I always get pangs of sorrow when a pedal brand retires for one reason or another. Late last year Luca Romanelli announced that he was pulling the plug on his Mastro Valvola pedal brand - which at times I have referred to as ’The Strymon of Italy’.

There are so many complications and complexities with pedal-building in general - chip sets and key components increasingly harder to source, and numerous challenges with logistics and red tape. It’s a wonder more of these don’t go to the wire. ...

The StarCrash 70’s Collection re-skins 4 Catalinbread classics (Adineko, Katzenkönig, SFT, and Valcoder) and adds 2 brand new period correct pedals - a Screamer-type SideArm Overdrive, and a 70’s style StarCrash Sustaining Fuzz.

I really like the styling of these - which enclosures come in a really appealing apple-green sparkle, and where prices vary from $179 to $209 for the Adineko delay.

I only own the standard Katzenkönig from this circuit selection, I’ve had the SFT on the wishlist...

Back in 2019 I coined the term ’Turbo Dane’ - meaning using the just then released Heavy Water in combination with The Peacekeeper Overdrive. As I detailed in last week’s Heavy Water Origin Story, the Peacekeeper circuit was involved right at the start of The Dane development project, but where that latterly headed off in its own distinct direction. The Dane (MKI and MKII) is obviously Pete Honoré’s signature Drive + Boost pedal - specifically designed to bring out the very best in Pete’s ...

This new King Tone format has turned out to be something of a Marmite project for the brand - with consumers having mixed feelings on this new shape - which I feel owes a lot to the Danelectro Billionaire Series, which in turn surely took its form-factor in part from a computer mouse shape.

King Tone is beset with so many grey and black market fakes of its signature pedals, that these new designs are designed to both enhance the specific pedal performance and experience, but also make it ...

You would have thought that I would have been long since bored of 3-knob overdrives, considering how many of those have crossed my path over the years. But every now and again something special comes along which makes you park those prejudices.

And the Project 34 Selenium Rectifier Pre/Drive is just one such magical pedal - verily sounding like it’s loaded with tubes and other primo amp components - so lively is its character. There’s a massive hint of Vox in its tone profile, alongside a ...

So this project was first announced right on April 1st - in the middle of all the April Fool stuff - and  part of me still isn’t 100% sure this is entirely real - even though the pedal is in wide dealer distribution by now.

It seems a little vanilla to be a full-fat Beetronics style pedal - but there are several smart touches here which make it worthy.

Controls - KLONE } Honey (Gain), Taste (Tone), Volume, Mode : 1 No Clean Blend / 2 Medium Blend / 3 Full Blend, Klone Footswitch; ...

The Great Raven is Obie Audio’s very first pedal, which you could rather reductively describe as a super extended-range modified TS808 overdrive with additional features - as that is the very initial origination point. But this is a rather more expansive evolved gain platform - allowing you to cleverly combine and stack a +20dB Pre-Gain Clean Boost, Classic Overdrive, and Post-Gain Active EQ section.

The TS808-derived core Overdrive is that soft-clipping classic green screamer style - but ...

So scanning through this month it seems to have been mostly about Guitar / Pedal Shows, Japanese Pedals, and Pedals Delayed and Missing in the Post!

The Guitar Shows have been pretty fast and furious for March - with two of the most significant ones of the year, along with a fledgling grassroots one : The Guitar Show (Cranmore Park - Birmingham / Shirley), London Synth & Pedal Expo (Studio 9294, Hackney Wick, London), The Alternative Guitar Show (The Fighting Cocks, Kingston).

I of ...

I first featured this pedal in the run-up to Halloween 2023 - where it most definitely has a suitably seasonal pumpkin theme to the artwork. So it’s taken a while to land - thanks once more to Kevin Bolembach and Trevor Shaikin for the assist.

Obviously the first thing you notice is the excellently themed appearance of the pedal, while it’s not without its idiosyncrasies. Bypass state delivers an all-green lit-up pumpkin - which then becomes orange, with green stem when engaged. While there...