GuitArcher

Lots of folks are worried that buying something on the used market means risking that you're getting a less than perfectly functioning pedal.  It's happened to me a few times over more than a decade, but not nearly as often as the nay-sayers would have you believe.   So of course, when I go ahead and order the JHS Lucky Cat from Cosmo Music here in Ontario, I end up with a pedal that is DOA ( dead on arrival) .

The most powerful kind of advertising is most definitely the kind that doesn't seem like advertising... Case in point: That Pedal Show. I'm a huge fan of Dan and Mick, and I have a hard time not watching their videos as soon as they are posted. They manage to walk that fine line of being laid back and affable while being structured and informative in their presentation. What I didn't realize was how much impact they were having on my GAS ( gear acquisition syndrome).  I mostly thought it was limited to focusing more on pedals generally, but my recent acquisition and love of the Blues Driver had me thinking about how my drive section was basically Dan's choice in the $300 pedal board challenge. It doesn't stop there though. I bought an Ibanez JEM Jr. awhile ago, having decided that I wanted to have a guitar that was a little more 80s, with a locking tremolo and a crazy color.  I was looking at Jacksons and Charvels initially, but when the Yellow Jem Jr. p...

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 eve...

A collection of the things that have caught my eye in the past week, though I've noticed that, in a couple of cases it isn't for the best reasons... Gibson LPJ - $750 $700 I don't even know where to start, except I do.  The owner claims this to have "the same guts as a standard."  No. It. Doesn't. Aside from the seller claiming something that is so obviously untrue that he or she should be taken out back and beaten with their own guitar, the price on this is absolutely insane.  In my mind, this is just shy of Les Paul Studio money on a typical day, and would land you a Studio if the right stars aligned. Shame too, because of all the colors offered in the first year of the LPJ (the EMG like pickup covers give it away), the white was by far the best looking. Update: Seller has removed mention of guts and lowered price.  Huh. Replica Fender Stratocaster with Floyd Rose - $350 Look, it's bad enough that you're trying to sell a...

It seems to me that JHS pedals are THE boutique pedal builder right now, and while I can't say for certain that is completely deserved, I will say that I'm really happy with the Angry Charlie. I got lucky and picked one up, used, locally (#47 of V3) for a decent price, but buying one new would have run closer to $300 than $200 (taxes in of course).  That's a lot of money for a drive pedal, and while I'm really happy with it, I can't help but wonder... Enter the recently acquired Metal Zone. I intended to run a comparison and include the Zoom Hyper Lead for a laugh, but and evening of playing with my Les Paul Studio had me experimenting with the two pedals.  Could a pedal that everyone online seems to hate, and that cost me $30, compete with a pedal that is the toast of the online world and cost $180? First off, I tried to EQ the Metal Zone as close to the sound of the Angry Charlie as possible. Messing with the Charlie's settings after that to get close...

I was recently watching That Pedal Show's video with Joey Landreth , and the minute I saw his Suhr, I knew it was time to drop that new pick guard into my Blacktop Stratocaster. The tortoise shell pick guard I bought was for the purposes of finding a home for my EMG 81 and SA (no middle), so the tones are obviously going to be VERY different.  This could be a lot of fun though in combination with the Metal Zone I recently bought.  EMG pickups and a Boss Metal Zone? So. Much. Suck? I'm actually kind of interested in debunking this concept.  Just a few minutes with the Metal Zone led me to the conclusion that it isn't THAT bad.  What if I built two similar rigs from very different pieces and A/B'd them. The first rig would be the Eric Johnson Maple Stratocaster, which has a Tone Zone S in the bridge, into a Fulldrive 2, an Angry Charlie, a Quickdraw delay, and finally int the Dr. Z Maz 8. The second would be the Blacktop Stratocaster, with EMGs, into a ...

Someday, when my oldest daughter asks me what the first song was we ever played together, I'll get to tell her it was "Another Brink in the Wall, Part 2." I think we could have done a lot worse. Truth be told, the first song she ever sang along to while I played was "Let it Go", from Disney's Frozen, because of course it was.  That doesn't count though.  She was just singing.  This time, she was actually playing drums... Kind of.  She was hitting various drums and cymbals to the rhythm, so in my book that counts. Seriously though, everyone should go out and buy a TC Electronics Ditto.  For such a low price, you can have a creative tool that allows for jamming all by yourself as well as layering opportunities that might arise when you've got a 5 year old eager to become a rock star. Why so Angry? Years and years and years ago, I remember going into the local music store and asking my favorite guy for a recommendation.  It was probably one tha...

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...

Sometimes, the best triggers are the ones you don't pull. In my last post, I talked about setting my sights on a new amp - something a bit bigger and more suited for my new space.  Also GAS, because always GAS. Not long after I posted, another amp came up that caught my attention - A Mesa/Boogie Subway Blues Combo.  A 20 watt, single channel, 1x10 combo, it seemed the perfect fit for my desires. Plus it matches the living room decor! The catch? Price.  Always the damn price of things. The seller had listed for $790, which in my mind was a bit high.  Sure, the amp is in good condition, and yes, it is out of production, but when compared to what else was available*, this seemed a bit much. *Not far from this posting, both on the page and on the earth, was a first generation Fender Hot Rod Deluxe in decent, if overly sticker-ed, condition with a brand new MIM Telecaster for $650. Tolex can be replaced, right? Despite all of this, in a moment of weakne...