This has turned out to be the largest category for 2025 with 38 pedals in this selection. As I favour those pedals that I own first, and then the more pedalboard-friendly editions - inevitably there would be some casualties for the year. With the most significant of those being the larger format Meris Enzo X, and the Polyend MESS Multi-Effect Step Sequencer. I know there are some who favour each of those - but they just aren’t targets for me personally.

 I always talk about having a lane - ...

This pedal reminds me a little of the recent EHX Pico Atomic Cluster Sonic De-Rezzer and Atomic Frequencies Oscillator. Both are a little Lo-Fi and essentially drop the Resolution of the output in slightly different ways.

This SMPLoFi features 2 Core Modes - Mode 1 is a Bitchrusher - and if you hit the Red Button - you get Mode 2 Reverb and Band Pass Filter. Both Modes have the Blue Knob Dry > Wet Mix as a common element.

This pedal is very much 80’s / Nintendo inspired - sort of chip-...

EHX’s latest Mini / Pico pedal is he fairly unique Atomic Cluster - which with Speed and Atoms knobs fully clockwise gives you a full resolution rendering of your Dry Signal - but lower the output resolution when you crank both this knobs counter clockwise. Essentially lowering the output frequency resolution!

The right-hand Atoms knobs breaks the signal frequencies down into lower resolution oscillations - where you get a fairly acute ’mangling’ counter clockwise - with the signal’s ...

For whatever reason I overlooked the original 1590BB Edition of this pedal - which is now available for the first time in a more pedalboard-friendly compact enclosure.

You get 6 knobs and 3 x 3-way Switches - with a Filter engage Footswitch on the left, and the Zeta Function on the right - Wavefolder, Bitcrusher, Octave Distortion.

Controls - Resonance, Mix, Jitter (Random Variation), Frequency (X-Pass Filters), Depth, Zeta Function Param (per Distortion), Frequency Range : Band Pass / ...

June was influenced by a few key events. Obviously the Leeds Pedal Show had a massive impact on me - and I picked up 9 pedals at that show - all excellent, and later picked up a Hudson Electronics AP-II Broadcast. So the reach of the Leeds Show has been massive - particularly the brace from Emmergy FX and SoundLad Liverpool. Then also my visit to good friends Hello Sailor Joe and Glyn - which resulted in a further brace of superior pedals, all featured on the blog this month.

I’ve seen these Empty Head pedals doing the rounds quite bit of late - and it was these pedals’ style of knobs - in particular on the ’Big Talker’ - which first drew my attention. Empty Head Effects’ Nik would seem to be a Brit abroad, being based in Mainz, Germany - he certainly sounds like a Brit!

He’s carved out a very unique slightly quirky brand identity which would seem to occupy a philosophically adjacent plane to David Rainger’s Rainger FX. Mixing up a unique aesthetic with very ...

So this article was inspired by the fairly recent Leeds Pedal Show attendance - where indeed I picked up a number of these. Namely - the Emmergy FX Slowdriver, Fredric Effect Demon Fuzz V2, Funny Little Booxes Caught By The Fuzz, and SoundLad Liverpool’s Hungry Beaver. I had also intended to pick up the Pyroglyphs and Flow Decoder from Tom @ Glowfly Pedals - while alas he had to cancel last minute as he had become quite ill.

The Buzzing Bugs BB02 and Demiurge Intsturments Chroma Drive I’ve ...

It’s 5 years now since I covered Lichtlaeerm Audio’s original trio - the Altar, Gehenna, and Trugbild. Not so long after that article - Lichtlaerm went on hiatus for a few years - but then came back stronger and much improved - where we have had a few iterations of Altar and Gehenna in the meantime - but up until now - no replacement for the Trugbild.

I had hoped to complete that trio - when I first featured them - but various happening obviously got in the way. So I’m delighted that I now ...

This is a really interesting new pitch-modulation circuit - a tiny bit reminiscent of EQD’s Rainbow Machine - but it’s significantly adjacent to that and very much its own thing! I also much prefer this slimmer form factor here  vs the Rainbow Machine. The Mirror House is really cleverly engineered - and calls on a Smart Control topology to shape its output.

It’s best to approach it from the control topology first :

Controls - Mix (Dry>Wet Mix), Amount (Degree of Shift / Pitch ...