The Brighton Guitar Show & FX Expo Highlights

www.timber-tones.co.uk | @timbertones[IG]

I've been a huge fan of Timber Tones Jazz III size pickups for many years - and have them in pretty much all their materials besides felt! It was fantastic to meet Rob for the first time and hear about how his business worked - where he is now the sole force behind this very complicated brand - with several 1,000 SKU's of inventory.

Rob and I hit it off famously - and we will for sure be doing some collaborations in the future. It's fascinating to hear that a big part of Rob's business cater's towards the gifts, merchandising and memorabilia sector - which is why you can see the occasional mounting holes on some of his picks - particularly some of the metallic and semi-prescious ones which are frequently worn as pendants. The variety of materials and various manufacturing processes that produce all these different varieties of pickups are quite extraordinary. Rob already had a few new Jazz III styles back at HQ that he's going to forward, and he's promised to introduce some Jazz III varieties utilising some of those new inlay types you can see on several of the new Timber Tone varieties. If you're into finding the best pickups for your needs - this is a great place to start! 

shop.nrgeffects.com | @nrgeffects[IG]

I was lucky to arrive early at the venue as I had Neil's undivided attention for a good 20 minutes as he talked me through all the recent developments and innovations. With the full range of 7 Mini Monochrome Pedals all updated with full-length facia plates - and where the Mini Mauler is still selling brilliantly,

Also on show was the 4 Monochrome Maxis to-date - the Mauler, Poker, Gnawer and Purrer. Where Neil has ingeniously managed to create a further slimmed down version of the Purrer with 2 of the knobs moved to the side of the pedal - with a huge benefit for the pedal's footprint. The Purrer is the only one which is available in 2 editions - really depending on how large your feet are I guess! Neil revealed how smartly his facia plates were created with superbly crisp graphics delivered by some sort of laser / oxide fusion printing process - which will enable him in the future also to print those enclosures with various colours - not just the current black.

Finally we had 2 hand-painted / custom editions of Purrer and Gnawer. Neil obviously has a very steady hand as al his hand-painted enclosures are pristine - and nigh identical which is testament to his attention to detail.

I will be following up with Neil after the show - as there's so much to share now - and it's fantastic to see the range evolve in those 3 distinct directions. Eventually all 7 Mini Monochrome Pedals will also be available as extended features Maxi pedals - and you can also have Neil make those in his custom hand-painted enclosures. Giving you maximum versatility in size, shape and budget. It's been wonderful to watch these evolutions and innovations happen.

The two wired-up Watkins Copicat tape delays on the stand were another great touch. Everything on display also had NRG Effects facia plates - underlining Neil's incredible attention to detail. Overall his was probably my favourite stand at the show. While Adam over at Indifferent Engine was still providing stiff competition, In terms of overall brand impact - I don't think anyone got it more right this year than Neil - he even rolled out his own carpet!

www.zandercircuitry.co.uk | @zandercircuitry[IG]

It was wonderful to finally catch up with good friend Alex again - as we've been trying to have a catch-up for most of this year but last minute scheduling conflicts kept getting in the way. Alex was big on promoting the Glyph Series at the show - which has been a resounding success since its fairly stealthy introduction. I had not realised that the Siclone Fuzz had been discontinued - as that has long been one of my favourites while I did not always get on with the artwork for that - perhaps I will ask Alex to make me one last one in Glyph format as a fitting momentum for that late great circuit.

A number of the mainline pedals are in the process of being refined - in particularly with updates to tone controls - where some players have struggled with the slightly unconventional nature of some of those. So future editions will be more along the lines of your classic 2-band and 3-band EQ controls from what I understand.

Actually in talking about the mainline compact series Alex and I realised that said series probably needed a moniker - as just calling it the 'Standard' series wasn't really strong enough - we need something as snappy as the 'Glyph' series - so if you have any suggestions then please let us know. I will of course be putting my mind to that task too - but if someone has a better idea than Alex or I - then we would surely want to hear it!

audiostorm.uk | @audiostormeffects[IG]

Had a fantastic catch-up session with Sean - we discussed Grand Classic, Tone Lord and V2 Quad Screamer pedals. And he showed me the progress with the Grand Classic - with some immaculate final PCB's. Sean's new computer-controlled pick-and-place machine is requiring a lot of fine-tuning and further calibration to ensure that it maintains 100% fidelity in placement across 4 PCB's at a time. Sean is keen on setting up a common 'DaughterBoard' standard among pedal-makers - so that they can in effect share 'plug-ins' across platforms - so that remains a major future project.

We talked for a long while about manufacturing process, as well as the likely makeup of the new version of the Quad Screamer. I gave Sean a quick 101 on all the different types of screamers that were currently out there in the market - and is sparked a Eureka moment - where Sean now knows exactly what form his updated screamer should take - so really looking forward to that.

First the Grand Classic has to be completed - which looks like an Autumn delivery now, to be followed by the Tone Lord MKII Kickstarter, and then the Quad Screamer MKII a little after that, Fortunately a lot of the R&D for those pedals has already been done! Exciting times ahead for Audiostorm therefore!

buzzingbugsfx.com | @buzzingbugsfx[IG]

It was great to meet Dan for the very first time, and good to see how switched on he was in the art of pedal making. I complemented him on his strong branding, and the intricate nature of those beautifully detailed ridged geometric prints on his pedal facias Also great colour choices in Racing Green and just right shade of gold.

In fact I found little to fault on first encounter - while I did suggest that some good looking milled aluminium knobs would likely raise the appeal of those pedals a touch more - and suggested my current favourite 'Magpie' type ones that I get in from Love My Switches. They are so high quality and sufficiently narrow gauge to suit most applications - perfect replacements for the DM-1900 style transparent knobs that there are on the current version.

Readers will know that I can obsess over pedal a touch - I always start talking about the general ubiquity of certain knob styles, and then move onto discussing footswitch clicks. In any case for BB01 and BB02 those are already nigh perfect - and their look is pretty distinct and actually really appealing - insides are solid too - with smart component selection.

I took away the BB01 and BB02, and will be doing a proper review of them within the next couple of weeks. I've already done the visuals! I still need to know a little more about Dan's rite of passage here - what his inspirations are and what led him down this path - so no doubt a few more chats will be required. I feel he's going to do very well indeed - off to a really strong start!

bispellaudio.com | @bispellaudio[IG]

It was great to finally meet up with Thomas as we had somehow managed to miss each other back at the Birmingham Guitar Show. Thomas was ably assisted by his sidekick for the day - Dan, who features also in the above image.

I was delighted to see the updated Gleam Multi-Fuzz finally in the flesh as I had much to do with the recent updates. I believe I was the one who persuaded Thomas to externalise the Bias, and I noted that the Gain had a a somewhat aggressive kind of slightly untameable quality to it - where Thomas figured out it was likely the second gain stage that was causing that somewhat overload. So the updated Gleam is much improved by actually just 2 rather small changes. I of course took one of those away to do a proper write-up on it - as I had intended to do with the original - before I persuaded Thomas to make those changes. That should be happening over the next couple of weeks.

Thomas has also updated the Saxon a touch - where he's give it a little more gain, and fine-tuned the tone-stack to give that a little more range and make the pedal overall easier to dial in. Now also if you max out the top three knobs that will for the first time give you a proper Eddie Van Halen sound - where the previous edition did not quite reach that level of saturation.

In any case I need to put the Gleam V2 through its paces before I work my way around to the Saxon again. You will have noted that the Saxon and Proxy have been in my chain pretty much since the start of March - and I've been very satisfied with the pair of them!

www.greateasternfx.com | @greateasternfx[IG]

I actually dropped in on David's stand quite a few times  - he had expanded into the neighbouring stand which should have been for my friend Joseph Maxwell / Demiurge Instruments - while he was alas unable to exhibit on the day - and David therefore became his immediate beneficiary!

We spoke of how the Small Speaker Overdrive and Design-A-Drive had slowed down a bit as the focus shifted to the newer fuzzes. And I of course threw in the 'Pedals as Ingredients' analogy where you need to keep producing new 'Recipes' regularly - servicing suggestions and new settings inspirations to keep those pedal owners on the hook. I always say that the biggest task is not to sell the pedal the initial time, but to ensure that people hold onto it, and continue to use it - rather than keep flitting between newer and newer pedals for which your pedal would mostly have them covered already - if they but knew how to use it to its full potential.

So you need to regularly throw out some more inspirations - new demos, settings and overall new scenarios and 'Recipes' within which existing owners can adapt and re-purpose their pedals. There is so much competition nowadays that you just cannot rest on your laurels any more - you continuously need to keep things interesting - unless you have a 'Bread & Butter' pedal which pretty much sells itself.

We also briefly discussed the forthcoming all-Silicon Focus Fuzz - which is due to be released on the 25th. I'm not sure why I did not come away with one of those. As I definitely need to run it up agains my existing original hybrid limited variety. The Silicon version will be in standard livery and enclosure and an always-available pedal of that range alongside the Small Speaker Overdrive and Design-A-Drive. I probably need to nudge David again - he forgot about Dre!

Alas David's stand was so expansive and he was roving about quite a lot all day - like a sort of United Nations ambassador - that I never managed to get off a snap of him or his stand - and their's nothing on his 'Gram either! So this may be the first one of these reports sans image. I'm also not sure whether it's properly advisable to promote the new all-Silicon Focus Fuzz in advance of its July 25th Launch date - I'm hoping David has set aside one of those for e though!

www.goliathfx.co.uk | @goliath_fx[IG]

It was great to meet up with Matt once again - he's really come on in bounds since last year's Stourbridge event, and even since I caught up with at the Birmingham Show. Back then I complemented him on the finish of several of his pedals, but noted that his 'Brand' wasn't coming through strong enough really.

So now we see a variety of brand treatments in play - where I would really like Matt to settle on just one. And the one I like best is his scripted version in the bottom left hand corner of the facia. Matt is still the master of Crackle / Craquelure finishes - world class really, while he is sill experimenting with swirl effects - where he's having issues with the clear coat lacquer somehow causing the inks to become solvent again which produces odd textures - almost as if some sort of chemical reaction is taking place. So if someone can advise Matt on what best to do in those circumstances - he's using acrylic lacquer, where perhaps Nitrocellulose would be less likely to react with the inks - do get in touch with Matt and let him know if you have any suitably advise.

He now has half a dozen potent circuits - including the IceDrive / BlackIce, D-05 Preamp Distortion, Thundermuff Bass Fuzz, ever popular Desolation Distortion (Bass & Guitar versions), and his own take on the MKII Tone Bender - with silicon transistors.

I would really love one of those Trapezoidal MKII's with the Metallic Knobs, and the Goliath FX Signature Script logo in the bottom-left corner of the facia!

Matt has been on an incredibly journey and I really like where's he's heading. For sure he has a couple of challenges still to smooth out a touch - but he's so close now to being exactly where he needs to be.

I believe he's pictured with his missus in the above visual - apologies Matt if I got that wrong - I don't think I was ever properly introduced - would be good to have that name also!

funnylittleboxes.co.uk | @funny_little_boxes[IG]

Having been wholly unable to find Andy at the Birmingham Guitar Show I found him much easier to locate at the Brighton Racetrack venue. He told me that the 1991 has quietened down a little - he still makes those in fairly regular batches, but there's no longer that crazy waiting list. I think most who want one probably have one by now. That collaboration with 'Let's Play All' was just the perfect project - the simple and evocative design, nature of the circuit, and indeed quality of the production - with those really cool metal knobs - all for just £99. That pedal was right among the mix of those first '99' $/£ pedal types.

I kind of hoped expected that the next pedal might be another 4-digit year collaboration. While this time around it's a more personal solo tribute project to Andy's favourite band the Levellers - where the one-knob (master volume) 'Punk Spirit' recreates that core punky Levellers Sound. Fans will recognise the 'Rolling A' / 'Rolling Anarchy' logo which adorned many a Levellers Vinyl Record Label and CD Print. The logo looked familiar to me but I could not immediately place it without a hint / prompt.

This is really a personal passion project, and probably doesn't have quite the same broad appeal either in function or intended target audience, While for guitar-playing Levellers fans - this is surely essential. I've still to decide if this pedal's for me. I will need to refresh my memory on the Levelles back catalogue - would be good if someone could suggest a suitable starting place!

www.ritualdevices.co.uk | @rituadevices[IG]

I had a wonderful series of dialogue with Wub at the show - in 3 instalments really - where we kind of set everything to rights in the final part, Wub has been facing up to the challenges of component price increases and the viability of continuing to produce his incredibly labour-intensive formerly mainline intricate geometric sort of enamel effect Victorian Trinket Box style of pedals - as typified by the above trio in the visual and the 4th Rainmaker modulation - which all come in that intricate Black on Silver design. While they're just not cost effective to produce any more at that price level - so the pricing is going up - and these will be the flagship 'Wainwright Editions'. Also the business cannot survive if these are the mainline pedals - as they just take too long to make - it's just no longer a viable proposition for all kinds of reasons.

At the other end of the scale we have the incredibly wallet-friendly Grey Series of slightly simplified design pedals - but still with primo internals. Those are selling pretty well at the moment - and well they should at those near bufget price levels.

For the Brighton Show Wub had produced the 4 effects (now called Wainwright Editions) as sort of Grey Series types - without any of the graphics, And their appearance was really quite stark, and totally at odds really with the beautifully balanced nature of their Wainwright inspirations,

So the task remains to come up with a style / treatment and name for the intermediate level of effects - which will have the same internals and knobs as the Wainwright Editions - but cannot have those same intricate contoured and ridged details as the Flagship editions. I've considered possibly doing a more outline style of graphics - that are a slightly simplified and less filled-in format of the originals. We could call it Journeyman Editions, Stage Series, Touring Series or similar - where the idea is that they're less the objet d'art that the Wainwright Editions are - and rather more hard-working sort of everyday  off-road / rough-house spec types! Theres's lots of possible routes to go here - 'Frontier', 'Rugged' - we just need to define the direction we want to go in and then the moniker should present itself rather easily!

www.tatefx.co.uk | @tate_fx[IG]

It's always lovely to catch up with Stuart - one of the nicest men in the industry who's still as effusively helpful and generous with this time now as he was when he started down this path all those years ago. While his situation is somewhat changed recently as he's taken on a new jobs earlier this year - working for a really potent lighting production company - who are pretty active on the Live Music and Festival Circuit - so he's been rushed off his feet all year just attending to his day job really.

In the meantime he's very aware that he hasn't been able to spend enough time on the Tate FX brand - and if you're not continuously and constantly active these days things tend to stall out - which has the consequence that you don't typically sell too many pedals unless you put in a proper shift.

Largely because of the new job Stuart has made no progress on the dual-footswitch Raise The Dead Upper Octave prototype he has been working on since before last year's Kempton Park show. He did though have a new simplified monochrome enclosure for his Germanium edition of Raise the Dead - which is buddies over at Bright Onion Pedals printed for him,

For the first time Stuart is really at a crossroads with Tate FX - he doesn't currently have enough time to do a proper job of it as the festival lighting rig circuit is keeping him so busy these days - he has some fairly major decisions to make - I do hope he decides to tough it out though in some way as it would be a tragedy to loose such an effusively positive person from this fine assembly of wonderful individuals!

bleakdistrict.co.uk | @bleakdistrictelectric[IG]

It's always a delight to catch up with Phil - which seems to happen every few months now - in fact I caught up with fairly recently for this Tapescape V2 launch which I did a feature on. He neglected to tell me then that he was considering wholly changing the look of his Antistatic Stutter Fuzz pedal as too many prospects weren't really getting switched onto it - so Phil thought that a natty paint-job would possibly better communicate how different and dynamic a fuzz that pedal was, For in my opinion is is mostly a fuzz really or a Stutter Fuzz more specifically - while you can of course also call it a fuzzed-up micro looper. Yet seemingly how I and Phil for that matter mostly use it - is as a Stutter Fuzz really.

The reason I'm a bit miffed is two-fold, possibly three-fold even. I'm not sure it's the right move, or right colourway even - where the new version looks very 80's Pop Hits Compilation with its combination of bright primary shades of Baby Blue, Pink and Orange. I've spend a long time developing the look of my Bleak District visuals - which all use pertinent tone-matched proper earthy toned Peak District Landscapes. And I've no idea how an 80's clashing colourway pattern fits in with that theme.

Finally I like to coordinate with all my pedal builders to ensure that my content is as evergreen as it can be - often waiting for an updated edition before I publish - so that I can continue to be the chronicle of record. 

My Bleak District Antistatic article went up on April 18th, and less then 3 months later its already kind of obsolete - which hurts a little. 

I can totally understand the need to react to the market and to keep striving to get the best results for every pedal - while I still remain to be convinced that this new colourway is the right solution. Moreover it doesn't sit any more alongside any of the other existing ones which still follow the earthy landscapes template. I spend a long time preaching the consistency is quality gospel, and sometime I feel I fail in my duty to make the best of every situation,

Readers may not know that I'm a brand strategist by profession and experience and a big part of what I do is to try to help business to polish up an enhanced their brand values and overall appeal. I'm quite happy to be proven wrong here by the Antistatic now going on to become the bestseller it was destined to be - but I sill worry about the overall brand impact and the familiarity of brand markers, mermorability and recall!

thorpyfx.com | @thorpyfx[IG]

I wasn't sure where to put this in the list as I cordially welcomed Georgia and Thorpy right at the start of the show - just as they arrived - while I then said I should give them some time to settle in before I circled back, took a photo and caught up with the latest details on the release schedule. Yet so busy was the ThorpyFX stand throughout the day - that every time is circled round the hosts were already preoccupied.

Beyond the early greetings some pleasantries were exchanged but nothing of note really alas. Of course I speak regularly to Thorpy in any case so it's not big deal - I just don't want them to feel they're not getting my attention. They certainly had all my attention a fortnight ago at the Witney Pedal Party - where I was fully debriefed on where everything stood. The next release should be in August - probably middle toward ends, and then we have two further releases for the year - while one of those may just drag into the new year - one never really knows. In any case there are 3 pedals already nearing or at production quality and we will all know soon enough exactly which those are. One is certainly a revision of an existing classic - so it will be exciting to see the various reactions to that - I would have assumed mostly effusive positive - but you never can tell these days.

In any case the new ER-2 is selling well, and The Dane and Fallout Cloud are perennial bestsellers - obviously the recent Scarlet Tunic Analog Amp Emulator has also gone down particularly well.

Apologies that I could not / did not spend more time with the Thorpy's on this occasion - but it looked like they did fine without me and had a pretty blistering show regardless! Thorpy launches are always major events for my and I really look forward to each one - there is so much thematic detail to catch up on - and hear the story not just of the origin of the circuit - but the name, graphics and  choice of enclosure colour too, Thorpy has had delivery of some new printing tech also - or at least access to that, and we will see some subtle changes filtering in over the next releases for use - plenty of exciting things happening for sure. And I'm determined to do a site visit at some time - around the time of a new launch would be perfect - to witness all the goings-on in the main engine room!

As the stand was beset by hoards of keen fans for most of the day - I did not manage to get a snap of the stand - where the Purple Tablecloth as back on main duties - I therefore comped together a couple of recent images - where the boards (from the Witney Pedal Party) are exactly the same makeup as before - just at Brighton they were arranged the other way around I think with the bigger board on the left - details details!

redbeardeffects.com | @redbeardeffects[IG]

So busy was the Redbeard Stand throughout the show that I only managed to catch Mikey for the briefest of moments. I think he was doing fairly brisk trade on the day - the newest Hairy Squid Colossal Fuzz is rightly selling very well at the moment, and of the original Redbeard Trifecta the Angry Rhubarb still has some serious traction.

I still love my now Redbeard Quadfecta - this is truly an amazing quartet of potent and versatile tone machines - each one at the top of its game and with some added smarts that makes it unique in its space. It seemed that Catalinbread's Tribute Parametric Overdrive was a kind of weak sauce equivalent to the Angry Rhubarb - whether intentional or not - I feel that each of that quartet really holds up well - and all are have been in regular rotation on my board - probably time to give them another spin soon!

Shame I didn't get more time with Mikey this time around - but he's doing well enough without me really - it's always nice to see brands succeed - and I have a lot of affection for this one!

www.raingerfx.com | @raingerfx[IG]

Almost the same team as the recent Witney Pedal Party - with Baptiste actually properly manning the stand for long periods this time around. Since I was already fully caught up at the Witney Pedal Party just a fortnight ago - there wasn't much more catching up to do.

We know that there should be 3 more Rainger FX releases this year, while prototyping and testing is still carrying on, and I believe we will need to wait until Autumn for the next next pedal - when I hope to be dong an onsite visit at the newly minted new Rainger FX HQ!

David, Martin and Baptiste all on good form as usual - and David still seemingly hates posing for pictures - as is kind of evident here too! Just a bit of fun really - while the stark difference between David's and Baptiste's pose here makes for a wonderful contrasting composition!

www.intensivecareaudio.com | @intensivecareaudio[IG]

I had another cool but relatively brief catchup with Patrick - where I congratulated him on having been recently stocked by the Audio Distribution Group affiliated Demo Virtuoso Stefan Fast's Pedal Zone Store, I mentioned the original TC Electronic common component for all the key players involved in that enterprise. While most Brits won't be aware of the Pedal Zone store as its licence and remit as such doesn't extend to the UK. It's a fantastic resource though - with Stefan himself doing all the demos and write-ups - that guy is incredible - he's even more prolific than me!

In any case the intention has always been to do a proper Guitar Pedal X feature on Intensive Care Audio - where I would really like to get my hands on the Death Drive and Vena Cava Filter Distortion gain types. I love what Patrick has done for his brand markers - and his turning up at these events in full surgical scrubs - albeit I think we were promised a more colourful variety than the usual industry standard green for this event.

For future events I would like to see some PCAM and Respirator Devices on the bench with pedals suspended in IV Drip Bags - I would imagine that would make for a particularly arresting image - and would be a home run for the associated imagery. As mentioned Patrick is a former Rainger FX Alumni - and well schooled in the art and science of pedal-making - and he's carved out a very strong and easily identifiable niche for his pedals.

Interestingly you can see both Georgia and Thorpy of Thorpy FX very clearly in the background - that sort of island of 4 stands seemed to do very well out of the show - I guess partly at being located right at the entrance of the room - but all those stands were pretty much rammed all day - where it was difficult at times to get a word in edge-wise!

I look forward to our future collaboration - I just need to remember to follow up!

flattleyguitarpedals.com/home/ | @flattleyguitarpedals[IG]

I had a fantastic first-time catch-up with Paul - it's a wonder it's taken quite so long for this to happen! Paul talked me through the Flattley Boutique Effects Ranges - Silver and Platinum - and explained the intricate production details, as well as the philosophy on the Flattley branding and brand markers.

I actually highly approve of quite a lot of what Paul does - I like the use of branded Footswitch Buttons as being the key brand marker for the pedals, also using LED ring surrounds around footswitches vs using more conventional LED lenses, and of course having the function legends stamped and engraved into the knobs - allowing the pedal's whole surface area then to be dedicated to the artwork.

The Platinum Series paint jobs are incredibly intensive and rely on several layers of lacquer with special sparkle and metal powders / flakes which are combined, sanded down and polished and layered up in the most intricate of fashions. You really see that craftsmanship of those finishes when you inspect the pedals up close - and see the light reflect off all those sparkle flakes suspended in the many layers of lacquer.

I explained to Paul that I felt that there was a type of artwork that probably best suited this technique - where you had that sort of chiaroscuro effect of stark offset between light and dark - which is why one of the skull motifs works brilliantly, while the other is possibly a little too intricate and dense to work to the same degree of clarity and contrast.

I also noted some inconsistencies in illustrative styles within the Silver range - while there is an oft repeated motif of skulls in various scenarios - but these skulls are invariable totally different styles of illustration - and therefore not quite as immediately identifiable as being part of the same family theme as they could be.

I feel there is much to like here - and I look forward to further follow-up calls with Paul - including one coming up very soon this week. I feel Paul and I will get along famously! The aim is of course to do a proper feature on some part of Paul's pedal range - what that scope is likely to be has yet to be defined! I'm sure will will now more fairly soon!

brightonion.co.uk | @brightonionpedals[IG]

I found out at the show that James and Matt (Knight) had been long-term friends since Matt's GAK days a good decade ago now - always good to make another connection! In any case James and his two colleagues - whose names alas I don't have - were there largely to promote BOP's ingenious new 'BOP Blocks' - smart 3D-Printed pedalboard risers that will be made to order in a range of sizes and with a range of elevations based on the type and angle of pedalboard. You further get to choose whether those Blocks come with or without Velcro already applied.

This is a proper hot-off-the-press release with prototyping work still ongoing to a degree, including various types of stress-testing. Pricing is estimated to be between £5 and £30-ish pounds depending on size and complexity of the printed part. Each party currently takes around 90 minutes to process - so when this really takes off as I think it will - then I guess BOP are going to need to invest in a few more of those 3D Printing units!

Also at the show BOP were showcasing a few of their latest generation switchers - remote amp-switchers, flip-flop and additive loop-switchers, and 3-to-1 ABY type switchers - for going into different amps. The BOP Blocks though were kind of front and centre - I've often been looking for various kinds of risers and generally you just can't get your hands on what you need, so I'm pretty sure that this project will properly fly - there was lots of positive feedback on the day too!

www.hamsteadsoundworks.com | @hamsteadhq[IG]

Another momentous first-time meet-up with the legendary circuit and amp designer Peter Hamstead and resident guitar virtuoso and self-professed lab-rat Brian Love. Peter and I hit it off almost immediately - after I professed my love of the Odyssey and limited Germanium Diode Subspace edition.

Then talk moved on immediately to the imposing box on the left-hand amp stack which was a prototype of an entirely new kind of Harmonic Tremolo which separates out the High and Low Frequency Bands and allows you to modulate and adjust those separately, I told Peter he needed to come up with a new descriptive word to identify this as a new type of device - for now I've taken to calling it an 'Altitudinal Harmonic Tremolo' by virtue of the fact that is splits the frequency into two different 'Altitudes' in effect. Will be interesting to see which words Peter decides on in the end. 

This new tremolo will not be the next release though - that honour goes to another top-secret collaboration where Peter is sworn to secrecy not to reveal any aspect of who or what that might be. While he did hint that it would pair well with the new Tremolo - so I'm assuming some kind of gain pedal!

I also met Brian Love for the first time - I knew that familiar face, but could not assign it to a name - until Peter told me that Brian had done the really brilliant recent lead demo for the Boss DM-101 - which is when it all then clicked into place. Hamstead is definitely on a roll these days - and with Peter and Brian onboard it's not hard to understand why!

I'm looking forward to bringing Peter into my confidence and vice versa - and will check in with him fairly regularly - particularly as regards the forthcoming Tremolo which sounds so amazing - that should eventually site inside a sort of 1590BB size or thereabouts enclosure - it needs that real-estate on account of the extensive control topology. I also think I persuaded Peter to include a second footswitch for ramping - as the new Tremolo will be Stereo and will be able to do a brilliant proper Leslie Rotary effect too! 

www.indifferentengine.com/tapeecho | @indifferentengine[IG}

At last year's Stourbridge FX Expo It was engineer Tom Wilson that talked me through the entirety of the Janky Tape Delay Pedal project - where we also touched on his time collaborating with Stone Deaf FX. While this time around it was main man and Indifferent Engine band frontman Adam Paul's go to put me in the picture.

The Janky Tape Delay is now finally available as a full kit - for £255 - currency at the pre-order stage - where you get all the bits you need to assemble the device - besides the various tools you need too. And then you still need to slice and splice some cassette tape to make up the core Janky Tape Spools - which is another slightly fiddly step of the process - obviously something easily within Adam's wheelhouse - while I doubt many are quite so clever as him,

I explained how I would really quite like a unit for myself - but did not really possess the patience or aptitude to assemble one personally - which is currently the only route available - so Adam is working on a solution for that too. And it seems fairly inevitable that he will need to have some spliced tape spools made up too en masse - probably for both audiences.

Interesting a punter rocked up and demoed the device - and evidently did not understand why it's called the 'Janky' Tape Echo - it's because it's permanently kind of unstable and somewhat radom in its behaviour - so if you're expecting to be able to wind down the randomness - then your'e looking at the wrong device!

Not at the show, but much featured on the Indifferent Gram is the new DIY Project - based on a Rotary effect - with a proper spinning horn, and som mic sensors to pick that up, while the drum part will be treated as more of a 2-dimensiona LFO Amplitude Modulation, The Spatial Immersion comes from a smart spinning Horn - where the appropriate number of sensors will process that behaviour for superior output. The unit should be similar in size to the Janky Tape Echo, I have a feeling that at some stage Adam will be licensing these out for some manner of mass-production- as these are genuinely and distinctly smart and unique devices. 

Note that the tape gets mangled fairly easily so depending on what degree of Jankyness you're after you probably need to have a couple of tapes spare for just in case!

demiurgeinstruments.bigcartel.com | @demiurge_instruments[IG]

I was so glad that Joseph popped in specially to seem me at the show venue after he had most unfortunately had to cancel exhibiting. He explained how he had fairly recently moved house, and had lost the access to a workshop he had on that property and had yet to find a suitable space to replace it.

He did have access to a space right on the other side of town - while it often took 90 minutes to get there through traffic and there was never enough time to get things done. He had hoped to have enough pedals made up to make it worth his attending the show - while even with hope and a prayer that alas did not happen - and there will little point turning up empty handed.

I know there are a lot of you based in and around Brighton and I would hope that someone among you has a workspace within easy reach of Joseph's home - that he can make use of a few days a week to get his pedal business back on track.

He's a reallly decent guy and deserves to do well - a real hard-grafter - I hope someone local can help a brother out until he finds a more permanent solution!

I've known Joseph for a few years now, and I was delighted to have finally been able to meed him in person - alas no pictures were taken of that momentous occasion. I will be in close contact with Joseph over the next few weeks in particular to help ensure he gets back on track!

guitarnerds.net | @guitarnerds[IG]

I encountered Matt twice actually doing the round - Guitar Nerds were kind of sort of sponsoring the Live Stage - where Joe ended up doing a number announcements and introductions through the day. A Thorpy Q&A Session was definitely part of the roster - but I was preoccupied all day in the Pedal Room - and alas missed all those presentations.

I did though finally get introduced to Joe after all these years. I've known Matt for many years now - and while I've glimpsed Joe from afar several times now at different events - our paths have never properly crossed until Brighton. It's always good to connect with someone whom you are so familiar with but have never managed to meet before. It's a touch surprising considering how many times I've bumped into Matt - while I guess that beyond the occasional podcast their paths don't cross quite as often as they used to.

Perhaps I will do something with Guitar Nerds at some stage - once someone thinks up a suitable format! I'm certainly game for a lively discussion!

Alas I'm a lousy Paparazzo and I always forget to photograph these sorts of meet-ups - as with the Show, I started off pretty well. - but before long end up on a different tangent - before I've gotten more than half way around. Also there are often other people in the way - and by the time the congestion has passed then so often has the opportunity - there's only so many times you can circle around before you switch to a different plan of approach!

www.rotosound.com | @rotosound_uk[IG]

I apologise to Jack that I did not make it to his stand this time around - I made a few forays into the main Guitar Room (while I was mostly ensconced in the Pedal Room at the far end). Yet while I was able to spot Timber Tones and Hamstead Soundworks - I never managed to spot the RotoSound stand. I will undoubtedly see Jack again at one of the many forthcoming shows.

www.stringsandthings.co.uk | @stringsandthingsltd[IG}

I had every intention to drop in on Strings & Things and at least say hi to Marc Snelling - but alas this was another stand I did not quite make it to - I kind of spotted where they were at, while the vast majority of my time was taken up in the Pedal Room - I barely came up for air!

www.two-notes.com/en/ | @twonotesaudio[IG]

I was most definitely intending to drop in on Two Notes - even though I currently don't have too much use for their pedals. It's always good to introduction and see where there may be collaborations possible in the future. While despite best intentions I just ran out of time really. I was actually one of the very last to leave the Pedal Room - where there were just a handful of us at the end including Neil Grime, Phil Meredith, Wub Wainwright and my good self of course. I think there may have been one other, but my memory is a little hazy of those final moments of the day. In any case I alack and alas did not make it around to the Two Notes stands this time - I will make a more concerted effort next time!