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 ...

This was the second pedal I picked up from JSA Effects at the recent Leeds Pedal Show - and it’s even better for me than the already exceptional LNS Overdrive Modded OD-1 that I rushed to the stand to secure!

On the day of the show I came away with just those two JSA pedals. I later secured one of Blue FX’s oddly shaped Pillux Fuzzes, and should really have picked up a Holy Island Spectral Fire at the same time - which I also sorted out post-haste - shortly after the show! Those two pedals ...

A slightly uneventful month in many ways - just the one event - the excellent sophomore Leeds Pedal Show - where I ended up picking up 3 pedals.

Some killer releases during the month, with a strong final flurry to make up the 10 notable article highlights. I’ve been very busy all month - and plenty of work has gone into this as usual, while there was somehow fewer large-scale rundowns and marquee features - more of that next month for sure.

HIGHLIGHTS for APRIL :

[Click on Images for ...

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-...

For me - these Dealer special White Light editions - are some of the prettiest varieties Spaceman has released to-date - with the white-out / snow-blind livery and striking cyan / teal LED’s - just gorgeous. I was missing the Atlas IV and Apollo VIIb - and Cream City Music and Axe and You Shall Receive were enormously helpful in getting those shipped to me in short order. I then spotted that my friend Scott at Axe and You Shall Receive also had a White Light Rumblefuzz II remaining - and I just...

I’ve been on friendly terms with Oleg from Russia’s Shift Line electronics for a number of years now - mostly on account of his killer original Termofuzz - first released in 2011. I’ve championed that super versatile fuzz for years, and long advocated for a reissue - which finally happened around the middle of last year. Obviously there is understandably no way to get products out of Russia to the UK these days - I’ve no idea how the Australian I bought this off managed to get one - possibly ...

I thought I should focus on my large format heavy-hitters for a change - where these 8 are some of my largest, most potent, and best favoured gain pedals. They are arranged here in alphabetical order, while they were released in the below chronological order. All 8 have featured heavily in my rig at different times - and all 8 are still very valid award winners and still in rotation. While the enormous girth of the Elektron Analog Drive means that is gets somewhat less of a rotation nowadays - ...

Props to Thorn Soundlabs for a fantastically versatile circuit that easily takes you into Fuzz Face, Tone Bender, and Big Muff territory - depending on how you dial it in.

It has a really potent tone-shaping ability - combining 3-Band EQ with semi-parametric mids and a Damping control. And 2 toggle switches to deliver different characters and timbres.

Controls - Gain, Damping (Tighness), Mid Frequency : 300Hz > 2kHz, Volume, Character : Smooth, Natural, Hot!, Hard Clip : Off / On, Bass,...

After the quiet comfort of February, March unleashed an avalanched of work - both in terms of new releases and acquisitions, but especial in the field of Guitar and Pedal expos - where I attended 3 within a month - first The Birmingham Guitar Show at Cranmore Park, then the London Synth and Pedal Expo at Studio 9294, Hackney Wick - and then back to Birmingham for the Noise Maker Market at Centrala, Digbeth - all grand events.

I burned myself out a little this month, and came back willingly empty...