52 Amplifier Heads, week 48—Victory V30 The Countess

As this weekly series of amplifiers draws to an end I wanted to make sure the closing weeks were not dull. You don’t slow down towards the end of a race. Well , you might, but I try not to. You’ve got to be in it for the win (which I believe some people say as #ftw*). If you’re in this game looking for a win, you most likely need a Victory. The V30 The Countess seems like a decent enough kind of Victory to me.

* For me #ftw ends with the words The World. F stands for one of my all-time favourite words. 52 Amplifier Heads, week 48—Victory V30 The Countess

Epiphone 2014 Holiday Guide—why am I not American?!

I have an Epiphone. It’s a beautiful guitar and I love it dearly. It’s one of the reasons I follow Epiphone on Facebook. I love seeing what they release each and every year. Recently they released their 2014 Holiday Guide—a collection of guitars and gear under $300USD. As soon as I saw it I asked myself “Why the heck are you not an American?!”

I did not have a decent answer for myself.

But I can dream. Not only can I dream, but I can write about it. So here is my dream wishlist from the Epiphone 2014 Holiday Guide. What would you buy? Or perhaps … What will you buy?! Epiphone 2014 Holiday Guide—why am I not American?!

Goodtime Solana 6 Banjo

I’ve often wanted to play the banjo. My problem is their standard five strings (one of which doesn’t even make it to the headstock) and their non-guitar tunings. Just to reiterate, that’s my problem. I’m not smart enough to work out alternate tunings. But now I don’t have to worry about that because the folks at Deering Banjos have made the Goodtime Solana 6 banjo which is strung and tuned like a standard guitar. Awesome! Goodtime Solana 6 Banjo

Dialtone Pickups business card

I applied the revised Dialtone Pickups logo to this business card design which will be used at the Namm Show in 2015. The business card incorporates the company’s new tagline Go from sounding good to great (as well as the logo) on the front of the card with the business contact details on the back of the card. The font used in the company logo is used to highlight the business card owner and the company URL on the back of the business card.

Dialtone Pickups business card

52 Amplifier Heads, week 46—Bogner Atma

I’m not sure if many people have noticed, but this weekly series has seen over 40 different amplifier manufacturers featured in my list as I try to determine what tube amplifier I will purchase as my first all-tube amplifier head. In fact, by the time this weekly series is over, I’ll have written about 52 different amplifier manufacturers. There will be no double-ups. So surely as we reach the end of the line the quality will diminish. Heck no! Quite the opposite in fact. The Bogner Atma is living proof.

Well it’s not really a living thing, but the word atma does mean soul. So it’s close enough for my liking. 52 Amplifier Heads, week 46—Bogner Atma

Ibanez RGKP6—built-in distortion and a Korg mini kaoss pad 2S

Not everybody likes to see technology and guitars mix. To many people, the guitar was perfected back in the days when the Stratocaster, Telecaster and Les Paul were created. Other people like to push the envelope. Me, I’m somewhere in-between. For my guitar playing skills, I only need the basics. I have basic skills. Having said that, I love seeing what clever people come up with. Ibanez and Korg have not disappointed me with the Ibanez RGKP6 which features a built-in Korg mini kaoss pad 2S. This is not your standard guitar. Ibanez RGKP6—built-in distortion and a Korg mini kaoss pad 2S

52 Amplifier Heads, week 45—Friedman Pink Taco

I’m a big fan of the Pink Taco.

That’s a tough sentence to follow really. But the Pink Taco by Friedman Amplification is indeed a mighty fine sounding amplifier. It’s a little more expensive than some of the other amplifiers I’ve looked at these past 10 months. It’s also louder than many of those amplifiers. It is still within reason though and the name … Well I am a big fan. 52 Amplifier Heads, week 45—Friedman Pink Taco

Dialtone Pickups T-shirt design

The Dialtone Pickups team were looking for a simple, single colour T-shirt design that not only used their logo, bud did so in a way that let people know what their company was about. What better way to let people know you create awesome guitar pickups than by putting your logo in a guitar (right where a pickup would go).

Dialtone Pickups T-shirt design