This is truly quite a feat of engineering, and it’s all so beautifully executed too. That said Boss’s Katana : Go had a useful tiny screen, and Bluetooth connectivity to its app - which this devices could really have benefitted from. I’ve long grown tired of having to USB-cable-connect my pedals to a laptop app for updates - it should all really just be bluetooth to an iOS or Android mobile phone app by now.

In any case, the operation of this device could not be easier - you first of course...

I always get pangs of sorrow when a pedal brand retires for one reason or another. Late last year Luca Romanelli announced that he was pulling the plug on his Mastro Valvola pedal brand - which at times I have referred to as ’The Strymon of Italy’.

There are so many complications and complexities with pedal-building in general - chip sets and key components increasingly harder to source, and numerous challenges with logistics and red tape. It’s a wonder more of these don’t go to the wire. ...

While there will be one more Heavy Water feature on the final Monday of this month, that will be more of a roundup and last-minute reminder. So this is the last therefore of the main feature articles.

Most of you will be familiar with the 29 Pedals EUNA Elite Unity Amplifier / Buffer - which combines a Buffer, Harmonics & EQ, High Headroom, and a very unique and potent Power Management circuitry. It’s core mission of course to make your effects chain sound better. The EUNA is a front-of...

I’ve long championed the CompIQ Stella - which is the closest you can get to a studio rack compressor in pedal format. The Stella is simply the most powerful and tweakable compressor in its category. And I’ve finally got one in the reference collection - many thanks to Becos FX for organising that for me in such a timely manner!

I’ve had my Stella for a couple of weeks or so now, and this will be my first article of a series - a sort of short-term first impressions take. Which I will then ...

Boss has really been showing Bass Players a lot of love recently - with superb dedicated devices for the lower range of playback. For April we get a Bass Edition of the ME-90 - wholly re-designed with Bass Players in mind and the precise effects they favour in their rig. There may be some superficial similarities to the ME-90, but the ME-90B has been wholly re-engineered for Bass. In my describing all the effects, features and functions - it’s almost overwhelming just how much you get on the ...

For some reason I didn’t get a press release for this one - which is unusual for J Rockett, as I’ve collaborated quite closely with that brand of late - it turns out my main connection Zac was not overseeing this release - and hence I got overlooked! And while in the other release materials, and in the manual in particular - much is made of the legacy of that most favoured 60’s studio compressor inspiration, there is no proper mention of how J Rockett managed to replicate such a complex circuit...

I’m not sure it was Brian’s intention to become a Compressor specialist - but he now has 3 full size offerings covering all the different basis.

This time around it’s his UREI 1176 FET Studio Compressor - and for me comes with the perfect complement of controls. Those are pretty much exactly the control parameters that I would specify for a compressor :

Controls - Tone, Attack, Release, Level, Blend, Compress.

On the stock EGO variety (supposedly based on Ross Compressor), he has ...

Misha Mannsoor’s Horizon Devices has quietly made its way to 4 superior modern tone enhancers. It kind of set the mould with its specialist Metal tone enhancing Precision Drive, then came its Apex High Gain Preamp, then the Flux Echo/Reverb - and here we have a very unique take on a Compressor.

Horizon Devices’ slogan is "Sound great, and be easy to use" and that theme is very clearly carried through all 4 pedals which are about as straightforward a pedals as you might expect to encounter -...

So a couple of years after the Valvenergy Series launch - Vox has 4 more NuTube candidates for your consideration, where the template has supposedly been somewhat refined and simplified. I believe the first 4 were originally priced at around £169 (c. $215), where currently they go for £119 / $129.

The original quartet consisted of VE-CD Copperhead Drive Distortion (Plexi), VE-CE Cutting Edge Distortion (Tight Metal), VE-ME Mystic Edge (AC30), and VE-SD Silk Drive (Fender Black Face). Of ...