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 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-...

First launched in 2014 - the BitQuest Multi-FX / Multi-FX-Fuzz / Fuzz-Modulator - quickly became Dr Scientist’s most popular and best-selling pedal - and has held the line ever since - despite fierce competition from my other Frazz Dazzler Fuzz favourite! According to Ryan- there are only 2 core models of this pedal - the one which originated in 2014 - which holds all the way through to 2020 - while there are some circuitboard variations along the way too. Before 2020 you first move the Fuzz/...

Readers of this site will know that I’ve long admired the extraordinary sound-design talents of Cohen Hartman - who’s best known through his SpiralCaster Plays Pedals YouTube Channel. In my opinion he is one of the very finest pedal demo artists there ever was. He has a way of teasing out some truly unique tones and textures from most pedals - and taking them places where others just don’t or can’t seem to venture.

He did a slew of particularly brilliant demos in the lead up to my February ...

My good friend Dan at Buzzing Bugs has had a few really busy months of late in developing this fantastic lo-fi style pedal for his friends across the Bristol Channel. Los Campesinos! regard themselves as the UK’s first and only emo band, where this Mortal Joy pedal replicates the core of their signature sound found on latest album ’All Hell’.

The Mortal Joy is composed of a 3-knob Discrete Transistor Overdrive with extended range via Lo/Hi Gain Structure switch. Next is the Fixed Band ...

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’m going to start this month’s roundup with a couple of conundrums that I’m still kind of wrestling with.

Firstly about my old friends at Sinvertek, whom I can’t but think that they might have jumped the shark with their latest release. It’s another spin off of the Scream Honey line - the 4th or 5th in that series. Mr Wu seems to introduce tiny improvements each year, and every other year we get a price rise too. On this occasion the offering is two pedals - supposedly both slightly different ...

Non-Human Audio introduced the 2-knobs Slow Loris Short Delay Line Dynamic Modulator about one year ago now - where it was incredibly enthusiastically received. Slightly reminiscent of a number of Delay Line Modulators - like say the Fjord Fuzz Loke, and Spaceman Effects Meridian - but hugely simplified - and with a slightly dissonant nature to the output.

And while inspired by the Slow Loris - this is a slightly differently calibrated effect with 2 different A + B Short Delay Lines - each ...

We’re likely living through the age of Lo-Fi - there have been so many pedals that tackle this palette of sounds. Often of a chorusing or tape effects nature - combining filtering, modulation, and saturation style outputs with somewhat vinyl and crackly radio noises onboard.

Very recently we had the all-digital Source Audio Artifakt - which landed for me about a fortnight ago. This overlaps with that quite a bit - not quite so expansive - while there are a number of areas in common.

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