I’m lagging a little behind on these now - as Hotone has delivered a second excellent pedal for its Neon Collection / Series - an equally cool looking Freqlux 3-Voice Pitch-Shifter with a tonne of features onboard - including 200 presets slots, with 100 superior factory presets already loaded.

I still need to land the Hotone Verbera Convolution Reverb - where its high current draw initially put me off a little (rated @ 1000mA) - but I was later corrected - as that high current number was ...

February is always something of a lull - particularly after the hyper busy NAMM-inflected January. This month is the doldrums of the calendar where not much gets releases. I did though manage to land a decent selection of a dozen pedals - obviously some from the previous year. With the Sinvertek MGAT-1 EVO being the standout pedal landed - where the Klowra Gnash and Wampler Golden Jubilee were pretty spectacular too. 3 x Klowra pedals on the board this month - all excellent!

Of course there...

The Klowra Verdict definitely sits within POG territory - but with a much broader set of features and functions - including 2 variations of Freeze and Ramp Hold effects on the Footswitch.

Along with numerous shaping elements to get even more out of those octaves. Including Low Pass Filter and Attack and Release speeds.

This is a very finely honed high-fidelity device that performs superbly however you configure those settings. ...

EHX first introduced its Intelligent Harmony Machine in November of 2021, and 5 years later we now get a Mini / Pico edition of that circuit - with very slightly fewer controls, but all the main parts fully intact.

The new diminutive Harmony Machine is at $149 vs the original’s $241.50 - so a circa $90 saving - which is significant.

Controls - Volume, #Button : Normal / Sharp, Dry>Wet Mix, Key : C Major (A Min), C# Major (A# Min), D Major (B Min), D# Major (C Min), E Major (C# Min), F ...

New Pedals in the Class of 2025 Pedal-Chain Snapshot = 41

[OCTOBER]  = 9

[NOVEMBER] = 6

[MARCH] = 5

[SEPTEMBER] = 5

[AUGUST] = 4

[JANUARY] = 3

[FEBRUARY]  = 3

[APRIL] = 2

[JUNE] = 2

[MAY] = 1

[JULY] = 1

[A-Z by Brand]

1. Becos FX CompIQ Pro Yuna Soft Knee Blackmer VCA Studio Style Compressor [SEPTEMBER]
2. Blue Colander Grimrobe Dual Cascaded Super Rat [OCTOBER]
3. Blue FX Devices Fuzz Fields Ultimate Modulated Fuzz [SEPTEMBER]
4. Boss RT-2 Rotary Ensemble Leslie / Rotary Speaker

This has turned out to be the largest category for 2025 with 38 pedals in this selection. As I favour those pedals that I own first, and then the more pedalboard-friendly editions - inevitably there would be some casualties for the year. With the most significant of those being the larger format Meris Enzo X, and the Polyend MESS Multi-Effect Step Sequencer. I know there are some who favour each of those - but they just aren’t targets for me personally.

 I always talk about having a lane - ...

This Tasmanian Brand Gehirn Enterprises (Gehirn meaning brain!) - AKA one Brendan Pearce - only came to my attention relatively recently - while these are exactly the kinds of pedals that I gravitate towards. There’s a few takes here of certain well-loved circuits - where Brendan has a really unique approach o each of them - and all his pedals are very distinct and features several deft detail touches.

I consider myself very much a fuller flavour noise-maker - and there are several killer ...

Kinotone’s Jaak Jenson is proving to be one of the finest sound engineers of his generation - with a trio now of killer unique pedals.

I wasn’t sure how I would deploy the Ribbons in my chain - so that one’s still on the ’maybe’ list - lots of my friends really love it, and use it for all kinds of things - while I’m still seeking a proper connection there.

I did get the Sparks Harmonic Processor - or Stereo Overdrive + State Variable Filter + Wavefolder. I mostly got that one because of...

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,