This is another article that has been a long time coming - mostly impacted by recent updates to some of those featured pedals. Fortunately we are now in a stable position and able to do a rundown on these most handy of Expression pedals - each no larger than compact enclosure - and ranging in price from $49 to $325. Funnily the most complex and potent of these is also one of the smallest.
I’m of course a huge fan of handy sized pedals, and for utility types some of those can really take up ...
Ever since Tom Majeski’s move to Chase Bliss we have been excitingly awaiting the latest evolution of his Generation Loss platform. And the recent announcement is every bit as good as we had hoped - with a tonne of new features compared with the previous edition - and most importantly now including 10+ Tape Models onboard, and Full Stereo Ins and Outs courtesy of TRS cables.
I’m not going to break down every facet of the new edition, but rather concentrate on the innovations - and what is ...
It was about time I did my roundup of favourite and preferred Mid-Size enclosure pedals. This means we’re covering Medium-Slim, Medium-Tall and Medium-Square enclosures - depending on my prevailing mindset - the Horizontal / Medium-Stout types I often group with ’Large’. For my Pedal-Chain in particular - space is very tight - and I really cannot accommodate anything beyond Medium-Square on those slots.
The thought process is deciding between Compact and Medium box solutions involves your ...
This Grand Finale has been through several iterations and some very advanced Tetris-style re-arrangements. Last year I had 25 finalists, while this year I’ve upped that quotient to 40! I still would have liked to have included a few more - including the EQD Hizumitas, but in the end felt this was about right on balance.
As I’ve already covered all of these in the very recent end of year category rundowns - this article will just be listed mentions - bar the 3 sort of specially singled out ...
And here is the turn of the combined Modulation, Pitch and Utility category - which I affectionately label ’Modutility’. Obviously as frequently mentioned - 2021 was ’Year of the Phaser’ - so 8 favourites of those here, alongside 4 choruses, 3 flangers and a couple of stand-out Amp and Cab sims.
Some genuinely innovative pedals here - and particularly handy new expression controllers in the guise of the Chase Bliss Audio Expression Roller, and Cooper FX Expression Generator. Free the Tone...
It was great to get in on the limited 170 run of the Satellite Cards - Tom’s last roll of the dice for the Arcades - based on the much-loved DigiTech XP-300 Space Station. I had been aware that Tom was working on this for most of this year - but it was all up in the air when Tom folded his company at the end of October. Actually Tom had been due to send me both the Satellite and Ambient Endeavors Cards for free - but that all got somewhat mixed up in his move across to Chase Bliss Audio. ...
It is with much sadness that we bid a fond farewell to Tom and his faithful companion Cooper - who have now retired from the Cooper FX brand as such. Tom’s protégé Dan will continue to make his new Expression Generator and Signal Path Selector utility pedals as long as there remains a demand for those.
The Cooper FX Generation Loss, Arcades and Outward though have all ceased production. While there is still some hope that the final Arcades Modular Card - based on the DigiTech Space Station ...
I actually only got to know ’Axe and You Shall Receive’ Owner / Founder Scott Hager relatively recently - while I first bought a pedal from his store (courtesy of Reverb.com) back in 2017 - my much loved ’Gold Bar’ edition of Dr Scientist’s The Elements Preamp / Drive which readers will have seen heavily featured on this site.
Earlier this year - back in March in fact - Scott and I bonded over Big Tone Music Brewery’s (BTMB) EQ’d Vintage Series...
I’ve been onboard the Tom Majeski train only properly since the Chase Bliss Audio Generation Loss Edition from October 2019. I had been aware of Tom for a while including in particular the Generation Loss, Outward and Moment Machine - in fact I came very close to acquiring the Moment Machine at one stage, before deciding that the Meris Hedra was probably better for my needs - and quite specifically in terms of form factor and pedal-chain fit!
The CBA Generation Loss was a real ...
Sparked by a few recent acquisitions, this seems the perfect time to round up the best of Pitch-Shifter, Octaver and Harmonizer Pedals. I most recently secured a Boss PS-6, EHX Pitch Fork, and CopperSound Triplegraph.
The Triplegraph was acquired from Martel Music - I’m just waiting for CopperSound to hand-deliver stock there next week, which means I should get mine early April.
There’s two fairly recent arrivals here I have yet to snap up - the Pitch Fork+ and ...