Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Highlights and High Jinks from the inaugural Norwich Fret Fest / Sweat Fest - at St Mary's Works
At one stage there was a 50/50 chance as to whether I would make the show - as there were significant disruptions on the Liverpool Street to Norwich line - which meant a bus replacement service between Colchester and Ipswich. Some of the journey times quoted were up to 4 and a 1/2 hours each way! In the end the door-to-door was closer to 3 hours in total! The journey up including the coach was actually more fun that the journey back via Cambridge. Cambridge has obviously sinned grievously as there was torrential rain and dark skies in Cambridge - while the rest of the journey had blazing sunshine!
I set off proper early in any case, left the house before 6am, and arrived at the venue at circa 8:45 - well ahead of schedule. My taxi driver dropped me off at quite the wrong place - at the back and beyond of the St Mary’s complex - and I initially struggled to find the main entrance - which was though soon remedied.
St Mary’s Works / The Old Shoe Factory is a strange venue - essentially an abandoned industrial space in a very raw state, but with half decent electrics and string-lights. And with portacabin style toilets in the back yard!
There were no amenities onsite per se - I always say these sorts of events would be well served by renting a vending machine or two for just inside the entrance - for water and soft drinks, snacks and chocolate bars / M&M’s! We did have a couple of pretty decent food trucks on the street outside - The Daily Grind Coffee and D-Lish Pizza Co - and I availed myself of both of them on the day. While neither of them had really adequately prepared themselves for the day as both sold out of water relatively early on!
Lunch was from D-Llish - Ham & Pineapple Pizza, which was mostly good enough - the dough was not airy or light enough, and the sauce seemed to be just fully concentrated tomato purée rather than Passata, also cheap flavourless mozzarella, but in the blazing sun - it was tasty enough and kind of hit the spot! Not nearly as good as the Pizza at the Leeds Pedal Show though!
I had two glasses of the Dragon Fruit Punch from The Daily Grind - essentially a mix of fizzy lemonade and dragon fruit juice. That could have done with crushed ice ideally - but was pretty spectacular with just ice cubes! I drained the last 2 glasses of Dragon Fruit Punch from the Urn! That was the discovery of the day! Dragon fruit has a slight pear drop flavour about it, with added tropical sweetness!
For these events I normally select one of the pedal builders as a cover star, while the most fun photo I took on this occasion was the faux skirmish between Jason and Matt. Andy’s grizzled pirate was pretty close too - while that guitar duel seemed to be the best fit!
In the cover shot - Jason from Maybury Guitars is engaged in a friendly play-skirmish with his neighbour Matt from Fidelity Guitars - both giants of the Boutique Guitar Luthiery scene!
Despite the travel disruptions I generally enjoyed the full day. The heat did get pretty oppressive at times, but the vibes were cool throughout. I loved the incredibly pretty East Anglian landscapes on the journey up, and I don’t remember Norwich being quite this pretty during my student years - when I visited the city a few times on Rag-Raids and the like!
A few of the pedal brands didn’t make it - Bleak District, Intensive Care Audio, and Ritual Devices. While there was still plenty to go around. I spent most of the day talking to my pedal builder friends, I will make more of an effort next time to cover more of the guitar brands too. I very much enjoyed the show overall!
There was plenty of cool boutique guitars featured - but I just wasn’t in the right mood for new introductions on the day - the head did get oppressive at times!
Shout out to John at Heavy Repping too - I forgot to get off a snap at his stand. I’m entirely Jazz III -centric, and I had picked up all the varieties he had already at a Kempton Park show a couple of years back. He had plenty of other intesting picks on offer, including his own chunky series. While I’m all about the Jazz III’s so nothing new there for me on the day!
Blanchflower Guitars / Marcus D'luxe / Fret Fest - Marcus
Marcus is one of two show organisers for Fret Fest - alongside Simon from 81 Guitar Works, who also has a connection with Noisy Hammer Amps - where he shares their workshop a couple of days each week!
Marcus initially found fame making pedalboards - as Marcus D'luxe, while latterly he is better known as a luthier - at the head of Blanchflower Guitars.
I really like Marcus's guitars too - and was particularly impressed with the Bolt Thinline one he did for Matt Knight - particularly the sparkle colorway and sort of matching foil pickups! While my favourite Blanchflower shape is the S'Bolt. None of the guitars Marcus brought with him really called out to me. The pink S'Bolt came the closest - but did not quite cross the line!
The Fret Fest event was well managed on the whole, it's a strange venue really - very raw with minimal amenities. It was a sweltering day - and we could really have done with some aircon, or at the very least a couple of large industrial fans. There was a pleasant draft emanating from the back alley exit - that corridor was the coolest spot in the place, while where Funny Little Boxes was located was like a sauna!
Great vibes for the show throughout and steady footfall all day - really well promoted and coordinated for sure!
I feel that the exhibitor video vignettes that Marcus and Simon produced and promoted had much to do with how well the show was attended. Everyone should take a leaf out of that playbook. The most significant oddity was that all exhibitors had to bring all their furniture with them, which is something that pedal builders are not accustomed to - and for sure the reason that Intensive Care Audio dropped out. Hopefully at the next venue - tables and chairs will be provided! We could have also done with a more adequate seating are at the back of the hall. There were a couple of rickety tables and a handful of very dodgy and marginally unstable chairs! But could enough to survive lunch though!
Fret Fest will be back next year in a slightly more central, and better - newly refurbished venue.
I will be back for sure. Hopefully the trains will be running properly by then!
Props to Marcus and Simon in any case for such a successful show!
I would also like a better quality lunch option next year too please! Quality Matters!
Funny Little Boxes - Andy
The Treasure Chest Klone-Screamer Dual Modded Boost / Overdrive is finally here!
After some production challenges - particularly involving the much delayed arrival of the enclosures, we finally have lift-off on the Treasure Chest!
Andy was hoping to have it ready for the Leeds Pedal Show - in fact so was I! But all's well that ends well.
I suggested a full on Pirate theme for the launch - with a treasure chest full of those gold-foil wrapped chocolate coins. It was as well that those fell through though - as we would have ended up with a puddle of hot chocolate - so sweltering was the day! Instead Andy made some gold bar limited editions of his Skeleton Key Boost - which suited the role perfectly.
I supplied Andy with the appropriate blue colourway tricorn hat to match the pedal, as well as a luxury padded eye patch - both of which he wore to great effect throughout the day.
I always feel people should embrace properly themed and costumed stands for specific launches - deliver the right ambience and atmosphere - that adds to the immediacy of the experience - make it an adventure. Way back when I worked for Xerox - every few month the sales teams would have themed period fancy dress when they turned up for appointments - sometimes in Zoot Suits, and sometimes more Edwardian attire - with a cravat!
Andy went the full distance here - wheeling in a suitable pirate-themed barrel of rum presumably (a real one next time!) alongside the aforementioned treasure chest.
First time I met his family too, his younger daughter stayed with him, and the older went shopping with her mum! All were present at the end of the show.
Gigahearts - Ian
Ian and I collaborated on the Denton Mids-Boosted Opamp Fuzz - which was inspired by the Blakemore Deus Ex Machina. Of course you would only be aware of my involvement if you had read my blog and followed the end of month Pedal-Chain-Status updates. Ian admittedly did most of the heavy lifting on this project, while it would not likely have happened without my instigation. I thought I would at least have merited a post-script mention but alas no, that doesn't seem to be the case! I'm still very proud of this project in any case - which worked out exceedingly well.
Also on the stand were 5 super limited Special Marine Blue colourway editions of the excellent Siliface Fuzz. I expected those to do really well on the day, while it was the RV-426 Reverb that proved to be the most popular. Ian did sell a Denton and Siliface and a couple of others also. Sales often come from the unexpected areas - you never can tell in advance!
We've been promoting the RV-426 Spacey Reverb for a good 3 months now - while that's only starting to gather momentum now. It deserves to do really well, and pairs superbly with Denton - which was launched on the day.
Quite a few Dentons sold on the initial announcement on the Thursday, I have no doubt that one will do well, and we will have more players pairing up the Denton with the RV-426. The Denton + RV-426 deliver a superb shoegaze wall-of-sound!
As for the Blue Silifaces - those will for sure be snapped up pretty quickly - it just wasn't their right time at the show. Everything has a season, and prevailing winds of fortune!
I think everyone had a pretty decent show at Fret Fest, not a runaway sales event necessarily - but consistent traffic, and near enough every exhibitor seemed to have sold something on the day, and some did very well indeed!
There were so many fantastic pedals on display on Ian's 2 boards - most of the left-hand one I've featured already. I will be taking on the PumpTrack next, and the Soviet Sparrow has soon as that starts to dip a little - right now that one's still selling like hot cakes - so doesn't really need my support.
There are plenty of Ian's other pedals that still deserve a day in the spotlight! And he's well in progress with the Twin Prop - which will hopefully be ready for launch in the Autumn. Where the Denton was mostly Ian, the Twin Prop is more of an even-handed collaboration. I'm still very proud of both of them regardless of whether I get a credit. They both deserve your consideration - they are each distinct and different from anything else out there currently. As indeed is a fair amount of Ian's roster. That Silifce is very much one of the best ever Silicon Fuzz Faces - so versatile, and so capable of sounding like Germanium too!
Hello Sailor Effects - Joe and Glyn
The first picture I took with Joe and Glyn came out way too over-exposed, just too much sunlight streaming through the windows - we could have done with blinds! So I had to come back later - when alas Joe was on a wander, so a solo Glyn jaunt in the end!
Joe had 2 new pedal variants at the show - the Höfner Preamp - both Germanium and Silicon editions. And a Llama-Ranger - combination Red Llama circuit with Range Master - for that classic Billy Gibbons sound.
Notable at the show were 5 pedals in Joe's favourite current colourway which mixes Neon Pink and Electric Blue - a really striking colour combination. And another innovation was the 'Skull LED Caps' where just the eyes shine through in the appropriate colour - mostly red!
I picked up a Storm Trooper 'Born a Rebel' Höfner Preamp - with NOS Germanium RCA 2N3440 transistor onboard - and of course a red skull LED. I will need to go back for the Llama-Ranger at a later stage, and I would definitely want that to be in the Neon Pink + Electric Blue colourway!
Höfner designed those Preamps to be wired into their guitars in the 50's and 60's to give their output tone a distinct, warm, and slightly compressed color - which otherwise did not alter the core sound of the guitar.
I will of course be reporting back with a full review of the Höfner Preamp during next week - I just need to decide on the background visual first!
And I will likely pick up another Hello Sailor Effect at the Brighton Show!
See you all there!
Great Eastern FX Co. - David
Note that the above picture was way over-exposed and had to be significantly adjusted in photoshop which is why it looks a touch odd!
David has such a powerful imagination - that it often gets in the way of his pedal development process - he's always considering half a dozen projects in parallel - and of course the focus can shift, and the priority will need to be rearranged.
He of course has several pedals in the works currently - which are not all the same ones that we discussed last time around, although the 123 Boost is now nearing completion. It's fully functionally complete. David would like to keep the LED's as is, while several have suggested a traffic light colour scheme - of Green, Amber, Red. I feel that would liven the pedal up further and add appeal to it. But David is something of a purist - and the original concept was an old 30's cinema countdown reel - which you normally got as a lead into the main feature - that was all sepia monochromatic!
I don't massively mind either way - I will definitely be getting one of those 123 Boosts in - it's just a really smart mini warming / step-up boost - with 3 different settings that you can apply and step through via the footswitch, A slightly longer press bypasses the boost! At the show, the left-hand unit with the latest update was already functioning perfectly - brilliantly responsive and instant. It's a simple idea, but brilliantly executed. We discussed various methods for the step-through progress of the footswitch - vs the earlier one tap for preset one, 2 for preset 2 etc. I feel the current workings are immediately intuitive and incredibly responive.
David just needs to fully process the options before he can be 100% sure he's arrived at the right conclusion - I'm already sure that he has!
Hopefully the 123 Boost should be out relatively soon - and it will likely be priced at £149, which seems about right. Really looking forward to the occasion!
There is another Obsolete Device in the works currently - which should follow on from the 123 Boost, or knowing David - might even somehow precede it!
Maybury Guitars - Jason
Jason is going big into basses now after the success of his striking X Bass model - which looked particularly appealing in Steel Panther -like Neon Yellow and Leopard Pink! So to any hair metal bassist still out there - we have the perfect bass for you!
My favourite guitar of Jason's to date is the blue one in the back of the photo - which is not for sale apparently! I really like his Upscaler Fish Hook S Types with the chalky paint jobs. Those range from around £1,150. Indeed as per that off-limits Blue Fish Hook S Type!
Jason sold the ornate T-style guitar situated just next to him on the floor in the picture - the one with the slightly tribal motif - that one went very early in the day!
The 2 X Basses on either side of the stand made for a very imposing pair. Like the heads of two totem poles.
Maybury Guitars are definitely on my list once I get to saturation point with pedals - which is some way off still alas!
Fidelity Guitars - Matt
Jason's show neighbour was Matt from Fidelity guitars - who was mostly hovering away from his stand for the best part of the day. He swooped in when anyone needed attention, but otherwise left prospects to their own devices!
In the picture Matt is wielding a seafoam green JB model with white pick guard - where I tend to prefer the Stellarosa models - there's a fetching one in powder blue in the background which alas is a hard tail - it really needs a Mastery trem in there somewhere to be wholly perfect! If that one doesn't sell soon - Matt should consider sticking a trem unit on it!
Matt is another luthier I much admire, and surely there will be a Stellarosa somewhere in my future - once my pedal reference collection reaches its ultimate saturation point - whatever that might be!
I keep wanting Matt to do more eye-candy crowd-puller showcase guitars - as he has done in the past - there's been 3 or 4 really striking models with unusual artworks and almost as many knobs and switches as a Neve Mixing Desk!
The ones he had on the stand for the show were the remaining mid-range models that the local dealer had not sold yet. Much like Jason at Maybury typically has s couple of not-for-sale show ponies on the stand - there's no reason Matt can't do that too - just to show off the full range of his luthiery skills! I always feel you should always put your best foot forward. Carnival stalls have been doing it for centuries - 'This is what you could win!'....
PedalPatch - Phil
Phil always puts out a great stand - he pretty much adheres to all the best practice recommendations in that regard. For this show he was pioneering some really cool 3D-printed display units of his own design.
I'm looking forward to catching up with the full Steere family at the Brighton Show on July 18th. I surprisingly ended up sharing my lunch-table at last year's show with Phil's parents. It's wonderful seeing the whole family turning up to offer support. I'm very much a family man myself!
These smaller events are often very much family-oriented. There were plenty of kids in evidence at the Fret Fest. All in all a very genial atmosphere.
Phil runs the DIY Pedal-Building sessions with Neil from NRG - who was his neighbour for this show too.
They're currently still focusing on the 2-knob DIY Distortion pedal build. Just 5 attendees at a time is optimal!
Neil told me they were considering adding in a Fuzz Pedal in the next iteration - to offer that as an option in the near future! If we're talking fuzz - even I might be tempted - but I would want to eb able to customise it too - at least with one of those colour-changing LED's! :)
NRG Effects - Neil
It seems every time I run into Neil he has a different game-plan with a different core series in mind. At one stage he was simplifying and standardising the lineup. But he's now decided that he actually really likes doing custom editions, and has thus spun in the opposite direction - offering more one-offs, customs and commissions than ever before!
The Brighton Guitar Show will be the launchpad for the new Gnawer edition (Evolved Rat Distortion) - for which the final production version was being teased at the Fret Fest. Neil has tweaked the design from where it was heading previously - and we now have 6 different clipping options - Hard and Soft Variants of 3 of the best loved Rat Clipping styles.
I've requested a faceted crystal LED cap - so that the colour-changing LED's can emanate some sort of disco mirrorball light-show vibes! Neil will likely leave it a mystery until I turn up and find out at the Brighton Show. While I will no doubt be looking to secure that one in advance!
Neil had the full latest line-up on display - Gnawer, Purrer, Fuzzer, and Poker. The Fuzzer had changed up another gear - and so my previous edition is now somewhat obsolete, while the Purrer is still largely the same circuit!
Neil also had a gorgeous Special Edition Purrer in Surf/Seafoom Green Tolex - with matching LED colour - finely adjusted and colour-mixed by Neil himself! And then a Mauler Special Rainbow Edition - with very unique skateboard grip material as cover, and with colour-changing LED. Both the Specials were priced at £349!
The new 2026 Purrer ranges from £289 to £349 - while the 2026 versions of Fuzzer, Poker, and Gnawer are all listed as Coming Soon!. We just need the Mauler added to that list - I will definitely be in line for that after the Gnawer!
And I still want Neil to make me an Octo-Fuzzer 7 Knob Special too - but I'm still juggling too many priorities to get to that one particularly soon - it will happen eventually though! And hopefully later this year!
NRG Neil & Zander Circuitry Alex
I snapped this great picture while those two gentlemen were involved in a minor neighbourhood summit. Neil's entry proper is above, and Alex's is below! They were neighbours across the concourse at the show - directly opposite each other.
It's always nice to see people reaching out. Neil was there at the seminal Stourbridge FX Expo too - while it took me a little time beyond that to fully connect with him!
Zander Circuitry - Alex and Maisy (The Millars!)
Lovely to be able to snap a photo of Alex and Maisy together - it seems so long that I've known them now - but it's only 4 years since the seminal Stourbridge FX Expo!
Both were on very fine form at the show, while Alex is still busy putting the finishing touches to his forthcoming range revamp. For now he's focusing on Special Colour Editions of most of his compacts - which are still available in a variety of hues - mostly of the Pastel persuasion!
At the show there seemed to be a run on the larger workstation pedals - the Duplo Delay Workstation and Templo Reverb Workstation seemed to be particularly popular on the day,
The new lineup should be revealed later in the year. Alex is hoping for Autumn, but will be happy if the launch happens any time before the end of the year. There's still some moving parts that need to be brought into alignment!
I'm very excited to see what's coming down the line!
In the meantime there's bargains to be had on existing stock.
Fredric Effects - Tim
It's always delightful catching up with Tim. I don't think I've encountered anyone at these shows more often than Tim. In fact it seems like I've known Tim for a liftetime now - it's been that long! And almost wherever I go he's almost always there too!
Tim announced at Birmingham that he'd finally managed to score an enclosure manufacturer that was able to meet his exacting quality standards. And he was delighted with the early batches. While it's not all been plain sailing, and there have been some serious delays in the arrival of a number of those custom enclosures.
Tim has a massive priorities list - all the larger editions are being re-worked into the mid-size enclosures - same as the Standard Fuzz and Petite Super Unpleasant Companion. I think Tim wanted to sort out the Utility Perkolator next, but there are a few models to go in that series.
He's also working on a new version of the Duo-Fuzz - which I'm very much looking forward to - which will also be in that mid-size enclosure. If you've not tried the new edition Petite Super Unpleasant Companion or the Verzerrer Fuzz-Distortion - you should definitely put those on your list. The Petite Super is absolute perfection, and the Verzerrer - not far off that - as long as you switch of the limiter dip-switch on the inside of the pedal. It sounds utterly immense to me, and I don't feel the need to engager the noise filtering dipswitch in the slightest!
For once Tim wasn't promoting the Demon Fuzz Pedal - as he's running out of those enclosures - while there were plenty of T-shirts still to go around - he was hopping to nab one of the orange ones for himself if his size did not sell out. Most normal people - would have just set that one aside for themselves - but evidently Tim cares more about his customers!
SoundLad Liverpool - Marc
www.soundladliverpool.co.uk/shop
Marc is solely at the end of this list as he was so busy throughout the day - that I was only able to get a word in edgeways right at the end of the day! Joe Halliday had made several forays to Marc's stand in an attempt to pin hip down, in fact as did I - but Marc was very evidently otherwise occupied on all those prior occasions!
It was well worth pinning him down at the end - he still had the same 2 prototypes he had at the Leeds Show - the Two Sugars Low-Comp Screamer, and the Nice One Cleaner Machine - both a little further evolved, but neither quite final. He was still deciding on the hue and graphics for the Two Sugars.
More excitingly he had another new 'Guess what it is?' Prototype at the show - named 'G'wed' which is supposedly a Scouse contortion of 'Go ahead', and not dissimilar to the Father Ted 'Ah, Go on, Go on, Go on...'
It's basically a 'Nothing like a Rat' albeit somewhat evolved from a Rat - heavily mis-biased, and with a super potent 2-Band Active Baxandall EQ - with some unique frequency jumps! It sound unruly and overblown in the best ways - somewhat like a busted blown out speaker. I would classify it as a FuzzStortion - while Marc doesn't like that term, but liked when I mentioned 'Speaker Cranker' in context with the EQD Overdrive.
You could possibly sub-head it - 'The Big Blowout!'. It's a fantastic super versatile overblown distortion with a violent and vibrant fuzz character. Most definitely a fuzz sensibilities distortion. I thought it sounded initially like an mis-biased gone-wrong HM-2 - which is the most famous of Fuzzy Distortions most likely. That's what it sounded most similar to for me. Possibly it should be named 'Wrong'un'. Whatever it is - it's definitely not a Rat - although it shares some of that lineage.
I look forward to help launching that one in due time.
I'd still quite like to get my hands on a Sketchy at some time too, but overheard Marc saying that they were mostly a pain-in-the-ass to build - even though he's streamlined the process recently. So that one really depends on whether Marc is meaning to continue those. There's no point in promoting something that's going to be discontinued. All will be revealed in due time!
My next SoundLad feature might my the Sketchy, or it might be the 'G'wed'!
2022 FX Expo Highlights
