So right at the end of last month Rob Chapman posted up a YouTube video of a rundown of his all-time favourite guitar pedals. He initially states he’s going to name his 10 most favoured ones - but goes on to mention 20 - which I’ve fully included here.

Rob has a great ear for tone - as countless of his own and Anderton’s videos have proven time and time again. And I really love his everyman approach to guitar gear. I’ve encountered him in person 2 or 3 times now over the years - and he’s ...

When I first started doing the visual for this I thought I had amassed 10 Beetronics pedals to date - but it turns I’m one short of that milestone - it still kind of made sense to mark the occasion of the Custom Shop Nectar’s arrival - which is probably my favourite Custom Shop edition to date. I had to wade through 3 batches to pick out that one - I wanted metal knobs - and a pinkish hue to the core - and the one pictured really captured my imagination. I quite liked my SeaBee at the time of ...

An introduction to and overview of the Flattley Boutique Effects Family Business run by Paul, Jan and Phoebe. How it all started, what were the original pedals created, which are the perennial bestsellers and how the business has evolved.

Jacques Stompboxes was one of the very first of the French pedal builders to gain major international recognition and traction, while it’s a little under the radar for many these days - so I decided I needed to shine a light and bring some much needed focus back on this legendary French brand!

Jacques Charbit - from whom Jacques Stompboxes gets its name - first took up the soldering iron and started messing around with electronics as a teenager in the 70’s. As a result of his early ...

^ 2022 Final Arrangement - December

So the time has come again to to the final reckoning of the layout and composition of this year’s ultimate pedal chain arrangement. I’ve introduced a new ’⚓’ symbol into the visual - which indicates those Slots / Pedals that are unchanged from last year’s Class of 2021 arrangement. That element really is testament to how much has changed between years. It’s also indicative of how much I love those particular pedals - and pretty much find them ...

Another healthy selection - Modutility covering Modulation, Pitch and Utility pedal categories - for one of the strongest selection to date. Some of the pedals here are truly stellar, and I have a little over half here already in the collection.

I’m unlikely to ever get all the pedals featured here, but there are several already earmarked for acquisition in 2023 - with the Eventide H90 at the top of that list.

The ones I don’t yet own, or may never own even - include :

• Chase Bliss

This month’s sub-title comes from the fact that I’ve been spending a lot of times with loopers these days. Of course the Boss RC-600 is a massive ongoing project for me - where most of the early elements are falling into place nicely now - more of that later. While I’ve often had a mini ’Tweaker Looper’ right at the front of the chain - to use for when I’m dialling in new pedals. You can just record and play back a suitable riff - so that you can concentrate on getting the knobs and switches ...

As a long-term user and fan of Eventide’s H9 Max, the H90 Harmonizer has been something we have all been clamouring for - for a very long time. There is much to recommend the H9 - but its on-pedal interface has always been somewhat feeble, and without the superb Bluetooth connected App the pedal wouldn’t really have been particularly usable.

Multitudes of us have been asking for a better and more intuitive interface - with more meaningful screen display. And Eventide have really pulled out ...

Beetronics mines the same superb creative furrow that yielded its Swarm Fuzz Harmonizer a couple of years ago. And I would advise that anyone that did not particularly get on with that - then this Zzombee is unlikely to be a suitable pedal for you.

For those of us who loved the Swarm - like myself - it’s actually my favourite PLL pedal - then the Zzombee is more of that same sort of otherworldly soundstage explorer - where this has even more sounds and textures onboard.

I think I will ...