The Ian Thornley Signature Thornicus Dual Channel Fuzz / Octave Fuzz seems to be only the second circuit to use the same enclosure format as its Discovery Analog Delay - with a stupid portion at the front which features the footswitches.

It’s interesting that the Fuzz and Octave Fuzz have wholly identical independent controls - 2 x Sustain, Mids, Level, Tone. With independent footswitches per channel also!

The Thornicus Fuzz seems a little oversized for my preferences, and part of me ...

The new style of enclosure has come a long way since the original gloss black and copper face-plate early devices. I’ve enjoyed every era of Fjord Fuzz, and the new standard is every bit as striking - and as instantly recognisable. You can still spot a Fjord Fuzz pedal from a mile off. And Daniel typically removes all brakes and limitations for each circuit - so you always guarantee a fuller flavour!

This is the 4th or 5th iteration of Vibe circuit - where the last 2 iterations (Frei & ...

Citadel Electronics is Santiago Alvarez (ex Marshall), Tommi Otsavara (ex Darkglass Electronics), and Torsten Woelle (ex Hughes & Kettner) in a very formidable new partnership - with an excellent mid-priced full-range offering! Quite a pedigree really in terms of the principals involved.

They seem to be active currently in UK and EU territories - but don’t seem to have spread to the USA yet - possibly that will happen after NAMM - where they’re sure to have a stand!

Their initial ...

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 is the second time EQD has collaborated with KGR Harmony’s Japanese Iron Foundry - famous for its relief-design wrought-iron / cast-iron enclosures. And here we get the most compact variant of the Sunn O))) Life Pedal do date - essentially the V4 edition of that circuit - named the ’HalfLife Fer’.

Only 200 of these were made - and they barely lasted an hour and half. So this is more my documenting the provenance of this circuit than putting up yet another promo feature. It’s all ...

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 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 ...

This has turned out to be something of a Thorpy month! - following on from the recent Manson Supermassive Black Fuzz and 3 Thorpy acquisitions this month - indeed the Supermassive is also engineered by Thorpy!

I thought I should do a quick retrospective of pedals and projects that Thorpy has been involved in.

I selected my favourite pedal from those 4 brands (some singular options!) :

• Redbeard Effects : Bearded Vulture Direct Drive with Octave
• Victory Amps : V1 The Jack Guthrie

I’ve described this as a blistering opamp octave fuzz right from the start - and that still very much holds true - its potency is immense - and you really don’t need to go much above noon on the Level and Fuzz controls - this one gets so loud and saturated - where you’re never going to want to get near to diming it - as it really reaches extremes at max Level and Fuzz - too much for me for sure!

So in tandem with that potency it has the most gorgeous fuzz sound - really warm and articulate ...