At one stage there was a 50/50 chance as to whether I would make the show - as there were significant disruptions on the Liverpool Street to Norwich line - which meant a bus replacement service between Colchester and Ipswich. Some of the journey times quoted were up to 4 and a 1/2 hours each way! In the end the door-to-door was closer to 3 hours in total! The journey up including the coach was actually more fun that the journey back via Cambridge. Cambridge has obviously sinned grievously as ...

This is my 3rd Lovetone Big Cheese derivative to date, and the most expansive / granular of the 3, first was the somewhat welter-weight JHS Cheese Ball, which sounds positively anaemic when compared to either of the Thorpy FX Field Marshal or this Gigahearts Small Cheese.

Both the latter ones are quite a bit more vibrant and visceral - possibly with the Small Cheese MK2 having just a little more in the engine room - that one can get ridiculously loud - just as I like it!

I’ve always ...

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 - ...

Probably the strongest selection of the year - each one of these is amazing and sounds killer. But then agin similar was true of the Overdrives. I’m very much a fuzz fanatic - so his selection has to take the edge - what a selection!

This selection includes 3 from EarthQuaker Devices, 2 from Drunk Beaver, 2 from Fjord Fuzz, and 2 from ThorpyFX.

It also includes the likely pedal of the year - within a selection of 10 award winners here - these are so good - I could have labelled even ...

Another super busy month - where the lack of a holiday is really starting to impact my wellbeing - as I’m about as shattered and burned out as is possible without going entirely into meltdown - I’m teetering on the edge!

Here follow the highlights of the month - which I normally try to limit to around 10 elements - but stand at 12 for September. No show or onside attendances this month - while plenty of other activities - and some killer releases of course!

• Jo Quail @ the Roland Store,

This is instantly one of my favourite fuzzes - right up there with Fjord Fuzz’s own Gjallarhorn - where it overlaps a little with some of its tones - but it has a lot more variety and versatility onboard, It’s somewhat reminiscent of the Shift-Line Termofuzz also.

Daniel wants this to be an experimental journey for you - so that you need to investigate the outer reaches of the pedal’s abilities yourself. The only control I’m allowed to mention by name is the top ’Volume’ control - which ...

I’ve been wanting to get stuck into Fuzz Imp’s pedals for a while - and as the stars recently aligned, a deal was struck - and 3 of the finest crossed the Atlantic!

I’ve actually been following Justus Gash for several years now - I always have my hands fairly full - while it was only a matter of time before I established proper contact and started my Fuzz Imp odyssey.  These 3 pedals always suggested themselves - I’ve been particularly keen on getting in the Creature - while the other two ...