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
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
Sometimes when you’re researching pedal after pedal after pedal, they all start to blur into one. It becomes hard to differentiate one pedal from another. When I started researching the pedal to add to my wishlist this week, I thought I’d been at it too long and combined several pedals into one. I was wrong though. It wasn’t me. No, Electro Harmonix (EHX) went and did that themselves when they created the Tone Tattoo. … 52 pedals, week 3—Electro Harmonix Tone Tattoo
I have a few distortion pedals. I’m sure I’ll get more. After all, it’s my favourite effect. There are two reasons if I’m going to be honest. Firstly, it’s metal. That’s pretty much the only reason you need. The other convenient reason for a guitar player like me is that it is good at covering mistakes.
Having shared that, I will say that the tone of a distortion pedal is incredibly important (even to a no-talent-hack like me). So the Wampler Pedals Sovereign Distortion appeals to me on account of the varied tones this pedal provides. Why settle for one distortion tone per pedal when one pedal can provide you with distortion ranging from something blues-friendly to a full-blown heavy metal distortion? The answer? You shouldn’t.
I was lucky enough to have come across Jon-Morten from TonApp As on Twitter last year and then discover the very cool iOS app he had developed called GuitarCapo+ (which you’ve no doubt seen me write about and make a video for). I’m a big fan of GuitarCapo+ so I was very excited when Jon-Morten agreed to participate in my Six Scary Questions article series. So, if you’re interested in seeing what makes TonApp As tick and potentially see what’s in store, read on.
If you’re a guitar lover, you may love the ending. I do. Ssshhh … … Six scary questions—TonApp As
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
Back in 2011 when I decided to shift the focus of my website to my guitar fascination (prior to 2011 I used this site for my graphic design fascination), I had a small obsession with the wonders of iOS. Today I still do. I’m not currently writing about it as much, but I realised today that last year—2014—I continued to use iOS for my social media usage and monitoring, content discovery, video editing, guitar recording, photography and a whole lot more. So as I look back on the year that was, I thought I’d use iOS to put together a homage to my version of 2014.
It’s a 15 second video. It’s going to take me longer than that to explain how it was created though. … 2014 … Instagram style
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.
… Steve Case (Helium Heart) CD artwork
Today I am very pleased to say that I have six awesome responses to six scary (they’re not really) questions I put to the talented folks at Moniker Guitars. If you haven’t heard of Moniker Guitars then you’re either on the wrong website right now, have never read anything I’ve written here, never seen my Instagram posts or simply require some edumacation (real word). Never fear dear reader, I’m here for you.
Moniker Guitars simply make the greatest customised guitars this side of anything. Yes, anything. They made my Scarebear Reedsdale in 2013. I’m hoping they’ll one day make me another guitar. I probably need to talk to my wife about that at some stage. Who knows, they could make your next guitar. To help you find out out more about them and their skills, read on as Kevin Tully from Moniker Guitars provides answers.
You may just enjoy yourself.
Another year and another 52 series completed. Who knew there’d be 52 different amplifier head manufacturers out there able to produce high quality amplifier heads (all tube) that would match my home playing/recording needs? I sure didn’t. Obviously I was hopeful—imagine how lame a 52 article series would be with ten articles in it—but I sure wasn’t confident initially.
Luckily the Interwebs and the many talented tube head amplifier manufacturers came to save the day. In the end I—no, we—end up with this list of 52 amplifier head options for people like me who are searching for their first low wattage and/or affordable all-tube amplifier head. Or all-valve if that’s the lingo your prefer. I go both ways (talking tubes/valves here).
So, onto the complete list. … 52 Amplifiers—the summary
