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

So I’ve always liked the look of the Kinotone Ribbons, in fact I wrote a very favourable review of it back in October of 2022. While I’ve yet to hit the trigger for that - I’m actually still deliberating and determining exactly where I would place it in my rig / signal chain, and which pedal it would knock out of its slot.

I was initially having a similar internal debate for the Sparks - until I spotted that one of the Factory Presets was for Harmonic Tremolo! You should all know by now how...

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...

When I first started doing the visual for this I thought I had amassed 10 Beetronics pedals to date - but it turns I’m one short of that milestone - it still kind of made sense to mark the occasion of the Custom Shop Nectar’s arrival - which is probably my favourite Custom Shop edition to date. I had to wade through 3 batches to pick out that one - I wanted metal knobs - and a pinkish hue to the core - and the one pictured really captured my imagination. I quite liked my SeaBee at the time of ...

I’m quietly impressed with the peak 80’s looks of Pigtronnix’s new pair of Star Eater and Gloamer pedals. Those metallic pastel hues on the knobs really make these pedals pop. While I don’t see why these could not be made in the more pedalboard-friendly vertical format. As is, they just take up way more space than they should - however cool they are.

The first is described as an All-Analog Dual Stage Super Jumbo Fuzz - which has a Mids Bump or Scoop activated via left-hand Footswitch, while...

As a long-term user and fan of Eventide’s H9 Max, the H90 Harmonizer has been something we have all been clamouring for - for a very long time. There is much to recommend the H9 - but its on-pedal interface has always been somewhat feeble, and without the superb Bluetooth connected App the pedal wouldn’t really have been particularly usable.

Multitudes of us have been asking for a better and more intuitive interface - with more meaningful screen display. And Eventide have really pulled out ...

I first encountered Wub Wainwright’s Ritual Devices at the Birmingham Guitar Show - where he had pretty much hit his stride with his new pedal aesthetics and highly stylised geometric artworks - which looked resplendent in their etched sort of Victorian enamel trinket box designs. For me I was pretty much smitten at first sight - while the new designs had still to be carried across to the whole range. I recall Ritual Devices looking pretty cool in the past in shiny all-polished steel enclosures...

And here is the turn of the combined Modulation, Pitch and Utility category - which I affectionately label ’Modutility’. Obviously as frequently mentioned -  2021 was ’Year of the Phaser’ - so 8 favourites of those here, alongside 4 choruses, 3 flangers and a couple of stand-out Amp and Cab sims. 

Some genuinely innovative pedals here - and particularly handy new expression controllers in the guise of the Chase Bliss Audio Expression Roller, and Cooper FX Expression Generator. Free the Tone...