This is an interesting one for sure - as this was initially billed as a totally limited one-off release - back in September of last year - with a commitment that only a total of 600 units would be produced. But now the self same circuit is back on general release - in 2 new colourway edition.

This essentially re-uses the Slötvå format - but takes in algorithms form the Fable Granular Generator, and Lore Reverse Reverb. Think of it as a best off those 3 essentially. The format and structure ...

For sure another cool Pico pedal - derived from a combination of algorithms from existing larger EHX pedals. I personally tend to favour stereo formats for all spatial effects - Reverb, Delay, and Rotary Speaker Emulators. And had hoped that since NUX and Nobels had rolled out a number of Stereo Mini enclosure pedals - that others would follow suit, but that doesn’t seem to have been the case so much - for whatever reason. It should be fairly easy to accommodate TRS Sockets and the required DSP...

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...

So I ordered this from my friend Andy at Effekt Boutique - back in mid-November of last year, while several production hitches delayed the arrival of the pedal - by approximately half a year! Which is one of the longest waits I’ve had to endure outside of Kickstarter and Indiegogo! But all’s well that ends well!

I’ve long been a fan of combining Reverb, Modulation and Fuzz / Distortion - for that killer dreamy hazy shoegaze effect - where I normally use a combination of single genre effects...

Aliens fans will instantly know what ’RV-426’ is derived from, where this is a mono atmospheric reverb with a Brian Neunaber style Belton Brick Reverb at the heart of that circuit.

The PT2399-derived Belton Brick was originally created to generate Spring Reverb sounds in particular - so this RV-426 is a significant spin and departure from its original purpose.

Controls - Boost (Level+), Dry/Wet Mix (Max is 50/50), Low Pass Filter (Dampen), Regen / Feedback, Decay, Dry-Kill, Rise-Time (...

Circa EQD’s 10th Reverb pedal. A very straigftforward, but somewhat unusual confection, with cool stretch function on the second footswitch.

You have individual full stereo connections, alongside an Expression Jack. And you get some great dynamics in manipulating the Expression and Stretch function on-the-fly. All-round a rather handy take on reverb - balancing filtering and modulation.

Controls - Length, Mode : Manual | Envelope | LFO, Frequency, Mix, Preset : 1-8, Filter, Stretch ...

The last time I covered Andy’s Rig - he was rocking the Neunaber Immerse Reverb - so presumably that has been knocked off the board - by this Nocturne.

You have two rather conventional Modes - Plate, and Spring Reverb - finely honed by Robert over the years. And then we have a unique Nocturne Reverb voicing - which is derived from Andy’s Halo Echo - and reimagined as an ethereal, immersive Reverb.

The controls are pretty conventional as for the other pedals in the ’Core’ series - where ...

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

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 ...