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2024 London Synth and Pedal Expo Pedal Highlights

ALABS AudioAmpliTubeAudio Distribution GroupAudio KitchenAudiolithe FXBlack Country CustomsBossChase Bliss AudioCornerstone Music GearEndorphin.esEventideFace MIFilling DistributionFlattley Guitar PedalsGamechanger AudioGreat Eastern FX Co.Guitar Gear ResourcesGuitar Gear RetailIK MultimediaIntensive Care AudioLaney AmplificationOrigin EffectsPRS GuitarsRabbit Hole FXRainger FXRed Panda LabTubesteaderVS Audio+-
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Where the Birmingham Show was a little sprawling and chaotic for me, I very much felt more at home at the Studio 9294 venue for this year’s London Synth and Pedal Expo. As Media Partner for the show, the second year in a row, I was of course in for the entirety of both the day, and actually in very early in particular on the Sunday.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the two days -I love having the #90 Bar & Kitchen next door - for some very decent lunches - superb burger on the first day, and Sunday...

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Delicious Audio's London Synth & Pedal Expo takes place tomorrow and Sunday at Studio 9294, Hackney Wick, E9 5LN

Delicious Audio / Stompbox ExhibitGuitar Gear ResourcesGuitar Gear RetailLondon Synth and Pedal ExpoStompbox Expo+-
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NOTE : FREE TO ATTEND!

 

Great news! - the London Synth & Pedal Expo is back for another year on 16th & 17th of March (tomorrow Saturday and Sunday!) - bigger and better than last year’s fantastic inaugural event. And in a larger and easier to access venue that I’m really very familiar with!

 

As before you are encouraged to bring an instrument along for trialling new products - please be careful how you handle your axes at the show - as last year’s event proved difficult to ...

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2024-GPX-Lastgasp-Super-Oscillo-Fuzz-700.jpg

So this has been on the cards for a long while - I’ve had Lastgasp Art Laboratories on the list for a roundup for a really long time now. I had been intending to acquire a few of its pedals for a while - but they’ve never been particularly easily accessible from within the UK.

 

There are currently just 2 dealers worldwide who have most of the range in stock - Perfect Circuit in the USA, and my friend Andy Ebsen’s Effekt Boutique in Germany - where indeed I acquired my first two Lastgasp ...

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2024-GPX-Boss-Katana-GO-700.jpg

Most of you will be familiar with the $399 / €399 / £339 Boss Waza-Air Wireless Guitar Headphone Amp - which delivers the Katana Amp ecosystem within a wireless Bluetooth Headphone Set. The Amps and Effects selection is controlled by a Bluetooth connected Mobile App - and since all the processing is done inline within the Headphones you don’t suffer any wireless lag. That proposition though is rather dear for many, and very much limits the choice and style of headphone you have at your disposal...

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Hello Sailor Effects flexes its verve once more on its brand new super-sustaining ShipWreck Fuzzstortion

FuzzFuzz Face Style FuzzFuzz-Drive and FuzzstortionHello Sailor EffectsSilicon Fuzz+-
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Joe Halliday’s latest ShipWreck FuzzStortion has been through quite the development journey. Initially based on the request of a friend to make a Higher Gain HSE pedal. It combines a JFET preamp section with some beautifully amp- and fuzz-like dynamics and characteristics - and produces rather exceptional long singing sustain.

 

It’s basically a discrete transistor style distortion - with an initial JFET preamp section to deliver more organic feel under the fingers. Then it hits something ...

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Keeley Electronics rolls out 3 more killer combos in its 4-in-1 Series - the Blues Disorder, Angry Orange, and Super Rodent

Big Muff Style FuzzBlues Breaker Style OverdriveBoostBoost and OverdriveDistortionDriveFuzzKeeley EngineeringOCD Style OverdriveRat Style FuzzTubescreamer Style Overdrive+-
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Following in the wake of the very well received Noble Screamer (ODR-1 + TS808), and Muse Driver (AT / RK Modded BD-2), we now get 3 more in the same series - all at once.

 

The Blues Order covers Marshall Blues Breaker and Fulltone OCD voicings, the Angry Orange has EHX Civil War Muff and Boss DS-1 Distortion flavours, and the Super Rodent mixes up the Boss SD-1 Super OverDrive with ProCo Rat Distortion.

 

As before you get to mix or match the Tone Stack and Clipping Character of each ...

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9 of the Best Mid-Size Fuzz Face+ Pedals

BoostFuzzFuzz Face Style FuzzGermanium FuzzHello Sailor EffectsKeeley EngineeringModulated FuzzOctave FuzzOscillating FuzzPalmer Custom FXRed Witch EffectsSilicon FuzzSilktoneSolidGoldFXThorpyFXUni-Vibe and VibeZvex+-
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This article was actually inspired by the recent Fjord Fuzz SOL Fuzz-Vibe feature - where I got to thinking about extended range Fuzz Face style pedals. To my memory there is only the Carl Martin Purple Moon and Fjord Fuzz SOL in that compact Fuzz-Vibe format. I then recalled the Keeley Electronics Monterey - but realised there weren’t a whole lot of pedals in the extended format category - for Fuzz-Vibes - so I expanded the remit to cover ’Fuzz Face+’ pedals - essentially expanded feature set ...

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2024-GPX-Fjord-Fuzz-Sol-Fuzz-Vibe-V2-700.jpg

The SOL Fuzz-Vibe is a very personal pedal - both for Daniel himself, and all Fjord-dwelling Scandinavians in particular. In those jagged fjords the sun never manages to rise far enough above those craggy peaks through the depths of winter (which in some parts can be almost half the year!) - the first hint of spring is the sun finally cresting those fjord peaks and releasing the land from darkness. We Icelanders call this fabulous natural phenomenon ’Sólarkaffi’ - when the first appearance of ...

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I’m not sure it was Brian’s intention to become a Compressor specialist - but he now has 3 full size offerings covering all the different basis.

 

This time around it’s his UREI 1176 FET Studio Compressor - and for me comes with the perfect complement of controls. Those are pretty much exactly the control parameters that I would specify for a compressor :

 

Controls - Tone, Attack, Release, Level, Blend, Compress.

 

On the stock EGO variety (supposedly based on Ross Compressor), he has ...

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Line 6 releases ingenious 'My First Fisher-Price' style Beginners All-in-1 Multi-FX Box - the POD Express

Amp and Cab IR SimBoost and OverdriveDistortionEQFuzzLine 6LooperModulationMulti-FXNoise GatePreAmpUtility+-
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I was a touch critical about the HX One - possibly overly so - as it’s really decent for what it delivers and how. While I could not be more effusively positive about this new POD Express!

 

For anyone starting out in guitar effects - you get everything you need in one smart little box - with intuitive and mostly surfaced control (vs Noise Gate).

 

If I was thinking of buying in my very first guitar effect pedal - then I don’t think I could do better than this. It contains 7 Amp & Cab ...

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