The Gain Box was very evidently designed for the 4 Channels / Voices to be stacked, each individual voice isn’t particularly strong on its own, but gains significant potency when combined with one or two or all of the others.

I would really have preferred a little more output volume, and probably a Tilt EQ vs the current LPF style Filter for more overall oomph! I started with all dials at Noon, and then added or subtracted as appropriate - adding Presets and Combinations as I progressed ...

So this new H9 is essentially a fully-loaded Single Core variant of the H90. The larger H90 predecessor allows you to deploy 2 x Stereo Effects simultaneously - and hence is referred to as a Dual-Core Multi-Effects Processor. Where the new Gen 2 H9 has all the same key features and functions as the H90 - but can only deploy a single Stereo Effect at a time - hence Single-Core.

The original unit had a cool looking but pretty useless onboard interface - which was mostly saved by the Bluetooth...

I recall the original Core Series very well - and picked up those 4 original compacts - per the below original range visual. You had the Edge, ODI, Rail, and ROUS (per bottom row of visual) - where 3 of those have now been revived and enhanced.

Pettyjohn then did a number of additional very limited small batch custom compact editions - which covered most of the same territory as these 11 new editions. I feel a couple of these might be brand new - certainly the Moss X Fuzz. ...

May has been a little bit of strange month - lots of delays really, and waiting for pedals to land.

As inevitably happens most months - much was delayed this month, and I was unable to complete some of the larger articles - they will need to wait until next month, there’s certainly lots of projects in progress. Where new and imminent arrivals kind of scuppered several intended projects - hopefully they can be completed in June.

The first event I’m attending this month is tomorrow - as a micropub ...

The Kudu is a really cool circuit developed by Dan Coggins as a smart multi-clipping tone-enhancer - created to make everything it touches sound better. Thorpy and Dan have run the pedal into a vast array of pedals and amps - and the pedal never fails to improve the texture and tonality of the device that it pushes.

There’s no less than 12 Diodes onboard - while 6 of those are for power management. Which leaves 2 x 2N4148 Silicon Diodes for Soft Clipping, 2 x Red LED’s for Hard Clipping, ...

I really rate both the Empress Germ Drive and Multidrive pedals, and have had both Heavy and Heavy Menace pedals from the start. According to the Empress Drive introduction the development path for this new Drive pedal started with patching a Germ Drive into the middle of a Heavy Menace circuit!

Furthermore, on first glance - there seem to be some parallels to the ParaEQ II too, and indeed Zak tells me that the ParaEQ was an inspiration also - and was in fact used to help set the core ...

Utrecht-based pedal builder Dronechov Noise Machines has just unleashed its third creation. The Stepping Razor is an overdrive/distortion pedal based on a certain classic rodent-themed circuit, but with a twist.

Aimed at musicians exploring heavier music genres and especially the bassists among them, Stepping Razor features a fuller low end profile, while delivering a crushing output - especially when pushed to its limits.  Its flexible controls allow it to be used as an almost transparent ...

I am a huge fan of the Crazy Tube Circuits Constellation Series - where I own each of those 3 rare Germanium Editions - OC45, OC41, and CV7003 (Milspec OC44). Those were relatively simple devices with just a variable Volume and Gain Control, and then a 6-way Rotary that took you though the different modes :

I was all et to get the Big Talker Modulator next in my ongoing coverage of the complete Empty Head Effects roster - but Nick tweaked his The Lover 2-Stage Transistor Drive & Fuzz - which was initially in Zvex-style Landscape format, while nearly everyone positioned the pedal vertically in Portrait mode on their boards. So Nic decided in the end that he should relocate the jacks to the top edge and shift some of those elements around for a more elegant control topology the the more pedalboard-...