So February, as expected, turned out to be quite the slow moving month - with not too many featured releases. You always get the big announcements at NAMM - and then it takes a few months typically for those pedals to filter through.

There were a few heavy hitters that emerged in February or sooner - including the Kernom Elipse Modulation Playground, and the Polyend Step Drum Machine Pedal - both of which went on the board this month.

I also made the Plutoneium Chi-Wah-Wah a permanent ...

Note that there are 2 pedals in this release - a more practical sort of standard Compact one, and a more accurate full replica one too. There are a few differences besides the obvious size and enclosure variations. The Heritage Edition (£349) is a fully period-correct vintage reproduction - with the same circuitboard and sizing of the the original. The Heritage edition also has NOS Germanium Diodes, while the Compact Edition (£249) makes use of a pair of near identical Schottky Didoes.

I am...

There are 32 Finalists in the Fuzz Category, where I own all but 3 :

• 29 Pedals Toki Overdrive / Fuzz
• Cachalote 214 Fuzz
• Subdecay Noise Theory Parallel Waveshaper Fuzz

The Finalists

• 29 Pedals Toki Fuzz Driver - $269
• Beetronics FX Tuna Fuzz - $99
• Beetronics FX Whoctahell V2 Low Octave Beeast Babee Edition - $149
• Cachalote Audio 214 Fuzz - R$1418 / $235
• Cornerstone Nero Dumble-Fuzz - €299 | $299
• Danelectro Nichols 1966 Liverpool Fuzz Tone - $199
• Decibelics Reverend V2 Mini

I made a post very near the start of this year - which featured mostly the same visual, now a little more refined - where I indicated a desire to land the latest Nichols 1966 variant. Intriguingly Danelectro picked up on my visual and used is a couple of times on their social media - so I thought I was surely in for a discount on the Nichols 1966 - the third in the series. But no - despite some gentle nudging - Danelectro weren’t about to offer me an ounce of generosity - win some loose some as...

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’ve just recently covered the phenomenal Tavysh HARM Multi-Gain pedal, and thought I should look at which similarly potent multi-gain pedals I had in the reference collection. In fact while doing the preliminary for this I realised I hadn’t yet acquired the All-Pedal Devil’s Triad Essentials - which landed around a fortnight ago. I had to go to Thomann, as there were none available in the UK at the time. I actually really like using Thomann - it takes a little longer to get packages from there...

When Horrothia’s Tom started down this path, he was determined to make the most wide-ranging classic fuzz - one that allowed for the maximum of tone-shaping, and delivered octaves and feedback oscillation on top of a kaleidoscope of different tones and textures.

And what we’ve ended up with sets a new benchmark for classic fuzz, where 7 controls and 3 footswitches give you access to everything you might desire from a fuzz - there are so many clever touches to this design - that I will ...

Life is Unfair’s Grindle has birthed a monster gain machine here - which at its core is a totally killer improvement / evolution of Boss’s FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz, while it delivers a full gain range from Boost, through Overdrive, Fuzz / Octave Fuzz, and onto High Gain Distortion / Fuzzstortion. This is a general all-rounder gain machine, while most will use it for its more aggressive side no doubt!

This is a genuine collaboration between Grindle, and Mike Cunniff from the band Boston Manor - each ...

When I first glimpsed the HARM pedal - it very much appeared to me to be the full-fat embodiment of my ’12 Degrees  of Saturation’ Methodology. Now that I’ve been road-testing it for 3 weeks, I can absolutely vouch for its potency, versatility, and prowess - its range of coverage is extraordinary!

This is the one compact pedal that can pretty much cover all your gain needs. That’s not to say it wholly accurately 100% replicates every gain pedal, while it most definitely gets well beyond the...