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 ...

Readers should know that I’ve long lauded Lichtlaerm’s previously High Gain Trifecta - the Altar, Gehenna, and Medusa. And now we have the 4th killer compact candidate to join that elite!

I believe the first batch (which sold out very quickly!) was only available on the EvilGreed.Com Webstore - while the second batch is more widely available, including at Joe’s Pedals in the UK - where indeed I got mine from.

Lennart Bossu, of Amenra, Living Gate, Oathbreaker and Predatory Void bands - ...

So we’re at that time of year again for another Full Metal Racket Rundown. I meant to have it coincide with halloween - but was so inundated with new releases work - that I really struggled to fit this one in. And it now appears a month later than I wanted it to - but still very much at the appropriate end of the year!

As is ever the case - this selection continues to evolve over the years - and inevitably some previous candidates get bounced for more impressive newer variants.

For this...

My Klon/Klone journey started in December of 2016 with the Wampler Tumnus Mini - very near the start of my overall pedal journey - so very much in the first 50 pedals I acquired. That pedal had emerged a year earlier (2015) - and players were loving it for the extra bass / oomph it has in its low end. The Mini Tumnus is often selected as the favourite in Blind Tests - and has won a few of those Andertons rundowns.

It took me a while to run across my favourite Mini Klone - the Decibelics ...

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.

It’s 5 years now since I covered Lichtlaeerm Audio’s original trio - the Altar, Gehenna, and Trugbild. Not so long after that article - Lichtlaerm went on hiatus for a few years - but then came back stronger and much improved - where we have had a few iterations of Altar and Gehenna in the meantime - but up until now - no replacement for the Trugbild.

I had hoped to complete that trio - when I first featured them - but various happening obviously got in the way. So I’m delighted that I now ...

So I took a little bit of flack about the 4 of a kind noise gates I included in that feature. It was really just a matter of the first 4 I came across that fit the pattern - I did not do any extra curation for that selection - simply first come first serve. Inevitably I left out some killer ones - which I make amends for by including the largest possible selection of high quality compact noise gates in his very article - including my current incumbent - Alchemy Audio Modded Boss NS-2 - which ...

All 4 of these are One-Knob 4-cable / 4-port Noise Gates - where you can place all your ’noisy’ pedals in an FX Loop, and allow your other effects to pass through unaffected. I feel Boss pioneered this approach first with its 3-knob NS-2 from 1987 while there may have been someone before then which I don’t have any references for!- while I still rely on my Alchemy Audio Modded NS-2 Noise Suppressor - which has been firmly lodged in my rig / signal chain almost from the start - probably my ...