Old Man Yells at Cloud

Just a collection of thoughts...

Time to Reflect

Listening to the Guitarcaster Podcast recently has been pretty interesting.  I find that they sit in a middle ground between 60 Cycle Hum and the Guitar Nerds; There's enough structure to not get lost in their nonsense, but not so much that it becomes rigid.

Having recently finished their episode about reverb, I found myself thinking about how I approached reverb, which is to say I didn't really think about it, despite owning the Hall of Fame 2.  Turn the knobs to somewhere in the middle, select a preset, and boom, reverb.

What really opened up my thinking was their discussion on hall reverb.  I already knew that this was meant to emulate a concert hall, not a hallway, but what I didn't think about was, having been in many concert halls, what the sound actually did.  Yes, the reverb was BIG, but it wasn't long.  After all, a concert hall isn't some deep dark cave where the reverberation goes on for ever; it's over fairly quickly.

It also isn't particularly bright in my mind, what with chairs, carpets, and squishy humans. So, with this in mind, I set my HOF2 to the hall algorithm, set the level just below noon, the dwell at around 9 o'clock, and the tone just a hair above zero.

Big, but short, reverb. I love it.

This has me wanting to experiment with different types of sounds using this new-to-me paradigm. The great-room in my house has a great sound thanks to hard wood floors, open space, and high ceilings.  I'm eager to try and recreate that sound now that I've put some context to the controls.

Something's Gotta Give

I've got too many overdrives, and seeing as one of the two pedals I'm keen on getting my hands on is another drive (King of Tone), it may be time to move from some of them in order to justify future buys.

The problem is, I can't seem to settle on what I want to get rid of.

The most obvious candidates are the Wampler Plexi Drive Deluxe and the JHS Angry Charlie, but I'm honestly not keen on getting rid of either despite the fact that neither sees much use. I really like the Wampler for it's ability to impart more bass emphasis on the tone, while giving everything a slight push. 

The Angry Charlie is the JCM 800 in a box. Less subtle, but more obvious applications.

Feeling Lucky

There are two items that are on my radar at the moment.  The first, as I've mentioned, is the Analogman King of Tone, because I've received the email telling me I've made it to the front of the line.  I'm holding out for a bit in the interest of being a responsible adult, but a man can only be so strong...

The second item I'm really digging the idea of is the JHS Lucky Cat Delay. I have too many drives, and not enough "character" pedals.  I'd like to use my reverb pedal more often as described above, but I need something that creates ethereal sounds that aren't shimmer reverb... Also, the pedal is pink.

Looks like I just sold the OD-2, so I'm a step closer to ordering the Lucky Cat as part of a Black Friday Sale.  Fingers crossed.

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