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

Ken Fischer (1945 - 2006) is quite well known comparatively, while not as much in the public conscience as say Howard Alexander Dumble, not quite as prolific either, but is just as worthy, and also much revered as a superb Amp Engineer.

A little similar to my good friend Joe Halliday of Hello Sailor Effects fame, Ken developed his electronics engineering prowess in the US Navy (Joe is Royal Navy of course!). After the Navy he was employed by Bass Amp Maker Ampeg, but grew disillusioned with...

If you’ve read my Part 1 Guitar Heroes Feature - you will know that Lari features within that list of initial 25 favourites. I was first aware of her - when she did various guest performances on Pete Thorn’s Channel a few years back, and I loved her expansive playing style from the start. She has such an elegant touch in how she plays - and she can handle almost any style with ease. She’s for sure a guitarist I’ve long admired.

So I’m glad she finally and deservedly gets her own Signature ...

Brazil is a fascinating guitar pedal marketplace - mostly inward looking, and mostly closed off from the rest of the world. I was the first European I believe to get Aura Amps and Tone Ink pedals shipped out of Brazil. Some of those brands have some experience of shipping up the landmass and into Central and North America, but little or nothing ventures across the waters in either direction.

Andy Timmons has long favoured the GNI/ NIG Music OctaFuzz (as pictured left of centre) - where I’ve...

So I’ve been meaning to do this article for a while, but kept putting it off - in the hope that we might see more brands materialising from this country. That has not been the case though - so now seems as good a time as any to focus on the small but mighty trifecta of Croatian brands - Dawner Prince Electronics, DryBell Musical Electronic Laboratory and Polarbear Effects.

I typically have a grid of a 9 for this style of article - so here I’ve selected my favourite 3 choices from each brand...

I got my Boss XT-2 Xtortion around the same time as the MZ-2 Digital Metalizer - a few years back now - and always felt that the Xtortion pedal never quite reached its full potential. There was something strange about those controls - where you could kind of feel the potential of that circuit - but never quite get to the best version of it. Unlike the MZ-2 which was already every way brilliant!

My good friend Vitalii also harboured similar sentiments when he first encountered the Boss ...

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 ...