Brian over at Subdecay Studios let his Facebook followers in on a little secret – a new pedal project he’s just ordered the PCBs for – the Quasar Mini. The new stomp is a four-stage VCA-based phaser and an off-shoot to the Quasar deluxe model that remains on the release schedule as well. According ot a recent blog post, Brian said squeezing the phaser into a small enclosure took a lot of work, but the result is a super sweet sounding pedal with a ton of headroom. The Quasar Mini also will run at 18 volts for even more headroom! According to Brian, the pedal should be in production very soon. Details on availability and pricing when we get it!

Verellen Amps is offering up its first ever effects pedal – a fuzz dubbed the Big Spider. According to the builder, the pedal is built on a sturdy PCB housed in an angled steel chassis, powder-coated, silkscreened and sandwiched between two birch slats. It uses DC power supply or 9V battery, is loaded with quality switches, pots, and jacks, and includes true bypass, Overdrive and Volume knob controls. There are two foot-switchable tones inside the Big Spider. One tone is a full-on germanium clipping fuzz while the other a dark scooped tone. The two drives can be stacked for even more tonal options. The pedal is available now for $150.

The fine folks at Xotic Effects are shipping a new version of their popular X-Blender effects loop stomp to dealers. This version of the X-Blender has all the same coolness of the previous one with three notable additions – the US list price has dropped from $260 to $220, the small push knobs have been replaced by mini-toggles for better durability… and the paint color has changed slightly. The X-Blender is a unique tool for the modern guitar and bass player – a switchable series-parallel loop unit. Having a parallel effects loop allows you to mix or blend the effects with a dry signal, creating a far more complex tone from your guitar.

Martin over at SoulSonicFX is rolling out his new and improved Four Banger boost. The Four Banger MkII is smaller than its predecessor, but is said to pack all of the punch and more of the original stomp. In principle, the pedal is simply four popular boost circuits put together in one box with mini-buttons to engage each one. The previous Four Banger’s circuits included a classic Rangemaster Germanium Treble Booster, a clean opamp boost of my own design, a ZVex-designed Super Hard-On MOSFET booster, and Jack Orman’s MiniBooster Mu-amp JFET boost. We know the Zvex circuit is gone from the MkII, but are not sure about any other changes to the stomp.

Texas-based Malekko Heavy Industries has shown the world its new Chicklet reverb pedal. Via its newly-launched Facebook page, the company posted a pic of the little pink cutie with little additional info to go on. What we do know is that the pedal, which replaces the Spring Chicken reverb in the company’s line-up, is set to hit the market very soon at a price rumored to be around $120. It sports two knob controls – Mix and Dwell. More info when we get it. If you’re not already, sign up to be Malekko’s friend on Facebook and watch their status updates for news!

A shortage of germanium transistors has prompted Hungarian pedal shop Kasleder to make its Purple Haze 2 fuzz a limited run pedal. Albert at Kasleder said there will only be 200 made. The Purple Haze 2 is the company’s take on the popular Fuzz Face tone. The stomp has three knob controls – Volume, Fuzz and Contour. The latter dials the fuzz from more flowing to more crunchy. A Castles/Freedom toggle switches between two fuzz circuits. Freedom engages two BC108Cs, just like in the first original silicon transistor Fuzz Face model, while Castles kicks on a hybrid circuit – one BC108C and an AC187 germanium transistor will provide you the fuzz tone.

Sounds like Zack Vex has a monster pedal set to debut at the Winter NAMM show in January. Details are scarce, but Vex posted on Harmony Central late last week that he is working in earnest on a pedal with ‘three circuit boards, 16 pots, 20 LEDs, 4 switches’ and is nothing like anything he has ever done before. Speculation is that he will debut a super delay – a Delay Factory, if you will. He is not letting on as to what exactly it is, but did say that he has been working on it off and on for the better part of a year and intensively for the last three months. Stay tuned!

California-based BMF Effects has become a bit of a go-to pedal pusher for the likes of some pretty damn good blues players… like Marc Ford and the guys in The Steepwater Band. While the Purple Nurple looks to be the company’s flagship, we were keen to get our hands on another, perhaps lesser known, BMF offering… thus we were hard pressed to say no when our friend Phil Vickman from Fat Tone Guitars offered to send us a BMF Great Wide Open distortion stomp for review. We were curious to see if this one-knob dirt box was a bolt from the blue, or an overdrive without a clue?

Matt over at Tortuga Effects has posted a new demo video of his new Wendigo stomp – a close brother to his Sasquatch fuzz, but with the addition of silicon transistors. According to Tortuga, the Wendigo has a tight, rich distortion that blends extremely well with an amp yet still has all the characteristics of an over-the-top classic 70’s fuzz. Like the Sasquatch, the Wendigo also has the ‘Make Him Mad’ freak-out mode that can be controlled and mastered with your guitar volume and tone knobs. The Wendigo works well with both guitar and bass. The Wendigo is available now for $269. Check out the video after the jump!

Bass gear specialists EBS are now shipping their new DPhaser pedal to retailers. The DPhaser is the latest addition to the company’s line of Black Label pedals and offers three different modes of cool phaser effects. ‘Short’ is the classic phaser effects recognized from the 70’s, ‘Long’ emphasize the effects a bit more, while ‘Wide’ gives you extrem swarling flanger-like effects. A ‘Hi, Lo and Off’ three-way switch selects the resonance of the effect while the two controls change the width and rate. In addition, there are internal switches for fine tuning the overall tone. The true-bypass pedal also sports two knob controls to dial in Rate and Width of the effect.

Jon over at Cusack Music posted a note over at The Gear Page stating he is back on the company’s looper project and should have it done soon. According to Cusack, the production version will have 8 or 10 loops, and will be programmable with as many presets as it has loops. Jon adds that he will offer modules for special purposes, such as A/B amp switching, and amp footswitching (Channel, Reverb, etc…). There will also be a stereo option and it may include a buffer option as well. It is early days for a firm feel on availability and price, but it is safe to say we’ll see this in 2010 for sure.

David at Pigtronix has unveiled his new Aria distortion pedal – a stomp he says takes a unique approach to diode clipping that retains the expressive nature of your music while imparting creamy sustain and enhanced harmonic content. The Aria comes with a three-band active EQ that is voiced for maximum versatility. The Aria’s 12db/octave EQs boost and cut at carefully selected frequencies, allowing the player to adapt to a variety of amps or to craft entirely new tones. Sound clips of the new true-bypass, analog stomp are available at Pigtronix website. Pricing and availability info coming soon. Stay tuned!

Kevin over at Wilson Effects uploaded a demo video to You Tube of a prototype, dual channel overdrive pedal designed to hit all the tones made famous by Dumble amplifiers. Dubbed the Black N Red, the hand-built, true bypass pedal sports two independent channels, each for four knob controls – Voice, Gain, Tone and Level. The two channels can also be stacked for a little added roar. No firm word on availability, however Kevin has noted the price of the Black N Red should come in around $150. Stay tuned! Check out the demo video of the pedal in action below the jump!

He’s done it before and he’s doing it again! Rob over at Keeler Designs is set to offer a limited edition pedal just in time for Christmas. This year’s pedal is a custom voiced fuzz and is expected to cost just $125. Just because it’s affordable, does not mean it’s cheap. Rob said the pedals will have all the best parts – BC108, BC Components Caps, carbon comp resistors, Roederstein Caps, and the list goes on! As always, the pedals will be hand-built by Rob. If you are interested in the custom voiced fuzz as a nice stocking stuffer, shoot Rob an e-mail by clicking here and get on the list!