This article was actually inspired by the recent Fjord Fuzz SOL Fuzz-Vibe feature - where I got to thinking about extended range Fuzz Face style pedals. To my memory there is only the Carl Martin Purple Moon and Fjord Fuzz SOL in that compact Fuzz-Vibe format. I then recalled the Keeley Electronics Monterey - but realised there weren’t a whole lot of pedals in the extended format category - for Fuzz-Vibes - so I expanded the remit to cover ’Fuzz Face+’ pedals - essentially expanded feature set ...

So right at the end of last month Rob Chapman posted up a YouTube video of a rundown of his all-time favourite guitar pedals. He initially states he’s going to name his 10 most favoured ones - but goes on to mention 20 - which I’ve fully included here.

Rob has a great ear for tone - as countless of his own and Anderton’s videos have proven time and time again. And I really love his everyman approach to guitar gear. I’ve encountered him in person 2 or 3 times now over the years - and he’s ...

I’m expecting this post to attract a lot of ’whataboutisms’ as many of my rundowns seem to do. While every single choice / selection here is well considered, pondered upon on and properly weighted up against pertinent criteria and then further rationalised, whittled and distilled down into a top 9 or 16 or 25 - as I always favour symmetrical grids.

If I find 18 or 19 suitable candidates - then only 16 can be featured on the grid etc. - you need to draw the line somewhere. And you can also ...

So this is the second of this series - where the first was more about the uniqueness of the enclosure shape - more structural really - covering the overall form factor. While this edition is more about ’Trade Dress’ or the Memorability of the Aesthetics - style of graphics, consistency of theme, and consistency of control topology - doing something in a consistently measurable way that makes that pedal instantly recognisable from afar as belonging to a certain single brand.

So this one is ...

So May started with my posting the last of the NAMM Show stragglers, followed by an initial eclectic mix of different pedal types - while gradually leaning into ’Andy Timmons’ Month. I’ve always thought Andy to be a wonderful human being and a particularly fine journeyman guitarist. While it’s only in fairly recent years that he’s become somewhat more elevated in my affections as one of my all-time favourite guitar heroes. You will note that he did not feature in my last article on personal ...

I’ve long spoken about how I’m mostly at odds with horizontal orientation enclosures (that aren’t multi-fx workstations) - particularly compact and BB-size varieties. So I was delighted back in early 2018 when Zvex introduced its vertical editions of pedals - which at launch were the Fuzz Factory (Germanium), Box of Rock, ’59 Sound and Vibrophase. A year later they launched the Vertical Instant Lo-Fi Junky.

There have been several limited editions and iterations over those 5 years where we’...

To many commentators - ’2023’ has sort of been the ’Year of Chorus’ so far - while overall I’m not sure there have been enough releases to fully justify the label. While at the same time my own collection of compact chorus pedals has reached a very decent 21. I also have the larger format ThorpyFX Deep Oggin, and recent TC Electronic SCF reissue. So really not short of options for that style of Modulation!

This year has seen a number of recent additions - including most recently the ...

It seems fitting for Fuzz-Friday to feature the finally released Vexter Edition of Zvex’s celebrated Fuzz Factory 7 Pedal - which essentially adds 2 further controls into the mix compared with the standard 5-knob Fuzz Factory edition. Namely a Tone control (Highs) and 9-position Fat control (Lows).

The typically hand-painted editions of Fuzz Factory 7 go for circa $549 so the still American Factory-made UV / Screen-Printed Vexter edition at $399 is substantially more ’affordable’. Internals...

This article was originally first written back in May - while there was always a question as to what the 9th pedal should be in this selection and I changed my mind several times over before setting on the Pladask Elektronisk Falma Random Modulator - which is actually discontinued currently but due back imminently as an updated version!

This post was inspired by my then recent (May) acquisitions of Demiurge’s Compact The Great Sea modulator (based on the Shallow Water), and my finally ...