5000 Followers on Instagram!
Congratulations fellow Pedal Pioneers and Explorers as we are now Legion! after just a handful of years on Instagram. This GuitarPedalX Blog started informally in September of 2016 on the Affino.com company Blog (House-Heads should check out my 20 yr DJ Label Odyssey).
GuitarPedalX (GPX) was then launched officially in August of 2018 on this dedicated site, and has been on Instagram since February of 2019.
There are 1,316 articles on GuitarPedalX.com as of today, of which 916 are referenced on Instagram.
The rise to the first 1,000 followers on Instagram was incredibly slow, while 1,000 to 4,000 happened pretty quickly, but the algorithm keeps changing - and it was a fairly slow and steady one-by-one climb from 4,000 to 5,000. All of these are fully organic and voluntary follows - I’ve done no promotion or advertising, and I’ve not harassed a single being or entity , not even family members or freinds to subscribe - in fact I’ve rather dissuaded several as they were not properly into pedals. It’s all been rather excruciating at times watching the numbers step up a couple of units, and then drop back one and so forth - I’ve no idea what I would have done to prompt anyone to unfollow - I really try hard to maintain an air of positivity at all times!
I originally created this resource to serve as my own sounding board for what was out there in the wide world and how it compared within the various pedal categories and sub-genres - in an attempt to figure out which pedal/s were the best for my preferences. Hence the ’Guitar Pedal X’ moniker - which means essentially that there are several choices for you out there but only one - i.e. the ’X’ is perfect for your specific criteria. Of course it’s a touch more complex than that as it’s all shades of grey very often - so again it’s really about navigating a best-fit-line, and making better informed decisions - to more quickly get to where you need to be! GPX is also occasionally referred to as the Guitar Pedal Xperience.
My various GPX visuals are to be found all over the Internet - saturating the Google Image Search and used on numerous other social media and websites - including by Pedalboards of Doom members, and even a few times on Phillip McKnight’s ’Know Your Gear’ live show.
Mostly wholly without permission and frequently plagiaristically - in fact my images have often been copied and the copyists acknowledged or cited more often than GPX. I really don’t mind people using my images per se (which is why they’re not GPX watermarked) as I see them as a community resource to a degree - but it would be nice if they were credited to me at least once or twice!
Here below you will first find 5 of the most popular all-time posts / features on GuitarPedalX. Followed by the 3 most liked articles on Instagram :
Most Popular Articles on GPX
The Most Popular Article on this site to date has been 'Which are the Best of the Mooer Micro PreAmp Pedals?' @ 86,000 Views
The original '12 Degrees of Saturation - Key Guitar Overdrive, Fuzz and Distortion Sounds' is @ 62,000 Views
The key follow-up '12 Degrees of Saturation - Key Guitar Boost, Overdrive, Fuzz and Distortion Sounds - Updated Methodology for 2018' @ 50,000 Views
Most Liked Instagram posts
Despite the somewhat wayward algorithm one of this year's articles is still top - 'Key Moments in the Evolution of The Pedal-Chain' - @ 1,534 Insta Likes
Next is '32 Key Guitar Effects Pedal Types - Preferred Compact Pedal per Type : 2022 Edition' - @ 1,533 Insta Likes - and also from this year's crop
3rd most liked currently is 'Vitalii Bobrov's Drunk Beaver Secret Sauce Fuzz is a really smart and uniquely textured take on the Harmonic Percolator' - @ 1,465 Insta Likes
Final Thoughts
I'm very proud of my work to date, and I hope you've enjoyed the journey so far. So many of these articles are so deep and detailed that they can only really be created as passion projects as the real term costs of production would render them wholly commercially impractical and unviable.
It would be nice as a recap to hear which have been your favourite articles to date - and if you would like me to explore any particular direction further!
I have some grand plans for the second phase of GPX's evolution - which at some stage will include Steering Committees, Live Q&A's and and various Member Panels and Action Groups - with a range of interactive events and activities. Some of it will inevitably be Patreon-based / group-funded - while it's still very much in open blue-sky planning phase at the moment. So it would be good to hear from you if you see the site evolving in any particular directions and you would like to participate in making that happen!
This has been been really challenging and properly tough at times, few have any idea of how many doors have been metaphorically slammed in my face - while I still keep on knocking mostly - in hope of better times ahead.
I've made some amazing friends along the way, and feel that by and large I'm contributing very favourably to this industry. I will of course strive to do still bigger and better works, and I for sure would love to be involved in more pedal collaborations and development projects!
As they say in my native Icelandic - 'Takk fyrir samveruna' for all those who continue to voyage with us!
