The Birmingham Guitar Show 2024 Highlights

Collision Devices get the main cover shot this year for a number reasons - including their amazing looking new prototype All-in-1 Custom Showcase pedal - featured in the above visual. A little bit reminiscent of the kind of work that JAM Pedals do - but also with a sort of retro-futuristic modular synth aesthetic. There's obviously a degree of duplication of effects there, while it will for sure make a wonderful centrepiece to all of Collision Devices' future show attendances. There were various aspects that singled it out as a prototype - none more so than the multiple power-supply ports. The final version will be sleeker still, and could conceivably deliver a somewhat more compact footprint too.

Baptiste and Denis don't venture out too much from their HQ at Angers, Pays de la Loire - sort of midway between Nantes and Tours, in a region we Brits used to historically know as Brittany. They've attended NAMM just once I believe - back in 2022, and we were now blessed with their presence in the UK for the first time - which I'm hoping will become a regular event.

I've been communicating with Baptise mostly, and mainly over Intstagram - since just after the TARS first materialised - indeed I was wowed at first encounter. I was hoping to review that first-hand shortly after, and indeed the simpler Singularity Fuzz too - but despite lots of good intentions on both sides - it's not quite happened yet. The first overall TARS run of 500 units is now wholly sold out, and Collision Devices are working hard on getting the next batch out - I will for sure be following up with increased intensity - I'm so keen for this to happen at last. It was supposed to be sorted by the final best of the year rundown for 2023, and then early in the new year - but various snags seem to have way-laid that so far.

Baptiste and Denis have known each other since University, and decided in around 2016 / 2017 that they wanted to jointly conceive and design an effects pedal that would sound like their perception of a black a hole. And so as launched in 2017 - the Black Hole Symmetry was created with those now highly evident attention to detail qualities - and with its unique combination of Fuzz (Singularity), Pitch-Shifted Reverb (Event Horizon), and Modulated Delay (Ergosphere). That first pedal is still their flagship pedal and bestseller to-date, while there is every indication that that the TARS will soon overtake that - its impact really has been sensational. Everything is Made In France - including those fabulous milled saucer / bolero style knobs!

For the TARS it's not just the look of the pedal but the unique way those effects can be delivered in paralle which makes all the differencel. Yes it's a kind of Filter Fuzz, but there are things it does that no other of that type covers. Some say it should have an additional expression port or two for better controlling the filters - while I'm happy to control those with my toes! As how I manipulate most of my analog pedals too!

The Black Hole Symmetry made a wonderful impact when the first materialised - and the TARS very much continues to hone that legacy.

FX Pedal Planet Steve with Baptiste (c/o FXPP)

It was a genuine delight to finally get propery acquainted with Baptiste - for he was the one I made first contact with. It took a minute for it to sink in who I was, but we got along pretty well after the introductions. It's always nicer to be able to put a name to a face and speak to that someone properly person-to-person.

We were just starting to get into more in-depth / insightful territory when Baptiste's attention was abruptly interrupted by another urgent matter. Fortunately Denis was standing close by and was able to continue the conversation to its natural conclusion.

Baptiste and Denis jointly share the visions and mission for Collision Devices - while Baptiste covers the Design / Aesthetics / Materials and Marketing Roll, and Denis looks after the Engineering and Sound Design. There are two further more recent colleagues - Aubin, who assists Denis on Product Development, and Nicolas who manages the assembly process. Two cats also share some minor rolls - Bernie & Pol!

FX Pedal Planet Steve with Denis (c/o PPFX)

When I first arrived on the Boutique Guitar Collective / Collision Devices stand - Denis was already engaged in conversation, where Baptiste was free. While partway though my conversation with Baptise - he was interrupted by a somewhat urgent matter. Fortunately by that time Denis had become free - and I was able to get the full rundown of how Collison Devices came about, how they all worked together, and where they were heading next.

I understood there were two new pedals coming this year - where one is definitely the secret project that Aubin is working on with Denis, and involves some Spin FV-1 magic I think - or at least that's how I remembered it.

It felt like Denis and I had been firm friends for a long time - while I think this is the first time I've spoken to him properly - I love hearing out the inner workings of pedal brands and what makes each one so special. And there's definitely a unique chemistry there between Baptiste and Denis which can so easily magic up these sorts of devices. It kind of reminds me of the Kernom / Devialet team too!

Both those companies share a singular passion for aesthetics, material choices and sound design - and they're both French! Must be something in the water!

I really feel part of the Audio Distribution Group family now - I've known Bruce, Tom, and Phil for several years now and I believe we've established a really great rapport. Every one of these events feels a little like some sort of reunion.

Bruce is mostly full-on repping for Aim Audio these days - and desperately needs some time off! He gave me a wonderful demo of the new Aim Audio Inspire Pro Studio Condenser Microphone - which has that superb Made-in-Berlin quality and has a feature set like no other mic. There are still some last minute refinements to be made to the manufacturing the process - while this 4 year project is teasingly close to full manufacture now - preview reviews have been incredibly encouraging.

Also on the ADG stand was the recently launched KMA Machines End Game - end-of-chain optimiser - first time in the UK for those that wanted to properly check it out.

I had been promised a Peterson Mini Tuner for a while - but forgot to remind Bruce and Phil right before the show - so that got left behind! I was also hoping to pick up an SGFX Aurras - while those have still to clear customs! So I'm really looking forward to the London Synth & Pedal Expo in two weeks' time - when Bruce will be taking a well-deserved rest, and I will need to badger Phil to remember to sort those out for me!

There will be exciting new pedals from Keeley Electronics by the next show too, and there are still a couple of EQD pedals I need to pick up on, and I really kind of want a different artwork alternative for the KMA Mandrake Octave Fuzz - I don't mind the artwork / design, but for some reason don't seem to get along with the colrourway way - something about it upsets my sensibilities. That is the way with OCD sometimes - you know something is bothering you, but you cannot always readily put a finger on it!

BOSS is another family I feel I've long belonged to - Matt, Mark and Nico in particular always make me feel very welcome, and it was great to run into former Roland Store manager Chris at the event too - who is now solely responsible for hunting down suitable new Boss Dealers - mostly in the northern half of this fair land! The assembly of so many Boss operatives really reminded me of the In The Loop event a couple of years back - where I got to meet the entire United Nations of Boss. Hardly anyone works from an office any more - they're all free-roving kind of secret agent operatives - each with their own specialism - and it's always nice to see so many assembled in one place.

I understand Mark and Nico will be back on prime-time duty in manning the Boss stand at the London Synth & Pedal Expo - so same as last year then!

For me Boss is THE OG Pedal Brand and long-reigning Champion and King of the Pedal Domain - its engineers attention to detail is legendary - every Boss pedal is robustly over-engineered for a lifetime of use and abuse. And apart from that short period where Boss let TC Electronic muscle them a little off of Prince's pedalboard - they've pretty much always been at the top of their game. They also do the best merch - where the Boss swag is always on point!

Boss is definitely on a roll these days - and particularly as regards their 3 recent bestsellers - the BP-1W Booster/Preamp, IR-2 Amp & Cabinet Emulator, and ME-90 Multi-FX Guitar Effects Processor. Alas all of those are pretty much unobtanium these days and get snapped up on sight pretty much immediately - if you every manage to track any down.

Boss deliberately piggy-backed off PMT this year - so that they could sell pedals at the show, while all their bestsellers were pretty much already out of stock, so the effort was a little moot, and the conversations about those pedals a little awkward in the need to guesstimate likely restocking times!

The DM-101 is still my favourite all-time delay pedal, and missed out just by a whisker for product of 2023 - which accolade was kind of grabbed by the Kernom Moho Magmatic Multi-Fuzz at the last minute.

Last year for Boss was a killer release year though, so it's understandable that they've taken their foot off the gas a little this year. The next new Boss pedal is not due to land until the 3rd Quarter of this year, while we do have an exciting new product launching in a couple of weeks' time which I think a lot of people are going to love!

I kind of made the mistake of doing the rounds with Matt - he's just too well known nowadays - you barely get 10 paces before someone waylays him! I did manage to introduce him to the Collison Devices guys though - before he got hijacked on the Chapman Guitar stand for quite a while - where I think he managed to wrangle himself yet another pink guitar. Warning to all guitar builders and luthiers that any and every pink coloured guitar will at some stage be claimed and requisitioned by either Matt or his partner Joe from Guitar Nerds - it is the law!

It's always a pleasure to catch up with Buzzing Bugs' Dan - whom I first encountered at his first show I believe - which was last year's Brighton Guitar Show. I loved his then two first pedals on first encounter, where I commented that they would likely look a little better with those sleek silver hued milled aluminium knobs. And hey presto! that's exactly where we're at today - in fact I think the replacement knobs were in place within a matter of just a couple of months.

I said at the time that it was always tricky to launch a new and distinct, memorable / recallable brand - while Dan has kind of achieved that with applomb - his stylised sort of combination of contour lines and dot matrix patterns are highly distinctive and appealing - and set the circular logo off really well. The brand has a maturity of design that several older brands could learn from.

I'm a little late with my review of the BB03 Lo-Fi Chorus Modulator - while I do have a larger selection of references to draw from, I've long been a fan of those wobbly / warbly choruses - including legendary pedals like Fairfield Circuitry's Shallow Water, Hungry Robot's Wardenclyffe, and Zvex's Instant Lo-Fi Junky. The BB03 sits very comfortably alongside those long since legendary pedals.

There's also the brand new BB04 Full Range Drive - which will be launching next week, possibly as early as Wednesday, and I will definitely have a feature out to coincide with that. And will then have the BB03 review follow a week or two later - exciting times ahead!

Dan really does have a wonderful eye for detail - right down to the raised / ridged textural effect of his UV-printed enclosures!

I had a couple of really decent conversations with Dan at the show - and even mentioned my Pedal Top Trumps idea - I could really do with a partner for that project! I thought I would start off with some classics - but then every brand could have its own selection of cards added into the mix as serial special editions! If these are done as well as I would intend to - some of those could surely become collectors' items in later years!

I have to apologise to my pal Nils - whom I got really well acquainted with at the last London Synth & Pedal Expo. Fortunately for me - Face-MI are also at this year's follow-up event - so I have a second chance to make amends.

I did catch a quick glimpse of the Abelha Fuzz in its full glory, and sat near the Babee edition Nectar - it really looked ginormous. It's its size that has kind of put me off so far rather than its relatively high price point - I really don't like unnecessarily oversized pedals - while I'm still considering granting this one an exception - because of its beautiful aesthetics and sounds. My practicality OCD is acting as a somewhat significant blocker still - I just need to see the pedal a few more times before I make up my mind definitively.

Face-MI's other major brand is Walrus Audio - who have been so prolific of late, it's hard to keep up. I think my likeliest acquisition there is the recent 385 overdrive revision - while I don't seem to be in any massive hurry for that one at the moment - so many different priorities to juggle.

Possibly J Rockett is due a new pedal release soon - and Nils and I can discuss the merits of that in a similar way we did with the Archer Select! I look forward to catching up in roughly two weeks' time!

I love catching up with the Flattleys - yet another family I feel some attachment to - I'm always so warmly received by Paul and his partner Jan.

Flattley Guitar Pedals have of course picked up another accolade now - where the superb DG Fuzz wins a 'Guitarist Choice' award to go along with those already handed our for the Revolution and Centurion overdrives.

I did a full range overview and wrote in detail about the DG Fuzz and Revolution Overdrive not so long ago, the next project I'm due to do with Flattley is for the very recently evolved Flattley Twin T Resonant Filter Wah - which delivers a really unique vintage sound quality not produced by the more contemporary Wah pedal designs which currently saturate that marketplace. We're just waiting for a few more references to come through on that including a high quality studio recording, And I will probably need some significant hands-on time at some stage - possibly a visit to Flattley HQ is on the cards! We shall see!

Paul's Bass Pedal range always seems to do very well, while that's not an area I've broached yet. It would be a whole other trip for me to get into Bass - and set up the appropriate rig. I'm a big fan of Jane Gwizdala - and would sort of follow his pedalboard favourites, while I would likely favour Dingwall basses. Currently I'm still got a long way to go on my Guitar Pedal journey - so bass won't be on the cards for quite a few years yet!

In any case I'm looking forward to collaborating with Paul again - should be a matter of just a few weeks I believe!

It's always great to catch up with Tim @ Fredric Effects, he really loves these shows and normally does really well by them. Tim is the one I've probably encountered most 'on the road' as such over the years, as he's been really quite prolific at attending all the various guitar shows up and down the country.

He's such a pro at these sorts of things that he makes it look entirely effortless - I've never seen Tim in the slightest bit flustered or put out - he soldiers on regardless!

As far as pedals go - I don't believe there was anything brand new at the show - while Tim is continuing with the process of switching the smaller pedals into the newer wedge-shaped enclosures. He's about half-way through that process. His updated studio is mostly complete now too - although he swears it still needs a bit more tidying up.

I'm due a visit to Fredric HQ - hopefully in and around April - and you will see some content emanating out of that no doubt.

Tim will also be at the Alternative Guitar Show - alongside Tate FX and ThorpyFX and 4 UK Guitar Brands (Fidelity, Maybury, Moleneux, and Zone) - which takes place on Saturday 23rd @ the Fighting Cock Pub in Kingston (KT2 6QF). I've still to make up my mind on that one - I've obviously just seen Thorpy and Tim in Birmingham, but not seen Stuart Tate since the Brighton Show - not sure he has anything new to share (Octave Raise the Dead?). right now it's down as a maybe - I will decide closer to the time, and after the London Synth & Pedal Expo.

I look forward to catching up with Tim around April in any case!

Made in collaboration with Let's Play All's Matt Webster (as pictured above)

Andy's Funny Little Boxes flagship pedals - the Skeleton Key and 1991 are still going strong. There was a time when the 1991 calmed down a touch - but Andy reports that demand is up again - and so is the backlog. Get your preorder in now!

Two superbly well conceived pedals at incredibly reasonably prices. I've had the 1991 for quite a while now - and keep meaning to add the Skeleton Key - it will happen one day!

These are the epitome of well-design affordable boutique pedals, The overall finishing and attention to detail is phenomenal for the price point. Everyone could do with owning both!

Steve with Phil Kidulis of Focusrite and the elusive Markus Reeves

FX Pedal Planet's Steve was not exhibiting at the show - but he almost seemed like he was  - popping up in all the right places throughout the day - and I encountered him several times - including at the Collision Devices and Fredric Effects stands. He had promised me a cup of coffee at some stage that did not materialise - I guess we were both too busy on the day. I believe I encountered both Steve and showrunner Jason the most throughout the day - around  4 or 5 times each!

I didn't even realise Markus Reeves was going to be at the show on Saturday - he told me that he and Izzy would be going on the Sunday - while Markus turned up on both days! He supposedly meant to message me on the day - but his phone supposedly ran our of juice - highly suspicious!

Steve is particularly adept at grabbing selfies with all the right people - I guess I also need a sidekick to organise that too - I really need to travel with a photographer as I'm usually too preoccupied in conversation to be thinking of taking snaps. While Steve was merrily wheeler-dealing his way around the stands with an unerring precision - no doubt adding a few more of those brands to his roster.

I've known Steve for quite a while now - he was the first to interview me way back when FX Pedal Planet was just an online community. The Community was actually a really clever way to get pedal brands involved and that plan seems to have worked a treat!

I'm getting my JAM Pedals Octaurus Octaufuzz through Steve - that should land in April in theory. I have a feeling we will also be collaborating on Krozz Devices in some way - depending on of course what Krozz's Murilo allows!

Every time I encounter Goliath FX's Matt he seems to have a different sidekick with him - on occasion his partner and son, while on Saturday he was accompanied by his good friend Luke.

I've really seen Matt's pedal prowess evolve and grow each year. He's already the master of textured finishes - Crackle, Swirl and Spatter. And I've encouraged him to hone his brand identity - where he has settled on that perfect scripted logo now which festoons most of his pedals!

At the show I encouraged him to have all his pedals finished with that second layer of UV print - that creates the textured raised surface / ridges - as the 'texture' element is so central to both his pedal enclosure design - as well as his sound design - so it makes sense to incorporate a tactile element into the finish of those enclosures!

A collaboration has been due for a while - yet Matt is not fully satisfied that he's got to the level where I can help spring-board his reach, possibly there are a few refinements still to go. He's very well known for his various Bass pedals - which several luminaries really love - including Joe at Guitar Nerds. It just so happens that I'm a fan of low-end sounds too - so for sure something will happen one of these days. The BlackIce and Desolation Distortion seem to be very popular these days - and I love how Matt keeps pushing the envelope for his enclosure finishes - he is surely the king of textures! (Note - I have previously called him the King of Crackle - which he is undoubtedly too!)

I've always liked the look of his trapezoidal enclosure Silicon Tone Bender - that could be a candidate for a first collaboration - while there are several other suitably candidates on the board. I guess Matt is still working on getting all his ducks properly in a row before a GPX collaboration is on the cards. It's getting ever nearer though!

I always seem to have a fabulous time on the Hamstead Soundworks stand - so friendly are Peter and Brian. I alas did not capture any pictures on the day, nor do there seem to be any suitable ones to be had off social media. Which is kind of apt really - as every time I step onto the Hamstead Stand - they seem to have added another top secret project to the roster.

Things are still going very well with the forthcoming Stereo Harmonic Tremolo - for which I will definitely be visiting the workshop just before launch - which is currently estimated to be June. There's already a few extra controls on the prototype box, and I believe the final PCB's are imminent now - while the fist secret project needs to launch ahead of the Tremolo - and as there are more people involved in that project - it's taking a little longer to organise.

One of the secret projects would seem to be some sort of signature artist gain pedal - as it supposedly pairs superbly with the Tremolo, but then again so does Reverb! While the third as yet unnamed project is even more mysterious - and I've not been given a single hint of a clue on that one - time will surely tell.

For some reason I ended up on the Hamstead stand several times during the day - including a final foray with my good friend Matt (Mr Boss) who very uncharacteristically checked out a non-pink Fidelity Guitar - the one with the kind of graffiti finish on it - which many of you will have seen - I believe Jackson Brooksby was pictured with it too, True to form Matt then grabbed the nearest pink guitar on the stand - and was no doubt considering requisitioning it when he was interrupted / intercepted by yet another acquaintance / friend!

In any case always lovely to drop in on Peter and Brian - I certainly feel like I'm dealing with kindred spirits!

Brian was surprised that I was nearly twice his age! I explained it was probably down to Peter Pan Syndrome - and very fortunate DNA. For a long time I've always felt like one of the youngest persons in the room - so it's a little odd / disconcerting for me that I'm increasingly starting to overtake more and more of those that I now encounter!

I'm very much looking forward to my onsite visit in June - I'm expecting great things!

Apologies that the name of Joe's father-in-law has totally slipped my mind - I've encountered him on a few occasions now - while I somehow seem to be unable to imprint that on my memory - will promise to have that sorted for next time!

I had a specific mission and purpose in meeting up with Hello Sailor Effects' Joe as he had recalled my ShipWreck pedal for some final circuit tweaks. The ShipWrekc is essentially a full-on high gain / fuzzstortion pedal - which Joe thought he had set up beautifully initially. A friend then advised him that the pedal had too much gain (no such thing for me!), and Joe rolled some of that gain off for the first early release versions - which I really liked already.

He then decided that he actually preferred the ShipWreck in its original higher gain configuration - and recalled some of those earlier pedals to reset them back to his original preferences. I'm very much looking forward to putting that one through its paces again - and the review should be up in fairly quick order - as it was already written, and the visual completed. The circuit hasn't materially changed - just some of the inner connection have been switched around - and the two gain stages inverted I believe. In any case keep your eyes peeled - that should be up fairly soonish!

Joe made an even more impressive impact at the Guitar Show versus last year's Kempton Park appearance - which I felt was already pretty significant. But this time around Joe brought two amps with him and well over 50 of his beautiful hand-crafted pedals. 5 times the volume of his typical pedal drop. What's doubly impressive is that Joe is still working from a sort of makeshift workshop space - so the fact that he's that productive in such an envrionment augurs well for the future. I guess he used to making pedals on all manner of surfaces including control and command consoles during his seafaring days - so it's not surprising that he can operate well in any space.

He brought with him all the usual suspects - killer variants in all shapes and sized of Abbey Road Fuzz,  Range Master, Anchor Drive, Kossoff Drive, Kossoff Drive + Delay, Free Range, and ShipWreck. All in beautifully appointed and tolex wrapped enclosures - with a variety of surface finishes and many a unique decal and rare reclaimed knobs!

It was a veritable smorgasbord of Hello Sailor Effects - Joe had sold quite a few before I arrived, and he did very well over the two days - while mysteriously one of the 2 Free Range's remained unsold after the event - I'm sure some lucky soul will snap that up within the next few days. All those Hello Sailor Effects Pedals are special - and each one is unique! 

I look forward to catching up with Joe again once I've played the re-tooled ShipWreck!

I hadn't seen Origin Effects' Product Manager John Dines since last year's London Synth & Pedal Expo, while I had met Jacob since then at the first Witney Pedal Party last year. It was great to catch up with John again and get a rundown on where Origin is currently at!

The above visual is very much the Highlights Board as such - one of 3 at the show if I recall correctly - and featuring the brand's current flagship and bestselling pedals. Including the all-time bestselling Cali76 Compact Deluxe. Where the RevivalDrive Compact is still doing very well, as is the more recent Halcyon Gold Overdrive. For some reason the Halcyon Green is not doing quite as well as the other 3 pedals launched into that Adaptive Series. And I think John told me that the larger original RevivalDrives were sadly being phased out as too many players found them somewhat too complicated - they obviously did not read my review / feature!

What is going great guns as such though - is the relatively recent Bass range - where the DCX Bass Boost and BassRig Preamp pedals are all doing exceptionally well.

As mentioned previously - I formerly had some sort of rapport with founder / supremo Simon Keats - while since he no longer turns up for these shows - that has somewhat dimmed and faded away, and I'm still trying to work my way intro the affections of the younger generation who now increasingly run the show - at least for my purposes.

I would definitely like to acquire a few more of the Origin Effects line - and do some more in-depth features. It's the only UK brand of significance that I don't yet have a collaborative working relationship with - hopefully that can be remedied this year!

Will be cool to see what new Adaptive Series Pedals materialise this year - I'm sure there must be one or two due - it's such a successful format!

I very much look forward to getting more involved with Origin Effects at some point in the hopefully not too distant future!

Always a delight catching up with PedalPatch's Phil - especially as he's the Showrunner for the Brighton Guitar Show - which preparation is already in full swing. Phil is trying to evolve and improve the show in innovative ways - which don't pile on a load of further costs, but deliver more value to the attendees.

The plan is to have more Masterclass / Learning Experiences - in place of the more typical play a few riffs showcases. Phil is keen to delivery the maximum value to attendees and to provide attendees with unique and worthwhile experiences.

Brighton was one of the highlights of last year's show calendar - and I think pretty much everyone that exhibited last year is back for more.

It's a great venue and relatively easy to get to for most - easy parking for the exhibitors too.

I'm very much looking forward to attend once more!

Ritual Devices' Wub is someone I have a lot of time for, and I still really love his intricate acid etched and enamel-style painted enclosure designs - which are the equal to those pedals' high quality outputs.

Alas I've only collaborated on the one pedal so far - the superb Fay Phase Filter Saturator / Modulator - which to me serves superbly as a really flavoursome almost Uni-Vibe too. For sure one of my favourite modulation pedals to date.

It has been on the cards for me to cover off the two Fuzzes next - the EVOL, and Grimalkin, with the latter long since pencilled in as the next project. While that has not happened yet - and I've kind of given up chasing.

All in good time as I always say - if it's meant to happen, it will happen, if not - then I already have another few hundred projects that I'm already involved in. Would of course be nice if it happened some day soon, but seeing on how long this has drifted, I'm not really holding out to any expectations.

I will of course check in periodically, but I can't get too emotional about these things - that way only leads to disappointment. And I've long since lost count on collaboration projects that have stalled out. There really comes a point when any check-in or follow-up just gets awkward. While fortunately I'm not at that stage yet for Ritual Drives - I still have a good feeling about that brand - Karma will see me right!

A couple of apologies here to start with - I never remember the name of Adrian's colleague who helps out on most of these shows, and in the absence of Mikey Demus on Saturday (at a Gig!) he was mostly manning the Redbeard Effects Stand - which is always joined at the hip to the ThorpyFX one - at the big shows you will always see those next to or adjacent to each other. 

Both those brands are of course produced at ThorpyHQ - and they share the distinction of both being featured in this month's edition of the Eleven Guitar Magazine - which features an in-detph interview with Adrian, as well as a one-off limited Eleven-branded Angry Rhubarb (as pictured above) - which is part of some Eleven Magazine competition. I had intended on picking up a copy of the mag at the show - as they were situated very close to Thorpy/Redbeard - but in the chaos of the fracas that was Saturday at The Guitar Show - I quite forgot. And it now seems too much of a palaver to organise. Best of luck for any and all of you who do decide to participate - it's a pedal well worth having!

Also - Thorpy has designed and 3D printed these amazing back-lit display cubes which fit a single pedal and kind of cast a halo of light around it - visible through the one open side. From a distance the display really draws you in - and the pedals look all the better for being in those display cubes - it makes them more instantly impactful and appealing - I think Thropy should have a whole wall of those at the next show. It's the one picture I really wish I had taken - as there's no online pics of that stand yet!

There was nothing specifically new at the show - well there was a dummy prototype box (empty) of a forthcoming pedal which has still to be fully finalised. You never know with Thorpy - last time I was down at the HQ I was shown a number of up-and-coming pedals, but with no fixed launch dates. There's definitely a signature Chris Buck pedal in the mix there - but I've no idea when exactly that's going to be released!

Adrian tells me the next likely release is in April - but he's still secretive about the details!

This also happens to be the 10th Year Anniversary of Thorpy FX - and so Thorpy will be fairly randomly but regularly sprinkling in some limited custom colour ways. So far this has included 40 Vibrant Pink Gunshots and a handful of Red Fallout Clouds which I don't have a quantity reference for.

Thorpy definitely like to do things off-the-cuff - so expect weird and wonderful variants to appear without warning. He keeps forgetting to tell me what's happening - so we can all be surprised together! If you're a Thorpy completist though like me - you likely already have every pedal of Thorpy's already - and are just waiting for the new ones to land!

I think I'm probably overdue a debrief on upcoming releases, there's also supposed to be some sort of GPX collaboration somewhere in the mix - still waiting for the dust to settle on that one.

Should be plenty happening this year for ThorpyFX in any case as we already have a. number of overdue releases from last year - I'm very much looking forward to seeing how it all pans out!