GuitArcher

I've been having a really hard time with the thought of selling the Fender Super Champ XD I picked up a few months ago.  Truth is, I rarely use it, and the few times I do, I find myself immediately wondering if the Dr. Z Maz 8 will sound better and, whodathunkit, it does. But the Super Champ does have its qualities - mostly the plug and play nature of the thing - no pedalboards required for delay and verb and drive. With all the buzz around the Katana (which after two years doesn't seem to be going away), I can't help but wonder if THAT would be the amp that better fit the "plug and play" bill. There's something else though - there are very few pieces of gear that I don't regret selling, and somewhere along the line I feel like I'll have to revisit each and every piece that haunts me. Fender Classic Series 60 - $850 Fender Japan is amazing, and this isn't Fender Japan, but it's as close to the Fender Japan ST62-TX as you're li...

Well I'm excited...

I was listening to the Tone Mob podcast the other day, and I was blown away by something their guest for the week, John Snyder of Electronic Audio Experiments , had to say about getting a flat frequency response out of most Fender and Marshall amps. To paraphrase: Set the mids on ten.  Set the bass and treble to zero. GTFO. I had to try this as soon as I got home, thinking that there was no way that the little DSL1-C would sound anything but silly at those settings.  I started on the clean channel, with both the gain at 75%, the volume at max, and the power soak OFF. Son of a... What a great sound! Nothing at all like you'd expect out of a Marshall.  I've always found the clean channel on this thing anemic, and this is probably why. As it to be expected then, it didn't sound as great on the lead channel.  Maxing out the bass and the mids, while leaving the treble at zero, seemed to balance things out better.  With that tiny 8 inch speaker, who needs...

There seem to be a lot of lower wattage tube amp oddballs on the market right now, and Peavey isn't the only maker.  Check this out - A Fender Champ 25 SE.

Just a quick update: Having the Z has made me want to dust of my pedal board and get back into that end of things.  Last night I took some time to clean off the board a reassemble it with the pedals that have largely sat in my cabinet, unloved and unused. First off, I recognize the power bar and the Danelectro 9V adaptor are hardly the "pro-choice" setup, and yes - I'll eventually get around to buying a power supply from Amazon.  Understand that when I put together this board 10+ years ago, cheap power supplies were NOT a thing, so I feel like I should be getting credit for creativity. Secondly, I don't have enough small patch cables to hook everything up.  Amazon can solve this problem too. The board itself may eventually have to go.  No slats means there's only so much I can do to clean up the mess of cables, and while it's functional, seeing all sorts of super clean pedal boards has me envious.  With the right wiring I could easily double the current ...

As promised, I picked up the JHS "Angry Charlie" last night. First, a quick rundown of the transaction. The seller and I agreed to meet at his jam hall, not far from where I used to live.  I showed up slightly early, texted as instructed, and he came down to "let me in". I assumed that the transaction would take place outside.  It did not.  He wanted me to come up to the jam hall.  Being a poorly lit semi-industrial building, I wasn't too keen on following him up to an even more poorly lit section up a rickety set of stairs.  Would this be the place I finally have a really bad Kijiji experience? Thankfully not.  The giveaway was the strong scent of patchouli coming from his jacket.  While not exactly a sure thing, this guy was more likely a flower child than a serial killer. A few twist and turns and I'm led to a well lit room covered in Bob Marley posters (naturally), a drum kit in one corner, a wall of amps along the opposite wa...

...If I had a million dollars...  I'd continue to buy used guitars.  It's just more exciting than new if you ask me.  Scouring Kijiji and having that great piece of gear pop up like a light in the fog. I'd probably look to bigger things first, but once the house and car and family were taken care of, I'd probably spend my days driving around buying cheap gear and writing about it.  Once the guitar room was full, I'd sell them all, and write about that too.  I promise I wouldn't mark anything up... too much? Until that day, window shopping will have to do. Marshall JCM1-C - Swap/Trade I'm not sure that I could be any happier with my DSL1-C.  A perfect little practice amp, it sounds great at just the right volume for late night playing with kids sleeping two floors away.  Better still, with the attenuator off and the amp cooking at a FULL ONE WATT, it's enough to keep up with my daughter's junior drum kit. This version is the JCM 800 ve...

It's been quite awhile since I've done anything guitar related.  It's not that I've stopped playing, it's just that for the first time in forever I'm satisfied with what I have. Well, no, that's not quite right. I'm never satisfied, only appeased for short periods of time (Czechoslovakia only tides you over so long, right?) .  Those periods are usually extended when Kijiji is filled with nothing but $1200 US Stratocasters.  A guitar that a year ago was worth maybe $800 is now worth a cool grand? Seriously? Stranger still, there are some prices that seem to have gone the other way.  SG Standards are regularly appearing for less than a grand, which is great value if you ask me.  Wanna bet this is because of the great pricing confusion Gibson caused with the SGJ? Anyway, I wanted to get back into the mix, so I posted both Les Paul's currently in the collection, just to see what was out there. The most interesting offer has come on the Gibson...

Life gets busy sometimes, and with Christmas right around the corner, it's not likely to get any calmer.  Even so, this can be a great time to keep a sharp eye out for great gear.  Folks need money for gifts, extra cash to augment their Christmas money (mostly the kids), or are desperate to pay off the credit card bills (which is why you should be sharp towards the end of January too, when Christmas bills come due. If it comes off as a bit Grinchy, that's because it probably is.  Still, I'm not sure why the Christmas spirit means I have to care about other people's consumer debt ratio... Line 6 DT25 - $700 $700 for a Line 6 you ask?  Well, clearly you don't know about the DT25.  This is free of the digital bells and whistles, and is one of the products born of the alliance with Bogner.  My personal experience is limited with these, but friends tell me they are absolutely outstanding amps in terms of flexibility and authenticity of sound. This exa...

I’ve been exceptionally happy with the recent LP Studio, which may be a problem - The more guitars in the collection I like, the fewer I have to sell and trade. Nobody said this was a cheap hobby… Marshall JTM-1 -$600 I'm as close to being romantically in love with an s I think is possible with the Marshall DSL-1. This is part of the same limited run, this time being a version of the JTM 45 rather than the JCM 2000. If the DSL-1 is any indication, this would be a fantastic little amp. Sure, $600 may seem like a lot for a practice amp, but good practice amps make you want to play, and isn't that the point? EB Axis Super Sport Rosewood Neck - $1599 I've never owned an Ernie Ball, much less a guitar with a solid rosewood neck, so this one caught my eye. Unfortunately, this brown is a touch uninspiring. George Harrison aside, I've never been sure why "all rosewood" is or should be a thing. The all rosewood neck though is something that interest...

I went to Portugal - specifically the birthplace of Nuno Bettencourt. No, that wasn't why I went, though there was a signed N2 in a glass case at the airline office in the middle of town.  Nobody seemed to care. I also did not take a picture of said guitar, so here is Nuno instead, looking Portuguese-y Doesn't matter though, because this isn't a post about a trip to Portugal.  We're here to talk about guitars and amps dammit, so let's get back in the saddle. An aside: I wonder why "back in the saddle" is a thing.  Something to do with bull riders spending 16 months in traction and finally getting "back in the saddle", only to spend the following 17 months in traction? Guitars though, right.  Focus. Some updates to get us going. The Marshall DS1 I can't believe that in 20 years of playing this is the first Marshall I've owned.  I've grown to love this amp - the more I use it the more I'm finding subtle...

So you wanted to be a rock star? Finding the right piece of gear can be difficult, mostly because of there's a GIANT disconnect between "the sound in your head" and "the sound they're selling you." If you ask me, that's the disconnect that single handedly keeps the guitar industry afloat.  Let's face it - nobody is marketing to rock stars.  They're marketing to a guy who started playing guitar in high school, but eventually grew up and found that he had this super awesome thing called disposable income. In other words, me. You mean I've got more money than I need for food and shelter? Most major companies get this, and it's the obvious motivation behind all those lunch box heads, low wattage tube amps, and low cost " collect them all " vintage reissues.  The kids have to sleep, and daddy wants to rock out.  Most of these items are built to a price, and most leave you disappointed. Then there's this......

The last trade I made was an unqualified, no regrets kind of trade. This one isn't one of those... We talkin' about practice? I've been on the hunt for a super low wattage tube amp for awhile - something that could be cranked in the basement without disturbing the family. Since being rid of the Super Sonic 60 (which is certainly no practice amp), I've been relying on an older Peavey Envoy solid state for late night noodling. Surely, there had to be better options. Bye bye Two Rock Among my ever changing collection of stuff was a Two Rock 1x12 cab that I had no use for - the heads I had used it with were long gone, so it pretty much sat in the corner collecting dust. Looked damn fine doing it, but still. I posted the Two Rock cab up on Kijiji looking for a trade, but wasn't finding much luck. I had a few cash offers for $450, but nothing that I was willing to accept. Trades are harder to find, but you tend to get better value if you're patient. ...