There seems to be something of a trend now to incorporate interactive computer graphics into pedal displays - and this UwU Virtual Pet Buffer kind of takes it a step further than most.

It’s obviously part novelty device - while it of course serves a proper core function. The thing is - the OLED screen is way too small to mean anything from a standing / floor-based stompbox position. So if you want to use the extra functions it really means deploying this in a table-top arrangement - as you ...

One of the key elements to both the 1974 Roland RE-201 Space Echo, and 1976 Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble was their fabled preamps which were so instrumental in enhancing the output of those legendary devices. Here exactingly recreated in compact analog circuit format.

Boss’s engineers have done a superb job of fully capturing those two core characteristic preamps - with the RE-201 instantly Fat and Warming, while the CE-1 is Brighter and Chimier - and becomes grittier as you turn it up on ...

A really simple utility pedal here - but ever so useful and versatile - combining several tone-enhancing functions in an incredibly streamlined format.

At the root of this compact wonder is a hi-fi-grade Burr Brown OPA 2132 Chip which delivers ultimate fidelity across the Boomster’s 3 key function.

Controls - Level (up to +16dB of Boost), 3-way Range Switch : Up for Attenuating Highs / Middle for Flat Full-Range Response / and Down for a Mids Boost.

You further have :

• Selectable

So this was truly a full-throttle month - with so much activity this month and a really busy NAMM release schedule. We also had a couple of JHS Faux Hist this month - some real and some not so much.

The month saw my most popular article ever on Instagram - the Iconic Pickup one - with currently 17.6K likes - still growing as the number of followers surpassed 8,000. It’s been a really grad graft slowly making my way up that slope - but some of the recent Guitar Elements posts have really ...

This is essentially the significantly re-engineered Nudist Buffer - with even greater high fidelity and signal preservation and an overall more refined experience.

Buffer’s are essential utilities for preserving higher frequencies in particular - which otherwise get diminished in an among your guitar and pedal cables. For every meter of cabling you will likely suffer an equivalent degree of signal loss - particularly in the upper register. 

A buffer very much boosts the fidelity of your...

I’ve actually known about GuitarSystems for a few years - since I first came across them on LoopersParadise.de I think it was. And I’m pretty sure I started on an article around that time, but obviously got distracted or something and the brand kind of slipped from my memory for a while. There’s so much ongoing activity happening in the world of pedals - that it’s quite impossible to keep tabs on everything - and so easy to overlook certain brands now and again. I’ve said before - that I ...

Readers have been asking me to do this rundown for a while now - although in terms of like-for-like comparison there’s quite a broad basis for what an ’Evolved Tone Enhancer’ is.

Traditionally boosts have always been seen to be tone enhancers - while the new paradigm means that it’s more of a combination of several different ’enhancements’, just being an Echoplex or Space Echo style preamp / boost is no longer enough - so for the purposes of this article you typically need 3 separate ...

So most of you won’t have realised that I’ve been down with Covid since last Tuesday. In fact the first 3 days were particularly painful - while since then I mostly fell concussed - just plain knocked out really, and while only a few aches now linger my vision is still somewhat blurry - and I’m still suffering a touch of brain fog.

All that said, I never let an illness get in the way of progress, and I have endeavoured to work my way through it - even though like wading through treacle at ...

Readers surely know by now that I’m a massive fan of Adrian Thorpe and his output. I am lucky to have him as a friend, and over the years I have acquired 14 of his extraordinary pedals thus far (17 if you count the Redbeards!). The mission is of course to get them all, and I’m currently just 3 short of a complete set. By happy coincidence said missing trio sits exactly in the top left corner of the above visual. I am very satisfied with how the above visual turned out in the end - which ...