’A brief mostly spoiler-free review’

So Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins, and Derek Smalls need to get the band back together once more for one final contractual obligation. At the start of the film the 3 of them are living quite separate lives and have not spoken to each other for many years, decades even.

The premise for the film is very elegant - starting with getting the band back together once more, and then the build up, rehearsals and countdown to the final concert.

It’s a ...

An incredibly ambitious project which took place  between July 2022 and Dec 2023 - right on the cusp of the Covid Lockdown - an exercise of such depth, complexity, and magnitude - that it is unlikely to ever be repeated - but if it is - then Cohen Hartman will likely be the one to pull it all together again!

This was a coordinated project covering more than 160 pedals across more than 70 brands - so a lot of moving parts!

Cohen is one of the most gifted pedal demoers out there - so many...

The very core of Pedaldom (The Pedal Domain!) is somewhat imperilled at the moment - with more and more of the younger generation leaning into the Digital Plugins thing - and simply plugging their guitars straight into their PC or Laptop (via audio-interface obviously!). And thus foregoing the delightful experience of those legendary stompboxes of wonder. I know there is a financial aspect / side to that pattern, but also one of convenience - where so many people are permanently ’plugged’ into ...

Wow, The Guitar Show was certainly a rollercoaster of an event with the busiest crowd I’ve witnessed to-date. At times it was quite a struggle to make your way through the packed waves of attendees, which did though start to peter out just a little after 3 o’c. For me it was fast and furious from the start - and I found it a little awkward navigating around the hall - as the stand layout seemed to have all kinds of little nooks and crannies - which made some booths incredibly easy to overlook ...

There are two historic absolute killer Internet-based Effects Pedal Resources - the more narrowly and fuzz-focused ’Kit Rae’s The Big Muff Π Page’, and the much broader and more holistic / comprehensive ’Effects Database’ - which covers every type of effect - world-wide.

Bart describes how this all started with a relatively focused pet project website called ’DisqoFreq’s Envelope Filter Site’. Created really for similar reasons as to why I created Guitar Pedal X originally - where Bart was ...

I get asked so often what my key influences are, and what informs my own pedalboard  choices, tones and textures - that I thought I would do this detailed overview - which has actually taken a very significant time to compile and write up. This is as much for me to have a handy reference to my favourites as much as to expose you to 1 or 2 you may not be fully aware of or else have forgotten about!

For sure people will be hounding me with how could I possibly leave out this or that guy - in ...

It’s with heavy heart that I compose these words to describe how significantly I feel about the passing of one of my all-time favourite and most inspirational guitar heroes - one Eddie Van Halen. I really would not have thought it would have made me feel quite so emotional - possibly it’s been accentuated by this weird period we’re all currently living through - but I’m really feeling the loss - just as painfully as when Bowie and Prince passed in 2016.

I will ...

Dunlop Manufacturing is one of the many, as well as one of the chief family businesses in the general guitar industry / sector - setting the pace and scope of what’s possibly with quality gear alongside outfits like Ernie Ball for over half a century (since 1965). And while Jim’s involvement of late has not been so prominent as in previous years, he has nonetheless left an indelible mark on the brands that he developed, innovated and evolved.

Dunlop probably means a great ...

When I started the second chapter of my guitar adventures I was initially resolved to do things as simply as possible - one great guitar, and one great modelling amp. It was not long however before I discovered that this approach was not going to get me the sounds I had in my head, or the sounds I heard on Spotify or Tidal and wanted to accurately and faithfully reproduce.

So I quickly changed direction and ended up going down this very heavy pedal-centric route which you can read ...