We pretty much know the score by now - the same exercise of innovations and improvements that was applied to the BigSky MX - has now been applied to its Delay sibling. We get all the goodness of the original - with vastly enhanced abilities - including 2 simultaneous Stereo Algorithms - much like the Empress EchoSystem has done for a quite some years now.

The number of core surface Models / Algorithms is still 12, and some of the older ones are concealed within options of those 12 updated ...

Pictured above are the early-bird arrivals for the event, of course main man Doug, American adventurer Nolen, Doug’s friend Yas (pub liaison), and the pub’s lawyer Jason - who’s early riffing was so impressive - that no one wanted to go after him! All of us were in there by around noon!

This was my first time in Hanwell - thank the powers above for the Elizabeth Line - otherwise it would have been tricky to get to! Hanwell is the western-most town in the borough of Ealing I believe. The ...

This is such a smart pedal - it took me a while to figure out all the controls and their impact - but it’s mostly second nature now. I had to do a lot of experimentation for it all to slot into place for me. Klowra’s Jinbo was very helpful in getting me to understand the interplay between the main variable playback head - and the further fixed relative playback heads - which you can dial in and out of action or accentuate - by using the [Spawn], Heads Volume, [Groove] and [Sum-Invert] ...

We now have a brand new fuller featured 3rd edition of the Moby Dick Multihead Tape Style Delay. The V1 had 5 controls on a 1590BB enclosure, then we had a shrunk down Compact V2 125B unit - also with 5 controls. And now the new V3 has 8 controls and full stereo ins and outs.

Original V1 Controls - Time, Mix, Subdivision : Quarter / Eighth / Dotted Eighth, Repeats, Modulation, Tap Tempo Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

V3 Controls - Multihead : < Dotted Eighth | Off | Quarter Triplets >, ...

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 ...

Another super busy month for me - particularly towards the end - with numerous large scale articles out this week. That also coincided with my busiest week of the year for my other day job. Meaning that I was up until 4-5 in the morning every day - just to keep up with my commitments.

I was already somewhat shattered and burned out before I even got to this super busy period - and it’s a relief that all that work has now been completed on schedule.

I’m especially proud of my work on the Bucket ...

So what we have here is another innovative fluttery style of dual delay - making exceptional use of the PT2399 chip and adding serial tremolo points into the mix.

We have a somewhat unique control topology - with 4 push-buttons on the right-hand-side - the first 3 of those select one of 5 modes for each of those 3 tremolo points : Off | On | Blinking | Fading | Mix of Blinking + Fading. And then the final 4th button Randomises the interaction of those Tremolo Points.

Otherwise the ...

All the new dealers - including Joe’s Pedals and Effekt Boutique will feature the two most recent Colortone Pedals - the Vibroverb (£219 / €289), and ZeroSum (£219 / €289), while some - like Joe’s Pedals will also have the Lo-Fi Delay (£239) and Spring Reverb II (€179).

All 4 of those pedals sound every bit as good as they look!

Northern Stomps’ new website is due to go live on this coming Friday (31st) - with those Colortone Pedals featured for launch.

There’s a few more dealers ...