January has been a bumper start for the year - with lots of killer arrivals - especially the DSM & Humboldt Dumblifier which I’ve been hugely impressed with.

Also my most formidable NAMM coverage to-date - where I only started work properly on the 8th of January - but have managed to do 60 articles since that time - which is a record of course, as is the week of 20 posts.

I feel I covered all the key moments - and mixed up new and old in my usual inimitable fashion.

There was ...

As we’ve seen with Tone King sharing Friedman’s IR Tube Preamp Platform for its two floor-based-amps, we now get 2 different roll-outs of Synergy’s Machine Learning Power Amp Platform for 2 very different audiences. With a full-fat Amp-top / Rack unit for Friedman, and a more compact floor-based Pedal unit for Wampler. 

The Friedman IR-Load is the all-singing and dancing unit - with a much higher power load - which David says should work for amps of up to 200W. The genius of this solution ...

New Pedals in the Class of 2025 Pedal-Chain Snapshot = 41

[OCTOBER]  = 9

[NOVEMBER] = 6

[MARCH] = 5

[SEPTEMBER] = 5

[AUGUST] = 4

[JANUARY] = 3

[FEBRUARY]  = 3

[APRIL] = 2

[JUNE] = 2

[MAY] = 1

[JULY] = 1

[A-Z by Brand]

1. Becos FX CompIQ Pro Yuna Soft Knee Blackmer VCA Studio Style Compressor [SEPTEMBER]
2. Blue Colander Grimrobe Dual Cascaded Super Rat [OCTOBER]
3. Blue FX Devices Fuzz Fields Ultimate Modulated Fuzz [SEPTEMBER]
4. Boss RT-2 Rotary Ensemble Leslie / Rotary Speaker

And here we have the GRAND FINAL- with all 36 Award Winners from the Group Stages - across all 5 categories!

The first two places have kind of been obvious for a while, where the 3rd / BRONZE position was actually the hardest to decide on - it was between the eventual recipient - the Tubesteader Gainlord, Boss’s XS-100 Poly Shifter, Blue FX Devices Fuzz Fields and Gamechanger’s Motor Synth - all of whom would have been worthy runners-up - while in the end I went for the one that overall ...

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 ...

I’m a huge fan of Brian Wampler - the persona, and the ’King of Drive’ as I call him! Some say Nick Greer is the King of Drive - but for me it’s always been Brian! They both have very different approaches - Nick leans into the simplified 3-knob format, while Brian is more about expanded features and extended range pedals. This is in fact my 20th Wampler Pedal - while I had to order it in from Thomann, as none of the UK dealers have those in stock - and Andertons is reporting that it will only ...

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...

So I’ve actually long favoured Wampler’s Mini Compressors. As the original Mini EGO was on the board for a good couple of years or so - before I upgraded to more granular and extended range varieties. The  Mini EGO followed on from the Modified Xotic Effects SP Compressor - and for sure I preferred the Mini EGO at that time - and it served me well. Its controls are somewhat different - Blend, Sustain, Tone Switch, Volume, Attack Switch. With a 3-way Tone control essentially in place of a 3-Way ...

Another super busy month - where the lack of a holiday is really starting to impact my wellbeing - as I’m about as shattered and burned out as is possible without going entirely into meltdown - I’m teetering on the edge!

Here follow the highlights of the month - which I normally try to limit to around 10 elements - but stand at 12 for September. No show or onside attendances this month - while plenty of other activities - and some killer releases of course!

• Jo Quail @ the Roland Store,