Mooer was due to be at the recent London Synth and Pedal Expo that I attended over the weekend, but ended up being a casualty of the Heathrow Substation Fire - the only pedal that got there in time was its GS1000 Intelligent Amp Profiling Processor and there was some kind of power supply issue with that - so it needed to be retired on the very first day!

I was hoping to see the GL100 Looper and this Prime M2 at the show - while alas neither of those pedals made it in the end! 

The Prime...

This article was prompted by the recent NAMM show, the new Walrus Audio Canvas Rehearsal in particular, and my thoughts about the big forthcoming UK Guitar and Pedal Shows. This post also hints at the return of a personal favourite!

I initially had the list and visual arranged in alphabetical order - but it made more sense to arrange those devices per the above visual - which has the sort of guitar jack micro multi-fx and headphone amps listed first, followed by the mini, and then compact ...

So it’s fairly evident as to who Mooer is targeting here - with a kitchen-sink everything onboard approach for its flagship profiler / modeller. It comes in two versions - including an Li edition with onboard 7.4V 4750mAh rechargeable lithium battery - which lasts around 6 hours.

It uses the V2 version of Mooer’s MNRS technology (Mooer Non-Linear Response Sample) and it employs AI in various areas including the EQ-shaping. It also has 350+ Effects onboard, alongside a Groove Station Looper ...

It’s been a while since I covered loopers, and that topic is timely once more as there have been a number of very recent innovations.

I still feel that the TC Electronic Ditto+ is the one essential looper you need, while a number of the recent ones offer up some very interesting possibilities - in some intriguing formats. This selection focuses solely on ’Compact’ editions - so the Sheeran ones for example don’t qualify within that form factor. And a number of these combine a Drum Machine ...

Some time late last year I identified that the Tremolo section of my Reference Collection was probably the weakest of the major modulation categories - and I determined to do something about it in 2024 to bring that fully up to scratch. I made 2024 my ’Year of Tremolo’ and set to the task of bolstering my own capsule collection. Seems like I slightly overdid it in the end - as I’ve so far added 17 to the collection thoughout this year, with a likely couple more still to come.

So as with all...

So this incredibly busy month was supposed to be all about Tremolos, culminating with the Rounder Sounds Zebra-Trem Review and 30 Tremolo Pedal Overview. But we hit some snags along the way - the Zebra-Trem was mysteriously held up in customs for a week, and then got slightly lost in the local postal network. And when it did finally arrive - evidently it had been dropped a few times, as the screen was no longer working. After trying various obvious remedies with Bill over a few days - with no ...

So I said I would expand the scope of the 10 Pedal Challenge to Mini and Large Enclosure variants if the original was well received. And in indeed that seems to be the case - with several readers encouraging me in particular to do the Large Pedals Edition.

So of course I’ve done the 2 remaining categories - Mini and Large! The Large Pedals were pretty much all obvious choices really and that board largely suggested itself. It was the Mini Pedals version that took the most cogitation!

It...

So a follower on instagram challenged me to shrink my elaborate pedal-chain down to just 10 pedals. My original plan was just to fill a Pedaltrain Nano Max board with 10 compact pedals. But I then decided I should do a Mid-Size variation too, using the Pedaltrain Classic 2 board or thereabouts. I may do further Mini and Large Format editions as a follow-up - depending on how well this article is received!

This was a trickier exercise than you would imagine - as I needed to shuffle through ...

Devin Townsend’s signature Ocean Machine Ambience Workstation first materialised back in 2017. It was packed with features even then - with much the same format and layout as the new one - while the black knobs onto royal blue enclosure made it look a little congested and complicated and somewhat dark and confusing in appearance. The updated look has improved the pedal 100% - helping you to separate out and easily navigate the different sections of the device. The new look and feel really looks...