___THE UPDATER___SEPTEMBER 2026___NEW GEAR NEWS___UPDATED 24/7

THE UPDATER

September 2026

I seperate those pedals that are a steal from

those that are stealing from you ate any price

IF IT IS WORTH KNOWING IT IS HERE FIRST !!!

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MY MONTHLY RANT

I spent $2500.00 USD for a Fractal AXE III and they are now telling me a damn $70 Valeton GP-5 is better. Damn YouTubers will tell you any bullsh@t for a few bucks!!!

TIME OUT 

Well today was going to be something I was really looking forward to. 

The release and launch of my own pedal brand LENARD Re-Inventions. 

But I can not ship without prepaying the electrical goods duty which 

neither country can say what it is. So I have to wait until the squabble 

is over. That will not happen until one side agrees to give the other a B.J.  

To find out more go to the top left hand corner of this page to a small orange box with a white letter B in it. Type in 1 followed by the letter x and then type in another 1 .

                                         It will take you right there. 

  4 MILLION ...WOW !   

I just checked my Stats.  

Stomp Box Steals has just past 4 million hits. SBS all started on Xmas Day in 2015. I thought 

I had at best 3 months of ideas and info to share. What happen is you guys kept asking questions. 

I felt obligated to give not just basic answers but useful answers so you could make comparisons 

and choices and not end up with a dozen Tube Screamers just because they were labeled with pretentious names and sold as some apocalyptic new tech, LOL

I soon came to the conclusion that I had to get the bottom off pedals and see what made them tick. 

I then went down the longest rabbit hole in history to what parts did and why they were there. Diodes, 3 basic types of transistors, OpAmps, resistors etc, etc, etc. Next it was tube amps, and a whole new thing.  In the last couple of years it is all about digital amp simulators. The bullsh@t about them is laid on with a trowel. But next year?  

 

PRICELESS LIMO 😲

After months of walking and the odd luxury of taking 

a bus I finally got some wheels. A serviceable 2008 

Honda Civic beater. Tomorrow I will take my first 

ride. Heaven, 😎.

 

TOYS FOR THE OLDER BOYS

                             some old, some new, all cool !!!

PEAVEY VTM PreAmp

The big ...big deal last month was the Friedman JOSE 20 head.
Well in 1987 Peavey brought out their VTM 60 & 120 watt VTM 

heads that were JOSE  amps too. They just released a killer clone 

of it with a pedal. Spending $200 to get that $1800 Friedman 

thing is a steal. 

 

VALETON GP-5 Amp Simulator

The big deal at the moment is the NAM 2 format that falls under 

the blanket term of Modeler. This tech can give you arguably close 

to state of the art results with over 6000 free software/sounds 

in a budget pedal. At a 10 pedal shootout the GP-5 came in 4th yet 

cost $70.00 USD. Everyone should own one. Even guys like me 

that hate modelers. Why??? It is a backup amp stand-in you can 

keep in your pocket.

UPDATED 7/12/2026