So there’s quite a lot to get stuck into here, but generally a really easy pedal to deploy, with a couple of caveats. This started off as a David Rainger idea/concept which evolved a couple of years ago - and consisted of the core mechanic of having a mini amp + speaker - where an internal condenser mic captures the output of the speaker and feeds it into overall output.

In some ways the Amp Crash’s operation is a balancing act between 3 level controls - DI Out, Mic Out, and Gain. So I ...

Most will recall that in November of 2022 Rainger FX released the fantastic Break Box Distortion with Active Sustaining Chorus, and Vinyl Scratch Effect. For me it had elements reminiscent of the band Portishead, and the pedal was very well received at the time.

Obviously there has been less promotion of that pedal of late, besides really the few articles I’ve included it in. As a result, sales have petered off somewhat. So as is often the case - after a brisk start, things calmed down ...

A super busy month - with plenty of highlights and heatwaves.

My house is finally cooling down as I write these last few observations - we’ve had around 10 days of oppressive heat now, and there’s another wave on the way at the end of this week - which makes for very difficult conditions to have sessions with said pedals.

We’re in the final consequence of global climate change now - with increasingly more extreme weather patterns occurring - alternately cold snaps, heatwaves, and torrential ...

David has massively evolved his 2017 mini Deep Space Pulsar (DSP) into a monster interactive performance modulator which can absorb 2 separate instrument inputs, and/or a Mic - side-chaining one input against the other, and outputting in a variety of fashions including panning ping-pong stereo. It works brilliantly with just a single input too - but much of the magic happens when you double up on your inputs.

I was particularly enamoured with the interplay between the Rainger FX Snare Trap ...

I believe this is the first time I’ve met Paolo’s lovely partner Nadège - and it’s her birthday today when this article goes live - so let’s all wish her well!

Nadége was on the door for most of the two days, and missed out on Sunday Roast - which Paolo and I had on the second day. I decided that Nadège and Paolo deserved to be this year’s covers stars - they put so much work into this event - to make sure it runs flawlessly smoothly - and the easy ambience and vibe of the event is a ...

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 ...

Rainger FX is one of the 3 Top Tier UK brands - alongside Origin Effects and ThorpyFX. David Rainger definitely ploughs his own furrow and is one of the Original Auteurs of the pedals scene - with ever distinctly different circuit designs.

Coming into this roundup I was short of a few Minis - where I picked up the Air Space Invader and Deep Space Pulsar from Macari’s, and the Echo X - from Andertons.

I don’t really have much need for the Deep Space Pulsar - that’s there largely for sake...

3 elements inform this particular curated selection of pedals. Firstly these are all distinctive and striking designs of pedals - and some of these are absolutely at the top of that form. Also these all have unique proprietary designs of knobs exclusive to those brands, and finally all 9 of these are from my own Pedals Reference Collection!

Ever since I published my ’101 Pedal Knobs’ article back in 2019 (pictured below) I have been championing the creation of unique knobs for each brand - ...

I own a fairly significant number of Reverb Pedals - where I’m mostly focused on Workstation style Pedals with multiple algorithms. I normally have at least 2 Reverbs on the board - a Primary Multi-Verb, and a Secondary more Specialist Verb. Occasionally I have a 3rd Reverb - which can be another Stereo Secondary, or more likely a Mono Tertiary. In fact I can have as many as 4 Reverbs on the board - as the Eventide H90 is always there too!

You can see from my various Pedal-Chain posts that ...