ao link
Filter content by area of interest
Amps
Boost and Overdrive
Delay
Distortion
Fuzz
Guitars
Modulation
Pitch
Reverb
Utility
All
All

Best of Australian and New Zealander Guitar Pedals and Pedal Builders

Ambient EffectsAnalog DelayAnarchy AudioBig Muff Style FuzzBitcrushing and Lo-FiBlues Driver Style OverdriveBondi EffectsBoostBoost and OverdriveBrown Sound DistortionChorus and VibratoCompressorCrowther AudioDelayDelay WorkstationDigital DelayDigital ReverbDistortionDouble TrackingDriveDual-DriveEchoverbEffects Pedal MakersEnvelope Filter and Auto WahExpressionFlux EffectsFuzzFuzz Face Style FuzzFuzz-Drive and FuzzstortionGated and Velcro FuzzGermanium FuzzHot Cake Style OverdriveKlone and Transparent OverdriveLastgasp Art LaboratoriesLightning Wave EffectsLo-Fi DelayLoop-SwitcherMarshall Style DistortionMC SystemsMetal DistortionMI EffectsMidnight AmplificationModulationMulti-DriveOCD Style OverdriveOctave FuzzOpAmp FuzzOscillating FuzzOverdrivePepers' PedalsPhaserPitchPoly EffectsRed Witch EffectsReverbReverb WorkstationSelah EffectsShimmer ReverbSilicon FuzzSpacey ReverbSplitter and Frequency SplitterTape DelayTone Bender Style FuzzTremoloTube OverdriveTubescreamer Style OverdriveUni-Vibe and VibeUtilityVolumeWah and Fixed Wah+-
Share to TwitterShare to Facebook
2019GPXAustraliaNewZealandPedals700-min.jpg

Australia and New Zealand together have a fair few brands of international repute, and I for one certainly have a number of pedals of Australian origin in my collection. Foremost amongst those is Michael Ibrahim’s eponymous MI Audio / MI Effects - from which range past and present - I have 7 to date - with a couple more on the ’nice-to-have’ wishlist. Of the ones I have 2 are permanent features in my pedal-chain - the Super Crunch Box V2 (my Brown Sound pedal of choice) and the Megalith Delta High Gain Distortion.

 

I’m also a fan of Johannes ’JC’ Chuah’s Anarchy Audio - and have his Baa Bzz and Deadwood fuzzes - with probably a couple more acquisitions due from the range. Then I have a single Red Witch pedal - the brand new Fuzz God III - which I really should include more on the rotation. In fact I really should have more Red Witch pedals in my Tone Library - it just hasn’t happened yet.

 

I’ve long intended to acquire a Crowther HotCake - and probably will do that within the next 12 months - to complete my Overdrive reference Tone Library. I’ve also been intending for the longest time to add a couple of Hirofumi Uchino’s Lastgasp Art Laboratories pedals - likeliest here are the Super Oscillo Fuzz and then the Octavella or Gomorrah.

 

The remainder of the top 9 consists of Husband and Wife team Bondi Effects, Flux Effects, Poly Effects and Selah Effects. Bondi are really very well known for their Del Mar and Sick As overdrives in particular, but also more recently the 2026 compressor and analog Art Van Delay.

 

Flux Effects is best known for its Liquid Ambience Reverbs - both Mono and Stereo versions. Poly Effects is brand new, but has been making waves with its forthcoming touch-screen Digit and Morph pedals. Finally, with its Quartz V3 Midi Controller which you see on a lot of pedalboards nowadays, Selah has sort of become the industry standard for Compact midi control - particularly for time-based effects.

 

There’s a few more that deserve honourable mentions and which just missed out on a top 9 placing - these include Lightning Wave for its fairly unique take on effects, along with now alas discontinued Midnight Amplification - which I have though featured a number of times on this site. I also really like the look of MC Systems - who do a neat line of expanded range medium vertical enclosure pedals.

 

I feel I’ve got the balance right for my top 9 - yet as always it’s quite notable as to how many greats we have lost along the way. Activity for some seems to be fairly haphazard, so it’s tricky to say if those businesses are still going concerns. But Oceania has quite a lot to be proud of, and you could very easily construct an entire pedalboard from these antipodean pedals. I have several of these myself, and I encourage others to seek these out and try them. I’ve found although it takes a while to ship to Europe from that part of the world - prices are generally very reasonable - although there are some dealers oddly that won’t ship outside that continent. A great many of these pedals are in general circulation in any case and typically available via Reverb.com and Ebay too.

 

Pedals / Builders are listed alphabetically by brands as usual.

 


 

THE TOP 9


Anarchy Audio (AnarchyAudioAustralia.com) [Oz]

close
Anarchy Audio BAABZZ fuzz

I actually first came across Anarchy when doing research for HM-2 alternatives - and came across its stupendous high gain hybrid fuzz - the Deadwoods - which I soon acquired for the collection. I later witnessed the formidable Baa Bzz Fuzz on That Pedal Show - and that was added soon after also! There are some really cool pedals in the range - including the Chaos Star Frequency Modulator - and there are a couple more under consideration here for my Tone Library. Really great sounding pedals.

  • Like = Baa Bzz Fuzz | Chaos Star Frequency Modulator | Deadwoods High Gain Fuzz (HM-2/Shin-Ei Fy-2) | Flutterby Vitage Style Optical Tremolo | Gain of Tones Bluesbreaker Style Booster/Overdrive/Distortion | Gold Class Black Glass Germanium Boost/Overdrive | Hereafter Dual Mode Delay, Chorus/Vibrato | Reignmaker High Gain Overdrive/Distortion | Spring Driver All Analog Spring Driven Reverb

Bondi Effects (BondiEffects.com) [Oz]

close
Bondi Effects Art Van Delay | Reverb Tone Report Demo

Bondi kind of rose to fame when they ended production of their Del Mar Overdrive - a drive pedal which covered both TS808 and Bluesbreaker style tones, but which builder Jon Ashley felt never sounded quite right. 700 pedals had been built when the line was ended, and it seems this termination, and the fact that many seemed to like those slightly fuzzy overtones - meant that those pedals immediately became gold dust and were fetching prices of £1,000 or more on Reverb.com. Jon replaced the Del Mar with the Breakers overdrive which was the kind of sound he had been striving to achieve with the Del Mar! The other really famous Bondi pedal is the Sick as Overdrive - another very formidable Klon clone - although that territory is getting very crowded now. I've often gotten close to acquiring the excellent sounding 2026 Compressor, while the analog and modulated Art Van Delay - Bondi's latest pedal - offers a great alternative to those looking at the Boss DM-2w or MXR Carbon Copy - while I probably just slightly prefer StoneDeaf FX's Syncopy Delay - but the Syncopy and Art Van are really very similar in many ways.

  • Like = 2026 Compressor | Art Van Delay | Breaker Overdrive (Bluesbreaker) | Del Mar Overdrive (808/Bluesbreaker) | Sick As Overdrive (Klone)

Crowther Audio (CrowtherAudio.net) [NZ]

close
Crowther Audio Hotcake Distortion

Crowther Audio for me is all about their standard Hotcake Overdrive or 3-knob MKII version really. The original only has 2 knobs, and there is a lower gain 'Bluesberry' edition which occasionally does the rounds. This though is an excellent all-rounded overdrive in OCD / Timmy / Red Snapper territory. I really need to acquire all of those to be able to accurately extract the exact tonal differences and come to a more scientific basis of comparison and preference. I have a Menatone Red Snapper on the acquisition list too - along with the new custom shop Germanium OCD which is due in July!

  • Like = Double Hotcake Overdrive | Hotcake Overdrive (MKII) | Hotcake Bluesberry Overdrive | Prunes & Custard Harmonic Generator-Intermodulator

Flux Effects (FluxEffects.com) [NZ]

close
Flux Effects Liquid Ambience Stereophonic

Flux Effects Liquid Ambience Reverb has appeared on a multitude of pedalboards - while the Liquid Tremolo and Slipstream delay are more recent additions to the range. Many love the particular dynamics of this Reverb, while I typically go more for a broader workstation style of Reverb pedal. Yet for many this is the perfect all-round reverb - probably still worth a look-in. I featured the Liquid Ambience in my Spacey Reverbs feature.

  • Like = Liquid Ambience Stereophonic Atmospheric Reverb | Liquid Ambience Vibraphonic Atmospheric Reverb | Liquid Tremolo | Slipstream Delay

Lastgasp Art Laboratories (lalweb.com/effects-e.html) [Oz]

close
Lastgasp Art Laboratories 88 Superoscillo Fuzz. FOR SALE

Hirofumi Uchino's brand is frequently associated with his land of birth rather than his chosen residence in New South Wales, Australia. I've been tracking this brand for a very long time though, and have featured several of his pedals on this site in various categories. It tends to be the fuzzes though I'm most switched onto - and of those - I am still desperate to get my hands on the Super Oscillo Fuzz - and probably Gomorrah and Octavella fuzzes too. I keep meaning to get one or two of these - but the price is not always right and other priorities take precedence - it will definitely happen some day soon though!

  • Like = Angelring Clean Boost | Cyber Psychic Parametric Oscillo Filter | Deviltail Deathtortion High Gain Distortion | FLIKRRR Flickering Tremolo | Gomorrah Input Sensitive Subharmonic Fuzz | Green Monster Septic Break-Up Fuzz [discontinued] | Hachihachi Shiki Kebadate Kizumaseki SUPER OSCILLO FUZZ | Lluna Oscillo Fuzz Drive with Voltage Dropper | Misty Cave Analog Resonance Echo | Multi Noise Processor 2 | Octavella Upper Octave Feedback Fuzz | Sandstorm Envelope Noise Generator | Sick Pitch King Jr Oscillo Ring Modulator | Steroid O.D. Overload Unit Switchable Overdrive [discontinued] | Thunder Box Donsharizer Simultaneous Low and High Frequency Booster | Tone Axe Frequency Divider + Manual Jetlizer & Fuzz with Gate | Tone Mosaique Envelope Pixelizer | Toxic Plant Disharmonic Distortion | Transroom Analog Modulation Reverb | Yontoku Shiki Kebadate Hizumaseki SOOPER FUZZ

MI Audio / MI Effects (MIAudio.com/Effects) [Oz]

close
MI Effects: SUPER CRUNCH BOX V2

By virtue of how many of Michael Ibrahim's pedals I have - this is surely my favourite antipodean pedal brand. Thus far I have the Blue Boy Deluxe V1, Cross Overdrive V2, GI Fuzz V1, Megalith Delta High Gain Distortion, Neo Fuzz V1, Polyanna Octave V1 and Super Crunch Box V2 Brown Sound Distortion! I also intend to probably add the Super Blues Pro Overdrive at some stage, alongside the Tube Zone Overdrive - that will probably do me fine. Of those the Super Crunch Box 2 and Megalith Delta have earned permanent residences in my pedal chain. Michael Ibrahim of course started building amazing amps - and the Iron Duke, Megalith and Revelation are of course all worthy of your consideration too - but in amp head format only - which does not really suit my own setup. In any case really dynamic and great sounding pedals - I prefer many of the smaller / compact V1 originals to the later medium enclosure V2 pedals - and Andy Martin is certainly in agreement on the Neo Fuzz - which both he and I have in its V1 compact edition!

  • Like = Blue Boy Deluxe Overdrive V1 [discontinued] | Boost 'N' Buff | Classic Distortion [discontinued] | Compressor [discontinued] | Cross Over Drive V2 | GI Fuzz V1 [discontinued] | Lo-Fi Delay V2 | Megalith Delta High Gain Distortion | Neo Fuzz V1 [discontinued] | Pollyanna Octave V1 [discontinued] | Super Blues Pro Overdrive | Super Crunch Box V2 | Tube Zone Overdrive [discontinued]

Poly Effects (polyeffects.com) [Oz]

close
Poly - Morph & Digit

Poly Effects made quite a splash at the 2019 Winter NAMM show - and Best Guitar Effects has done a number of features on these pedals. They have intriguing touch-panel displays with 3 footswitches and just 2 knobs - and the 2 versions demo'd are a time-based / mixer / cab sim effects unit - the Digit, and a forthcoming analog Multi-Effect / modulation unit called the Morph. These are supposedly analogue effects with digital control-layers - much along the same lines as Chase Bliss Audio - but with a touch screen interface. The few video demos I've seen certainly put this on the watch-list - but I have yet to make my mind up if this goes on my wishlist - pre-orders are already open for the Digit. Control Topology / User Interface is a key consideration for me for pedals - and there is a fine balance between manual and touch-screen knobs - whether you prefer a more software-led or hardware-led approach. There are some great hybrids out there, but I worry that there are only 2 proper hands-on controls here - and we've yet to test the screen in various live-playback scenarios - visibility / viewing angles etc. These both look like highly innovative pedals, but they need to sound and function great - which we will only properly find out after they are officially out!

  • Like = Poly Digit Quad Channel Delay, Reverb, Mixer, Cab Sim | Poly Morph Analog Multi-Effect

Red Witch (RedWitchPedals.com) [NZ]

close
Red Witch Empress Chorus

Ben Fulton's Red Witch pedals feature many greats within the range - and I decided to focus on the often overlooked Empress Chorus - which is used by none other than one of the original King's of Chorus - Andy Summers himself. Besides that I've featured a number of Red Witch pedals on this site - including the the Deluxe Analog Moon Phaser, Fuzz God III and Synthotron Guitar Synth. I've only acquired the Fuzz God III to date - but there are several pedals here I have on my wishlist including earlier Fuzz Gods and the Famulus Drive/Distortion. Red Witch seems to sail under the radar quite a bit - but deserves due consideration - these are some of the finest hand-built analog pedals available anywhere!

  • Like = Deluxe Analog Moon Phaser | Empress Analog Chorus/Vibrato | Eve Tremolo Mini | Factotum Bass Suboctave Drive | Famulus Dual Parallel Circuit Overdrive/Distortion (LM308+4558) | Fuzz God | Fuzz God II | Fuzz God III Mini | Fuzzotron | Grace Compressor Mini | Ivy Distortion Mini | Lily Clean Boost Mini | Medusa Analog Chorus Tremolo | Pentavocal Analog FET Tremolo | Phoenix 12 Stage Phaser | Ruby Fuzz Mini | Scarlet Overdrive Mini | Synthotron Analog Synth/Samplehold/EnvelopeFilter | Titan Triple Delay | Violet Delay Mini | Zeus Bass Fuzz Suboctave

Selah Effects (SelahEffects.com) [Oz]

close
Selah Quartz Timer v3

I wasn't that familiar with Selah Effects, while I've seen the Quartz Midi Controller pretty much everywhere - particularly in its established V2 edition - I just did not immediately connect it with the parent brand. Not a huge range here, and the Quartz is the most interesting thing on offer really. I'm not sure I need one quite yet - but this is certainly the very thing I would go for if I wanted to sync up several time-based pedals in particular.

  • Like = Feather Drive Smooth Higher Gain Overdrive | Misty Mountain Gated Fuzz | Q:Expander for Quartz | Quartz V3 Midi Controller | Scarlett Love Overdrive V3

 

THE REST


80tape Effects (80tape.com) [NZ]

A very compact range of Delay and Tremolo pedals - for my needs the Limbo III compact would be the most suitable really, but then it's only mono output - so would not easily be accommodated in my existing stereo chain. Highly feature-rich pedals though with clear control topologies and dual footswitches throughout the range.

  • Like = In Limbo II Analog Delay | Limbo III Compact Analog Delay | Limbo III Multi Headed 1100ms Analog Delay | Variable State Tremolo

Aphek Guitar (AphekStudio.com.au) [Oz]

Just a couple of pedals here - dual-fotswitch medium enclosure 3-knob overdrives. I would of course be much keener on them if they were vertical in orientation - but these sound decent enough - possibly not sufficiently 'tweaky' to overly appeal to my preferences.

  • Like = Peanut Butter Model T Overdrive | Sunday Driver Overdrive

Auxiliary Workshop (AuxiliaryWorkshop.com) [Oz]

Another small independent - this time with just one current pedal in the range - the slightly over-sized AWOD35 overdrive and a couple of established older pedals now discontinued. Looks decent enough although nothing jumps out for me in particular - could do with more collateral - and video demos in particular.

  • Like = AWOD35 Overdrive | The Devils Handshake Fuzz+Overdrive | Smoke and Mirrors Phaser

Big White Monkey (BigWhiteMonkey.aradium.com) [Oz]

Smallish range of vertical medium enclosure pedals - all pedals feature identical enclosures with description on bottom facia. Nothing here in particular stands out for me.

  • Like = AD1980 Delay | Curly Fuzz | Freaky Booster | Spider 808 Overdrive

Chapter 4 Effects (Instagram.com/Chapter4Effects) [Oz]

Vaguely interesting builder with all shapes and sizes of enclosure, but an attractive looking 'Bespoke' line of pedals in black and white. The 019 2 Channel Overdrive would seem to be the most interesting of this selection:

  • Like = 019 2 Channel Overdrive | Bespoke Overdrive | Bespoke Overdrive+Boost | Prick Power Booster | Prof. Plum Fuzz

ClinchFX (ClinchFX.com) [Oz]

A decent enough range of mostly compact enclosure pedals with the one exception - the Blue Classic, a much larger dual-footswitch sort of vintage style enclosure overdrive which is though a touch over-sized for my preferences!

  • Like = The Blue Classic Tube Style Overdrive | Burnish Boost | EP-Pre PreAmp | EP+ Clean Boost | Pico Pre PreAmp

Crowella Effects (Crowella.org) [Oz]

Seemingly a bass pedal specialist but whose newest and most appealing pedal - the Defector is suitable for both guitar and bass - and hence my choice of this small selection. Definitely something which warrants further consideration.

  • Like = Animated Bass Distortion | Defector Overdrive | Voskhod Bass Distortion

Dazatronyx (Dazatronyx.com) [Oz]

A pretty decent range of pedals - mostly with a family look to the graphics - but a couple of exceptions. I really like the look of the Big Fuzz pedal here - but there are definitely some worthy candidates from within this range of 7.

  • Like = Big Fuzz | BSIAB2 Distortion (Brown Sound) | Germanium Amplifier | Optical Tremolo | Professional Drive | Stereo Panning Optical Tremolo | Tonebender MKII

Dogmatek (Dogmatek.com) [NZ]

This is alas a somewhat over-sized enclosure, but with lots of interesting square push buttons and knobs - and a huge central domed LED - of course with stereo output. Certainly a highly intriguing proposition - and one which warrants further consideration and due diligence.

  • Like = The Arctic Wolf Twin Modulator

Doom In Analog Effects (facebook.com/DoomInAnalog) [Oz]

This is one of the many companies solely with social media coverage, and intermittent at best - not sure how active this brand still is, but it look like it's still a going concern. I featured their Electric Blanket in my recent Matamp overview.

  • Like = Electric Blanket Overdrive (Matamp) | Evil Gypsy Octave Fuzz (Foxx TM) | Silver Wizard Custom Fuzz (Ram's Head)

Dr. Acid Effects (DrAcid.com.au) [Oz]

There now seems to be a plethora of guitar pedals with skateboard wheels on them - either as a footswitch base or control knob - not sure who did this first - I certainly recall seeing the Salvation Audio ToneWheel Boost first, and the newest is the KHDK/Skateistan Fuzz pedal collaboration. While Dr. Acid may very well be the home of the original Skate Fuzz - most of the slim range here is geared around that.

  • Like = LS Drive | LS Drive Skate | NASA Acid Overdrive | SkateFuzz Trip Balls | Three Day Bender Fuzz

Dvk Technologies (DvkTech.com) [Oz]

A decent range of 4 dual footswitch horizontal medium enclosure pedals of mostly of a Drive or Fuzz nature - probably the GoldTop Fuzz/Vibe is the most appealing of these:

  • Like = The GoldTop Fuzz/Vibe | The HairBall Overdrive/Boost | The Mrs Compressor/Boost | The SilverTop Overdrive/Vibe

Earthling Designs (EarthlingDesigns.com) [Oz]

Looks like a repairs and custom shop in the main - just a few pedals on current offer - all simple compact enclosure varieties with one to three knobs:

  • Like = Orange Squeezer Compressor | Overdrive Special MKII | Red Llama Overdrive

Firehorse FX (FirehorseFX.com) [NZ]

A pretty consistent range of colourful medium enclosure vertical pedals - each with two knobs and single footswitch - even mix of drive/fuzz and modulation types here - elegant and served straight up as it were:

  • Like = Aeon Optical Compressor | Fuzzkill 70 (Fuzzrite) | Granulator (Harmonic Percolator) | Melotrem Analogue Tremolo | Odonata Clean Boost | Rekage Doom Fuzz

Frequency F(x) (FrequencyFX.com) [NZ]

Appears to have some relationship to Flux Effects as legend on pedal states 'Powered by Flux' - just a one pedal company so far - but looks impressively engineered / well-built - a sort of Ernie Ball looking volume + expression pedal with perforated treadle:

  • Like = Bright Spark Volume and Expression Controller

Fryer Guitars / Greg Fryer (FryerGuitars.com) [Oz]

Greg Fryer seems to have been Brian May's right-hand man for a while and provided a variety of Treble Boosters to him for that essential Top Boosted Queen sound. While Nigel Knight seems to have take over that position more of late. In any case Greg still has a range of Brian May approved and inspired pedals - although I preferred some of his earlier Treble Boosters which had more controls on them - the newer ones here are simply of the fire and forget variety - just on/off devices really - which won't do for a tweaker like me!

  • Like = Mayday Overdrive/Distortion | Mayhem Overdrive | Pink Maze PreAmp/Overdrive | Purple Maze Fuzz | Ringmaster Treble Booster | Sweet Stuff Clean Boost | Treble Booster Deluxe | Treble Booster Special | Treble Booster Super | Treble Booster Touring

G2D Effects (G2D.co.nz)

Currently a very smaller range of just two 4-knob medium enclosure drive pedals - the Custom has additional 'Solo' / boost footswitch which the Cream Tone does not - regardless, these two seem to have picked up something of a following.

  • Like = Cream-Tone Overdrive | Custom Overdrive

Goodwood Audio (GoodwoodAudio.com) [Oz]

Goodwood is a maker of utility pedals - and has an extensive range of splitter / loop-switching / junction boxes for pretty much every eventuality, as well as auxiliary footswitches for most types of amps - I've stuck to the main highlights here:

  • Like = Audition Single FX Loop | The Bass Inerfacer Junction Box | Output TX 2 Channel Buffer/Summer/Splitter | RMT Mute | The TX Interfacer Junction Box | The TX Underfacer Junction Box

JD Analog (JDAnalog.webs.com) [NZ]

Another range of medium enclosure drive boxes - individual and with two in combination with has many as 8 knobs, two toggle-switches and dual footswitches on offer. A mix of Klone, Tubescreamer and Marshall influences if I'm not much mistaken:

  • Like = The JD Booster | The JD Distortion True Vintage | The JD Screamer OverDrive + The JD Distortion True Vintage Ltd Edition | The JD Screamer True Vintage Ltd Edition Dual OverDrive | The JD Screamer True Vintage Overdrive | Tone of the Gods Overdrive+Boost

Kink Guitar Pedals (KinkGuitarPedals.com) [Oz]

A decent range of pedals - some of which I've come across before - like the Femtaur Klone. Could possibly do with a little more thematic consistency in the graphics department but otherwise pretty well put together:

  • Like = Absolution Doom Fuzz | Blazed Fuzz (Muff) | Charlie Silicon Fuzz | Defender of Hate Plus (Russian Muff) | Femtaur Klone Overdrive | Oath of the Goat High Gain Distortion (HM-2) | Politically Correct Boost | Stab Zone Thrash Distortion | Straya Dual Drive (808+Guv'nor) | Trem-endous Gain Overdrive/Tremolo

Klinger Custom Pedals (ShaunKlinger.com.au) [Oz]

Musician Shaun Klinger seems to have several strings to his bow as such - and a very credible range of drive, fuzz and vibe pedals. Grahically they could possibly be a little more uniform but overall these seem well tuned and diligently assembled:

  • Like = 69 Vibe | 71 Overdrive | Astron Fuzz | FuzzBee (BeeBaa) | Fuzz Drive Unit Fuzz+Drive | Ravi Fuzz Octave Machine

Ligtning Wave (LWave.nz) [NZ]

close
Lightning Wave - Ghost

Lighting Wave is one of the brands here that was on the cusp of getting in my Top 9. I decided in favour of Poly Effects and Selah Effecs in the end - but it was touch and go for a while. I've come across all three of these quite a lot recently - and most players don't necessarily realise what they're dealing with there as these look very simple - with just two panel controls - one slider and one multi-function knob - alongside dual footswitches. Essentially you use the slider to draw the pattern of the effect - where each 'drawing' as such can be saved to one of 5 presets. So instead of having multiple settings with specific patterns assigned to them - you basically make your own here. These are pretty cool vertical medium enclosure pedals and were only just pipped for a place in the top 9:

  • Like = Astro Phaser | Doom Crossfader | Ghost Trem

Loopi Pedals (LoopiPedals.com.au) [Oz]

This is another brand of utility pedals - not quite as broad a selection as say Goodwood Audio - but some neat tools nevertheless. I've come across Loopi pedals quite a bit recently - for instance when researching expression pedals. I always wondered were these were made. Pretty consistent monochromatic look here, possibly not quite as refined as Goodwood but a good option nonetheless:

  • Like = Active ABY Pedal | Amp Switchers (various) | Blender Pedal | Buffered Splitter Pedal | Micro Expression Knob | Mini Buffer Pedal | Mute Switch Pedal | Pedalboard Patchbox (various) | Switcher Pedal | Volume Dial Pedal | Volume Preset Pedal | Y Splitter/Combiner

Lovell Music Lab (LovellMusicLab.com) [Oz]

A quality amp maker first and foremost, but with a decent range of pedals to accompany those. These are mostly compact enclosure types with typically 3 knobs - so of rate more straight-laced variety. Look and feel could possible be a touch more uniform, but these seem to be pretty well considered pedals as is usually the case with amp builders:

  • Like = 808 Classic Overdrive | Atrum Diurum High Gain Distortion | Celeste Shimmer Reverb | Hot Rats Classic Distortion | Interstellar Overdrive | Love Booster II | Marsha Cruncy Drive/Distortion | Orbital Fase 1 Phaser | Pi Classic Fuzz (Muff) | Rocket Booster | Shakey Tremolo

Mach Analog Tone (MachAnalog.com) [NZ]

Currently just a two official pedals company, but also with a line of custom pedals - albeit none specifically cited on the website. Australians and New Zealanders seem to like the horizontal medium enclosure format and this is another range within that form factor - looks fairly new, so not too much to report yet:

  • Like = Morph Dual Fuzz (Ram's Head/Triangle) | Seagull/Clean Buffer (Gilmour Seagull)

McPherson Stompboxes (McPhersonMusic.site) [NZ]

Interesting artisan pedal-maker utilising wooden facias and wooden circuit boards too. Not an extensive range yet, but the Antique and Evolution Overdrives look pretty cool. Definitely worth some further research and demo'ing here.

  • Like = Antique Overdrive+Boost | Custom Shop Clean Boost CB-1 | Evolution Overdrive+Boost | Flux Boost | Fusion Wah | Omni Compressor | White Fuzz

MC Systems (MCSystemsMusic.com) [Oz]

close
MC Systems: Apollo Pedals Overview

This was one of the brands that was totally new to me before this research and which really impressed me. They currently have an Apollo Line of 8 dual-footswitch vertical medium enclosure pedals which look right up my street. The unique enclosures look like some sort of military spec communications devices - and each pedal has a cool 3-letter international airport designation to go with its two word name. I'm taking a special interest in the BWI Dynamic Fuzz and LHR Dynamic Distortion for starters

  • Like = BSL Hybrid Chorus | BWI Dynamic Fuzz | CGN Dynamic Delay | LAX Glass Chorus | LHR Dynamic Distortion | LYN Dynamic Phaser | NKM Dynamic Drive | SYD String Reviver

Midnight Amplification (defunked) [Oz]

close
Midnight Amplification Holy Mountain pedal demo

This once great brand alas is no more. I'm not sure about the reasons for its demise, but have comes across mentions of quality control issues and consistency problems - while all the demos I've heard have been great, and I've featured a number of Midnight Amplification pedals on this site. In their heyday they had an extensive range of mostly drive style pedals - which pretty much all sounded amongst the greats of their respective categories. Had this still been an active brand it would very probably have featured in the Top 9 - by virtue of the scope of its range alone. There are quite a number of antipodean pedal brands - but few have as much breadth of scope as this one did:

  • Like = Automaton Overdrive | Black Candle Overdrive | Blacklist One-Knob Fuzz Age | Derange Master Treble Booster | Foctave Octave Fuzz | Fuzz Age (Russian Muff) | Giant Sound (Sunn Model T) | Heavy Head Fuzz/Distortion | Hollow Earth Fuzz | Holy Mountain (Matamp) | Host Moon Fuzz | Lowlife Fuzz | Moon Funeral Fuzz | Mynd Driver Boost/Overdrive | Old Black (Fender Blackface) | Sentinel Drive/Distortion+Reverb | Sky Horse Reverb | Sonic Violence Drive/Distortion | Starburner Fuzz/Filter

Mozztronics (Mozztronics.wordpress.com) [Oz]

close
Mozztronics TD-1 Tube Driver

I missed this formidable Melbourne-based maker on my first couple of sweeps - but someone kindly pointed out my omission. Mozztronics have carved out a distinctive and uniform range of mostly PreAmp style pedals - nearly all in my preferred compact form factor enclosure. In fact the one I'm most excited about here is the actually relatively compact Butler Tube Driver style TD-1 - albeit it does have an odd power-supply requirement (16VAC, 1,000mA) which dampened my ardour somewhat. Nevertheless a pretty fine range of consistently high quality pedals - definitely warrants further consideration.

  • Like = BOD-1 BASS DRIVE | BP-2 BASS PREAMP | Compressor CO-1 | CS-1 CABINET SIM | DL-30 DRIVELINE PreAmp/Drive (Vox AC-30) | EX-1 EXPANDRIVE (TS808/Distortion+) | FZ-1 CLASSIC FUZZ | HP-1 HARP PREAMP (Chicago Blues Harp) | HW-1 wHo WATT PreAmp/Drive | JD-1 JFET DRIVE | MF-1 BACONIZER Sizzling Mosfet Asymmetric Clipping Drive | OR-1 ORANG-e PreAmp/Drive | TD-1-12AX7 TUBE DRIVER | TM-1 TONEMEISTER PreAmp/Drive (Tonemaster) | TR-1 TREMOLO

Own Horn Effects (OwnHornEffects.com) [Oz]

Currently just a one pedal company - albeit an impressive looking silicon variety Fuzz Face type which allows you to dial in velcro, gated and starved battery type sounds. I would still prefer a more compact enclosure here but you can't really argue with the feature set or core tone here:

  • Like = Brokeman Fuzz

Pepers' Pedals (PepersPedals.bigcartel.com) [NZ]

I was never sure where Pepers' Pedals were based and missed them on the first couple of sweeps for this post. I believe these used to be stocked by Andertons once - but probably a while ago. Pepers' have a number of discontinued pedals as is often the case - and only 4 in the current collection - including the impressive brand new version of their Rat - the RAD-X.

  • Like = Dirty Tree Boost | RAD-X (Rat) | Russian Doom Machine (Muff) | Satanist Distortion

PN Electronics (PNElectronics.com.au) [Oz]

Another one pedal company - but mainly an amplifier repair shop. The 3-knob Peter Nessfield Bluezer is designed to replicate the sounds and response/feel of a cranked tube amp - for those perfect bluesy breakup tones - and it does that really rather well.

  • Like = Peter Nessfield Bluezer Overdrive

ProphecySound Systems (ProphecySound.com) (defunked) [Oz]

This outfit specialised in large - highly complex multi-knob pedals - phasers, envelope fitters and delays. Really cool looking pedals fro tweakers but also really large boxes too in the mani - par the Sweet FA Boss FA-1 clone. This company alas is no more, but they leave a very decent legacy behind - and the website still stands for now:

  • Like = 777 Flying Pan Reproduction Panning Phaser | Echowave 4ms Triwave Digital Delay | Infinitphase MKII Phase Shifter/Sequencer | Pi-Phase MK2 Dual Phase Shifter | Rubber Fetish MKII Envelop Filter | Sweet FA PreAmp (Boss FA-1)

Red Sun Music (RedSun.com.au) [Oz]

Not to be confused with Germany's Red Sun FX, Red Sun Music has a pretty extensive range of mainly compact enclosure pedals - and mostly fuzzes at that, where the one here that interests me is actually the slightly oversized Soundbox Workshop 22/7 Fuzz - with its dual channel Germanium and Silicon action controlled by 5 knobs, 3 toggle-switches and dual footswitches!:

  • Like = Interplanetary Fuzz | It Kills Me To Have To Overdrive | Quadrafuzznia RS-1Z Octave Fuzz | Quadrafuzznia RS-2F (BC108 Fuzz Face) | Quadrafuzznia RS-3M Fuzz (BC108 Maestro) | Quadrafuzznia RS-R4 Fuzz (OpAmp) | Rocket Drive | Smith Street Overdrive | Soundbox Workshop 22/7 Ge-Si Dual Channel Fuzz | Space Junk Overdrive | Sputnik Junior Boost

Sherlock Amplifiers (SherlockAmps.com) [Oz]

The Sherlock V3 2-Channel Triple Tube Distortion is a pedal I've comes across quite a few times actually - and sort of wondered where it originated from. Sherlock is of course and amp-builder in the main - with this one concession to pedal platform players. A really cool tube-loaded dual channel affair, but I would probably rather go with something transistor based with a more pedalboard friendly power supply requirement - very impressive sounding pedal nonetheless:

  • Like = V3 2-Channel Tube Distortion

Silverpistol Effects (SilverpistolEffects.com) [NZ]

A cool compact 4 pedal range of uniform appearance. The most interesting here is probably the dual-footswitch Damn & Blast Optical Compressor - while the other pedals here - boos and overdrive look rather more vanilla:

  • Like = The Bronson Overdrive | The Damn & Blast Optical Compressor | The Judge Boost | The Orion Fuzz

Final Thoughts

As I come to the end of the Australia and New Zealand overview I realise how much pedal acquisition is a product of pricing, accessibility and availability. Meaning that it really depends on the positioning and distribution of a brand of pedals as to what exposure it gets in your local market - and how likely you are to come across one of those. Of course Ebay and Reverb.com bring the whole world of pedals a lot closer - but not every brand is found on Reverb.com - in fact far from it, and as I highlighted in my Central and South American overview - just because a pedal is on Reverb.com - does not make it instantly accessible as delivery charges may be too high - and of course you would need to pay import / custom charges on top of whatever you paid on Ebay and Reverb.com.

 

All of my own Australian and New Zealander pedals have come either direct from source or via Reverb.com - and the Super Crunch Box V2 came from Haar Guitars in the Netherlands! Some of these brands are in local distribution - but generally they are far and few between, and dealers don't often keep their own ranges fully up do date - so official resellers aren't always as useful as they should be.

 

Regardless of the challenges I still encourage you to seek these out and try them for yourself as several here are amongst the best you can get. I certainly still have a fair few on my wishlist which are earmarked to go in the collection. I also keep track of the usual marketplaces for b-stock, ex-display, second-hand bargains and other discounts.

Stefan Karlsson
Posted by Stefan Karlsson
PopularCommentsRSS FeedContent Subscriptions
Share to TwitterShare to Facebook
Add New Comment
You must be registered and logged in to comment
Profile
Stefan Karlsson
Stefan Karlsson
Guitar Pedal X
News Navigation






















































Paul Smith
9 of the Best Mid-Size Fuzz Face+ Pedals
"Don't know if you would count this, but I "...
7 days ago
Richard kupisz
Oneder Effects' Onederbolt is a beautifully textured distortion with 4 gears of operation
"Stefano, have you considered signing up to one of "...
11 days ago
Paul Smith
Expandora extracts the Forbidden Fuzz Mode for a standalone extended-range Fuzz
"Bit of a bump here, but having just attended to "...
15 days ago
Jet Hasie
Robert Keeley Boss Mods Trifecta
"Hey Stefan, that freak fuzz seems so cool thank "...
16 days ago
Cyril Demaegd
2024 February Pedal-Chain Update - Episode II - Triple Tremolo Flutter
"As usual very inspiring. I'd be curious to "...
18 days ago
Waiting