I’ve long been a fan of Mooer’s potent X2 series - which typically has 14 Presets / Algorithms and stereo output alongside 6 controls and dual footswitches - and is the most capable variety of Mooer Compact Pedals. I’ve intended to add a few of these to the reference collection - while to date only the Preamp Model X is in the collection.

Here we have the X2 varieties of the Harmony and Tender Octaver pedals - where I really like the look of the Harmony’s Channel Separation capabilities - ...

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

The Modutility roundup combines Modulation, Utility and Pitch type pedals - it also includes Multi-FX and Multi-Modulation pedals of course. Some years this selection is relatively sparse - while this year it’s totally chock-a-block! In fact it was a struggle to whittle the Longlist down - and inevitably some pedals I wanted to feature did not make the cut - including the Endorphin.es Ghost Pedal Multi-FX and Subdecay Prometheus 3 Dual Super Filter.

I still feel that this selection of 26 is...

So here is the first more in-depth coverage of the ALABS Audio Adam Adventures Series - starting with the front-of-chain Orbital Pitch Shifter.

Superficially this would seem to be a very straight up (and down!) and straightforward pedal really - but it has a tonne of hidden depths and beautiful fluttery ambient nuance. I tend to think of it as an enhanced Boss PS-6 S-Bend / DigiTech Whammy Ricochet - while it is missing that rather essential Tom Morello style +2 Octave interval - that ...

This whole year has occurred at such breakneck speed and volume - with so much happening all day and every day - that I have perpetually felt like I was always in the process of catching up and never quite had time to catch my breath as such. I’ve taken just one whole weekend off in the whole year - and am as close to burn-out as I’ve ever been. Every time I attended a Guitar or Pedal show I was up all night doing the write-up - average time for those articles was / is around 36 hours give or ...

I’m really proud to be supporting a small fledgling audio products brand based in Singapore - which has only been around for a couple of years or so, and was originally known for making studio quality Microphones, Wooden Earcup Headphones and Mixing Consoles. ALABS Audio’s Jinbo Hui reached out to me back in September - to ask if I would want to support the launch of their new Adam Adventures Series pedal range - and I of course said I needed to be properly impressed by those pedals for me to ...

When I first started doing the visual for this I thought I had amassed 10 Beetronics pedals to date - but it turns I’m one short of that milestone - it still kind of made sense to mark the occasion of the Custom Shop Nectar’s arrival - which is probably my favourite Custom Shop edition to date. I had to wade through 3 batches to pick out that one - I wanted metal knobs - and a pinkish hue to the core - and the one pictured really captured my imagination. I quite liked my SeaBee at the time of ...

Obviously the Moai Maea has been back in the news again as the latest one-off Lilac Edition KMA 10 Year Anniversary pedal. Its Sub-Octave Channel was extracted as the stand-alone Queequeg Sub Generator - in two editions, and now it’s the turn of its Analog Upper Octave Shriek Channel with additional Fuzz Voicing.

So this new Mandrake Octo-Shrieker essentially improves on that Channel - with a lot more granularity and shaping possibilities.

Controls - Filter (Low Pass Filter), Timbre (±...

So we’ve had the Gold Sparkle Fuzzly Bear, and Luminous Glow-in-the-dark Queequeg, and now it’s the turn of the Moai Maea 4-Level Analog Octaver in unique Lilac and Aubergine colourway - featuring Root / Clean Blend, Octave +I, Octave -II, and Octave -I. You can also load more Fuzz into the Upper / +I Octave via internal controls - further details below.
 
Every distinct one-off pedal will be signed by KMA’s founder Enrico Preuss, and will have the winner’s name UV printed on the backplate. NOTE ...