2024 September Pedal-Chain Update - Episode IX - Bob-Rob Cavalcade

16 Pedals added in September + Dr Scientist BitQuest Bonus Pack. September very much about Overdrives, also significant arrival of the Strymon BigSky MX which replaces the Poly Verb for the next phase of the board. Pretty even-handed month - with additions across the board and in most key categories.

• 6 Overdrives
• 2 Distortions
• 3 Fuzzes
• 3 Modulations
• *3 Time Based Effects

A great month for Overdrives - with the review for the NRG Effects Purrer still to come. The NUX pairing kind of underlined my experience of budget effects - where except for a few exceptions - I, like my good friend Cohen Hartman typically find that the budget pedals don't sound as good as the boutique ones. As I said there are exceptions - but generally those use cheaper parts, and have less nuance and textural richness. It's like comparing with fast-food with high end gastronomy - the dearer flavours are more nuanced, flavour-full, and more rich and complex in their texture. I in part reviewed the NUX pair to set the record straight as to why I didn't typically review so many budget pedals - but some inevitably took a different meaning from that article and request that I review more budget offerings. I do still review budget offering - but only when there are some properly high quality examples that are worth sharing. Some of the simpler circuits you really can't got wrong with - and some of the budget versions are near enough as good - while as for other types there is massive chasm between them - as exemplified by HSE's Modded Joyo Voodoo Octave Fuzz - which sounds 100% better than the cheaper components original!

• All Pedal Jeff Loomis Devil's Triad Essentials Drive + Boost
• Jackson Audio The Optimist Cory Wong Dual Overdrive (Klon + Timmy) + EQ
• NRG Purrer Organic Overdrive + Boost (5K-2FS)
• NUX Diamond '63 Vox AC30 w/ Top Boost Overdrive
• NUX Plexi Crunch Overdrive
• Sentimental Bob Albert Overdrive + Boost OCD Xtra

2 Distortions this month - both killer and will be in high rotation - the JHS Hard Drive is Dense, Tight, Punchy, Chunky, Low End Monster - and the new Rainger FX Pull Focus delivers soaring, singing, searing, and sustaining modulated distortion - sound quite superb - with more than a hint of fuzz dynamics!

• JHS Hard Drive High Gain Distortion
• Rainger FX Pull Focus Singing Sustaining Distortion / Fuzz

A killer fuzz selection for the month too - all those are exceptional and will be in high rotation going forward. Each one is exceptional in what it covers and delivers across all aspects of the pedal and circuit design. A somewhat embarrassment of riches!

• Fjord Fuzz Måne Filter Fuzz x 2
• Keeley Octa-Psi Transfigurating Fuzz
• NRG Fuzzer Classic Silicon Fuzz (4K-2FS)

September was intended to be the month of Tremolo, to underline my year of Tremolo. And while 3 landed this month there are still some to arrive - so the roundup is happening in October instead. My Tremolo Selection was lagging a little behind my other modulation categories - while I think I've slightly over-compensated in this 'Year of the Tremolo' and there will be 30 pedals in my Tremolo Capsule Collection rundown - which is a lot - coming in October!

• JHS Series 3 Harmonic Tremolo
• Mattoverse Inflection Point Tremolo / Vibrato / Reverb / Boost
• Sentimental Bob Tacana Tap Tremolo

The big news here is the arrival of the Strymon BigSky MX - which takes over from my Poly Verbs. I still really like the 'Verbs' but is has some weird operational niggles - an extraordinarily long start-up time - which glitches out every now and again, a propensity to always default to the 1st Preset, and has an inherent lack of tweakablity! The core algorithms are brilliant - but the shaping controls are so subtle and minimal - that a lot of the time you're wondering how little impact they're having on the output. The BigSky MX has been on the board for a few weeks - and I have nothing but great things to report about that so far - in so many ways it's a more suitable Reverb Pedal for me than the Poly Verbs - while I still really love some of that one's unique algorithms. I'm kind of spoilt for choice with reverbs - with so many great ones in my collection - that I'm really covered for life there!

• Boss SDE-3 Dual Digital Delay (EVH)
• * Dr Scientist BitQuest Bonus Pack!
• Strymon BigSky MX Dual Channel Multidimensional Reverberator

So for September - most of the stuff I featured was already in the reference collection, or on its way in. So there aren't too many pedals that go on the wishlist this month. I kind of do want some Devtech ones in for review - while Devtech's Terry Crawford seems a little over busy at the moment to accommodate me, I also really want a Discomfort Design Phantom Limb - where Henry Kaiser supposedly put in a good word about me to Justin @ Discomfort - while there doesn't seem to be much appetite there for a collaboration as of yet - I will follow up further in October and see where we get too - nothing is ever a total lost cause - Manifest Destiny can overcome all obstacles in the end - and those challenges just end up as asynchronous anomalies across the sands of time! 

• Devtech Audio - Evolve Overdrive, DSOTM Fuzz, Skylight Overdrive
• Diamond Pedals Dark Cloud Textural Delay
• Discomfort Designs Phantom Limb Multi-Microlooper & Delay
• EarthQuaker Devices Dirt Transmitter V2
• Mooer Devin Townsend Ocean Machine II
• Noise Engineering Dystorpia Digital Distortion
• Nobels ODR-1X Natural Overdrive
• Swamp Witch Silver Birch Parallel Model-T
• ThorpyFX Pumpkin Cloud Fuzz
• Walrus Audio Mako MKII M1 Multi-Modulator

20 Slots updated this month - somewhat dominated by Overdrives and 2 brands in particular - Keeley Electronics and Sentimental Bob Electronics - hence the Bob-Rob Cavalcade title!

It wasn't just a matter of new entries this month, but a fair amount of rotation - and bringing some favourite and highly loved pedals back into circulation - Slots #2, #4, #5, #9a, #9b, #10, #11, #12, #15a, #15b, #15c, #18, #19, #21, #24, #26, #30, #31, #38, #41.

It's a rare month where ever row is impacted - there are some fairly significant changes to the board this year, and a number of those will hold onto those slots through to end of the year.

Keeley's new Octa Psi is a fantastic mix of Octave Fuzz and Dynamic Polyphonic Pitch-Shifting - with a slew of special features to get the maximum out of that format - both sides are exceptional on their own, and magical together - covering a fair amount of the DigiTech Whammy features too - perfect for your Tom Morello style effects.

My very first NRG Effects beautifully reflects the meticulous touch of creator Neil Grimes - a really smart compact classic silicon fuzz - warm and expressive and wholly vintage inspired - but with some enhancements for more consistent and superior output. For sure one of the very best 2-Transistor Fuzzes out there - both in its feature set and quality of output.

Another Fjord Fuzz classic - particularly on Resonant Filter and Low Gain / More Dynamic Fuzz Mode. It renders in that slightly raw and visceral quality that Fjord Fuzz is so well known for - a glorious fuzz - and even more so in the all-white Snow White colourway!

A greatest hits RaingerFX pedal - taking the best of its El Distorto, Freakenbender, Break Box, and Reverb-X pedals. A fantastic searing, singing, sustaining modulated distortion / fuzz!

My second NRG Effects pedal - the beautifully warm and even-toned, mostly smooth low-to-high-gain Overdrive + Boost. It's its own thing really, while closest in profile to a Blues Breaker - I'm waiting for Neil to do the demo for this new edition - and will sync my review with that - hopefully just a week or two away! Will add that demo video here when it materialises.

The first of the Keeley 4-in-1 Series - which I actually reviewed last month, and then each of the other 3 on following weeks. The Octa Psi launch deferred the final head-to-head post which will appear on this coming Tuesday now - where I pick out my overall favourite Settings Variants, and my favourite 4-in-1 type overall - where I will rank them in order - of course with full rationale - while the meat of that is out there already in those 4 individual reviews!

I was actually a touch surprised as to who much I liked the Cory Wong JA Optimist - its combination of Klon and Timmy voices are already great, and the significantly further improved by the independently selectable 3-Band EQ - whose active nature kind of makes that work as a boost too. A really smart take on a dual overdrive!

If you love both the classic OCD, and OCD Ge edition - then you get both of those in this one unit - with an additional output boost, and fat bass boost. Meaning it takes you well beyond the original format. This is not quite as impressive as the Tephra - which has even greater range - and benefits from a fully independent Boost - while the one on the Albert is not independent such that you can deploy it on its own - which is one of the things that makes the Tephra so special!

On slots #15a - #15b we have the remaining 3 variants from the Keeley 4-in-1 Series starting with the Blues Breaker + OCD - Blues Disorder edition - which I particularly like with Blues Breaker Clipping combined with OCD Tone-Stack. Great sounding dual overdrive with 4 output options!

For the Keeley 4-in-1 Super Rodent - the favourite setting is SD-1 Clipping with Rat Tone Stack - nicely beefs up the Super OverDrive soundstage! That's the main draw here for me - the improved SD-1 voicing - I obviously have plenty of superior Rats as is!

And finally the 4th of the Keeley 4-in-1 Series - the Angry Orange - combines Civil War Muff with Boss DS-1 Distortion. Best sounding mode here for me is the DS-1 Clipping with Big Muff Tone Stack - while it's still not nearly on par with Robert's superb DS-1 Ultra Mod - which adds a lot more low end punch into the signal. 

I'm flipping slots #18 & #19 around again - it used to be Top Boosted AC30 and then Plexi / JCM800 - but it somehow got switched around over time - I'm sure there was a reason then - while I can't recall what it was - so I'm flipping back to the original order. And the Tanabe May Queen is now pretty permanently on this slot - as my favourite Brian May tone to-date - perfect for Bohemian Rhapsody style sounds in particular!

To pair with the Tanabe May Queen on slot #18, I have the Colombo EVH style Eruption - a totally instant Eddie pedal - sounds fantastic - and along with the Tanabe May Queen - a killer paring - as really simple petal but instantly delivers that Brown Sound flavour.

Hopefully it's obvious now how much I like this particular take on the Rat in general and Sunn O))) Life Pedal in particular. You have +60dB of main gain, along with +30dB of independent boost - for the most enormous range of glorious rat style tones - sounds immense every which way!

I already really loved All-Pedal's Samurai Bushido Drive, and the Devil's Triad Essentials seemed like a further evolution of that - with additional dual Pre and Post Boost - and it's totally lived up to expectation. Not as high gain as you might imagine - where it's neighbour - JHS's Hard Drive has several higher gears - but still potent - and really tight and punchy!

The really aptly named JHS Hard Drive - is dense, tight and super chunky. Absolutely perfect for palm-muted chugging - I really rather like it - and it would definitely make it into the Full Metal Racket Selection!

The Sentimental Bob Tacana is an excellent bright and sparkly 18 Waveform Tap Tempo Amplitude Tremolo - with fantastic variability and Wave-shaping! Really like this one - even though my favourite varieties of Tremolo are typically Harmonic ones!

The already brilliant Dr Scientist BitQuest gets a further lease of life with the newly released 'Bonus Pack' - which gives you all 16 Atmosphere Reverb Algorithms, and a further 8 Tremolo Algorithms - across both Clean and Fuzz Modes. Some fantastic voicings in among those - alas the the BitQuest and Atmosphere are mono formats - but even then those Reverbs sound hugely impressive!

Boss distills is SDE-3000 down to more manageable proportions - with smart modulation controls, Hight Cut and genius Time Offset control for the second Stereo Channel. Sounds amazing - and is a breeze to use - especially compared to its much larger sibling.

So while I really love the sound of my Poly Verbs, there were a number of niggles with its deployment - its incredibly long start-up time - which glitches out every now and again, the fact that is always starts up on Preset 1, and the fact that there is minimal tone-shaping onboard - some of those controls are so subtle - you almost feel like they are placebo types! It's a great sounding Reverb with some superb algorithms onboard - but it's not altogether a totally satisfactory experience. I've only had the Strymon BigSky MX for a few weeks now, but I much prefer its deployment overall - almost instant start-up and starts where you ended your last session - really easy to navigate and tweak on-the-fly with much improved screen and control topology compared with its 11 year old forebear!

There's a lot of pre-release details coming out of the Guitar Summit - including the fantastic forthcoming Paul Davids Signature Cornerstone Nucleo Reverb - every pedal Emilio designs seems to get progressively prettier - he's on an amazing trajectory currently.

So there's a few more things to come out of the Summit - but probably not in a format that I can use - I'm not a type merchant - and usually need some tech specs and at least one official demo before I can do anything with a pedal!

Obviously my big Tremolo rundown is happening in October - 30 pedals in all - all in the reference collection - hopefully covering as many bases as possible! Also my final Keeley 4-in1 Series head-to-head article materialises on Tuesday - it's already locked and loaded! And I will also be doing my long awaited Voxy/Plexi Pair Article - vis-a-vis slots #18 and #19.

Lots of new releases coming up - which include the new Horrothia Lutz Fuzz - which I'm picking up at the Bristol Wassup Nerds Events - happening on 5th of October at BIMM - will be catching up with a lot of old friends there. And we have the London International Guitar Show at the end of the month - at Kempton Park Race Course  - on the 27th of October - so events at either end of the month.

In October Guitar Pedal X is also getting a brand refresh - for all of those what felt the logo was looking too much like the new Twitter one - even though mine predated that by several years. In any case we'll be making something of a departure in the styling - you will see that soon enough. Alongside the new brand launch, we finally have the GPX AI Search Channel going live - which will be reserved for Patreon supporters - that gives you an enhanced access to the content of the site - and you can get the system to generate recommendations lists. While there are still issues with AI as regards concurrency, and number type questions - there will be a guilde out at the time. It's a big thing for sure - and will be great for anyone who uses this website a lot!

Do consider supporting me on Patreon - the perks of that are growing, and more will be coming that way in the future.

As usual if you want me to cover off any areas in particular - do drop me a note! October is my birthday month too - so I'm expecting it to be grand!

Here follow some of the previews for what is coming up next month (that I can reveal) - along with a sample shot of the December Cornerstone release at the end!

Note that some of those are fairly rough cut previews, and others are more finessed.

Starting with the two big rundowns :