I’ve obviously just recently covered Licthlaerm Audio, and Daniel Ringl’s extended-range approach to compact pedal making. And Bispell Audio’s Tom is another such pedal pioneer - delivering the most exceptional value extended-range circuits. My favourite to date is definitely his fairly recently updated Gleam Vintage Silicon Multi-Fuzz, where I also have and love his not so long since updated Saxon (JTM45 + Plexi), and Proxy (Vox UL730).

The Saxon, Proxy and Gleam have all stepped up to 8 ...

Thanks first to Ross from Cusack Music and Simon from Guitar FX Direct for helping to make this happen. This is a super limited release and I’m truly fortunate to be able to get my hands on one. I explained in the launch article how I had acquired pedals direct from Cusack Music in the past, while post Brexit complexities mean that they are among a number of American builders who don’t ship direct to the UK any more. Just as well then that we have Simon’s Guitar FX Direct as the UK Dealer for ...

It’s been quite the epic journey for me to get to Lichtlaerm Audio - which goes all the way back to February of 2020 - where I believe I was the first Pedal Blog to feature Daniel Ringl’s original first incarnation line of pedals - which had white graphics onto black facias , on top of wine-red gloss-finished enclosures (Update! - looked like white print in photos, but Daniel says - "the old line-up was silver prints directly on smooth black enclosures - the photos looked a bit white but it was...

Readers will be aware that I recently added 2 further Dumble style Overdrives to the reference collection. First the Menatone Dumbstruck V2, and then most recently the superb Tanabe Zenkudo.

I’ve decided that I’m at a point now where this selection is fully representative of this genre, of course I do have a few more targets in this category, while I feel I now have most of the major top-tier contenders. Notably missing here is Robben Ford’s evidently much loved Lovepedal / Hermida Zen ...

Hopefully I’ve done enough over the last 4 Mondays - to fully convince you of the merits and prowess of the ThorpyFX Heavy Water 3-in-1 Boost.

You have just 2 remaining days to enter, as the Give-away Entry-Form will disappear at 23:59 BST Tomorrow!

This give-away has one first prize of said featured pedal (one of a pair - I have the other on my board!), GPX-embroidered  Cap, and GPX Custom Edition of the Hawk ToneBird 7 Guitar Pick, There are also 3 x runner-up prizes of Cap & Pick...

So back in and around 1975 there was a large aluminium box with red and black graphics made by Systech, and which had an open 9V battery bay built right into the front facia. It had just 3 controls - Bandwidth, Center Frequency, and Gain - which were instrumental in delivering the classic Frank Zappa sound of that era! The Gain knob sweep was fairly expansive, but not too heavy on the breakup until later along the taper - rather an amplitude control for most of the sweep - although it did climb...

Around the same time last year as Luca Romanelli announced the retirement of Mastro Valvola, my good friend Mike Vickery announced that his Vick Audio would cease pedal production too. Not many know that Mike was my Big Muff Mentor really, and I really got the full grasp on what distinguished one Big Muff variety from another - via a series of highly involved chats with Mike back in 2020.

Mike is / was one of the very best producers of Big Muff style fuzzes - with the general acceptance ...

I always get pangs of sorrow when a pedal brand retires for one reason or another. Late last year Luca Romanelli announced that he was pulling the plug on his Mastro Valvola pedal brand - which at times I have referred to as ’The Strymon of Italy’.

There are so many complications and complexities with pedal-building in general - chip sets and key components increasingly harder to source, and numerous challenges with logistics and red tape. It’s a wonder more of these don’t go to the wire. ...

While there will be one more Heavy Water feature on the final Monday of this month, that will be more of a roundup and last-minute reminder. So this is the last therefore of the main feature articles.

Most of you will be familiar with the 29 Pedals EUNA Elite Unity Amplifier / Buffer - which combines a Buffer, Harmonics & EQ, High Headroom, and a very unique and potent Power Management circuitry. It’s core mission of course to make your effects chain sound better. The EUNA is a front-of...