I Forgot My Amp Did That

So all of this early morning guitar recording has been with the guitar plugged directly into my USB audio interface. No microphones are being used because no speakers are being used. It’s a fully headphone setup.

I have been running the guitar through an amplifier though. My little Vox MV50 has a direct output on the back that includes cabinet simulation. Normally when you use a line out of an amplifier it sounds dog-shit awful. Not long ago the idea of digitally simulating a speaker cabinet and sticking it onto your line out signal has become a very helpful thing. There are all sorts of digital modeling amplifiers that do it now. Some are big rack mount devices, some are as small as foot pedals. My little Vox amp is an attempt at a tube amp in a pedal sized box. It uses Nutubes, which is something Korg came up with a few years ago as an alternative to normal vacuum tubes. They work off the same principals but they are extremely low powered. I think they sound okay in the amp’s pre-amp stage, but the power stage is still solid state so it doesn’t really feel like a tube amp. It sounds good enough to use, but it’s not really the same.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have an actual tube amp with a line out that has a cabinet simulation? Wait a second… I think I actually have one of those! My Fender Bassbreaker 15 is a fully tube amp with exactly that kind of output on the back of the box. Why am I using the Nutube thing when I could be using the real sucker instead? Today I plugged it in and took the Fender’s cabinet sim for a spin. I think the Vox might sound better. I want to mess with it some more, but it doesn’t sound terribly good. It’s probably usable, but it’s a lateral move at best, if not a step backward. We’ll see.

I had completely forgotten about this, but when I first got the Bassbreaker amp I used the line out quite a bit for recording. When I got the Vox I used both of the amps in line out mode together for a two amp setup on an RPM Challenge. I think it was 2015 or 2016. It worked okay then. Maybe the thing to do going forward is split the signal to both amps and run with a two amp set up again. That could be fun. I mean, if I am stuck going direct again, maybe that’s something to keep things interesting. We’ll see. Next time I record rhythm guitars (tomorrow, I hope) I’ll use the Fender. Next time after that I might use them both. We’ll see.

Yup, He Played Guitar Today

I had two song ideas left over from May that hadn’t been worked into a song form yet. I took care of both of them while watching an episode of The X Files and eating some breakfast. When that was done I put guitar tracks on both songs. That leaves me with two songs still needing rhythm guitar tracks. Both are leftover from May.

That means I have 11 songs ready for lyrics now, and two more that are almost ready for lyrics. Yikes! I need to get cracking on that. Lots of car music in my near future, eh? There are still four songs waiting to be mixed as well. Got to get moving! It’s June 22nd. There are only eight days left in June! If I do a faux 50/90 this year I might include July 1-3 in June too. 50/90 doesn’t start until July 4th. We’ll see how far I get.

Two pictures because I am getting tired of this and getting lazy.

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Okay, Robert. Let’s go get ready for work.

That Makes Two

The only thing more shocking to me than starting a running program thingie is that two days after the first “event” I went outside and did a second. Really… the first one is staggeringly unlikely for me. The second… literally unthinkable.

The app I have been using keeps some stats but I haven’t nerded out on them yet. Now that I have two data points for comparison, you can guarantee I’ll be pouring over whatever is there soon enough. Up until now the only thing I’ve checked out was the super groovy GPS map that shows my route. Given that my route is just around the circle we live on, it isn’t anything terribly interesting. More of an oval than a circle. I think it’s super cool though.

Today’s drill was identical to two days ago. Walk for three minutes, run for one minute. Repeat six times. I haven’t looked into round three yet, but I did notice that it’s supposed to last longer. The first two were 25 minutes (that math doesn’t add up… think they are lying to me?). The next one says 33. We’ll see how it goes on Saturday.

Fun With Migraines

Was the headache I had yesterday a migraine? I thought it might have been, but I wasn’t 100% sure. It usually starts with my vision going blurry and a blank spot in my field of view. The actual headache either comes half an hour later or doesn’t really come at all. Yesterday they headache came first followed by a little bit of blurry vision, but not too much.

Today there was no doubt. At 1:30, shortly after sitting down to eat my lunch, my vision went bad in the exact manner it normally does. I took some Tylenol right away. The vision started clearing about 20-25 minutes later. There hasn’t been much headache pain, though I do feel a little foggy headed.

Now it’s almost 3:00 and I feel well enough that I am able to work without issues. I just wish it had skipped me today. Two days with headaches in a row is pretty crappy.

The Morning So Far

I did not forget to put out the trash. I am significantly less dumb than last week. Of course last week I waited until Wednesday and that was a stupid mistake. This week I had to wait until Wednesday because Monday was a holiday. Okay. Next week will be back to normal.

I did my 30 minute work out, yogging in place. The couch to 5k comes back tomorrow. I watched episode one of Secret Invasion. I am hooked so far. I will probably watch it again before episode two comes out. I did play guitar for about five minutes. It counts. I didn’t plug in, I just played an A minor scale a bunch of times. I didn’t record anything. I just don’t have time.

Up next is my pre-commute morning routine. I need to pack my bag and get moving. Today is going to suck, but I will handle it. Bring it on, bro.

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Rough Night

It started a little after 4:00. Migraine. Shit. Usually my vision goes weird, then the headache comes a little while later. Today it was the other way around. The headache hit out of nowhere and it was bad. Then my vision went all screwy.

After about an hour and a half my vision was okay but the headache was hanging on. Not nearly as bad as it was at the start, but it was lingering. Jen made chicken in the air fryer for dinner and it was fabulous. Unfortunately I had one bite too many and the foamies hit. Worse than that? It’s been two hours and my stomach still feels blocked up. I have another 15 grams of protein to go to hit today’s goal so I have to have something to eat.

One last annoying thing. I am friggin’ exhausted. Is it the couch to 5k’s fault? I don’t think so. I just don’t sleep enough and sometimes it catches up with me and kicks my ass. Yippee.

Tomorrow is going to suck out loud. It’s an in-the-office day and I have meetings almost all day. Worse, I am running all of those meetings. I hate when that happens. Before work though I will need to watch the series premier of Marvel’s Secret Invasion. I’ll also have to play some guitar. I have four songs leftover from May that need rhythm guitars. Only two are ready to go though. Hopefully I’ll be able to sneak one of them in before I have to pack up and get ready for the commute. That means I am going to have to get up early.

Yeah, tomorrow is going to be a tough one. Tonight has already been a tough one. It’s going to be the old one-two punch of suck.

Wish me luck.

Visitor

Please excuse the horribly dirty cellar window.

I had a visitor come to my window this morning. He took a peak inside but had walked a little way away before I could get the camera out. I called for him to come back, but he ignored me the way all of the animal kingdom ignores me.

That’s fine, jerk. See if I put more bird seed out, right? Oh who am I kidding. I am going to put out more bird seed. I’m such a push over.

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Come back, you turkey!

Morning Routine

The morning routine today was a little upended. Usually I have some water with my morning vitamins, then yog in the cellar and have some more water. I stop drinking after about 15 minutes of exercise so that my 15 minute pause between drinking and eating will be up when I finish exercising and I can just have breakfast right away. for the last couple of weeks I’ve been playing guitar after I finish breakfast.

Today I had some water while walking and running outside, but I didn’t have my pills until I got back inside. I took a shower during my 15 minute pause and then had breakfast while watching Spaced. When breakfast was done I played guitar and then punched into work immediately after I finished.

I put rhythm guitars onto a May song, and lead guitars onto a June song. The streak is at 13 days and I am 90% sure it ends today. Tomorrow is an in the office day and I really don’t expect to be able to get any playing in before I have to start getting ready. The whole morning routine goes right down the crapper on commuting days. We’ll see what happens. I pulled it off last week, but with a new Marvel show kicking off tomorrow, Secret Invasion, I don’t know how things will go. Fingers crossed, right?

Pictures. This was focused on the pick up.

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This was focused on the poker chip/pick up switch.

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This was focused on the truss rod cover (aka the word “Standard”).

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This was focused on the treble knob.

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This was focused on BABY YODA, BABIE!

This was focused on the left food switch, I think. I don’t quite remember.

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I Have Experienced Hell and Lived to Tell the Tale

Wow! Was that ever sucky!

I really thought I was deluding myself but here I am, recapping the first painful, awful, baby step.

Can you dig it?

I just finished the first couch to 5k experience. I neither ran five kilometers nor actually traveled five kilometers. It’s just the first step. The app had me walk for three minutes then run for one minute, and repeat that process six times. I am pretty sure I died during the second run, and then died again during each of the remaining runs. I was planning on going to the movie theater parking lot but when push came to shove I just stayed in the neighborhood and went around the block a bunch of times, ignoring the fact that I was really insecure about all of my neighbors staring out their windows watching me the entire time, which I am 100% sure was happening at each and every house on the street.

What did I learn from this experience?

  • I learned that the coach the app has chirping in your ear the whole time is an annoying person.
  • I learned that jogging is a whole ton more difficult than yogging.
  • I learned that, while I don’t have nearly the loose skin issue I expected I would have a year after gastric bypass, there is loose skin in my world right now and when you start actually running for real, that loose skin literally jiggles and it’s a slightly disturbing experience.
  • I learned that running fucking sucks. I mean I only ran for six minutes but WOW did it suck.

Couch to 5k workout number two will take place on Thursday. Wish me luck.

On a slightly related note, I did make a friend out on the road this morning.