2026 March Pedal-Chain Update - Episode III - Giga-Muff Multiplier

25 pedals were landed during the month of March. With several more pushed back to the next month as the Threshold of accommodation is normally 20, as a result quite a few reviews remain to be completed, while I'm also awaiting several demos to materialise!

The Boost / Overdrives and Fuzzes have it! A pretty great spread for the month - with a little bit of everything!

And the first major update to the Noise Gate slot in years - the NGR-1, my new favourite!

• 10 x Boost and Overdrive Pedals
• 3 x Distortion Pedals
• 9 x Fuzz Pedals
• 1 x Modulation Pedal
• 1 x Spatial Effects
• 1 x Utility Pedal

Killer drive and boost section - including those marvellous PastFX evolved Klon and OD-1/SD-1 pedals, along 2 amazing long-term RangeMaster targets, and incredibly pretty longer-term Spaceman Effects targets - the Atlas IV and Apollo VIIb.

Most of these made it onto the board for an innings bar the 2 Treble Boosters, and the 2 Spaceman - which will get their turn next month!

I'm still waiting on a demo to materialise for the Retiklon - hopefully one appears soon!

• Black Country Customs Tony Iommi Signature TI Boost
• Empty Head Effects The Lover V2 2-Stage Transistor Drive
• Funny Little Boxes Skeleton Key OpAmp Dirty Boost Ltd Blue Edition
• KMA Machines Strokkur AC125 Germanium Treble Booster
• Mozztronics GD-1 Bonebreaker : 5-in-1 Drive [TS808 / ODR-1 / Guv'nor / OCD / AC30]
• PastFX OG-1 Overdrive
• PastFX Retiklon Overdrive
• RhPf Electronics Mosphoros – The MOSFET Bringer Overdrive
• Spaceman Apollo VIIb Enhanced Voyager Tremolo Preamp / Overdrive
• Spaceman Atlas Harmonic Preamp Booster

3 cool distortions, with some similarities in verve between the 1st and 3rd examples here, and the Verzerred and entirely different raw and ragged East German beast! Still waiting on the demo for the Verzerrer to be able to make that review live! :

• Decades Pedals MultiJam Overdrive / Distortion
• Fredric Effects Verzerer East German Overdrive V2
• Hagerman Gamma Radiatiøn 7-Transistor Distortion

Another big category for the month - 2 more killer Octave Fuzzes from Fulltone and Zorg - just a couple more to go on that mission - one easily obtainable and a current unobtanium one! A couple of Big Muff 2 takes - with the Gigahearts one taking the crown this time around!

Of course the momentous arrival of Dazatronyx's killer Ultimate Every Muff Console - that one's still impressing my massively. As is the new Fredric Effects Petite Super Unpleasant Companion.

The Hello Sailor pair I picked up at the Birmingham Guitar Show was fantastic too - especially the Sparkle Pink Rebel Leia Abbey Road Fuzz-Ranger. And the evolved Katzenköning that is the Noise Maker Market B1 Rat Bender - that one is particularly impressive on LED clipping mode.

A really sold month for fuzzes - which isn't unusual for GPX!

• Dazatronyx Big Fuzz Console Multi-Muff
• Drunk Beaver Bashtanka BM2 Muff
• Fredric Effects Petite Super Unpleasant Companion
• Fulltone Ultimate Octave Fuzz
• Gigahearts Gig Buff 2 Fuzz
• Hello Sailor Effects Abbey Fuzz-Ranger
• Hello Sailor Effects Dual Pot RangeMaster
• Noise Maker Market B1 Rat-Bender Fuzz
• Zorg Effects Glue Fuzz MKII Classic & Octave Fuzz

Verlie can do no wrong as far as I am concerned  - as the Queen of Modulation rolls out yet another killer edition - the PastFX Poly Chorus 5-in-1 Double Tracker and Slapback Delay, Chorus and Vibrato, Flanger, and Matrix Filter! Really versatile killer sounding delay-line modulator and filter.

I'm not known for being a fan of Mono Reverbs - but Gigahearts' RV-426 Reverb really knocked it out of the park - both in ambition and execution. A superb Aliens-inspired Atmospheric Reverb - with cool eerie whirring modulation and feedback oscillation manipulation.

And finally my new Noise Gate - RedSeven's NGR-1 Programmable Analog Gate - which I totally love now. So easy to set up and so smart to deploy - especially with that A/B Mode. It was most definitely the right choice for me - while a couple more fine-tuning parameters would not have gone amiss. But it's pretty much perfect as is - with just the right mix of utility and simplicity!

So much cool stuff covered this month - that I'm left with an impossible acquisitions / wishlist - several of these will surely drift into the ether, while I've already secured a number of key targets - I don't wish to front-load this month too much - and we have the Leeds Pedal Show coming up on the 25th - would be good to have some budget left by then!

Prime targets are pictured above, and emboldened and asterisked below! :

• *Alexander Pedals Syntax Error XP Audio Computer System
• Attic Audio Putty Saturation Preamp & Shaper
• BJFE Dyna Red Tiger 5K Plexi style Overdrive
• BMG KAT Treble Booster Classic
• Coggins Audio Hypoid Drive
• *CopperSound Ion Mini PLL-Style Laser Fuzz
• Dr. No Kukulcan 3-Stage Skullsistor Preamp
• EarthQuaker Devices Towers Stereo Reverberant Filter
• Expresso FX OC141 Germanium Boost
• *Fairfield Circuitry Placeholder 3 x Delay Line BBD Reverb
• Fulltone Custom Shop Ranger Frequency Boost
• *Glitch Cloud Audio Haze Looping Tape Machine, Glitched Digital Buffer + Sample Juggler
• Intrepid Audio Crossflow Modulating Stereo Tremolo & Expression Controller
• *JHS Double Dragon Monophonic Dual +/- Octave Distortion
• KMA Machines Stereo Headphone Amp
• *Moth Electric M.Stellatarum 32-Mode Optical Tremolo
• Mozztronics HGF-1 High Gain Fuzz
• *Native Audio Stereo Pattern Keeper Phrase Modulator / Looper
• PedalPawn Great British Drive Supercharged BluesBreaker
• Puremagnetik JOTS Dual Track Wanderer : Sample-Repeater-Manipulator
• Source Audio Pathways Multi-Mode Full Stereo Tremo-Verb
• Vahlbruch V2 Octavia Octave Fuzz

17 new pedals onto the board for March - key updated slots : #1, #2, #3, #5, #10, #11, #12, #13, #13b, #18, #20, #21, #22, #24, #34, #37, #38.

Lots of new stuff on the board - with the Dazatronyx Big Fuzz Console - the Past FX Trifecta, and the overall Big Muff theme this month. With the most signficant change on slot #34 - my new RedSeven NGR-1 Noise Gate - which will hopefully serve me for years!

Individual pedal details below as usual!

My Sparkle Pink Rebel Leia Abbey Road Fuzz-Range is my favourite Hello Sailor pedal to date - Germanium Fuzz Face on one side and Ge/Si Rangemaster on the other - sounds totally amazing. Took inspiration from Expresso FX's mid-size pedals.

The Fulltone Ultimate Octave Fuzz is a very classic sounding Upper Octave Fuzz with the Octave on a second Footswitch and a Bright / Fat switch for more variety. Sound like a pretty classic Octavia and can get pretty fierce - while the Octave always remains tasteful.

A really versatile multi-voice fuzz - with a somewhat angular Octave Fuzz voicing - great ghapeability and looks - and a formidable varied output profile.

I'm still waiting on demos for the 2 new Fredric Effects pedals I picked up at the recent Birmingham Guitar Show. This Petite Edition of Super Unpleasant Companion - covering Companion and Super-Fuzz voicings - sounds amazing. I really love both voicings on this - it's an all-round gorgeous pedal - all the visuals have been ready for a while - I'm just waiting for sound samples to go live!

PastFX's OG-1 is killer, shame that it's so limited - but then there's hardly any of those original 14-pin OpAmps remaining. This gives you superb OD-1 and SD-1 circuits in the same enclosure - with extras. While the tone-stack is only active on the SD-1 - I would have preferred it if I could have used the Tone dial on both sides. But you do have separate Presence and Bass controls - while it always sounds better on Asymmetrical Clipping. A marvellous confection of a dual-voice overdrive!

I'm still waiting on demos for this one - equally as rare as the above OG-1. A great sounding Klon take without the internal charge pump - for a much more robust and reliable output. The Reticon chip is purely decorative here - only a handful of these will be made, where the visuals are all ready to go as soon as we get sound samples!

The Mosphoros high-octane MOSFET Overdrive is RhPf Electronics' current full-range overdrive. Has a really unique crisp texture which leans toward bright. It has elements of a Top Boosted AC30 about it - but not quite as high gain - definitely in that sort of bright chimey territory - but with a character all of its own.

The Mozztronics GD-1 Bonebreaker 5-in-1 Drive is a really cool and versatile multi-drive - those voicings are all 'in-the-ballpark-of' based on clipping Mods on top of a core Tube Screamer OpAmp Overdrive. I particularly like the SD-1, Guv'nor and AC30 voicings! Really decent sounding, not necessarily the most authentic.

Really decent sounding Decades MultiJam Distortion - a fantastic revival and upgrade of the 1978 Multivox Big Jam Distortion - which is so beloved in Nashville. This sits kind of adjacent to the early MXR Distortion+ and DOD250 - with the same circuit foundation of UA471 / LM471 and Germanium Diodes. The Big Jam / MultiJAM adds 2 further Transistors for a richer texture. While the dynamic and sensibilities are quite similar to those other 70's hard-clippers. The Big Jam / MultiJam has a distinct voicing from the other two mentioned - while all 3 could do with an extra gear - for clean pedal platforms - because of their hard-clipping they don't necessarily have the loudest of outputs. The Decades version does much to improve on that with a Phat Boost and Louder Punchier Modern voicing - for my setup I could ideally do with a smidge more volume and gain. For people going into slightly cooking amps - this adds a whole load of richness to the output profile.

This one is surely heading toward pedal of the year status for me - with the DHM & Humboldt Dumblifier in second place and a few others in contention. I've been wholly blown away by this Big Fuzz Console - the ultimate Big Muff Breadboarding circuit. This thing is incredible - and sounds as impressive as it looks - utterly magnificent!

Hagerman's Gamma Radiation is an excellent 7-Transistor Distortion - not a million miles away from a BM-2 - while it has a somewhat more wiry and vibrant output - a little sharper by and large but every bit as good - if not a superior circuit - with more volume, gain, and tone-shaping onboard.

Drunk Beaver's Bashtanka Pedal Drop it Vitalii's twin EQ take on the EHX BM2. The stock tone stack is very similar to the EHX Original - while the Filter option throws in a sort of High Pass Filter - which I then wind back almost entirely - and it still sounds a little dark and muffled. It's not exactly tuned to my own rig - and interesting project for sure, but a little hit and miss for me in some ways. Overall just a slight advance on the original. No demo for this rapid prototyping project!

My friend Ian at Gigahearts' best take on the BM-2 to date - this one is better balanced, louder, punchier and more articulate. It's a level above the other 2 I have of this type - and Ian is making a more advanced modded version of that - which of course I have to have. This V2 version of Ian's BM-2 is already killer! Only a handful of these prototypes were made, and I was very fortunately gifted one! No demos, and there never will be!

Empty Head Effects has essentially tweaked their The Lover 2-Stage Transistor Drive / Fuzzy-Drive - where the original was Zvex landscape style format - while most oriented the pedal vertical - so Nic has decided to flip the Jacks to the top edge of the pedal - and reflow the front panel. This circuit internals remain the same - it's really just a format change. Really cool sounding Transistor Fuzz-Drive - with plenty of range and shaping, and great guitar volume cleanup for killer playback dynamics. This is my 3rd Empty Head Effect - and I intend to cover them all!

My trusty modded Boss NS-2 has served me well - but it's started to show it's age, and technologically it's one of the oldest pedals I own - and there are better, smarter and more high fidelity gates out there - I've considered getting this A/B mode RedSeven NGR-1 Noise Gate for a while - and now seemed the right time. I'm totally loving tihis gate at the moment - it just works brilliantly for my own preferences and sensibilities. A great decision for sure!

The PolyChorus is one of my most recent PastFX pedals - essentially the same mode as the EchoFlange - but in a prettier enclosure. I'm still waiting to see if we get any proper demos of the PolyChorus - in that new livery. Or whether Verlie suggest that I just use the existing still valid EchoFlange demo. The PolyChorus is a fantastic 5-in-circuit - which mixes up brilliantly voices Chorus/Vibrato, Flange, Double-Tracking and Slapback, and Matrix Filter. A fantastic fully analog BBD multi-modulator - one of my favourites for sure!

Gigahearts' RV-426 Atmosphere Processor is a superb spin on the Belton Brick format - with an eerie whirring modulation sound that evokes the Aliens movie that inspired this superb sci-fi ambience reverberator. A really clever circuit, while possibly something of an acquired taste - I really love it!

Another likely busy month ahead, with the following pedals mostly due to land I believe :

• Alexander Pedals Syntax Error XP Computer Audio System [likely]
• B's Music Emily Hopkins / OBNE Collaboration Parting : Purr-Ting [likely]
• BJFE 3 x Silicon Transistor Mystery Fuzz (3 x 2N3439) [already landed]
• Bleak District Electric Orbits Stereo Granular Synthesis Engine [landing soon]
• CopperSound Pedals Ion Mini PLL-style Laser Fuzz [landing soon]
• Crazy Tube Circuits Triptychon Multi-Fuzz [end of month launch]
• Funny Little Boxes Treasure Chest Dual-Modded Overdrive : Klone-Screamer [hopefully at Leeds!]
• Gamechanger Audio Recoder - Sampler / Modifier / Vocoder / Looper [long overdue]
• Hungry Robot Wallflower Shoegazer - Dual Reverb - Chorus - Distortion [long overdue]
• JHS Double Dragon ± Octave Fuzz / Octaver [landing soon]
• Moth Electric M. Stellatarum 32 Mode Optical Tremolo [Northern Stomps] [landing soon]
• Spaceman Effects Rumblefuzz II White Light Edition [landing soon]

• Vahlbruch Octavia V2 Octave Fuzz [landing soon]

Nothing troublesome to report for the month really - just a little overworked and under-slept so far - really looking forward to some slight relaxation at Easter! Much has been achieved already this year - with a few Pedal of the Year candidates landed already!