17/04/2026
It’s been a minute—but we’re back, and there’s noise on the horizon.
Pedalborn is rolling into the North West Guitar Show on May 17th at Haydock Park Racecourse. We’re aiming to have something fresh on the table, though the saga of sourcing parts for the new Raven overdrive has been… let’s call it “character-building.” Still, optimism is part of the job—if the stars align, we’ll be in business. If they don’t? Well, it’s got us thinking: maybe a redesign is due. Could this be the last outing for the Raven in its current form? Maybe, maybe not, we’ll see how the mood strikes.
Anyway—gear brains don’t switch off, even on a failed trainer hunt in London.
A detour into Forbidden Planet (top-tier procrastination venue, by the way) led to an unexpected rabbit hole: action figure sets from the manga Bocchi the Rock! Now, I’ve never watched or read it—but that didn’t stop the immediate, completely unqualified deep-dive into imagined tone, rigs, and signal chains. Because, frankly, why wouldn’t it?
First up: Ikuyo Kita. Frontwoman energy—vocals, rhythm duties, maybe the band’s anchor. She’s rocking what looks like a Pelham Blue Les Paul Junior DC with P90s, and that alone tells you a lot. Big, raw chords, a bit of bite, Probably leaning punk and maybe garage-adjacent.
Her pedalboard? Minimal, but telling. Guitar into a PolyTune—standard, no nonsense—then into a mysterious blue three-knobber. I’m calling it a Blues Driver. Yes, it could be any number of blue modulation boxes, but placed early like that, it screams “always-on grit.” From there, likely into a Vox-style amp—AC15 or AC30—letting those P90s breathe and bark.
Then there’s the small black box at the end. Given what we see elsewhere, I’m betting on a RAT-style distortion. On its own, it’s a classic. Stacked with the Blues Driver? Now we’re talking—layered gain, chewy mids, and enough attitude to carry a chorus.
Next: Hitori Gotō. Different vibe entirely. Les Paul Custom in Ebony—full-fat humbuckers, darker aesthetic, more saturated tones. There’s a hint of something more modern in the colorway—could almost pass for a high-end single-cut from elsewhere—but sticking with the Gibson theme makes sense if it’s a band identity thing.
Her board is where it gets interesting. Familiar core—Blues Driver and RAT again—but flipped in order. That alone opens up a different gain structure, more aggressive, more lead-focused. But the real center-piece looks like a multi-effects switcher unit (Boss MS-3). Something compact, versatile, capable of routing and stacking in clever ways. If that’s what it is, it suggests she’s the one experimenting—textures, layers, maybe ambient touches.
Off to the side: a wah. Classic. Placement’s debatable—could be front-of-chain, could be last—but it’s there, and it’s ready to talk.
And then there’s the wildcard: a small white box with multiple cables in play. Looks like a switcher—possibly an A/B setup for dual amps. If that’s the case, we’re into serious tonal territory—clean/dirty splits, stereo rigs, or just straight-up chaos depending on how it’s used.
What’s striking about both setups is how stripped-back they are. No sprawling pedalboards, no over-complication just a few well-chosen tools and the implication of personality behind them. It’s the kind of rig that invites you to plug in and play, rather than tweak endlessly.
Haven’t heard a note of their music—but honestly, I’m already sold on the aesthetic. Might even try a similar setup myself.
It also throws me back to that whole manga-meets-music crossover vibe—there’s something about it that just works.
Right. Trainers. Focus.
