Italian manufacturer (with a base in LA) F-pedals is a brand new company that is a bit of an enigma, yet has some very interesting endeavors underway. At the moment, they sell just two micro pedals (the Edstortion and the Phazevibe, see demos below) and a line of cables (with great bulk pricing), but they have already signed on world-renowned engineer Eddie Kramer – best known for recording most of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin albums along with dozens of other iconic classic rockers – to endorse the first two stomp boxes.
And, the coolest distinction of F-Pedals thus far is the fact they have come up with wireless power technology that requires neither a battery nor external power source to power their stompboxes!
In terms of the two introductory pedal offerings, as mentioned, both the Edstortion and the Phazevibe come in mini casings with dimensions of approximately 1” high, 1” wide, and 3” long, but interestingly F-pedals isn’t sacrificing quality despite the small stature of their boxes. Most of the boxes we’ve seen so far on the “go small” trend are more low cost effect pedals, but F-pedals is opting to make their pedals more in the mid-price to premium price ranges despite their size. I think this is a much better way to approach this trend, as taking up less space on a pedal board is obviously a huge benefit to everyone no matter how big the board, but nobody should settle for lo quality pedals to save up space.
For the record, as a New Yorker I personally subscribe to the theory that you’re only allowed to use as much gear as you can carry on the subway, so I love this miniature pedal trend. I know some engineers probably hate working with circuits in those tiny boxes, but as a user I totally appreciate it.
In terms of sound and function, both of these pedals are garnering sweeping praise for being high quality permanent pedalboard fixtures with a laundry list of musicians offering their unsolicited endorsements. In terms of sound, you can trust Eddie Kramer wouldn’t put his name on something that lacks meat. It has three distinct tone settings to control for a vintage 60s/70s tone, a highly compressed tone, and a dynamic bluesy tone. The Phazevibe includes a similar tone setting switch that toggles between killer phaser, uni-vibe, wah wah, and quasi-Leslie.
Overall, this seems like a cool upstart manufacturer to keep on your radar with a niche for high quality mini stompboxes. There appears to be an Echobox coming in the near future as well, so stay tuned. – Ryan Dembinski
