The original BigSky was a total game-changer in 2013 and ushered in the era of pristine pro studio level reverb workstation pedals. When I got stuck into pedals properly around 10 years ago, the Strymon Stryfecta of BigSky, Mobius and Timeline was one of the first major investments I made!

Since then I’ve had a number of different Reverb Workstations (around a dozen) on that particular #41 slot (I love and retain all of those) - which slot is currently fabulously occupied by the Poly Verbs ...

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. ...

So I’ve kind of left the best to last! All 4 ALABS Audio Adam Adventures Series pedals are amazing, and particularly for the price. I note that the TimeSlip and Cetus have moved up $10 to the same price point as the Orbital - or $109.99 vs $99.99 - but they’re really worth it at twice the price even!

Someone commented the these were Walrus Audio levels of production and packaging - but with JHS 3 Series pricing. I feel they’re going to be very hard to beat at that price point - and for me ...

It’s been quiet a while since Boss completed its Digital Delay Range Revamp with the DD-3T and DD-8 - back in September of 2019 - that selection is fully rounded and up-up-to-date still - with each of the 4 pedals at the top of its respective game - DD-3T, DD-8, DD-200, and DD-500!

We had to wait an age for the RV-200 to arrive - where the DD-200  was part of the original June 2019 200-Series quartet. The current generation of compact Boss Reverb is the RV-6 - which was released as long ago...

So 2024 is off to a pretty spirted start! I treaded myself to 2 pedals right at the tail end of the year - the Poly VERBS puts in an appearance in this month’s selection - while the Reeves Electro BHS-D is running a touch late and will be part of the February selection instead.

This time of the year has to be mostly about NAMM - while I feel that a lot of builders kind of took away from NAMM and launched / showcased their new release in advance!

I’ve still to make it to NAMM - timing’s ...

Like many I was entirely captivated by the Andertons demo of this pedal (as below) - and was fortunate to be quick enough off the mark to snag one of from the very first edition. My good friend Joe Halliday of Hello Sailor Effects obviously came across the demo just a little bit after me - as I surely snagged one of the last ones from that small initial Andertons batch. The fact that there is an Icelandic Space featured (my country of birth) on the VERBS - was also instrumental in my rapid ...

The final arrangement for the year - all the pedals that impressed the most!

So we featured 120 pedals across the 5 Genre categories this year - as you’ve witnessed over the last 5 days, and those have been whittled and distilled down to these 27 Magnificent and Exceedingly Flavoursome candidates.

Picking out the very best of those is obviously a slightly subjective exercise while based on a series of exacting criteria - including innovation, versatility, practicality, variability, playability, quality of manufacture, quality of output and sheer enjoyment.

Here ...

And so to the final category - where competition is extremely fierce this year. No doubt some of your favourites will have missed the cut here - but hopefully this selection is fully representative of the best of the year. Obvious I lean more towards immersive stereo effects - mono doesn’t really do it for me so much - while there is a smattering of mono pedals in here too. Price, format, versatility and practicality - everything counts!

Of the 23 featured in the selection - I own around ...