I’m a little late with this as Meris held back the press release until launch - so I was only provided with the details at the same time as everyone else - which is really rather unusual. I had a number of other projects already on the go - and so I’m a couple days late with this!

As always - each Meris device delivers way beyond its specific core category, its Enzo X for instance is almost as much a multi-modulator as it is a synth - and here we have lots of extras thrown into the mix - ...

May has been a little bit of strange month - lots of delays really, and waiting for pedals to land.

As inevitably happens most months - much was delayed this month, and I was unable to complete some of the larger articles - they will need to wait until next month, there’s certainly lots of projects in progress. Where new and imminent arrivals kind of scuppered several intended projects - hopefully they can be completed in June.

The first event I’m attending this month is tomorrow - as a micropub ...

So OBNE recently discontinued its BL series - including its BL-44 Reverse Playback Pedal. That pedal had 4 controls - Mix, Volume, Speed, and a Clock Slider.

This new Setback also comes with 4 controls :

Setback Controls - Speed, Mix, Tap Divisions : Sixteenth / Eighth Triplets / Eighth / Triplets / Dotted Eighth / Quarter / Half, Clock, Preset 1-3, AUX Footswitch (Tap-Tempo / Max Feedback / Presets), On/Off Footswitch.

To make up for the lack of a Volume knob - you have Alt ...

This has turned out to be the largest category for 2025 with 38 pedals in this selection. As I favour those pedals that I own first, and then the more pedalboard-friendly editions - inevitably there would be some casualties for the year. With the most significant of those being the larger format Meris Enzo X, and the Polyend MESS Multi-Effect Step Sequencer. I know there are some who favour each of those - but they just aren’t targets for me personally.

 I always talk about having a lane - ...

EHX’s latest Mini / Pico pedal is he fairly unique Atomic Cluster - which with Speed and Atoms knobs fully clockwise gives you a full resolution rendering of your Dry Signal - but lower the output resolution when you crank both this knobs counter clockwise. Essentially lowering the output frequency resolution!

The right-hand Atoms knobs breaks the signal frequencies down into lower resolution oscillations - where you get a fairly acute ’mangling’ counter clockwise - with the signal’s ...

Kinotone’s Jaak Jenson is proving to be one of the finest sound engineers of his generation - with a trio now of killer unique pedals.

I wasn’t sure how I would deploy the Ribbons in my chain - so that one’s still on the ’maybe’ list - lots of my friends really love it, and use it for all kinds of things - while I’m still seeking a proper connection there.

I did get the Sparks Harmonic Processor - or Stereo Overdrive + State Variable Filter + Wavefolder. I mostly got that one because of...

So the latest Poly Effects Trails Pedal is a slight departure from the norm - part of the same series obviously as the Flat-V, Verbs and Ample - while those are larger collections of themed algorithms - grouped together in multiples of 8.

For the Trails - there are simply just 8 effects in total, with the 8th being an 8-Step Sequencer.

As before - I’ve tried to cram all the essentials into one infographic visual that explains it all - most of the pertinent details are on the visual - ...

I have long admired Gamechanger Audio - they are proper pioneers of the scene, while not all their pedals have been practically usable for me for a variety reasons - but mostly to do with size. The one pedal I have to-date is the limited yellow edition of Jack White’s Plasma Coils Distortion / Fuzzstortion - which sounds amazing - and runs just a little over-sized - while by a country mile the smallest of the Gamechanger pedals so far. Most of the Gamechanger pedals are just way too big to be ...

It’s about time I did a rundown on my MXR Pedals - where this episode was mostly triggered by the arrival of the Bass Synth - where I landed one of the first examples of those to land in the UK, landed with me on July 4th. I was doing some brand research on Reverb.com and I serendipitously came across the one pedal that had made it to Coda Music. It was already in someone’s cart - but evidently I completed the transaction quicker and it was mine.

I’ve adde 6 MXR’s to the collection this ...