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 :

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Another fantastic show in an amazing venue - and the weather gods definitely smiled on us!

Congratulations to Ross on another supremely smooth show - wish that it’s duration could be a little more extended - as it’s a struggle to get around all the stands in the time available.

This year’s show was a little beset by fall-outs - as initially Boss and HiWatt withdrew from the roster - which was great news for my friends Ian from Gigahearts and Stephen from Northern Stompboxes - as those were ...

I’m a huge fan of Treble Boosters - and typically deploy a few on the board at a time in various guises. The Trés Bull essentially has a 3-way RangeMaster / Treble Booster on the right, with a Low-Mids Beefy Boost on the left. Those two combine beautifully for a full range boost - or you can deploy them independently to enhance any and all pedals on your board - upstream and downstream.

Traditionally, Treble Boosters sat at the front of the chain, while there is an increasing trend nowadays...

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...

We have another great event now for the annual roster - where Adam has done a brilliant job in bringing this all together. Really handy venue too - very close to the centre of Birmingham and New Street Station - and so good for me! I alas forgot to grab a snap of show runner Adam - who was to be everywhere that day - to ensure the smooth running that we witnessed. Noise Maker Market is definitely here to stay!

There was a handy bar downstairs - with some exotic and unusual beverages - ...

Aliens fans will instantly know what ’RV-426’ is derived from, where this is a mono atmospheric reverb with a Brian Neunaber style Belton Brick Reverb at the heart of that circuit.

The PT2399-derived Belton Brick was originally created to generate Spring Reverb sounds in particular - so this RV-426 is a significant spin and departure from its original purpose.

Controls - Boost (Level+), Dry/Wet Mix (Max is 50/50), Low Pass Filter (Dampen), Regen / Feedback, Decay, Dry-Kill, Rise-Time (...

Ian made some PCB’s of his take on the Big Muff 2, which takes the best elements from the large and nano format Big Muff 2’s, as well as the Bass Big Muff 2 - and adds some further enhancements. For me the Gig Buff 2 is louder, punchier and more articulate than the stock BM2 - it’s much better balanced overall and I much prefer it over my original stock nano edition. The V2 PCB’s are still available on the Gigahearts Webstore, and go for just £10 - obviously you need to buy in your own ...

As I predicted - very shortly after the JHS-led large format Big Muff 2 (which is still available), we got the compact EHX variant at half the price, and less than a third of the size!

Readers will know how I feel about unnecessarily large format pedals - which is why those original / styled EHX pedal types are far from my favourites. Where I will almost always prefer a compact pedalboard-friendly take on that circuit.

My friend Ian at Gigahearts has done his own personal take on that ...

36 outstanding Boost and Overdrive pedals  featured here in various sizes - 35 of which are already in the reference collection - with the Superlunar SR-01 the last remaining straggler!

The rules of the game are that I can only finally recommend pedals that I own and have lived with, while I can also feature a few other intended targets in the overview which I fully intend to acquire (like the Superlunar SR-01) - but those can’t feature in the final rankings. So there is only one remaining ...