Pedal Scoping and Shopping in Reykjavík!

I spoke for a good while to the Founder / Owner / Principal - Andrés - who has been running the business for 38 years, and has attended 32 NAMMs over that period. Andrés is a very experienced multi-instrumentalist, and seemingly has a finger in most instrument groups. Over the time I spoke to him - he multitasked with several customers - tuning up various instruments along the way.

Tónastöðin seemingly has 52 Brands - which is very slightly more than Hljóðfærahúsið - while each has its advantages.

Largest Selections [over 20] (in order) : MXR (83), Electro-Harmonic (60), JHS Pedals (39), CryBaby (26), Boss (24), EarthQuaker Devices (23), Radial (23), Strymon (22), Way Huge (21), Universal Audio (20).

Best sellers for 2025 included MXR Phase 90, Zoom  MS-70CDR MultiStomp Chorus / Delay / Reverb, Universal Audio Dream '65, and Lion '68 Preamps. Which are all pedal from previous seasons, With Iceland / Reykjavík being such a relatively small market - pedal take-up can be quite slow at times, while overall remains relatively healthy.

I noted that while for the various retailers I'm familiar with - where prices get discounted over a certain period. That doesn't tend to be too much the case in Iceland - with a lot of those older pedals - still retaining their original value. I feel some smart selective discounting on older pedals may have an impact on the overall movement of those pedals.

I think most would be impressed with the breadth of coverage - while these are largely the mainstream brands - with a few exceptions - not so much of the boutique brands.

I was very fortunate to encounter Gunnar Örn, Iceland's preeminent and supposedly only current Guitar Maker - in the store with his dog Pési - he's typically in the store a few days a week - where he is the main guitar tech associated with the store - for mods, repairs, setups etc. While he also makes his own very unique line of Guitars.

Those guitars are typically dipped in super-hot volcanic mud-pools - which cure the wood, and weather it in interesting ways - which delivers superior resonance - in a slightly different way to the wood-baking technique many guitar brands use these days.

Gunnar Örn's guitars are highly stylised and infused with viking lore, runes and symbolism - often with aluminium facia plates, and intricate platted and knot-like carvings along the edges, as well as the use of protective aluminium caps on those edges, and stylised intricate 'Mjölnir' tail-pieces in the form of Thor's Hammer.

You can see two of Gunnar's 'Mjölnir' Model Guitars below, I don't yet have the pricing for those guitars, but aim to do a proper visit and feature on Gunnar Örn when I'm next in Iceland!

2 variants of Örn Custom Guitars' Mjölnir Model

• Aguilar (6)
• All-Pedal (1)
• Beetronics (1)
• Bigfoot Engineering (1)
• Bogner Pedals (3)
• Boss (24)
• Caroline Guitar Co. (2)
• Catalinbread (7)
• Death By Audio (4)
• Jim Dunlop / Cry Baby / MXR / Way Huge (125)
• EarthQuaker Devices (23)
• Electro-Harmonic (60)
• Eventide (1)
• Fishman (1)
• Foxgear (1)
• Friedman (3)
• Fulltone Effects (4)
• Gamechanger Audio (5)
• Ghost Note Audio (4)
• Jackson Audio (2)
• Jam Pedals (11)
• JHS Pedals (39)
• J Rockett (7)
• Keeley Electronics (2)
• Kemper (2)
• Mackie (1)
• Matthews Effects (1)
• Maxon (3)
• Mission Engineering (3)
• Moog (6)
• Neunaber (1)
• Orange Amps (6)
• ProCo / Rat (3)
• Radial (23)
• Roland (1)
• Seymour Duncan (11)
• Strymon (22)
• Suhr (7)
• Supro (1)
• Surfy Industries (2)
• Universal Audio (20)
• Vandoren (1)
• Victory Amps (1)
• Voodoo Lab (7)
• Walrus Audio (15)
• Wampler Pedals (2)
• Xotic Effects (3)
• Zoom (5)
• Zvex (12)

52 Brands in Total

Largest Selections [over 20] (in order) : MXR (83), Electro-Harmonic (60), JHS Pedals (39), CryBaby (26), Boss (24), EarthQuaker Devices (23), Radial (23), Strymon (22), Way Huge (21), Universal Audio (20).

I first covered this pedal in November of 2019 - and it has remained on my target wishlist ever since.

I always try to buy opportunistically - and until this point had not encountered the pedal at an opportunistic price. I'm sure there are other 'bargains' to be had, while this was the sole target that I spotted in Iceland - at the right sort of price. Actually significantly lower than I could have bought one from elsewhere - a proper bargain therefore - which is a rarity in Iceland!

I'm about to re-do my Marshall Plexi + JCM 800 dual coverage rundown - and this Diamondhead will surely feature in that. I'm delighted to have got hold of one at last!

My good friend Phil at Pedal Experiments recently acquired the same model - and raved about it. I must have around 100 MIAB types currently in my reference collection - but there's always space for another great!

Hljóðfærahúsið is Iceland's oldest purveyor of musical instruments - since 1916! While this business has moved location / expanded once or twice. It's not quite as central as it used to be, but it is still very accessible currently in its Síðumúli location.

Hljófærahúsið has a significant Yamaha / Line 6 coverage, where its largest range is TC Electronic, and it relies heavily on the Audio Distribution Group for its expansive roster. Because of that connection HljófærahúsiðTseemed to have the more recent pedals - including the very recently released Keeley Nocturne Andy Timmons Signature Reverb.

I had hoped to pick up a pedal here too - while the most obvious target for me the Diamond Pedals F-Octave Fuzz wasn't sufficiently opportunistically priced for me.

I spoked to recently arrived shop-hand Þorsteinn - who fairly quickly directed me toward Principal Guðni Finnsson - informing me to seek out the gentleman in the red shirt.

Seems like Guðni seems to favour red / checked flannel shirts. In fact Andrés at Tónastöðin similarly was wearing a flannel shirt in different colours.

While Andrés seemed to be something more of a multi-instrumentalist, seemingly Andrés is all about the Bass - with that being his instrument of choice.

Guðni is one of 3 key personalities at the top management level for the store, a man of considerable musical experience, and a stalwart bass player and enthusiast - having played in a number of bands over the years.

He seems to favour red shirts in particular - so he's typically fairly easy to spot, where he's one of the leads at the store, and particularly knowledgeable about pedals and bass products in particular.

He introduced me to new brand to me - Jad Freer Audio - who have a particularly fine line in Bass products -  more of that later.

Guðni informed me that the bestsellers for the year were the Boss DS-1 and RC-1, along with some of the more typical MXR bread-and-butter pedals - kind of what you would expect really. So it will be interesting to see which pedals will take the place of Boss - which has been ditched at both Hljófærahúsið and Tónastöðin - as the importer no longer provides a Dealer Discount!

Iceland can be somewhat unusual in that often just one company has the import licence for a particular brand - which often then ends up limiting that brand's rollout across the land!

Guðni typically takes somewhat moody pictures (as above), while I found him very friendly and informative. In fact I was very impressed by the key staff I encountered for my trip.

• Ampeg (6)
• Audio Distribution Group [ADG] (141)
• Behringer (2)
• Boss (28)
• Cioks (9) [ADG]
• Cry Baby (11) [Dunlop]
• Daredevil Pedals (10) [ADG]
• Diamond Pedals (9) [ADG]
• DOD Effects (1)
• Dreadbox (4) [ADG]
• Dunlop Manufacturing (104)
• EBS (5)
• Emma Electronic (2) [ADG]
• Ernie Ball (10)
• Fender (35)
• Genzler (1)
• TheGigRig (1)
• Headrush (4)
• Ibanez / Hoshino Gakki (16)
• IK Multimedia (10)
• Jackson Audio (3) [ADG]
• Jad Freer Audio (1)
• Keeley Electronics (29) [ADG]
• KMA Machines (21) [ADG]
• KSR Amplication (4) [ADG]
• Line 6 (15)
• MarkBass (2)
• Meris (8) [ADG]
• MXR (46) [Dunlop]
• Nobels (6) [ADG]
• OBNE (29) [ADG]
• Origin Effects [19]
• Pedal Pawn (4)
• Pedaltrain (15)
• SolidGoldFX / SGFX (12) [ADG]
• Source Audio (4) [ADG]
• TC Electronic (61)
• TC Helicon (9)
• Tech 21 NYC (1)
• Victory Amps (6)
• Vox (6)
• Warm Audio (12)
• Warwick (1)
• Way Huge (13) [Dunlop]

44 Pedal Brands

Largest Selections [over 20] (in order) : TC Electronic (61), MXR (46), Fender (35), Keeley Electronics (29), OBNE Old Blood Noise Endeavors (29), Boss (28), KMA Machines (21).

Guðni introduced me to this fantastic 4-in-1 Preamp from Italian brand Jad Freer.

Superbly made with a real high quality feel in every area, and comes with so many connections - surely the perfect Bass Preamp.

Guðni tells me it puts everything else to shame.

While the cost of the device isn't particularly wallet-friend - as you're left with little change from ISK 100,000 - so little change from the equivalent of £600. The feature set is phenomenal in a very compact device.

Were I a bass player like Guðni - I would no doubt be considering this one too!