So this new H9 is essentially a fully-loaded Single Core variant of the H90. The larger H90 predecessor allows you to deploy 2 x Stereo Effects simultaneously - and hence is referred to as a Dual-Core Multi-Effects Processor. Where the new Gen 2 H9 has all the same key features and functions as the H90 - but can only deploy a single Stereo Effect at a time - hence Single-Core.
The original unit had a cool looking but pretty useless onboard interface - which was mostly saved by the Bluetooth...
I’ve finally picked up a Hotone Verbera (normally $299 / £249), where I paid £229 at Andertons - super good value, and I’ve been incredibly impressed right from the start. The control interface is mostly pretty intuitive - and the value of this pedal is hard to beat. It could even be my favourite Reverb workstation to-date - but it’s a little early to call - I normally give it at least a few months!
It’s been a long time coming - and has been held off for quite a few months by a combination...
Source Audio takes on the Fender Tre-Verb, Keeley Hydra, and venerable Strymon Flint - with a few more modes and features onboard. Source Audio are brilliant at Reverbs - I still love my Ventris, and they’ve covered the same flavours of Tremolo as you would expect - should do really well. This is a very neat form factor - almost exactly per the recent Lo-Fi Artifakt - it’s great that Source Audio has found further use for this format - this may just be my pick of the ’tremoverbs’ - as long as ...
Here we have a revival of the near decade and a half old Dr. Scientist Reverberator 9-Mode Reverb. It’s a versatile mono pedal with 8 x Reverb Modes, and a 9th bonus chorusey Rotary Mode.
We have a very elegant control topology with just 4 controls - Mix, Level, Delay Time : Short / Long, and the 9 x Modes.
Controls - Mix, Level, Delay Time : Short / Long, MODE : H1 Bright Hall / H2 Warm Hall / R1 Bright Room / R2 Standard Room / R3 Warm Room / P1 Standard Plate / P2 Bright Plate / P3 ...
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]
In many ways this is the most straightforward category with singular award nominees - GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE.
It’s the second smallest category after Distortions - and the one where I own the least number of pedals in proportion to the whole - just 10 out of these 26.
The order pretty much set itself - with the Cornerstone Nucleo being the clear winner from the start. I’m so impressed with every aspect of that pedal - it’s a perfect Trifecta of Design, Feaures and Playability - pretty ...
A little over 2 months after the original Dual Channel Mirage, we now get a half pint version with one of the 2 channels rendered in full - but obviously without the various routing options and stereo playback. The Mirage JR is literally half of the original pedal - with the exact same 16 algorithms and control topology for that single channel.
Controls - Volome, Shift Button : ⬆ Outer Reverb Modes / ⬇ Inner Reverb Modes, Mix, Voice : Outer || Plate Cathedral / Hall / Room / Spring / ...
The new Encounter Delay + Reverb which was teased all the way back at NAMM at the start of the year - features the exact same enclosure configuration as the Collder. It can largely be considered in terms of a Collider reboot - but with a more adventurous mix of algorithms.
In some ways this is ’old tech’ as the pedal somewhat inexplicably is still using Mini USB, and not the long-standing international standard of USB-C!
The control topology is nigh identical - with the only key ...
My Strymon journey started in December of 2016 - of course with the ’Stryfecta’ of BigSky, Mobius, and TimeLine. That was my first foray into Strymon, as well as the first of my Workstation pedal types - where I’ve favoured Stereo BIG-BOX solutions for Modulation, Delay and Reverb ever since. You can see the Stryfecta was a very significant part of my first official pedal-chain arrangement - first shared in April of 2017 - as below!
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 ...