It’s that time of year when I pick out my personal favourite pedals in each category - starting with the Boost and Overdrive ones. I weigh up each candidate on the basis of my own experiences, preferences and sensibilities - and include pedals also that I intended to get but did not quite yet around to acquiring during the year of release!

For this selection I personally own all but these 8 :

• Aleks K Production Honey Moon Sweet Overdrive V3
• Bleak District Slate Discrete Gemanium

As was always likely to happen, Keeley has honed and reissued its ’I Get Around’ Stereo Rotary Speaker Emulator Beach Boys / Sweetwater collaboration pedal. On the surface you seemingly have the exact same topology as on the I Get Around, but with some enhancements. The Mid Boost Push Switch was originally a 2-way control, while you get a third option on this new iteration. 

Furthermore Keeley have upgraded the circuit with two improved circuit boards for even higher fidelity.

Controls ...

This is an interesting one, as the Halo Core was originally released as a Limited 300 Unit Run. That version had one less mode on it, as the general release candidate now adds the Dotted Eighth format. There have been some slightly circuit tweaks, but to most intents and purposes this is the limited run version with an extra mode! And the very slightly different logo in a slightly different position (offset versus centred)! You can play spot the differences against the original limited run ...

This is another project inspired in part by the Beach Boys collaboration - in using the exact same form factor - with those super appealing RCA Bakelite Knobs and crystal Amp lens. You can think of it as a follow-up to the limited edition California Girls, I Get Around, and the more recent Halo Core pedal. Most similar in fact to the Halo Core in shadowing an already existing Keeley Pedal.

I own and love the more svelte and potent Light Bending Special Edition of the Halo - so the Halo Core...

So I’ve obviously covered each of these pedals individually and in real depth - so please refer to the earlier articles if you need more details. The purpose of this exercise is to pick out my favourite/s from the series - which is really about comparing those 4 pedals head-to head across my 2 favourite settings for each - pitting one against the other - back and forth - until we have a preferences.

Note - that if you want to skip all the preamble - you can just scroll down to the bottom ...

Another strong month for sure! A little dominated by Keeley Electronics, but some solid releases over the month - with a crazy flurry towards the end - to coincide with Europe’s largest Guitar Gear Show - Mannheim’s Guitar Summit. It seems evident now that Guitar Summit is an event I should really be at - and I will make a concerted effort to be their next year.

As it was I attended just one guitar gear event this month - EarthQuaker Devices Showcase at GuitarGuitar in Camden - where I got ...

The Octa-Psi has been over 3 years in the making - and I can see why! A pretty potent richly textured Fuzz voicing - particularly on the PSI (Max Undertones) Mode. On the other side we have the most fantastic polyhonic octaver and pitch-shifter with multiple Interval choices, and smart blending functionality - to accentuate, elevate, or ameliorate the key constituents. Also with killer Momentary Pitch Ramping - which climbs up to the selected interval and drops back down to the root - kinda ...

And so we’re onto the 4th and final variant in the current 4-in-1 series - there are of course some custom shop editions out there too which I may review in due time, while for now the roundup is complete, and my next article on this subject will be a comparative overview of all 4 - where I put my favourite combinations in order of overall preference, and select my pick of the bunch for the series!

For this latest dual circuit confection - I’m very used to the sound of Civil War Muffs - ...

I already teased this review in my recent Compact Rat Distortions rundown - where I stated that I much preferred the Alternative Rat setting - with the SD-1 Tone Stack. Often the distinction can be fairly subtle, but overall the SD + RT output profile is more punchy and articulate.

That said - that Rat setting is only my 3rd favourite voicing here overall - where the big surprise for me is the RT Tone Stack with the SD Clipping. That turns out to be a little like the TS808 with the ODR-1 ...