2025 January Pedal-Chain Update - Episode I - Peak Pedal Mania
So January 2025 sees a momentous milestone - where we have the peak possible number of pedals in the chain - which now numbers no less than 52 Pedals. It’s an incredibly tight squeeze - and all the available space is now fully used up.
I’ve re-flowed the main visual - where I used to try to have a fixed format arrangement - but now have re-numbered the slots entirely corresponding to the number and order of those pedals. Last January I noted that I was going to switch out my 2 Friedman ...
The really cool Subdecay Noise Theory Parallel Waveshaper Multi-Fuzz has finally landed!
So I actually did a feature on this back in February of last year, while Joe Light / Joe’s Pedals didn’t get new Subdecay stock in until the start of this year. My friend Phil at Pedal Experiments reviewed / demoed this quite some time ago, and my friend Cyril M got his second hand off eBay quite some time ago also - so I’m a little late with this one, but it’s been well worth the wait.
At its core this is a dual-fuzz, where you blend together a Digital Wavefolder Fuzz, with an Analog Fuzz....
End of Year Pedal-Chain Update - Final December Formation - Class of 2024
33 slots updated this year - #2, #3, #4, #5, #7, #9a, #9b, #10, #11, #12, #15a, #15b, #15c, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #22a, #22b, #23, #24, #25, #26, #29, #30, #31, #32, #33, #34, #36, #38, and #41.
There’s been a fair amount of re-routing and re-organising this year - which you should be able to pick via the pattern of changes. The introduction of the stereo Poly Amplitude introduced the biggest change to the board order - to get th most out of that format!
I try to limit acquisitions /...
2024 Best New Fuzz Pedals of the Year
There are 32 Finalists in the Fuzz Category, where I own all but 3 :
- 29 Pedals Toki Overdrive / Fuzz
- Cachalote 214 Fuzz
- Subdecay Noise Theory Parallel Waveshaper Fuzz
The Finalists
- 29 Pedals Toki Fuzz Driver - $269
- Beetronics FX Tuna Fuzz - $99
- Beetronics FX Whoctahell V2 Low Octave Beeast Babee Edition - $149
- Cachalote Audio 214 Fuzz - R$1418 / $235
- Cornerstone Nero Dumble-Fuzz - €299 | $299
- Danelectro Nichols 1966 Liverpool Fuzz Tone - $199
- Decibelics Reverend V2 Mini
As part of Spaceman's 15th Anniversary Celebrations it's releasing a further evolved IIb Deluxe take of its Sputnik Germanium Fuzz - with a 48 hour preorder window
The original Spaceman I first came out in 2013, with the much larger Sputnik II materialising in 2017, and then the mid-size Sputnik III arriving a few years later in 2020. I missed out on the Spaceman I upon its original release, but picked up a pristine Red Cyrillic version of that in 2018 - which eagle eyed reader will note is my favourite American fuzz (vis-a-vis The Fuzz Pedal Olympics!).
I had the opportunity to get the Sputnik II at the time of release, but always felt that its ...
15 Favourite Fjord Fuzz Pedals
I had become aware of Fjord Fuzz really in mid to late 2018 onwards - it took me a little while to tune into the brand - in terms of its constant prototyping and iteration - and at the time where the only official retailer for that brand was based in Sweden. It wasn’t until 2019 that I was able to get hold of my first Fjord Fuzz Pedal - where I picked up the early version of the Bifrost Fuzz-Delay on UK Reverb.com - where a UK pedal builder had either bought or exchanged a pedal with Daniel, ...
Old Blood Noise Endeavors introduces intriguing new Pardner Dual-Voiced Dynamic Fuzz, with Overdriven Lasso Insert Loop
Old Blood Noise Endeavors are ever innovative in their effects development - always adventuring where others fear to tread, and they’ve come up with a really cool new variant of fuzz here.
The main Fuzzz has 6 controls essentially - with the Fuzz Type, Filter, and Intensity varying the character and voicing of the fuzz enormously. We’ve seen this take on ’Filter’ before - which combines Input Gain with Low End frequency enhancement. While the ’Intensity’ control seems to be fairly unique ...
The Fuzz Pedal Olympics!
Ryan (Clarke) of Dr Scientist is actually responsible for this article for the most part. He mis-identified my previous ’World Odyssey’ article as a Fuzz roundup - and referred to it as the ’Fuzz Pedal Olympics’ - which it really wasn’t although Fuzz as probably the biggest overall category / genre in that roundup - or 7/25. In any case I decided that for Ryan’s sake - we had better have that ’Fuzz Pedal Olympics’ proper - which this finally is! And obviously the 7 Fuzzes from the previous ...
Alternative Guitar Show #2 Highlights - from Paper Dress Vintage in Hackney, London
It was quite the deliberation - deciding which image should be the cover shot for this feature - on balance I think I made there right decision by picking the very first photo of the day - where Hello Sailor Effects certainly delivers that Technicolour Rainbow which looks so appealing. Moreover I snagged a one-off pedal from that stand - a few minutes before the show was officially opened - but more of that later!
Catalinbread reboots its Antichthon Experimental Chaotic Oscillating Bias Fuzz - now in more controllable and expansive Deluxe Edition
The original compact Antichthon Fuzz is one of my favourite Catalinbread pedals, and an excellent ambassador for the experimental and chaotic oscillating fuzz genre. With the original version you induced all manner of cool squeals and tremulous timbres by manipulating both your guitar’s volume and tone knobs.
This is a particularly unruly fuzz - which makes it so much fun for us genuine fuzz fanatics - you never quite know where it’s going to take you - but you can guarantee and interesting...
