So OBNE has souped up its former compact Dark Star Pad Reverb - where you previously had 3 separate and independent modes of operation - Pitch / Delay / Crush.

For this new enlarged Stereo edition OBNE allows you to use all those textural elements together - with more options and a far higher degree of granularity. This really is a very distinct Reverb sound, and all the more special now with having the ability to mix up those different elements to your own preferences - where on the other ...

I have the earlier version of this - in fact the earliest 2021 V1 version I believe. Since then I think there have been 3 further editions. The online manual refers to V3, while that is already out of date - so presumably this latest version is a V4. Very much confirmed as a V4, the V3 was out in February of 2023. Those where smaller, mostly cosmetic refinement - while the V4 is really quite significantly different.

For this Ultimate Edition, Polarbear’s Darko has essentially absorbed his ...

So it made sense that the 3rd in Brian’s workstation pedal series would be a Reverb type - having already had a Multi-Modulator and Multi-Delay units in the respective Terraform and Metaverse pedals - which are both excellent of course. While this is Brian’s sort of competitor to the Source Audio Collider - both those units have inherent similarities in being a combination of Delays and Reverbs - an ’EchoVerb pedal’ of sorts therefor.

The emphasis is markedly different though, with the ...

Thermion combines an 800ms Analog-style Tap Delay, smart Dual Reverb, and +15dB Boost for its super handy Breathe Multi-FX / Spatial Effects Pedal.

This project evolved I believe as a much requested companion pedal to Thermion’s potent Zero and Freeway floor-based amps (the Freeway in particular) - both have featured on this site. Where the Breathe gives you full granular control over your Time-Based Effects, with some further smart dynamics in play.

And those smart Dynamic elements ...

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...

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 ...

I was quietly impressed by the original Pod Express, which I dubbed the ’My First Fisher-Price’ of Multi-FX - a really neat combination and topology of essential effects - with a supreme ease of use. It was indeed a really handsome device.

The new Black Edition looks very similar to the original but there are actually some very significant differences.

The only segment that is exactly the same is the Modulation segment (Chorus / Flanger / Phaser / Tremolo) - but in a different place, we ...

This is another project inspired in part by the Beach Boys collaboration - in using the exact same form factor - with those super appealing RCA Bakelite Knobs and crystal Amp lens. You can think of it as a follow-up to the limited edition California Girls, I Get Around, and the more recent Halo Core pedal. Most similar in fact to the Halo Core in shadowing an already existing Keeley Pedal.

I own and love the more svelte and potent Light Bending Special Edition of the Halo - so the Halo Core...