Welcome to the MusicRadar monthly gear round-up, a highlights package covering all of September’s hottest drops – the signature guitars, the signature stompboxes, and the metal guitars for when you have finally been admitted into the guild of Norwegian black metal practitioners.

This month has brought us – finally – a Phil Collen signature Jackson that is priced for the jobbing musician, with the PS1-E an Ensenada-made version of his Californian über-guitar that has all the bells and whistles, including the Def Leppard guitarist’s signature DiMarzio pickups and the active Sustainer system, but a distressed nitro finish, too.

Harley Benton took the opportunity to upgrade the SC-550 Plus with Fishman Fluence humbuckers, Positive Grid put the Spark and all its tones inside a pedal, and Boss unveiled the EX-4 Effects Expander and promised more from your pedalboard.

It was the month that brought us the Squier Paranormal Troy Van Leeuwen Tele XII, a pair of Gretsch guitars in limited edition black limba, and Tone3000 made its library of NAM A2 captures available via guitar plugin.

Meanwhile, PRS and John Mayer teamed up with Jaguar Land Rover for a limited run of Silver Skies finished in classic Defender paint jobs, Fender promised an end to single-coil hum, and Seymour Duncan’s Joe Bonamassa collab continued apace with the Pawn Shop Special P-90s. Also, in pickups, Gibson and Baggs heralded an all-new pickup system for acoustic guitars.

Speaking of which, lets kick things off with some high-end acoustic guitars. Because Taylor just expanded its Next Generation series…

Taylor Guitars Next Generation 12-Fret Grand Concerts

Those with a little cash to spare, a penchant for a smaller-bodied cutaway acoustic guitars and a taste for the finer things in life – like, say, the scent of immaculately polished sinker redwood – will fall head over heels in love this expansion of Taylor’s Next Generation lineup.

There are five models in total, including the 512ce, PS12ce, K22ce, 712ce plus the 12-string 552ce, each assuming the compact player-friendly dimensions of the Grand Concert, each offering a different take on what has become a real player’s favourite over the years.

You get all the high-end appointments of the Next Generation Series: the Claria electronics, the Action Control Neck and the scalloped V-Class bracing.

The $11,999 PS12ce 12-Fret is Taylor at its most ornate, complete with that aforementioned sinker redwood, and the more restrained builds we know and love, including that very tidy western cedar 512ce that offers a 100 per cent pro-quality instrument for $2,999.

Find out more at Taylor Guitars

Yamaha Matteo Mancuso Signature Revstar RS20MM

Matteo Mancuso’s meteoric rise has reminded anyone who needed reminding that Yamaha’s Revstar remains one of the finest guitar designs of the modern era.

His signature Revstar is based off his Custom Shop model, and features a pair of DiMarzio PAF Pro 36th Anniversary humbuckers, and offers players something a little different.

Just be warned: it won’t make the Sicilian virtuoso’s fingerstyle fusion approach any easier, but with that chambered mahogany body, topped with figured maple, a carbon-reinforced neck that’s glued to the body, and five-way switching to get the most out of those PAF Pros, it’s a lot of guitar for $1,599.

See Yamaha for more.

Yamaha FG/FS7 Series

This has been a big month for Yamaha. Don’t sleep on its F7 Series acoustic guitars.

They are made in Japan, have an exceptional all-solid build, with Sitka spruce on top, Indian rosewood or mahogany on the back and sides, and an understated aesthetic. The natural finish and clean lines belies the fact that playing a flagship Yamaha acoustic can be a revelatory experience.

For £/$1,999, they are a must-try for serious players and jobbing pros, with the series comprising dreadnought and concert-sized models.

Find out more at Yamaha.

Yamaha Pacifica Standard Plus colors

Rounding out the Yamaha launches, we have a round of fresh finishes for the for one of the all-time classic S-style workhorses. Now available in Sonic Blue, Ice Blue, Fired Red, and Tobacco Brown Sunburst.

Gibson DES Series

So this is what happens when the CEO learns how to make electric guitars? The former Gibson CEO now board member and artist ambassador Cesar Gueikian made it a priority in his time in charge of the Nashville-based guitar brand to learn the job from the shop floor up, stealing some time for himself on a Friday to head down to the Craftory in the company of master luthier and sensei Jim De Cola.

Much of being a CEO is about dealing with figures, making decisions that could affect people’s livelihoods. Making guitars was not that; it was a moment’s relief, and the guitars he made have been played by the likes of Billy Gibbons and Kirk Hammett.

Gueikian did tell us we might see his builds for sale one day, and the DES (his motto, “Do epic shit”) Collection is a super limited run that sports the Ghost Burst finish that he developed – and Tool’s Adam Jones named.

The range comprises a Flying V, SG, Les Paul, and Victory, and is all but sold out. But here’s hoping we see this finish again – and this DES aesthetic and spec – now that it is officially a thing. Gibson’s new Alnico VIII Elev8 humbuckers come as standard, compound radius ebony fingerboards. A portion of the proceeds goes to Gibson Gives.

Find out more at Gibson.

Strandberg Boden Essential Tremolo

Every now and again a guitar brand comes along that can claim the revolutionary tag, and Strandberg, this pioneer for neo-headless guitar designs – catnip to the prog-metal and math-rock set – is one of them.

Its latest is a $1,099 version of its flagship model now comes with the Arc TILT tremolo unit, and it is still super lightweight and has that ergonomic neck profile that’s approved by the likes of Plini et al. See Strandberg for more.

See Strandberg for more.

ESP/LTD Black Metal

ESP’s refresh of the LTD Black Metal series introduces a little red to the colour scheme with this new Black Red Burst finish – in satin, presumably because it’s borderline homophonic with Satan, and he/she/it is the core demographic for a shreddable über-metal build that houses a single Seymour Duncan MortalCoil at the bridge position. Just one pickup? Ah, don’t worry, it’s got multi-voices.

The M-7HT seven-string baritone with the reverse headstock is using one of those voices to speak to us. You’ll have to play us backwards to reveal what that message is, but it’s something along the lines of !em yuB !em yuB.

See ESP Guitars for more.

Reverend Billy Corgan Infinite Sadness

Everyone flipped their wig when they saw Billy Corgan play one of these live onstage at Lollapalooza and now Reverend has released the Infinite Sadness – in very small quantities – to mark the 30th anniversary of the Smashing Pumpkins’ most audaciously massive album.

Available in baritone or regular six-strings, these look exceptional in Black Sparkle, especially with that graphic finish. And although they are limited edition, they are affordable.

See Reverend Guitars for more – and good luck finding one.

Sterling By Music Man Cory Wong StingRay II

Finally, the affordable SBMM version of the funk-master’s humbucker-equipped signature model has arrived. We could tell you more about why the Vulfpeck guitarist went for humbuckers, but Cory Wong already told MusicRadar all about it – and what the StingRay II can give him that his Strat can’t.

Guild Starfire 2026 lineup

A semi-hollow Starfire is a wonderful thing indeed, and Guild has just dropped a whole bunch of them. There is a four-string bass version. There is a single-cut, a Deluxe, a Custom. Some have Guild’s Bigsby-esque vibrato. Others have their TOM-style bridge and tailpiece.

There are 17 of them and in some stunning finishes. This being a Newark St release, the price tag is pretty reasonable.

Check them out at Guild.

Fender Lee Sklar Precision Bass

It’s not uncommon for session aces to modify their number one instrument over the years, adding features, taking some away, knowing what works for the widest variety of musical scenarios, and that’s how Lee Sklar ended up with the Precision Bass on which this new signature model is based on.

It’s not your typical P Bass. There are mandolin frets, a pair of active EMGs, a Hipshot BT3 Bass Xtender and a Badass II bridge, and perhaps the most important feature is one you’ll only notice when you pick it up. It has the neck of a “shaved down” Jazz Bass. Wild.

See Fender for more.

Gibson Custom Artisan Hummingbird and SJ-200 Koa

The Artisan Series is not so much end-of-the-month, let’s blow the paycheck kind of proposition. It’s more a blow-the-retirement instrument, but what a way to spend it.

Here the Hummingbird and SJ-200 are giving a bougie koa makeover and we can well believe that those open chords will never have sounded sweet on them.

See Gibson for more.

Vox AC Mini

If the Vox AC30 and AC15 could get you evicted if you were to open them up and throttle them in a domestic setting, perhaps applying a Dallas Rangemaster to the front end to live out your Rory Gallagher/Brian May fantasies, then consider the AC Mini the solid-state compact powerhouse you can crank up at home, and still have a roof over your head the following morning.

See Vox Amplification for more.

Two Notes Engineering Torpedo Captor X Pro

Two Notes’ latest flagship reactive load box, passive attenuator, stereo DI and all-round backline power tool was co-developed with Ampete Engineering and antes up what was already a fully featured proposition.

Those features translate to usefulness. You can use the Torpedo Captor X Pro for “studio-grade” direct recording, taming a fire-breathing tube amp and adjusting its feel, resonance and attack, and with all the key parameters adjustable via the front panel – the centre of which is an easy-to-read colour display – and the accompanying Torpedo app, Two Notes gives you total control over the unit, and, ergo, your backline.

Find out more at Two Notes Engineering.

HeadRush FRFR Cab Series

HeadRush has been building out its digital tone ecosystem nicely, with the latest Core, Prime and Prime Flex guitar multi-effects pedals and amp modellers now offering native support for Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) captures and full integration with the Tone3000 platform. Well, you need something to play these units through, and so these new FRFR Cab Series Speakers might do the trick nicely – and they’re only 399 bucks or so.

See HeadRush for more.

Strymon La Brea

Strymon’s analogue project has already chalked up some stone-cold classics. The Canoga Fuzz is one of the best things we’ve had on the pedalboard this year. The Fairfax was, surely, impossible not to love.

And now this, the La Brea, or just La Brea, a pedal inspired by the development of the Deco tape saturation and double-tracker, which offers you compression and saturated drive, all the way up to fuzz sounds.

Check the sound samples in the demo above. We need to try this one quick.

See Strymon for more.

Fortin 3.33 Fredrik Thordendal signature dual channel boost pedal

Everyone loves ‘the ultimate whatever.’ It’s what we’re all searching for. The ultimate overdrive. The ultimate fuzz. The ultimate moderately powered tube combo with real spring reverb. And so on.

Well, the sequel to Fredrik Thordendal of Meshuggah’s signature Fortin boost pedal might just be one of the ultimate boost for high-gain metal players. It can even change the channels on your amp, and will help shape your sound so that riffs cause maximum damage.

See Fortin for more.

JAM Pedals Wahcko MK2

We lose our minds about vintage gear but what would players in the late ‘60s and ‘70s have done to have one of these on their ‘boards. Chances are, it might sound quite similar to the units they’ve been using, with Jam developing an inductor inspired by the OG TDK inductors in ‘60s Vox wah pedals.

But you’ve got some modern updates, with a six-way adjustable sweep and input gain control. And the enclosure design is very cool.

See Jam Pedals for more.

Flattley Reaper 10th anniversary Dual Mode Distortion

The Golden Age of Effects Pedals is a time of great abundance. Who can remember every drive and distortion pedal that came over the transom? But wait, didn’t Flattley already make a Reaper?

Well, yes, it did, and this 10th anniversary reimagining of the concept swaps out the old rotary control, retains the op-amp architecture, then adds soft and hard-clipping, and a boost mode.

As ever, you’ve got the cool Mexican-inspired enclosure art and what we’d expect to be a tip-top build.

Find out more at Flattley Guitar Pedals.

EarthQuaker Devices Stereo Easy Listening

The tiny pedal amp simulator gets a stereo upgrade. Sure, digital amp modellers are really exciting, what with all those options, but don’t forget you can do this the analogue way, too. Use it for silent practice, going direct into the PA, with “zero latency and no harsh digital artefacts”.

See more at EarthQuaker Devices.

Walrus Audio Fundamental Lo-Fi Delay

Walrus Audio updates its slider-equipped Fundamental range with a delay pedal that could scarcely be more on-trend.

Everyone and their indie-folk soundscaping cousin is turning looking for that gauzy, soft-focus magic in their tone, repeats that sound like a memory fading… Or something like that. Texture is the buzzword we’re looking for. And it is just $99.

See more at Walrus Audio.

Keeley Electronics Tube Drive

And for his next trick, breadboard magician Robert Keeley sticks a a Russian 12AX7 triode into an overdrive pedal, offers two drives (“high-voltage tube drive” and the Keeley Phat Mod) and the capability to stack them and change the stacking order with a flick of your big toe.

It has switchable bypass, is build in Oklahoma, and the tube is already burned in, ready to go, on your ‘board, on the road, and if you look under that K-shaped grille you can see it at work. Let it cook! Okay, $399 is not cheap but it’s a serious drive.

See Keeley Electronics for more.

Warm Audio Mod Series

SolidGold FX Fuzzbox

The Fuzzbox is SolidGold’s modern reinterpretation of a classic Tone Bender MkII, adding Bias and Sag switches, plus switchable Modern and Vintage modes.

Purists can get sniffy about switching up the classics, but when it comes to fuzz pedals, surely it makes sense, a practical and fun upgrade that makes it easier to find that Jimmy Page LedZep fire – and some tones of your own.

Find out more at SolidGold FX.

What is it?

Following on from its successful second-generation Ampero floorboard, Hotone has released the Ampero II Stage.

It includes a streamlined back panel and new features enabled by Bluetooth and a companion app. Aimed at live players, it pairs twice as many footswitches with the same dynamic UI and large touchscreen.

Specs

• Price: $559 | £699 | €599
• Type: Multi effect and amp modeller
• Controls: Volume, Menu, 3 parameter rotary encoders, 8 LED footswitches, Lock button
• Features: 8-in/8-out audio interface with 460+ effects, amps and models
• Connectivity: Stereo in/out, FX send/return, 1/8" aux In, 2x expression In, 1x XLR in, 2x balanced out, ground lift, MIDI in/out/thru, USB-C
• Bypass: Buffered
• Power: 9-18V Power supply (included)
• Dimensions: 301mm x 58mm x 180mm
• Weight: 1895g
• Contact: Hotone

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

Like you'd expect from any flagship floorboard, the Stage is solidly built, with good attention to detail. Unlike the first efforts at touchscreens on floorboards, the Stage's doesn't feel fragile or slow to respond.

Instead, it's intuitive, and means I don't need to reach for the manual at any point to dial in some great-sounding patches.

Compared to the Ampero II floorboard, there's space for another expansion footswitch. However, that's in exchange for the loss of the built-in expression pedal.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★★

The audio engine is the same as that found in the Ampero II which has already been available for some time. The main differences are in build and control functionality. On the build side, the Stage has some major usability improvements.

The Ampero II relies on a touchscreen and two rotary controls, whereas the Stage has three mini rotary encoders underneath the screen. On top of that, there's the same 2 large rotary encoders, and eight LED footswitches versus the original 4. Although it seems initially a bit pointless, the metering bar LED is very useful, especially when using the Stage as an audio interface.

One of the big selling points of the Stage is Bluetooth and app control, but it's unclear how many players are crying out for these features.

I've always suspected that most prefer user experience improvements in hardware or firmware rather than external software, which can feel distracting or gimmicky.

Like the Ampero II, the Stage has stereo input and output, and it's straightforward to make wet/dry or stereo patches.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

The stock patches are surprisingly good as starting points. There's the standard 'clean' options, as well as EVH 5150 patches, 80s metal, grunge, and specific presets that nod to bands like Tool, Pink Floyd and A Perfect Circle.

With a trusty pair of AKG reference headphones it's easy to dial in a modern rock sound and knock out some riffs, rhythm parts, and leads. Moving to a patch with more gain finds decent chug on tap with higher-output Ibanez pickups.

True 'djent' or modern progressive metal requires more tweaking, and some careful EQing. Tele and Les Paul single coils and 'buckers, meanwhile, sound as you'd expect from Fender-style cleans, all the way to Peavey high gain. As standard, many of the patches don't filter low-end rumble, and on most, I end up throwing on a gentle high-pass at around 70Hz to tame the low end.

The headphone experience carries over straightforwardly to audio interface use. Helpfully, there's a USB-C cable in the box with an appropriate USB-A adaptor. Even if you already have a drawer full of cables at home, it's still a nice touch for a flagship unit.

There's the ability to load IRs externally, or import them from user-uploaded IRs, but IR option paralysis finds me mainly using the stock IRs or the included Celestion cab models. I'm a sucker for a closed-back 2x12, and the models do not disappoint.

Should you want to use NAM A2 captures – and you probably should - then there's a firmware patch to support loading these on the Stage. There's 30 slots available, and you can import directly via the software editor or the Tone3000 library. Due to the processing overhead, you can only run a single NAM capture, but there's no noticeable latency, and they respond well to the other effects.

Moving to a real tube amp results in a fair bit of wrangling, as you'd expect. Plugging directly in to the front panel means disabling all the models and re-EQ'ing at a minimum. Still, I generally prefer this to using the effects return. After all, we own the amps we do because we like the sound of them!

Into a Marshall half-stack, the Ampero has enough gain to kick it into greater saturation, but the most satisfying results come from gain pedals within the pedal. The Tube Screamer and Klon sound as you'd expect, though there's something not quite right about the Rat model to my ear. The Guv'nor, on the other hand, sounds great, and is nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.

Running in a hybrid setup with 'real' pedals, the Stage stacks well with other overdrives. However, it is likely to be at the end of the chain, making this less useful unless you play around with the send-return options. As my rig isn't completely set up around the Stage, I find myself mainly using it for EQ, delay, mod and the amp blocks, with my drives, wah, and pitch-shifters in front.

On the effects front, the Ampero is a generation beyond the original Line 6 Helix units that threw at least a few token weird effects into the mix. Of course the standard effects are present, with excellent BBD, TC 2290, and tape delay emulations.

However, there's also a glitch delay that recalls the Red Panda Particle, and pitch-shifted ducking delay pedals that veer into weirdo, boutique territory. Going as far back as the old BOSS floorboards and VOX ToneLab, it's these little hidden weird settings that tend to deliver the most unexpected, creative moments.

The Stage makes it easy to access the Looper, and it has one of my favourite features, reverse, always-accessible via footswitch, as well as half-time playback. These are two of my favourite things about the usability of the Ditto X2, and it's great to see them here.

Finally, it's a minor thing but the ability to bypass the whole board is super useful when you're practicing with a real amp. You have to hold to bypass, so I don't know how useful this is live, but I ended up using it while jamming to change to a totally clean guitar tone. In a practice space, I'm sure my bandmates would thank me for doing that at the end of a heavier song.

Verdict

For its price point, it's hard to fault the Ampero II Stage. Like most modern modellers it's indistinguishable from a real amp, especially when recorded, and the Stage is a big user experience improvement over the original Ampero II. That is, unless you needed a built-in expression pedal.

Though perhaps modelling units are well into the territory of marginal gains at this point, it's still satisfying to see a solid unit coming out at an accessible price-point.

MusicRadar verdict: Obviously the amps and IRs are the star of the show, and NAM A2 support pushes this to the next level. Even so, if you have a decent amp, there's enough variety and depth of effects in the Stage to justify integrating it into an existing rig.

Also try

Hands-on videos

Hotone Audio

John Nathan Cordy

Leon Todd

• Best amp modellers 2025: High-tech tone solutions for all guitarists

Boss has expanded its multi-effects pedal lineup – quite literally – with the EX-4 Effects Expander, a compact unit that comes with 120 effects, 256 presets, and a heap of routing options to make it integrate seamlessly with your pedalboard setup.

The tagline from Boss says that this unit “expands the range of your pedalboard – without changing what already works”.

In other words, it is designed to complement what you already have, and it offers some neat features for tone-seeking, with Boss’s Gear Suite feature presenting each effect type with a number of sounds already dialled in. You can edit these, of course, and save them down.

Players can run up to four effects simultaneously, and your options play out like the Greatest Hits of Boss for electric guitar and bass guitar. There is an abundance of drives and distortions – the kind of thing you’re used to seeing in yellow, orange and black stompboxes – plus all the usual modulation options, reverb, delay, compression and so forth. There are also the more niche Boss options, such as the Slicer and the SG-1 Slow Gear (and we still want to see a reissue of the latter).

What’s cool is that the four effects can be of the same type, so you could stack drives if you were a mind to do so.

But it’s how all this can be integrated within your setup that is the EX-4s big selling point. The EX-4 lets you place utilities such as noise suppressors, foot volume, send/return and divider/mixer anywhere in the signal chain.

It has full mono/stereo I/Os, MIDI connectivity, and input for external footswitch or expression pedal, and and effects loop that allows you to place your own favourite stompboxes anywhere in the signal chain.

Space-wise, the EX-4 is an economical proposition. It is a dual-footswitch design, chunky for sure and roadworthy, but we're talking 117 mm wide compared to your regular Compact Series Boss pedal’s 73 mm.

Those footswitches can be configured to perform a variety of tasks, and there’s a full-colour 2.4” LCD display to make your edits easy.

Chunky, tough, it has design aesthetic that’s not too dissimilar to Boss units such as the GT-100, only here we have the footswitches ringed by two semi-circle LEDs. Boss promises “seamless” memory changes with delay repeats and reverb tails carrying over nicely.

The EX-4 Effects Expander will be out in stores from October, priced £289/$299. At that price, and in that compact format, we could see this being a popular pedalboard wildcard, especially if you want to go heavy on classic Boss effects.

See Boss for more details.

Loop is the latest addition to Polyend’s growing line of stompboxes. In typically self-explanatory fashion for a brand that has previously released a drum machine named Drums and a synth called Synth, Loop is a loop pedal. Like those instruments before it though, Loop aims to put an innovative spin on the looper format that is less utilitarian than its basic nomenclature might imply.

Pitched as an 'idea machine' for both guitarists and electronic musicians, Loop has four independent looper tracks that can each be either mono or stereo. It can be used for live looping via its stereo input or load pre-recorded loops via a microSD card.

Each track has a maximum recording time of 52 seconds, and can run in either tempo-synced mode – set either internally or via external MIDI – or be free running. There is also a Varispeed mode, where loop speed and pitch will follow changes to the tempo. Loops can also run in forward, reverse and ping-pong playback directions.

Loop goes further than simple looping though, thanks to the inclusion of effect and percussion engines. On the former front, each loop track can have its own independent effect, drawn from a pool of more than 100 effect types, covering reverbs, delays, distortion, modulation effects and more.

For percussion, Loop features a four-track drum machine pre-loaded with over 500 drum kits and 350+ rhythmic patterns. Users can also record drum samples directly into the hardware and create their own patterns using the pedal’s buttons as a step sequencer.

Loop is able to record from line, instrument and dynamic mic sources. It has a pair of 6.3mm jack outputs that can be used for stereo or mono output. Other connectivity includes a USB-C port for bidirectional MIDI, a TRS MIDI port and an expression pedal input.

The pedal allows for unlimited overdubbing, with a single-level undo function for erasing the most recently overdubbed loop. Loop is also able to save and recall up-to 1000 scenes, which store loops, drum patterns, tempo and effect settings.

Loop is available now priced at $599/599€. Head to the Polyend site for more details.

What is it?

In the studio world, Eventide is a famous name for its rack-mount gear. The Eventide H9 Harmonizer Gen 2 takes all of those world-famous algorithms and shrinks them down into a teeny tiny form factor that you can take on the go, whether you’re a producer working remotely or a guitarist who wants top-quality effects on your pedalboard.

The question I asked myself immediately upon receiving the H9 Gen 2 was: why would I pick this versus a used H9 Max or splurging on a H90? For the former, the H9 Gen 2 blows the H9 Max away when it comes to specs. It has all of the same effects as the H9 Max, as well as the same effects as those found on the H90. It doesn’t run two at the same time, though, so you’ll need to spend a lot more on the H90 to add that to your arsenal.

The H9 Gen 2 also has far more presets than the H9 Max, with over 1,000 available. The Gen 2 also features the same ARM processor as the H90, which is the same one found in the H9000 rack unit. The screen has been upgraded from the 6-character LED version, and the micro-USB is now modernised with a USB-C connector. It’s also got a separate expression pedal and control jacks for added flexibility.

There are multiple power options available, so although it comes with a 12V, 1A power supply in the box, you can use a pedalboard power supply at 9V, 400mA if you’re board-mounting it. It’s got stereo ins and outs, which make it usable with a wide variety of instruments, and it solves one of the big problems of the H9 Max with the addition of spillover.

Specs

• Launch price: $599 | £599 | €694
• Type: Multi-effects pedal
• Controls: 4 knobs, 4 button pads for menu navigation, 2 programmable footswitches, 2 contextual LED buttons
• Features: 74 algorithms spanning the complete H90 and H9 Max libraries, 1,000+ factory presets, SIFT polyphonic pitch-shifting, built-in tuner, Select/Bank/Perform modes, full parameter control with no companion app required
• Connectivity: 2x 1/4" TS inputs, 2x 1/4" TS outputs, USB-C (Eventide Control app), 5-pin MIDI I/O, expression pedal input, aux switch input, Bluetooth (Mac/iPad, via Eventide Control)
• Bypass: Flexible wet/dry and pre/post routing; footswitches control preset/bypass
• Power: 9-12V DC, 300 mA @ 12V / 400 mA @ 9V, 12V 1A power supply (included)
• Dimensions: 133 x 127 x 69mm (5.25 x 5 x 2.7 inches)
• Weight: 0.6 kg (23.36 lbs)
• Options: Harmonizer+ Suite vocal processing available with Mixing Link (sold separately)
• Contact: Eventide

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

As far as multi-effects pedals go, the Eventide H9 Gen 2 is comparatively small. It’s just shy of two Boss stompboxes side by side, and not quite as tall. It means it will fit on a pedalboard pretty easily, and ditto if you’re using it on a studio desk. It's just north of half a kilo, making it about the same weight as the aforementioned Boss stompbox, and is wedge-shaped for easy stomping.

One thing I noticed when plugging it in is that the ins and outs are very close together. It means you’ll need a bunch of straight guitar cables or some very slimline patch cables in order to use the stereo configurations. I had to go hunting in my box of spares to find a combination that would fit together.

The front of the chassis is constructed from hard plastic, while the underside is made of metal. It doesn’t come with rubber feet, so it can be installed straight onto a pedalboard without having to remove anything.

The knobs all provide a firm, smooth travel, doubling as buttons when I press them in. The master encoder is stepped, giving me some tactile feedback when I turn it. There are four additional buttons that offer quiet operation, firm when pressed down without any audible clicking. Overall, it feels very robust, but the contextual LED lights that double as buttons feel a touch flimsy.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

I demo the H9 Gen 2 alongside my Universal Audio audio interface and my number one Telecaster as the other end. On the surface, navigating the pedal is fairly simple. The large encoder selects presets, and a push in is required to confirm my selection. The three knobs below the screen have parameters already assigned, while the left footswitch changes presets in one direction, with the right footswitch engaging the effect.

While this surface-level navigation is easy enough for me to decipher, getting deeper than that requires some research. The LED button on the right changes colour without any discernible change, while the left-hand one does the same functionality as the footswitch, engaging or disengaging the effect. The four buttons are fairly self-explanatory, but I cave, and eventually grab the manual from the Eventide site.

It turns out the LED switch that was changing colour is to change the direction of preset scrolling. When it’s red, it moves upwards. When it’s blue, it moves downwards. The ‘Params’ button allows for deeper editing of the presets, unlocking the full set of controls to tweak the sounds, while global settings and tempo settings are accessed by pressing the Select and Perform buttons together.

The Perform button allows me to change what the footswitches do, and it can be set up however I want it. This could be assigning tap tempo or changing between momentary and latching operation. There’s also ‘HotSwitches’ which let me sculpt multiple parameter changes at the push of a button. This could be timings, effects changes, mix amount, or any combination of the multitude of parameters available for each effect.

To be totally honest, when getting into this level of depth, I’d much rather do this in software than with the hardware controls. The Eventide Control App works much better for the deeper level stuff, and I find having it open on my laptop is a much better workflow for changing the presets to my liking or creating fresh sounds.

It is, however, quite noisy with this setup. With the pedal connected via USB-C to my MacBook, as well as feeding stereo outs into my interface connected via Thunderbolt to my MacBook, there is a fair bit of noticeable interference, particularly when played clean. It's bordering on unusable, and I end up recording takes after disconnecting the pedal via USB-C to get a clean take.

There’s a cure in the works for this, as Eventide will update the H9 Gen 2 with Bluetooth in the near future. This means you’ll have the ability to use the companion app on your phone or wirelessly with a compatible laptop, negating the need for a cable connection.

The app itself is really great, though. I love the ability to set a tempo for each preset individually, and create fresh banks of user presets. Handily, it asks me if I want to save changes if I click off the preset I’m working on, which was much appreciated when I’d spent half an hour getting a sound exactly how I wanted it without committing the changes.

There’s a massive amount of depth of tweaking available, too. I can set LFO rates from 1/64th all the way to a full 16 bars. These timings can be set differently on either side for stereo effects, making the depth on offer really incredible. There are far too many settings to go into here, but rest assured that for both guitar players who love tweaking and studio users who require depth, there’s enough on offer to ensure complete control of the final result.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

For the sound testing portion of my review, I begin with the H910 algorithm. It’s a recreation of the famed studio rack unit, and although the sound is subtle, it’s one of those things that I immediately notice once switched off. It was famously used by Eddie Van Halen, and as I play some of my favourite guitar licks, it's easy to see why, as it transforms my guitar tone into a fuller and fatter version of itself.

It’s a similar sound to the MicroPitch effect, with its slightly offset tunings that make it sound like multiple instruments at the same time. It’s super effective at thickening up the tone of a single guitar, like a chorus pedal but with a level of control that far surpasses any single stompbox I’ve come across.

For those who want to add some space to their sounds, the Blackhole reverb algorithm is perfect when paired with some moody chord work. It’s brilliant at adding a sense of space to the sound without drowning it out completely, and easy to see why it got its own reverb pedal as I start playing lead guitar with more complex runs.

Moving onto some pitch effects, I test the Polyphony algorithm. It tracks incredibly well set to fifths by default, and doesn’t seem to mind how complex the piece I play is. The accuracy is really incredible, and even when bending my guitar strings, it manages to stay in tune.

There are far too many effects to go into great detail here, but alongside the wacky tones there’s plenty of more purposeful effects like overdrive, fuzz, flanger, phaser, as well as shorter room reverbs. You also get a great selection of delay effects with huge customisation on offer, making this a pedal that can work in pretty much any genre.

Verdict

This pedal bucks the trend of recent multi-effects pedals that like to offer a do-it-all solution with amp and effects modelling, but I love that the Eventide H9 Harmonizer Gen 2 is a multi-FX in the traditional sense. It delivers incredible quality sounds without the added complication of amp and cab models, doing its one job very well indeed.

It’s not the easiest to use, admittedly. The surface-level stuff is accessible, but as soon as you get beneath that, you’ll need to head for the manual and be prepared to spend some time getting to know it. Those with the patience to do this will be greatly rewarded, though, as there’s a huge amount of depth on offer.

It’s not cheap either, but the quality of the sounds makes it totally worth it for me. If you’re a power user, then you’re likely better off spending more on the H90 and opening up the dual effects chains, but for guitar players this will be more than enough to replace a multitude of pedals on their existing ‘boards.

MusicRadar verdict: With some of the best quality effects algorithms I’ve ever heard in a compact form factor, the Eventide H9 Harmonizer Gen 2 is an incredibly versatile bit of kit. I’ve tested a lot of multi-effects pedals, and the sounds here are a real standout. You will need to dig in to get the best out of it, but the level of tweakability is huge, and although aimed at guitarists, it can do the job on any instrument you can think of.

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Loopop

Guitar Center

Leon Todd

Adrian Belew and Electro-Harmonix have teamed up to bring back the Echoflanger, a long out-of-production cult modulation pedal that Belew used to spectacular effect. That weird steel-drum-sounding guitar on Tom Tom Club’s Genius Of Love? That was the Echoflanger.

There were more sounds where that came from. The Echoflanger was not originally a Belew signature pedal but it might well have been.

This new limited edition release, which comes bundled with a card featuring artwork by Belew, comes complete with some new mods which were discovered when Belew played around with the original unit and found some unique sounds of his own: Slapback plus Filter Matrix, and Chorus plus Flange.

Who says the only “in-between sounds” are found on a Fender Stratocaster? Playing around with that original Echoflanger’s dials yielded some gold for Belew.

In the intro video, he recalls how he first met Electro-Harmonix founder Mike Matthews.

“One time he called me up, I was living in Champagne, Urbana, and he said, ‘I’m flying out to your place,’” says Belew, who was a little puzzled and asked Matthews why?

Matthews had a “couple of boxes of toys” he wanted to show him.

“He actually flew out there to Urbana, Illinois, and I had a little rehearsal place in the back of the music store,” continues Belew. “We went down there, brought these two boxes, linoleum floor, just sitting there. He starts pulling all these things, these boxes out, all these effects out, plugging them in different ways. We were like two little kids in a candy store. We had the best time doing that. Then he flew back to New York. That’s Mike Mathews.”

Belew has never been a player to barnacle himself to traditional electric guitar tones. He has always perched on the frontier in search of new sounds. The Echoflanger – and this redux version – is for the similarly minded. It’s not your garden variety chorus pedal.

Belew has had his in his rig since 1980, and yes, it performed as advertised. There was the Filter Matrix mode, the Flange, the Chorus, Slap Back too. But there was more.

“What I loved about it was that you could make it also do these really weird sounds that I started doing right off the bat with King Crimson,” says Belew.

EHX describes the Echoflanger reissue as “equal parts smooth operator and agent of chaos”. You’ve got a 6-way rotary dial to set the pedal’s mode. There are dials for Volume, Feedback, Rate, Width and Tune.

There’s a slider switch for the blend function, which can take away your dry signal in the Chorus and Flange modes for those super-queasy vibrato sounds. And there are stereo outputs. It’s true bypass, ships with an adapter, it’s priced $239, and it’s officially available now.

Find out more about the Adrian Belew Echoflanger at Electro-Harmonix.

The evolution of IK Multimedia’s Tonex ecosystem continues apace with the launch of its flagship amp modeller, a unit that of course brings with it thousands of guitar amp sounds and thousands of effects, cab sims, and options by the score.

But what makes the Tonex Board an even more compelling proposition is its capabilities as an all-in-one rig.

Yes, the Tonex One mini pedal can be your fly rig for the night, likewise the Tonex Pedal. The Tonex Board, however, allows players to run four Tone Models at once – and that makes it an all-in-one solution for running complex wet/dry and dual-amp stereo setups.

Those four Tone Models can be run over two wholly independent signal paths. And that is a pretty big deal for the gigging musician whose sound is a little more convoluted. Dual stereo inputs mean you can run two guitars into one unit, and route each through its own signal path.

This would not be a new launch of a piece of digital hardware without a whole bunch of new sounds, and so we’ve got lots and lots of sounds here. There are 76 in total, 51 from IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube 5, 15 from Tonex, and 10 all-new effects models.

All the main food groups are covered, with nine effects categories including overdrive/distortion, modulation, delay, reverb, et cetera. A custom IR module lets you upload your own Impulse Responses.

A stereo effects loop lets you integrate your pedalboard. And a quick look at the back of the unit will tell you that there is no shortage of connections, with MIDI, USB-C, a headphones out, those stereo inputs in, and you can use the unit as a guitar audio interface to record.

There is a bewildering array of sounds. IK Multimedia says you get 2,000 Premium Tone Models, some of which are from the Tonex MAX library, some from the new Tonex ONE+ Signature Collection, while some are exclusive to the Tonex Board.

If you’re familiar with the Tonex lineup you’ll be aware that there are more sounds available via the ToneNET user community.

You can position up to a dozen Tone Model and effects slots wherever you like in your signal chain, arranging them via the push-rotary controls and the Tonex Board’s 5” colour touchscreen. There are 1,400 onboard presets. Those Tone Models, lest we forget, are engineered using IK Multimedia’s AI Machine Modelling.

Players can also model their own amps, cabinets and pedals and full rigs with the bundled TONEX Modeler software, or use their Tone Models as guitar plugins or standalone apps. The TONEX Board Editor allows you to load existing Tone Models to the unit.

The Tonex Board is available now, priced £959/$/€999. See IK Multimedia for more.

What is it?

It feels like the original Positive Grid Spark was launched a lifetime ago, but really, the amplifier was only announced in October 2019 and began shipping to customers in early 2020, making it a little over 6 years since the smart amp burst onto the scene and changed the practice amp game entirely.

Since then, the San Diego-based amp titan has expanded the Spark line with countless variations, from the pint-sized Spark Mini and portable Spark Go to live options like the Live and Cab. The latest offering takes a slightly different direction, with a three-button floor unit that aims to deliver all the power of the Spark in a much smaller, pedalboard-friendly package.

Running on Positive Grid's acclaimed HD Tone Engine, which is the same DSP architecture housed inside the latest Spark 2 practice amp, you get a whopping 33 amp models, 43 effects, and access to thousands of tones through the online ToneCloud.

The Spark Pedal is mainly positioned as a gig-ready unit, but it has a few other use cases. Of course, as expected, it can also be used as a stand-alone all-in-one option for live use or as a traditional multi-effects pedal to run into an amplifier if you bypass the amp modelling, but it can also serve as an audio interface for desktop recording or a silent headphones rig for quiet at-home practice.

There’s also built-in Bluetooth audio, so you can jam along to your favourite tracks, a handy 60-second looper and, of course, a free companion app that helps you dive deeper into tone creation.

Specs

• Launch price: $199 | €209 | £179
• Type: Multi-effects/amp modeller
• Controls: Footswitches, Multi-function Control Knob, Drive/Gain, Mod/Bass, Delay/Mid, Reverb/Treble
• Features: All Spark features including effects, amp modelling, looper, and practice tools via the Spark app
• Connectivity: 1/4" input, 2 x 1/4" output, 1/4" expression in, USB-C, MIDI in & out and 1/8" headphone output
• Bypass: True bypass
• Power: USB-C/rechargable bettery
• Dimensions: . 180 x 100 x 50mm
• Weight: 1.4 lbs
• Contact: Positive Grid

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★☆

After stepping away from its classic gold-and-black branding for the new Reactor amp a few months ago, it's nice to see the Spark Pedal return to something that just works so well for Positive Grid. Sure, it’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s a good-looking pedal, and one that most definitely fits into the greater, now pretty stacked, Spark line.

In terms of the build, it’s another thing that is classically PG. It feels sturdy and robust, and since this is designed to be put on a pedalboard and toured, it does really need to live up to some serious strain and abuse, and it really feels like it could handle it with no problems.

Connectivity-wise, everything you need is on the rear of the pedal, easily accessible and logically laid out. With a single input, stereo outs, expression in, MIDI functionality and even a headphone out, this pedal really has everything covered.

It is worth noting that the unit comes with an internal rechargeable battery and is charged via a USB-C port. Ideally, I’d have liked the option to power it with a standard 9V pedalboard power supply. Since it’s intended to go on a pedalboard, it would make sense to be able to power it this way.

I don’t particularly like the idea of having to charge the pedal before a show, or carry an extra USB charger in my gigbag for this one pedal. It would be far more convenient if it could tap into the power supply already tucked away under my board.

I reached out to Positive Grid about this, and a representative said the brand “deliberately chose USB-C because of how it integrates into various scenarios.”

Of course, the unit can be used while charging, and many modern pedalboard power supplies now have USB outputs, which should be fine for most players, but if you want to run it on your old power brick, you may need to factor in an upgrade.

That said, really, there’s nothing too big to fault here. The Spark Pedal is a well-made unit that feels as robust as I’ve come to expect from Positive Grid.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★☆

I’ve been using and reviewing Spark products since they launched, so I’d like to think I know how to navigate them pretty well, but the Spark Pedal could use a few usability tweaks.

I think the Spark Pedal is mostly intuitive to use, and it doesn’t take long to get a usable sound out of the device, but with the dials all having secondary functions, it’s easy to get lost and end up adjusting the wrong parameter – especially mid-song.

The central control knob is the perfect example. This one dial is the main control point for the entire pedal, letting you adjust the pedal's volume, switch between FX Mode and Amp Mode, turn the Cab Simulator on and off, and even activate the tuner. Honestly, I think it’s too much to put into a single control.

The other four dials also have secondary functions. In FX Mode (Green LED), they select your effect and adjust its level, while in Amp Mode (Red LED), they shape your tone with Gain, Bass, Mid, and Treble.

I totally understand that laying the dials out like this saves space and keeps the unit compact, but personally I’d rather have a slightly bulkier pedal with more knobs if it means better usability. Perhaps a screen would solve the problem. It would certainly make it more obvious what you were adjusting, without trying to remember what the LED colours mean.

That said, the unit runs on the same ecosystem as other Spark products and shares the same app, so you can adjust it more easily from your phone if you’d prefer. Here you can tweak until your heart is content, from switching out the pedals to trying different amp voices, and if you’re not terrified of AI, you can also use Positive Grid’s Text To Tone feature to generate any guitar sound you can imagine, or, well, describe.

The unit pairs well with the app, and if you have time, adjusting the parameters on the hardware is also pretty easy, but as this unit is being marketed as a gig-able solution as well as a practice tool, it needs to be looked at from that point of view, and in my opinion, it feels a little impractical.

In an effort to keep things streamlined and sleek, I think Positive Grid has forgotten the working musician who needs to make small tweaks to their tone throughout a live show.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

To test the sound of the new Spark Pedal, I ran my Gibson Les Paul into the pedal and directly into a DAW. This way I can hear all the amp modelling and effects in great detail through a flat set of studio monitors.

So, if you know anything about Positive Grid, you know it is known for its incredibly polished clutch of tones, and thankfully Spark Pedal is no different.

We’ve got sparkling Fender Twin-like cleans to Soldano-esque high-gain tones, and so much more. Honestly, the tonal palette on tap here is huge – and it only gets better once you connect to the app. That said, I could do without delay on almost every preset. I like delay as much as the next guy, but not, like, all the time.

Now, I have noted before that I think Positive Grid presets are a touch too bassy for my tastes, and again, it’s the same story with the Spark Pedal – well, that is to be expected, it’s the same tone engine after all.

Moving on to the effects, and there’s everything you’d ever need. We’ve got a variety of different delay options, plenty of verb, and a slew of modulation sounds. Thankfully, they all sound perfectly lush. Like all PG products, there’s a sense of depth and space that makes noodling around on this thing flat-out addictive. I’ve always loved a good ambient reverb wash or a swirling chorus, and the Spark Pedal absolutely delivers on that front.

Yes, the Spark Pedal doesn’t exactly bring anything new to the table in terms of sounds, especially for existing Spark users, but these are the core tones we’ve come to expect from Positive Grid, and well, if it ain't broke, why fix it, right?

Below are a few sound clips I recorded directly from the pedal, straight into Pro Tools, using a Gibson Les Paul Standard loaded with Burstbucker Pro pickups. All amp sounds, effects, and EQ come from the pedal; even the bass on the full-band track is played through the Spark. The only post-processing done is a small amount of master bus compression to level out the volume between the sounds.

Verdict

Since the launch of the Positive Grid Spark, fans have wanted an easy way to use the sounds live, and this may be the most convenient way yet. But the Spark Pedal goes far beyond just a pedalboard rig, and instead, we get a stomp that can be a practice rig with headphones and Bluetooth, a clever recording interface, and a live amp-sim and effects pedal all in one.

It’s hard to deny that what Positive Grid has packed into this tiny floor unit is impressive, but it can feel a little overstuffed at times.

If I’m honest, I’m not totally convinced it needs all the practice aids and features. The Spark 2 or Mini is arguably a better option for practising at home, since you get a speaker without losing any functionality, so it might have been better if Positive Grid paired the Spark Pedal back slightly and focused on making it the very best live unit it could be, with slightly better usability.

That said, I think Positive Grid has nailed the sounds. I am a fan of the tones on offer in all the Spark amps, and the Pedal is no different. It presents a versatile collection of sounds that cover a surprisingly broad range of genres and styles.

Overall, this is a welcome addition to the Spark family, and if you are in the market for a way to bridge the gap between your at-home practice rig and your stage setup, then it is undoubtedly a convenient little package.

MusicRadar verdict: The Spark Pedal puts the power of the famed practice amp into a convenient, capable floor unit, and it's also pretty competitively priced. While I fully understand why the controls are laid out the way they are, I still think navigation could be improved to make the pedal easier to use in a live setting.

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Positive Grid

Positive Grid has expanded its digital guitar amp and multi-effects eco-system with the Spark Pedal, a compact unit powered by its HD Tone Engine and featuring an onboard looper and the many of the smart features that helped revolutionise the desktop amp market.

Again, this is electric guitar tone seeking perched out on the frontiers of digital innovation; the technologists among you will surely be excited by the AI-powered Text To Tone features offered via the accompanying Spark app, and the capability to browse more than 100,000 tones on Positive Grid’s ToneCloud, and putting together a custom signal chain from whichever amps, effects, and cab emulations that take your fancy.

Old Spark favourites such as Audio Chords, which listens to the track you are playing along to and gives you the chords in real-time, are present and correct.

“This gig-ready rig makes it easy to bring the tone and power of Spark amps to live performances, rehearsals, home practice and recording sessions,” says Positive Grid. Designed for electric, bass and acoustic players, it incorporates into any setup for fast, intuitive tone building with no learning curve.”

It is easy to forget that all of this is a brave new world, and yet the success of the Spark platform has always been about presenting these smart and novel features in a way that we old fuddy-duddy analogue types can get behind.

In other words: is it easy to use? Does it feel like an amp? The setup certainly seems intuitive enough.

The Spark Pedal is a three-footswitch unit that can be easily thrown into a backpack. One footswitch toggles between Amp and FX Modes.

In Amp Mode, the knobs control Gain, Bass, Middle, Treble “like a traditional amp head” while FX Mode appropriates those same controls for Drive, Modulation, Delay, and Reverb depth.

There are, of course, presets. Out of the box you get 33 amp models and 43 effects. Again, the ToneCloud is where there are thousands upon thousands of news sounds to explore.

Positive Grid have designed the Spark Pedal to be an all-in-one fly rig; everything you need to play a show is here. Simply send the signal direct to the PA system.

Similarly, you can use it as a guitar audio interface and tone hub, and use it as recording solution. There is a headphones output for silent practice, too, and you can stream audio to it via Bluetooth for playing along to an accompaniment.

Alternatively, just use it in the old-school way of any other preamp/multi-effects pedal and hook it up in front of your amp – or in its effects loop – and use it alongside the other pedals on your ‘board.

The onboard looper gives you 60 seconds of looping time, and all these features – record, overdub, etc – is operated via the footswitches.

The Spark Pedal is available now, priced £169/$199. Head over to Positive Grid for more.

What is it?

Walrus Audio makes stylish pedals on the premium end, catering mostly to the ambient guitarist (fans of Knobs on YouTube assemble!).

With the beautiful spacey ARP-87 delay pedal a mainstay on my board, I've been an interested party since I first came across the brand during a Youtube video of Julien Baker’s pedalboard.

The video gave a rundown of Walrus Audio’s Fathom and Descent reverb pedals; Two beautiful reverb pedals with very different and unique qualities used for layering ambient texture into your guitar sound.

The Lüm Texture Engine is built from the fundamental pieces of three other existing, well-loved Walrus pedals: it uses the reverb engine from the revered Slö Multi-Texture Reverb pedal, the reverse-reverb character of the Lore, and the granular soundscape generation of the Fable.

The result is three unique granular and textural reverb modes, a moment button which we’ll get into, and three preset slots. At a price point sitting slightly higher than just one of those pedals, it feels like an experimental distillation of what made them so damn fun to play around with.

And the good news is that you certainly don’t feel as though you’re getting the abridged version of the three, as you’re in for an limitless sonic experience.

The Lüm Texture Engine originally launched as a 600-unit limited run, returning as a permanent addition to Walrus’s lineup due to popular demand (it sold out fast). It’s now available in two new colourways; the Guava Gloss unit I'm testing, plus a new Matte Black option.

Specs

• Launch price: $293 | £263 | €299
• Type: Granular/textural reverb pedal
• Controls: Mix, Decay, Filter, X, Stretch, 3-way Mode toggle, Moment switch
• Features: Momentary automation (Moment Control), Ramp (glide time: 10ms/1000ms/5000ms), Stretch Engine (0.5x–2x sample rate), 3 onboard presets with crossfade, selectable Trails/Instant Cut bypass
• Connectivity: 1x 1/4" TS input, 1x 1/4" TS output. 
• Bypass: Buffered, Trails or Instant Cut selectable.
• Power: 9V DC 100mA min (not included)
• Dimensions: 121 x 66 x 35mm
• Weight: 0.35kg (needs checking)
• Options: Guava Gloss, Matte Black. 
• Contact: Walrus Audio  

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★☆

The Lüm is genuinely a compact marvel for all that it packs in. It boasts a smaller form-factor, requiring only a 100ma power feed compared with the 300ma requirements for the Lore and Fable pedals that it draws inspiration from.

In Walrus's usual fun die-cast enclosure, this thing also just looks undeniably cool on your pedalboard, whether you’re into the shiny Guava-Pink or more muted colour tones.

As you’d expect from a pedal on the higher end, the knobs are smooth and satisfying to operate, and the little metal Mode/Ramping switch that sits in the middle is satisfying to click between, if not a little small.

This begins to touch on my main gripe with the pedal. Whilst the pedal’s size saves crucial board space, some may find it makes the sheer scale of what you can do with the pedal a little physically fiddly to access at times.

It’s more permissible as a bedroom ambient guitarist where you might be sat with it, but live performances in a band would mean you’d need to be a little more meticulous in making sure it’s set up to the desired settings (with how much you can do with this thing, you and your listeners will know straight away if it isn’t!).

I also find that the Bypass footswitch doesn’t always register when clicking it, and feels perhaps a little loose. It doesn’t seem to be an issue with the grub screw, which is tight, but the switch itself feels a little flimsy and loose in its socket.

The footswitches themselves have multiple purposes, so this is a little annoying as it occasionally takes a bit of clicking around with it to get to the desired settings, such as accessing the three preset settings.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

Three modes give the Lüm Texture Engine a whole lot of range for you to experiment with; Grain Cloud, Grain Verb and Forward/Reverse Verb.

The Grain Cloud mode gives you a granular texture built from dual taps reading off a feedback delay line; the X knob crucially controls our grain size, from a fine misty spray into large and looping stuttery effects.

The Grain Verb has the same dual-tap granular approach, but reads from a reverb algorithm's delay memory instead. It gives a washed-out, ambient result.

Forward/Reverse Verb combines forward and reverse reverb algorithms for rhythmic, evolving reflections from the Lore pedal.

The Moment switch lets you automate any one of the five knobs; hold it down and the assigned parameter glides toward the target you set. The Ramp control (accessed by holding down the Bypass switch whilst adjusting the Mode toggle) sets how fast that glide happens, from a speedy 10ms to a 5-second swell.

I have the most fun using this with the Stretch knob, but there is endless experimenting to be done with these in combination with the three modes- And that’s not even yet getting into using the pedal in combination with other pedals.

The wonderful news for the technophobes amongst us that love ambient soundscaping, is that Lüm will let you save three presets (denoted by a red, green or blue light). If you like what you’re hearing, these are easy to save and return to.

This is something particularly useful for, say, live performance, but also just for the less technically-minded musician. You don’t need to know what you’re doing when you’re changing up settings, as you can simply save your favourite noises and recall them at will!

Another neat little feature is that it has a selectable Trails mode, allowing you to crossfade between your preset settings, so there’s no need to ruin the zen, ambient state you’ll no doubt be in. If you don’t care for zen, don’t worry as you can also select an Instant Cut.

Whilst the sheer scale of settings and choices may make it technically less user-friendly, I don’t think it would be right to mark this pedal down for its complexity. It’s a bit of a wonder in that it is basically the best bits of three other pedals smooshed into one smaller body. I will mention again, however, that this smaller form-factor does cause some fiddly-ness in its operation, mitigated somewhat by the ability to recall presets

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

Something I look for in a pedal is one I can sit down with and always discover something new, and the Lüm satisfies this to no end. Time melts away with this on my board. There are endless combinations of settings and board placements to keep the ambient guitarist fed for hours.

Paired with the Walrus ARP-87 delay, it's one of the most fun and interesting combinations I've run this year. Forget Interstellar, if you want to know what being sucked into a black hole might sonically sound like, this is the pedal for you. The most fun is integrating a loop pedal into the mix, layering looped ambient swells and atmosphere using the Lüm's granular textures.

You can also spend literally forever experimenting with 'board placement and using it in combo with other pedals, which will drastically change your output. Putting the Lüm before a fuzz or distortion pedal and I'm hearing lo-fi shoegazer-y texture and guitar noise. Moving it to the end of the chain, right before a reverb pedal, and you’re transported to space.

I’m primarily testing this out at home on an Orange CR60C amp, as well as through my PC and a pair of Yamaha HS7 monitors. This lil’ guy also doesn’t sound half bad cranked through a small Roland Cube practice amp either.

I am impressed at how much detail and grain the Lum can output. Despite how wide and expanded it can make your audio feel, part of me wishes that it featured a stereo output too – although this is just splitting hairs at this point, for all the other features it boasts.

To further stress-test just how far it can go, I tried pairing it up with the Enzo, a silly pedal by Meris Audio that essentially turns your guitar into a polyphonic synth. This is ultimately the point that is worth hammering home, and what I keep landing on with this thing. This is a pedal that you really can have endless fun and experimentation with and always get interesting results!

Verdict

One thing worth stressing is, as I’m sure you’ve realised, this is no like-for-like replacement for a conventional reverb.

Judging it as one will no doubt disappoint, as it is at its best used in tandem with one. Reviewing it as what it really is, a granular texture engine? It's a technical, pioneering, feature-packed joy of a pedal, making a solid case for a permanent stay on your board.

If you're someone who loves to make ambient music at home (or in a studio) and loves to push the limits of their rig beyond just a plug and play experience, then consider the Lüm.

Whether you’re interested with subtle ambient swells or grain textures that sit behind your main guitar sound, or if you want to know what stardust sounds like, the Lüm is so incredibly versatile and appropriate.

It doesn’t sit at a cheap price, but considering you’re getting a 3-in-1 experience with a great form-factor and you possibly won't notice or regret not owning the Walrus Audio pedals it’s based on, this is a bargain of the century.

There’s a strong argument here for getting this and it actually satisfying your ambient sound creation itch. Its size and 100ma power draw feels crazy for the sound it unlocks. It allows for so much versatility, too, in what you choose to combine it with on your board. Making these a permanent fixture of Walrus Audio’s lineup beyond the initial run was such a good move.

MusicRadar verdict: The Lüm Texture Engine takes the signature DNA of the Slö, Lore and Fable pedals and fractures them into something new and insanely expansive: a granular reverb texture engine that can transform your sound in a seemingly endless number of ways. This is no replacement for a vanilla reverb pedal, but a pedal that will lift your tunes into the next dimension. Endless fun.

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Walrus Audio

The Guitar Geek

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• Walrus Audio Slöer Stereo Ambient Reverb pedal review

Welcome to the monthly MusicRadar guitar gear roundup, where we cast an eye to the month that was and all the best that August had to bring us – the electric guitars, the amps, and the newly minted stompboxes for our ever-expanding pedalboards.

This was the month that brought us the MXR Flanger/Doubler, with the the iconic Dimebag Darrell rack unit rehoused in a compact pedal format. We also so the release of one of this year’s coolest acoustic guitars, the Epiphone Marcus King El Dorado – good luck finding an acoustic with this much vibe (that pickguard!) and LR Baggs electronics for under a thousand bucks.

Well, Martin and Joe Bonamassa might be able to help on that score, at least with the mojo. His latest signature collaboration with the brand features not one but two Martin guitars. One is a high-end 00-18, but the other is the very affordable Mexican-made 00-10E – and both arriving fresh from the shopfloor with that pre-War shade-top look.

We also saw the release of Jam Pedals’ Stu Mackenzie signature stompbox, the Tiny Amp Destroyer. Sleep Token’s first-ever signature collab arrived via Jackson and Charvel, Gretsch dropped a super-luxury Penguin, and Harley Benton expanded its beginner-friendly electric guitar lineup with the SC-Special Hybrid, a smart-looking singlecut with a P-90/humbucker pickup combo.

And of course, the digital transformation of guitar tone gathers momentum, with Line 6 expanding Helix Stadium ecosystem with a plugin, HeadRush adding native Tone3000 integration, and Neural DSP rolling out its biggest-ever update for the Quad Cortex and Quad Cortex Mini.

But there was more. And in this roundup we’ll pick out the highlights. But where to begin? Well, what about Gibson’s first baritone guitar since the early 2010s?

Gibson Victory Baritone

No one quite knew how the Victory would do when Gibson launched the redesigned doublecut in 2024, reprising a design that didn’t really make it in the ‘8os when shred-fever was at its highest. But lo, it worked. It found an audience.

Its slightly offset body shape, the glued-in neck, the six-in-line headstock; it had something about it. And having refreshed the second coming of the Victory with a Floyd Rose vibrato, Gibson now takes the Victory for a Victory lap with a 28” scale baritone, developing an all-new Alnico VIII ELEV8 humbucker for the occasion.

Again, you’ve got the compound radius fingerboard of its siblings, but a lot more low-end to play around in – and there’s a little push-pull coil-splitting for that Vinnie Bell baritone twang to complement the low-end chug.

Head to Gibson for more.

Epiphone Lzzy Hale Explorer Custom 

Let’s stick with the Gibson brands for a moment, because Lzzy Hale’s Explorer Custom just got a refresh that may or may not be visible from space, thanks to that Black Diamond Holographic Sparkle finish. You might have seen this look before. It comes fresh off her Kramer Voyager. But the Explorer wears it well.

Again, this is an Epiphone guitar hovering just under the thousand-dollar mark but jacking the spec up high. Look closely and you’ll notice the multi-ply binding on the body’s top. We have some new Epiphone Ignite humbuckers, too. And that price includes a hard-shell guitar case.

Find out more at Epiphone.

Death By Audio x Rainger FX Amp Crash

Now to the craziest stompbox we have seen this year, and how could it not be given the minds behind it? In one corner of this padded R&D cell you have Oliver Ackermann, head honcho of Death By Audio pedals. In the other, there’s David Rainger.

“David from Rainger is who I always gravitate to at any event,” said Ackermann His effects are bonkers in the best way possible.”

What they emerged with is a pedal with a built-in 3-watt amplifier complete with an onboard 2” speaker and micropone, plus reverb, chorus and echo, and it sounds nuts. Make it your number one choice for fuzzy spaced-out echos, deconstructed twang, “Feedback Inferno” and more. At $395 it ain’t cheap but sonic extremists saw the value, with initial batches sold out. More are on the way.

“When he told me he was coming to NY to work on a collaboration, it was a dream come true,” said Ackermann. “Like cities in the world, Rainger FX is Death By Audio's sister company: weird, wild, and totally extreme. Working on this project with Rainger pushed us to create something so extreme, and then we took it further.”

Yeah, no kidding.

See Death By Audio for more.

PRS Dany Villareal Astryx 

We love a new limited edition PRS signature guitar and the Astryx, a new-look Custom 24 for the Warning’s Dany Villareal is no different.

It’s mostly a cosmetic refresh but it really is stunning, with that figured maple top displaying an Ocaso (Sunset) finish that plays around with the sunburst archetype, and the birds are swapped out for some sweet signature inlays.

Find out more at PRS Guitars.

Catalinbread EG-1 Lo-Fi Delay

There are three modes on this doozy of a digital delay pedal. One emulates the analogue feel of a cassette tape, one a vintage radio unit, and the other a digital TV set. Not devices you might necessarily associate with reference-quality guitar tone but it makes perfect sense here.

You can add modulation to these giving that feeling of mechanical movement and bit-crushing, and all these sort of degradation effects that are so on-trend today, perhaps because they speak to the sounds from a more innocent era.

As a fan of Catalinbread’s sumptuous Belle Epoch tape echo emulation, this looks like a compelling new delay option, all big textures and vibes.

Find out more at Catalinbread.

Fender George Harrison 1967 Bass VI

The Bass VI is one of the strangest and most brilliant of all Fender designs, even if it might forever feel like mainstream appeal will never quite arrive.

At this price (£8,599/$9,500), this version modelled after the model the Beatles used in the studio, the Bass VI will surely remain a niche instrument but it not only presents collectors with an exceptionally well-made offset six-string bass guitar that blurs the line between guitar and bass (it is a bass but still), but a Fender history lesson too. Note the 3-Color Sunburst sunbleached to two on the instrument’s top.

It comes fitted with three custom-wound Jaguar single-coils and has a bound AAA rosewood fingerboard with block inlays, and it is as good a time machine to the late ‘60s as you could find. That tone… Not just for Beatles fans.

Find out more at Fender.

Hotone Pulze Jr

Okay, 21st-century digital amp time, with the Hotone Pulze Jr the latest to roll off the factory floor fitted with some AI superpowers.

It goes without saying that this super-compact little amp (a definite contender for your practice amp needs) sounds bigger than it looks, but it also comes with AI tone creation (voice or text) and AI track separation, and if it does not give you the ick, there are “intelligent backing tracks” you can play to sharpen up those practice sessions.

Other features include 200 presets, and the seven moveable effect modules, all of which deliver your tone in full stereo.

See Hotone for more.

Cort Exotic Series

Those bored of the spruce/mahogany acoustic guitar paradigm might like the looks of these keenly priced Cort Exotic acoustics, which pare the solid spruce top with ash burl, myrtlewood and walnut.

Cort is offering these in its SFX and Grand Auditorium cutaway models, which come stage-ready with aCort’s CE304T acoustic guitar pickup and preamp, which means you have a piezo pickup, and a 3-band EQ and onboard digital guitar tuner. Expect to pay less than 300 bucks.

Find out more at Cort Guitars.

Charvel Pro-Mod Plus DK24

Already, shred heads, here’s something that might be worth loosening the purse strings for, and you know the drill. It’s a DK24, so that means a Jackson Dinky body with a 24-fret Charvel bolt-on neck and build, and a spec that’s pretty damn metal. At least the choice of pickups suggest as much.

The dual humbucker options feature a Seymour Duncan Nazgul at the bridge, a Sentient at the neck, while the HSS version pair a Seymour Duncan Full Shred humbucker with a pair of Custom Flat Strat SSL-6 single-coils.

This is a great drop for fans of green guitars. Just check out that Floyd-equipped Cloaked Emerald Green HH model – complete with black Speed Knobs – and the Zombie Fade HSS model with the recessed Wilkinson tremolo.

Find out more at Charvel.

Blackstar adds Moises support for Beam Solo and Beam Mini

Blackstar’s compact digital amp and headphone amp was already a tech-forward proposition. You have all the effects, the amp models, and you have the Tone3000 integration, and now – as promised at NAMM 2026 – there is Moises support too. The industry leading stem separation technology is available now if you use iOS, and is coming to Android on September 30.

Download it on your app and you can isolate guitars in your favourite songs, or remove them. It’s a superb practice tool, allowing you to isolate the part you are trying to learn then play along.

Find out more at Blackstar.

Walrus Audio Canvas Expression Pedal

The most useful expression pedal ever? Possibly. We’ve got two independent outputs, which can be configured as expression, switch and CV outputs It’s fully customisable (tapers, sweeps, you name it), and can be your MIDI controller too.

Okay, $299 is not cheap but for complicated rigs it could be over-qualified performance-friendly utility pedal you’ve been waiting on.

Head over to Walrus Audio for more.

Old Blood Noise Endeavors Beam Splitter v2

The sequel to the 13-knob distortion pedal promises the same madcap take on the distortion pedal. It, too, takes your signal, makes three copies of it, applies three different overdrives to it, then sends a pair of them through two individual delay lines, thus making your sound f____g humungous – the sound of one guitar turned into three.

But this is a lot more user friendly. Enter, presets, expression control over every parameter, MIDI control over everything, mono/stereo output (and trereo as OBNE call it), and switchable buffered trails or true bypass.

If you are the sole guitarist in a rock or metal band – or any band where gain is called for – the Beam Splitter could be transformative. At $379, it’s expensive. But what other pedals on the market do this?

Find out more at Old Blood Noise Endeavors.

DOD Drag Analog Delay

Is this the second coming of the Rubberneck? Well, there is a Rubberneck mode, which extends this bucket brigade delay pedal’s maximum repeat time from 750 ms to 1.5 seconds. And it’s got self-oscillation at its extremes.

With Delay Time, Repeats and Level controls, it might present itself as a straightforward analogue delay, but those mini-dials for Drift and Friction add modulation and a time-warp feature for pitch-shifting repeats and all kinds of strange temporal anomalies. And strange is good.

Find our more at DOD/Digitech.

JHS Pedals AT Mini

JHS Pedals shrinks down Andy Timmons’ signature overdrive pedal and does so with a minimum of compromise. Literally, the only thing that is different is that the wattage switch has gone, with this AT Mini set at Timmons’ 100-watt setting at all times, and we don’t have the footswitchable boost.

But otherwise it’s the same circuit, with Volume and Drive doing their thing alongside an Air control that behaves like presence on an amp, and an EQ dial for a high-pass filter that brightens or darkens your tone.

And there you go: red-hot amp-in-a-box drive tones in a mini pedal format, for just $129 and you can buy the full-fat version for $219 if you really want the boost and alt-wattage settings. Lovely.

See JHS Pedals for more.

What is it?

Although it feels like it's only really broken onto the scene in the past few years, Beetronics have been going for at least a decade. The brand has only really broken into the mainstream in the past few years, with a distinctive look that stands out a mile from all the other pedals in a heaving marketplace. Today’s review fodder, the Beetronics Seabee Lite, represents a different path for the brand, simplifying an existing pedal down to something more user-friendly.

The chorus pedal that preceded this one was all busy fascia, haphazardly named controls, and hidden secondary functions. There’s a case that the full-fat Seabee Harmochorus was, at times, a lesson in form over function. The Seabee Lite is looking to change that, delivering a much more usable interface that will appeal to more traditional pedal users.

The pedal has essentially been split in half, with all of the ‘Harmochorus’ functions gone. No arp, mod, or dual modes, and no chord-based arpeggios. The three dual purpose three main knobs on the Harmochorus are still three, but they’re now just single functions that will be familiar to most modulation users. Feedback, rate, and depth give control over the modulation you set with the switches below.

These also still number three, but have been simplified. The left switch is an EQ with flat, bandpass, and high-pass filters. The middle switch changes the modes from classic, ‘flangee’, and ‘wobblee’. The last switch moves between chorus and ‘vibee’ modes. All done to match the simpler knobs and fewer features.

The two footswitches have been repurposed, too. The left switch controls tap tempo, and when you hold it down ramps the rate upwards. The right switch bypasses the pedal when you click it, and sets the depth to maximum when you hold it down. Pressing both together lets you select savable presets. It’s capable of stereo output and has a 1/4-inch connection for MIDI or an expression pedal.

Specs

• Launch price: $249 | £229 | €259
• Type: Analogue BBD chorus/vibrato pedal
• Controls: Feedback, Rate, Depth, Mix; mode selector (Classic / Flangee / Wobblee); Chorus/Vibee toggle; Filter toggle
• Features: 16 onboard presets, tap tempo, MIDI control, depth-boost function on held footswitch
• Connectivity: MIDI, expression pedal input, stereo outputs
• Bypass: Buffered
• Power: 9V DC, centre-negative, 250mA
• Dimensions: 140 x 84 x 64mm (5.5 x 3.3 x 2.5")
• Weight: 0.4kg (0.9lb)
• Options: Available in Cream and Pink Violet finishes
• Contact: Beetronics

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

As is a Beetronics calling card, the Seabee Lite is certainly distinctive-looking, with the sage green knobs and low-resolution text labels. The colours are actually fairly muted by typical Beetronics fare, with the control panel featuring a plastic cover on its top third while the rest of the pedal is pure chrome. It’s actually quite different to the other pedals in the range, but I don’t mind it.

The chassis is wedge-shaped and feels very durable in my hands. It doesn’t weigh much at just shy of half a kilo, but it definitely feels like it can put up with abuse. The footswitches are solid, with huge hex nuts attaching them to the front face of the pedal. They’re soft-click due to the multi-function operation. The knobs offer a very firm travel and feel well attached to the pedal front. The switches are quite small and fiddly, but flick into place solidly enough.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

If you’ve ever used a modulation pedal before, you’re not likely to need a manual for most of the features here. I begin my testing alongside some other pedals I’m reviewing, running the Seabee Lite second in the chain after a boutique fuzz, and before an Eventide multi-effects pedal.

I was initially confused by the labels near the jack inputs. The left label reads ‘tap/hold’ which made me think it was an expression output. On closer inspection, the small arrow makes it clearer, and I realise this writing is for the footswitch below rather than the 1/4-inch output. It’s a small niggle, but the label being so far away from the thing it controls means it’s not immediately obvious what it does.

With that hurdle navigated, I have no issues getting stuck into the pedal's controls, and I’m soon crafting sounds unfettered. I love having preset compatibility not hidden behind MIDI, especially in a pedal where so many different sounds are available. It’s not crystal clear that this is available, though, and I only discover it once I start perusing the brightly coloured and engaging manual.

It’s accessible by pressing the two footswitches together, and it gives you a generous four banks with four presets each. A two-second press of both footswitches accesses presets; then I can tap each footswitch to move left or right between the presets, then hit both footswitches again to engage. It’s also possible to set a favourite preset which loads every time you turn the pedal on.

To help you remember which preset is which, the line of four LEDs changes colour depending on which bank you’ve got engaged. These light up red, yellow, orange, and green so you know what bank you’re on. The pedal ships with eight factory presets and eight blank presets, but it’s possible to overwrite any preset on the pedal.

MIDI is accessed via the same multi-jack that you plug the expression pedal into. It needs to be engaged via the global pedal settings, and once that’s done, you can sync it to a MIDI clock, or control any of the parameters on the front face of the pedal.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

I start my testing on the clean channel of my Orange Rocker 32 tube amp and my trusty Telecaster with all the pedal settings at 12, EQ off, Classic mode engaged, and the third switch set to chorus. Unsurprisingly, it’s a classic chorus sound I get in return. Turning down the rate gives that watery Come As You Are tone, and it’s got a nice warble to it that thickens up the tone and adds some movement.

Turning up the knobs gives a very seasick sound, and here I realise it’s a mix of wet and dry tones rather than an outright colored setting. To my ear, it sounds pretty much a 50/50 mix. To get it wetter, flicking the third switch from chorus to Vibee unlocks a fully wet mode, making the modulation sound much more intense and obvious.

Changing to Wobblee mode, things get a little more chaotic. It doesn’t bounce around as evenly as the classic setting, making it super fun for more out-there tone hunters. It makes my tone feel off-balance, bouncing around in ways that I don’t expect. The Seabee Lite can get really extreme when I push the settings, delivering some truly wild sounds.

Moving to Flangee, turning the rate down and the feedback up gives that classic metallic flange sound. It’s not quite as even as a traditional flanger; there’s a little offset to the rhythm of it that means it doesn’t quite land where you’d expect, but it’s the closest to a traditional flanger sound I can get. On the 50/50 chorus mode, it’s quite subtle even when I add a drive pedal to the front of the amp, but switching to vibee makes it much more pronounced.

The dual footswitches are really handy for live players. The ability to ramp the rate or depth at will makes for a great way to end your songs or certain passages with a spiralling craziness. The left footswitch does the rate setting, echoed in the two flashing LEDs on the front of the pedal. The right switch maxes out the depth, great for hitting a note then stomping on to let some auditory carnage ensue.

Verdict

If you’re looking for a chorus pedal that can get weird, the Beetronics Seabee Lite pedal is a great option. There are some traditional tones available here, but honestly, that would be a waste of its potential. From wacky laser beam noises to nausea-inducing modulation effects, this pedal delivers a lot of different tones despite being simplified from its forebear.

There’s a lot of functionality here, not all of it immediately clear just by looking at the fascia. If you want a simple chorus pedal, I’d look elsewhere, but for those who like to tweak and don’t mind some manual diving, this pedal is a great shout. The manual is extremely clear, and there’s a lot of functionality to unlock from the pedal that goes beneath the surface-level control.

MusicRadar verdict: Despite quite literally being half the pedal the Seabee Harmochorus is, the Beetronics Seabee Lite is a great chorus pedal that treads its own path. The arrhythmic modulation helps it stand on its own versus the more traditional vintage chorus pedals, but it still has enough flexibility to play both roles. Having presets unobscured by MIDI is a real winner, while MIDI and expression connectivity make it a very flexible addition to a pedalboard indeed.

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What is it?

When most of us think of pitch effects, we tend to think of octaves up or down, a range of harmonies, maybe even the sweeping whammy effect, but with the Freqlux, Hotone is proving that it can be a whole lot more than that.

This violet stomp uses three completely independent pitch engines to generate a staggering amount of pitch effects, with each voice being able to run in a different mode from one another. This means you can stack and blend a multitude of effects together to generate what seems like an endless array of patches.

With Poly Mode, you gain access to polyphonic pitch shifting that, of course, works on chords as well as single notes; Key Mode allows you to generate harmonies that intelligently follow the key of your song, Detune Mode is for creating lush chorus-like sounds, Mod Mode bypasses pitch shifting entirely and transforms the pedal into a powerful independent modulation engine, and lastly, ARP Mode grants you the ability to generate synth-like arpeggios.

The Freqlux offers an impressive 200 preset slots, including 95 factory presets, and includes free desktop software for deep editing and future updates called Neon Collector. In case that wasn’t enough, there is even a clutch of effects you can add to patches, such as overdrive, delay, and tremolo.

The pedal can be run in stereo, with independent pan and level controls that let you place each voice exactly where you want it in the stereo field, and it supports both expression pedal control and MIDI switching. Lots of creative potential here.

Specs

• Launch price: $299.99 | £249.00 | €279.00
• Type: Triple-voice polyphonic pitch shifter and pitch modulation pedal
• Controls: H1, H2, H3 (voice controls), Preset, Mix, Select, Alt/Menu button, FX button, Active footswitch, and Flux footswitch
• Features: 3 independent pitch modules, 5 pitch modes (PolyShift, KeyTrack, Detune, ARP, Mod), Flux/Auto Flux real-time gliding, 95 factory presets, 200 user preset slots, 32-bit processing, high-resolution LCD display, and per-voice FX
• Connectivity: 1 x 1/4" TRS Stereo Input, 2 x 1/4" TRS Stereo Outputs, 2 x 1/8" (3.5mm) TRS jacks for MIDI In/EXP and MIDI Thru, and 1 x USB-C port
• Bypass: Pure analogue dry-through with buffer
• Power: 9V DC, 0.5A (500mA) Centre Negative, or compatible USB-C power
• Dimensions: 125.5 mm × 84 mm × 62.5 mm
• Weight: 485g
• Contact: Hotone

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

Earlier this year, I reviewed Hotone’s NC-200 Verbera, a dual-engine pedal I not only loved and gave a generous five stars, but it stood out as one of my favourite effects units of the last few years. So, as you can imagine, I’m glad to see the Freqlux sticking to the Verbera’s winning chassis formula for this new release.

This medium-sized, dual footswitch stompbox feels seriously tough and well put together, and I like the eye-catching purple finish and bright neon LEDs.

From the matte texture of the metal casing to the reassuringly smooth travel of the controls, it feels and looks premium – and I guess, it really should. At $299, it certainly isn’t a budget pedal, but I think it feels every bit of that sizable price tag, and as I’ll discuss later, there’s plenty on board to justify the cost.

In my Verbera review, I quizzed the perplexing MIDI Thru and MIDI IN/EXP jack placement, and I’m disappointed to see them in the same spot on the Freqlux. They’re situated at the bottom of the pedal, directly beneath the footswitches.

As I said about the previous pedal, the cables being so close to my feet makes me feel very uneasy. One slip of the foot could mean MIDI disaster during a live show. Honestly, it would make a lot more sense if you moved these jacks to the side of the unit, since there is plenty of space and the main jacks are at the head of the enclosure.

Admittedly, this is a small niggle, and if you don’t plan on using the MIDI functionality, then it won't be a problem at all.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★★

There’s a lot going on with this pedal, but thankfully, it’s pretty easy to navigate. In fact, I didn’t really need to poke my nose in the manual for its main functions.

When the Freqlux first boots up, it’s in preset mode, which means the dual footswitches scroll up and down the presets. If you prefer, you can switch it to operate in Control Mode, and this more mimics a traditional stompbox where the left footswitch turns the effect on and off, and the other activates the Flux function, but more about that later.

As for the other controls, the main H1, H2, and H3 dials adjust the parameters of the three pitch engines and change depending on the menu you select. This is pretty easy to understand, as the high-contrast LCD screen is clear to read and well labelled.

The Preset dial switches between presets and is much faster than using the footswitch. The Mix knob controls the overall effect level, and Select navigates through menus.

Lastly, we have an Alt/Menu button that opens the main parameter pages of the three pitch engines or the menu interface if you hold it in, while the FX button opens the effects menu, allowing you to add drive, delay, or tremolo to any or all of the pitch voices.

I’m aware that is a lot of functions, but honestly, it all feels very natural and straightforward in use. It’s an easy pedal to get around, with an instinctive layout that never had me scratching my head.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

On to sounds, and I’d say this isn’t a straight-up plug-and-play device; it requires a little time to experiment and set up from a tone point of view.

We have a clutch of 95 factory presets on board, and well, most of them are pretty wild. I think the Freqlux falls into the trap many multi-effects units do, by showing off what it can do rather than focusing on a collection of usable sounds most of us will fall back on. A quote from Jurassic Park’s Dr Malcom comes to mind: “They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.”

That’s not to say the presets are bad, far from it, they just require some tweaking to get the most out of them.

Instead of going through each of the onboard presets, I think it’s best to break down the sounds here by type.

Starting with just one engine, and in Poly Mode, this is where you can dive into more standard pitch effects. This pedal is very flexible, letting you pitch up or down in semitones, up to three octaves. The tracking is spot on too! There’s no latency, no glitchiness; it even handles complex chord voices.

Bringing in another engine to handle octave down, while the first does octave up, and adding a touch of drive from the built-in effects, it’s easy to build a rather convincing organ tone.

Switching to the Key Mode, and suddenly I feel like I’m a member of Thin Lizzy. Again, like the polyphonic mode, the tracking is flawless on my newly generated harmonies. It’s also a piece of cake to pick a key and scale. Opting for A minor, the harmonies follow my ropey pentatonic runs with ease and sound great.

Yes, the harmonies have a touch of artificialness, but once I play with the blend, it’s easy to get them sitting nicely in the mix.

So far, it’s been a fairly routine pitch pedal, but ARP Mode is where things get really wild. This mode makes me feel like Matt Bellamy. Working in conjunction with the Flux footswitch, it allows you to generate rhythmic arpeggio cycles, mad synth-glides, and so much more. I lost hours of my day playing with this function. It sounds fantastic and is infinitely inspiring. It’s worth the price of admission alone.

That said, I think the Freqlux comes into its own when you combine all three engines. Building a tone with an octave down, generate a minor harmony and an arpeggio that you can trigger whenever you need to via the Flux control, and you’ve got a genuinely unique tone that can quite quickly stray from an electric guitar to something completely futuristic.

Honestly, after days of playing, I still feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what is possible with this pedal.

Verdict

For me, the Hotone Freqlux is all the pitch shifting you could ever need. Its triple-engine architecture lets you unlock a staggering level of creative potential, and it does it all with superb tracking.

I’ve come to expect an impressive build from Hotone, but what I’m most impressed with is how intuitive it is to use. It would be easy for this pedal to feel overwhelming, but it never does. Navigation is refreshingly straightforward, and despite the depth, most controls are self-explanatory.

Really, the only downside is the MIDI jacks. For the love of God, Hotone, please do something about their awkward placement, because this aside, it would be a complete knockout pedal.

Sure, at $299, the Freqlux is no budget option, but the feature set, flexibility, and premium feel more than justify the price for players who want more than the basics.

Ultimately, the Hotone Freqlux is an immensely powerful, versatile pitch effects pedal for adventurous players who want to dive into the experimental side of tone.

MusicRadar verdict: The Hotone Freqlux is a powerhouse of creative pitch effects, blending serious versatility with a fun and intuitive design. Its triple-engine setup delivers everything from classic harmonies to wild synth textures and then some. Some minor hardware quirks aside, it’s an outstanding stomp built for adventurous players seeking inspiration and endless sonic possibilities in a single box.

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Music For Miles

Neural DSP has launched its biggest CorOS update ever, bringing more sounds and functionality to its Quad Cortex amp modeller and multi-effects platform, with expanded guitar plugin compatibility and features that could radically transform your workflow.

The CorOS 4.1.0 update is free for all Quad Cortex and Quad Cortex Mini users, and there’s a lot to dig into. The headline items of 8 new virtual devices is a good place to start.

We now have a Multivoicer harmonizer, the Glitch granular delay, Ring Modulator, Arpeggio Delay, Crystal Delay, Vintage Digital Reverb, the Douglas Shining compressor, which is based on Dark Glass Electronics’ Hyper Luminal compressor, and the Plugin Parametric-4 EQ.

More X plugins can be run natively on your device, with Neural DSP adding compatibility for Tim Henson, John Mayer, John Petrucci, Rabea Massaad and Misha Mansoor’s signature Archetype plugin bundles.

There is also Dual Footswitch Assignments that could make the Quad Cortex’s Stomp Mode more performance-friendly. And the Cortex Control 4.1.0 update is not to be sniffed at either – you can now control multiple devices from your computer all at the same time, assigning each unit a name and toggling between units without touching any cables.

But maybe the most exciting new feature is Device Presets, which could really change how you go about putting together your tones. This allows you to save the settings of any Virtual Device in your rig and then pull them into another preset.

So say you had a really good US-style boutique clean tube amp dialled in on one preset, you could pull it out and easily recall it in another. That also goes for virtual speaker cabinets, drive units, effects, utilities. Finding new electric guitar tones just got a little easier.

Also, the CorOS 4.1.0 launches with 2,000 Factory Device Presets.

Neural DSP’s CPO and co-founder, Francisco Cresp, says it is “major milestone” for the Quad Cortex ecosystem.

“We’re giving musicians even more freedom to create, experiment, and move between software and hardware without compromise,” says Cresp.

The Cortex Control 4.1.0 update also brings some workflow updates – crucially, it now supports Device Presets, I/O Settings Presets and Global EQ Presets.

"Every CorOS release is about making Quad Cortex a more powerful creative platform," says Douglas Castro, CEO and co-founder of Neural DSP. “This update is our biggest yet, not only because of the amount of new functionality we’ve added, but because it fundamentally changes how quickly musicians can build sounds, move between devices, and bring our entire plugin ecosystem into their hardware workflow.”

The update is free. Head over to Neural DSP for more.

What is it?

The White Whale Junior is a compact, amp-like tremolo and reverb pedal. It's true bypass and all-analogue, but its true selling point is that it uses real springs.

The result is a very authentic replication of vintage amp reverb and tremolo, in a pedalboard-friendly form-factor.

Specs

• Price: $349 | £259| €299
• Type: Analogue amp-like spring reverb/tremolo
• Controls: Dwell, Tone, Mix, Volume, Speed, Intensity, Volume, Independent footswitches
• Features: Reverb, Tremolo pedals
• Connectivity: Input, Output, Power
• Bypass: True relay
• Power: 9V DC Centre-negative, 110mA
• Dimensions: 154 x 68 x 83 mm
• Weight: 490g
• Contact: Crazy Tube Circuits

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

The White Whale Junior aims to deliver a true amp-style spring reverb and tremolo in a compact enclosure. To do this, no corners have been cut – there's real springs inside the oversized enclosure. You can confirm this by giving the unit a gentle kick to hear the spring 'splash.'

This is something I can't wait to check out, popping off the back and eyeballing three real springs and a neat off-board wiring job. However, as noted in the manual, these springs and the fly leads are fragile, so it's not a good idea to do this at home!

Inside and out everything is sensibly laid out and feels sturdy. The true-bypass switches are soft-click relays, which is a nice touch.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★½

The pedal has seven straightforward controls. The reverb and tremolo sections have their own footswitches, and the effects are easy enough to dial in.

Compared to the larger White Whale, there's no harmonic trem mode, and the Dwell times are streamlined to a single pot. Still, this all makes for an intuitive set up, assuming you didn't need those features.

The only complexity comes from the reverb, as it has its own Volume and Blend controls. As this section contains an amplifier stage, finding unity volume is crucial.

The amp stage can result in level issues when paired with any pedals in front of the White Whale, which is likely to be at the end of your chain.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

With a clean guitar, the White Whale delivers characterful reverb and tremolo tones, but it really starts to come alive once there's a bit of dirt. The amp stage in the pedal can be used for boosting, but it has a dark voicing.

The Tone control affects the reverb, which can result in a more brittle sound when the Tone is up. Consequently it makes more sense to brighten up the gain blocks in front, and set a more neutral tone on the White Whale.

Placing a Rangemaster-style boost in front (Crazy Tube Circuits' own Triptychon, in fact) yields excellent results. Conversely, a Roland Space Echo-derived discrete op-amp preamp proves less satisfying due to its darker tone. Moving on to drives, the pedal interacts differently with the drives I throw at it.

Although there are no concerns, it does result in a fuzzier, darker tone. The Smallsound/Bigsound Mini JFet drive needs a fair bit of tweaking, while the Hamstead Odyssey runs prematurely to feedback. Though, it must be said, I do run that pedal quite hot.

At higher gain settings, the White Whale's voicing is less of an issue, since the overall sound is so complex. Turning again to the Triptychon to stack several gain blocks together, Rangemaster, Fuzz Face and drive modes running in series results in a searing lead tone, with the reverb eventually guiding the guitar into very musical feedback.

The tremolo, meanwhile, has no quirks, in a good way. I prefer the quick, choppy tremolo, but it can go all the way down to slow throbbing, with a depth from fully open or closed to quite subtle.

Verdict

For all that the White Whale gets right in bringing classic 50s and 60s tones to the modern pedalboard, it's still very much aimed at surf players.

Players from many genres might be after a spring reverb, especially one that sounds this good, but room, hall and ambient reverbs are the go-to for many players and genres. This makes the White Whale a more niche prospect.

MusicRadar verdict: If you need the most amp-like reverb that money can buy, and don't need the features of the larger White Whale, then the Junior is an excellent, compact option. It sounds fantastic, it's versatile, and it's mostly well behaved when stacked with other gain pedals on your board.

Also try

Hands-on videos

The Guitar Geek

R.J. Ronquilo

Tone Factory

What is it?

The premise of the Towers Stereo Reverberant Filter pedal is to feed your guitar signal through what EarthQuaker describes as “an array of infinitely repeating micro-echoes” into a large cathedral-style reverb.

The whole lot then interacts with a resonant low-pass filter that’s woven into the signal path for an extra layer of harmonic complexity.

Specs

• PRICE: $299 | £329 | €338
• ORIGIN: USA
• TYPE: Stereo Reverberant
  Filter pedal
• FEATURES: Tails or Full bypass, 8x assignable presets
• CONTROLS: Length, Frequency, Mix, Filter, Preset selector, Mode switch (Man/Env/LFO), Stretch footswitch, Activate footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard inputs (L/Mono, R), standard outputs
  (L/Mono, R), EXP
• POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) 85mA
• DIMENSIONS: 108 (w) x 121 (d) x 64mm (h) 
• CONTACT: EarthQuaker Devices

Usability and sounds

While you get a standard Mix knob to add effected sound to the dry signal, and a Length knob that determines how long your reverb tail is, the filtering is the key to the Towers’ unique sonic aspects, adding a ringing richness and movement.

A Filter knob controls how much the filter is mixed into the reverb pathways, determining the depth of harmonic resonance, with the filter Frequency dialling in variations of the effect via three toggle-switched modes that determine how it is applied.

Manual mode is used for setting the Frequency knob where you want it for tonal shading. In Envelope mode you can control the filter frequency with picking dynamics, the Frequency knob adjusting the sensitivity of the envelope and determining how you can emphasise that ‘opening filter’ movement in the sound. In LFO mode the filter frequency is controlled by a slow moving LFO, with the Frequency knob adjusting the sweep rate.

It’s here that you’ll find the most dramatic stereo effects as the signal pans across the field.

With left and right channels working independently, the pedal is at its optimum in stereo, but its richly textured reverb still works perfectly well in mono.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★½

There’s plenty to explore, with subtle sonic changes engendered by small knob adjustments, so it’s great that there are eight preset slots for you to save and recall any favourite sounds you might discover.

For performance, a second footswitch initiates the Stretch function, which slows the processor speed, doubling the length of reverb effect and generating a lo-fi effect that pulls apart the delay lines while smearing the filter and lowering the frequency responses – it’s not unlike a tape slowing-down/speeding-up effect.

There’s also provision to plug in an expression pedal for control of any one of the parameter knobs.

MusicRadar verdict: Just when you think you’ve seen enough fancy reverbs and ambience pedals, along comes another. However, EarthQuaker Devices has proven past history within this area and it all comes together in this excellent example of the genre’s shifting atmospheric soundscapes.

Hands-on videos

EarthQuaker Devices

Sweetwater

Cesar Soto of Ministry x EQD

• “A feral supernova awaits if you dime those dials”: EarthQuaker Devices Barrows Fuzz Attacker review
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save

Jam Pedals and Stu Mackenzie have joined forces for an overdrive/distortion pedal that unlocks the small-amp magic of his King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard electric guitar tone.

The Tiny Amp Destroyer is inspired by Mackenzie’s utterly unorthodox setup, in which he drives a 30-dollar pawnshop guitar amp with a boost pedal and cleans it up by rolling his volume knob back. It’s the sound you hear on albums such as Flight b741, where these poor little amplifiers – in various stages of distress – yield hot yet boxy tones that sound great on a record.

In a sense, Mackenzie’s approach is straight out of the Recording Guitar: 101, in which a small amp, typically a compact tube amp combo such as the Fender Champ, would play a starring roll. Stick a mic in front of it and your good to go. Well, Mackenzie’s amp choices are not a champ.

He got the idea for using the cheapest, nastiest, and smallest solid-state practice amps he could find when giving guitar lessons.

“I used to teach guitar. I used to teach kids and teenagers when I was a teenager myself,” he told Total Guitar in 2024. “People would always come in with these tiny amps, just the classic thirty-dollar amps you can buy at the pawnshop. It’s just the cheapest way to get started with electric guitar, and sometimes these things would sound amazing if you cranked them up loud enough.”

Mackenzie went down to the shops and got himself around eight of these little amps, paying between 20 and 30 dollars for each of them. Turning them up until they suffer is how you get them to play nice. If they break, well, that’s 30 bucks. No biggie.

“You crank them up to a place where they are not supposed to go, and they are distorting when they are on the clean channel… That is awesome to me,” he continued. “A lot of the time it’s the speaker that’s distorting, and there’s something rattling that is not supposed to be rattling, but it’s all harmonics and everything. I am hugely into that.”

The Tiny Amp Destroyer is not an amp in a box in the strictest sense, like how Peavey put the Decade into a preamp pedal to tap into the rush to nail Josh Homme’s tone. “TAD is not an amp in a box,” explains Jam Pedals. “It is the sound of the box losing the fight.”

But it combines the sounds of these transistorised budget amps with a treble booster, presenting them as two independent but stackable drive stages, with a third footswitch activating a treble booster that’s voiced after Jam Pedals’ Rooster.

“It tightens the low end, sharpens the attack and changes how both drive stages respond,” says the Greek effects brand.

There are all kinds of controls for shaping your sound. It might have been inspired by Mackenzie’s rig but it does a lot more. Think of it has two gain voicings, both unruly, one hotter than the other, with Magic and Notch controls for allowing you to dial up the instability or dial in some more conventional drive.

"It makes your massive amp sound tiny, and it's just way better," says Mackenzie.

The first batch of these pedals is sold out — as is the second batch. But more will be coming in late August, early September.

Priced £319/$399, the Tiny Amp Destroyer is available now. Head over to Jam Pedals for more.

What is it?

Dirty Boy built its reputation largely through word of mouth. Founder Alex Saraceno began by building one-off circuits for his son, guitarist Blues Saraceno, and over the years Dirty Boy pedals found their way onto the boards of players including Phil X, John Frusciante and George Pajon Jr.

Under current owner Danny Gomez, the company has continued its small-batch, handmade approach, with original hand wired Dirty Boy pedals typically selling for around $349.

The Jr. Booster is one of three pedals in Warm Audio’s collaboration with Dirty Boy, including a Fuzz and an Overdrive. For the Booster, Warm Audio revisited the Dirty Boy Ball Buster circuit, originally designed to push the front end of vintage-style Marshall, Hiwatt and Vox valve amps.

Warm Audio describes the Jr. Booster as capable of moving from clean boost into natural compression, overdrive and heavier saturation as the Drive control is increased. Bass and Treble controls provide additional tone shaping, while the three-position Freq switch changes the pedal’s low-frequency response.

At $169, the Jr. Booster enters a market that ranges from straightforward clean boost pedals such as the TC Electronic Spark Mini to pedals including the Xotic EP Booster and Benson Germanium Boost.

Its combination of Drive, independent Bass and Treble controls and three selectable frequency settings places it among boost pedals designed to offer additional tone shaping beyond a simple level increase.

Specs

• Price: $169 | £169 | €189
• Type: Boost pedal
• Controls: Drive, Treble, Bass, 3-position (Low/Mid/High) Freq switch
• Features: All-analog boost circuit derived from the Dirty Boy "Ball Buster" design; up to 10dB of clean gain before natural compression and breakup take over; responsive to pick dynamics and guitar volume
• Connectivity: 1/4" instrument input, 1/4" amp output.
• Bypass: True bypass
• Power: 9V DC, centre-negative power supply (not included). Warm Audio has not published a current draw (mA) figure for this pedal at time of writing
• Dimensions: 51 x 65 x 122mm (W x H x D)
• Weight: 9.6oz / 0.27kg
• Contact: Warm Audio

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

Pick up the Jr. Booster and it feels a lot more substantial than you might expect at this price.

The die-cast enclosure has that reassuring, slightly overbuilt feel you want from something that’s going to live on a pedalboard, get stepped on every night, and probably take a few knocks along the way.

The knobs have enough resistance that they’re not going to move every time you brush against them, and the three-way Freq switch clicks firmly into place instead of feeling loose or flimsy. The on/off foot switch gives you a good, solid click with just the right amount of force required to engage it.

Warm Audio also did a nice job with the presentation. The red-on-black graphics keep the Dirty Boy look intact without making the pedal feel like a cheap tribute act, and the top-mounted LED is bright enough to see on a dark stage.

It doesn’t feel like a hand-wired boutique pedal but that’s not really the point. For $169, the Jr. Booster feels solid, well finished, and built like a tank.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★☆

With four clearly labeled controls including a three-way Freq switch, getting around the Jr. Booster is about as easy as it gets. Drive sets how hard you're pushing the front end, Treble and Bass shape what's left over, and none of it requires a manual to understand.

Compare that to the Xotic EP Booster, which hides its frequency-shaping options behind internal DIP switches - handy once you've found a setting but it can get annoying every time you want to experiment on the fly.

The Freq switch changes how much low end the pedal feeds into the amp with three tiers. High tightens things up and sharpens the attack, Mid gives the most balanced response, while Low adds noticeable weight and thickness. It’s a simple control, but the differences between the three settings are easy to hear.

I ran the Jr. Booster with both a Gibson Les Paul and a Fender Stratocaster into a Fender ’62 Deluxe Vintage Reissue, with the amp set for a warm edge-of-breakup tone. That proved to be a great setup for hearing how the pedal pushed the front end.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

With the Freq switch set to Mid position and Drive barely past nine o'clock, the Jr. Booster does what a boost is supposed to do: it makes the amp louder without announcing itself. Note definition holds up well, the amp's character stays intact and there's none of the thin, brittle edge that cheaper clean boosts can add to the top end. Notes are noticeably fatter with more feel under your fingers.

The Low setting added some extra body to the Strat, while High helped keep the Les Paul from getting too thick as the amp started to compress. Mid ended up being my favorite and where I spent most of my time. The three Freq settings give you enough control to shape how the pedal hits the amp without turning it into a full-blown EQ pedal.

Push the Drive toward noon and a soft compression creeps in that tightens up palm mutes and adds real push to single-note lines without sounding like a distortion pedal. This is the zone the Ball Buster built its reputation on where your tone feels more alive. Less like a pedal switching on and more like my amp simply waking up.

Past 2 o'clock, the natural compression transitions to a gritty, slightly ragged breakup that easily gets you into that cranked British half-stack space. Switching the Freq control to High keeps the low end from turning to mush at these higher Drive settings.

Separate Bass and Treble controls allowed me to fine-tune the low end and top-end presence without changing the basic character of the pedal. I found both EQ controls very musical which made it easy to compensate for the differences between the two guitars.

With the Drive dimed, the Jr. Booster edges right up against fuzz pedal tones; thick and saturated but still articulate enough that single notes never dissolve into mush. It starts polite but then gets loud, dirty and nasty enough to pick a fight with fuzz.

Verdict

Boost pedals rarely get reviewed with much enthusiasm, mostly because most of them do one predictable thing well and nothing else.

The Dirty Boy Jr. Booster earns more attention than that: it's built around a genuinely distinctive circuit with real gain range on tap, not just a volume knob in a box, and the Freq switch gives it more personality than most boost pedals.

Players who want continuously variable EQ will still gravitate toward something like the JHS Clover, and Dirty Boy purists will always hold out for a hand-wired original. But at $169, this is the most affordable route yet into a circuit that's spent years being talked about more than it's actually been heard.

Judged on its own merits, it's an easy pedal to recommend, and a genuinely hard one to find much fault with. The Jr. Booster is proof that "just a boost pedal" can still be worth the conversation.

MusicRadar verdict: A once-elusive boutique boost circuit reimagined for a wider audience without losing the attitude that made players chase it in the first place. The Freq switch and independent EQ give it more personality than its straightforward layout suggests, and the Drive control alone covers everything from a subtle clean boost to something that starts nudging up against fuzz.

Also try

Hands-on videos

Warm Audio

Sweetwater

Darner Werner

• Warm Audio Warmdrive review

MXR has unveiled the Flanger/Doubler, a guitar effects pedal that brings you the same sound and functionality of its classic M-126 rack unit in a more compact and user-friendly format.

The Flanger/Doubler is one of those OG units that was used extensively during the ‘70s and ‘80s.

The name explains exactly what it does; it is a flanger (whoooooosh!), and it is a doubler, with the latter effect creating a second track of your electric guitar and running it slightly delayed to your own signal for a thickening effect – as though it has been double-tracked, albeit without the differences in pick attack.

In some settings it can sound like a slapback delay.

The Flanger/Doubler’s most famous user was the late Dimebag Darrell, who deployed one as an ever-present in his guitar rig. As the sole guitar player in the band, it helped his instrument occupy a bit more bandwidth. Some players have boosts or compressor pedals as an always-on tone sweetener. Dimebag had the M-126.

“An MXR Flanger/Doubler was used in the main ‘wet’ head loop 100 per cent of the time,” said Grady Champion, Dimebag’s tech, speaking to MusicRadar in 2019.

Sometimes the flanger side came to the fore. The intro to Cowboys From Hell springs to mind. But there’s a lot more you can do with this unit. It might be a Pantera essential, but it has a wide range of sounds, all catered for a by an analogue BBD circuit.

The M-126 was an excellent design so there was no need for MXR to switch things up for the pedal. It has the same controls. Toggle the modes using the Doubler button.

There are dials for Manual, Width and Speed, with the Regen knob behaving as a feedback knob on most flangers, feeding some of the signal back on itself to make it more intense and metallic.

Then there is a Mix knob for controlling your wet/dry blend – and finally an Invert button that reverses the polarity of the wet signal to “discover everything from airy, hollow vocality to a bold low-mid punch”.

There is a CV output for connecting with synths and sequencers – or indeed an expression pedal – plus there’s a Line Level switch for those occasions when you do. The LEDs on the front of the pedal give you a useful visual indicator of how you have the pedal set.

The MXR Flanger/Doubler is available now priced £339/$339. See Jim Dunlop for more details.

HeadRush has just launched a firmware update for its Core, Prime and Prime Flex guitar multi-effects pedals and amp modellers, and it is officially a big deal, offering native support for Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) captures and full integration with the Tone3000 platform.

This is a free update, and yet it is transformative, giving players access to “hundreds of thousands” of community-created NAM captures via Tone3000's platform.

“The update transforms how musicians discover, download, and perform with premium tone,” says HeadRush. “[It connects] players directly to a global ecosystem of players, producers, audio engineers, artists, and creators with no computer, conversion, or third-party software required.”

For those of us who grew up with the earliest digital multi-effects processors, it all seems too good to be true, and yet it’s not. And it invites analogies with how technology has transformed how we quote/unquote consume music.

You could say that this is another iPod moment for electric guitar tone, or a step towards a world in which guitar tones are as abundantly available online as any other digital media.

Other companies have made full use of their digital ecosystems to expand our tone options.

Positive Grid has made sharing presets and sounds easy across its vast user network. The launch of Line 6’s Helix Stadium brought with it the Proxy Cloning Engine that allowed you to create a digital clone of an amp, amp and cab, preamp or overdrive, distortion or fuzz pedal. Again, you could share it.

Neural DSP’s Neural Capture tech lets you capture your amp or distortion etc over the cloud and share them with the Neural user community.

But the sounds you create using those technologies are locked to those platforms. You can’t play the Neural Capture on the Line 6 unit.

What HeadRush is doing is providing the unit, providing you with some sounds too, but also you don’t have to fill your amp library with sounds from the company alone – now you have your HeadRush tone ecosystem and the open-source possibilities from Tone3000 integration.

Blackstar did something similar with the Beam Mini and Beam Solo, offering the digital practice and headphone amps with Tone3000 integration and NAM capture support.

The success of the Tone3000 platform, not only in its growth but in its technological prowess, must have more brands thinking of following suit – or at least how they can react to what is a truly disruptive moment for the guitar tone market.

As HeadRush says, “the era of closed tone is over.” That means you can fire up your Flex Prime, browse the Tone3000 library of NAM captures and choose anything you like – a capture of a Dumble, or a Klon, or a combination of amp and pedal. You’ll find amp-and-pedal captures, such as a ’65 Deluxe Reverb boosted with a Klon. And so on.

There is no “degradation” from the unit converting the file. There’s no manual transfer. You can access these sounds via the touchscreen.

And as with any technology, ease of use will accelerate its adoption. Will other brands follow suit is the big question.

Head over to HeadRush and Tone3000 for more.

Where do we start with a month in gear when the new releases just keep on whizzing by, with July 2026 opening to the Gold Crackle lightning of Brandon Ellis’ 27-fret Jackson Kelly, and the month’s release cycle keeping its foot to the floor with signature guitar refreshes for Jim Root’s Telecaster and one really cool Epiphone Hummingbird in Cobra Burst for Eric Church?

And it kept coming. This was the month in which Guild relaunched the S-300 in style, presenting us with a $799 offset guitar with incalculable vibe, meanwhile Gibson gave the 1971 Flying Medallion a VOS Custom Shop reissue, Gretsch brought the CVT to the Streamliner Series, and Harley Benton threw a T-style party – and it finally launched its Aged Series, offering hand-relic’d electric guitars and basses for under 250 bucks.

What a time to be alive. Live, love, laugh, and so say all of us...

Then there were the pedals. Wowee! There was the MXR Textures, a “Granular Synth Engine” for adventurist players, or the Walrus Audio Lüm, a “Texture Engine” – two pedals we have to A/B at some point…

But then Electro-Harmonix gave its Big Muff Pi 2 the Deluxe treatment, and (we’re burying the lede here), Strymon unveiled the TimeLine MX, quite possibly the most advanced digital delay pedal we have seen.

Incredible scenes.

Oh, and it was the month Marshall launched the Super Lead with Billie Joe Armstrong’s infamous “Dookie” mod. The ultimate punk rock amp? Quite possibly the ultimate modded Marshall, period, full-stop, and good luck playing that at volume at home, with neighbours and pets within earshot of its matching 4x12 in baby blue Tolex.

That’s a lot to be getting on with. But there was more – and here we are going to take a closer look at some of the other highlights from another bumper month for new gear.

And we're going to kick things off with a look at a pair of guitar amps that showcase the best in amp design from both sides of the Atlantic.

Orange Baby Terror

Say hello to the Baby Terror. You can throw it into a backpack. Unboxed, it only weighs 1.5kg. But don’t write off Orange’s latest micro-sized lunchbox amp – it’s a serious option for the home, rehearsal room or the stage.

We’ve got 20-watts of solid-state power, an onboard effects loop and a balanced XLR output for playing without a speaker cabinet or going direct when recording. And there is so much tone-shaping capability here, not least with a 3-band EQ plus global Presence control, plus a Tubby switch for giving your clean tones extra low-end.

There is also a second footswitchable volume for solo boosts, and it comes with a gig bag. £199/$249 makes it pretty easy on your pocketbook, too.

See Orange Amps for more details

Bad Cat Mod Shop Cub 15 tube combo

Another stunning tube amp from one of the most-hallowed US boutique amp brands, the Cub 15 is another Vox-inspired doozie based upon the late Mark Sampson’s original 1999 design, only this is smaller, more lightweight, with its EL84 power stage revoiced to help cut through a mix.

Despite its single-channel platform, footswitchable gain stages, dual master volumes and superlative EQ’ing make this one versatile combo, complete with onboard reverb and a buffered effects loop.

It ain’t cheap at £/$2,199 but it’s pretty special. Find out more at Bad Cat.

Gibson Les Paul Custom Long Scale and 100th Anniversary Limited Edition Acoustics

At first blush, this latest addition to the Les Paul lineup looks like any other Custom. It is finished in Ebony, has the usual aesthetic appointments that dress the famous single-cut in its tux and have it ready for the awards season. Lovely.

But pick it up and you’ll feel something a little off. Not off, as in wrong, but the string tension is a little different, your hand position adjusted slightly, because Gibson has extended the range of this Custom to a Fender-esque 25.5” scale. T

his is not unheard of on a Gibson instrument; the Victory has a 25.5” scale, as does the SJ-200. But on a Les Paul it’s pretty cool, especially if you like a drop tuning or prefer the response from the longer scale.

It’s priced £5,049/$5,999.

This year marks 100 years of Gibson’s flat-top production and we have seen the launch of the Century Collection rolling the clock back to golden era specs.

But this month the Custom Shop got in on the act with a limited edition run of the J-45, SJ-200, Hummingbird, Dove and Advanced Jumbo, all finished in Cremona Burst, abalone rosettes and LR Baggs electronics come as standard, and each model is limited to just 100 units worldwide. Prices start from £3,949/$4,499

See Gibson for more.

Shergold Telstar 12-string

The Shergold Telstar is one of the most perennially underrated guitars on the market. We, too, are sometimes guilty of forgetting about it, that is until you see one of these slightly off-kilter T-styles, pick it up and play it.

Designed by Patrick James Eggle, featuring a pair of toaster-style FilterSonic humbuckers, a fully adjustable 12-saddle bridge, this 12-string version offers change from 500 bucks and is a compelling option for anyone looking for some electric jangle on the side.

Could be up there with the Guild S-300 as one of the sleeper hits of the year.

See Shergold for more.

Greer Amps Mori or the Vemuram Las Lunas Distortion – why not both?

Okay, here’s a question. Well, here’s two. The first: What do you get if you cross a Klon with a Tube Screamer but then serve it up in a simple three-knob drive box, painted green with the Japanese word for forest written on the front in white Kanji? You get the Mori, of course.

These are small-batch boutique overdrive pedals and the excitement you just felt there at the prospect of some TS-K-style hybrid with ample volume and a handsome enclosure means that, yes, these are sold out – but Greer Amps is making more of these. So head over to Greer Amps for more. It’s priced $249.

The second question is whether your Mount Rushmore of tone is more late ‘70s, early ‘80s hard rock, the molten tube heat of the LA sound. In which case, the Vemuram Las Lunas is worth further investigation. At £399/$415, it’ll cost you.

The Tokyo-based guitar effects pedal specialist’s builds do not come cheap. But with an amp-in-a-box control surface offering a two-channel setup, 3-band EQ, Las Lunas sounds ridiculously good. See Vemuram for more details.

Two quite different dirt pedals, doing quite different jobs, but both could add some gourmet heat to your sound.

Mooer Audio Meta FX

We’ve got another effects pedal here, but this is from the other side of the technological divide, an avowedly digital stompbox described by Mooer Audio as a “multi-firmware stereo effects platform”. Which is to say that it can be configured to handle multitudes: reverb, delay, modulation and more, with features such as infinite sustain and a Kill Dry mode that turns your signal 100 per cent wet.

The Reverb, Delay and Modulation firmware modules are all interchangeable. Just download whichever one you want to use, et voila, you have an all-singing, all-dancing reverb, delay or modulation station, with USB, MIDI connectivity, presets, all kinds of magic, and all for £149/$169.

See Mooer Audio for more.

IK Multimedia Tonex Brown Panel signature collection

It’s summer, 2026, and the Tonex ecosystem just keeps on growing, with the latest amp modelling software package focusing on those hard-to-find transitional Fender amps that came between the Tweed and Black Panel eras.

Again, these have been modelled using IK Multimedia’s proprietary AI modelling tech, and features original speaker options (JBL, Oxford and Jensen) and 80 Tone Models all in.

This bundle is available now at the introductory price of €79, regular price €99. See IK Multimedia for more.

PRS Custom 24 Birds Of A Feather Limited Edition

This has been a big month for PRS Guitars. It appointed its first ever CEO, with Jack Higginbotham graduating from COO. He’s come a long way in his 41 years with the company, starting out in the woodshop and working in every department across the company. It has unveiled the limited run Custom 24 Birds of a Feather model that exemplifies how its Private Stock models inform its US-made Core series lineup.

It is named for the fretboard inlays which were designed by the brand’s director of manufacturing and head of Private Stock, Paul Miles.

“I wanted to design an inlay that was simple and easy to read from across the room or on a stage but was also uniquely PRS," says Miles. "I have always been fascinated with inlay work and PRS has afforded me the opportunity to see the evolution from hand cut shell to intricate CNC work. For me, this was a new way of looking at inlay design, using the woods to create movement and space.”

These are priced £6,849/$6,850. Find out more at PRS Guitars.

Epiphone Billie Joe Armstrong

There is something quintessentially authentic about Epiphone’s signature take on the Gibson Les Paul Junior.

This has always been a guitar of simple pleasures, one slab of mahogany, a mahogany neck, one P-90 pickup and no binding anywhere because it had to be affordable – and here we are, with the Green Day frontman’s own version, his John Hancock on the back of the headstock, retailing for under 500 bucks.

You will know the one in white. This one is in Radical Red, launched in time to go with that red hot but Baby Blue Marshall of his. It has the Epiphone P-90 PRO, the same spec as its sibling, and it also comes with a signature hard-shell guitar case that's lined with faux leopard print fur. At this price it is a steal. See Epiphone for more details.

Harley Benton CLO-65SE Slate Blue

I’ll be honest, I had to do a double take when the email came in with this one. As soon as the picture rendered of this non-cutaway orchestra-sized acoustic electric guitar, it was uncanny – this looked the spit of the John Mayer 20th Anniversary signature models that Martin launched in 2023.

There was this Slate Blue ‘burst acoustic, with the exuberant reflections of its abalone rosette, the natural stain on the back, sides and neck (not to mention the open-gear tuners), a dead ringer for the Gray Sunburst of Mayer’s model.

Upon closer inspection, okay, there’s no getting them mixed up – the CLO-65SE has layered sapele on the back and sides, we’ve got Guatemalan and Indian rosewood on the Martin – but but for an acoustic retailing for 150 bucks, i.e. priced for beginners, this is a truly compelling alternative. And, best of all, it has a solid spruce top. Incredible.

Check it out at Harley Benton. Buy it at Thomann.

What is it?

We’ve come a long way in the world of multi-effects pedals. This new dawn of battery-powered units that deliver accurate modeling, looping, drum machine capabilities, IR-loading –– and more tone options than you’ll know what to do with –– for lower and lower prices has really been something to behold over the past few years. The Mooer GE150 Max Li is very much part of this movement, delivering an incredible number of features for relatively little cash.

The GE150 Max Li gives you access to 50 amp models, 26 cabs, and 170 different effects, further augmented by the addition of 3rd party impulse response support and the ability to load NAM (Neural Amp Modeler) profiles. It’s got spillover, which lets your effect tails continue when you change presets, and an expression pedal which can be mapped to control volume, wah, and pitch effects, as well as controlling any effect parameter.

It delivers up to 9 hours of playing time on a single charge through an integrated, rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery, so you can run it without an adaptor or pedalboard power supply. It’s got a full colour 3.5-inch display, and plenty of connectivity for live players, with stereo 1/4-inch and XLR outputs, as well as a ground lift switch to deal with any extraneous noise when playing live.

Add in a stereo looper capable of 80-second loop times, 40 drum patterns and 10 metronome sounds, both adjustable via a Tap Tempo switch, and you’ve got a seriously capable, budget multi-effects pedal.

Specs

• Launch price: $259 | £207 | €240
• Type: Multi-effects pedal
• Controls: Master, select, mode, 8x footswitches
• Features: Expression pedal, rechargeable battery, looper, drum machine, ground lift switch
• Connectivity: 1x 1/4-inch input, 1x 1/8 aux in, 2x 1/4-inch outputs, 2x XLR outputs, 1x 1/8-inch output (headphones), USB-C
• Bypass: DSP bypass
• Power: 9V DC 1.5A, lithium-ion battery 2000 mAh (7.4 V / 14.8 Wh)
• Dimensions: 326 mm × 204 mm × 63 mm
• Weight: 1.73 kg
• Options: N/A
• Contact: Mooer

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

The GE150 Max Li is a fairly lightweight unit, not too dissimilar in size to the Quad Cortex. You can definitely chuck it into a backpack and not worry too much about the weight, or even a large gig bag pocket if yours will accommodate.

It’s overall pretty sturdily built, with the majority of the front face composed of a hard plastic, while the back panel is metal. The 8 footswitches offer a satisfying click that lets you know when you’ve pressed them, but doesn’t give the huge ‘clack’ you typically get from cheaper stompboxes. The expression pedal is also metal, and features a Milky Way-esque grip pattern with a similarly galactic-themed paint job.

The screen is a nice size and plenty bright even when using the unit on battery. The preset name and number are big enough to be seen when playing standing, but the coloured signal chain icons need to be seen closer up to determine what they are.

Overall, it's really well put together, and there was nothing here that worried me during my testing, even with some exuberant expression pedal use and rough stomping to simulate live playing.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★☆

I began using the GE150 Max Li in battery mode for my testing with a pair of headphones and a PRS SE Silver Sky, and it’s easy enough to start navigating for anyone who’s used a multi-effects before. The four lettered footswitches along the bottom each access a different preset, with Bank Up and Down switches in the top left, and the Tuner and Tap Tempo in the top right. You hold the Tuner footswitch down to access the looper.

The signal chain is displayed in two places, on the bottom of the screen and in individual white lights that run left to right underneath the screen. It would be nice if the colours of each lined up for a better visual, but at this price point I'm nitpicking.

Using the two Select and Mode rotary encoders, I start diving into the signal chain to make edits, which, as I’ll come to in the sounds section, is definitely something you’ll need to do.

A turn of the Mode knob lets you start tweaking the presets, with each turn thereafter moving across the signal chain from left to right. The corresponding light blinks on the signal chain diagram below the screen to let you know what you’re editing.

When you’re on the module you want to tweak, the Select knob moves through each setting, with a press down activating that particular parameter for you to tweak.

It’s pretty self-explanatory, and when you get to the extreme left or right of the signal chain, you’re automatically brought back to the main screen.

Each block of the Overdrives, Amps, and Cabs has exactly the same settings, so every drive has Volume, Tone, and Gain; each amp has the same six settings that can be tweaked. Weirdly, there’s a tube type setting in the Cab menu, alongside the more sensical Mic, Center, and Distance settings for tweaking your cab sound.

Each block can be engaged or disengaged by pressing the Mode button. It definitely feels unintuitive at first, moving up and down between the encoders, and I make plenty of errors accidentally exiting editing modes before getting the hang of it.

The expression pedal has a dedicated button which lets you specify exactly what you want it to do, and you can assign it to any of the parameters from any of the blocks in the signal chain. This means you can use it to ramp up the gain, delay time, or even change the distance of the mic from the cabinet, making it very useful for those who want to do changes more in-depth than just those typical volume or wah functions.

The looper is engaged by holding down the tuner footswitch, which gives you access to a typical looper configuration. Footswitch A handles the recording, playback, and overdubs, while footswitch B acts as a dedicated stop. Footswitch C lets you bring in a drum track while footswitch D exits the looper. The rhythms need to be set via the separate dedicated button beneath the Master Volume encoder, but you can quickly adjust the tempo on the fly using the Tap Tempo switch, which makes it pretty flexible.

The built-in rhythm sounds aren’t anything to shout about. All of the hits of the drum kits are at the exact same velocity, so it only takes about a minute of listening to them before my ears start to get some serious fatigue. They definitely feel like an afterthought. The metronome offers a good range of time signatures though, with 2/4, 3/4, 5/4, 6/4, 7/4, 6/8, 7/8, and 9/8 all available, making it a good option for honing your rhythm chops.

Downloading the latest firmware update so I can use the NAM profiles with the unit turns out to be a convoluted affair on my Mac. Actually finding the correct software is slightly confusing, as it tells you to download the Mooer Studio app, but the software isn't actually called this. I eventually work out that what I need to download is also labelled as the latest firmware update. I get there in the end, but it would be nice if this was more clearly marked and I didn’t have to search on Facebook to find the correct information.

I find using the software itself a bit more intuitive than tweaking presets on the hardware itself. It’s pretty basic-looking, but it does the job, allowing me to change presets and get hands with my tone with ease. Versus tweaking tones on the hardware itself, I much preferred doing it this way.

To get access to the NAM profiles, I need to install the converter plugin, which takes around a minute or so. I then have to convert the NAM profile to Mooer’s configuration, called GNR, which adds another couple of minutes to the time taken. All in all, it’s fairly painless though, with the hard work already done after navigating and installing the firmware update and associated software.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★½

Before I install the firmware update and the NAM profiles, I cycle through the presets to see what’s what, and…they’re not great. It’s pretty typical with cheaper units that not much effort goes into setting up the stock presets, and these are particularly bad.

On a lot of them, the treble is piercingly high, the volumes jump around a lot, and some of them are just way off the mark considering the names, which seem to imply a certain sound - looking at you, ‘Enter Night’ preset.

Something doesn’t seem right, so I factory reset the unit to be doubly sure. I’m not sure what happened with the original unit, but now these high-frequency issues appear to have fixed themselves, making me think there was some kind of software bug present during my first play-through.

The presets still aren’t mind-blowing, though. It’s a theme I’ve found with many of the cheaper units I’ve tested from Mooer, Nux, Hotone et al.; they’re all capable of great sounds, but it doesn’t feel like someone knowledgeable or experienced has put together the presets.

There’s still some harsh high end present in a lot of the sounds, which, although not as bad as it was previously, is tough on the ears when using the single coil pickups on a Sire S7. On some of the presets, this is down to the presence being boosted unnecessarily high, whereas on others it just seems like a natural characteristic of the amp models. There’s also a lot of volume jumping between presets, which needs to be resolved if you ever wanted to use this unit live or in a rehearsal room.

Once I’ve tweaked the stock sounds, there are some really nice tones here. The Fender amp-inspired cleans do that mid-scoop thing, there’s some nice Marshall crunch tones, and some chunky high-gain Mesa and 5150-inspired stuff. They’re solid amp models that do a great job considering the price point of the unit. It’s not going to compete with flagship models of the big brands, but it can certainly get you close with some patience.

There’s some nice reaction to picking dynamics, and the edge of breakup sounds are handled reasonably accurately. The high-gain sounds are my pick of the bunch, although again with the stock presets, I found them needing a boost in the low end to get them to where they should be. It can cover a wide variety of styles thanks to the selection of amps, as alongside the classics mentioned earlier it’s packing models based on Orange, Vox, ENGL, Bogner, Two Rock, and plenty of others.

The effects are similarly a mix of mainly great but some not-so-good stuff. The drives are accurate, delivering a good selection of additional saturation options. Ditto with the delay tones; they accurately model digital, tape, and ping-pong stuff. The spring reverb leaves a lot to be desired, though, and for some reason the pitch effects are in the modulation section after the amp and didn’t track well in my testing.

The addition of NAM profiles definitely raised my eyebrow, especially considering the price point, but I was left disappointed here, too. The profiles need to be converted to Mooer’s own proprietary format, GNR, and in this process there’s a huge loss of audio quality. Uploading three of my favorite NAM profiles that I know intimately - a Fender DRRI, Marshall JMP 50, and an EVH 5150 - the conversion process has compressed the life out of them.

They’re noticeably quieter than the stock presets even with the volume dimed, and are a shadow of the tones that I’m used to, sounding much less dynamic and lifelike than the stock presets.

It’s unfortunate, because I was quite looking forward to seeing if those on a beginner budget could get access to some of the best profiled tones around at the moment. However, it seems like we’ve still got a little way to go before we can get them sounding their best on units with lower DSP power.

Verdict

I went into my testing of the Mooer GE150 Max Li with very high hopes. It ticks a lot of boxes with its rechargeable battery operation, NAM compatibility, built-in looper, expression pedal, and typical amp and effects modeling capabilities. It does some of these really well, and others less so, making it a bit of a mixed bag overall.

For its core audience, beginner players and those on a budget, it handles the basics well. You get some good-sounding amp and effects models once you’ve tweaked them a bit, and plentiful features like a usable looper, built-in tuner, and battery operation, which is a real boon for keeping things neat at home.

It’s got pretty much everything the beginner player needs to get up and running, done at good enough quality that it’ll take you from first riffs to first gigs.

It’s a shame, then, that the stock presets aren’t particularly well done, and that the NAM profiles suffer some serious degradation during the conversion process. This may well be something that Mooer can iron out with further firmware updates in the future, but for now, the NAM compatibility doesn’t give it any huge advantage over units from Mooer, Hotone, Boss, etc.

The battery life, on the other hand, is really impressive. I play-tested it for a good 3 hours, and it only decreased by a single bar, so Mooer’s claim of up to 9 hours of life appears not to be hyperbole. It also means if paired with a wireless guitar system, you can get totally cable-free operation, which is super handy considering that most of its target audience will be practicing at home with the unit.

MusicRadar verdict: For players new to the world of multi-effects and amp modeling, the Mooer GE150 Max Li offers some excellent functionality, particularly with the ability to use it sans any power supply. The core amp and effects tones offer a solid platform to build from, with plenty of choice on offer. It won’t impress those who’ve experienced more expensive units with a higher DSP count, though, and the NAM profile conversion leaves a lot to be desired in its current state.

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Rock Mixer

If ever there was a pedal that screamed 2026 it is MXR’s Textures, a “Granular Synth Engine” that belies its compact form factor to offer guitar players the capability to turn their electric guitar tone into something ambient and ethereal, to take it off the beaten path.

Somewhere, a few evolutionary steps back, Textures would be a delay pedal. That’s the processing lineage from which it came, taking your sound and playing it back to you – but when it comes back to you expect that sound to be altered. How it is altered is very much up to you.

You can reverse the repeats, freeze them, “feed them back into cascading shimmers”, or embrace chaos with randomisation – and you know what the Joker says about chaos, “it’s fair”.

“With the power of granular synthesis and dynamics processing, this pedal records what you play and reshapes it into a shifting blend of tones and timbres,” explains MXR. “Shimmering pads, glitched-out rhythms, lush reverberations drifting back through themselves, and much more. It’s a sandbox in pedal form, and every grain is yours to shape.”

As one comment under the YouTube demo reads, “We live in times where you need a 37-minute-long video to understand a pedal. That said, it sounds great!”

Needless to say, this is for the adventurist. As MXR/Jim Dunlop suggests, the player who wants to explore guitar ambience, to score films, or the noise-rock player who wants to do something anarchic in high-gain, high-volume scenarios.

Some pedals do the thing you are looking for them to do. Others will do something you haven’t ever thought of until you stick it on your pedalboard and step on the footswitch. Textures is the latter.

The pedal is controlled by six dials for Time, Size, Overlap, Mix, Pitch and Regen, plus Mode and Reverse buttons. If, at this moment in time, you are thinking it’s all a bit bonkers then rest assured there are presets. You can also hook up an external tap tempo control. MXR describes it as “a sandbox with no boundaries”.

Like any self-respecting sandbox without boundaries, you can of course apply reverb, filter, and vibrato to these “grains” that the pedal is playing back to you. It can be run in mono, wet/dry, or true stereo.

Where to start with a pedal like this? It’s daunting. But it comes out of the box pre-loaded with eight presets. And see that video at the top of the page? There is your 37-minute long demo that explains all. Many may already be sold by the time it gets to “Reverse Random.”

Textures is available now, priced £279/$269. See Jim Dunlop for more.

What is it?

Pedal company partnerships are nothing new in the world of stompboxes. We’ve seen Boss and JHS team up for the much-hyped Angry Driver, Chase Bliss and Z-VEX unleash the gloriously unhinged Bliss Factory, a mad creation born from Reverb’s The Pedal Movie, and MXR help guitarists everywhere finally get hold of an Analog Man classic with the Duke of Tone. It's hard to predict just which companies will collaborate next, but the latest tag-team is something we didn’t see coming.

DOD and Morley have joined forces for the aptly named WTF, or Wah-ocTo-Fuzz. Combining three pedals in one, it’s a triple-threat that promises to be a sonic Swiss Army knife, packing a wah pedal, octave, and fuzz into one unapologetically wild box.

Built around the classic Morley wah chassis, the pedal, of course, features the Illinois-based firm’s tried-and-true Electro-Optical design, switchless operation, and a glow-in-the-dark treadle ready to spring into action the second your boot hits it.

For the fuzz, Morley brings its notorious Power Fuzz circuit, a ‘70s-inspired gain machine used by the likes of Metallica’s low-end master Cliff Burton. You get a Level knob for volume tweaks and an Intensity control to dial in as much filth as you see fit.

Octave duties are courtesy of DOD’s cult-classic FX35 Octoplus circuit. This monophonic sub-octave pedal, long-coveted since its discontinuation in ‘94, is all about thick, synthy, glitch-happy low end. It’s even rumoured to be the secret behind Alain Johannes’ massive detuned sound on Eleven’s Reach Out.

The WTF wraps everything up in a slick navy blue, cold-rolled steel enclosure, a nod to classic DOD styling, with standard 1/4” ins and outs, 9V power from a battery or pedalboard power supply, and buffered bypass.

Specs

• Launch price: $249.99 | £249.99 | €290.99
• Type: Wah, Octave and Fuzz
• Controls: Octave Level, Direct Level, Tone, Fuzz Level, Intensity
• Features: Combines Morley switchless wah with a DOD octaver, and classic Morley Fuzz.
• Connectivity: Input: One 1/4-inch, Output: One 1/4-inch, 9V power
• Bypass: Buffered
• Power: 9V, 30 mA.
• Dimensions: 6.84" x 4.25" x 4.10" (17.4 cm x 10.8 cm x 10.4 cm)
• Weight: 2.26 lbs (1.02 kg)
• Contact: Digitech

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

If you’ve played a Morley pedal before, you’ll know they are built like a small tank, and the WTF is no different. The navy blue finish is a slick nod to DOD’s iconic look, and I think it looks pretty cool – not that I should be surprised, as the wah company has been making pedals since the ‘70s.

It’s worth noting that this is not a light unit – it’s pretty chunky thanks to the rolled-steel casing and triple-loaded circuitry, and I certainly feel its presence on my pedalboard.

I’d also say it’s a little on the tall side. If you’re used to standard-issue wahs, you’ll notice the extra height right away. It’s not a massive issue, really, but it can feel a little awkward at first, as the pedal sits at a different angle to that of a Cry Baby. On that, it's worth mentioning that this wah is mechanically sprung.

Therefore, the pedal returns to the heel-down position when you take your foot off the treadle. It also could present an additional size challenge if your pedalboard lives in a bag or case.

Now, while the treadle is a joy to operate, thanks to its very smooth travel, the two effect switches for the octave and fuzz sit a bit too close for comfort in my opinion – particularly if you’re rocking boots or have larger feet. It’s nothing I can’t get used to, especially with the help of pedal switch toppers but it does feel cramped at times.

Still, the switchless wah operation works like a charm. I made the switch to a switchless Cry Baby a number of years ago, and I can’t ever see myself going back. I just love that there’s no more toe-tapping to engage or disengage; I just step on the treadle, and away I go. It’s seamless and intuitive, letting you focus on your playing rather than your footwork. Plus it comes with the added benefit of not having a pot to wear-out or become scratchy through dust collection.

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★☆

For being a three-in-one pedal, the WTF is pretty straightforward to operate, with somewhat minimal controls. Starting with the fuzz, there are only two controls for dialing it in – Level and Intensity – which let you adjust the volume and gain level. I do like simple pedals, but I can’t help but feel that a tone control would come in handy here. Fuzz by its very nature is bright, so being able to knock some of that fizzy top end back a touch would be very useful.

Moving over to the octave, and this time there are three controls – Octave Level, Tone, and Direct Level. This feels pretty much perfect and exactly the dials I want to see on an octaver. The Octave Level lets me dial in how prominent the low octave is, while the Direct Level preserves my clean, unaffected signal, and the tone controls the perfect amount of top-end.

The wah doesn’t muddy the waters with unnecessary extras, too. There are no controls for the wah itself, but the classic Morley treadle is adorned with a handy glow-in-the-dark strip, ensuring that finding your footing on a dark stage is never an issue.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

And now on to the sound. For testing, I opted for a Gibson Firebird and a Fender Telecaster going into a Fender Blues Jr amp, while drive duties were handled by the JHS AT+. I start by taking each of the effects on its own to get a true sense of what’s going on before I start combining them.

Okay, so if you’re aware of that classic Morley tone, you know exactly what I have here. It’s wide, throaty, and vocal, with a sweep that covers glassy funk to classic rock solos and everything in between – and it sounds killer in my opinion.

The electro-optical design keeps things smooth and hassle-free, making it a joy to ride whether I'm chopping rhythms or wailing on my basic clutch of blues pentatonic licks. All told, it’s a versatile wah that may not have any tone-shaping capabilities, but it doesn’t really need them – it’s a point-and-shoot wah that does exactly what you want it to.

The fuzz circuit, inspired by Morley’s Power Fuzz, is a raspy, unapologetic beast. To my ears, it’s a touch thin. Comparing it to the Big Muff that’s a staple on my 'board, the Morley lacks the bottom-end weight of the Electro-Harmonix and can sound a little brittle. That said, it certainly can cut right through a mix with its snarling highs and abundance of bite.

Now, the octave circuit is where the WTF really shows its eccentric side. Borrowed from the FX35 Octoplus, it’s monophonic, analogue, and gloriously glitchy. As I play single-note riffs, I’m greeted with a satisfying sub-octave growl that wobbles with artefacts.

I’m used to the pure, clean octaves of the EHX POG, so this kind of old-school sound makes me want to experiment, pushing my riffs and solos into new, uncharted territory. If I play chords, the FX35 tends to freak out a bit and sound almost synthy, but, man, it's fun.

All in all, the effects here sound decent on their own, but as you’d expect, the real magic happens when you combine them together. Add the octaver to the fuzz, and suddenly it transforms into a monstrous wall of sound, thickening up and adding that depth it was lacking when soloed. For me, this is an instantly inspiring sound and one that just seemed to produce riffs out of nowhere. Throw in the wah, and you can almost create talk-box-like sounds.

Whether you’re looking for classic funk, synth-inspired doom, or just want to shake things up with something unpredictable, the WTF has you covered. It’s not for the faint of heart, but I must say, it's an absolute blast.

Verdict

So, where does the Morley x DOD WTF leave us? Quite honestly, it’s the kind of pedal that could only exist as a result of caution being thrown to the wind to create something a bit different, and honestly, I’m totally here for it. It wears its weirdness as a badge of honour, and that’s exactly why I love it.

The switchless wah is as smooth and intuitive as ever, and the fuzz, while a little thin in isolation, comes alive when paired with the octave, morphing into a glitchy, monstrous force that is ideal for riff inspiration. The octave circuit is pretty old school, and as such it’s gloriously imperfect, with that unmistakable analogue grit that modern players may not like.

Sure, the layout can be a bit cramped, and I’d still love a tone control on the fuzz, but these are small prices to pay for a pedal that delivers this much character and creative potential.

The build quality is classic Morley, and the DOD styling gives it a retro-cool edge that stands out on any board. What’s most exciting, though, is the precedent this sets. If Morley and DOD can resurrect the Octoplus in such wild fashion, what’s stopping them from diving even deeper into the DOD vault?

I’m already dreaming about a Morley wah fused with the infamous DOD Grunge, and the washy swirl of the FX64 Ice Box chorus. The possibilities are endless, and if the WTF is a sign of things to come, I can’t wait to see what these mad scientists cook up next.​

MusicRadar verdict: Morley and DOD’s WTF is a wild mashup that thrives on weirdness; combining what could be three run-of-the-mill effects into one stomp that is seriously fun to play with. The wah is seamless, the octave is beautifully glitchy, and while the fuzz is thin in solo, it transforms when stacked. It can feel a little cramped to operate, but it’s packed with character, and I can’t help but wonder what madness would ensue if Morley took on the DOD and took a stab at combining more DOD classics in the Morley format.

Also try

Hands-on videos

DigiTech

Dirty Boy is opening a new chapter in the boutique guitar effects pedal brand’s history by teaming up with Warm Audio for the Junior Series, offering a compact $169 reimagining of three of its classic stompboxes.

Founded by Alex Saraceno, who wanted to make pedals for his son, the former Poison guitarist Blues Saraceno, Dirty Boy has built a formidable reputation for high-end pedalboard candy.

Over the years, the likes of Neal Schon, Phil X, John Frusciante and Tom DeLonge have all used its pedals. Each is handmade. But at $349 a pop they don’t come cheap.

Danny Gomez, who now owns the Dirty Boy brand, believes this collab gives more players the chance to get those same sounds onto their ‘board – and Warm Audio was the obvious choice to work with.

“For me, choosing the right partner was everything because these circuits have a history and personality that I wasn’t willing to compromise,” says Gomez. “Warm Audio understands how to build authentic circuits the right way. They know that quality components, careful manufacturing, and thorough testing all play a critical role in preserving the character of the original design.

“Just as importantly, every pedal is individually hand-tested before it ever reaches a player. That level of quality control and accountability is very similar to what we do at Dirty Boy.”

The Junior Series comprises three pedals. There is the Dirty Boy Jr Booster is based on the original Ball Buster and presents players with 10dB of analogue boost – plus amp tone-shaping controls with a three-way “H-M-L” Freq switch, Bass and Treble controls.

The Jr Fuzz presents the Dirty Boy Afro Fuzz in a more compact housing, and has a simple drive with Fuzz, Level and a 6-way Freq switch. It sounds a little like a good vintage Fuzz Face that cleans up nicely.

Finally, there’s the Jr Overdrive, which houses the Preamp circuit, which was the first pedal to be launched under Gomez’s stewardship.

With his Tube Amp Emulation technology under the hood, think of it as an all-analogue amp modeller preamp in a box that can be used as an overdrive pedal, preamp pedal, or as modeller, with an emulated output allowing you to go direct into a mixer, guitar audio interface or FRFR Speaker.

Dirty Boy will still be making its hand-built pedals. But Gomez hopes the Junior Series’ “faithful” recreations of these circuits will get more players using the.

“The goal was to preserve the tone, response, and personality of the hand-built originals,” he says. “Warm Audio is the partner we trust to help us do that without compromise.”

The Dirty Boy Jr Series is available now. See Warm Audio for more, and see Dirty Boy for the hand-built pedals that inspired them.

Electro-Harmonix has super-sized its Dual Op-Amp Big Muff Pi 2, giving this once lost fuzz pedal the full Deluxe treatment, which means the more features, more versatility on the Muff that offers more… Well, oomph.

There’s something about this Dual Op-Amp Big Muff Pi 2. Unearthed from a “lost” schematic while Josh Scott of JHS Pedals was researching his Electro-Harmonix book, this circuit was more aggressive, more physical in its fuzz.

The core sound is fantastic. The Nano three-knob edition was one of our favourite guitar effects pedals of the year so far. There is a three-knob version with a Wicker switch and switchable Tone. But this with the Wicker switch, expanded EQ options, footswitchable mids, an onboard noise gate and – crucially – a Blend control, this Deluxe edition might well be worth an upgrade.

It is a lot of pedal, the “final boss” of a Dual Op-Amp series that also includes Nano and Deluxe versions specifically designed for bass guitar.

Here you have options. There is a Volume control, a Blend for adjusting how much of your input signal you want to leave unfuzzed. There is the Tone and Sustain controls from the original. The noise gate is controlled by a single knob. Fully counterclockwise and it is off.

There are two knobs for those aforementioned footswitchable mids, with one controlling the level of the mids, the other selecting the centre frequency of the mids control, with a range approximately from 310Hz to 5kHz.

There is another High Q/Low Q switch for selecting narrow or wide bandwidths of the parametric Mids EQ. And you toggle all of this midrange sounds in and out with the dedicated Mids footswitch.

Some guitar players do not get along with fuzz pedals. Some complain about how it interacts with other effects, such as wah pedals, but oftentimes it’s a question of EQing, and finding the right sound to complement your electric guitar’s pickups.

Here, you have many options for tweaking, for blending more of that clean signal in so that your chords retain clarity and note separation, for adjusting the fuzz so that it blooms in those mids, a big thick fug of hard clipping, or that it’s narrow and scratchy.

The Wicker switch offers two alternate high-end voicings plus the original stock setting. Again, more EQ options, more versatility.

You can also hook up an expression pedal to control the Mids EQ by foot, which is pretty cool.

The pedal can be set to run with latching or momentary action. It has a buffered bypass and is powered by 9V DC from a pedalboard power supply – though an adaptor is included in the box.

All this might be worth the extra outlay, that little bit extra space on the pedalboard. The Deluxe Dual Op-Amp Big Muff Pi 2 is out now priced £189/$188.

For more details, head over to Electro-Harmonix.