two new pedals built

with two different outcomes! one is a really good fuzz, with the gain tied to the volume level. the other is a nasty fuzz that is almost unusable, but the insanity is wonderful!! why is this all? because i am going to spend this weekend trying to figure out how to get some sound clips online. this endless wording needs to have something to go with it!

30 days later

for the past month i have been spending less time online. i made the decision to try to be as analog as possible. as a result, the progress on the studio has been amazing to me. i will admit that my own amazement is probably enhanced more than any other persons would be. this is pretty typical for things i do. no matter the endeavor, others are rarely as impressed as i am at my own accomplishments, but more on this later.

so i have this little studio filled with seemingly random components that i know very well and for some odd reason that matters to me. i have three tube preamps that are pretty inexpensive. i picked the "ART Tube MP Studio" because it was cheap. no problem admitting this at all! however, what i discovered was that they really added a weak tube sound to the signal path. upon opening the unit up i realized that all i needed to do was put a quality tube in the preamp. seriously, this thing produces a really great sound, once you put a good tube into it.

i will admit at this point i am not the worlds greatest tube/tone snob. i chose a "ruby tube" based off the description as a lower gain with robust tone. what i can tell you after playing with the tube is that it is amazing for clear tones. i would highly recommend this in a chain where you need to amplify and keep the sound clean & clear. that being said, it's hard to see this being a great tube in a set where you want to get a ton of gain, say in a particular amp. this matters to me because i use the tubes in a signal chain where clarity is key.

in the case of an amplifier, the electro-harmonix offering 12ax7eh it is so creamy smooth! the problem is that it breaks up pretty early on, which is ideal when you are talking about making an amp scream with tone. however, in a mic preamp i do not like it. i have tried to use it to my own advantage, but i just don' feel like it really works for mics. however in an amp the tube is amazing. i use it with a combination of a JJ power tube, maybe its a re-boxed Tesla, whatever. i can tell you that i am a fan of the combination of an electro-harmonix (12ax7) and JJ/Tesla/Ruby Tube (EL84) in a low watt amp, in this case 5 watt amps.

i have fallen in love with low watt amps. somewhere along the way i began to realize that low watt amps offer everything that i look for in sound and tone. i can change out a couple of tubes, maybe a speaker, and get amazing results. i have recently started measuring these changes, which is how i discovered the huge difference in the EH and the Ruby tube, in both amp and mic pre. so yeah, a lot of amazing discoveries in the last 30 days.

any results posted? yeah, maybe i should get out of my analog lifestyle and post some digital results. until then i will just babble as if i know what i am talking about

what a year, so far

not a whole lot to report since the last post. only new studio space and the arrival of the digital recorder soon. i opted for the Fostex MR16HD as my work station. i actually ended up trading in a 2002 Telecaster, that was a 60's reissue, for the unit. I was really happy because it turns out that i am not a Telecaster person.

i have opted to go the route of a stand alone recorder simply so i can focus on recording. i am simply not satisfied with any of the DAW's out there, GarageBand included. this is just my opinion. i do not want an interface that only allows me two inputs and i refuse to spend $500 for 4 inputs. i just don't like the recording process when a computer is involved. maybe i am biased because i work on the silly things all day, every day of the week. i just want to streamline the process and focus on capturing the sound. i don't think that's really too much to ask. after several months of exploring my options a stand alone unit seemed like the very best option.

at any rate i have been meaning to get sound clips of various things put on the web site for some time and it ends up failing. this is really because it is just very cumbersome for me. while i have recorded several things none of them have really made it beyond initial chord progression. there is just a lot to this process i am discovering. that is really the reason i am looking to isolate the recording process from my computer. i use it to create drum tracks. i use my computer to mix and master. i just don't like it to capture audio on it! go figure.

digital recording workstation

the funny thing about technology is how easy it is to get lost in marketing terms. i have been researching digital recording stations for months now and they really come down to a handful of things. at least that's what i am reducing them to. i am looking to purchase the Fostex MR-8HD for my home studio.

my current setup uses a 12 channel mixer, with 4 XLR inputs (phantom powered), that i connect to my Mac with a 2-to-1 rca cable. i am using the "tape out" to bus it to the laptop. all my mics are mixed into a single stereo track in my software. this setup is great for me to record in GarageBand with, but i still have the one track at a time issue. and while i really enjoy the simplicity of recording in GarageBand i am getting to the point where i want to work with multi-tracking. i have no problem admitting there is no real reason, other than my own interest in my recording hobby, for doing this.

my main studio in the house is fine for 95% of my recording needs. with the studio i am building in the back yard i will be able to take care of just about everything. but there is still that wonderful little hallway in the middle of my house. so all of these reasons are why i am going for a hybrid solution.

this is where it gets a little crazy. you can easily get lost in the recording station options. while i am going for a portable option you can get into a total computer based solution. the first issue i have here is that you have to look at the quality of the sound card. sound card cost alone is why i am going for a standalone unit. i can't justify spending the bucks to get multiple inputs for the computer before you take into account the software to handle everything. i also want to portability and i don't care to move my laptop around with the mic's, cables and mic stands.

granted i will still be moving the recording station, mic's, cables, and stands. for me that doesn't seem like too bad an option with batteries running everything. while i don't plan to move around all that much, i do want to record a couple tracks in a space that sounds really good. my house has a really neat little hallway with good acoustics. however it's in the middle of the house and the kids won't give me a lot of time. so the ability to take a recording station there with a mic or two is really ideal for me.

big week and a little amp

while my original idea was to launch into a few posts more about studying music i am going to talk about gear again. i admit that i love gear! i am not in search of the perfect tone so much as i just love having gear that makes all kinds of noise. granted if i were having to choose a single piece of gear it would be my acoustic guitar that my father gave me, but more on that later.

a few weeks, perhaps months, ago i went into one of the local music stores to buy some part. i saw an epiphone valve junior head and cab for sale for $200. while i try hard to to appear too interested in gear that i want while in the store this little gem had really peaked my interest. i was not able to buy the amp, out it stayed in my mind. i had been wanting this amp for some time but just couldn't bring myself to purchase another amp.

being a father of two limits when i can spend money on toys. around this time of the year my household is non-stop spending: start of school, daughters birthday, wife's birthday, son's birthday, and then christmas. good lord willing this year won't be too bad for the medical bills.

fortunately we saved money all year and were able to get most of the shopping done. that's right the christmas present shopping is done in my house. so the adults decided to split the remaining cash for our christmas presents to each other. i love this about my wife. we both accept that we are not that good at buying for each other and instead appreciate the giving of the gift!

so last week i went back to the same music store to buy a guitar hanger, to mount on the wall, and a potentiometer to fix a guitar pedal. the amp was still for sale, but it had been marked down to $150. i was so tempted to buy it but i passed. after debating all weekend i decided to bite the bullet and buy it today. really i have to give the credit to my wife for encouraging me to get the amp.

overall the amp is in really good condition. i will be swapping out the tubes at some point and doing some mod work this weekend. and i plan to do some sound bites. geesh, i plan to do sound bites of everything!

i hope to finish off the bluesbreaker clone pedal this week too! big week for little jobs!

where to go from here

while a good bit of the writings thus far have been about things that i "will do someday" and such. i wanted to take up some space to write about what i have done. for the last year or so i have been making more and more of an effort to be intentional about learning the guitar. while i feel like i have learned a lot more with in that time frame, i don't feel like i have really practiced as much as i "could have."

a few weeks ago i pondered the idea of taking some guitar lessons to help me branch out more in my playing. i want to get beyond the learning a song or a lick approach and get into knowing the why's and where's about music. i don't know any of the terms to talk the talk about music, but i am learning.

pedals completed!

for some time now i have been meaning to post YouTube videos of sound clips for the pedals i have made. as well as the amp mods i have done. these are not really complicated, but they have made a world of difference in the tone of my setup. i searched and searched for sound clips to get a better idea of what i was getting out of what i was getting into!

at any rate last night i finished an orange squeeze clone project i have been working on for a while now. when i first built it there was a strange "pop" when i engaged the pedal. really annoying, to say the least. i compared the true bypass wiring to that of another pedal and decided to wire the ground circuit differently on the orange squeeze. once i matched the wiring on the pedal that worked properly everything was fine. expect that the LED no longer came on when i turned the pedal on.

i thought i screwed something up, but it turned out all i did was break the LED post. so for weeks i let the pedal sit because i was too lazy to get another LED from Radio Shack. so, yesterday i selected a yellow LED, mainly because there was no orange one, and finished the project last night. i still need to set the trim pot to the right amount of compression and put the bottom on it.

what i really like about this kit, which you can get from General Guitar Gadgets, is how mild the compression is. this isn't an over the top, tone changing pedal, but a simple bit of "salt & pepper to season" type of pedal. I currently have it set to 12 o'clock for the compression and it really sounds pretty darn good, but i think just a little bit more is where i will end up setting it.

over all it, it tightens up the tone quite nicely. some day i will get around to sound clips of this thing!