alas he was just in on the Saturday - where he did though give me a thorough rundown on his new Jangle Master Top-Boosted Vox style pedal - in the same format really as his recent excellent Silver Jubilee Platinum Preamp.

I got to properly check out the Jangle Master - and it for sure has that signature Vox signature Chimey Sparkle - and with plenty of range onboard. I'm certainly looking forward to putting that pedal through its paces in the next week or two.

There was only the one show / demo pedal in circulation - so no opportunity to take one away at the show. It further makes sense for me to get in both the Platinum Preamp and the Jangle Master - for the usual slots #18 & #19 pairing. So I will be reaching out to Panos later today to make those arrangements!

The Jangle Master is the same form factor as the Platinum - albeit with slightly different controls, but very much based on the same principles - those are going to look great together!

I of course had to start the main body of the article with a picture of organiser / show runner, and my very good friend Paolo - who just happened to be standing next to another great friend - Doug - UK Ambassador for Chase Bliss. So by virtue of proximity - Chase Bliss gets first mention here, before the usual Alphabetical order applies!

We're all very familiar with Doug's Chase Bliss board by now - along with those two vintage suitcases!

Interestingly to space for the new Condor HiFi yet - I guess it would upset the symmetry of the board arrangement, and as a strictly limited affair - the updated / reissues Condor is possibly not that significant overall within the current Chase Bliss Pantheon!

Always delightful to see Doug at these shows - he is the very embodiment of gracious congeniality!

The Audio Distribution Group is another honorary family that I belong to - and it's always good to catch up with my brothers Tom and Phil. Where Bruce was also briefly in on the first day.

Plenty of cool stuff to witness on the most expansive stand for the whole show - covering most everything that Cioks, Death By Audio, Daredevil Pedals, Diamond Pedals, Dreadbox, Emma Electronic, EQD, Fulltone, Jackson Audio, Keeley, KMA Machine, Maxon, Meris, Nobels, OBNE, Peterson Strobe Tuners, SolidGoldFX, Source Audio, and Tsakalis Audioworks have put out recently.

There was supposed to be a new Tsakalis pedal launched at the show, but some last minute snags put an end to that. And the SGFX Aurras did not clear customs in time to be featured on that board.

So instead the notable pedals on the stand - were the return of Fultone, the full line of Keeley's recent 4-in-Series, and the still very imminent KMA Machines Endgame end of chain tone-enhancer!

It was lovely to meet Audio Kitchen's Steve for the first time - whose partner Kendra was in on the first day also.

I'm a huge fan of his solid-state Fake Plastic Trees EL84 Emulating Analog Preamp - which of course I own and cherish.

Steve explained that he was due to introduce a new compact filter pedal at the show, but alas ran into some last minute snags - such that said slot was instead occupied by a Chase Bliss Dark World!

I look forward to the final reveal of the new pedal - which shouldn't be too distant now!

It's always cool to see new builders - and Audiolithe's pedals were entirely new to me.

Based on a cool collaboration between Christophe & Gaëtan - whom I met at the show for the first time. They did not know who I was in the slightest - and I'm not sure they knew what to make of me.

Audiolithe has a cool compact and bijoux range of unique sounding pedals - fired from the combined imagination of Christophe & Gaëtan - and based on sounds they had in their minds - these pedals are a manifestation of that imagination!

There are currently 5 pedals to the range - the extended range Doomer Fuzz and its La Montagne junior sibling, then interestingly textured Extinction Drive, and finally Chosculpt Bass Fuzz, and Echosmos Delay / Echo. The cool graphics are by local artist / designer Jo Riou.

I look forward to collaborating with Christophe & Gaëtan - once they've figured out what I am about!

It was great to catch up with Fenn - PR & Events Manager of Headstock Group (Laney Amplification) - who was on stand-in duty for the weekend, and repping the Black Country Customs range of Guitar Effects.

I've obviously featured a few of those on this site - including The Difference Engine Delay, and Spiral Array Chorus most recently.

I definitely still intend to acquire a number of these - starting off with the Tony Iommi Signature Boost, and Spiral Array Chorus that Andy Timmons so loves.

Fenn told me that they make the Tony Iommi Boost in batches of 500 - which sell out almost straight away - more than 8,000 of those sold to date.

The Difference Engine Delay was meant to be on the board - but alas took on some damage in-transit - which took its display screen out of operation - meaning it had to be benched!

Also on the board was the Ironheart Foundry Series 60W Floor Amp - which I had quite forgotten about. Very compact and great sounding floor-based amp - somewhat criminally overlooked at the moment.

I admit that the launch of that somehow passed me by!

What can I say about my Boss Family - these are all brothers to me - obviously Matt Knight for the longest time, and Mark and Niko too - and a first acquaintance with Denmark Street Matt too!

Boss are so on a roll at the moment - they can't keep the BP-1W, IR-2 or ME-90 in stock these days - those fly out so quickly!

And it looks like the brand new Katana : Go Personal Guitar Amplifier / Ultimate plug-and-play Headphone Practice Amp will join those other 3 in mostly being sold out all the time! I really love mine - it's an extraordinary great piece of kit in such a smart format - the Boss engineers really got everything right on that one!

Those Katana : Go's were in high demand, and the 2 IR-2 that my Boss Brothers managed to rustle up - went very quickly!

These events really are like a family reunion for me - and I love catching up with my brothers - I did not realise Nico trains it in from Paris each time! And Mark has to cross the country from his home in Liverpool. It's a wonder they look so fresh-faced with all the travel that they're constantly having to do!

What a delight to catch up with Endorphin.es' Andreas and Julia. I feel I wrote fairly definitive pieces on both of their pedals - the Ghost Multi-FX Unit, and the Golden Master end-of-chain Mastering tool - which actually seems to be selling really well.

I've already identified the Ghost as a stand-in for my Hologram Microcosm - it's actually not at all the same thing, and doesn't create / deliver its sounds in the same way - but it is definitely eminently capable of those wobbly-twittery styles of tone.

The fact that I've made proper contact with Andreas - means that this is more likely to happen sooner rather than later.

We had some very involved chats at the show, and I look forward to catching up again - once he's firmly settled back in again at his Barcelona HQ!

The Endorphin.es Ghost and Golden Master are built on Andrea's many years of experience with Eurorack Modular Synths - and they're both proper floor-based stompboxes too! As I said at the show, there are elements of the Ghost - that remind me a little of the Strymon NighSky - of course 2 totally different pedals - but with a similar modular design philosophy!

It's always delightful to catch up with my Friend Nils - I alas missed him at the Birmingham show - so it was good that I managed to make amends at the London Synth and Pedal Expo.

Face MI have a compact but very potent roster - supporting Beetronics, Carl Martin, Crazy Tube Circuits, J Rockett Audio Design, Pedaltrain, Radial, and Walrus Audio.

So plenty of cool new stuff to see - including the new Black Stealth Walrus Editions, and of course Beetronics Abelha Tropical Fuzz - which I'm still considering.

I collaborated with Nils alongside J Rockett's Zac on the Archer Select - and look forward to further collaborations in the near future. There must be another new J Rockett pedal due soon!

This was my first encounter with Filling Distribution's Valentin and Carine. Where I kind of knew about them first through Break the Machine's Andy Birkitt - but this was the first time we met in person.

Lovely personable people and with a fantastic range of brands - including Caroline Guitar Co, Cicognani, Collision Devices, Vemuram, VS Audio, and Ace Amplifiers.

Valentin is seeking UK representation for those beautifully made (in Greece) Ace Amplifiers. They look gorgeous in their modern aluminium chassis - and are pretty unique in being able to cope with a number of different Tube types - without any need for calibration, and can even cope with mixed and matched tube variations. Great price point too at €990.

I've offered to help Valentin seek or out or at least identify the UK Dealers which could best make the most of the Ace Amplifier brand.

Yet another family unit I'm very comfortable with - I always receive a warm homecoming welcome when I meet up with Paul and Jan Flattley.

The Brand is of course riding high after yet another accolade - for its excellent DG Classic Fuzz. Quite a few of those sold on the first day in particular.

And the new Twin T Resonant Filter Wah Pedal is still doing really well - as it the Centurion Klone - in Platinum Edition.

I should be doing a collaboration on that new Wah soon - we're just waiting for some further video reference materials to be completed!

Paul is one of the hardest working men on the circuit - I don't think anyone turns up to more shows each year than Paul does - and not just the UK, but right across Europe too - a proper Journeyman!

I'm always glad to see my friends and family doing so well!

This is not the first time I catch up with Gamechanger Audio - I first met them at their first UK show attendance which was some years ago now. They remain the most creative crew out there in genuinely bringing entirely new things to the table continuously. And I'm very proud of my fellow Nordic brothers as most of us Icelanders view Latvians nowadays.

I had a properly in-depth conversation with Henrik about the use cases for the new MOD Series - which has been demoed extensively since its first appearance at NAMM, while it is still under ongoing development!

As I mentioned in my article on the same - I consider these more aligned with tabletop players - vs stompbox status, and possibly more modular synth than guitar - while Gamechanger will always attempt to challenge and change the stereotype.

The cool dual tracking and dynamic playback reaction is obviously quite ingenious - and it massively retools and upgrades the 70's Moogerfooger Patch-Bay concept.

For sure another GameChanging series - while I do still wonder about the various use cases - and which audience is more likely to fully adapt to this new way of music-making. Obviously some significant adjustment is needed for the average guitar player - and this will be an exercise as much about the education on what's possible for each audience.

I of course look forward to see how things pan out - and I'm of course open to be challenged and have my mind changed - there's much to like here as always, while there as some significant usability and practicality questions that need to be contained too!

I think regardless of how successful this format turns out - it will most importantly encourage and inspire new forms and styles of music making.

I need to plan another visit to Patrick's Stoke Newington studio. Last time I was there we had a really inspiring musical session - where we properly set the world to rights. And I managed to ignite a particularly strong creative spark in Patrick - which carried him through to the new year.

Our creative geniuses really need those collaborative sessions to properly fire up their imagination - and put them in the right mindset for making killer demos and the like.

The new Life Support Britpop Overdrive is still something of an enigma in the marketplace. Many people still can't quite figure it out yet - while back before Christmas Patrick played a 7 or 8 strong medley of 60's Psychedelic Pop - those particular Beatles and Rolling Stones periods, also early Syd Barrett Pink Floyd and 90's HeyDay Jangly BritPop - that's what the Life Support was made for.

But apart from Patrick's original demo, most of the others somewhat miss the mark. If only we had recorded the session - those snippets would be the perfect reference for the Pedal. We know need to work out a way of remaking that - so probably another appearance in Stoke Newington is due.

We still have the same 2 bestsellers - the Vena Cava Distortion / Filter / RingMod (my favourite), and Fideleater Lo-Fi Chorus / Vibrato Delay.

The new top-mounted-jack Death Drive enclosures have been held up a touch - but produced should resume very soon now.

Still plenty going on of course!

Always a joy catching up with Origin Effects' John and Jacob. While there's not much to report different since the recent Birmingham show.

I love the recent Origin Effect show display pods - and they've very neatly fit the current Guitar Pedal Range across just 2 of those Pods, while a third out of view Pod carries the various Bass Pedals.

The various Compact Adaptive Series pedals are still doing very well across both Guitar and Bass audiences. And we don't need to mention the Cali76's. Just to remind everyone though that the large original RevivalDRIVE pedals are being discontinued - so if you want one - now's the time to grab one before they're all sold out!

I'm lagging a little behind on my Origin Effects capsule collection - it kind of seemed to coincide with Simon Keats' withdrawal from day-to-day customer facing matters.

I would love to do more with Origin - while the ball is firmly in their court. I'm certainly will and able - but I no longer to the cap-in-hand thing. I grow weary of trying to negotiate my way into collaborations - either people are into what I do or they're not - I  don't really chase anyone up any more. I'm out there and active - and if people want to collaborate - then it's more about them really than me!

I always have a great catch-up session with PRS's Jake (Jacob Wix).

It's well known that my two favourite guitar brands are PRS and Music Man - and my #1 axe is my 6+ year old PRS Classic Electric.

That format seems to be doing wonderfully well in its very recently SE series incarnations.

In fact Jake telle me that PRS is struggling to keep the SE-CE and Standard-CE in stock - particularly the unique colour combination ones. Those and the SE-DGT's are pretty much unobtanium these days - they get snapped up so quickly!

Were I to go for another PRS now - it would most definitely be the SE-DGT.

While there are still too many pedals to get - so any new guitar will have to wait a while longer. Possibly a year or two more on the full pedal focus (budget-wise) - and I can start to branch out a little more!

I love catching up with my adopted sister Safia - whom I feel I've known forever. And it was delightful to finally meet her partner Mike. They were at the show in dual roles - exhibiting as Rabbit Hole FX - but also supporting Paolo in event organiser duties.

It's a wonder to see how well they work together - obviously something very serendipitous happening there.

So busy were they at the show that their stand often stood empty while they sorted out some short-term emergency.

And of course they had to fold all the tablecloths and pack away all the networked power supplies and peripherals at the end - such a long day!

Great to see them both so much in their element - the dream team is back in action at May's SuperBooth event - where Paolo / Delicious Audio will be hosting another stand and Safia and Mike will be lending a reassuring hand to ensure all goes smoothly!

Of course it goes without saying that Rabbit Hole FX make two of the most flavoursome octave fuzzes out there - equally adept for Bass Players too because of their Clean Blend abilities!

Another honorary family unit I feel very much at home within. I've been to see uncle David twice at his Willesden Junction HQ, and I will be there again in early May - as there is another Rainger FX creation being birthed right around then!

The Mk.gee / Dijon Reverb-X phenomenon is still very much carrying on (since August last year) - so that pedal is still easily the best settling Rainger at the moment. While the new Chop Fuzzz and Minibar Liquid Overdrive are still ticking over very nicely. In fact there has been something of a run on the Drone Raingers too recently.

I spoke with David about the possibility of expanding the Drone Rainger a touch further - so you could trigger more interval / key changes and properly use that as a dubby bass section. Will be interesting to see if anything comes of that!

Great to see that Rainger FX are still very much in the rudest of health - all those guys work so hard - David, Martin, Matt, Prav and Baptiste - they most certainly deserve to do well!

Another fantastic first face-to-face meet-up. 

I've collaborated twice with Tubesteader's Olly Balans and I really love his compact single channel format of Tube Preamps.

Those are the perfect form factor for me - and the combination of tube preamp, extended dual-footswitch feature set, a relatively tiny footprint, and relatively low power requirement / current draw - make those the perfect Tube-driven pedals for me.

I always wanted to dabble in Tube pedals - but they were always too large, or had impracticality power requirements - alongside several limiting factors.

When the Eggnogg Tweed Preamp first materialised - it was a proper eureka moment for me - and I've become a big advocate for that format.

The Eggnog is nigh perfect in its execution, while I love the Lightkeeper V2 even more.

Olly tells me the 3rd in the series is due later on this year - possibly around mid-summer - I very much look forward to that.

An in the meantime Olly will very likely be collaborating with Cornerstone's Emilio on yet another Tube-Preamp project.

I look forward to witnessing those two new pedals a little later in the year!

At these shows there are usually a handful of unattended boards - it's service that Paolo offers - and I typically refer to it as Phantom Boards.

While in truth some of these did have staff on hand at certain periods - the Eventide and Tonex boards for sure.

Alas there was no one in from ALABS - I did not get the chance to meet Jinbo face-to-face, and there was no one for Red Panda Lab either.

Both of those in my opinion really needed to be manned!

I think you're probably fine with simple 3 or 4 knobs pedals - the players can easily figure those out without manuals or guidance.

But there is some degree of complexity about both the ALABS and Red Panda Pedals. Secondary and hidden functions - and things like the Gesture Control on the ALABSs Pedals.

In fact all these 4 boards really needed to be manned to help with seam of the complexities of their use!

Still nice to see them at the show!

I was hoping to see Jinbo and his Singapore crew at the show - but no such luck.

A real shame - as it would have been so much more impactful to have someone show people how to properly operate those pedals - including the Gesture Control / ramping function.

Alas it was not to be on this occasion!

The Eventide board was mostly manned - while I think I can recall some periods on day one when it wasn't. 

You definitely benefit from guidance for such pedals as the H90 - which I of course have and love!

Where there is even the slightest bit of complexity you need someone to cut a path through that for you!

This was really just about the ToneX Tone Capture and AI Infused Amp Modelling Pedal.

Which is a shame really as the whole AmpliTube X-Gear Hardware series is fantastic - particularly the X-Space Reverb Workstation unit.

The ToneX sits with that same enclosure type and I consider it to be very much part of the same - X-Gear series range.

While IK Multimedia / AmpliTube seem to be rather promoting the ToneX independently. In part understandable as it would seem to be by far and away their best-selling pedal.

I've certainly considered it as a gain workstation for my own needs - and one of those for sure will end up in the reference collection eventually. I just don't have too much use for it now exactly!

It's lovely to see Red Panda Lab at the show - but  I feel it's something of a mis-step to have this board unattended.

I own both the Red Panda Particle 2 and Raster 2 - and there is definitely some degree of inherent complexity with those - and most players are going to need some guidance to get the most out of those pedals.

It's great to see the full range - the intention for me is to eventually acquire the full range, but I'm obviously lagging somewhat behind as I have just 2 of the 6 in the current range.

The challenge for me is that I have to share the love across several thousand brands, and I can't put too many eggs into one basket as such. So unless there's a particularly genre roundup - those pedals tend to be acquired very sporadically - on a best endeavour and opportunistic basis.