Everyone should be familiar with the MXR Rockman X100 Headphone Amp / Analog Tone Processor by now - which the MXR pedal of the same name is derived from. It was one of last year’s big releases - where I acquired mine back in March of that year.

But the XR100 was only one of several Tom Sholz signature devices. He made a far more expansive Rockman Sustainor Rack Unit - which is here in HTJ-Works’ beautifully streamlined 10-Controls HWS-100AS Sustainor PreAmp compact unit - which for me is ...

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

The blurb says something about the Pillbug being inspired by both the Boss CS-2 Compressions Sustainer, as well as the Ross Compressor - while those are 2 slightly different technologies - the first being a FET type, and the latter an OTA type. I’m guessing they mean that they have captured the warmth of the Boss CS-2 along with the added brightness of the Ross Compressor - which in turn was just 2 pars away from the MXR Dynacomp Compressor

• Pillbug Controls - Level, Attack, Sustain.
• CS-2

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 ...

My close association with Thorpy started back in late September of 2018 - at the now defunct Olympia UK Guitar Show. He was the first pedal maker I reached out to, and the first I connected with.

Since then ThorpyFX Pedals have become my 3rd most populous selection after Boss and Drunk Beaver. Those 3 brands alone contribute over 200 pedals to my reference collection!

The fact that I’m now at 31 ThorpyFX Pedals is a major milestone - and features every mainline MKII pedal Thorpy has made. ...

If you’re nervous about dipping your toes into compression - then the ThopryFX Fat General is the perfect vehicle for you!

It has 4 simple controls, and 2 simple modes - for ’Blend’ the Compression is ’Balanced’ in parallel with the Dry Signal right across the range, and for ’JUICY’ Mode you get full fat 90% Compo / 10% Dry  - where the ’Balance’ controls then acts as a master volume.

I tend to use Compressors fairly subtly - in a transparent fashion and mostly as boost-sustainers - ...

Orange has a new simplified compressor out - in mid-size enclosure - with the minimal perfect complement of just 4 controls - featuring essential Attack and Release controls - with Release somewhat oddly appearing first!

Controls - Volume, Compressions, Release, Attack.

This monochrome design is something of a departure from the Green, Orange and Peach of the previous Getaway Driver, Fur Coat Octave Fuzz, and indeed the aforementioned Kongpressor. That previous 5-knob format seems to be...

So I’ve had my eye on Ghost Note Audio for a while - where the main principal seems to be of Icelandic descent - his name - Valdemar Erlingsson is very Icelandic, and I see he’s been educated at the University of Iceland. Valdemar is usually written ’Valdimar’ but both are valid.

In any case - Valdemar has been delivering some killer pedals to-date - mostly of the larger preamp pedal variety - and all those are analog of course. I love how some of those sound - but consider them to be ...

So I’ve actually long favoured Wampler’s Mini Compressors. As the original Mini EGO was on the board for a good couple of years or so - before I upgraded to more granular and extended range varieties. The  Mini EGO followed on from the Modified Xotic Effects SP Compressor - and for sure I preferred the Mini EGO at that time - and it served me well. Its controls are somewhat different - Blend, Sustain, Tone Switch, Volume, Attack Switch. With a 3-way Tone control essentially in place of a 3-Way ...