Most are aware that the updated and revived Boss HM-2W Heavy Metal is due for imminent release - I believe sometime around June. In order to celebrate that momentous occasion I’ve been building up a sort of capsule collection of some of the very best HM-2 style distortions - specifically in that Black and Orange colourway. Note that I’ve taken liberties with the Klirtonn Grindstein visualisation which is actually currently Black and Red, while I’m going to try to persuade ...

I’m delighted to participate in the launch of 3 more of Alex’s classic pedal transformations - where his formerly BB-enclosure editions have been shrunk down and enhanced. The aesthetic theme of single colour graphic with matching knobs is particularly strong for these 3 varieties.

I always said that I would be acquiring all of Alex’s compact editions and the addition of these 3 brings my Zander Circuitry collection to 6. Alex kindly sorted me out with a plain version...

Subdecay is a brand which I’ve featured a lot on this site. All these pedals listed here have appeared or been mentioned several times on this blog, and it’s a surprise really that I don’t own more of these. In fact I have just two to date - the Harmonic Antagonizer and the Vector Analog Preamp - the latter of which falls just outside this preferential list.

There are several here I’ve been on the cusp of acquiring when another rising priority essentially took ...

I’m delighted to have got my hands on one of these limited edition Loaf Fuzzes. Funnily the one I’ve been after for the longest time has eluded me so far. The first Big Ear Pedal that was on my wishlist and that I still want is a Squatch Wood Facia edition of the Woodcutter Distortion. For me there’s nothing more fitting than to have a Woodcutter in a wood-facia enclosure.

I am actually quite the fan of wood-facia pedals in general, and have 4 of the Bogner Rupert ...

I’ve been onboard the Tom Majeski train only properly since the Chase Bliss Audio Generation Loss Edition from October 2019. I had been aware of Tom for a while including in particular the Generation Loss, Outward and Moment Machine - in fact I came very close to acquiring the Moment Machine at one stage, before deciding that the Meris Hedra was probably better for my needs - and quite specifically in terms of form factor and pedal-chain fit!

The CBA Generation Loss was a real ...

I have been a fan of Ryan and Shannon Ratajski’s pedals for quite a while, but I’ve somehow not yet ended up owning any until this Lil’ Fella, even though there are a number of Fuzzrocious pedals sitting on my wishlist, and I’ve featured quite a number on this site already. Readers will know that I have quite an extensive priority wishlist which chops and changes all the time - the timing of the Li’l Fuzz is just perfect on this occasion!

For me ...

Readers will know that I’m quite the fan of Rat-style pedals with a significant double-figure number of examples in the collection already. I really like it when pedals offer something a little different - rather than just a straight-up replica of the same thing over and over. I have 3 of Vitalii’s Drunk Beaver Pedals to date - the Distortion DS-1 Multi-Mods Clone, this Bat, and the Bloom Expandora clone - in order of acquisition. This Bat is the first of those to get a demo video. ...

The latest Pettyjohn Electronics Pedal is the Core Edge Low Gain Overdrive (Gørva-enclosured). This pedal owes its pedigree to Pettyjohn’s best-selling Chime Overdrive - which per the visual can really be considered the sort of Senior version of that circuit.

Obviously we have slightly different controls, and at default the Chime is loaded with Yellow LEDs - which are designed for relatively quick-onset breakup. While the default Edge comes with Blue LEDs designed for ...

March seems to have been unusually busy on all sides really, particularly with the day-job’s annual keynote event. Generally this year has been off to quite a moderate start, but that seems to have accelerated somewhat during this month.

It’s been a mixture of January NAMM pedals materialising and spring-time special offers, all of which contributed to a somewhat bumper month - with a record-breaking for me 29 acquisitions, prior to that the record stood at 26, while that ...

For sure another exciting release from Zak Martin - the Aurora is a really modern and smart take on the BBD Analog Flanger. I’ve long been claiming the Thorpy FX Camoflange the King of the Flangers - certainly as regards its high fidelity sparkling top notes - still probably the best example of a Vintage EHX style flanger available nowadays.

The Aurora is a different beast really, it’s lack of Tone Control indicates it’s not really primed for those pristine Vintage ...