GPX Blog

So Source Audio has made a slightly different move to the one I and a few others expected - I thought we might get a 12+ Mode Modulation Workstation next - following on from the Nemesis and Ventris - and continuing the lineage much like Strymon’s TimeLine, BigSky and Mobius, and Boss’s DD-500, RV-500 and MD-500.

But Source Audio have decided to do a combination of the Nemesis and Ventris into the same format - giving you 5 Delay Modes from the Nemesis and 7 Reverb Modes ...

Keeley are getting to be rather good at these limited special editions as I’ve commented on several times previously. Once again they’ve drawn in painter Phillip Ortiz for this cool space-themed diorama / panorama. I actually noted in my recent Walrus Audio Best of Range Overview that they should do some sort of Space panorama as that’s where much of their pedal artwork sits. If you muted these tones a little or rather duo-toned this, then this is exactly the kind of design ...

I spent the whole of yesterday at the Islington UK Guitar Show - which turned out to be quite a different experiences for me compared to last year’s somewhat haphazard inaugural event at Olympia - this was much better organised, and I really enjoyed attending the many breakout events at the show.

For Pedal fans it was really quite a simple show with relatively few Pedal purveyors - and with one stand having most of the action - i.e. the Audio Distribution Group - with 16 brands -...

I’ve always been something of a fan of the TC Electronic Flashback series of delays and Hall of Fame series of reverbs, although I’ve not found use for either type yet in my chain - preferring instead flagship workshop pedals from other pedal builders - Boss, Empress, Eventide, Source Audio and Strymon to date.

At one stage I was considering adding a Compact Hall of Fame 2 Reverb as a secondary Reverb to the chain - but that was before I acquired the Eventide H9 and Empress...

Australia and New Zealand together have a fair few brands of international repute, and I for one certainly have a number of pedals of Australian origin in my collection. Foremost amongst those is Michael Ibrahim’s eponymous MI Audio / MI Effects - from which range past and present - I have 7 to date - with a couple more on the ’nice-to-have’ wishlist. Of the ones I have 2 are permanent features in my pedal-chain - the Super Crunch Box V2 (my Brown Sound pedal of choice) and ...

As many commentators have noted - we were well aware that Chase Bliss Audio had an Overdub Looper in the works along with their forthcoming Benson Amps Automatone PreAmp MKII collaboration. What most of us did not know is that Joel was busy working with David Rolo and Old Blood Noise Endeavors on a sort of companion pedal or different take on the Blooper looper.

As is Chase Bliss’s way now - this was all launched today with much fanfare - with product already shipped and ...

This is one of those moments that I feel that my celebrated Pedal-Chain has reached another milestone of ’peak performance’. There are a number of new releases here - and probably all the big ones I was expecting this year - bar the Chase Bliss Audio / Benson Amps Automatone MKII PreAmp - which is due in the Autumn now - and still pending final pricing, but will probably take up the top spot on Slot #14 eventually. Also - my long-awaited Beetronics Swarm Harmonizing PLL Style Fuzz ...

This article was largely triggered by the recently released Slö Multi Texture Reverb which of course I love and which has gone straight onto my wishlist despite its mono output. I see it as a solid competitor to the rather pricier and more complex Chase Bliss Audio Dark World and a perfect tool for ambient textures. I personally would use it as a textural tool in my ’glitch pedal’ slot as my main time-based effects are stereo.

I’ve featured Walrus Audio a fair ...

I already singled out the Newly Revamped Matthews Effects Range in my piece on Pedal Graphic Design - but there I focused more on the design of the actual pedals - principally the facia graphics and control topology - knob choice etc. However there was much more to the Matthews Effects Range Revamp than just a pedal design change - and some of the most significant improvements happened within the disciplines of Packaging and supplementary Collateral. ...

Poland was both trickier and yet eventually easier to rationalise than originally perceived. I have scanned through many a country now, and Poland seems to be the last of those with sufficient numbers of high calibre pedal builders to warrant a dedicated feature*. As noted before - these sorts of article take quite a lot of work to complete - and so this is the last of these I will be doing for a while.

* Note that USA and Japan are the leading pedal builders of the world still and too...