Highlights from the 2026 Brighton Guitar Show and FX Expo at Brighton Racecourse

Here are the 9 pedals I picked up at the show. I was expecting to pick up 4 or five - several by pre-arrangement, while my good friend Joseph from Demiurge very much surprised me.

The selection comprises 5 / 6  fuzzes, 2 of which are Germanium, and 3 / 4 Overdrives / Distortions :

• 2 from Talisman Audio [Tom]
• 1 from Blue FX Devices [Archie & Phil]
• 1 from Leyland pedals [Caleb]
• 1 from NRG Effects [Neil]
• 4 from Demiurge Instruments [Joseph]

I obviously had to photograph and cut out and edit all those - I've yet to have the opportunity to play them. In fact I had 3 pedals in from Verlie at Past FX late last week - so 12 pedals in just a handful of days - which is a lot - some of those reviews will likely bleed into next month!

While it probably makes sense to do the Demiurge ones in pairs - as those 4 are really 2 sets of pedals - with stock / slimline and extended range versions of each circuit!

A fantastic selection overall in any case - with some real gems there!

www.instagram.com/talismanaudio/

This was Tom from Talisman Audio's very first show - where he attended with his good local friend Tristan - as pictured below.

Tom is a point-to-point specialist, and he creates these immaculate hand-wired circuits - which are object of absolute beauty as well as killer tone machines.

Most all of those pedals are point-to-point apart form the Angry Droid Upper Octave Fuzz - which he also does in a compact PCB version - of course with a larger 1590BB point-to-point version also at twice the price, and near twice the size - so with that one you have options!

Tom and Tristan pictured above!

Tom was ably assisted by his good friend Tristan throughout the show - it really helps to bring a buddy! While several of the exhibitors were there in wholly solo capacity.

I spotted Tom's Talisman Audio very early on from the Show Roster, and immediately loved the look of a couple of his pedals - the Deluxe Face Blender Ge/Si 2-Transistor Fuzz, and the GP7 Soviet Gas Mask Canister 2-Transistor Ge/Si Fuzz. Both distinct Fuzz Face takes with a number of extra bells and whistles.

I decided I had to have those - and secured both in advance of the show!

The GP7 turned out to be a little larger than expected - but it is still magnificent. Both pedals come with clear perspex / lexan bases - so you can admire Tom's handiwork!

They're both formed from a slew of rare NOS parts - the DLX Face Blender has Mullard / Philips Black Glass Bulb OC140 and OC141 Germanium Transistors, paired with BFY50 and BFX84 Silicon Transistors.

And the GP7 has a Sziklai pair of Germanium GT404B, and GT303D on Q1, and switchable Germanium MP37B and Silicon KT3102EM Transistors on Q2.

I have very high hopes for both of these, and am delighted to have them in the GPX Reference collection.

Above you can see the exterior of 7 of Tom's pedals - in the top half - Mammoth Pi Muff Fuzz, Mini Voltage Sag (Dying Battery Effect), JFET / VCA Dynamic Processor Compressor, GP7 Soviet Gas Mask Canister Fuzz, Angry Droid Octave Fuzz (Upper), Djinn's Flame Psychfuzz Sub-octave Fuss (with amirs_noise_devices), Heritage Dual Boost (Rangemaster + EP Booster), and the Deluxe Face Blender.

In the lower half you can see the point-to-point insides in order - Angry Droid Octave Fuzz, Deluxe Face Blender, JFET / VCA Dynamic Processor Compressor, Heritage Dual Boost, and Mammoth Pi Muff Fuzz. All incredibly exactingly designed and assembled. Real works of art - as well as killer musical devices.

I will for sure be coming back for more!

wyattaudiouk.com

Wyatt of Wyatt Audio - that esteemed Guitar Technician - who has done a Guitar Setup Clinic two years in a row at the Brighton Guitar Show. Has recently branched into Guitar Pedals too.

Wyatt Audio Pedals are only 7 months old - but are off to a blistering start with 2 killer pedals - the Kozel extended Muff variant - which evolves way beyond its Ram's Head and Sovtek roots. For a really killer extended range Muff.

And the second pedal is a killer take on that other Classic Fuzz - the venerable Fuzz Face (Silicon edition) - the Heiress Fuzz.

The Kozel has 10 controls, and the Heiress has 7.

Wyatt has done a fantastic job on these - and the aesthetics and knob choices are spot-on too.

This came onto my radar a little too late for me - as the month's budget had already been allocated / blown - I would have loved to have picked up these at the show also - but there was no room in the bag (or wallet) by then! While I look  forward to catching up with Wyatt in early August - to secure that excellent pair of fuzzes for the GPX Reference collection - with in-depth reviews forthcoming too!

Wyatt was ably assisted by his good friend Louie on the day - who appears to the left in the above picture!

shop.nrgeffects.com

This project had been a long time in the making - as I finally have my updated edition of Neil's Gnawer Rat Distoriton - massively remodelled from previous editions - with 6 Clipping options, 3 Soft and 3 Hard Clipping, and with a Tone Bypass Footswitch.

Neil specially added in a faceted crystal lens cover for my Gnawer - as I remarked that those continuously colour-morphing LED's looked like disco lights - and we needed some mirrorball action in there - which has been rendered by said faceted Lens cap.

This new Gnawer has 5 controls and 2 footswitches. And it was first mooted in August of 2024 - not long after I took delivery of my Fuzzer and Purrer NRG pedals. The Gnawer and Mauler were supposed to come just a few months later - but Neil has pivoted several times since then - and has of course re-designed his entire range once more - which he seem to do every couple of years. Fantastic to have his new Gnawer of last - which looks amazing - in-depth review coming up!

Also at the show Neil brought a number of cool minis with him - including a Custom Boost for our mutual friend Matt Knight from Boss. The mini Gnawer also looks very cute. I would quite like a custom version of that sometime - with an additional external clipping options switch!

Fantastic to catch up with Neil as always - that man never stands still - and just when you think you've got to grips with where he's at - he's pivoted once again. His output has been massively iterated so many time now - many would say he needs to slow down a little - but I love his industry here! Beautifully designed pedals - inside and out - more objects of wonder for sure.

I'm delighted to have the Gnawer at last - the Mauler is sure next - while I do also need to get in that Octagonal Special Edition of the Fuzzer too - Neil said he would build one of those for me - just need to save up for that now!

Pictured above - Archie, Leo, Valia, Phil.

bluefxdevices.com

My good friends Archie and Phil were back at Brighton again - this time with reinforcements!

I picked up my green Piluxx Fuzz - a mini take on two of the modes from the flagship Fuzz Fields - the Core and Frequency Modes. Built into a Greek 70's Electrical Switch Unit - which Archie found in an Athens Antique Shop. The first batch of 9 was green, and the second batch was in silver / grey as above. Where Blue FX had brought 5 to the show and sold all but 1. Wyatt from Wyatt Audio picked one of those up too!

So I had meant to order my Piluxx at the Leeds Pedal Show - but the last couple of hours were so chaotic that it didn't happen - and I ordered one a day later - with the idea of picking it up at Blue FX's next UK show - which was this Brighton one.

They also had a further updated version of their Casetta Stereo Tape Delay Madness pedal - which I provided some further feedback on. This one is getting closer - but needs a few significant  tweaks to match the prowess of its flagship Fuzz Fields sibling. With my suggestions - hopefully the Cassetta can be every bit as dynamic and exciting has its well established sibling.

The Fuzz Fields - with its 4 gears of on-the-fly operation - is still in a class if its own. If you're a fuzz fanatic and don't have one of those - you're definitely missing out.

Wonderful to catch up with my Greek buddies - we get along so well - seem like I have known them forever.

Looking forward to the release of the Cassetta later this year - probably late autumn / before Christmas. Blue FX want to have a family final prototype in time for Guitar Summit at the end of September - and there's plenty of work still remaining - should make for an exciting flurry.

I will of course be getting a Cassetta in - and may even participate in the next phase of its development! Either way - exciting times ahead!

Archie here sporting my green edition of Piluxx Fuzz, alongside Talisman Audio's GP7 Fuzz - also green and circular - albeit quite a bit larger than the Piluxx.

When I saw the GP7 in a similar Green / Circular format - I knew I had to have it, and feature it in a follow-up article alongside my already secured Piluxx!

Each of those will have their own in-depth review - and then I will do a feature where I pair those up - which will for sure feature the above snap again within the body of that article!

www.leylandpedals.co.uk

When I caught up with Caleb at Birmingham's Noise Maker Market back in March - I knew I wanted one of this then new Peace Lilly Distortion Pedals - based on the somewhat killer but under-appreciated Ibanez PL5 Powerlead Distoriton - yes - one of those plastic computer-mouse-looking Soundtank 5 Series pedals from Ibanez!

Caleb had a knack for recreating and enhancing those classic pedals - this is my second of his after the Hum Along, where I also have his superb full-fat Modded Boss DF-2 Super Feedback & Distortion. So in effect my 3rd pedal of his!

I love the look of the Peace Lilly - and the Purple LED is perfect for this format!

Also new from Caleb / Leyland is his Pebble take on the EHX Small Stone. I may swing back around for that at some stage - I already added 3 new phasers to the collection this year - so I'm taking a short break on that genre - I think I'm up to around 25/30 phasers now - so it's not exactly a pressing matter for me to add more.

The Pebble might very well be on the cards for me at some stage - in the meantime - I'm delighted to have secured a Peace Lilly!

demiurgeinstruments.bigcartel.com

This was the big surprise at the show! My good friend Joseph from Demiurge popping into the show to drop off 4 of his finest. Admittedly I had ordered the 'Cultist' Doom Sludge Fuzz from Swamp Coffin's Bandcamp page, but had then promptly forgotten when it was supposed to he delivered / shipped.

Joseph knew I was going to be at the show - and turned up specially, accompanied by his son - to deliver me my Cultist, but also the slimline / stock Cultus variant - which was the simpler take on that circuit. 

And then he brought me 2 variants of his signature Earthburner Full Range Brit Stack Overdrive / Distortion - one combined / simpler edition and then a more extended edition also.

More knobs and granularity doesn't always make for a better pedal - sometimes less is more! So it's doubly exciting I get to check out these two pairs.

It totally makes sense to tackle these has pairs - offering deep insights into each - as well as the circumstance where one might be better than the other.

Joseph has had some health challenges to tackle of late - which have meant he's not been quite as prolific as he used to be - but he's most back to full strength now - so expect a lot of exciting designs to come from him. He's wholly revamped his pedal-design process, and all his circuit have been evolved and improved - for more potent and robust operation.

Really looking forward to getting stuck in here.

My Demiurge Capsule is now up to 11 pedals!

www.cavepedals.net

Always wonderful catching up with Angus and Ruth - and they had 3 brand new compact pedals at the show - The Chicken Treble Boost  + Compressor, the MirrorMan Extreme LFO Modulated Delay, and AirHead Extreme Flanger. All those are on the cards for me - and I will surely be tackling those before long.

Ruth told me that the 3 treadle-based pedals - the GyroWah, Sloppy Joe Phaser, and recent WoodPecker Stutter Effect - had all garnered particular interest at the show.

I first met Cave Pedals at last year's Brighton Show, also caught up with them at the second and last Woking Boutique Guitar Show, and following this third encounter - things are definitely going to happen!

Angus has a very unique perspective on pedals - make them properly simple, but make them also like nothing else anyone else has delivered already. That's the remit essentially - and these are smart simple designs - whose output wholly goes beyond that initial apparent simplicity.

These pedals have a certain DIY aesthetic to them - and that's exactly how Angus wants them to be. It's a pretty bold statement for sure - but it really works!

ritualdevices.co.uk

A number of my friends have had some significant life challenges this year - whether health or family -related. And Wub has similarly been waylaid a touch this year.

When I caught up with him at last year's Kempton Park show - he was determined to pivot more toward Modulation pedals - more in the vein of his quite superb Fay and Rainmaker modulations. While of course the best-laid plans of Mice and Men often go awry - and we're kind of ending up with a lost year - because of significant commitments in other areas.

Wub had hoped to have a new modulation pedal out this year already, but it is increasingly looking like it will happened early next year instead!

In the meantime you should all check out his superb Fay Phase Filter, and Rainmaker Analog Vibrato and Pulsating Tremolo pedals. The Fay delivers an exceptional Uni-Vibe style voicing too!

hamiltoneffects.com

This is my 4th catch-up with James, where his pal Pete seems local to Brighton as Pete has put in appearance at both Brighton Shows, but James was running solo at last year's Kempton Park Show, and this year's Birmingham Noise Maker Market.

For me it's all about those 2 flagship Core series pedals - The Embers Low-Gain Fuzz Preamp, and Twin Dual Gain Stage Overdrive. Both really impressive pedals.

Most everything is correct on those to my mind - the functional topology and knob choices. While I'm still not 100% sure that those Facia Plates are totally right for those pedals - particularly the Embers one - surely that should have some glowing orange embers no!?

Cool pedals in any case - reasonably priced.

I just feel a couple of tiny changes could bump of the appeal of those pedals massively - at least for my preferences! Conceptually they are great - but I'm not sure the current facia plates serve those pedals as well as they could. For me we need something brighter, bolder and more meaningful - particularly on the Embers!

Note that I had to transpose James's head from a previous photo as there was so much glare on my recent pictures from this show - that I could not rescue that image in Photoshop - I spent 2 hours trying to fix the original photo - before deciding that a transplant was the only option!

buzzingbugsfx.com

I last caught up with Dan at last year's Leeds Pedal Show - he was due to attend a couple of shows in the interim - but had to cancel last minute for a variety of reasons. So Brighton is the first catch-up in nearly a year!

I covered his new Bolster Massive Dual Fuzz Monster back in April of this year - and that still remains a target for me. I had hoped to pick one up at the show - but somehow ended up with 9 pedals by mid afternoon had no space left in my satchel for another. Dan had said I should pick one up at the end of the show which I somewhat messed up on - so alas that was a missed opportunity as it didn't happen.

Dan also had with him his newest Folklore Series Pedal - the Oss - which is related to the Cornish 'Obby 'Oss' a kind of equine / Centaur Folk figure which has its own Cornish Folk Festival. That pedal put in an appearance in final circuit production edition - the enclosure was prototype format - but the internals were entirely final. There was some snafu on the printed enclosures - which are taking longer to arrive than expected.

A lot of my Pedal Builder friends - including Andy from Funny Little Boxes have had major challenges with enclosures this year. Everything seems to be taking a lot longer to arrive than it used to,

So in some ways I'm happy that the 'Oss' wasn't formally announced - as I'm still one behind. And need to hit up Dan for a Bolster - probably early August, as I already have too many pedals to wrangle for the remainder of this month!

I still very much like Dan's original 'Number Series' which I often call the 'Geometric Series' because of its geometric style artworks - of those the BBO3 Lo-Fi Chorus is particularly impressive - you should definitely check one of those out!

www.fredric.co.uk/pedals

Tim is a comforting constant for me at this Guitar Shows - he's the one I have encountered most frequently on all my travels up and down this land. We must have had a good 20-30 encounters by now - I consider him a really good friend.

He had a couple of newish pedals with him - newly updated Mini-Wedge formats of his West Germany Vintage Tremolo, and the Interfax Spec Harmonic Percolator.

Had I had sufficient funds and space in my bag - I would undoubtedly have gone for both of those!

I already have the Blue Silicon Harmonic Percolator - the design with the window - so I obviously need the Interfax Spec Edition to complete by Set!

Tim was generally in excellent sprits - and very pleased that his Enclosure hold ups had been resolved - and that he could now get back to production.

I'm still waiting on Demos for the Petite Super Unpleasant Companion, and the Verzerrer East German Distortion those pedals have been on and off the board already - I picked them up in March! Apparently friend Phil at Pedal Experiments has at least one of those - so it's he now that is holding up that operation!

So looking forward to picking up those 2 new ones next time around, and finally getting the articles for the Birmingham Show pedals published!

flattleyguitarpedals.com

The Flattley stand was peppered with so many gorgeous tone-on-tone Anniversary and Special Edition Pedals - as indicated in the above visual. These included the JK Fuzz, Revolution 10th Anniversary, Centurion 10th Anniversary, and 3 x 10th Anniversary Editions of the Flatley Twin Filter Wah - my preferred Candy Red Skulls Edition, but also in Blue Skulls Edition, and Disco Graphics Edition (which variety had temporarily sold out!).

Paul also showed me the forthcoming revvial of his first actual official pedal - which will be out as a 10th Anniversary Reissue real soon. And I'm still waiting on the Anniversary Edition of the Ace Tone Boost - which Paul said would be out shortly too.

So a banner year for Flattley - with a whole slew of gorgeous metal-flaked hydro-dipped designs - there are several here that I want to add to my Flattley Capsule Collection - including the JK Fuzz and Revolution 10AE!

I'll see if I can make some of that happen between now and Flattley's appearance at Kempton Park - which is usually my last Guitar Show of the year!

www.timber-tones.com

Good friend Rob had some gorgeous looking new 'Mineral Picks' in different semi-precious rock materials - including in Amethyst, Jasper, Agate, Howlite and Lepidolite - 22 varieties all told - and each at a relatively pricey £12 but utterly gorgeous for sure!

More's the pity that none of those were in my flavoured Jazz III format - I won't buy anything else! I worked my way through near 400 different picks to come to that conclusion, And I believe I have every Jazz III variety Rob has ever made.

It's just a shame that near enough all the new stuff is only in standard size - and not the smaller Jazz III size that I favour.

I approach the stand at every show Rob attends - with the hope of adding more picks - but more often than not - Rob only has a handful of Jazz III's with him - all of which I already own!

I've asked him to get some of those Mineral ones made to Jazz III size - particularly the Purple Amethyst, Red Rainbow Jasper, Blue Lace Agate, and Howlite varieies! Those look really spectacular!

www.pedalpatch.co.uk

I had a great chat with Ian this year - who had his full family with him for the occasion - including his daughter Poppy.

Ian was on Pedal Patch Stand Manning duties - which is normally his brother Phil's job - but Phil is the principal Organiser and Showrunner for the Brighton Show - and is forever roving hither and thither to solve ever arising challenges - mostly to do with power supply!

It's become a tradition that I spend a significant amount of time in conversation with the Steere clan - and particularly with Ian's parents - Judith and Colin  - which has kind of become a Brighton Show tradition for me now.

Lovely positive-minded hard-working family - great to see them all pulling together - the show wouldn't be the same without them!

www.greateasternfx.com

David gave me a sneak peek at his newest Obscure Devices Pedal - which is out early September or so. I'm not allowed to say anything about! In fact I almost walked off with it - possession being 9/10ths of the law!

So we have that to look forward to as well as the final final version of the Mini 123 Boost - that must surely be very imminent now. I forgot to ask him whether he was going to take up my suggested traffic lights LED theme!

In any case 2 imminent Great Eastern Pedal releases to look forward to.

There incredibly still seem to be some D312A Distortion Filter and Focus Fuzz Deluxe Pedals remaining - you definitely should get your hand on some of that action!

And finally - the XO Variable Crossover still seems to be the biggest showstopper for Great Eastern - for attracting people onto the stand - everyone loves that pedal - but not enough buy it! Every home should have one!

www.boss.info/uk/

Great to catch up with the Boss Crew once more.

This was Boss's third outing of the year - following the main Birmingham Show and the London Synth and Pedal Expo.

Only the second outing for Tore, and the very first outing for George - whose one of the newcomers to the Boss / Roland Store on Denmark Street.

Boss haven't released much this year - so the focus is still on the GX-1 and GX-1B Guitar Multi-Effects Processors - which Boss launched in mid January - just in time for NAMM!

Those have been the main focus for Boss this year - and seemed to be the main attraction for the show attendees. In fact Matt told me that most of the interest had been for the Bass version - when Boss didn't have a Bass guitar for that task. In fact there were no Bass Guitars in that room at all!

In any case I had decent chats with Nico, Tore and Matt, and introduced myself to new kid on the block - George - whom I've managed to miss on my last few visits to the store. In fact Matt B is normally there on Saturdays - but different commitments coincided with my last 3 visits to the store - so I had not seen him for a while either. I normally check into the Roland/Boss stores on Denmark Street at least once a month - on my regular tour through Covent Garden.

I recommended Tore and Matt K should review the VocPop thing Matt used to do with Yoshi. Possibly bring some interesting Boss Artists into that space too - particularly during a time when Boss has not launched anything for many months now - they run the risk of becoming stand-off-ish and anonymous - which is something Yoshi really counteracted.

Both Matt K and Tore are excellent frontmen on video - and would be a real boon to the Boss brand - they should most definitely do a video series - I feel both of them have got a little rusty in that department of late. Yoshi is gone now - but Matt and Tore can step into the gap - make it happen!

funnylittleboxes.co.uk

I was a little disappointed that Andy wasn't in pirate garb this time around! I thought he hinted in his Brighton Show promo that he was going to be full on Pirate again - but no alas - casual clothes only.

He also leant more into his Green Levellers Punk Spirit pedal - which he was heavily promoting at the show - alongside the Gold Bar Editions of his Skeleton Key Josh Homme style Boost!

Andy initially introduced the Punk Sprite some 3 years ago, but then they mostly ended up at the back of his store room. He found them again before this Brighton Show - and they were back out on display.

I should really have picked up one of those Punk Sprits too - but my satchel / bag as filled to the brim by then with the 9 pedals that I had already accrued!

Will definitely be coming for a Punk Spirt next time around!

www.gigaheartsfx.com

My good friend Ian seemed a little out of sorts on the day - while his stand was busy all-day long. He sold all but 1 of the remaining Blue Edition Silifuzzes.

The first batch of the Denton sold out super quick, but it seems not enough of you are switched on to the immense prowess of that Pre-gain Mids-Boosted Monster Opamp Muff Fuzz! The absolute epitome of Shoegazer Fuzz! You should definitely check it out. My good pal Henry Kaiser has one and seems to love it!

Ian also had a cool inverted colourway Hyper Soup edition - and another of his show give-away Ones and Zeros pedals.

I had to recreate both of those in photoshop - as I had forgotten to take close-ups at the show, and there was nothing on either the Gigahearts Website - nor the Instagram page that I could use. I spent a good couple of hours generating the Hyper Soup - and tidying up the Ones and Zeros to make it usable for that format.

Please always have at least one square-on pic that I can use on my website - there are several pedals I want to - but cannot feature - as the photographs are in totally the wrong perspective for me to use on this site! Pedal Builders - you are doing yourselves a disservice if you don't have product pictures in the square-on format! Also - if you really don't want your pedals featured on GPX - that's for sure a great preventative measure! 

hellosailoreffects.com

Joe spends so much times on YouTube these days - typical with his good friend Martin (Crazed Fandango!) - that he came to the show a little unprepared.

He did have 3 large format Abbey Road Fuzzes with him though - two of which are pictured above - the Autobot Edition, and Skull Edition - the 3rd had a Decepticon Decal!

There was a plethora of Abbey Road Fuzzes of all shapes and sizes - alongside the occasional Fuzzrite, Green Russian Muff, Kossoff Drive, and various Rangemasters. But no 'Llama-Rangers' which I had hoped to pick up!

The good news is that there has been quite a bit of demand on the Llama-Rangers - and those are all sold already, including one that went to Henry Kaiser. I need one so I can compare notes with my good friend. And luckily Joe has decided to add these to his lineup - for general release - so that should all happen relatively soon.

In the meantime - if you're after vintage Fuzz Face type pedals in large enclosure and with primo rare / NOS vintage components - then Joe has very much got an Abbey Road Fuzz for you!