Category: Guitar

Amp Swap

I made some changes to the bedroom music nook today. Sort of celebrating the fact that the RPM Challenge is over. Mixing it up, ya know?

I moved the Vox MV50 Nutube amp and the Fender Bassbreaker 112 speaker cabinet back into the living room. The electric piano is plugged into it again. I took the Bassbreaker 15 that I’ve been using for months and months down cellar and brought up the Vox AC15. The next time I play it will be through the AC15.

I am trying to work up the Covid courage to ask the band what their late-March schedules look like. I’m sort of hoping someone else brings it up first so if we all get Covid I won’t feel that extra layer of guilt. That’s ignoring the fact that we won’t be getting Covid, but that’s beside the point. I’m also thinking about bringing the AC15 to that first bad practice.

Speaking of venturing out into the world, I have been wondering to myself if this week’s vacation will be the time I finally bring my Fender Stratocaster to a music store, probably Guitar Center in Nashua, to trade it in for something else. First on the potential trade list is a Les Paul Junior. Second is the Fender reissue of the silver face Deluxe Reverb. Third would probably be a Gibson Firebird. All of those things will cost more than I could get for the Strat so price is an issue as well as store stock. Also, Covid. I don’t know if I am up to that yet. I don’t know if I’m up to anything yet, but going to the office once a week over the last three weeks, as well as some in person doctors appointments… my courage is building up.

We’ll see.

Tubes

It’s all about me. World events? The Russian invasion of Ukraine? It’s all about me.

No it isn’t, but this is partly about me but also about guitar gear in general.

Vacuum tubes, right? The best guitar amps are powered by tubes (valves if you’re one of our British friends). The technology dates back to 1904, according to Wikipedia, and the guitar amps many of us like date back to the 50’s and 60’s. Suffice to say it’s not exactly cutting edge stuff.

The only industries that still use tubes are guitar amps and effects and hi-fi stereo systems. That’s it. Tubes used to run everything but now it’s down to those two hold outs. As a result there are only three factories on Earth that still manufacture vacuum tubes. Three.

One factory is in Slovakia (I think… or is it Slovenia? No, pretty sure it’s Slovakia). Another factory is in China. From what I hear, that factory recently had a bad fire and they have been offline for a while. The result of that is that tubes, already in short supply, are in a full blown shortage. Thank goodness for that third factory, huh? Hey, where is that third factory anyway?

Russia.

Shit.

I haven’t heard anything specific but with the sanctions the entire world is leveling at Russia to convince them to stop being evil and get their military out of Ukraine it’s safe to say that we won’t be seeing any tubes out of that Russian factory any time soon. That means that we’re effectively down to one factory. One. Let’s all send as many happy and safe vibes we can to JJ Electronic in the hopes that they keep rolling at peak efficiency with all of their staff being exceptionally happy and healthy and satisfied in their professions.

I own four tube amps. Three Fenders and a Vox. I haven’t been a tube amp guy for long, but in my very teeny tiny experience I have never had to change a tube. Please, guitar gods, let the tubes in my amps last forever. Pretty please.

One other guitar gear thing I want to mention is petty and pointless and exactly the sort of thing that the trump ass cult ranks on people like me ceaselessly for. I can’t help it though.

I really like using fuzz pedals. Of the three classic types of fuzz pedals, Fuzz Face, Tone Bender, and Big Muff Pi, my absolute favorites are Muffs. They are just ferocious and I really love them. In the last two years or so I have used a clone of a Big Muff pedal for probably 80% of the lead guitar parts I have recorded. Most of those tracks were recorded using a pedal by a company called Wren and Cuff that is called the Super Russian. Big Muffs were originally made by the Electro Harmonics company back in 1970 or so. That company fell apart in the late 80’s or early 90’s (not sure exactly when) and a new company was formed from the ashes that was called Sovtek. That company was based in the newly post-Soviet Union Russia. Many of the EHX pedals were redesigned to use Russian components and manufactured and sold by the new company. The Super Russian pedal on my board is based on a Sovtek period Big Muff.

The pedal sounds amazing and I love playing through it. It’s pretty much perfect. Still… when I was posting my RPM stuff to alonetone.com I was adding notes about what gear I used (so that I can know what I used when I listen back years from now). I kept having to type the word Russian into those notes. Even though the pedal and I have nothing to do with the evil spewing out of Moscow right now, I felt kinda dirty every time I wrote one of those notes. It is totally irrational and makes zero sense, but that’s how I felt. Feelings don’t need to be rational, after all. I mean we aren’t Vulcans, right?

So I guess what I am saying is… I might be in the market for a fuzz pedal that isn’t based on a Sovtek circuit. It is entirely possible that this might just be my Gear Acquisition Syndrome trying to trick me into buying a new pedal, but let’s not think about that.

Whatever. I should just send $200 to a Ukrainian charity instead and just get over my irrational self. I should also start hoarding vacuum tubes.

Now What

RPM is over. Now for the annual “now what?” Post.

I assume the folks at RPMHQ will kick off another Record Every Month challenge. I’ll do that. I’m thinking two songs each month, sort of like a single. Then at the end of the year re-record the best songs?

In the real world I have to buckle down on the weight loss surgery prep. I have a bunch of directives from the dietician and so far have only integrated two. I think there are three more and one of them is a little Earth shattering.

Outside of that? There’s the band. I think I may have reached the point in the pandemic where I’m willing to try a band practice. I think. We will have to see. Fingers crossed I don’t panic and chicken out.

I’ll see if I can dream up anything else. I’ll let you know.

I’m Finished! – #RPM2022

2022 marks the 11th consecutive year with a completed RPM Challenge project.

I’m all done!

Here’s a link to the final playlist on alonetone.com if that embedded playlist doesn’t work.

Also, for shits and giggles, here’s the outtake playlist as well. These were the songs that didn’t make the cut.

And again here is a link to the outtakes playlist on alonetone.com, if you’d prefer to listen to my unlistenable crap there.

In summary…

WOOHOO!

The Last Day – #RPM2022

Hello and welcome to February 28, 2022, the final day of this year’s RPM Challenge! Are you excited?

When I woke up this morning I had three songs left to mix. That was then and this is now, and now I only have two left to mix!

Usually when I write something that swings a little I end up with a terrible song that’s kinda fun to play. This time I think I ended up with the best song of the bunch so far. It is possible though that I will be saying the same thing about the other two songs that still need to be mixed. I think I saved all the best songs for last this year.

Okay. Post this, go to work, finish work, get back to mixing, pick the 10 songs for the final album, sequence the songs appropriately, submit the final album. That’s my agenda for today.

Let’s go!

Done for the Night

The Walking Dead starts in 12 minutes. I’m done mixing for the night.

I mixed 10 songs for a personal single day world record. Of those 10 only two are definitely going to end up on the final RPM Challenge album. This is one of them…

The Mixing Continues

I have mixed eight songs today and my brain isn’t quite working correctly anymore. I want to get through at least two more if I can. I’ve been doing laundry and helping Jen with little things here and there all day as a sort of palette cleanser to help my ears from quitting on me. It’s worked so far but for how much longer.

Let’s not forget that it’s Sunday too. That means a new Walking Dead episode. I have to save some hearing for that too. Yikes! My poor brain!

On a totally unrelated note, I just read a tweet that I really hope is true. It said that the Ukrainian government just gave the entire military a pay raise. How bad ass is that? A super power has invaded but you folks are doing such a great job that we’re going to give you a raise. Now all they have to do is win the war so that the government continues to exist and the currency they are paid in continues to have value.

The Marathon is Underway

The Great RPM Challenge Mixing Marathon is officially underway.

I was thinking this song was going to be the winner this year. Unfortunately my vocal performance was less than adequate, and the lead guitars are extra lame. I feel like I let the song down.

The chorus is in 4/4 time the rest of the song is in 7/8 time though, so that’s fun. It’s also pleasantly hyperactive and you can’t beat that, right?

Tracking is Done – #RPM2022

Tracking is done, tracking is done, thank the flying spaghetti monster, tracking is done.

I put leads onto 10 songs today. I did the first three this morning and I was feeling pretty good. Then I came back to it after dinner and my finger tips were killing me. I couldn’t play to save my life. It was terrible. I was actually starting to panic a little for the first time all month. It was bad.

It’s RPM though so I had to push through. Fortunately after a couple of bad songs I started warming up a little and things got better. My finger tips even stopped hurting, though I wonder if that’s a sign of permanent nerve damage or something (no I don’t, just being #sarcastic).

I mixed a couple of songs today too and I was thinking to myself that there only maybe two songs that were better than mediocre, and those two weren’t better by much. Then I was plowing through leads tonight and I came to the realization that the last three songs I started off this month are the best three. I sort of expect them to be the first three songs on the final album. That made me feel a smidge better.

Okay, vote time. Which of these three pictures should I use as the album cover?

#1:

#2:

Or #3:

Also, if you’re keeping track, two of those pictures are very similar to an RPM Challenge album cover from the past (2013, to be exact). I don’t care.

Six Songs Complete

Here’s song number six for this year’s RPM Challenge. I seem to be finishing them off in the same order as I started them. Weird. Usually the good ones sort of bubble up to the top of the queue. I think this might mean that there aren’t any good ones this year. That’s too bad.

This one has guitarmonies and a drum solo though, so based on that alone it sort of rules.