So we first saw a very finished prototype of this pedal back in October of 2019 - where it looks identical to this final production release as far as I can tell. I’m guessing there were some further challenges with the DSP side of things - where it’s often the MIDI programming side that holds things up.

In any case, we finally have a proper release candidate - which all Boonar and Echorec fans will be delighted to see. I personally was hoping for a Stereo pedal - as the last 1/3rd of my ...

And so we have a rather intriguing new pedal from Alexander Pedals - which looks like something you would typically be more likely to see coming out from Old Blood Noise Endeavors!

This new Forget Me Not Digital 4-Head Tape Delay is quite different from Alexander’s current models - which typically come with a handy mini screen. On this occasion though we have a much more traditional pedal - with no screen, and no hidden or secondary functions - everything is fully surfaces on this new pedal...

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. ...

Following on from his smart stereo Cortado Reverb, by friend Benno has conjured up a quite superb Tape Style Delay - packed with some exceptionally smart features.

You get 4 different styles of delay, including a handy Dual Tape, and the powerful Playback Direction toggle-switch allows you to engage the Delay in Reverse, Forward, or both together in parallel - which is a little reminiscent of the Chase Bliss Reverse Mode C.

In my visual I’ve incorporated the secondary settings / ...

We’ve had a number of pedals released into Catalinbread’s Belle Epoch Tape Echo family - starting with the original 2015 compact edition. The Deluxe edition arrived 2 years later, and and 2 years after that we had a large-format Epoch Pre - Preamp/Buffer, which is alas discontinued now.

In fact 2024 kind of sees something of a replacement for that Epoch Pre - in the shape of the 4-controls Epoch Bias - Preamp/Bias pedal.

The range currently consists of 5 pedals - One large DLX, a mini, ...

The ALABS Audio Pedals were so successful over the Christmas / New Year period - that they were sold out for a while. So I thought it prudent to pause the action until ALABS were back in sync with the demand.

The TimeSlip is my second-favourite of the quartet and shares Cetus’s perfect mix of algorithms - mixing up classic and more traditional flavours with some more intriguing and unusual modern and futuristics ones. I really love this pedal in particular for superb sweep of algorithms - ...

I love that Gamechanger Audio exists and is so free and forward looking in its innovation - continuously delivering new and distinct ideas into the world of pedals. They certainly make very interesting form factors, while their pioneering spirit often kind of ignores the more practical aspects of day-to-day pedalboard management. All their units are larger than the norms - often quite substantially - which makes those pedals difficult to accommodate on a typical board. And those considerations ...

The final arrangement for the year - all the pedals that impressed the most!

And so to the final category - where competition is extremely fierce this year. No doubt some of your favourites will have missed the cut here - but hopefully this selection is fully representative of the best of the year. Obvious I lean more towards immersive stereo effects - mono doesn’t really do it for me so much - while there is a smattering of mono pedals in here too. Price, format, versatility and practicality - everything counts!

Of the 23 featured in the selection - I own around ...