I’ve been looking at the reissued Marshall overdrive pedals. If I were to order one it would either be the Bluesbreaker or the Guv’nor. If I got the Bluesbreaker I might make a new pedal board for low-ish gain stuff. I’m thinking it would be the Bonamassa signature Crybaby into the Bluesbreaker into the Wampler Tumnus and that’s all. Then I thought… what about sticking the Fuzz Face before the Crybaby. That way it’s a low-ish gain board with a blistering inferno of fuzz for luck.
Just a thought.
If I got a Guv’nor I would stick it onto the existing stay at home pedal board after the Klon KTR and use it as the paint peeling distortion sound.
Bluesbreaker into Tumnus though… that could be fun.
The last couple of days have been weird, health-wise. First it was the headache issue on Tuesday, then it was stomach issues on Wednesday. Now here we are on Thursday and I am feeling a little like a wrung out face cloth. Here’s hoping today will be a quiet day.
We’re having some HVAC folks come and tell us what they need to do to replace the mini-split in the bedroom. We’ve had it serviced a couple of times this winter, but it’s just not working and we’re more or less unable to heat the bedroom without using a space heater as a supplement. They won’t actually replace it for another week or two, but they are coming for a fact finding mission.
So, television. Yesterday was the premier or season three of The Mandalorian and I could not be at a higher hype level. The first episode was excellent but… I think today’s third episode of season three of Picard might have been better. I did not see that coming, kids. I was just glued to the screen as I was getting this morning’s jogging (yogging) in. The captain vs admiral conflict seemed a little forced and out of character, but everything else? Fan-freakin-tastic. The bad guys behind the bad guy? Fan-freakin-tastic! I can’t wait for episode four. I also can’t wait for episode two of The Mandalorian, but that’s a given. In the Star Wars vs Star Trek debate, I come down on the Star Wars side, generally, but only by a little bit. Regardless of which franchise you prefer, it’s a pretty good time to be a space opera fan, am I right?
For the first time in a year, I am suffering from guitar gear acquisition syndrome. There are two overdrive pedals that I really want to buy, and I also really want to buy an amplifier simulator that I can use as a plug in through GarageBand. Last year I finished the RPM Challenge with a plan to do their Record Every Month challenge throughout the rest of the year. I had a goal of two songs each month that I could pretend were a single. I failed completely. I didn’t write a single song over the 11 months between the 2022 RPM and the 2023 RPM (with the exception of a few failed attempts in November). I am going to try again, but I am probably not going to record guitars through my amplifier on a regular basis. I am thinking I can do direct input more often and I want a good amp sim that I can use consistently. The one I am looking at is only $40, but I just don’t want to spend any money. We have a mini-split to buy after all.
Speaking of gear acquisition syndrome, I also really want to buy a new lens for my new camera. I adore the 40mm lens we bought for Disney, but I’d like a little zoom option. Possibly because the cats are suffering from The Zoomies every night and it just sort of inspired me, you know? I also really really want to buy a 35mm film point and shoot and I don’t know why. I want to buy a 35mm film camera with autofocus functionality too, but that’s going to cost some dough, and I think I can get a point and shoot for pennies. I want to go Nikon, as usual, but decent Nikon point and shoots are stupidly expensive on ebay. I looked for Pentax options yesterday and saw some with the starting bid of $1.00… so yeah, that could be a better option. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll hit the thrift stores more often.
Okay, time to get breakfast and get my day started. I have a lot of meetings today and need to be ready for a long day at the home office. Wish me luck.
I told my beloved wife Jen that I was going to take a page out of the Brian Adams playbook today and play it ’till my fingers bled. I didn’t go quite that far, but I am in so much finger tip pain that I had to stop a little early. I put lead guitar parts onto five of the remaining seven songs. My playing on the fifth song was atrocious, not because I suck (though, naturally) but because my finger tips hurt so much I couldn’t make them do anything. Ouch town, population me.
I will finish the last two songs, but it won’t be for a while. I might try again after dinner. I might wait until tomorrow. I can’t say yet. What I do know is that I have finished tracking a total of 12 songs so I am at the point where I could stop, apart from mixing, and call this year a win. I am pleased.
As always, I went into this year’s RPM Challenge with a specific gear setup in mind. Pedal-wise I was going to use my Klon KTR to push my Keeley Super Phat Mod. I never got on with that Keeley pedal and I was going to force it this month. Then the Marshall Bluesbreaker hype hit. Marshall released a pedal called the Bluesbreaker, which was supposed to make your amp sound like the amp Clapton used on the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton record from 1966 but doesn’t, in the early 90’s and discontinued it after a couple of years. Fast forward to the 21st century and John Mayer uses the pedal on one of his records and suddenly the used market prices are through the roof and every boutique pedal manufacturer on Earth is either making a direct copy of it, or cloning it and modding it. I own a direct copy.
There was a rumor a year ago that Marshall was going to reissue the pedal. That rumor appeared to come true last week though it wasn’t until a day or so ago that Marshall actually verified the rumor was true. All the talk made me want to use my copy. I put it on the board and used the shit out of it. Today I was using it like crazy. Sometimes with the Klon KTR pushing it and sometimes just by itself. It’s not the kind of sound I usually get up for, but I have been seriously digging it the last few days, and for some reason using it with the neck pickup on my Les Paul today was a little slice of bliss.
What does that mean? Nothing. I just thought I’d share, that’s all.
I used my Les Paul on four of today’s five songs, and my SG on one. I was planning on using the SG for the two I didn’t get to as well, but now that I need some time to heal I have no idea what I’ll actually use on the last two. Probably the Les Paul. Either way, I took some obligatory pics.
Also… selfies… because I suck at being cool.
Also, I am rearranging how I keep my work and personal laptops on my desk. My desk suddenly feels very small.
Okay, now I can break for lunch. Maybe watch a TV show for 45 minutes or so and then start mixing again.
Progress, babie. Progress.
Oh yeah, here’s a video on the Marshall pedal. Just so you know what I am talking about.
Back in March 2018 I added my name to the waiting list for a guitar pedal. The company is called Analogman and they make phenomenal stuff. Probably the most famous item in their catalog is a duel overdrive pedal called King of Tone. At the time the backlog of orders was taking about two years to process. I put my name on the list thinking I would probably have a King of Tone of my own by March 2020.
Remember what went down in March 2020?
By the time Covid hit the wait had already grown. I think I was expecting my number to come up in 2021 (I think). Then Covid slowed everything down more. I haven’t inquired when I should expect it to be my turn to buy a pedal, but I did just read a story that mentioned Analogman recently started working on orders placed in 2018. Hey, that’s me! The article also said they had to redo about 100 circuit boards because some prick managed to slip fake capacitors past them and they all had to be replaced. Damn it.
It will be my turn someday. Someday.
On a slightly related note, if you remember back in June of 2020 when George Floyd was murdered by police officers and riots broke out all of the country, I did a lot of bitching about a pedal builder who first decided that store windows were more important than police officers assassinating citizens before doubling down on his complete assholeness by verbally attacking his own customers for having the nerve to call him a racist when his behavior was about as racist as you can get. I declared I would never use his pedals again (he actually told at least one customer that they were not worthy of using his pedals so I guess he wanted me to stop using his stuff) and put the pedals I owned (there were two, with a third stuck at the band’s rehearsal room) into a box at the bottom of my closet where they can rot for eternity. Then Reverb and Guitar Center cut ties with his company as well. Now, two years later, he’s shutting down. I’m not sure if he’s going out of business or just scaling back to a tiny work-from-home type of thing, or if maybe he’s going to move manufacturing overseas, or what.
While I would never wish harm upon another human, I can’t help but think that going out of business couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, you know? As one who works in customer service… it’s not hard to not verbally assault your customers. Really, it’s not hard. It’s also not hard to not be a racist asshole, but that might be asking too much from some people. I guess.
Hopefully this is the last time I will ever talk about this prick.
Also, hopefully my turn to buy that Analogman pedal will be coming up soon. Four years is a long time, you know?
Lunch break project number one was finally unboxing the folding card table. It’s been sitting here waiting for me since early May and now it’s finally setup and useable.
Lunch break project number two was merging the two stay-at-home pedal boards.
For the first time ever I have mounted a power supply underneath.
The chain currently runs:
Real McCoy Custom RMC10 wah wah pedal.
Korg Pitchblack Tuner.
I want to add one pedal to this board someday, but the power supply can only handle eight lines. If I ever get that little flanger pedal I have my eyes on, then this tuner will be the thing that gets replaced.
Earthquaker Devices The Depths uni-vibe pedal.
MXR Phase 95 phaser pedal.
Wren and Cuff Super Russian combination Big Muff style fuzz pedal combined with a clean boost (that I very rarely use).
Klon KTR overdrive pedal. The best overdrive pedal I’ve ever played.
Keeley D&M Drive dual overdrive pedal. One side is a higher gain overdrive, the other is lower gain with a big mid-range frequency push.
This pedal might be swapped out for a Wampler Plexi Drive Mini overdrive pedal. I need to test drive the Plexi through my Deluxe Reverb amp before I decide for sure.
MXR Carbon Copy Mini delay pedal
Now I just have to plug this sucker in and see how it all sounds together through my Deluxe Reverb. The Deluxe Reverb that is finally home!
See that black thing with the word, “Fender” on it?
Know what that is?
That’s my favorite amplifier. That’s my Fender ‘65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue. It’s been at Mike’s house since late January 2020 and it’s finally back home where it belongs.
Kevin, Mike, and I were pretty terrible tonight but not nearly as terrible as I expected. We took turns throwing out song titles and then hoping muscle memory would kick in so we would remember how to play them. For the most part we did.
For most of the night my signal chain was 100% things that had never been to a Lizardfish practice before. My new Les Paul into the Ryra The Klone into the Malaise Forever Black Lives Matter into the Vox AC15. I sounded okay. A little too toppy but okay. I mostly did the Clapton Les Paul thing (not “Woman Tone”, the other thing) where you run both pick ups but lower the volume on the neck a little. It sounded pretty good.
I was pleased with the AC15. I had been a little concerned that the little 15 watt guy would struggle to keep up with the bass and drums. I need not have worried. It cooked right along with lots of headroom to spare.
As well as the Vox preformed tonight, the biggest take away is still the Deluxe Reverb coming home. At last.
Last night I mentioned that I was going to add another overdrive pedal to my big pedal board. Well, not today.
I took it out of the case and looked it over to see if I could fit that extra pedal. It’s a mini pedal, so yay? I can’t fit it into the spot it will go in the signal chain. If I am going to use it I will have to put it somewhere else and then wire it in the proper order with some longer patch cables.
There is a spot where it should fit easily. Unfortunately, the only cables I have that will reach from where it should be to where it is and back are not right angle connections and with those plugged in on each side it won’t fit. Not even close.
So the moral of the story is, don’t forget the importance of having the right kind of cables. Now I want to rewire the whole kit and caboodle (did I spell that right?) with the thinnest pancake connections I can get my mitts on. Oh well.
I am sitting here thinking about retail therapy and guitar gear and all of that and I am trying so very hard not to do it. I want to, but I don’t want to, but I want to.
For the pedal board, I want an MXR Brick and an MXR Phase 95 and one of those cheap little Mooer E-Lady flangers.
I want to trade in my Strat and do… something. Trade it for a Les Paul Jr? Trade it for a ’68 Deluxe Reverb? The money won’t work out for either of those, but what about trade it in for money and then…
Take the ES-335 to a repair shop and redo the frets and the wiring.
Or take the Les Paul Custom to a repair shop and redo the frets and change the pickups to something nice and boutique and redo the wiring.
Or take my gorgeous new Les Paul Standard to a repair shop and change the pickups to something nice and boutique and see if there is anything else that a professional would recommend doing.
Or take my SG Standard to a repair shop and change the pickups to something either nice and boutique, or something high output and mean sounding and see if there is anything else that a professional would recommend doing, specifically to the height of the action.
Two weeks ago at about this time, I think I was being moved from the operating room to the recovery room. I’m trying to find some way to commemorate this historic anniversary and I am coming up with nothing. I’m in the cellar, watching Breaking Bad again and surfing online music stores on my laptop. I don’t want to spend money on gitter stuff but what can you do? Pedal boards and random gear are just fun to daydream about. I have made sure to avoid looking at actual guitars though. Amps too. Just pedals and non-bank breaking stuff.
As for the post-surgical update, I had a weird experience today. I ate my delicious tuna fish puree at lunch time. When I was done I… well… it’s so odd… I felt… hungry. As in, damn I could go for another ounce of that fun stuff. It was just a weird feeling.
I am still not giving any details on the subject, but my mother is still in the hospital. I still can’t do anything about it, and likely won’t be able to for another 2-3 weeks. I feel less than useless. Again, no details are coming but I just needed to state that publicly for my own guilt ridden reasons. That is all.
Happy two-week birthday to my little baby stomach*.
* In his book Ghost Rider, Neil Peart, while dealing with the deaths of his wife and daughter, refers to parts of his recovery as feeding his little baby soul. My soul is okay, but my little baby stomach needs constant attention.
