Nic's Empty Head Board above - featuring the current range - I have the 3 right-hand ones now - the Falling Man Gravity Delay, King Alex II Obliteration Distortion, and this The Lover 2.

Still to get are the Big Talker Double Tremolo, and The External / Internal Chorus / Drive / Modulator! Plenty to get stuck into for sure!

Toms pictured with Nic from Empty Head Effects

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It was wonderful to meet Toms and Matiss in person. I did a feature on their Monk Echo back on the 3rd of Decemeber - I then spent nearly five weeks on vacation in Iceland over the Chrismas / New Year period (my only holiday for the year). By the time I got back to the UK - the 500 preorders were already sold out!

I knew that the guys were coming to the LSAPE show - and thought it would be a great time to connect. They has a special secret link available at the show - where you get get in on the preorders - which obviously have a slightly better price point. I was the first to get added and paid up on the first day - but several more joined the preorders over the weekend - where the current total is now at around 650 preorders.

Toms and Mattis are hoping to have 1,500 units completed by the end of May, and the pedals will be shipping out hopefully from around the Middle of May through to early June!

I'm very much looking forward to receiving mine!

I spent quite a while talking to Toms about his experience of the 1,500 strong dealer network he oversaw when he worked for Gamechanger Audio - all that wealth of experience has made him a very shrewd and sharp operator. I was hugely impressed with Toms' and Matiss' attention to detail - it bodes well for the future!

www.htd.fr/index-opt/

I believe this is the first time I've encountered High Tech Distribution (HDT). It was lovely to meet Mia and Louison for the first time - who had a full board of Thorn Soundlabs pedals with them and some selective MusicNomad toolkits.

I dealt with Lee Alexander for the launch of Thorn Soundlabs which were introduced at NAMM last year, and heavily advertised on Premier Guitar from the start. But according to Mia, the final products didn't start coming through until December - right at the other end of that same year!

I did find it odd at the time - as there was so much promotional work going on, but no demos from launch and no availability - not even pre-orders. I added the token early video demos a couple of months later, and since Lee never got back in touch with me  I moved onto other projects.

I had no idea that HDT was involved - but they are the main distributor for that brand, and they had several units with them at the show. I'm always prominently a fuzz guy - and always thought I should try out the Black Swamp Fuzz - but just didn't see it featured anywhere - it kind of slipped my mind I guess. In any case it's nice to be back on the trail. I hope to collaborate more fully with HDT - once they check out this blog and my Instagram - to see how much value, depth and insights I can add for them!

It's always lovely to make new friends, and I always feel slightly disappointed if I don't come away from a show with at least a couple of pedals! So mission accomplished on all fronts really!

There's 3 of the Thorn Soundlabs ones that really appeal - the Fuzz - which is in the bag already, and then the High Gain Magma Distortion, and Silver Spurs Marshally style Distoriton. Those will hopefully be my first 3 Thorny features!

www.raingerfx.com

David and Baptiste did not have anything brand new with them - while they had 3 Golden Wonder limited editions of Mkgee's favourite Reverb - the Reverb-X. In a very limited gold colourway - only 10 have been made - and a few of those sold at the show. I would have been tempted if I didn't already own that pedal. I have such an extensive acquisitions list that it rarely makes sense for my to buy pedal duplicates - but I was still tempted!

David and Baptiste were on fine erudite form.

David had a Presentation / Masterclass in the 2:30 slot on the bank of the canal. He shared some of his own most unique plectrums - that he had designed and made himself And he then went on to talk about the Virtual Pick Overtone Effects on his recent Razor Fuzz.

David is always an engaging personality - and Joe Branton and I showed our support by sitting on the font bench and offering the occasional heckle. I really rather enjoyed that session.

www.acornamps.com/

It was fabulous to meet the King Acorn himself in the flesh. My friend Joe Light has asked me to drop of some Joe's Pedals merch presumably - and those plectrums in particular came in handy for Bill's new Altoid Pick Dispenser device - which should fire out picks so furiously that it almost has your eye out. The device was designed for full size picks - which is no use to a Jazz III fiend like myself! He also had a cool Big Puff lighter and ashtray set - really cool!

I own 3 Acorns to date, the Kakarot Fuzz, ADHD Fuzz, and Compact Decades Preamp. While I've long had the Mind Killer and TMA-1 Fuzz on my wishlist - they remain has targets.

Bill had 3 imminent prototypes with him - a Hell & Bowell Filmosound Preamp, a new Epic Delay, and an oddly trapezoidal shaped hitherto unnamed dual fuzz! The Hell & Bowell in particular may just be another target for me!

Lovely to meet Bill - a thoroughly decent human being for sure!

jampedals.com/product-category/guitar-pedals/

I wasn't expecting to see Jannis at the show - apparently this is the first UK show he has attended over a decade and half. For whatever reason Jannis's Business Partner / Operations Director Ilias has always been my main contact at JAM - we connected several years ago, and have remained in touch since. While I've had very little contact with Jannis until now - so it was delightful to finally get acquainted.

We mostly talked about rare Germanium transistors and the best source / supply for those. While I also recommended that JAM should really design its own style of Knobs - as everything else it does is so hands-on artisan. It seems slightly incongruous that those hand-worked and hand-painted pedals should have such common industry standard Davies 1510's on most of tis pedals, alongside the occasional chicken-head.

Dr. No famously makes most of his knobs nowadays,  and is particularly into flocked varieties at the moment.

In any case it was wonderful to finally catch up with Jannis - he seemed to be having a lot of fun at the show - and spent most of his time roving around and speaking to other builders. The London Synth & Pedal Show is just perfect for setting up all those alliances. Other shows are just too chaotic to get a proper conversation going !

Hopefully it won't take Jannis another 15 years before he make it back to the UK again!

Great to see Nikos as always!

JAM were riding high on the success of their recently released V3 Retrovibe. And they also brought the best version of Greg Koch's Kochness Monster Board with them - which looked resplendent!

Christian, Riccardo, and Marco

mcsoundlab.it/en/home-page/#

This was my first introduction to the Italian MCSound lab brand - which is mostly Marco Castellucci - where the MC comes from! He had his good friend and killer guitarist Christian with him, and London based friend Riccardo - who acted as interpreter, As neither Marco nor Christian are particularly fluent in English - and preferred to let Riccardo do all the liaising. Riccardo is likely the only Guitar Tech operating out of Canary Wharf!

I've not spend enough time yet to pick out my favourite MCSound lab pedals - they seem to be in the main Gain / Boost types, also a couple of notable Bass Preamp, where several pedals have interesting combinations onboard. MCSound lab also make proper tube amps - so their credentials are very solid.

I certainly like the logo, and in fact the artworks are pretty decent too - could be more memorable I supposed - but these are decent sounding pedals for sure. The website could do with some improvements - but overall I like what I see. 

Possibly the Incubus High Gain Distoriton is my pick of the bunch, while these are all relatively straightforward and easy to deploy pedals if you're into that aesthetic. Certainly interesting, but I've not assigned any priorites yet.

This brand was entirely new for me - which is always fun. I wish them the very best of luck - and hopefully we will see the in the UK again!

www.chasebliss.eu

You can't find a more amiable group of people than the 3 that make up the Chase Bliss EU group - Liz, Tyler and Doug. It seems like I've known them all forever - they really are the nicest people you could meet - and so knowledgeable about everything tiny quirk of their company's compact noise makers!

I was personally a little disappointed with the Monochrome editions of Brothers AM and Lossy - as I have the originals, and with a board as large as mine - you really need the colour differences to help identify each pedal. It was slightly remiss of me that I forgot to ask how many pedals we could expect to come down the pipeline this year - so it's going to be another bumper mystery ride. While we normally get a couple of new devices in each calendar year. It's always exciting to see what Chase Bliss come up with next.

The only useful suggestion I was able to make is that those handy field guides at the booth needed to be punched with eyelets and tethered to a long chain - so that people would not inadvertently nick them. I think I made the gang a little nervous - and they keep the field guides to their side of the desk. Ever since the wooden boxes got diconinued - the highlight of the unboxing is seeing those Scott Harper and Eric Nyffeler designed Field Guides for the first time - still the best in the business!

I know at least Liz and Tyler made it to Sunday lunch last year - hopefully they got another proper Sunday Roast this year too - that is always one of the highlights for me - coming to Studio 9294 and Bar No. 90.

Hopefully next time I see these wonderful folks we will have new pedals to talk about!

Liz was hoping to convert me to Chompi during this event - but she was so busy with the constant stream of customers that she never got the chance - maybe next year!

kernom.com/en-gb

Jérémy was mostly flying solo this year as Antonie and Davide were unable to attend. He was brilliantly able to show off their new control App - which allows you to set presets and control your 3 Kernom pedals from your laptop. I think I asked him to take if work for iOS to over mobile devices.

While since I first met them at the Birmingham show - I've been trying to persuade them that they need their own MIDI pedal - the same width and look as there pedals. MIDI is such an essential component to these incredible Multi-Voice machines - and particularly the Moho Magama Fuzz - where the 6 controls are so sensitive and interactive that you really need the presets to ensure you can get back to that wonderful sound again - as the last 10% always needs to be dialled in by ear - and those micro-movements required can make it very tricky - particularly for those who don't have the appropriate lightness of touch.

For me MIDI is essential for the Moho, but not critical for the other 2 as it's more straightforward to dial in those tones the second time around. I personally only ever felt the need for the Moho.

I probably need to do another article on these, to keep them front of mind still - these are all wonderful multi-voice pedals - such clever hybrid technology - a really smart take on combined analog and digital sound generation technologies.

I'm not sure it's the newness of the devices - but my favourite has always been the Moho, then the Ellipse. I still can get great tones out of the Ridge - but the other two somehow seem more magical to me.

Jérémy and I talked about how those pedals look a little plasticky in photographs when that could not be further from the truth. They have this fantastic eggshell feel finish - which you only get on the most premium of luxury productions . These are some of the finest manufactured devices you can buy - the fit and finish on these is extaordinary - Rolls Royce levels for sure! Just run your fingers across the surface  of those enclosures and knobs - they are the very definition of luxury!

www.boss.info/uk/

I don't think I've seen Karel for a few years now - I think I last saw him at the Boss In The Loop event. Great to seem Matt and Nico too as always.

Boss had a great show - with lots of interests in the RE-202 and the GX-1 and GX-1B Multi-FX Processors - which feature those fantastic short-cut strips - to give you direct access to to all they key function. Boss's seems to be going supersized for all these shows. And I now finally agree with Matt that the light on the main display could do with being dimmed a little as it's so bright. Obviously the stand dominates from every corner of the room - so that is a bonus - while you get too much contrast and glare when trying to take photographs looking into the stand!

The team brought a great selection of devices on smartly conceived boards which all had the perfect complement of pedals - and with a few pedals generously sprinkled into the mix.

Supposedly we will need to wait quite a while for more stompboxes this year - but the same kind of happened last year - and we had a particularly strong finish to the year. I always wonder when Boss will finally release therie Waza FZ-2W - surely that's been on the cards for years now - there are so many clones of that pedal circuit / out there currently - surely there is an opportunity for Boss there too? That's the one Waza revival that would surely be a runaway success - so many people have been clamouring for that for so many years now!

www.audiodistributiongroup.com/

I have not seen Steve out in the wild for several years now - I think I last saw him at a Brimingham Guitar Show nearly a decade ago - so it was great to be able to catch up once more.

The last ADG release was the OBNE Parting - which is still on my acquisition list - as I've already mentioned I might even get the B's Purr-ting Custom Artwork edition - which I slightly prefer!

We have two imminent new releases this week - a new source audio pedal coming tomorrow in the same type of enclosure that we first saw with the Lo-Fi Artifakt  - so it's exciting to see something new in that same killer compact format.

And then on Thursday we have a super handy new KMA Machines pedal -  both those new release are incredibly strong.

Bruce arrived late on the Saturday and carried the late shift - on Sunday it was back to just Steve and Tom once more. They had a busy time of it and sold a number of those Meris big box units - Enzo and Mercury - courtesy of their dealer GuitarGuitar who were also in residence.

www.masdistro.com/brands

This was yet another rare treat as I didn't expect Sayer to turn up with those 8 x MAS distro brands.

In fact my good friend Adrian turned up also early Saturday to help with the setup, and came back late on Sunday to help Sayer pack it all away. As the picture below alludes too! I'm not sure those headphones survived!

The 8 MAS distro brands in residence for the show were (alphabetical) :

• 29 Pedals
• Benson Amps
• Browne Amplificaiton
• Fairfield Circuitry
• Greer Amps
• Normal Devices
• ThorpyFX
• Zvex

Funnily Rainger FX is also a MAS distro brand - but David is always at these shows with his own stand-alone display!

I must make special mention of Normal Devices, who currently only have one Decay Cascade device - which my Dealer friend Stephen at Northern Stompboxes currently has in stock. It's a smart Delay unit for sure - but it's not really ideal for my board - netter in its size and orientation, nor it's lack of Stereo functionality - where the last 1/3rd of my 52-strong chain is stereo. Great if you favour unusual and creative monotonous delays - but somewhat over-sized and impractical for my own purposes.

The other exciting news is that there will be a new Fairfield Circuitry pedal out this week. You could have checked it out at the show - but all I'm at liberty to say is that it has a pearlescent - very slightly pink hue of LED - which is really no kind of clue. Sayer asked me to keep it secret until released - exciting times ahead for sure!

Sayer and Thorpy at the end of the show!

thorpyfx.com/collections/thorpyfx-pedals

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www.tomcundallsguitarshed.com/

I've encountered Tom on a number of occasions now - the most genial of fellows - ably assisted by one of his original and best customers - Nick. Tom's main day job is as a guitar tech. I think the indications are that we will have a new DryBell pedal this year, which fortunately I'm in line for.

All 4 of the current line are superb - while the MVP and key secret weapon is possibly still the Unit67 - which combines Range Master Treble Boost with expanded EQ and 1167 style compression - one of the most ingenious tone enhancers ever made - I have the red edition which has been on the board for the last year and a half - all 4 pedals appear regularly on my ever-evolving board. And the VibeMachine is still my overall favourite Uni-Vibe unit!

I'm really looking forward to see what Zvonch and his team come up with next!

www.guitarguitar.co.uk/

I alas took the snap at slightly the wrong time - as Adam was away from the stand then. I know Robin and Adam well from the Camden Store of GuitarGuitar - which I pop into every time I am in Camden. And I famously picked up my Stryfecta there several years ago now!

I did seem to be somewhat familiar with Stuart too - while I've not yet made it out to the Epsom store for GuitarGuitar.

Audio Distribution group certainly kept them busy throughout the day - as all the sales went through GuitarGuitar.

Amd we have the most eclectic selection of pedals out on display on the stand! :

• Death By Audio Fuzz War
• Old Blod Noise Endeavors Dark Star Reverb
• KMA Machines Pylon Noise Gate + Boost
• MXR Rockman X100
• Strymon Oliver Oilcan Delay
• Randy Rhoads Special Gold Accent Edition MXR Distoriton+
• DigiTech The Drop Down-Tuner Monochrome Edition
• JAM Pedals Octaurus Octafuzz

Somewhat disappointingly I only have 3 of those, 4 if you count my compact enhanced Fuzz War clone!

www.face.be/brands

Niels and I are firm friends by now, while I can't recall bumping into Alain for a while.

I already caught up with Niels at the recent Birmingham show - and not much has happened since then.

The most exciting news for me is the Crazy Tubes Circuits Triptychon - Multi-Gain / Fuzz - where Niels says you have to order the CTC Micro switch in too - to get full and perfect control over the unit. I originally thought it was like a Silicon evolution of the Constellation. And while some of the modes are similar - there is a lot more to this new device - which covers an even wider range of gain / applications - with more granularity.

I've been chasing Christos up since the start of the year - and he currently feels that the Triptychon will launch late April, but there could be further slippages - it was originally intended to launch in March.

Hopefully this can be the next Venus-level success for CTC!

origineffects.com

There was obviously something in the air - as John executes the perfect 'Dab' there - just check out those lines - pin-point precision - much like for Origin Effects.

I had some fun on that stand sparring with John and good friend Joe Branton - where I arranged for John to appear on the Guitar Nerds Podcast. John needs to promise to be lively and somewhat irreverent - as supposedly Joe has had it with 'Dry' guests. In casual conversation those individuals always seem fine - but as soon as you stick a microphone in front of them they dry up like the Sahara.

I've always been an advocate for the Howard Stern and Steve Wright style of 'Zoo Radio'. You need the interaction to take place in a shared studio - so the participants can banter fully properly. If everyone is dialling in remotely things soon go stale. It needs that live and direct spontaneity.

As mentioned - Origin are on a Bass patch currently with more of those killer devices to support their loyal Bass customer bass. As a key Bassist / Creator - Joe is the perfect vehicle and vessel for Origin's Bass pedals.

I really enjoyed the Aprils' fool skit that Origin did with Thorpy - so John can certainly think on his feet - I look forward to catching that episode later in the year.

Joe next came with me to watch David Rainger's Masterclass - where we heckled him lightly from the front bench!

This is a fun show for sure - as you can see in a number of my pictures! John's 'dab' looks like an exotic marshal arts move - but Jacob did not flinch! If you missed out on this year's action - make sure you swing around to Hackey Wick next year - the whole area is fantastic.

www.strymoneurope.com/collections/all

I was delighted to get acquainted with Jake, now of Strymon Europe - which is based here in the UK. Jake previously used to work for the Distributor MusicPsych - which Strymon relatively recently acquired - and turned into their UK and European offshoot. Jake is also responsible for distributing Hotone - and he had both of my relevant current targets on his board - the Hotone Verbera, and the Strymon Farirfax - which both remain on my wishlist.

Hopefully I can collaborate with Jake - and help get the message out there! I wasn't aware of MusicPsych in the slightest - I can't recall ever having encounter that name - maybe in passing. I often went direct to Strymon.com for my pedals - particularly those rapid release ones - more fool me! Had I only known!

I would for sure have connected with MusicPsych sooner if I had known about them. Normally I'm pretty solid on my due diligence, I've no idea how this UK outfit evaded my notice this long.

I recently did a capsule rundown of my various Strymon pedals - I'm generally quite the fan of Strymon, while I don't own too many Hotone's yet!

Great to meet Jake in any case - hopefully some sort of collaboration is on the cards!

circleinstruments.com

I first came across Anthony during last year's NAMM coverage - he kind of stole the show at the time. And back then Ed O'Brien was the first customer and was just about to receive his guitar, which I'm not 100% sure has happened yet.

These product development cycles are so complex - particularly for as technical device as this.

For me this is essentially the ultimate rhythm guitar - you have that spinning circle - which hoses various varieties of different guitar picks, and how those are spaced out etc, and how the computer regulatres the rotation - delivers entirely new rhythms which cannot be created in any other way.

You can do smart arpeggios etc. - just by holding down / moving a fixed barre chord.

Much like the MIDI Glove I feature at the end of this show report - this device also relies on a computer app and control. And this is as much about programming as playing - as it the MUMI below.

Guitarist are unerringly fickle and traditional I their outlook and like the largest of oil-tankers - operate with the largest of turning circles too. Anthony has had so much to get right here - every step of the way can be excruciating - parts coming back not quite right - the quality of fit and finisht not up to standard etc. Products of this nature take a long time to perfect - hence the high price tag. It's basically £8K stock, but then you add local taxes / VAT / Shipping on top of that and you don't get much change from £10K - which is a lot.

Antony is working to make this more efficient and to bring the cost down enough to make the product fully viable. Only a tiny subset can afford £10K a pop - it needs to get closer to £3,500 to reach ultimate Conjoint Pricing Conditions.

If I could afford one of these I would certainly be considering it - as I always consider myself more of a rhythm player - and surely this is the ultimate Rhythm Guitar!

Best of luck to Anthony in any case!

audio.computer

It was nice to run into Ben again - so soon after the 4th Witney Pedal Party.

I'm already committed to one of his Beat Friends Drum Machines - but I need him to add a few more fills / variations to get me properly excited.

He doens' t need my help or influence at the moment though as Ben and Sound on Sound struggle to keep this device in stock. 

I really I would like a few more variations - and possibly even a slightly more compact form factor - but it's still pretty perfect as is.

I always have 100's of priorities to juggle - and I do need to keep one eye on my loyal group of followers - who might not necessarily be the most ardent fans of drum machines. Basically I want an easy to use great sounding drum machine that I can program or play Prince style rhythms on.

I have the Polyend Step - which is truly a fantastic device - it sounds amazing, but I find the programmatic and configuration side a litle clunky and overly demanding. Ideally I can have a pseudo mini Linn Drum Machine - with presets and onboard controls to be able to set up rhythms in a more hands-on manner - I'm not the best had configuring something remotely - it needs to be properly hands-on.

One of these Beat Friends is certainly on the cards - while the timing has still to be decided. It will of course depend on on availability too. As often when I have funds and am willing and able - said pedal is not available at that time - and then other priorities come in and take over!