Probably the strongest selection of the year - each one of these is amazing and sounds killer. But then agin similar was true of the Overdrives. I’m very much a fuzz fanatic - so his selection has to take the edge - what a selection!

This selection includes 3 from EarthQuaker Devices, 2 from Drunk Beaver, 2 from Fjord Fuzz, and 2 from ThorpyFX.

It also includes the likely pedal of the year - within a selection of 10 award winners here - these are so good - I could have labelled even ...

And so onto the Distortions of the year - the smallest group stage this year! There’s no particular logic as to why there are just 20 Disortions this year. There were a further couple of acquisitions that I was disappointed with - and I deliberately left out of this selection. It’s mostly a case of what appeals each year - and evidently there weren’t that many appealing ones beyond those I acquired. I’m not aware of any particular ones that are still in the wind. The last one in was the ...

36 outstanding Boost and Overdrive pedals  featured here in various sizes - 35 of which are already in the reference collection - with the Superlunar SR-01 the last remaining straggler!

The rules of the game are that I can only finally recommend pedals that I own and have lived with, while I can also feature a few other intended targets in the overview which I fully intend to acquire (like the Superlunar SR-01) - but those can’t feature in the final rankings. So there is only one remaining ...

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 ...

The Mariupol Jazz Preamp is a noise-free, high-fidelity reimagining of the legendary Roland Jazz Chorus preamp section, specifically targeting the op-amp topology found in the stereo JC-77 and the James Hetfield-approved JC-120H head.

While the original amps are iconic, they are a family of varied designs; we (Vitalii) focused on perfecting the op-amp architecture by completely redesigning the circuit for the modern era. To eliminate the noise floor inherent in the vintage units, we ...

The Drunk Beaver Rat-into-Muff Disambiguation first materialised as a 3-knob type back in 2021 - simply with Distortion, Level, and Tone controls - and an intriguing cool militaristic army green enclosure with black pistol graphic.

I always liked that version - but at times it could be a little muddy, and I sometime felt it could have done with a bit more volume. Which is a large part of what is new in the V2!

We now get 5 Controls - with the same core 3 controls - here named Tone, Gain...

Someone asked me earlier this week if all Drunk Beaver pedals are this high quality - as he had acquired he Irpin from my influence, and was really liking it so far. I would say all Drunk Beaver pedals are of he highest quality - as you can see by the nature and neatness of their circuitboards - which I fully display for every pedal - GPX is a fanatic archive for Drunk Beaver pedals and there are over 60 Drunk Beaver articles on the site!

It has to be noted hat Drunk Beaver has 3 different ...

Drunk Beaver’s Vitalii - has done an amazing technological evolution here - where he splits out the Fuzz and Boost - and assigns them via Multi-Mode Footswitches and LEDs.

Vitalii’s switching systems allows you to switch between  5 functions with just 2 footswitches.

So we have 2 footswitches and 2 bicolor indicator LEDs:

RIGHT LED - indicates effects status :

• Red - Boost on
• Blue - Fuzz on
• Purple - Boost + Fuzz on

LEFT LED - is thefuzz EQ mode indicator, always on :

• Red -

Another super busy month - where the lack of a holiday is really starting to impact my wellbeing - as I’m about as shattered and burned out as is possible without going entirely into meltdown - I’m teetering on the edge!

Here follow the highlights of the month - which I normally try to limit to around 10 elements - but stand at 12 for September. No show or onside attendances this month - while plenty of other activities - and some killer releases of course!

• Jo Quail @ the Roland Store,