Mike Campese performance at the Sonoma Wire Works booth—NAMM 2015

Last week at NAMM I was lucky enough to catch Mike Campese perform at the Sonoma Wire Works booth at the 2015 NAMM Show. Mike was showcasing the tones the iOS app GuitarTone is capable of. Even though I’ve used GuitarTone several times in the past—even writing about them a few times over the years—I was blown away by the audio quality. My embedded video is not going to do that audio any justice because I was only using an iPhone to capture video/audio, but trust me … It sounded awesome and was loud enough to ensure the NAMM decibel police were on hand to protect all sensitive ears.

Everybody won on this day. … Mike Campese performance at the Sonoma Wire Works booth—NAMM 2015

Guitar

Ryan Bruce performance at the Cleartone Strings booth—NAMM 2015

One of the things I liked the most about the 2015 NAMM Show was how easy it was to come across people I’ve recognised from the Internet and/or bands. For example, I saw John Petrucci, George Lynch, Paul Riario, The Tone King and Ryan Bruce. I know those people aren’t all huge on Twitter, but that’s where I like to hang out (hence the Twitter links). I also came across people who knew who I was (once I gave them one of my business cards or plectrums). That was flattering and weird. Because I am nobody.

Better than just seeing someone I recognised, was watching and listening to them play live at NAMM. That’s exactly what I did when Ryan Bruce played at the Cleartone Strings booth. It was pretty impressive to be honest. … Ryan Bruce performance at the Cleartone Strings booth—NAMM 2015

Guitar

Visit two Guitar Center stores … Walk out with two new guitars

I mentioned yesterday how I went to my first ever Guitar Center. In that article I mentioned that I had planned to visit the Orange Outlet Guitar Center store. I have to say, that visit went well. It went very well. For me, for Ibanez and for Guitar Center. Mostly for me.

Why? Well, because I ended up buying two new Ibanez guitars that I now have to somehow get home to Australia. How hard can that be?! … Visit two Guitar Center stores … Walk out with two new guitars

Guitar

My first visit to a Guitar Center … OMFG

The four regular readers of this site—I’m pretty sure I gained a new reader in 2014—will know that I like guitars. When I say like, I of course mean I have a problem. I have a fascination. I’m not actually a good guitar player, but guitars bring me a whole lot of joy. Today, I visited the Hollywood Guitar Center on Sunset Blvd. It seems nobody here ever types the word Boulevard which suits me—it’s a tricky word to spell!

All I can say is … OMFG. If you don’t recognise that acronym, Google it.

Guitar Center is like my grown-up version of a toy store. I wanted everything I saw and I was trying to work out how to get it all back to Australia. I figured I’d work out the method of payment afterwards. Surely there is a 25 year lay-away plan or something. … My first visit to a Guitar Center … OMFG

Scarebear

52 pedals, week 1—BOSS DM-2W Delay

Every year I like to challenge myself to find 52 different guitar related items from a theme. Two years ago it was 52 guitars. Last year it was 52 amplifier heads. This year I’ve decided to write about 52 different guitar pedals. Knowing this would be the theme, I decided a few days ago to ask folks on social media for suggestions. I just didn’t let people know why I was asking. Evil right?

I asked the same question on Instagram. One suggestion I ended up with was delay. Many individual models of delay were suggested, but I decided to focus on one of the more recent models—the DM-2W—because it’s a very nice blend of old and new.

Let the next 52 article series begin. … 52 pedals, week 1—BOSS DM-2W Delay

Graphic Design

Steve Case (Helium Heart) CD artwork

My third CD artwork job for artist Steve Case involved the creation of a plain CD—it was default silver with black text—and a cardboard sleeve design. Much to my delight, Steve wanted this piece to be primarily black and white. I needed to convert most images so they appeared to come from the same photo shoot—they had not and the lighting was quite different—and the rest of the concept came together after working with Steve on his original ideas. I was once again allowed some creative license, and the finished product is what you see here.

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