So Catalinbread just launched its Airstrip CB-Range Discrete Console Preamp, and instead of covering that just on its own, I thought I should do some kind of group / genre overview.

I’m not sure whether my powers of detection are somewhat not fully up-to-speed for this exercise, for I was only able to uncover 5 suitable candidates for this selection - do let me know if you’re aware of others that fit this selection.

There seems to be some sort of a distinction distinction between ’...

So I picked up this Aquaria V2 from Joe’s Pedals in the UK - just before Christmas - along with some essential and rare Skreddy Pedals. I acquired 5 Lichtlaerm pedals in 2024 - all courtesy of Joe’s Pedals, and all quite superb.

Your basic Klon / Klone has just 3 controls typically - Gain, Treble, Output, and some have the additional Buffer switch. Relatively few have 2 channels, and hardly any have 10 controls - like this Aquaria V2.

Essentially the topology is split in half - with 5 ...

In my recent 16 Iconic Amps and Pedal Equivalents article - I chose the Eggnog as my favourite Tweed take to date - while there were always question marks as to whether I would prefer the Deluxe 55 when that landed - just a few days ago.

I’ve compared those two quite extensively over the last few days, and I find it very difficult to pick an out-and-out winner. These are obviously both Extended Range varieties - and they render slightly differently - the Deluxe 55 is slightly denser with ...

I thought it best to start off 2025 really strong.

I could sort of have squeezed this into the tail end of last year, but it made more sense to celebrate this with the incoming new year!

This article marks 3 milestones!

Firstly - I now have the ultimate JHS Pedals Gain Trifecta - where all of these were acquired in 2024. I had long been intending to get the Morning Glory, but always wanted a more special version of that! So this marks the point of entry onto the pedalboard and into the ...

33 slots updated this year - #2, #3, #4, #5, #7, #9a, #9b, #10, #11, #12, #15a, #15b, #15c, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #22a, #22b, #23, #24, #25, #26, #29, #30, #31, #32, #33, #34, #36, #38, and #41.

There’s been a fair amount of re-routing and re-organising this year - which you should be able to pick via the pattern of changes. The introduction of the stereo Poly Amplitude introduced the biggest change to the board order - to get th most out of that format!

I try to limit acquisitions /...

So this is the big one - all the top performers from the year in one selection.

We’ve already covered :

• 35 Boost & Overdrive Pedal Finalists
• 34 Distortion Pedal Finalists
• 32 Fuzz Pedal Finalists
• 38 Modutility Pedal Finalists
• 25 Delay and Reverb Pedal Finalists

Total Overall Finalist Selection of 164 Pedals!

Distilled down to the final favourites selection, where I own 27 of them, and will try to secure the final missing ones next year :

• Coffee Shop Pedals London Fog Tape Delay -

I’ve long been a huge Skreddy fan - picking up one from here and there as I’ve gone along! A couple here came from the old Wunjo store - back when they used to stock Skreddy, the Mayonnaise came from an Italian collector via Reverb.com - while most everything else came from my good friend Joe Light’s Joe’s Pedals Boutique!

I got a little carried away with the latest Skreddy restock / drop into Joe’s Pedals - where Marc Ahlfs made a number of long discontinued varieties for Joe - some of ...

In the light of a number of new arrivals this year, namely :

• Coriolis Hail To The King Ultimate Edition Dual BluesBreaker Overdrive
• Menatone MenaWatt Hiwatt DR103 style Preamp
• Menatone Wreck’T Trainwreck Express style Preamp
• Tubesteader ROY Twin Channel Vox AC30 Top Boost style Tube Preamp

It seemed about the right time to do an update of my original April 2023 16 Iconic Amps and Pedals Article. This has had some tweaks along the way, and on the 9th slot still features a pedal yet to ...

I’m falling a little behind with my Bleak District Electric capsule collection - and now have 3 gain pedals to add - including the Sun?No Model T, Terra Earthly Overdrive, and this Slate Preamp. Each of them is distinct sounding and beautifully calibrated.

I will try to pick up all 3 early next year and do a combine hands-on feature!

I’m a huge fan of Germanium Overdrives - and this Slate combines a JFET Input Stage into a NOS Germanium Transistor for a gorgeous breakup texture. ...