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2023 Best New Distortion Pedals of the Year

Bardic Audio DevicesBest in ClassBrown Sound DistortionDistortionDriveDrive WorkstationDrunk BeaverDSM & HumboldtDual-DriveEarthQuaker DevicesElectric Eye AudioEmpress EffectsFairfield CircuitryFortin AmpsFunny Little BoxesHoopla PedalsIntensive Care AudioLaowizMarshall Style DistortionMessiah GuitarsMetal DistortionMulti-DrivePedalPalFXSua DevicesTWA EffectsUAFXUniversal AudioVemuram+-
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A decent showing on the Distortion side too - with some particularly great High Gain Distortions. I was due to review the Licthlaerm Gehenna and Medusa also - but with Daniel Ringl’s workshop move - that didn’t quite get sorted this year - hopefully early in the new year - and then I can update the ’Full Metal Racket’ selection which exercise I normally do late Autumn!

 

There’s couple of really cool filter distortions here that I really like - the Intensive Care Audio Vena Cava Filter / ...

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7 Limited Blackout Black Friday Pedals for 2023 - 6 part of Reverb.com's Blacked Out Series, 5 of which are brand new, plus Beetronics Blackout Nectar!

Analog DelayBeetronics FXBlender and MixerBoost and OverdriveChorus and VibratoDeath By AudioDelayDelay WorkstationDigital DelayDigital ReverbDistortionEarthQuaker DevicesFuzzJHS PedalsLine 6LooperOddball DelayOld Blood Noise EndeavorsPhaserReverbReverb WorkstationTalk Box and VocoderWalrus Audio+-
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So back in 2019 - Reverb.com coordinated Black Friday Limited Blacked Out Editions across 17 Brands and 19 Pedals - and by and large it was a resounding success - a lot of those sold out very quickly - and overall pretty much every special pedal maid was sold in fairly short order.

 

I always thought it a little surprising that this exercise wasn’t repeated more often as I kind of expected it to be an annual or biennial thing following on from the 2019 event. While we’ve had to wait 4 years ...

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2023-GPX-EQD-Zoar-Distortion-700.jpg

I’m a huge fan of discrete gain circuits - which go all the way back to the earliest of fuzzes - where each transistor represents a gain / breakup stage, and then you can cascade those up from 2 to 3, 4, 6 and more - as is the case with the key vintage fuzz circuits.

 

You get a really cool sear and sizzle this - way with proper amp-like breakup - where of course transistors came to be replacements for the earlier tubes / valves, which then later evolved into integrated circuit chips and ...

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2023 August Pedal-Chain Update - Episode VIII - Sailing High

Acorn AmpsBoostBoost and OverdriveDistortionDriveDrunk BeaverEarthQuaker DevicesFlangerFuzzFuzz Face Style FuzzGermanium FuzzHello Sailor EffectsMarshall Style DistortionMetal DistortionModulationOctave FuzzOddball FuzzOverdrivePastFXPedal ChainPitch-ShiftingPreAmprnrmf guitarworksTark AudioThorpyFXUni-Vibe and Vibe+-
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August should have been more celebratory really considering the grand achievement of at last getting to 10,000 followers on Instagram. There’s a few shining lights among you that acknowledged and responded to my Crossing The Rubicon Post - while all too few have really thus far - where the overall response from everyone has been rather muted and somewhat underwhelming really.

 

In fact overall August has been kind of a month of disappointments. My ’Best of British’ article seemed to have been...

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Personal Uni-Vibe Capsule Collection is up to 14

Colortone PedalsDigiTechDryBell EffectsEarthQuaker DevicesFjord FuzzFlower PedalsFormula B PedalsHorrothia EffectsJHS PedalsModulationMXRRitual DevicesThorpyFXTru-Fi Guitar EffectsUni-Vibe and Vibe+-
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This year has seen a number of additions to my Uni-Vibe roster - where 9 of the 14 featured here are proper bulb / photocell varieties - indicated by the bulb icon. Some of these have Uni-Vibe as secondary voices, and some are very slightly adjacent or produce Uni-Vibe tones via other means.

 

New additions this year have been the Colortone Roundhouse, EQD The Depths, Fjord Fuzz Njord, Formula B Vintage-Vibe, ThorpyFX ER-2, and and Tru-Fi Ghost Vibe. For the longest time I just had 2 Uni-...

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2023-GPX-EQD-Ledges-Reverb-700.jpg

The ’Ledges’ moniker is kind of derived from the fact that each of the 3 Reverb modes kind of extend one on top of each other - meaning that the Longest setting of Room is equivalent to the Shortest setting of Hall, which then extends into Plate at its extreme.

 

So you go from short sharp 80’s slapback reverb through to big boomy cathedral and cavernous styles.

 

If you check back to the Aurelius Chorus you can see that the topology here is identical - essentially with 3 Modes, 3 main ...

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16 of the most notable 'Bread & Butter' Pedals!

Analog DelayAnalog.ManBehringerBig Muff Style FuzzBlues Breaker Style OverdriveBoostBoost and OverdriveBossCompressorDelayDistortionDriveDual-DriveEarthQuaker DevicesElectro-HarmonixFulltone EffectsFuzzFuzz Face Style FuzzFuzz-Drive and FuzzstortionGermanium FuzzGreer AmpsGuitar Pedal 101IbanezIconic GearJHS PedalsKeeley EngineeringKlone and Transparent OverdriveLooperMXROCD Style OverdriveOrigin EffectsOverdriveSilicon FuzzSuper-Fuzz StyleTC ElectronicThorpyFXTubescreamer Style OverdriveUtilityXotic EffectsZvex+-
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I’m expecting this post to attract a lot of ’whataboutisms’ as many of my rundowns seem to do. While every single choice / selection here is well considered, pondered upon on and properly weighted up against pertinent criteria and then further rationalised, whittled and distilled down into a top 9 or 16 or 25 - as I always favour symmetrical grids.

 

If I find 18 or 19 suitable candidates - then only 16 can be featured on the grid etc. - you need to draw the line somewhere. And you can also ...

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Distinct, Memorable and Instantly Brand-Identifiable Compact Pedal Enclosures Part 2 - Trade Dress Edition

Alexander PedalsAnimals PedalBJFEBlackhawk AmplifiersColortone PedalsDeath By AudioDemedash EffectsDiamond PedalsEarthQuaker DevicesFlower PedalsGuitar Gear Improvements and PrototypesGuitar Gear ResourcesGuitar Pedal 101GuitarSystemsIconic GearJackson AudioJAM PedalsJHS PedalsMu-TronOrigin EffectsPettyjohn ElectronicsSitek Guitar ElectronicsSpaceman EffectsTanabeTru-Fi Guitar EffectsVFE PedalsWalrus AudioZander CircuitryZvex+-
2023-GPX-Compact-Pedal-Shapes-PT2-700.jpg

So this is the second of this series - where the first was more about the uniqueness of the enclosure shape - more structural really - covering the overall form factor. While this edition is more about ’Trade Dress’ or the Memorability of the Aesthetics - style of graphics, consistency of theme, and consistency of control topology - doing something in a consistently measurable way that makes that pedal instantly recognisable from afar as belonging to a certain single brand.

 

So this one is ...

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Pedal Design 101 - Further thoughts on Stompbox Footswitches

Alpha ElectronicEarthQuaker DevicesGørvaGuitar Gear Improvements and PrototypesGuitar Pedal 101GuitarSystemsHorrothia EffectsNeural DSPTC ElectronicTheGigRigVahlbruch FX+-
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I’ve championed various causes over the years - including ongoingly encouraging brands to evolve their own style of knobs - to help distinguish and differentiate themselves from the myriad alternatives. As a component - knobs are highly visual and can really lend a certain look or aspect of quality to a pedal. Generally Milled Aluminium or Sculpted Ceramic Knobs are top of that pack - and yet 99% of brands use a handful of very ubiquitous and commonplace designs.

 

Far less visible - as much ...

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2023-GPX-EQD-Disasterr-Transport-Reissue-700.jpg

Those eagle-eyed among you will already have seen a specialist release of this pedal in the USA - as a signature pedal for multi-talented artist Pieter ’Parra’ Janssen who also did the colourful artwork for that pedal (pictured further below). While in Europe and the rest of the World we’re getting the new Standard edition - which essentially flips the original pedal onto its side and adds a couple of extra switch options.

 

Disaster Transport Timeline

  • 2007 original Disaster Transport
...
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