So - quite the anomaly of an event for me.

The day didn’t start off well - as at Waterloo - I was unable to see any trains for Kempton Park on the board. A National Rail staff member then informed me there were no direct trains to Kempton Park on the day - owing to works and diversions.

I was advised to catch a train to New Malden and then swap onto the Kempton Park train. Only upon arrival in New Malden the duty staffer there told me there were no trains to Kempton Park - but there might be a ...

This Demon Fuzz is based on the simple One Knob + Boost Switch Muff Fuzz from 1969 - essentially a simplified 1-knob Big Muff.

I feel this is at least the 2md if not 3rd iteration of Tim’s Demon Fuzz - which has a Silicon / Germanium Push-Button on the left, and a Thick Mid-Scoop ’Doom’ Push-Button on the right.

I like the crunchier Clipping option - which I believe is the ↓ Silicon - it sounds amazing and textured  - while the more open and overdrive-y ↑ Germanium sounds excellent too....

So a quick second Woking Show in the same year - for reasons I will endeavour to explain. A bittersweet moment for me as I have really loved the Fiery Bird venue - it’s a great setting for these kinds of events - and so close to the town centre - just 5 minutes or so form the main Woking Train Station. The reason Jason brought the 2nd show forward is that the council has taken back the licence for the building - with a view to redeveloping the premises - so presumably demolition beckons - which...

If you didn’t make the first one - you really missed out! Check out my Inaugural Woking Show write-up to get a flavour of how good that first show was back in March - it genuinely had amazing vibes - in fact all the March shows - including The Birmingham Guitar Show and the London Synth and Pedal Expo - all had a really friendly and chilled ambience to them - and all three were a joy to navigate - where I often struggle to get around at the Birmingham show.

The Woking Boutique Guitar Show ...

The original 70’s Interfax Harmonic Percolator HP-1 came with Germanium Transistors, and indeed Fredric makes versions of those too - including its own compact Harmonic Percolator and larger extended format Utility Percolator. All 3 are available on the Fredric Effects Webstore. Both the compact percolators are £140 and equivalent - with the Utility Percolator a wee bit more at  £175.

As befits its silicon components - the Silicon Harmonic Percolator is a little more aggressive and muscular...

Brighton is normally one of the easiest shows to attend - usually just an hour Journey from London Victoria to Brighton Station. But on this day - when I got to Victoria - it had been announced that all trains to Brighton had been cancelled owing to a landslide near Purley.

I was initially advised to head for Hove instead (Littlehampton service) as the nearest destination to Brighton. I had arrived around 06:30 at Victoria with a view to catching the 06:59 train - which should have got me into ...

June was influenced by a few key events. Obviously the Leeds Pedal Show had a massive impact on me - and I picked up 9 pedals at that show - all excellent, and later picked up a Hudson Electronics AP-II Broadcast. So the reach of the Leeds Show has been massive - particularly the brace from Emmergy FX and SoundLad Liverpool. Then also my visit to good friends Hello Sailor Joe and Glyn - which resulted in a further brace of superior pedals, all featured on the blog this month.

So this article was inspired by the fairly recent Leeds Pedal Show attendance - where indeed I picked up a number of these. Namely - the Emmergy FX Slowdriver, Fredric Effect Demon Fuzz V2, Funny Little Booxes Caught By The Fuzz, and SoundLad Liverpool’s Hungry Beaver. I had also intended to pick up the Pyroglyphs and Flow Decoder from Tom @ Glowfly Pedals - while alas he had to cancel last minute as he had become quite ill.

The Buzzing Bugs BB02 and Demiurge Intsturments Chroma Drive I’ve ...

This was funnily something of af 2022 Stourbridge Pedal Expo Reunion of sorts - where Audiostorm, Bleak District Electric, Emmergy FX, Fredric Effects, and Goliath FX were all present at that inaugural Pedal Expo. There are marked similarities between the two venues and events - both are  similar sort of Mill House style building set within a kind of packing district and both relatively near to a waterway / canal. And both had a really friendly vibe to them. It’s incredible how far we’ve come ...