And here we have the GRAND FINAL- with all 36 Award Winners from the Group Stages - across all 5 categories!

The first two places have kind of been obvious for a while, where the 3rd / BRONZE position was actually the hardest to decide on - it was between the eventual recipient - the Tubesteader Gainlord, Boss’s XS-100 Poly Shifter, Blue FX Devices Fuzz Fields and Gamechanger’s Motor Synth - all of whom would have been worthy runners-up - while in the end I went for the one that overall ...

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 ...

And so onto the Distortions of the year - the smallest group stage this year! There’s no particular logic as to why there are just 20 Disortions this year. There were a further couple of acquisitions that I was disappointed with - and I deliberately left out of this selection. It’s mostly a case of what appeals each year - and evidently there weren’t that many appealing ones beyond those I acquired. I’m not aware of any particular ones that are still in the wind. The last one in was the ...

Another super busy month for me - particularly towards the end - with numerous large scale articles out this week. That also coincided with my busiest week of the year for my other day job. Meaning that I was up until 4-5 in the morning every day - just to keep up with my commitments.

I was already somewhat shattered and burned out before I even got to this super busy period - and it’s a relief that all that work has now been completed on schedule.

I’m especially proud of my work on the Bucket ...

David’s Obsolete Devices feature rare NOS vintage components - which are the centre point of that circuit design typically - made to get the most our of those components.

For the inaugural Obsolete Devices OC201 Preamp it was a rare Mullard Silicon Transistor, and for this Distortion Filter it’s 3 long discontinued D312A Soviet Germanium Diodes - in Asymmetrical Arrangement - for maximum harmonics and  texture.

The Germanium Clipping results is some degree of volume-drop - while that is...

So it was about time that Doug Tolley, the Chase Bliss UK Ambassador got the cover slot for his own party! It was a momentous occasion in many ways - including the final concert later that evening for his ’Nine is the Level’ band project. Where he gave away the 4 key albums from that project at the show - and I of course picked up a full set. [Oscillations, Crumbs, Remnants, and Traces].

I also picked up a Witney Pedal Party 4 T-Shirt, and 2 pedals on the day, and the unsung heroes for the day ...

Brighton is normally one of the easiest shows to attend - usually just an hour Journey from London Victoria to Brighton Station. But on this day - when I got to Victoria - it had been announced that all trains to Brighton had been cancelled owing to a landslide near Purley.

I was initially advised to head for Hove instead (Littlehampton service) as the nearest destination to Brighton. I had arrived around 06:30 at Victoria with a view to catching the 06:59 train - which should have got me into ...

This was funnily something of af 2022 Stourbridge Pedal Expo Reunion of sorts - where Audiostorm, Bleak District Electric, Emmergy FX, Fredric Effects, and Goliath FX were all present at that inaugural Pedal Expo. There are marked similarities between the two venues and events - both are  similar sort of Mill House style building set within a kind of packing district and both relatively near to a waterway / canal. And both had a really friendly vibe to them. It’s incredible how far we’ve come ...

This was an unusually busy month - with 3 significant Guitar / Pedal Shows and in-depth show reports by me for each - which I’m incredibly proud of - no one does those to the same degree of detail as I, and for the Birmingham show I really lucked out with some amazing pictures - including of me and TheGigRig Crew.

Fuzzes are very significant this month - with a 10 Unit Fuzztopia acquired overall - of which I could only fit 6 on the board in the end - where all of those though had an innings...