The FuTure OF Gear

We’ve devoted this issue to the state of the guitar-maker’s art in 2017. Starting with a grand tour of the hottest launches at NAMM 2017, the giant trade show where the big names in guitar revealed this year’s crop of GAS-inducing axes, amps and effects.

Discover the all-new, must-try guitars, amps and effects for 2017. Plus, have valve amps met their match? Join our discussion with the pros on the progression of modelling

1 Collings I-30 LC around £4,900

If you’ve got the hots for an ES-330style semi, don’t try this guitar! Currently just a prototype, this is an all-hollow laminate build with Lollar Dog Ear P-90s, trestle bracing and a trapeze-style tailpiece – and it will be available once Collings has sourced a trapeze tailpiece it’s happy with. Get in the queue behind us. And there’s some baritone action here, too, with the solidbody 360 Baritone with 27.5-inch scale, and Mastery bridge and vibrato that’s expected to retail around £4,200.

2 Chapman GuItars from around £399

Internet video star Rob Chapman has expanded his eponymous guitar line by launching some 29 new models at NAMM, the “culmination of 18 months worth of feedback, comments, chats and meetings with the guitar-playing public”. The models are split between the Indonesian-made Standard range and the Korean-made Pro and Signature ranges and include the much

anticipated MLV spec’d by public vote. We were very impressed with the range, quality and style and prices that range approximately between £399 up to £1,100.

3 Fender Exotic Collection all £1,889

Fender’s major launch for 2017 is the Professional Series, which we’ve already covered (in issue 416), and along with a host of Custom Shop models, the new-limited Exotic Collection – the idea of Mike Born, Fender’s director of wood technology – features a range of classic designs using recycled woods, among other things.

There are thermally treated pine bodies that date back more than 100 years (found in the American Professional Pine Jazzmaster and Telecaster, plus the American Vintage ’59 Pine Stratocaster); rescued Honduras mahogany (American Professional Mahogany Tele Deluxe ShawBucker, American Elite Mahogany Tele Thinline, American Professional Mahogany Stratocaster); shedua, also known as ovangkol (Shedua Top Stratocaster); and blackwood (Malaysian Blackwood Telecaster 90).

4 gibson Memphis £various

Mike Voltz always reminds us of a very proud father when he shows off any new Gibson Memphis creation. And there’s plenty to be proud of for the start of 2017. There’s an Alex Lifeson ES Les Paul Custom (£3,249) for starters in a ‘soft’ white (the first white LP out of the factory). It also uses a thermally treated centre block with Adirondack spruce bracing, historic wiring with tight tolerance 550k pots, and MHS humbuckers. Then there’s a sumptuous 1960 Freddie King ES-345 (£3,899) with its transition-style neck (not as big as a ’59).

ES-330s are hot this year. And while you might not know the artist, the 150-only limited Tamio Okuda signature ES-330 (£3,449, with Bigsby and P-90s) is a beautiful instrument, again in a soft white finish. Look out, too, for a ’61 spec ES-330 with very flamed figuring (£3,699) later this year. “If they’d had it back then, they’d have used it,” says Mike as he shows off this beauty. Simply great guitars.

5 godin CustoM shop from £1,599

A new range of ‘custom shop’ limited models pushes Godin into a new league with various guitars featuring TV Jones, Bare Knuckle and Lollar pickups. TV Jones Classics feature on the 5th Avenue Uptown Ltd (£1,599) and the Montreal Premiere Supreme (£1,849); Lollar Gold Foils and El Rayo units feature on the Summit Classic Ltd Supreme (£2,499), while Bare Knuckle Mules appear on the Summit Classic Ltd (from £1,949). Meanwhile, a new version of the Montreal Premier Supreme adds Godin’s Revoicer active circuit, and there’s a new version of the Session Custom with a Tele-style ash-tray bridge and T ’59 suffix.

Fender’s limited Exotic Collection – the idea of Mike Born, director of wood technology – features classic designs using recycled woods

6 Gretsch Players Edition Broadkaster from £2,239

Building on the Players Edition models within the Professional series of last year, 2017 sees the Broadkaster name used on a pair of new models with lightweight chambered spruce centre blocks and new US-made Full’Tron pickups. The fullsize, double-cutaway Broadkaster comes in various formats with string-through Bigsby or V-Stoptail tailpieces, as well as flame maple and gold hardware options, while the slightly downsized 14-inch-wide single-cut Broadkaster Jr comes with string-through Bigsby with flame maple and gold hardware options.

The Players Edition mods have been added to the G6620TFM Nashville Center Block Double-Cut and the G6636T Falcon Center Block Double-Cut (both £2,669), too, the latter with a slightly downsized 16-inch body. Both have High-Sensitive Filter’Tron pickups.

Over on the Vintage Select side, there are five new Jet models (from £2,529): ’53, ’57 and ’59 Duo Jets, a ’59 Silver Jet and a ’62 Jet Firebird, all with Bigsbys. And along with a new Duane Eddy signature, there’s another Jet, the G6128T-CLFG Cliff Gallup Signature Duo Jet in black lacquer (£2,879).

For those on a lower budget, check out the Electromatic Center Block guitars. The G5622T double-cutaway with Bigsby (£859) has a chambered spruce centre block and dual Super HiLo’Tron humbuckers.

7 ibanez Anniversaries from around £1,299

Are we really that old? We guess we are, but even so it’s hard to believe Ibanez’s fabled rock lines, the RG and the JEM, are 30 years old. There are Anniversary JEMs (three JEM777 models in Loch Ness Green, Desert Yellow and Shocking Pink, of course), and a sumptuous celebratory RG30JCLTD along with plenty more RG action. You reckon that’s bad, but Ibanez is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its association with Mr Cool, George Benson, with the GB 40 (£3,500) and GB-40II (£1,299).

8 Johnpage Classic Specials from £1,469

An example of how to take someone else’s platform and make it your own is exemplified by John Page’s Classic series that is augmented for this year with two Special models, the Ashburn and AJ (£1,469 and £1,589). These models feature blonde translucent-finished ash, instead of alder, bodies with a tortoiseshell pickguard, and a tinted maple neck with either maple or rosewood fingerboards. A subtly different spin on excellent new bolt-on designs. The HSS Ashburn is now available (£1,499) as is a three-single-coil lefty at the same price. Hallelujah!

9 Musicman hss Cutlass £1,899

Music Man has added an HSS version of its Cutlass featuring a custom-wound medium output ceramic humbucker “that complements the single coils perfectly yet has plenty of crunch for heavy rhythm work and biting lead tones”, we’re told. There are two new colour options for 2017 on both the Cutlass and the StingRay models – Coral Red and Charcoal Frost.

Also new are the Monarchy Series John Petrucci Majesty guitars (from £3,499) featuring a flamed maple shield seated in an African mahogany body with a gloss finish on the front and a matt finish on the back. Powering comes from DiMarzio Sonic Ecstasy pickups and a piezo bridge. There are six- and seven-string options plus new finishes: Black Knight, Majestic Purple, Royal Red and Imperial Blue.

Meanwhile, St Vincent’s signature is now available in a Stealth Black package (£2,434) with maple neck (as opposed to rosewood), a matt black finish and ebony fingerboard. Other new colours include Heritage Red Trans, with parchment scratchplate and gold hardware, plus Tobacco Sunburst and Polaris White with chrome hardware.

Fans of these US guitars will also be aware of the offshore Sterling By Music Man range (from £699), which now includes versions of both the St Vincent and Majesty guitars, as well as the Cutlass and StingRay.

10 prs 509 £3,655

While the new SC 594 (reviewed on p96) took centre stage at NAMM, don’t overlook the 509, a simplified but updated version of the ‘Swiss Army knife’ 513. Using the same five single-coil platform as the 513 (the outer four coils are grouped as pairs), the 509 has just one five-way lever pickup selector with two mini-toggle coil-split switches to swiftly create nine humbucking and single-coil voices. It uses the longest PRS scale of 641mm (25.25 inches) and also features the new PRS Gen III vibrato.

11 squier Deluxe Jazzmaster £350

Once upon a time, the Jazzmaster and Jaguar were Fender’s ugly ducklings: not any more. ‘Offsets’ have gone very mainstream. If you’re on a budget, check out the Deluxe Jazzmaster (hardtail or with vibrato, same price) in a Candy Apple Red with gold anodised aluminium scratchpate, the classic dual circuit and two single coils. Add in another mini trend, the baritone, and we get the Vintage Modified Baritone Jazzmaster (also £350) with a 30-inch scale and Dual Duncan designed JM-101N single coils, and what appears to be a Danelectro bridge.

12 suhr Classic Antique pro Finish around £2,500

This über brand seems to be concentrating on Fender designs – Strat, Tele and the new Jazzmaster – but tweaked to prolevel perfection. The Classic Antique Pro features various colours over a sunburst finish that’s lightly relic’d with HSS or SSS Suhr pickup options and rosewood or maple ’boards. We saw the Alt T Pro (around £2,199) last year, but this dual’bucker thinline has new colours and a rosewood ’board for this year. The offset Classic JM Pro (£TBA) goes for a simplified dual-humbucker layout with toggle switch selector, master volume, two tones and vintage vibrato.

13 tomanderson Bobcat £TBA

An example of a classic in the hands of a master. Anderson’s Bobcat is a hugely stylised single-cut with ultra-detailed build, and recessed pickups and hardware to give it the lower-profile feel of a Fender. “Swift and agile,” says Anderson, “that offers crushingly huge, multi-dimensional midrange muscle.” As a reimagining of the Les Paul, we’ve not seen better.

14 Faith Legacy Series, around £1,099

Patrick James Eggle needs little introduction, but he used the NAMM Show to announce that he’ll no longer be making high-end acoustic guitars, instead concentrating on his highly regarded electrics, as well as continuing his design work for the newly launched Shergold electric brand and his long-standing work for Faith. Consequently, Faith’s Legacy series salutes his contribution to the acoustic world with three models, the cutaway baby jumbo Neptune (£1,149), drop-shoulder dreadnought Mars (£1,129), and the new cutaway OM-shaped Earth (£1,099), based on his high-end Saluda, Kanuga and Linville acoustic designs, but made in Indonesia. All feature ‘kilnaged’ (torrefied) Sitka spruce tops, ebony pickguards and LR Baggs pickup systems.

15 Fender Paramount Pm-2 & Pm-3 £599

Along with launching a host of upgraded Classic Design models, Fender added the PM-3 Triple-0 and PM-2 Parlor to the recently launched PM-1 dreadnought, creating a fine trio of all-solid wood acoustics, all at £599, including a hard case. The Classic Design models kick off at a paltry £189 and are clearly aimed at the startup acoustic player, but are nicely built with slimmer necks and rolled fingerboard edges; Fishman preamps are featured on the electros. There are lefty versions, too.

16 Gretsch roots Additions from £290

More affordable, old-style acoustics from Gretsch’s Roots collection include the G9511 Style 1 Single-0 parlour (£290), the G9521 Style 2 Triple-0 auditorium (£325) and the G9531 Style 3 Double-0 grand concert (£360). Features include solid Sitka spruce tops, laminated mahogany back and sides, 12-fret construction with handset dovetail neck joints, tapered 16-degree headstocks, pre-war solid maple bridge plates, unbleached bone nuts and matching ‘wavy’ saddles.

If these retro blues-style acoustics aren’t showy enough, check out the G5022CBFE Rancher Falcon jumbo cutaway (£579) and G5021WPE Rancher Penguin parlour (£480) electros. The white-finished Penguin with a gold plexi pickguard has a great spec with Fishman Isys III preamp and solid spruce top. The black Falcon features the Rancher’s triangular soundhole and comes with a Fishman Isys III preamp.

17 guild Troubadour £445

The Troubadour is a variation on the M-240E in Guild’s Westerly Series Archback range. It has an orchestra body with an arched laminate mahogany back, and includes a new DeArmond ToneBoss magnetic soundhole pickup with volume control – not a replica of a past design, a more contemporary take. Interestingly, Guild owner, Cordoba, also owns the DeArmond name and the ToneBoss is the first of what will become a full range of both electric and acoustic pickups.

Guild USA remains in the spotlight and here we see new spruce-topped with binding models such as the orchestra-size M-40 Troubadour (with pickup from £1,785) with mahogany back and sides in ’burst and natural, and LR Baggs electro system. The D-40 (from £1,605) is the dread’ version and is also available in a ‘Traditional’ format (from £2,319), which differs with a gloss nitrocellulose finish, tortoiseshell binding and rosette detail, and heel cap. The neck is three-piece, there’s a Chesterfield headstock logo, a dual-action truss rod (the current 20 and 40s are single action), and it features Adirondack spruce bracing and a dove-tail neck joint. It’s available in Sunburst or Natural, with or without pickup. “It’s historically accurate; it’s what the D-40 was for years,” says Guild. “This is a setup in terms of what we’re making, and it’s the first nitro-finished guitar from the new factory.”

The flagship D-55 (from £3,119) is another new USA addition with East Indian rosewood back and sides, Sitka top with Adirondack bracing, dovetail neck, ebony bridge and bound ’board with V-block inlay and G-shield inlay. It’s another reissue of Guild’s past, but it’s a purposely lighter build that Guild says makes it a little louder and more responsive than the original.

18 Ik multimedia Irig Acoustic Stage £99.99

Known for its software, not least iRig, IK Multimedia introduced this “advanced digital microphone system” for acoustic guitar. It combines a clip-on MEMS acoustic mic with a 32-bit DSP processor and preset EQs for steel- and nylon-strings, plus you can configure it to the profile of your own guitar. It also features an effective feedback buster for live use, while a USB out means it’s ideal for home recording.

19 lrbaggs Session Vtc £TBA

This is probably one of the most advanced pickup systems anywhere, combining LR Baggs’ industry standard Element pickup system with the studio ‘mastering’ electronics of its Session DI. The new Session VTC, therefore, features multi-band compression, variable saturation, volume, tone, phase and a multi-segment battery check.

The company has also introduced the Synapse personal PA system with a futuristic powered speaker boasting 500 watts of class D power, feature-laden dual channels and onboard reverb aimed at the singer-songwriter or solo performer. LR Baggs’ new Session VTC is probably one of the most advanced pickup systems anywhere

20 martin 00Lx1aE £649

Like Taylor, Martin was cautious with its new core introductions. A smart low-end addition is the X-Series 00LX1AE (£649) with its Gibson L-style shape, while the classic 00-28 (£2,750) fills a gap in the Standard Series. The 16-series has been revamped with three electros models: the dreadnought D-16E (£2,299), the cutaway DC-16E and orchestra cutaway OMC-16E (both £2,450), all with reduced 000 depth. The dread’ features a Sitka spruce top with sycamore back and sides; the orchestra uses FSC-certified Stika spruce and cherry back and sides. All feature Fishman’s Matrix VT Enhance pickup system. The only divisive feature is the aluminium-coloured acrylic binding, inspired apparently by the interior of the Audi RS8.

21 seagull Coastline Momentum £499

As usual, Godin’s brands have numerous additions such as the Seagull 12-string Coastline S12 Concert Hall CW (£649) and the Coastline Momentum (£499) dreadnought with all-gloss finish, Fishman Sonitone system with soundhole controls and solid cedar top – a lot of Canadian-made guitar for the money.

Sibling brand Art & Lutherie has been revamped with three models: Americana (dreadnought), Legacy (concert hall) and Roadhouse (parlour), with the dread’ and concert hall available as cutaways. Moody dark colours such as Bourbon ’Burst, good spec, an electro system, and tight pricing (£459 to £529) make these are perfect for any singer-songwriting troubadour. 22 Vintage Paul Brett statEsBro’ 12-strInG From £549 Paul Brett’s latest collaboration with Vintage is this very retro 12-string based on the old 1930s-era Stellar guitars played by the likes of Blind Willie McTell. It features a solid spruce top, with maple back and mahogany sides and a mahogany neck, and is available purely acoustic or with a Fishman Rare Earth humbucker soundhole pickup at £749. Prices include a Kingsman hardshell case.

Yamaha a5 23 from £1,312

The A5 has arrived! Yamaha’s popular A-Series A1 and A3 models have been revamped for this year and are joined by this upper-level Japanese-made electro in both grand concert and dread’ cutaway styles, with mahogany or rosewood (£1,406, inc case) back and sides. Along with updated details, there’s a new SRT 2 pickup/preamp system that moves to stylish low-profile rotary/push controls (such as the recent TransAcoustic) with two mic models, anti-feedback controls and EQ. Tops are ARE treated and there’s new back bracing, too. The Chinese-made Mk II A1 (from £563) and A3 models (from £778) also benefit from improved specs – the new A3s use the ARE top treatment with scalloped bracing and the new preamp system, for example.

24 badcat Classic Pro r £1, 399

One of the most ear-pleasing amps of the show was the 20-watt Classic Pro, from Bad Cat’s attainably priced Player Series. The Classic Pro, available in head or combo format, is built around a pair of 6V6 power valves – think ‘ballsy tweed Deluxe’ tones – but will accept 6L6s to yield a 35 watt output. Built using military-spec PCBs from the same components as its premium hand-wired Legacy Series, this amp’s most intriguing feature is the proprietary K Master control that offers more headroom than you’d have thought possible from a 20-watt amp – which, alternatively, can be dialled down into jagged, woody breakup. Quality spec details such as hand-wound, paper-bobbin output transformer and the same chassis as premium Legacy Series amps round out a compelling package.

25 Carr Mercury V £TBA

There’s a minor Brit invasion going on in the world of amp design and US boutique makers are leading the way, including North Carolina’s Steve Carr, who brought this intriguing 16-watt combo with spring reverb to the show, which coaxes vintage Marshall-style tones from an atypical 6V6-based power stage. A Britishvoiced sibling developed from Carr’s earlier Skylark, the compact but pokey Mercury V has a solid-pine, dovetailed cabinet and point-to-point wiring to complete what looks an ideal small gig and studio combo for classic Blues Invasion sounds.

The Bad Cat’s proprietary K Master control offers more headroom than you’d have thought possible from a 20-watt amp

26 Fender Acoustic 100 £326

There were surprisingly few amp launches on the Fender stand this year, but acoustic guitarists should definitely take note of the new Acoustic 100, which takes the minimalist, curved-ply cool of Fender’s high-spec Acoustic Pro and brings it to an affordable 100-watt package. The combo has an eight-inch, full-range ‘whizzer cone’ speaker and supports Bluetooth and USB, making recording from and streaming to the amp straightforward – while touring guitarists will appreciate its universal voltage design, which can be easily used in any country. Looks like a no-brainer for the unplugged campaigner.

Laney Ghr 27 from £899

There was a raft of new amps at Laney, including the EL34-based GHR series, which sits – in terms of tonal capability – somewhere between the vintage-voiced Lionheart range and the metal-focused Ironheart amps, offering fusioneers liquid, searing gain tones and a raft of progressive features. The GHR is available in 2x12 GH50R combo format at £1,299, and as a 50-watt head for £899 and 100-watt head for £1,099. Also new from Laney was the limited-run 50th anniversary bundle of LA100-BL head with matching 4x12 cabinet, and the first drive pedal that Tony Iommi has ever put his name to, the Laney TI, by its de facto custom shop Black Country Customs. There are only three bundles in the UK and they’re just shy of £4,000, so only very dedicated fans need apply!

28 Orange Rocker 15 & 32 £599 & £829

They’re on review in this issue (see p16), but Orange’s two gutsy little EL84based combos, fitted with single and dual 10-inch Voice Of The World speakers respectively, were one of the show’s standout amp launches. With a thoughtful and progressive spec that we’ve come to expect from designer Adrian Emsley, standout features include stereo capability in the Rocker 32 version, allowing you to run effected and dry signals to separate speakers in the same combo for a ‘twoamp-rig’ effect in one box.

29 Prs sonzera 20 & 50 £699/£799

Though John Mayer’s Dumbleslaying J-MOD100 head may have grabbed the headlines (see Show & Tell on p58), the Maryland maker’s new offshore-built Sonzera amps are a much more affordable proposition, with a tempting spec and – from what we heard of the 20-watt combo version – crisp but pliant tones in a compact, giggable package. In 20-watt form, the combo is powered by a brace of 6L6 valves powering a single Celestion V-Type driver and has two channels, with dedicated midrange EQ and bright switch on the lead channel, plus reverb and presence. The 50-watter, meanwhile, trades 6L6s for EL34s in a wider cab and adds extra EQ options. One to watch.

30 Suhr Badger £Various

Also new on the NAMM show floor was an overhaul for Suhr’s well-liked Badger series of amps, which gain a new preamp stage with integral MOSFET footswitchable boost that is aimed at providing some of the higher-clarity, singing drive tones that many players crave. There’s also a revised power-scaling circuit that, the company claims, works a little better at lower volumes, plus a meaner ‘blackface’inspired styling. The 18-watt version of the Badger is based on a power stage of two EL84 valves, while a four-EL84, 35-watt version and an EL34-powered variant round out the range.

31 Two-rock Burnside £2,099 (head only)

Tweed tones were to the fore at boutique builder Two-Rock, which launched its punchy, crunchy 18-watt Burnside amp in 1x12 combo and head formats. Designer Bill Krinard’s aim was to wed some of the clarity Two-Rock is known for to the organic touch-sensitivity of vintage tweed amps. The valve-rectified Burnside is, accordingly, built around a brace of 6V6 power valves and you can swap out its low-gain 12AY7 preamp valve for a hotter 12AX7 if you crave more dirt. Crystalline yet warm, it was one of the tonal standouts of the show. Also new was Two-Rock’s Dumble-like Classic Reverb for devotees of ultra-revealing, tweakably transparent tone.

32 Victory V40 deluxe £1,569

Victory didn’t disappoint at NAMM, launching an upmarket combo version of the Gear Of The Year award-winning V40 Duchess lunchbox head, one of the most usable and attractively featured amps the company has made to date. The combo version retains the original’s single-channel, 42-watt design, but is now available in 1x12 widebody combo format, and there’s also a Deluxe head in a traditional wood enclosure. Expect the same warm and punchy, vintage-inspired character as the original V40, plus valve tremolo and spring reverb with dedicated level and tone controls.

33 Vox MV50 Heads £199

New at Vox was the surprisingly chunky-sounding 50-watt MV50 NuTube micro heads using a custom-designed digital power stage and an unusual flat triode valve in the preamp (see New Directions, on p72) that derived from 60s alarm-clock displays and requires relatively little power to run. Vox also showed off a limited run of ultra-authentic, hand-wired British-built reissues of vintage AC-series amps marking its 60th anniversary.

PRS’s new offshore-built Sonzera amps have a tempting spec and crisp but pliant tones in a compact, giggable package

34 DigiTech FreqOut £149

While DigiTech was designing a circuit to suppress feedback, it discovered it could be run the opposite way round to induce feedback at any volume – and thus the irrepressibly fun FreqOut, billed as a Natural Feedback Creator, was born. The pedal lets you select a preferred harmonic of feedback, plus Onset – which governs how quickly the effect rears up from nothing. You can engage the effect via on/ off, latching or momentary modes that let you unleash the feedback in the manner of your choosing, and you can also adjust wet/ dry balance so you can’t hear the principle note at all, just the sustained feedback it induces – a kind of ‘evil EBow’ effect!

35 DOD rubberneck AnAlOgue DelAy £209

Analogue delay is a staple of so many ’boards and, for most of us who use it, it lacks only two things to make it perfect: tap-tempo and footswitchable access to full-meltdown self-oscillation for those Jimi-esque moments when you want to fling your guitar to the floor and irradiate the audience with waves of psychoactive delay. Previously only seen on high-end analogue delays, both those features are found on the 3205 bucket-brigade chippowered Rubberneck at a decent price, plus gain, modulation, EQ, tails, an effect send-and-return, note-value controls and the eponymous ‘rubberneck’ pitch-sweep function that adds spacey zaps to your playing. Far out.

36 elecTrO-harmOnix OperAtiOn OverlOrD £158

Saving Private Ryan seems to have inspired this mid-rich, British-voiced stereo overdrive from Electro-Harmonix that can be used with guitars, electric pianos and synths, thanks to a three-position switch that lets you select appropriate input levels. The company has used three JFET gain stages to get an amp-like voice and response from the Operation Overlord, which sounded impressively chunky and authoritative when we tried it inside a soundproof booth at NAMM. In addition to that, you can blend the clean signal back into the driven tone for extra clarity, and you can engage a pedal-style ‘boost’ circuit ahead of the gain stages to serve up an OD-into-valve stack type sound. Martial tone in a box? We’d say so.

Just after NAMM, EHX also released the new Canyon delay and looper with 10 vintage, modern and modulated delay voices (including EHX favourites such as Deluxe Memory Man) and an integral 62-second looper in one compact pedal. The Canyon will retail at £148.

37 FrieDman Dirty Shirley & buxOm bOOSt £TBA

The meister of modded Marshall-style tone, Dave Friedman earned much well-deserved praise for the Plexi-in-a-box BE-OD pedal released a while back. Here come two more pedals voiced in the style of valve amps that Friedman already makes: the Dirty Shirley and the Buxom Boost. The latter is based on Friedman’s essentially American-voiced 40-watt head powered by 5881 valves, while the former apes the single-channel, none-more-British Plexi/JCM-style sound of the 40-watt Dirty Shirley. If these two are anything like as on-the-money as the BE-OD, you should expect compelling, authoritative amp-like feel and tones. Also look out for a new Friedman pedalboard with built-in buffer, plus some new valvepowered drive and fuzz pedals.

38 Keeley DynO my rOtO £169

Robert Keeley is on a roll with his excellent Workstation multi-effects, but his new Dyno My Roto is arresting, too. It’s Keeley’s take on the ultra-lush 80s DynoMy-Piano Tri-Stereo Chorus, with flanger and rotary speaker functions thrown in, too. Ranging from ethereal, mirage-like chorus to chewy rotary emulations, it’s a surprisingly versatile mod pedal with a bit more character than the common run.

A happy discovery was that Guitarist pals Mick Taylor and Daniel Steinhardt of That Pedal Show now have their very own signature Keeley D&M Drive pedal (£229) with, appropriately, two complementary drive effects aboard: a mid-rich, low-gain boost and a singing, musical overdrive. You can run them together in selectable order, or separately, and it sounds as good as these two tone-lovers and Robert Keeley can make it, which is to say very good indeed.

39 mxr m291 Dyna Comp mini £145

The venerable Dyna Comp from MXR has been given the shrink treatment this year to appear in a new microenclosure format. The Mini also promises quieter operation plus more dynamics and transparency than the warm-but-squashy original offered, with a switch for slow and fast response times, expanding the compressor’s potential as a clean boost. New from MXR Custom Shop this year is the Il Diavolo Overdrive, designed in cahoots with Italian amp-builder Carlo Sorasio. Crisp but warm contemporary drive tones brim over from three different clipping circuits – op-amp, silicon and LED-based – making this multi-voiced pedal one of our show favourites.

40 Orange Kongpressor £119

Compression is an effect that finally seems to be coming into its own with guitarists, and it’s branching out of its traditional role as an aid to country chicken pickin’ and into more important roles on the pedalboard, such as sophisticated clean boost and a sustain-increasing partner to drive pedals. Those new roles require a bit more subtlety and control than old two-knob comps offered. Orange has, accordingly, designed the analogue Class A Kongpressor around a reissue of the classic Vactrol VTL5C3 optocoupler to create what is as much a tone conditioner as it is a trad compressor, with chime and attack controls to help you buff the bloom and bite of each note to your satisfaction. Clever stuff.

41 Seymour Duncan Andromeda Dynamic Delay £TBA

Ever since Strymon had such a hit with the TimeLine, ultra-powerful multi-function delay has become the pedal du jour. Now pickup and pedal expert Seymour has waded into the pool of deep delay effects with the Andromeda Dynamic Delay, this time aimed at live performers. With eight delay voices, saturation (a gritty, drive-like control), and modulation for adding swirl and pitch-drift to delays, it’s a powerful enough offering as a straight delay. But its unique feature and a reason to try it out is the Dynamic Expression function that lets you alter mix, modulation and saturation settings by pick attack alone, opening new avenues for touch-sensitive playing.

42 Suhr Eclipse £TBA

Following from the success of Suhr’s Riot distortion comes the new Dual-Channel Eclipse, an overdrive and distortion in one box, with dedicated gain, level and passive EQ controls for each that allow the player to set up contrasting rhythm and lead voices. The Voice control, meanwhile, allows fine-tuning of the top-end response to match the style of amp you’re playing through. To round out a quality package, the enclosure is made of billet aluminium and the pedal will accept from nine- to 18-volt supply, with 18 volts offering more headroom and clarity.

43 Warlus Audio Warhorn £TBA

One of the standout overdrives we tried at the NAMM Show, the midrange rich Warhorn is rather less aggressive than it might sound, producing creamy, Larry Carlton-style singing overdrive tones from its four-knob design, with bass and treble EQ controls. It aims for the inevitable ‘transparent’ drive tones – read warm, amplike compression – with smooth breakup characteristics. As far as we could tell in the distinctly sub-optimal audio environment of the show floor, it had warmth and punch in spades but plenty of character and touch-sensitivity, too. One to try if you like Robben et al.

44 Wayhuge Russian pickle Fuzz £179

Hard to know whether to feel sorry or pleased for Electro-Harmonix, as its venerable Big Muff distortion/fuzz seems to have inspired a whole crop of boutique re-interpretations this year from other makers, including this Russian Pickle. This comradely offering from designer Jeorge Tripps and Way Huge apes the 90s Sovtek variant of the ’Muff and is voiced to deliver a sawtooth edge of treble riding on a hovercraft-cushion of bass for smooth, stoner-rock fuzz. Way Huge says the tone control has been custom designed to offer meaningful EQ control at all gain levels.