Amp sims. Pedals that digitally simulate classic amplifiers. Prepare to enter a whole new world of guitar rabbit holes, Robert. I don’t see this as a replacement for my tube amps, I see it as a quieter alternative for home recording. Finger crossed it’s acceptable.
I’m down to the final minutes of my lunch break on this fine Friday afternoon. I am pretty exhausted from a lack of sleep over the past… month(s) but I’m hanging in there. I had some Purdue Popcorn chicken and some peanuts and some sugar free Hershey bites for lunch. I really want a drink of water but I still have to wait the better part of an hour before I am clear to drink anything. That’s a gastric bypass patient thing. If you know, you know.
Fed Ex delivered a package today. I am not home to get it, but it contains a new guitar pedal. If I read the amazon shipping notes correctly, it’s a compressor pedal. The first I’ve ever purchased. I have this weird idea of using cleaner guitar sounds for this year’s RPM Challenge in February and a compressor will be a part of that. I bought an MXR Dyna Comp because it’s super simple and it will let me squash my clean signal down to a delightfully mushy… mush. There are two more pedals coming over the weekend. One is a Flanger, the other is an Amp Sim. I don’t have room on my pedal board for any of these kiddos and I don’t have open slots on my power brick… so I am going to need to get creative, I think. It should be fun. I don’t think I bought a single guitar pedal during all of 2024. I know I bought a couple of microphones for band practices that haven’t actually happened yet, but no pedals.
There are a lot of tentative plans for the weekend. We may be messing with our living room and we may be going to some stores for research purposes. I hope to spend some time wandering around town taking pictures with my new/possibly antique (though probably not) camera. I got a gift card for the sugar free bakery in Salem, NH for xmas. I haven’t bought anything from them in about a month, but now I am definitely going back and getting some cookies. Good stuff.
What else… I thought there was something else… One of our cars is going to get a break job. That wasn’t the thing that I am forgetting though… am I going to go shopping for a new iPhone? That’s definitely on the to-do list before we go to Florida at the end of the month, but is it this weekend? I don’t know.
I have to start practicing the guitar. The band is hoping to reconvene (hopefully for real this time) at some point after this weekend. I need to get ready for that. Which guitar should I bring to the first practice? Probably the Les Paul Standard that my wife got me for my 50th birthday in 2021. I really dig that guitar.
I know I had something else I wanted to write about but it has slipped my brain entirely. Don’t get old, kids. This is what happens to you when you get old. Stay young for as long as you can. Unless you’re already old like me in which case… sorry, folks. We had a good run, I’m sure.
2025: A new year with the same boring photo a day project thingie pics.
Here’s today’s… like I said, boring and the same old crap.
I watched a video on youtube tonight of a band playing in a bar in DC back in the late 90’s. I saw the band play in a bar in Cambridge at around the same time… maybe about a year earlier. Whatever. That’s not the point of the post.
The point of the post was that I had what seemed like almost a full sensory flashback. I could smell the cigarette smoke, I could feel my ears ringing from the volume, I could feel the heat of the room and the crush of the people packed into the tiny space… it was weird and also kinda wonderful. The video was 26 years old and I almost felt like I was there.
How weird was that?
Seriously, underground bands playing live in the 90’s was the absolute best musical thing ever. EVER.
In an unrelated note, I have three guitar pedals in my amazon cart right now. If I pull the trigger on it, I hope I’ll have a band to use them with. We’re looking at trying to start up again next month, and next month is the day after tomorrow. Cross those fingers, kids.
The RPM Challenge opened for sign ups for 2025 today. That seems a smidge early, but who cares. I haven’t signed up yet but I will. Soon. I am starting to feel the pull. I am starting to feel the anticipation. I am starting to look at my pedal board and recording setup at home and think about things I might want to change for this February’s challenge.
Last year I went entirely direct input into my USB audio interface. I have two amps with cab sim line outs and I used them both. Over the course of the last year or so there have been a ton of very good amp simulation pedals released into the world. Most are grossly expensive. TC Electronics has a series that is reasonably priced. Do I want to try one? They have one the sims a Fender Deluxe Reverb. I went looking for one on amazon the other day and they appeared to be out of stock. I checked again today at a couple of music vendor sites and they are definitely available. I must have misread the amazonian’s site somehow.
I would only ever want to use a device like this for home recording when there are people in the house. Otherwise I am playing through a real amp and just try to stop me. The demos for these pedals make it seem like they sound pretty good. Should I try one out? Should I take the amp sim plunge?
Or should I just splurge on an expensive new guitar? Or, should I splurge on an expensive new guitar?
This is a recent photo of one of my guitars:
Here’s a photo of me playing this guitar on stage with Lizardfish on July 2, 2016.
Here’s a crazy low-res pic of me playing the guitar with Break Even at some point between 2003 and 2005.
Here’s another one for luck. Same bar but maybe a different date? No, probably the same date. If I had to guess it was August 1, 2003 at J Rags in Tewksbury, MA. Pretty sure that was the date. It was our first gig together.
The guitar is a 1979 Gibson ES-335 Pro that I bought off eBay in 2000 for a smidge less than $800. It was a mess when I first got it. It has no finish on the back. It’s stamped a factory second. Most important, some previous owner was a heavy, heavy smoker and it was covered in cigarette grime and sludge. I managed to clean it (mostly) and I just fell in love with it.
A few minutes ago, the Trogly’s Guitar Show posted a video to youtube of a 1979 Gibson ES-335 Pro! My guitar! Well, not my guitar but my year, make, and model! Even the same color! Awesome! Trogly’s 335 Pro was a mess too, and all the greater for it!
Say Robert, how about you play some guitar this weekend?
Okay, if you insist, Robert.
This triggered the old Gear Acquisition Syndrome in a major way. Rotary speaker effect is the only tradition guitar effect I don’t have. If this sounds half as good in real life as it does I. This demo then… oh boy is it a good one. Want want want.
This will be the final NaSoAlMo post this year. The project is complete. Success!
I mixed the last two songs yesterday. I also came up with a final running order and took a cover photo with Hipstamatic. I tried putting text onto the photo but the app I normally use was acting buggy and I just gave up. Not a big deal.
Here’s a link to the final playlist on alonetone.
Here’s my not very imaginative cover pic:
Here are links to the songs, in the order they were finished which also happens to be the order they were started.
An “album” called Sevens and it is made up of seven songs in 7/8 time. The lyrics to all seven songs also deal with the same topic. I’m not going to say what but you can probably guess given current events. I guess this means that this is my first concept album.
I guess that concludes our internet music challenge projects for 2024. Up next will be the 2025 RPM Challenge in February. That’s the big one for me.
I just finished mixing the seventh and final song for this year’s National Solo Album Month project. I’m done! Not only that, I am done on the 28th day of the month, just like the February RPM Challenge. I might be hardwired to do album-in-a-month projects in 28 days.
Inside the Red Head's Head 