NAMM 2025 saw an entirely new but fully fledged brand - Nashville-based Thorn Soundlabs launch at the show
So this is something of an odd one, and I question some of the launch and marketing decisions made / not made for this unveiling. It’s very rare that a brand new and wholly unknown pedal brand launches with a full range right from the get-go - the normal path is to establish a reputation with 1 finely honed pedal - and then build on that success and reputation and add further pedals once each one has become properly ’embedded’ in the public conscience.
Launching so many pedals all at ones is typically quite a messy affair and induces option paralysis right from the start. There are some advantages in attempting to offers something for everyone - but that approach does not normally end in success for totally new brands - as there are simply too many moving parts, and the public can only focus on a few things at a time.
When I first started writing this - over a week after NAMM concluded, I was surprised to see that there are still no official demos out there - and still nothing even at this late juncture. The Thorn Soundlabs’ Facebook page dates back to December of last year, and the Instagram and YouTube channels were established in early January of this year. As of this writing - the Thorn Soundlabs YouTube channel still remains empty, and there are just a scant few posts on Facebook and Instagram - with seemingly no sound samples produced to date - also no manuals or detailed descriptions of the Dampen and Headroom functions - which we have to assume are Treble roll-off and some sort of internal Voltage control.
Thorn Soundlabs very obviously had a presence at NAMM (as pictured below) - but there are little or no proper references out there in the real world - which makes my task very difficult in trying to evaluate and fully properly represent this new brand - I always try to give everyone a fair shake - but will also constructively critique the aspects of the pedal and brand - that I feel fall short - and that indeed includes things like size, practicality, brand identity and ergonomics - also aspects like the availability of Manuals!
Thorn Soundlabs NAMM 2025 Boards
They're pleasant enough to look at - but they do come in those larger 1590BB 90's style enclosures. I've often said that the more compact form factor pedals tend to have a higher appeal and typically more sell-through - but you also need to make considerations for control topologies and the accommodation of various knobs and switches. Presumable as with most modern mass-manufactured pedals - these are SMT circuit varieties - they don't mention any specific 'Mojo' parts or indeed the nature of circuitboard - so it's most likely in that territory.
The pedals have a certain degree of appeal, but still somehow don't hit particularly hard. There's no overall fully consistent brand image or theme - and without the Thorn Soundlabs logo onboard - these could be from any number of brands. Smart design normally includes some 'family / familiarity' elements that make a pedal instantly identifiable as being from that brand - there are several strong examples of that. The design is smart enough - but it lacks a familiar cohesion - what I often refer to as 'brand-echoes' - that bind the whole range together. The idea is to help prompt instant recall and positive brand association - which obviously is not going to work if those pedals aren't instantly recognisable as being from a particular brand! New brands need to do a lot of heavy lifting to compete with the established elite.
So I have some reservations here, but still wish Thorn Soundlabs the very best of luck, and hope they do well regardless. Further peculiarities are that Thorn Soundlabs is currently advertising heavily on Premier Guitar - but still has nothing for sale, Thomann and Zoundhouse in Germany are listed as Dealers - but there's nothing yet on either of those sites - it kind of seems like the band is somewhat behind on its manufacturing - but already had NAMM and Advertising commitments in place. The fact that there are still no demos or sound samples of any kind - is just mystifying - and it's a wasted effort if you don't have the collateral to back up the release! This all seems to have happenedd somewhat prematurely!
The Black Swamp Fuzz and Magma Metal High Gain Distortion are the ones that probably appeal to me the most here. I question the need for The FreaQ Double Stage Booster and Tremonator to have such relatively large enclosures. While it's all kind of moot anyway - as all those pedals are listed as Sold Out still - when as far as I'm aware - none were yet offered for sale. So the brand has obviously invested in a NAMM launch - but then done nothing to strike while the iron is hot - all of those efforts will be wasted - when those who might have been prompted to explore - come to a rapid dead-end.
I still feel it's a worthwhile effort to do a general overview here - and I will then just add in the relevant YouTube references as and when they finally materialise. Still props to Thorn Soundlabs for the effort they've put in so far. The registered address is Nashville, and there's a statement on the website that says the business was established in 2021 - which is not supported by any of the existing social media references - which are all very recent - so a reasonable mystery remains as to who is actually behind the brand - and what the provenance is here!
As a final note - I actually really like their naming convention - those are solid pedal names - while the overall graphic theming is not sufficiently potent or coherent. This is about the time I would say you can order them from the Thorn Soundlabs Webstore - but alas there is still nothing in stock as of this moment! Prices are reasonable and range from $140 to $229 weirdly for the Tremolo - those prices kind of indicate SMT manufacture too!
Also the text descriptions for each pedal are about as vague and opaque as can be - no hint as to what ballpark each of those circuits is or their component makeup - for instance - we have no idea whether that is a transistor fuzz, opamp or otherwise Black Swamp Fuzz Pedal - Black Swamp - seems to indicate doomy / sludgy - but that's not really substantiated by the text description for the pedal!
Range Overview : Guitar Pedals
Bad Cash Flex Drive (green means scream?) - $180
Controls - Drive, Damping, Headroom (Volts?), Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence, Symmetry : I / ), Class : AB : A.
Interesting one - looks like it's a Green Screamer - otherwise why would you pick that colour, while it also seems to somewhat lean into amp / preamp territory - with that Class AB / A switch! Some serious opaque writing on the description - it tells you nothing of empirical value!
Black Swamp Flex Fuzz - $190
Controls - Gain, Damping, Mid Frequency : 300Hz > 2kHz, Volume, Character : Smooth / Normal / Hot, Hard Clip : 0/I, Bass, Mid±, Treble.
A Doomy / Sludge of a name for a fuzz - so presumably in that territory - but again the opaque description of it tells me nothing of valid - I'm not told what kind of circuit it is - Transistor / IC / Opamp - and I'm not told what ballpark it sits within. The description is so vague - that this could really be anything even though the name seems to hint at a certain direction!
Magma Flex Metal Distortion - $225
Controls - Gain, Damping, Headroom, Volume, Bass, Mid Freq : 300Hz > 2kHz, Mid±, Treble, Gate.
So we have a no reference Metal High Gain Distortion Pedal - where it's impossible to guess its provenance or ballpark genre - a lot of these tend to be HM-2 Heavy Metal types or Dual Rectifiers or 5150 variants - so you can take your pick in guessing where this one sits - there's not indication in the description!
Steam Flex Compressor - $189
Controls - Threshold, Amount, Attack, Release, Detail, Mode : Manual / Auto, Output.
Once more - no salient details are given here - we know not what manner of compressor this might be - whether FET, OTA, Optical or VCA - who writes these non-descriptive descriptions - this range is singularly poorly defined and positioned!
Tremonator Flex Tremolo - $229
Controls - Symmetry, Mix, Volume, Waveform : Sine / Square, Rate, Rate Multiplier : 1:1 / 2:1 / 3:1 / 4:1 / 8:1, Tap Tempo Footswitch, On/Off Footswitch.
Feature wise - a somewhat unremarkable and over-sized Tremolo. I own 30 Tremolos to-date - mostly in compact enclosures and many with significanttly more extended feature sets - not sure I see the point of this one?
Range Overview : Bass Pedals
Basstard Flex Bass OD - $175
Controls - Gain, Damping, Headroom, Volume, Bass, Mid±, Treble, Blend, Symmetry : 0/I, Mid Freq : 0.2 / 0.4 / O.8 / 1.6 kHz, Class : AB/A.
Presumably a versatile Overdrive with significant low-end extension. It of course has has an obligatory Blend control, and some smart output-shaping controls. Albeit we don't know the provenance of this circuit - the controls here give some indication as to the potency and versatility of this pedal - looks pretty decent for Bass players!
Steambass Flex Bass Comp - $195
Controls - Threshold, Amount, Attack, Release, Detail, Mode : Manual / Auto, Output.
And finally - we have the Bass version of the Steam Compressor, presumably with a slightly different frequency register - more honed towards the low-end side of things. Like the Guitar equivalent this is not referenced in any significant manner - and we can only guess as to the actual circus type here!
