Music Appreciation Friday (er, um, Saturday) 9.11.09

The money is DEFINITELY at 1:10.

The more things change...

... the more they stay the same.

So for the past couple of weeks I've been reading through old Guitar mags at bedtime. Puts me right to sleep. Anyway, the period of these periodicals was between 1992 - 1997. Really not that long ago if you think about it.

Guitar For The Pratcing Musician (GFTPM) was still in publication. The "Seattle" sound was everywhere (remember when the Grunge pedal was introduced?) And about the only digital stompboxes were either delays, or the products Zoom made. Rackmount digital effects were still somewhat popular, but new floor mounted products had much more steam a la Digitech RP-1, RP6. DIY was non-existent (or more properly, underground.)

I kept catching myself glancing at ads to see their website address. Not there. You were lucky if there was a phone or (ugh) fax number. Usually just a mailing address. Countless bands and products are now non-existent. Billy Sheehan had ads in GUITAR mags all over the place. My latest issue of Guitar World with the Van Halen Von Trapp's on the cover has a full page ad for better sex secrets and Honda Elements all over. Give me back Billy Sheehan! Please!

What struck me the most (other than the lack of web addresses) was that the ones that were "classics" then are still today, but not in a relic sort of way. I'm talking about the staying power of good products: GOOD stompboxes that were made then, while undergoing a revision or two, are still available today and are just as flexible as ever. A good tube driven amp that was almost shunned by ads then is still a much better product today, and finally no one debates it anymore (validly, at least.)

So I'll leave you with this: The ad that caught my attention most was the Line6 AxSys 2x12 amp. All Digital. All crap. None of us miss it, but they almost had a lot of us convinced for a moment that this was the way we were destined to go. Nowadays Line6 teamed up with Bogner, and if you've heard that piece of crap amp at your local Guitar Center, you will rest soundly knowing it was just as bad 15 years ago as it is today. Poor Reinhold...

Keep building these great effects here! DIY is where it will always be at for the best in guitar sound. Keep the faith my brothers (and sister)

***This post is a re-post I wrote March 18 2008 on diystompboxes.com's forum. I really like it when I go back and read something I stated, and don't feel like I need to change a word of it.

Music Appreciation Friday 8.5.09

Okay, I'm a day late, but I have an excuse. I was traveling. I'm on vacation. Sue me! Have a great Labor Day weekend, wherever in the world you are!

I sure like me some Mike King!

...And the one that I had to get back!

Laugh all you want. The Zoom 508 Delay was/is a KILLER delay pedal. Is it the best delay pedal ever? Nah, but it goes far above the "honorable mention" category. I think I bought this little guy about 1996. I could be off there, but I know I was dating my wife when I got this pedal. That's not important. What IS important is that you know what kind of feature-rich pedal this is. (Note: I'm using a pedal made in the 90's, so I have to say 90's buzz words like "feature-rich".)




So's I hads this guy forevers, then I started accumulating other delay pedals and it just got silly. I think I had 4 or 5 when I saw Christmas coming one year and said, "Yeah, this one's destined for ebay." So I sold it. I think I listed it for $48.00 and didn't even expect a nibble. It was gone in 2 minutes flat! Oh well, more money for the Christmas fund.

Anyhow, soon I started missing this thing. It weighed, I dunno, like 9 ounces? And surely since it was an "entry level" Zoom pedal it couldn't have been that good right? And it would "hiccup" once in a while and I'd have to take it apart and reset the SIMMs. And it did have just that limited silly red LCD display. Yeah, I wouldn't miss that thing...

OH MAN was I mad at myself. I told myself I would have it back someday. Here's what I missed so much about it:

-One of the BEST tuners I've ever used.
-Excellent external tap tempo. (Via FS-5U or my homemade one)
-Fantastic sound-on-sound delays, which were wonderful for layering droning chords.
-Bankable patches. (Yes, even I need those sometimes.)
-Excellent buffers/no tone coloration.
-Lots of hidden features like master volume, sample/hold (4 seconds!!!,) reverb-like delay, tone rolloff,

In fact to this day, I still haven't seen a pedal do what it does in that price range ($99 new) with a footprint that small with a built in tuner. About the only thing it lacks is modulation & reverse. And since I never cared much for either of the two, it did a great "analog emulation" by taking the tone control way down.

And for "punching buttons" to program it, it was surprisingly simple and all of the buttons hold up well.

I've had 3 of these now. I just sold another, again needing some cash. I didn't need two really. I don't think I'll ever get rid of this one though. It's on my pedalboard now and will probably stay there for some time. I've had the DD-3, DD-20, DL4 & others, but I keep coming back to this one for it's simplicity & small footprint. A real gem. If you can grab one, GET IT! They're a collectors item in the UK. Enjoy! :)

http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1622&brandID=4

Music Appreciation Friday 8.28.09

Each Memorial Day weekend in Kansas City, there's an incredible free event on the front doors of Union Station that is a patriotic tribute to our great country called Celebration At the Station. It's great in and of itself, but in 2009 we had the added benefit of a killer bluegrass band playing with our great Kansas City Symphony.

At heart, I'm still very much a purist when it comes to acoustic music. I don't care much for an acoustic instrument that sounds like anything but an acoustic instrument. I want to hear WOOD, not chorus.

The guys below show how well an acoustic band can stand on it own bluegrass feet. CherryHolmes is a knockout family. I'll let the video speak for itself. Promise yourself to at least let things kick in @ 3:37. ;) These guys are TIGHT!

Edit: Revised for grammatical errors & generally non-sensical paragraph phrasing on 8.30.09

Summoning the guitar gods.

Behold it has already begun!

The one that got away?

Ok I can't believe I'm writing this, but every so often I get a longing for my first REAL gear purchase. Well... it was real to me.

At the time, the Digitech RP-1 boasted what no other unit had: Full programability on the floor with bankable patching & useful effects. Other Digitech units and companies like ART (and who can leave out Eventide!) had amazing units available, but they were rackmounted and you had to drive your unit with a foot controller that was wired. And hopefully it was wired with MIDI and not some proprietary cable, because back then they only gave you about a 10' cable typically.



Sure it had it's drawbacks from the beginning, but it was still ahead of it's time, and in my opinion is still the best of all the RP series. What are they up to now, like the 500 or something stupid like that?

Now usually, I don't ever utter the word "Digitech" unless it's in the same sentence as "dynamite" or "premature death." But this is an honorable mention. Let the record show, I am no fan of their products.

The pros were that it was VERY rugged, with some of the best footswitches I've ever used. Usually Digitech/DOD blows it here, but for once they got it right. Also it had some of the most amazing reverbs I've ever heard to this day. Yeah, they were digital, but come on it was like '94 when I got this thing. Distortions & ODs were awful, but luckily the box worked very well in my amps effects loop. It had In & Out level controls mounted on the top panel. It could be used as a MIDI controller. It required a NORMAL POWER PLUG! <---That was a big deal at the time.

The cons were that the switching wasn't seamless (again, it was 1994) and you could forget something like unity gain when kicking the distortion on and off. You had to switch between preset patches of your liking if you wanted a "Clean sound/Dirty sound." Oh and it got hot. Very, very hot. :)

The delays were great, and all the 80's/90's hair metal crap was great too: flanging, modulations, digital reverbs, and a very cool reverse function.

The nostalgic part of me wants one again. Dunno why. Might be great for acoustic gigs (seriously!) But part of it was that I paid $425 for it way back then. I guess the units nowadays have more to offer, but the DSP engines they slap in those 6 ounce units just don't deliver. Oh well, maybe someday I'll pick one up. It was fun to walk down memory lane with it a little...