Someone had to do it - and that someone is new pedal brand Olinthus. Whose first pedal - the Cicada Overdrive - is the world’s smallest fully functioning Screamer style pedal - in fact the world’s smallest pedal full stop!

I’m not sure the world necessarily needs another Tube Screamer as such, but it’s definitely a better place for it - with this supreme engineering achievement. It’s an unusual design in many ways - where most of the sides are largely open to the elements - which you can ...

So I’m falling a little behind on my Walrus Audio Overdrives - I’ve been meaning to get the 385 MKII for a while - where I think I prefer the black edition - that one just hasn’t quite happened yet - but will eventually! And now we have another essential one - very much an extended range Klone type, with some significant smarts onboard - so that one is a target for me also.

I’ve only fairly recently picked up a Walrus Monumental Tremolo, and just this Sunday I landed a Mako II Series [M1] -...

I’ve long since loved the somewhat vibrant fuzzy-esque sounds of the 5E3 Tweed Amp circuit - where I already have a number of pedal gems for that genre - including the fabulous sounding Tubesteader actual 12AX7 Tube-powered Eggnog.

Yet Origin Effects has seemingly one-upped everyone here with its truly superb sounding Deluxe 55 Tweed Recreation. This one sounds just a bit more lively, vibrant and visceral than all the others. Of course Origin Effects have pedigree and form in the solid ...

These Hangman fx pedals have been doing the rounds somewhat of late - both Emily Hopkins and the Superfunawesomehappytime chaps received bumper care package of these fairly recently. And Intheblue’s Shane Diiorio and Mike Hermans have at least one apiece.

I do hope Guitar Pedal X can be more involved at the front of these sorts of brand launch events. I mustn’t grumble really - I do get included in many a release schedule, and plenty gets sent my way - but weirdly I still feel like I’m ...

This is part of a long term project for Vitalii, where he’s sourced and circuit-traced most of EXAR’s Legacy Series pedals, alongside the odd one from lesser known smaller Polish brand PUE.

In a move sort of mirroring Boss’s opening 1977 salvo of 3 Original Compact pedals of OD-1, PH-1 and SP-1 pedals, from Drunk Beaver for 2024 we have two classic EXAR circuit replications & enhancements, alongside an evolved take on the PUE Sustain Filter Fuzz.

• OD-1 Over Drive from EXAR Series 1 [OD-1

When I did my recent ’9 Notable Brazilian Guitar Pedal Brands’ overview - a reader noted that I should have included Cachalote Audio also (Sperm Whale in Portuguese!) - which at the time was wholly unknown to me. They do have worldwide ambitions though - having an English language Website also, and a presence on Reverb.com - which I noted previously is fairly rare for Brazilian brands - who mostly seem to keep themselves to their native MercadoLivre Marketplace.

In any case - having been ...

It’s that time again! When you can freely pre-order every and any Reeves Electro pedal in the catalogue within a 24 hour window - without having to partake in a small batch lottery!

The headline for this occasion is the return of the Big Box BlackHatSound Pro - housed in a MKIII Tone Bender style Enclosure - where only 20 of those are available - everything else is Unlimited in numbers!

Also the Plus Overdrive is absent on this occasion with the 183 Sound sort of in its place for this ...

As part of ThorpyFX’s 10 Year Anniversary Celebrations (born on 2nd November 2014) - they’re encouraging everyone to get a ’caked’ version of any of the current pedal models. Thorpy is obviously making the most use of his new super-duper Roland 4-Colour UV Printer!

And I had a lot of fun creating this visual on a background of 100’s & 1000’s / Sprinkles!

Single pedal editions will be base-coat painted yellow - with the cake design on both outward facing sides. I personally think there ...

So this incredibly busy month was supposed to be all about Tremolos, culminating with the Rounder Sounds Zebra-Trem Review and 30 Tremolo Pedal Overview. But we hit some snags along the way - the Zebra-Trem was mysteriously held up in customs for a week, and then got slightly lost in the local postal network. And when it did finally arrive - evidently it had been dropped a few times, as the screen was no longer working. After trying various obvious remedies with Bill over a few days - with no ...