January has been a bumper start for the year - with lots of killer arrivals - especially the DSM & Humboldt Dumblifier which I’ve been hugely impressed with.

Also my most formidable NAMM coverage to-date - where I only started work properly on the 8th of January - but have managed to do 60 articles since that time - which is a record of course, as is the week of 20 posts.

I feel I covered all the key moments - and mixed up new and old in my usual inimitable fashion.

There was ...

In the wake of the quite superb recent Olbia Super-Klone - which is my favourite Drunk Beaver Overdrive to-date as well as by far and away my favourite evolved Klon sound. I thought I should do a roundup / overview of my other favourite Drunk Beaver Overdrives too.

This listing and visual is roughly in order of my preferences - where fortunately - the first 5 pedals listed are mostly on general release. Vitalii has made 26 Overdrives so far by my count. Actually there’s a couple of earlier ...

There has been a significant pattern of pedal builders making tube preamps recently, and this versatile variant totally fits that bill.

EQD describes it as a combined Preamp, Headphone Amp, Boost, DI and EQ. The device has a super handy left-hand control panel which includes 1/4" Headphone Out, DIN DI Direct Out, Ground Lift Button, and Cab Bypass Button.

The Cab Bypass Button is indicative that there is an analog Cab simulator onboard - for going direct out - which you can bypass if ...

My close association with Thorpy started back in late September of 2018 - at the now defunct Olympia UK Guitar Show. He was the first pedal maker I reached out to, and the first I connected with.

Since then ThorpyFX Pedals have become my 3rd most populous selection after Boss and Drunk Beaver. Those 3 brands alone contribute over 200 pedals to my reference collection!

The fact that I’m now at 31 ThorpyFX Pedals is a major milestone - and features every mainline MKII pedal Thorpy has made. ...

It seems like every successive pedal released by Tubesteader is even better than the one that came before - and each one that came before was already superb. It’s fitting that after the exceptional Vox AC30 style Roy, we get the even more instantly satisfying Plexi and JCM800 voicings of the Gainlord.

We have a 2-Channel Tube Preamp (12AX7) - with 6 controls per channel / side, and with a Direct Out switch on the side which outputs a flat signal (Tone Bypass).

This is an incredibly ...

So we have 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.

According to Andertons these are mostly at the £169 mark, with two of the compacts being just £149, and then the Tube Preamp / Tube Driver going for £269 - all announced, but not yet in stock. Actually GuitarGuitar got...

So these 14 are some of the pedals that continue to evade capture for me. Most of these are discontinued and were only made in  very limited numbers. Some of these are small batch productions - like the GNI Octa Fuzz and Iron Ether FrantaBit. And some are also impossible to get outside their country of manufacture. Some of these I’ve been chasing for nearly a decade so far.

Many of you will be familiar with my quest for the Blakemore Effects Deus Ex Machina OpAmp Muff - where I tracked down...

The month started off strong with the unique ThorpyFX and Origin Effects Thorigin Folked Up Fuzz April Fool’s - but genuine product collaboration. The NAMM teased DigiTech HammerOn finally landed, and we saw the release of the stunning ThorpyFX Purple Edition The Dane Drive + Boost.

I introduced the Butterfly Effects Dobbo Granular Playground - whose second batch should be out be the ned of next month - that is a major target for me!

I also visited Reeves Electro on the 10th - while ...

I originally covered the TODP Pro Modular back in March - where Jonny kindly supplied me with all 3 of the different ’Tube’ Overdrive Boards / Modules (actual and emulated). I mentioned then that there would be some alternative swappable Distortion / Clipping Boards coming soon - and obviously that time is now!

My original supplied Distortion / Clipping board came with Dual Germanium D9A Diodes along with the usual 1N4148 Silicon Diodes and Twin Red LEDs. Those Silicon Diodes and LEDs ...