Guitar Pedal X Levels Up with refined logo, updated website, and new activities

BOOKMARKS - You now have the ability to 'Bookmark' your favourite articles / content and access those through your Profile Menu or Link in the footer. You should note that in the top right corner of listed items there is a wee bookmark icon - this also appears next to the social share icons on the Blog Listing, and on article details screens. A hollow icon becomes filled in once you select it and those articles then appear in you Bookmarks Library. [/bookmarks]

BULLETINS - This is a self-service area where approved members can post up short-hand press releases. Intended for pedal builders and related authorised businesses to post up their own press-releases. Three of the main components of this are the BULLETINS PAGE, BULLETINS HELP GUIDE, and of course BULLETINS APPLICATION FORM [Registration Required]. Note that all entries will be Moderated - i.e. checked for approval before publication - but it should generally be a very quick and streamlined process - and should give you a relatively quick and easy process to get press releases up there quickly. As this section shapes up - we will likely give it more prominence on other parts of the site too! [/bulletins]

Note that this is the same functionality / technology as can be seen on Travel Trade Gazette's Noticeboard Page - I thought Bulletins sounded better for this site!

GEAR TALK - Our very own onsite Gear Forums - hopefully minus the Trolls and other likely pests - we will clamp down very quickly on bad and unseemly behaviour! We have some suggested Discussion Areas in place already - feel free to start populating them with your various paths of inquiry. Includes - Pedals, Guitars, Amps, Ask Stefan Anything, and Classifieds and Notices at launch. [/gear-talk]

HIGHLIGHTS - Key Landing Pages which group together some of the most popular content focus areas - incudes clusters of articles on - 12 Degrees of Saturation, Best in Class, Builder Profiles, Colours, Guitar Pedal 101, Iconic Gear, Pedal Chain, and Pedal Planet. I will probably do my Builder's Favourites next (9 / 12 of the Best Brand X Pedals etc.). If you feel other selections should appear here too - do let me know! [/highlights]

As I will be on a commercial footing from hereon in, I will need to be even more transparent in how I publish things on the site. I am sure most of your realise I could no way afford to do this if I had to pay full price for every pedal I feature and do deep dives on and which then enters the reference collection for future comparisons. That said I still feel I pay full price for way too many of those pedals - but one cannot be affiliated with everyone - and some people just don't want to play nice no matter how friendly you are! Increasingly builders are donating pedals to the cause, or else providing sufficient discounts to make this all viable.

So starting from this coming Monday each article will indicate if the Pedal was Donated to the cause (DON), Discounted in some way (DSC) or Paid-in-Full by me (PIF). As I mention elsewhere - no money changes hands for reviews and never will - those reviews are deeply personal, authoritative and authentic each and every time - and If / when I don't like something - it simply does not get published or appear on this site - except for example / reference purposes - like in my recent Warm Audio article. Guitar Pedal X is one of the most highly curated sites in this sector, and we have very exacting standards - leaning heavily into quality and innovation.

These are the letter references that will feature on articles going forward, and if none of these 3-letter codes is apparent or visible - it will mean that / those pedal are still to be acquired / might never be acquired!

Acquisition Status Letter Codes :

DON - Donated [added to Reference Collection]
DSC - Discounted [added to Reference Collection] 
PIF - Paid-In-Full [added to Reference Collection]
NTH - Nice-To-Have [Don't own - less likely to be acquired]
IWI - Infinite Wishlist Item [Hoping to own someday!]

As before only gear that I like will feature on this site - if there is a pedal that I can't find any redeeming qualities for - I will simply leave it out!

Because I will no longer be drawing a salary from my former full-time day job, my pedal-purchasing power will be greatly reduced for the next several months as I build up new sources of income.

I always say to builders 'Ownership is Affirmation' and a key endorsement therefore. Meaning that it's far stronger  to have me write an actual hands-on-review where I can use the full force of the English Language to describe my heightened experience of that pedal. Versus simply writing in terms of generic pleasantries like most everyone else does - somewhat removed from the source!

In coming months I won't be in a position to pay for as many pedals as I've done in the past - and the best 'reviews' you will get from me always come from a proper deep-dive interaction with the pedal. I pride myself on the fact that significantly over half of the pedals featured on this site are personally tested and regularly played by myself.

Some call me the 'Which?' of the Pedal Sector, some just call me a Pedal Guru or Fuzz Fanatic. While if you really want me to do the very best job for you - I will have to have some extended hands-on time with your pedal - actively working with it within my ever evolving pedal-chain...

One of the first things you will notice with the new design is that there are a number of banner placements slots / areas now within the framework. In fact 6 in total, or 5 additional ones - as the 'Supported By' banner/s have been there from the start! :

There are 4 Ad Banner Formats, across 6 placement areas :

• 1 x Full Banner Header @ 970 x 90 pix : referenced as [1] above
• 3 x Side Bar MPU Banners @ 300 x 250 pix : referenced as [2] [3] [4]
• 1 x Supporters Side Bar Banners @ 318 x 80 pix : referenced as [5]
• 1 x Pop-up Meerkat Base Banner @ 720 x 90 pix : referenced as [7]

Usual banner media types accepted - but a hard ban on rapidly colour changing / flashing or annoying and over-aggressively attention grabbing ones. Quality and context are the bywords here - and just as we have high standards for our content and visuals onsite - so there will be high standards for the quality of advertising appearing on this site - which will be moderated and managed by me!

• Full Banner (Top) and Side MPU Banners (x3) will automatically rotate on a 20 second timer
• Pop-up Meerkat Base Banner will appear every 30 minutes (once closed) upon new / page refresh
• 'Supporters / Supported By' Banners will stack on top of each other to a maximum of 5 or 6, which will then rotate if / when more are added

Ad Slots can be purchased individually or in any combination, minimum time period is one month, there will be an early bird discount in place - and early days pricing will be very reasonable and negotiable [POA] - with a fixed rate card to evolve / emerge by year end.

I said I was going to start off with a T-Shirt, Trucker's Cap and some Picks / Plectrums - and that has been visualised now as above. I'm really pleased with how these look!

I've still to figure out who's going to produce these and how - I would quite like the cap and tee to be embroidered - but it may not be wholly practical - the caps for sure should be.

And as for the Picks I'm still looking for the ideal supplier - ideally I'd want a Casein or Ultex / Ultem material pick - Jazz III size for me (1.5mm thick) - with etched and in-filled red graphic onto white. I will probably have to make standard sized ones too - if there is interest of course - to start of with we will only have the smaller Jazz III's - as that's all I use!

If anyone has any recommendations for suppliers for any of these items do let me know! stefan@guitarpedalx.com

I've not done the article on this pedal yet - even though it is available for order from the Bardic Audio Devices Webstore. I'm as usual waiting for a demo to be completed so I can do my full rundown. I'm actually really proud of this pedal as I had a hand in its conceptualisation - the Name, function and parameter choices are all mine - based on an idea I had when I did the 16 Iconic Amps article - and how a better Mesa Mark V Preamp pedal could be made. Tim at Bardic Audio and his designer did most of the heavy lifting, and alas unlike my work with Decibelics I didn't have any input on the actual sound design - so I can only really claim a slight ideation credit here.

I've done a couple of wee projects with my good friend Guillem Vilademunt at Decibelics - which are always great fun, and I've advised several builders on all manner of different matters pertaining to pedal conceptualisation, naming and even ideal demo artist for said genre!

I fairly regularly do my GPX Deviation posts - which most recently include the reference pedal for the new Bulletins area - the aptly monikered Lavaflo Liquid Distortion.

I've even proposed a Waza Craft Jazz Chorus pedal to Roland / Boss - which I'm not sure they will take me up on - even though there is a strong following for that.

In any case I have had a lot of experience with product design over the years (particularly in my advertising agency years), and would love to be more involved in various aspects of pedal creation - as a collaborator. I already do that to a certain degree - liaising, consulting and advising on a variety of projects - and there are a few pedals out there that bear the name I came up with for them.

At one stage I was due to collaborate on a Rat style pedal with Expresso FX - but that project never went anywhere. I was also trying to get Dave 'Pickdropper' Friesema to do a Mini MKII Tone Bender to go with his MKI and MKIII varieties - but that's another project without an ending.

I will hopefully soon be collaborating with my good friend Andy Sitek at Sitek Guitar Electronics - and I would like to do more!

I'm very keen on getting a certain Liquid Distortion pedal off the ground - if anyone is interested in working together on that!

And I would of course love to work more with other content creators on collaborations - possibly more within the YouTube domain also. I feel I have a lot of ideas percolating, and a lot to give overall on my favourite subject of pedals - if you would like to collaborate with me - reach out and let me know - stefan@guitarpedalx.com!

One area I've not fully sorted out yet is the Patreon setup and / or other forms of sponsorship and support.

There will never be external / 3rd party , AI-scripted or Auto-Generated Content or Visuals on this site - all of it will be hand-crafted and scripted by myself, and if GPX evolves further and decides / needs to bring on further personnel - then some of those may get involved in certain editorial projects - where all content will always be done in-house by real people. Right now it's all me.

I've noted a trend with YouTube and other social media channels / platforms where content creators allow supporters to sponsor certain topics - so paying some certain token amount to get me to write a piece - in this case on a particular subject or focus area. I've not put a price on that yet - but would want to know what you think about that first and what if anything my readers might want to part with to get an article written for their preferred subject area.

As for Patreon I'm not sure exactly what do to there - I know my readers and followers would like more direct contact with me - and I've thought to do central London Meet-ups and monthly Zoom calls and similar - a little in the style of Phillip McKnight's 'Know Your Gear' but with the focus pretty firmly on pedals!

I know I should have 2 tiers on Patreon - while $1 or £1 per month isn't really of help to anyone unless there are serious numbers involved - which isn't quite the case here yet! So I'm thinking $5 & $10 - and there will therefore be different tiers to member access and privileges, with some leading to advisory / steering panel positions and the like - if there is appetite for that. I would post up notices fairly regularly on Patreon for members - you need to let me know what you want here, and what you're prepared to give in return if anything!

I know That Pedal Show does a load of pedal give-aways as I'm a Patreon of that show. Obviously most brands send copious amounts of pedals into TPS fairly regularly - which isn't really the case for me - I frequently struggle to get just a Demo pedal for myself, let alone a second one that could be gifted to members as part of a monthly draw - while I'm sure something could be arranged - to run concurrently with advertising campaigns etc.

Some have mentioned doing pedal tours - organised trips to particular pedal stores etc. as well as more informal meet-ups. I've also considered a program of workshops - where we need to find a venue, but I would showcase a particular brand / or brands on a regular basis - possibly say quarterly to start off with. There would definitely be some structure to those Worshops - with some proper takeaways!

For those who really love me - you can sponsor an always-on 'Supported By' banner at whichever level of generosity you feel appropriate!

I will be creating a really cool 'Closing Film Credits' style Supporters Page on this website - possibly with some smart animations - a proper wall of fame! - once we've got enough numbers to make that viable.

I've had some very loose offers of collaboration which haven't really evolved into or amounted to anything much yet. I did a couple of pedal builder site visits last month (Rainger FX and ThorpyFX), and the intention was to do a few more in forthcoming months - but with a videographer in tow. Some were suggested, but again nothing really solidly has materialised or worked out as yet - so they're kind of on the back burner for now.

I'm still waiting for some more solid invites to get involved in various recorded discussions across miscellaneous media. I definitely have some ideas for YouTube content - but I need a proper partner or sidekick for that - some sharp witted individual that I can banter with and exchange lively views and opinions on all things pedal-related. Kind of like a Howard Stern Show on pedals - or in and around that ballpark.

I definitely need people that I can can collaborate with and vocally spar with in some lively fashion - what ever I do has to be lively and engaging - there's too much dull and dry content out there - definitely needs to have some verve!

By profession, training and experience I am principally a Brand Strategist - one responsible for creating, and evolving brand identities - from the ground up. Covering Name, and Identity Origination and Product Design - I've advised numerous brands over the years on all aspects of their outward identity. In particularly consulting with small to mid-size pedal builders in recent years.

Up until now all that advice and consultancy has been entirely free, and some aspects will surely remain so. But I will also increasingly be offering up that skillset to those that really want my input and are willing to pay for it. This gun's for hire!

As with everything I do - I'm eminently reasonable most all of the time - and I'm all about building up and growing brands and businesses. I will never impose myself on anyone - it's always a collaboration - and those brands always have the final say!

There was talk of my setting up a Marketing Services Agency at some stage - but that's not really a direction I want to go necessarily - I typically operate at a higher level and don't really have the bandwidth to be involved in more day-to-day tasks as such. I still have to do a fair amount of social media daily - while I'd rather put more of the effort into brand, product and content creation than the mechanics of dissemination.

It has to be noted that I'm still a one man team - and at times I'm already pretty over-extended as is. I've had a designer and a handful of developers to help me deliver on some of the technical aspects for the website update - but most of the load is / was still carried by me!

I often use the 'Royal "We" in addressing you - as it's a less lonely and more immersive word than 'Me' - but you can be sure that this is still pretty much a one man's mission. I would like to bring on some more of my readers and followers in on the action - in a similar way that Philip McKnight has done - just to ensure that comments and inquiries get responded to more efficiently and things generally go smoother. Since I'm working on so many things so much of the time - it's often incredibly tricky to break away to answer a stream of questions, queries and comments - and some unfortunately slip under the radar from time to time.

The ides is to do more of these spoken / streamed interactive sessions where comments and questions can be handled within a more efficient and formal manner!

Do let me know if you want to get involved in some / any way - and conversely if you would like me to get involved or collaborate with what you do. I'm never sure whether some people are kind of shy or scared of me somehow or just apathetic and laissez-faire.

In any case I am here for all you pedal fans - and will continue to do my best on all our behalves - and to keep the pedal industry innovating and evolving!

I don't believe there are many that get into the same level of detail as I. And I sincerely hope most of you are enjoying the journey and are on your own parallel ToneQuest.

Don't be shy - let us know what you want to see more of here! And do let us know if you want to be involved in some way and how!

Fill in the contact us form on this site (in the footer), or send me an email to stefan@guitarpedalx.com!