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 ...

What we have here is a killer Trifecta of potent shoegazer-enhanced compact editions - where two of them are fully Stereo capable.

Conventional wisdom would decree the order of : Treble Overload > Moonbeam Phaser > Dream Station.

While for shoegazer optimisation you need to reverse the order and put the reverb at the front of the chain - as several demoers have done below. I quite like Ian Pritchard’s setup too - with the Dream Station in the middle, and Thee Treble Overlaod in front! ...

Set up by 2 former Gamechanger Audio alumni - Toms Lazdovskis and Matiss Tazans - with a Team steeped in Darkglass Electronics / Neural DSP and Marshall.

The pedigree and provenance is pretty clear here, and Menha.Works have understandably come up with an ulra modern killer aesthetic for heir very unique new Monk Echo + Reverb. The Monk Echo is inspired by  Baltic Choirs and Mystical Spiritual Spaces.

Apart from the gorgeous design here, the Monk Echo has a unique Human Formant Voicing ...

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 ...

At its core this is a PT2399 modulated delay - which is operating well beyond its core abilities - and thus delivering those cool quirky flavours at the edges of its normal output. Empty Head’s Nic has really pushed the envelope here to create a unique character delay with a deformed downward pitch effect - which sounds like you’ve been gripped by gravity - for that falling feeling.

Nic has described tis pedal as "A study in using the dynamics of your input / pick attack to self modulate ...

This was a strange one for me - not that JHS and Jack White collaborated on a Mic Delay - with Mic Preamp and Balanced XLR Out. But the fact that the vast majority of demos use this as a standard stompbox / pedalboard delay. If I were Black Mountain - who just recently had the Jack White Roto Echo Delay out - in their shoes I would be a little peeved.

As the JHS one - which is principally designed for Jack WHite’s Microphone - is more being promoted as a general delay - in direct ...

The Splinter Twin reminds me a touch of the Fjord Fuzz Loke, and Spaceman Effects Meridian - but with quite a few more bells and whistles, and variations onboard.

I simply just watched Ryan Burke’s video - and got instantly smitten, This to my mind is one of he most unusual Delay Line Modulators / Manipulators I’ve seen to date. Cosmodio talks of the Splinter Twin as being a Time Modulator - and Time is obviously the most significant control on the pedal!

"The Splinter Twin Time ...

So when I first reviewed these two superb specimens from Colortone Pedals I advocated for Smarter Preset Switching - via a combined press on the two footswitches - as several pedals do - and AD has now programmed that to perfection - so you can scroll through the presets with the 2 footswitches - changing things up wholly on-the-fly - for a much more dynamic live performance.

I also noted that the output could at times be somewhat dense and intense - and could do with Lightening Up and ...

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 ...