A super busy month - with plenty of highlights and heatwaves.

My house is finally cooling down as I write these last few observations - we’ve had around 10 days of oppressive heat now, and there’s another wave on the way at the end of this week - which makes for very difficult conditions to have sessions with said pedals.

We’re in the final consequence of global climate change now - with increasingly more extreme weather patterns occurring - alternately cold snaps, heatwaves, and torrential ...

Not again you say - not another bloomin’ Screamer or Klone - nay - both says I! And rather terrific each of those two are - like a sort of special forces variant - think the SAS of Screamer and Klon - precisions honed and primed for every eventuality!

This pedal came about through Matt Webster of ’Let’s Play All’ fame, where JSA Effects Simon had made him two of his favourite ever boost / overdrive pedals - one a modified take on the Klone, and the other based on the Screamer. It was ...

At one stage there was a 50/50 chance as to whether I would make the show - as there were significant disruptions on the Liverpool Street to Norwich line - which meant a bus replacement service between Colchester and Ipswich. Some of the journey times quoted were up to 4 and a 1/2 hours each way! In the end the door-to-door was closer to 3 hours in total! The journey up including the coach was actually more fun that the journey back via Cambridge. Cambridge has obviously sinned grievously as ...

Another fantastic show in an amazing venue - and the weather gods definitely smiled on us!

Congratulations to Ross on another supremely smooth show - wish that it’s duration could be a little more extended - as it’s a struggle to get around all the stands in the time available.

This year’s show was a little beset by fall-outs - as initially Boss and HiWatt withdrew from the roster - which was great news for my friends Ian from Gigahearts and Stephen from Northern Stompboxes - as those were ...

Andy thought he had long since sold out of the Limited Edition Skeleton Keys as not many were made, but rummaging through his storeroom before the Birmingham show he managed to uncover a handful of unsold ones - which he then brought to the show with him. It was the only one of his pedals I did not yet have, as we’re still waiting on some of the components to come through for the new Treasure Island pedal.

I arrived at the Funny Little Boxes stand - with the intention of picking up a ...

Hearty congratulations to showrunner Jason Hunt for the most successful show day to date - with 3,000 visitors through the doors on the Saturday alone! The queue was already massive and nearly the whole length of the building when I arrived at 09:30.

It’s always good to attend on the first day - especially if you want to be sure of grabbing the best looking of the new releases - and particularly the one-offs on the Hello Sailor Effects stand!

This was another great show for me - with ...

So what we have here is essentially Matt Webster’s 2 favourite overdrive / boost pedals - which were originall made by Simon of JSA Effects. These are modified editions of Tube Screamer and Klone circuits, and have been combined here for the first time in a singularly potent pedal.

I actually have a few Klone-Screamer types including the Anasounds Sandman - which is a long-term favourite of mine.

This Treasure Chest is adjacent to the Sandman, while with the help of Marc from SoundLad ...

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 ...

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 ...