Probably the strongest selection of the year - each one of these is amazing and sounds killer. But then agin similar was true of the Overdrives. I’m very much a fuzz fanatic - so his selection has to take the edge - what a selection!

This selection includes 3 from EarthQuaker Devices, 2 from Drunk Beaver, 2 from Fjord Fuzz, and 2 from ThorpyFX.

It also includes the likely pedal of the year - within a selection of 10 award winners here - these are so good - I could have labelled even ...

So it was about time that Doug Tolley, the Chase Bliss UK Ambassador got the cover slot for his own party! It was a momentous occasion in many ways - including the final concert later that evening for his ’Nine is the Level’ band project. Where he gave away the 4 key albums from that project at the show - and I of course picked up a full set. [Oscillations, Crumbs, Remnants, and Traces].

I also picked up a Witney Pedal Party 4 T-Shirt, and 2 pedals on the day, and the unsung heroes for the day ...

August turned out a little bit different than expected. Not so many releases - as expected - but really busy regardless - with a number of Marquee Events and Articles throughout the month. With the king of the crop being the Extended Capacitor Primer - to which I’ve just added a further section on Capacitor Lifespan. Obviously I hit 15,000 followers on Instagram - which is a significant achievement - a really killer month all-round with some big articles - meaning I’m a little bit burned out ...

3 elements inform this particular curated selection of pedals. Firstly these are all distinctive and striking designs of pedals - and some of these are absolutely at the top of that form. Also these all have unique proprietary designs of knobs exclusive to those brands, and finally all 9 of these are from my own Pedals Reference Collection!

Ever since I published my ’101 Pedal Knobs’ article back in 2019 (pictured below) I have been championing the creation of unique knobs for each brand - ...

The Reactor Fuzz is the most incredible custom-designed noise-maker - with 4 different styles of 3D-Printed tactile knobs. Matt’s design language here is very unique and distinct, and really elevates the nature and appeal of this crushing and grinding fuzz/stortion - which starts off pretty extreme and then just ramps up that intensity to apocalyptic levels!

There is so much to get stuck into here - where the 4-way Reactor Power Rotary is essentially a sort of Gain control - which combines ...

I’m so glad to have made it to the sophomore Glasgow Stompbox Social. I was originally set to attend last year - while something came up last minute. I promised Angus I would attend this time around for sure - and I’m a man of my word! 

I have to say that I didn’t particularly enjoy the train journey - both legs of the journey were delayed over and above already long running-times. We kind of arrived at Glasgow Central on time - but there was no platform available to us - which meant that ...

Blind Panic Devices’ Matt is a total original - and he makes effects pedals wholly distinct from anything out there - both in look and function. His most recent creation is the nuclear reactor style signal obliterating fuzz. This is far from your classic fuzz pedal, and more akin to the like of the FY-2 Companion Fuzz - but even more aggressive and signal shredding.

Controls - Level (Volume), Energy (Input Level), Fission (Gain Filter), Active EQ : Bass + Treble, Degree of Destruction : ...

This was funnily something of af 2022 Stourbridge Pedal Expo Reunion of sorts - where Audiostorm, Bleak District Electric, Emmergy FX, Fredric Effects, and Goliath FX were all present at that inaugural Pedal Expo. There are marked similarities between the two venues and events - both are  similar sort of Mill House style building set within a kind of packing district and both relatively near to a waterway / canal. And both had a really friendly vibe to them. It’s incredible how far we’ve come ...

I obviously just recently won me an AC Noises Ricorda Retro Series Reverb as a Chase Bliss Mystery Box Bonus Pedal - so the first iteration I had to make on this article was to update the standard Blue Ricorda image to the limited colourway edition that I was gifted by my Mystery Box. This selection is typically the one where I own the least proportion of pedals featured, in fact in this case it’s easier to list the few that I own here :

• AC Noices Ricorda Stereo Granular Reverb + Freeze /