Probably the strongest selection of the year - each one of these is amazing and sounds killer. But then agin similar was true of the Overdrives. I’m very much a fuzz fanatic - so his selection has to take the edge - what a selection!

This selection includes 3 from EarthQuaker Devices, 2 from Drunk Beaver, 2 from Fjord Fuzz, and 2 from ThorpyFX.

It also includes the likely pedal of the year - within a selection of 10 award winners here - these are so good - I could have labelled even ...

So you can look at this as an updated and upscaled version of the Sputnik I Germanium Fuzz - with more volume and gain onboard in particular - and a refined Scan mode - per the Sputnik IIb.

It retains all the key facets of the original - with that singing searing tonality - there’s just more of everything onboard. It doesn’t quite have those Sputnik I Germanium Harmonics - but in most respects totally matches and exceeds the original pedal. Its core tonality is every bit as good - just with...

I have spent a week now with the magnificent analog mechanical marvel that is FuzzBillion - and I’ve been utterly dazzled by its brilliance. This pedal is genuinely extraordinarily high fidelity and is a superb enclosed  breadboarding device and analog sound-design machine.

Leon and his colleagues at Teaching Machines (+ Frank, Luke, and Mat) recommend you work left to right - and start off every sound design task - with all wheels at zero - and then mix your favourite sound cocktail from ...

Rainger FX is one of the 3 Top Tier UK brands - alongside Origin Effects and ThorpyFX. David Rainger definitely ploughs his own furrow and is one of the Original Auteurs of the pedals scene - with ever distinctly different circuit designs.

Coming into this roundup I was short of a few Minis - where I picked up the Air Space Invader and Deep Space Pulsar from Macari’s, and the Echo X - from Andertons.

I don’t really have much need for the Deep Space Pulsar - that’s there largely for sake...

The Fuzz Fields is an incredibly versatile Modulated Fuzz with several smart Modes you can ramp up and down through on-the-fly. The Main Right Footswitch flips Modes by press-holding the switch, while the Left Footswitch flips through the Freq and Gravity Combinations via quick double presses - so you can apply the Modes singularly or in tandem combinations. You essentially have 8 different combinations for how you can combine the Main Fuzz, Fazer Mode, and Freq and Gravity Modes. 

The ...

Glou-Glou’s Olivier Armbruster often hits me up for a launch - where I participated in the STAKE launch - indeed I helped write the Press Release for that. And I also participated significantly for the Flanger Series releases. While this time around he’s kind of sneaked this one past me - so not sure what’s going on there. There has been a spate of these sorts of things this year - with a few builders somewhat negligent in my direction. People that I call friends - and have worked very amicably...

Sprung from the mind of Frank Naughton from Teaching Machines - who is hitherto best known for his incredible Wellspring True Analog Stereo Spring Reverb Unit - which goes for £1,250 - magnificent for sure and a great studio tool in particular, but possibly a little large for practical domestic use!

His new device - the ’FuzzBillion’ consists of 11 component / element roulette wheels - with a clever Up/Down selection Mechanic which together deliver 11 billion combinations overall, but ...

Another super busy month - where the lack of a holiday is really starting to impact my wellbeing - as I’m about as shattered and burned out as is possible without going entirely into meltdown - I’m teetering on the edge!

Here follow the highlights of the month - which I normally try to limit to around 10 elements - but stand at 12 for September. No show or onside attendances this month - while plenty of other activities - and some killer releases of course!

• Jo Quail @ the Roland Store,

This is the only brand that could dream of mashing up a crossover frequency filter with a savage Fuzz circuit. You should be familiar with the concept of a Crossover Circuit - as I covered my good friend David’s Great Eastern FX XO Variable Crossover Splitter + Blender not so long ago.

The big difference here is the addition of Resonance control - which makes the output more textured and gnarly, and you then split the frequency into dual Fuzz Channels which further clip and shape those ...