FENDER REFLECTING POOL DELAY & REVERB, MTG:LA TUBE DISTORTION, TRAPPER DUAL FUZZ, COMPUGILIST COMP/DISTORTION, SMOLDER ACOUSTIC OD & POUR OVER ENVELOPE FILTER
It’s two years since Fender surprised many at the 2018 NAMM show by announcing a bold new approach to the business of effects pedals – namely, making seriously good ones. That launch line-up of six stompboxes has now grown to 21, and the latest batch are as diverse in function as they are in the colours of their brushed metal enclosures.
The real eye-catcher here is the suitably aquatic-looking Reflecting Pool, a combined delay and reverb pedal with the kind of multi-mode digital flexibility familiar to fans of Strymon and Line 6. This is the first of the new Fender pedals to break the £200 barrier, which makes it a bit of a big deal… but that’s not to say we’re any less intrigued by the other five.
In a contrasting jacket of fiery orange sits the MTG:LA, a variant of the valve-powered MTG Tube Distortion with a more American sound than the Marshall-leaning original. Then there’s the Trapper, a dual fuzz with some octave and gating tricks; and the Compugilist, whose name makes a lot more sense once you realise it’s a two-in-one pedal based on
