The third in the Bloom Infinity Series - the Sprout 9-Mode Modulation - delivers all the essential modulations (+ Ring Mod!), featuring most of the usual suspects - 2 styles of Chorus, Vibe (Uni-), Flanger, Envelope Filter, Phaser, Rotary and Tremolo - with the somewhat acquired-taste Ring Mod appropriately at the end.

2 of my favourite Modulation types are the Roland / Boss Dimension, and the Harmonic Tremolo (esp. JAM Pedals Harmonious Monk) - neither of which appears here. You do have a ...

If you’re getting something of a déjà-vu here - it’s because the Klowra Team at one stage worked for Alabs Audio - which launched the Adam Adventures Series a couple of years ago - as covered extensively on this site.

There was a parting of ways inside Alabs, something of a clash of conscience, where my main contacts - including my good friend Jinbo Hui split away to form their own company - now registered in China. The Alabs management had a different direction in mind - so the core active...

So January 2025 sees a momentous milestone - where we have the peak possible number of pedals in the chain - which now numbers no less than 52 Pedals. It’s an incredibly tight squeeze - and all the available space is now fully used up.

I’ve re-flowed the main visual - where I used to try to have a fixed format arrangement - but now have re-numbered the slots entirely corresponding to the number and order of those pedals. Last January I noted that I was going to switch out my 2 Friedman ...

David Rolo always makes distinctly unique devices, and this Kiwami is no exception - in uniquely combining a Dual Resonant Filter (bi-directional) with Ring Modulation, Flanging, and Aliasing.

You have quite an extensive control topology to help you get the most out of this format - which essentially takes Resonant Filtering into new and interesting textural areas.

Controls - Decay (Effect Fade), Envelope Sensitivity, Gain, Volume, LFO Rate, LFO Depth, Frequency Range, Resonance, Wave ...

So I’ve had my Hamstead Redwing for barely a week now, where I adapted to it incredibly quickly. My only challenge was in using a Strymon Mini Switch for the Hold function - possibly I need something else in that situation, while the Expression Speed Control is a breeze. UPDATE! - My DryBell F-1L kind of works for the Hold function - albeit it’s not entirely ideal - need to know what Mini switches are recommended for use with the Redwing Hold function?

Controls - Gain (Makeup Gain > +6dB), ...

So this is the big one - all the top performers from the year in one selection.

We’ve already covered :

• 35 Boost & Overdrive Pedal Finalists
• 34 Distortion Pedal Finalists
• 32 Fuzz Pedal Finalists
• 38 Modutility Pedal Finalists
• 25 Delay and Reverb Pedal Finalists

Total Overall Finalist Selection of 164 Pedals!

Distilled down to the final favourites selection, where I own 27 of them, and will try to secure the final missing ones next year :

• Coffee Shop Pedals London Fog Tape Delay -

There’s an incredibly rich mix here of no less than 38 killer Modulations, Utilities and Pitch-Shifters - no one does rundowns quite like me! I always dive in at the deep end of things - and give you maximum expansive scope!

There are several here that I don’t have yet, in fact some hat I’m somewhat unlikely to ever have - for reasons of rig compatibility, size and overall sensibilities, practicalities, and preferences!

These 19 are still to be acquired or eventually overlooked :

I’ve known for a while that Hamstead was working on a secret artist projects - initially due to launch around Easter this year, but evidently it took quite a while longer to perfect - which timing seems somewhat easily explainable now based on what has been achieved here.

I did not know that the artist in question was TPS’s Dan Steinhardt, and I had no idea that the project was based on a flanger. I know Hamstead has been working on its own take of Harmonic Tremolo - which has been going on...

So Fractal Audio Systems has thrown its hat in the ring with its first non-modelling device / unit - the VP4 Virtual Pedalboard Multi-FX Processor - which is quite a departure for the brand.

It’s obviously gunning for Line 6 and Eventide in particular, but also looking to knock out Boss and Strymon Workstation pedals. It has several of its own advantages, but with a number of caveats too. Overall it’s well priced for what it delivers - but for my own preferences it’s still somewhat over-...