In many ways this is the most straightforward category with singular award nominees - GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE.

It’s the second smallest category after Distortions - and the one where I own the least number of pedals in proportion to the whole - just 10 out of these 26.

The order pretty much set itself - with the Cornerstone Nucleo being the clear winner from the start. I’m so impressed with every aspect of that pedal - it’s a perfect Trifecta of Design, Feaures and Playability - pretty ...

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 ...

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 ...

Hot off the press!

Well, I had a fabulous Guitar Show this year, best one yet for me personally! I picked up 5 pedals at the show, as well as bumping into Chris Buck, KDH (Kelan Hughes), and my very good friends Markus and Izzy Reeves, also - I had lunch with Jonny Brelliott over at Brew 23!

One of the big highlights for me was meeting the full GigRig Crew - and getting a team photo with all of them. I’m not one for selfies typically - but Dan was very strongly persuasive on this occasion. I...

"Legend has it that when the Devil crossed the Tamar river into Cornwall, he saw what Cornish folk would put into a pie and hastily turned back, in case he might end up as their next meal!"

This of course references that very classic but slightly odd Stargazy Pie which has Pilchards Heads poking out of the pastry, and is traditionally consumed on Tom Bawcock’s Eve, a festival held annually on the 23rd of December.

In any case - the Stargazy Reverb is a 7-knob preamp-driven shimmery ...

There’s an incredibly rich mix here of no less than 38 killer Modulations, Utilities and Pitch-Shifters - no one does rundowns quite like me! I always dive in at the deep end of things - and give you maximum expansive scope!

There are several here that I don’t have yet, in fact some hat I’m somewhat unlikely to ever have - for reasons of rig compatibility, size and overall sensibilities, practicalities, and preferences!

These 19 are still to be acquired or eventually overlooked :

It’s that time of year when I pick out my personal favourite pedals in each category - starting with the Boost and Overdrive ones. I weigh up each candidate on the basis of my own experiences, preferences and sensibilities - and include pedals also that I intended to get but did not quite yet around to acquiring during the year of release!

For this selection I personally own all but these 8 :

• Aleks K Production Honey Moon Sweet Overdrive V3
• Bleak District Slate Discrete Gemanium

My good friend Dan @ Buzzing Bugs Audio has a super sale on for the whole of this month - in order to gather funds for some exciting new projects in early 2025.

I was instrumental in getting Dan to switch to higher quality Milled Aluminium knobs - which fully reflect the quality of his well thought out circuits. 

I have all 4 of these - all are excellent, while I particularly favour the BB01 Fuzzy Voxy Preamp, and the BB03 Lo-Fi Chorus / Vibrato / Warble - with Reverb - both of those ...

As is usual for these events - I prepared a list of my likely targets to hit up during the day - which this time around happened to be my various already established friends and allies from the guitar show circuit. I did not spot any suitable new prospects on the show roster - nor when I actually did the rounds!

My list looked as follows :

• Audiostorm - Lydia-Sean
• Buzzing Bugs - Dan
• Flattley Guitar Pedals - Paul & Jan
• Funny Little Boxes - Andy
• Goliath FX - Matt
• Heavy Repping - John