So Fractal Audio Systems has thrown its hat in the ring with its first non-modelling device / unit - the VP4 Virtual Pedalboard Multi-FX Processor - which is quite a departure for the brand.

It’s obviously gunning for Line 6 and Eventide in particular, but also looking to knock out Boss and Strymon Workstation pedals. It has several of its own advantages, but with a number of caveats too. Overall it’s well priced for what it delivers - but for my own preferences it’s still somewhat over-...

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 ...

Electro-Harmonix often does superb introductory demos for its new pedals, and I must admit I was totally blown away by the vast Multi-FX territory covered by this launch. This POG III takes the Polyphonic Octave Generator circuit into entirely new territory - and has you covered for all kinds of other advanced effects.

Watching the demo, the following key territories are touched on :

• Slow Polyphonic Attack - backwards octave blend, somewhat Attack Decay -like
• 12 String sound with Chorus

I believe the original Perseus was out in around 2011, with quite different controls - Volume, Cut, Blend, and a I / II Sub Octave toggle-switch. The core fundamentals of the circuit are the same in terms of it being a sub octaves square wave fuzz - rendering somewhat 8-bit Nintendo sounds by default.

Where in the new version you can use the dual LPF Filters to further modulate or clean up those octaves. This is a much more subtle animal than say the Redbeard Effects Honey Badger Dual Sub ...

Boss has really been showing Bass Players a lot of love recently - with superb dedicated devices for the lower range of playback. For April we get a Bass Edition of the ME-90 - wholly re-designed with Bass Players in mind and the precise effects they favour in their rig. There may be some superficial similarities to the ME-90, but the ME-90B has been wholly re-engineered for Bass. In my describing all the effects, features and functions - it’s almost overwhelming just how much you get on the ...

I’ve long been a fan of Mooer’s potent X2 series - which typically has 14 Presets / Algorithms and stereo output alongside 6 controls and dual footswitches - and is the most capable variety of Mooer Compact Pedals. I’ve intended to add a few of these to the reference collection - while to date only the Preamp Model X is in the collection.

Here we have the X2 varieties of the Harmony and Tender Octaver pedals - where I really like the look of the Harmony’s Channel Separation capabilities - ...

The final arrangement for the year - all the pedals that impressed the most!

The Modutility roundup combines Modulation, Utility and Pitch type pedals - it also includes Multi-FX and Multi-Modulation pedals of course. Some years this selection is relatively sparse - while this year it’s totally chock-a-block! In fact it was a struggle to whittle the Longlist down - and inevitably some pedals I wanted to feature did not make the cut - including the Endorphin.es Ghost Pedal Multi-FX and Subdecay Prometheus 3 Dual Super Filter.

I still feel that this selection of 26 is...