Non-week

T'was the blahs during the holiday non-week
Where many are off to be lazy & stay off of their feet
We find ourselves munching & snacking on the many treats
And we drink up some coffee whilst sitting on our seats
Taking a nap here & having a yawn over there; ahh those moments of sleep
And occasionally turnin on the metronome & doing a guitar whatever to the beat
The boys play & do stuff together with all their things that go beep & bleep
Many thoughts pass by which stem from the the mysteries of the grey matter deep
Oh look at that them over there, those silly dishes piled up in a heap
I'll get to them whenever, when there's a greater need
It's definitely nice to not have to tend to a yard & pull any weeds
However, a good dose of the blahs & boredom set in as I exist & be
Don't want to ride up nor climb anything that is steep
Don't wanna go 4 wheelin' for I do not have access to a jeep
Don't wanna get in the saddle & ride upon a great steed
Don't wanna pick up a book & give it a read
Not quite sure what to do with the time I have that is free (1)
There's myriads of house things one could do but those aren't motivating deeds
And I could venture out with the littles & journey to the parks & along the streets
In the blahs & the rest I find that I don't have much adventurous energy
And I seem content to just be with the boys & watch their video games & movies on the t.v.
I guess it's the one week of the year I get to sit & drool & be a lazy dweeb
So have a good now, day, & new year, & may the harvest in 2007 be rich for you...indeed

(1) Sort of free as being with tornado boys does take oophum.

T'was...

T'was the night of the day of Christmas & all through the house
Mamma, the head Claus, snoring & boyzages watchin' a wind down movie on the couch
Too much food in our bellies & the food continues to tempt & call out
Yet another successful holiday journey for the family with no grumpies & not one downer grouch
I think upon the many years such traditions our parents have upheld
And all those "I won't eat for a week" statements as the elders loosened their belts
I'm thankful that all of our kin are healthy & appear to be doing fair to well
My thoughts, however, quickly turn upon troops in hot zones & battling what seems to be hell
May they all be protected & safe from all the bombings & may the source of all such darkness sit in prison cells
Why I'm sitting here rambling instead of just staring at the drool tube I just don't know
But I bid you a merry happy peaceful night for I must vegitate & with the boys & watch "The Barnyard" show
So yes it is time that I stop writing & it is the time that I must go
Knock knock he says to ya'all
"Who's there?" ya'all say back to me
I say "Ho ho"
And all say....well come on then humor me...."Ho ho Who?"
No it's Ho ho ho
And he tries again by saying Knock knock
"Who's there?" yer required to say to me
I say "Who who"
And all say.......And all say......"Who who who?"
Again he replies, ya just don't get it, it's Ho ho ho
Well right then ok uhm whew...

iHoliday Parodies

(To the tune of let it snow)
Oh the traffic outside is frightful
The people in the stores are so happy & delightful
Let us shop, let us shop, let us shop

(Tune of Jingle Bells)
1) Dashing through the stores
On their tired & weary legs
Gotta buy & buy some more
What am I gonna get aunt Peg?
Registers go beeeeeeep
Many lacking sleep
They look so darn happy
While they're grinding teeth
Oh...

2) Gotta shop
Gotta shop
Gotta get something for pop
What am I
Going to find
For me dear ol' ma

3) Am I done with my list?
Have I checked it over thrice?
Have the kids been naughty?
Or have they really been nice?
It's that special time
Where parents are tired & fried
Gotta wrap & wrap all the stuff
So the gifts'll be piled high
Oh...

4) Can I sleep?
Can I sleep?
Cocktail genie send a drink
I'm going nuts
I'm about to freak
Please someone send a shrink

iHeads up...

T'was the today of the present now
Had to get a work something done on a company day off...ow
Then he spent some time in quiet restin' on the couch
Me turned on the tele & watched the Shuttle landing...it was a bit of wow
For the news showed the pilot's heads up display & the little target box bouncin' around
I felt like I was watching a video game & the computer path was flown perfect & how
T'is always a good feeling to see the flying brick make it's landing touchdown
I've always marvelled at the Shuttle & the infinite complexities of a mission up & then back to the ground
Welp I continue on in this night in my holiday journey of rest & becomming unwound

It was very interesting to watch this little computer controlled flight path box move around the heads up display & the pilot just navigated by making sure his little round indicator was in the flight path box. I didn't even know they had a heads up thing in the Shuttle. Welp now I know. And I'm sure it's a nerve wrenching flight path to navigate. I think I tuned in when it was going about 1700 mph & 60 something miles out.

T'was the now...

T'was the now before the moments forth coming
As he continues his journey in his becomming
Shocked out of sleep with his alarm clock blaring & rumbling
"I don't wanna" he says to himself whilst grumbling
For the covers were nice, warm, & comfy
And outside the temperatures are plummeting
That first blast of morning air can be quite numbing
Teeth chattering in the pattern of random drumming
Come on car get hot so the heater can do its pumping
The refreshing thaw begins as he continues on in his daily something
So yeah, right then, ok, this is yet another whatever kind of rambling
And it's just basically a bunch of silliness & some babbling
So that now it for is in this uhm...thing

iSniffles & Coughffles

T'was the third weekday in a row & all through the house
He's stayed home to care for various sickly ones who aren't so full of bounce
Sniffles & coughffles & little drummer boy ear infections did so pounce
Thankful for the rest but boredom sets in easily & the blahs weigh upon him, more than an ounce
Oh he could tend to the myriads of chores that are just too many to count
Or he could play a rousing round of Diner Dash & earn more points & increase the amount
Then there's the various saved slots on XBox Snowboarding & the many ways to wipe out
There definitely isn't anything worth watching on the tele whilst drooling on the couch
He picks up a guitar & plays a tune or a few then and sometimes now
He has to be careful though to not let himself turn into any kind of grumpy grouch
'Tis better to be at home than sitting idle at work twumb thiddling & doing the internet browse
The Emmitt cat stares at him & tells him all about things with his meow
What is it fuzzy & furry child? No you cannot go outside & tour your favorite places all about
So on coffee, on laundry, on various things that need to be done, he says with a brief shout
Welp that now it for is from this simple this me unto thou & I won't stop & take a bow

iDunno Mojo

T'was the now after a moment ago
Isn't that weird & whoa?
How'd that happen? I just don't know
Maybe it was something in my cup o' joe
It's crazy silly strange like Larry, Curly, & Mo
Maybe I need to find some kind of new mojo
I don't have happy feet nor do I have a happy toe
Just hangin' here & goin' with the boredom flow
It's almost that time of year for ho ho ho
Where upon the children new gifts are bestowed
For some it's a great season for others they get down & low
And many live in the cold areas where it is zero or below
Too cold for my bones so to being there I say no
Unless I'm up on a mountain skiing down it really slow
Where falling down is a requirement...Doh!
It's fun to once in a while visit the snow
Welp each moment comes & wow ma'an there they goes
Always remember you can't pick your friend's nose
This ramble & drivel says nothing much & is not much of a show
So I conclude with a moment, there it went, of the status quo
By giving ya a "Shout out," "Word Up," "Forshizzle," & a yo yo yo!
Uhm...Ok....right....what's all this then? I dunno

iRainy Workaday

I'm in twumb thiddling mode at work so yes I do have time on my hands...

T'was an hour before work & all through the house
All had left except for him & from under the covers he didn't want to come out
For it was cold & raining outside & he didn't want to travel across the towns
But alas the journey had to begin & he made his feet hit the ground
On shower, on toothbrush, on clothing & on cell phone he did shout
For he knew that this was what the workaday world was all about
He dashed down the stairs & the caravan sleigh he did mount
He whipped out the keys & the sleigh roared to life with it's typical starting sounds
With a wink of an eye & a nod of his head he departed as the rain didst pound
Unto the freeway he travelled hoping that no traffic or accidents would be found
Travel was swift for a moment or few but as usual at 41st traffic slowed down
What is it this time people? Did ya see a bird fly by or something like that ya clowns?
Or is it that you have to look at the roadwork without workers & the tractors that surround?
Hey all you, it's just pilings & rebar for stinking crying out loud
And the rain has sure made quite the mess of the dirt which is now mud brown
He endures the slow travel through the wind & rain & he does not frown
Free at last he declares as he turns upon Highway 1 & is amazed & feels a bit proud
With no traffic or trucks in his way he makes good speed & it's like ma'an wow
As his journey nears the end unto the place of workadayness the Beach Boys song comes to mind
"I Get Around"
On Coffee, On Keyboard, On Headphones, On rocking Christmas tunes, it's time to work now
But his thoughts are really upon the couch under a blanket with a purring Emmitt meow

iHolidaze

T'was two weeks before Christmas and all through the house
There were boxes & decorations all over & some wires to be unwound
T'was raining outside & amidst the walls the 3 children did bounce
Mom sick in bed with a bad cold & dad just wanting to crash on the couch
Comic relief is always needed so dad doesn't become a grinchy grouch
Then throw in an occasional round of SSX Snowboarding where video boarders go boom & OUCH!
Dad often checks the net of inter sites for the hot item gift that is nowhere to be found
No big deal he says whilst his fingers upon the keyboard continue to pound
He moves onward to look at the adult gizmoids & gadgetoids as he dost browse
Boys bickering & gettin' agro with each other is such a pleasant holiday sound
Oh come now children 'tis the season to be loving & giving & won't you please just calm down
I didn't know that the wild & crazy boy circus was now in town
Must you pounce upon your brother as he tries to get up from the ground?
Hmm, it seems that you have forgotten you're all inside, could you not be so loud?
Too bad I can't make 'em go outside & shovel snow & be human plows
They's just was doing what high energy boys do & the mom & dad are thankful & proud
T'was just a holiday season Sunday inside whilst the needed rain fell from the clouds
Now this big ol' elf sits in silence at work sluffing off the weekend tornados for recovery is allowed
And I'm thankful that I'm not at a center of shopping amidst the shopping crowd
T'was two weeks before Christmas & the Holidaze is in my brain bouncing all around (1)
Oh look a purple reindeer over there, like ma'an that's really far out wow

(1) Play on words from lyrics from Twisted Christmas tune Holidaze done to the music of Purple Haze

iPuffles

I don't have a puffle? Should I have one?
I don't have a purple save badge. Should I feel bad?
I don't have any coins or points to get such things. I feel poor.
I don't have others throughout the world on my buddy list to play with or compete against.
I'm not a penguin on the kid's site Club Penguin where you play these games to earn coins/points & acquire things like a pet called a puffle.

So I'm not a penguin therefore I am not cold & I do not stand still for days on end in the freezing torment of winter, nor do I walk 70+ miles one way for a meal for my family.

Until later comes turn it up to puffle.

iParallel ramble...

In a parallel but unreal life I would get up each morning & head to the shop of Torress Engineering in San Mateo & enter the realm of hand wiring the prebuilt amplifiers for customers. But for now I don't exist in the non-existent parallel life & I have children to educate & feed & provide for. I'll enjoy removing & replacing components on my SD-1 pedal. 'Tis nice to hear PAF Pro & Fred in action at last.

Welp it's cold now & need to get bundled up & consider snoozing.

Until later comes turn it up to parallel.

iZilchizzo

He sits in his chair watching the shadow of the building of the late afternoon sun rising up the trees outside his window. The night's chill will be upon him surely in the near future past now. The trees are quite still & so to is his workaday world for the moment. For one project completed last week & at the moment in these last few days before now there has been a possible project lurking but the waiting on the possible client continues. He is content with the silence but the boredom begins to get old. He ponders that he could be at home tending to many possible tasks or just rotting away on the couch playing Football or something on XBox. His energies were focussed greatly on the pickup & amp repair projects. Those now complete he tries to adjust & balance thoughts of house tasks with thoughts of either tedious scale ascents & decents, known song practice, & continuing the learning & practicing of the Johnny B Goode intro. He also ponders the two pedal mods to be done in house rather than through Glop's surgical services. Although it was a pain to levitate the crate board out of it's cradle it was enjoyable to conquer the problem of bad solderdom. He pondered this day that if that joint was bad, how many others on that board might be candidates for going bad. He chooses to perish the thought for now as long as the amp behaves well....(brief conversation about status)...Am back. He looks forward to taking the next 2 days off to possibly have more to do on Monday. Zzzzzzzz.......zzzzzzzZZZZZZ......zzzzzzzz.

Until later comes turn it up to something to do.

iDragon has been slain...

Avast ye dragon come forth & face your doom!

Who dares to enter my domain where I rule with fierce & swift injustice upon all who violate my will!

I sir John of Purple Soundage come forth unto thee to thwart thee dragon for the time of your reign has ended. The people shall be set free from your greed & rule of slavery!

Thou, a mere small meal of a mortal hast come forth to defend the pathetic peoplez I rule? What foolish folly have thee to think thou hast the strength & power to defeat me, Dragon of Crate! I will enjoy your failure in this encounter!

Show yourself dragon of Crate & prepare to be slain by my sword & shield. My sword is made of driver of screwiness & combined with the strength of nose of needles & lastly if I strike thee, thine flesh shall be burned harshly without pity for the iron of solder has been forged from the finest powers & metal found in the land of Shack of Radio.

Dost thou forget I’m a dragon & I have an impenetrable shield of scales? What else have ye to say before I send forth the raging inferno of mine breath upon thine miniscule pathetic being that thou be?

If thou claims to be powerful without defeat then demonstrate that unto me & prove that wrong am I!

With pleasure!

The battlefield is now prepared. Sir John takes up his weapon to stand his ground against the vile Dragon of Crate. Determined to defeat this enemy he prepares to strike at first site of Crate. His first strike is swift upon Crate. Out comes Crate’s long scaly fierce head & he is poised to strike back with the raging inferno of hate within him. Sir John reacts swiftly, without thought to escape the blaze that is about to ensue. Crate unleashes the volcano & the roar of the blast is intolerable. Crate looks where his target was & realizes that his first attempt has failed. Sir John knows that Crate cannot send forth another attack for a few moments. He strikes swiftly at Crate & almost strikes him across his horrid gaze. The blow knocks Crate back & he cannot fathom the strength of the blows of this simple mortal. The blow is so powerful that the strength of the nose of needles loosens the front plates of Crate. Sir John dashes swiftly out of the rugged rocks unto a large & completely unprotected flat area. His doom seems to be guaranteed with such a foolish move. Crate recovers from the blow & sets his glaring eyes upon his target out in the open. The battle continues on. After much toil & exchange of blows, Sir John finally strikes a harsh blow that penetrates & removes one of Crate’s smaller scales. Crate becomes dazed as John exposes the raw flesh. He now has a precise target he must strike soon or face his doom. Crate’s rage continues to build & he fails to notice the damage upon his being. Sir John dashes all about Crate who seems to be tiring as he’s never faced such a swift opponent before. Sir John forgets all else & places his entire mojo upon Crate’s one weak spot. Sir John knows that he will have only one chance to strike & hence achieve victory. His timing must be perfect or he will die. Crate has Sir John trapped in a corner & is preparing yet another blast of torture upon his pray. Just as Crate is about to unleash the fury Sir John charges forth with sword extended with his being calling upon the powers that be in his sword to activate the iron of solder. It’s been a long a grueling battle up to this point. The first to strike a blow will win this battle. Crate adjusts his line of fire as Sir John charges. Just as the explosive power of Crate’s deadly breath rages forth towards him Sir John Leaps forward with all is might with sword extended. The sword strikes the exposed flesh & Crate falls in defeat.

Sir John was the needed instrumental input to make way for the new fair & just leadership which has been bestowed upon the suffering who are no longer bound to the dark power of Crate. Sir John approaches the lifeless pile of rank stink & declares victory & proclaims in the name of Purple Soundage that today the lifeless & suffering will no longer be in suffering nor will they be lifeless. For Sir John’s quest was successful in taming the lifeless dragon whose every muscle, nerve, & joint was broken. Crate the Dragon’s dark reign will never be again. Sir John steps forth from the cavity where the dead one now dwells. He returns to his suffering people to help rebuild & reassemble the pieces of those he selflessly has vowed to defend. In Sir John’s honor the people have created 4 pillars each topped with a glowing lantern. Each has it’s own meaning. The first being a reminder of warmth & the warm soothing sounds echoed in the songs of the people. The second is light & also reminds all of the orange glow of the life-giving sun and to respect the provisions the earth gives to those who care for it. The third is the reminder of the power of the good in the people following the example of Sir John. The last is a bit brighter & is a reminder to amplify the first three amidst all the lands & not just in the land of Purple Soundage. Sir John often reflects on Crate & marvels that he, a simple man, was able to penetrate the mystery of Crate & bring forth a new uninterrupted & flawless flow of grace unto those he encounters in Purple Soundage & beyond. Sir John knows not when Crate become broken but it was obvious that poor input lead him to his doom. Sir John gives thanks that through his input new & solid connections via the Peaceful Compassionate Board (PCB) of leadership is now in place.

This has been a description of the fictitious kind. No person or dragon or Crate was hurt during the writing of this ramble. Any similarities between any of the above mentioned events or entities & any other party or parties in the real world is merely a coincidence & hey, stories happen.

Go forth unto this location precisely to view an artist’s rendering of some of the battle described in the ramble you have rambled through…Humor me...Dumb solder joint.
Click Me

iHums & other gibberish

Update 12/5 10:30 am
Determined to resolve the abnormal & not 60Hz noiseage hum/buzz he tried to once again awaken the sleeping paper weight. It clicked to life & there was that already dreaded sound. In a seemingly random fashion he began to rapidly turn each of the numerous knobs their range of travel back & forth suspecting that there possibly could be some corrosion or other particles of crud in the pots. A bit of success was found in that the annoyance dissipated & was no longer. But the jiggle of the wiggle of a cord unto the orafice of input jack still produced the nasty growls that must be tamed & silenced. He also did notice that there were 4 screws on the top of the amp that seemed to be the gate keepers of the mystery contained within the head portion of the thing. So he armed himself with the driver of screwiness & proceeded to enter the journey unto the land down under the hood. The key master successfully merged with the gatekeeper & the deep hidden mystery was revealed....There sat on top was the jack of input soldered onto the board of circuitage in 4 places. It would take further surgery to levitate the region of jack attack to infiltrate the situation & go covert & assimlate unto the culture of solderage...If the secret intelligence gathered is accurate, penetrating those 4 core positions & voiding their influence upon the situation would allow for the insertion of a new & better equipped operative to better handle the future transmissions. A brief check of intelligence information reveals that the needed equipment for the operative is available & appears to look like:


He carefully began his return trip from the land down under the hood & applied the driver of screwiness to cause the gatekeeper to resume his position & to ensure that the hidden mystery does remain a hidden mystery to all who approach. He prepares his report for his superiors to review & establish the needed mission codenamed Jack-In-The-Box. A brief intelligence inquiry brought forth 2 wisdoms: 1) There's a place here in town that could deal with the amp 2) A person there suggested that it might possibly be a solder joint gone bad/cracked where a simple touch up might suffice. After further contemplation this might in fact be the case for how else does a jack of input not used very often decide to just barf?

End Update
=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~

And after his wife departed for work for the day he once again mounted the chair of bitdom. He proceeded to utter an search amidst the land of google. He found the wisdom to send an email to DiMarzio support to inquire to either confirm or correct his suspicions about why the PAF Pro & FRED pickups were not sending forth their anticipated signals unto the land of ampdom thereby causing much froth & lament within him. He uttered the inquiry & then patiently waited whilst pursuing the norms of preparing for the typical workaday Monday. Upon arriving at the land of cubicleocity he conferred with yet another bitdom interface device. And there sat was the reply to the inquiry to confirm that which he had already sent along to the support of the technicalities. His whole being filled with preparedness to await the treacherous journey home through the hills & over the woods. He was also met with goodness of the package which contained the highly secret & anticipated devices sent forth from far across the world from Russia. He was poised & ready to once again embark with nose of needle pliers, the wand of great low wattage heat & the core of rosin from the land of solder. Amazed at the complexities of the numerous wires running forth amidst the cavity of wiredom he stopped to consider the surgeons who work on far more delicate tissue with far more complex routings of body stuff. He finally completed the needed surgery to bring to life the now installed PAF Pro Neck & partner FRED bridge pickups. He then approached the then slumbering black beast of noisedom with the aforementioned secret devices. He had to be careful for the beast could awaken at any time & devour him in a moment. He had to act swiftly & with precision to attach the secret glowing tube devices. All things appeared to be assembled so with blue wild thing in hand he plugged the needed appendages between the black beast & the blue thing. All systems appeared go & so he did the only thing he could which was activate the black beast. He waited the needed moments for the slumbering one to come to life and....and....he was met with the annoying hum that he set out to conquer with the new secret glowing tubes. He twiddled with the input jack on the black thing of hummage & discovered some very interesting sounds of loud squawking & squealing. So the beast of hummer seems to have won this round. And it appears that one would need to replace the input jack which appears to be quite embedded & enshrouded in mystery. But before considering that to be the cause of the spewage of hum-de-dum he casts his gaze upon the previously referred to black heat shield protecto thing which when one thrusts his great strength upon this stronghold the hum appears to cease for but just a while. But that could just be a plan of mockery & trickery by the black 80 watt paper weight. He could hang his head low in lament & snine & whibble or he could keep trying to find the source of the spumming hewage the black thing utters. He does consider that his options are approaching zero rapidly & he might have to concede & transport the beast, under heavy sedation of course, unto the land of $60 an hour techie service to try to find the source of the treacherous mocking mockery.

Until later comes turn it up to....whatever.

iTube things of amp things...

So, as usual for this fall, brother glop has sparked an interest in learning about but not necessarily totally understanding nor even actually building a tube amp kit. The affordable & popular kits & service by www.tedweber.com seem to be the way to go for kits. I've emailed asking a few questions & have gotten back quick replies. I even inquired about a generic or somewhat generic solution to adding an effects loop to existing kits. He replied stating he's been giving that much thought. The thing about weber kits is that you get parts & a schematic. That's it. Other more expensive kit providers provide instructions & such. For this me, staring at a pile 'o parts & a schematic would not be the ideal way to learn. And if you read some of the stuff on the kit building forum or look at pics of amp kit builds in progress it looks rather daunting. Then through the complexitiy & nature of the do it yourself kits you have to become a tinkerer & make decsisions about how & where to place things or cope with things and troubleshoot things like hums & buzz & such. I guess that is part of the core hobby of it.

Why my interest? Well I'm intrigued by a kit that clones, or tries to anyway, Marshall's original amp or head which was the JTM 45. VH-1 has this documentary series going on & they had one on Hendrix. I watched it when it was first on but didn't notice that which I noticed last night when I watched through it again from a 2nd recording that my DVR happily did for me. I realized in the concert footage that there stood proudly JTM 45 heads. Yeterday I drooled over that amp building seminar thing & how it takes a Mojo JTM 45 kit such & turns it into the Marshall JCM 800 "on steroids" as one reviewer called it. Halen used the JCM 800 in 80's tour such as 5150 tour & such. So that's a JTM45 45 watt amp instead of a horridly loud for home 100 watt thing. Then stick a Weber MASS Lite attenuator on the 45 watt thing makes a vintage great amp tolerable at home listening levels. I would definitely desire the hot rodded JTM 45 but that would have to come with time, practice, & asking myriads of questions.

I found some cool clips of the Weber JTM 45 at:
http://www.leftee.net/Leftee_Gain.mp3
http://www.leftee.net/Villanova.mp3
http://www.leftee.net/WindCries.mp3

So I thought welp, I know nothing about circuits or understanding them. I can solder simple things together. So I began looking about for simpler kit things that help teach the novice about stuff... Found a couple of good resources so far...
http://members.tripod.com/~gabevee/papers.html
http://www.ax84.com/?pg=associateprojects

Just to read some stuff is interesting in itself. Will I actually try a kit any time soon? Probably not as the simplest & smallest kits start at like two hundred something dollars. I've got mouths to feed & such. laff. I think I would enjoy becomming kit builder, for simple amps & heads, for others where they buy the Weber kit & I put it together for them at a going rate builder price...whatever hundred or few that may be. First that requires my learning stuff & understanding it. But it also requires someone wanting to pay for the kit amp & then pay additional for someone to build it. I'm sure it happens occasionally but not very often. Purple Sound Makers R Us. laff.

Until later comes turn it up to wires, & connectors, & chassis, & transformers, oh my...

iMojo for JTM45 Becomming a JCM800

There's fantasy camps for everything in the world...

Why not one for building tube amps...
http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/2006/Egnater-November-18-Seminar.html

The Mojo JTM45 head kit of course is $900.00. I'm sure the course is way crazy expensive as well. And then there's the travel & hotel & yaddas.

Until later comes, turn it up to JTM45 becomming a JCM800 on steroids.

iSpeaker Mojo - Ugh....

It goes without saying that for every class/category/level of widget or wadget you might buy there's usually more than anyone would want to count number of manufacturers that make such things. And the obvious is that advertisements & online product descriptions try to woo & wow & almost brainwash the potential buyer. And because I'm middle-aged obvious man I had to state the obvious above obviously. And, as I learned earlier this year from personal yadda yaddas & blah blahs that it is human nature for groups of people, or categories of people, to naturally conform to what leaders or others do or they conform to some norm or standard & hence products become the 'hot item' or 'must have' thing of the moment or you won't be able to survive another second. Kind of like how Jim mentioned in his political speal about how the politicians want to make you think that if you don't vote on a something or someone the way they want you to the world, or the state, will come to an immediate end.

How did the SUV vehicle boom start anyway? Who knows? I'm quickly reminded of the outtake at the end of the movie Cars where Mater is coaching Hummers & other SUVs to get out into the dirt & go off-roading for the first time in their existence. One yells "But I've never been offroad before!"

When Terra & I went on our honeymoon in Mexico we were walking about puerto Vallarta in both the new & americanized touristy part as well as meandering through some back streets. We just wandered randomly by some back street tiny hole in the wall tortilla factory where one could walk in & buy tortillas hot off the line! We sampled some & they was great! A modern example is that of Krispy Cremes hot off the line! Yum! Sorry heart & gut & arteries!

So I did mention previously that I might, just might, pursue upgrading me two speakers in my overpowered monster of an amp that's more suited for live gigs than dinking around at home. And I've also spoken of the THD Hot Plate which is way expensive and the Marshall Brake which is even more ughage! Anyway...So I began hunting around for possible speaker choices to consider. First off I realized that there are only few models that are in the needed 80 to 100 watt range. The reason is most guitar hero types use 4x12 cabs so the speakers don't need to be as beefy. It's almost frustrating for the combo amp types. But it's also nice so as to not have to sift through myriads of speaker spooge & hundreds of different opinions. As I said, I don't care if I plug into some grey box or an, the fruit, orange with apples for pickups & it sounds decent. I don't care about the details nor the settings. I just want the fantasy turn it on & sound good clean, surfy, swirly, bluesy, EVH rhythm, & Satch or Vai or Hoey or George Lynch, or Gilmour lead. I also realized that the world has migrated to the well known manufacturers such as Celestion or Eminence speakers. They have a long history of course & there will always be debates & arguments & personal preferences that decide the popularity of things. And respect is due to such speakers that have created some of the greatest sounds on recordings. But does what most people get just cause Eddie did it, or does it, or any axe-person got it or has it mean it's the thing to conform to. NO I SAY! Do not conform to conformity dag narn it.

So, like the wandering about back streets in Mexico, I somehow found myself doing a search on www.gearslutz.com. Not that I like the name much but real people, not trying to hype the marketting crud, write their preferences & such. I came to find the little hole in the wall place called www.TedWeber.com. One quote on the aforementioned gear place.com states "I would say anything that doesn't have Celestion printed on it. Weber VST make bloody fantastic speakers at great prices." So that sparked interest in what Weber has to offer. I even emailed to get a suggestion. Again, due to wattage, I'm limited to about 4 choices there as well. I think my main decision will be warm sound or 'uncolored' whatever that means. I poked around a bit more & encountered a much more affordable attenuator as well which I inquired about.

If a coin were to decide a speaker choice between a Weber model or a Celestion Classic Lead or some Eminence model I probably wouldn't notice a difference & wouldn't care either way because I couldn't tell the difference between playing a spoon or a knife.

So Glop, how's the wall o' transistors & resisters & flux capacitors coming along? Please include in the wall several speakers that somehow randomly make contact with the speaker cable connectoids for random amounts of time. Hey stop, what's that sound? It's now a Celestion, now it's some stock speaker crud, oh now it's a TedWeber & now it's some orange spooge thing. And now I'm playing through a cheese cloth based speaker with corn on the cob as the coil.

Untils later comes turn it up to something that makes sound.

iAmplifier Gizmoidalage & Gadgetoids

Update 10:00 pm 11/26 - Welp whilst switching around tubes to see if I could isolate the hum issue in amp I tried to straighten a pin on one o' the tubes & snap. So my conjecture is that hum is probably due to way old tubes so ordered some to try. Not a bad thing. I also chose to pursue a newer tube set by Electro Harmonix rather than the Groove Tubes that everybody & their brother sells. End update.

This ramble has been a couple of days in the making but I think I'm content with the wisdom of the result. I had the usual Friday off after downing the Triptophan & other standard Thursday goods. I finally got around to changing my Fender's strings for the purpose of providing to Gloppage dude for the pedal mods as there are points in the mod process where the pedal needs to be checked. Anyway...I finally, I know it's a miracle, plugged my Crate amp in. Silly me...I expected it to work just fine after several years of dormancy in closets. It worked some of the time. Other times the left speaker has an annoying hum that indicates something is not happy somewhere. Anyway...I did finally try out the Phaser I bought. It's swirly cool ma'an. I also plugged in the yet to be modified Super Distortion pedal. Cool as well. But as I've spoken before, and that which I realized yet again, the amp is not designed for quiet or for close quarter living situations with neighbors; I'm not sure why I chose to buy such a powerhouse way back when but I was naive then. So between the speaker hum, which I will blabble about in a minute, & the loud factor, I allowed myself to enter a period of depresso discouragement. And that's pretty typical for me in regards to musicdom over the years....Try something, don't like it or something's wrong, throw a pity party about it. As far as the left hummage goes I did pull out & reseat the 4 tubes & made sure that they all glowed when turned on. They weren't purple though. Oh well. So the speaker still hummed. I noticed that at least for a few moments applying pressure upon this metal overhang heat absorber plate thing the hum went away. But it comes back so I need to dink about with it a bit & possibly call Crate on Monday.

Back to the original subject which I haven't really mentioned yet & that is I started considering should I bother with an attenuator like the THD Hot Plate or sell the overpowered, but well reviewed, amp & get a low wattage studio type practice amp. So I spent a few hours on Sat. night researching myriads of 15-30 watt amps available for an amount much lower than a Hot Plate costs. It's puzzling to me that manufacturers of these amps do not supply an Effects Send/Return jack on such amps. I was really sold on the Spider III 15 Modelling amp until I read that they don't include effects loops. I was also looking at the Orange CR-15 amps. I still want to try one but no effect loop. And as I write this I conjecture that an effects loop is not included so as to try to lead buyers to choose a more expensive amplifier that has one. And boy the Orange amp prices jump radically from the CR-15. Ugh. I went to bed last night with a possible few models to try to go try if any stores within the Santa Cruz/Santa Clara counties might have one to try. Still discouraged though.

I mounted my computer chair this morning once again to continue to look around & I stumbled upon some good wisdom that helped me conclude that I will keep me loud thing & try to obtain a Hot Plate off Craigslist or EBay. The wisdom is here:
http://www.guitarnuts.com/amps/myths.php

Now not so blah & negative about things. Sometime next year I might invest in some Celestion speakers to replace the Crate stock speakers.

The only thing positive about the smaller lower wattage things is that they do offer headphone jacks that mute the speaker. That's a big plus as the bulk of the time I would just be dinking around & need to keep annoying Terra to a minimum.

Until later comes, turn it up to Effects Loops.

iPickups & wires & coils & magnents...oh my...

Just taking a Thanksgiving evenin' to write out some drivel & rambles to wind down from a day of boyzages being very trying.

This ramble began yesterday by brother glop sending me a YouTube link to some EVH wannabe who has several posts on YouTube playing & teaching here & there things about EVH tricks on the fretlands. He posted one clip of just his guitars & equipment & settings. The last guitar he mentioned was his Ibanez which turns out to be the same model of Ibanez that I have...Here's a pic I found...


The video dude mentioned that he has Steve Vai Evolution pickups for the neck & bridge. That intrigued me as I've always wondered if the stock Ibanez pickups should be replaced. So that began a journey all about the net of inter to see what peoplez had to say about the DiMarzio Evolution pickups. First wall I ran into was that there are two types of pickups which are referred to as "Regular" or "F-Spaced." And of course I couldn't find a thing about whether the s540 that I have takes regular or F-Spaced in the neck & bridge positions. I finally gave up trying to figure it out & emailed the YouTube video guy & he nicely replied & mentioned that they were F-Spaced. Whew. Glad to have that answer. I'm sure I could've taken it into Guitar Showcase over the hill to have someone figure that out for me. So long story short....I could go with the Satriani setup of a DiMarzio PAF Pro in the neck & a DiMarzio "FRED" in the bridge. Or I could go with the Vai Neck Evolution for the, duh, neck pickup & Bridge Evolution for the, again duh, bridge position. Reviews are comparable for these pickups so for this pickup illiterate it's like flipping a coin. So I'm just going to stick to the PAF Pro & FRED thing. I don't think I'd be able to tell the difference between either configuration. There's always, don't like it, sell it on Craigslist or see if DiMarzio will take 'em back.

Until later comes turn it up to replacement pickups.

iSignature Series

I was wandering through a local music store yesterday. And whilst looking here & there I overheard two of the sales persons talking about some guy coming in trying to get the store to carry the $70.00 guitar picks that he either manufacturers or is just trying to sell. It sounded like the guy actually suggested just placing them by the register & people will just gobble them up. I heard the guys say that the dude mentioned something like "These are the picks that Satriani uses." $70 guitar picks. Yeah, uhm, okay....I guess. I turned to the sales guys and jokingly mentioned to them "That's like the whole signature series concept of guitars & amps." I told them about how Gibson & Guitar Center recreated Clapton's ES-335 & joked about how it costs like $12,000. You could choose to get a reissue for 1/4 the price & sound just the same as the Clapton model. One of the guys mentioned that Fender was replicating a Fender that was used by some guy named Rory Gallagher. It was a Sunburst type of guitar that through it's life all of it's finish & paint had worn off the body except for patches of flames here & there. So we were joking about how there must be professional "drag a guitar around the parking lot" persons who work at Fender. They take a perfectly good & nice guitar & go out to the parking lot & drag it around for a while till the body's paint is worn off. Here's a link to Fender's rendition:
http://www.fendercustomshop.com.au/customartistseries/0150080.php

So one could buy a 3 color sunburst fender of similar color. Drag it around a parking lot for a while & then break off one of the tuners & replace it with a different color one.

Signature series? Who cares? Reissues that sound pretty darn close to original for 1/4 the price? Gimmie.

Until later comes turn it up to reissue.

iCannotComprehend...

Quick entry. I know that's not possible from this hyper typing me...

Way back many stuffy noses ago I would hear of people camping outside a theatre to be the first to view movies like Star Wars sequels & such. Ok, that doesn't seem to bizarre. And I've seen people camp out to try to get tickets to a concert. I can understand that as well. What I cannot fathom is people spending more than 1 24 hour period doing that. It's just a concert or movie. It's not one's life. The world will not end if you see the movie a week or two after it opens. You won't die if you're in the 50th row rather than in the front row for a concert.

So the paradigm for camping out for something has been raised up to a very neurotic level in my opinion. People camping out for days to buy....a video game console, PS3. As I write this I'm hearing a couple of co-workers talking about a riot at some store over the thing. Also heard was some began lining up on Wednesday outside a target store. They were told that Target was not going to honor their place/position in line & that the 'official' line would begin at 10 am today. The Wednesday folks didn't get the clue. And so there were two long lines each containing people wanting to storm the usual few doors a Target store has. Anybody ever hear of placing an advance order online & then waiting the needed time for it to arrive? Does it really matter if you get it on the 1st day or the 14th day after it starts to sell? No. Will one die having to wait? No.

And then I hear on the news that people are spending 4,000 to 10,000 to buy a unit on Ebay.

Until later comes, turn it up to neurosis.

Can you hear the purple in the image?

It's set to display here at 60% size to fit in the Blogger's way narrow space. Actual size is at:
http://www.pplministries.org/PurpleJamz.bmp

I had to impatiently watch Windows Media Player's X Marks the Spot visualization to screen capture the purpleness. I wanted to paste some kind of real lightning bolts but no time & didn't really know how to make it look well. Anyway, can you feel the purple?

A brief tale of a famous one...

Just lettin' my fingers ramble out a fictional stuff....

I once was not even imagined yet. Then I became a design on paper. A set of crafy persons carefully took the design set forth & brought me into existence. And I was sent forth to a new home with all sorts of my kind in all sorts of shapes, colors, & sizes(1). We were all hanging out together. And there I stood proudly waiting. Hey look at me, I'm over here. But nobody noticed me. So I kept watching & waiting. Well there's a fine chap over there. What's he doing over there? He's talking to the people & pointing at the various other things here with me. What's he doing now? Oh he's trying someone else out but he doesn't seem to like that one. Some fellow I'm used to seeing everyday here tells that chap something & he points at me. What? He's coming over towards me. Hey hi there. Why don't you try me out? Nobody has in a while & I'm kind of bored just sitting here. He looks at me some more and...and could it be? "Oh you won't be disappointed sir" I say. He turns me on & I show him what I can do for him. He seems to play very well. Whoa, he's really pushing me hard now. I'm being pushed to my limits. Must hang on. Must...must show him I can do this for him. Whew...he stopped. What a rush that was. Hey! Wait! Where are you going? Didn't you like me? What's he doing? I guess I don't sound as good as I thought I did. What's he doing over there? He's looking around searching for something but what is he looking for? Yo! Buddy! Stop looking...I'm what you need! Oh come on give me a chance! I won't disappoint! These other Joe's can't handle you. Wait a minute, what are they doing over there? They keep looking at & pointing at me. Someone is coming over to me but why? To shove me in a corner or just dust me off. Leave me alone! But he's grabbing me & taking me over to that dude who tried me out. I'm FRREEEEEEE! See ya suckers. I'm going to make history with this dude. Who am I? I'm a mystery & the envy of millions but you can call me Brown...Super Lead Brown.



1) Creative liberty taken. Ed actually purchased the head from the Rose Palace when he was 14. The head was used as a house amp there. This is according to:
http://www.valleywebs.com/van-halen/Magic.html

A moment of the reminder of simplicity...

I mentioned forgetting simplicity in a previous post. Nephew Hopo, aka Jim, mentioned this in a comment to one of my posts:
"I like the flexibility my Line 6 gives me. But I don't like the fact that I have to tweak knobs for a long time to get a great sound, whereas my friend spends 20 seconds on his Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier and gets the sound he wants."

Now that's what I'm talking about.

My reply is I'm sick of knobs & buttons. Anyway back to simplicity. Now tell me this isn't weird...When I got home last night I noticed Terra had emptied a small but good sized box. I have sitting on the floor a too small of a box with the Phaser I got along with the two pedals brother Glop will be modifying soon. Anyway, so I took the bigger box & put the gizmoids in it and then moved on with the night's food events. Fast forward about an hour. So last night I was enjoying, & at times not enjoying, helping tired cranky boyzages with homework at the table. I looked down in the direction of where I placed the box o' stuff & right smack dab in the middle of the box is the logo for Tastefully Simple which is a mail order foods supplier. That just zapped me & confirmed simplicity, rather than Line 6 or otherwise complexity, is the way to go for this me in this time. And then later that night I ventured into the kitchen for a treat of a frozen nature & on the counter was some book or something that was from Tastefully Simple & on it was this quote:
“In cooking, as in the arts, simplicity is a sign of perfection." ~Curnonsky~

So I continue to chew on simplicity. Speaking of chewing, onward to the kitchen.

Until later comes, turn it up to chewy...(Not the wookie)

iStardom & iLegends

A long while back I learned this little wisdom that a star/performer is remembered most for their most recent production. Their current value/worth is judged & based solely upon that with little to no regard to previous works or their life's collective body of creations. And the more famous & popular a star is, the more scrutiny they must endure by the media. It amazes me how much investment these people make just to 'make it' or get to 'the show' & more often than not, after they get to a peak they come crumbling down in an avalanche & boom it's all over. I remember several years ago Chris Rice was hosting some major music awards show & he just bluntly, & accurately stated to the audience, that 90% of them would not be back the next year. One of Jack Nicklaus' quotes in some golfer's quote book I had said something like "It's amazing to be considered the best when you only win about 30% of the time."

It's amazing how much energy fans & media put towards a someone one moment. And the next those same people are going "So & so who?" I chuckle to myself when I think upon the shows about one hit wonders or "Where are they now?" kinds of things. And the reason I chuckle is because I ask myself "Was it worth it to try to get there & be there?"

And yes this Monday ramble would not be complete without touching upon things of legends without mentioning the example of EVH. What do I think he's remembered most for in this time in history? For being an addict, narcissist, off the deep end, for poorly taken photos at some Elton John party thing, for a strange phone call he made to Howard Stern & presently hanging with a seemingly questionable collection of people, & unable to have long term relationships with family or long time band members. But there are some who look beyond his current 'image' & the current news about him & just want to think of him as being 'great' & being a 'hero' or 'legend.' People in this category probably could not understand what it is I have written in my prose stuff about him & think I'm crazy or I'm dissin' a legend. I'm sure even EVH wouldn't get it or he would think I'm just slammin' him like everyone else. Yes his contributions to music & guitar & equipment have been extraordinary. But that was then. Now I see a mess of a very gifted musician. If I could choose 1 band to be in for life, it would be The Ventures. Not because of their guitar playing. But because they are just simple down to earth guys who have stood the test of time & probably didn't care much about popularity & stardom.

There's many a version in email or on the net that is about asking one to name the last n people to have accomplished xyz & such. I got such an email from a friend this morning. And it included: "The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners...The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care ."

Until later comes, just be simple.

iForgot iSimplicity For an iMoment

I did glance over something I wrote in me blog & that was "...has returned me to the concept of simple." I so easily got stuck in drool mode about things of Pod XT/Live/Pro that iForgot that I'm going for starting simple. I guess I liked some of those Pod XT sound clips. I'm a gadgetoid & a gizmoidal consumer. But then I started looking at reviews. And like most multi-conquer the world units, most say they take a LOT of tweaking. That's what I must avoid for I've fallen into that trap before and just aimlessly pushed buttons & turned knobs. If less is more then it seems to follow the less buttons to push & the less knobs to turn means more in regards to simplicity.

One reason I was looking at Pod-dom things is due to the fact that if I want to change the time based effects on my Q2 in the middle of a song I can't at the moment. Down the line I'll have to enjoy a MIDI foot controller to send patch change signals to the Q2. No big whoop to do or get. It's just have yet another widget to find...on Craigslist no doubt.

So iPromise myself to remain true to iSimple. I promise to pretend that I'm EVH in the late 70's & I have my pedal board of, as Ed described it, 'MXR garbage.' Why don't they make an EVH signature plywood & duct tape pedal board? chuckle.

Till later comes, turn it up to iSimplicity.

Dear Edward....Yet again...

iWrote this iRamble the other iNight...Copyright (c) 11/4/2006. It's iMine.

Dear Edward....Yet again...
(See also http://www.pplministries.org/DearEVH.htm)

Everybody wanted some & they sucked the life from you (1)

Everybody needed some, what wuz you supposed to do?

You've poured your life into your art but the buisness and media was cruel & shrewd

There must have been quite the stress & pressure to produce for the suckers in their suits

It all must have taken a toll & I don't doubt that is true

At times you must have felt you lived in a circus or life was a crazy zoo

How often did you have to compromise for the hits & dollars instead of creating what you wanted to?

When you return to the heart of the art & the yet to be created tunes

What comes to your being & travels through?

What within you begins to steep & brew?

Who were you way back when in '78-79 & what now is your reality & truth?

What is dead & old that needs to be pruned?

What awaits to begin anew?

What is your current outlook & view?

Where's that Van Halen I sound & living to play live attitood?

Have you ever listened to your songs without all the vocal chart topping sexual drivel & spooge?

Behind all those words & uh-huh's & screaming yeahs is the real you; that's who

So I noticed you tributed the Who & they ask Who are you? We really wanna know

You have created & innovated & performed & you've done your time & paid your dues

I'm not writing these iRambles for entertainment nor to amuse

I do hope however that they strike a nerve or a chord within you & that you would note the que

Have you been thrown off the bull for the last time or are you ready to go sittin' in the chute?

Do you stare at the mud at your feet or do you hold your head up high & dream beyond the moon?

Play & record for yourself & not for the dollars or for anyone else for you are 1 of the very gifted few

1) Reference to how the world continually wanted something from you whether it be another song, another signature series something, another album, another hit, another change of image, another sound change, another tour, another interview where they end up twisting your words around.

iYikes - Things of Line6 Pod products

So I'm having a wrestling match within. The purist in me wrote my iRant about amp modelling vs. recording a live or live-like sound. The purist in me also thinks along the lines that if you record something with a certain sound, that same sound should be reproducible with a live amp without depending on sound engineers to tweak buttons & knobs & effect settings. The gizmoid drooler in me is now taking a deeper ponderance into things of Pod XT. Not the Pro or the Live model. The regular kidney shaped Pod XT. After writing my iRant nephew Jim mentioned he had a Pod XT Pro. Out of curiousity I went about the netlands & found some .mp3 sound clips of peoples patches they use for Pod XT. Those are at:
http://www.project80s.com/podxt/podclips_sounds.htm
http://www.robtognoni.com/line6.htm

There are some good sounding patches out there.

Jim also mentioned that Weezer toured & played their instruments through their Pod stuff & had no amps on stage. I have burned into my brain images of concerts where a band is overshadowed by stacks o' amps & guitar dudes going up to their amps with their guitars & finding that sweet feedback spot...I almost want to say that to have no amps for a live show is just darned wrong. But who am I to criticize right. It all falls back onto what the player & band think sounds good & fits their band & image & such. These days if plugging into an orange & then running that into a mixing board works for ya in the studio & on stage then go for it.

I'll be in my iCorner now.

- iMe

iPurplez

So I strike a harmonic at you in your general direction. Why? Because they're there to share & one must be aurally blasted frequently by them to sustain life. Why? Because brother Glop has stated many times that a UCSB professor was infamous for the final exam question being Why? And the only answer was “Because.”

So the title is iPurplez. Why? Well it’s due to the popularity & marketing bondage the world feeds upon where there's iThis & iThat & iWhatever. So I just added my own i-word: iPurplez. But what does that really mean...really? It’s kind of along the same lines as the entity known as “The Blue Man” of The Blue Man Group. It’s not why. It’s not because. It's not something but it's not nothing. It's the stuff between something & nothing perhaps. It's not fiction & it's not reality. It's the stuff that lies between fiction & reality. It's the stuff between the lines & the moments of not playing between notes & chords. So as part of the journey of this iPurplez I look back upon some of my iProse that iWrote about things of purple. These are some purple excerpts....



Make It Sound Purple - iWrote 5/3/2005
Mr. soundman, make it sound purple (1)
In the corner I often sit in silence to vegetate & drool
And I pound on my blue Ibanez as an expression tool
"I've been had" is a joke nickname for my guitar brand
Of the blue & shark tooth inlay guitar I hold in my hands
My fingers wander along & babble in the fret land
To actually record something of worth, ha ha I seem to laugh
It's hard to not think of one's creations as useless trash
I would be one in the crowd of millions across the world's strands
It doesn't matter though for it is just an outlet to pound upon "the man"
But my fingers somehow continue to dance upon the fretlands
Who knows what will become of my simple guitar purple hands
- (1) When I took the recording class at Cabrillo College the instructor mentioned how a band he was recording said "Make it sound purple ma'an."

Purple & Haze – iWrote 5/29/2005
The purple & haze can do whatever it wants for that seems fair
Let the haze be purple & the purple be haze here & there
I'd be glad to take some of my purple haze & share
In the purple haze of life I sit here in my chair & I stare

Purple Lane – iWrote 5/10/2005
Life in the purple lane
Drifting here & there in the haze
Life in the purple lane
It's purple & haze kinds of days
Life goes on in the purple lane
Life is as life does in the purple lane
Haze is as haze does in the purple game
People are hazy when they are purple
If there was purple rain in the purple lane then we might start to hydroplane
It might be safer to just take a purple train
To avoid the stress of the purple lane strain
Life in the purple lane

Purple's Deep – iWrote 5/10/2005
Have you ever journeyed into purple's deep?
Have you ever journeyed into deep purple as you go to sleep?
Or does it take great courage to make the purple leap?
The law says that what you sow you will reap, so if you sow purple what deep will you reap?
Perhaps you'd feel safer if you would just go wait in the purple jeep
Excuse me while I just go fall down into a deep purple heap.

So the concept of iPurplez is based solely upon that phrase "Make it sound purple ma'an." It's like trying to see with your ears & to hear with your eyes & get beyond the boundaries of the boxes that we get stuck in as we go through iLife. If you watch a butterfly there is no pattern or boundaries to it's flight. It just goes where it desires.

So until later comes, be the purple peoplez.

An Analog To Digital Rant & Rave...

There's a saying that you can't believe a picture you see in this high tech age due to all the photo munging products out there. Now a days you probably can't tell if the amp you hear on the recording is live or not live.

I've learned a new term amplifier modelling. You get some device you play through into your computer & it models various types of amplifier sounds/settings. Yes I'm sure there's the "brown sound" setting as well. Ok guitar synthesizer stuff is ok & it's been around a long time & that's what Alan Holdsworth & I'm sure many others such as Trevor Rabin from Yes do. But for any guitar hackie to just plug into something & sound like their favorite guitar riffer is almost blasphemy to the art of live sound. The box for my MXR Phaser even has on the front of it "Live to play live." How processed & computerized & overprocessed does the world need to become? Just listen to a phrase on Van Halen I & then listen to whatever it is you want to call it on Balance. Ugh. Sorry when it comes to amps & settings it should take one's entire being & sweat & blood to create & lock in their sound. I haven't gotten there yet but I smell that I'm close...maybe. Am waiting on a couple pedals to arrive so brother glop can modify them with the mod kits I ordered.

But to be fair to the gadget gizmoids out there, I do confess that I have a Hughes & Kettner Red Box which I will probably use. It can simulate a 4 speaker cabinet or a 2 speaker combo amp. And the reason is due to not having a 'studio' like environment in which to place an amp in an ideal spot with mics in another ideal spot. But at least it's dedicated to 1 purpose which is taking existing post gain amp sound & allowing one to go directly into mixing or audio capture device and sound like a mic'd cabinet. I could rationalize & justify it away but I won't. I have a kind of gizmoid that is in the category of this rant. >>>addition added 11/3 - The red box is like my running my amp's 2nd speaker output into a speaker cabinet so perhaps I'm not cheating afterall. <<< So onward with my iRant.

So this brings me to my next item & that's home digital audio recording. It's not a new concept but with computers being media oriented now a days many music gizmo companies are trying too find their niche in the market of USB & Firewire based products. To me that's cool. I started looking at USB based gadgets & I noticed for example the, ugh don't make me write this...'amp modeller' Line6 TonePort UX2 USB thing. Filled with lots of gizmos
& gadgets. But does any one of the features excel in any one area? Well it's limited by the very nature of the limitations of USB ports. Who knows. If I'm bowling I need to use a bowling ball. If I'm golfing I use A club for A shot. So the goal is quality audio recording through some interface on computer that is not based on the, usually stock & poor quality audio card. Why not get something that's dedicated to just converting the sound to digital & storing it on computer for shaping later? So in looking at reviews I found this interesting thing called Firebox that is Firewire based. Can I drool now? Now that's more like it. What's it for? Capture audio with quality mic preamps.



Before going through my Brother Glop induced journey I would've probably gone "Oh wow, & no way man!" about the Line6 thing. And I can see why people migrate to such things & that's because they don't have the time or resources to do the needed work to find their sound at home to record with. It's just a tool that gives the myriads something easy to work with. No I don't have much time & of course I'll need a Hot Plate to do anything at home...if ever. I'm wondering how many people just instantly settle for USB based stuff which does have a throughput limit but some may never reach that level of audio data. What do I know?

To be fair, perhaps the popular things like the Line6 help encourage & motivate 'cats' do jam out stuff for themselves that they might not have tried to do otherwise with mics & various other recording methods. For the good & tight sounding players that's good. For the not so good or out of tune or off key folks handing out the 'Hey look what I tried to do" CD at Christmas to friends & family, perhaps ease of recording isn't the best idea. And I'll throw myself into that grouping as well unless I can prove otherwise in time. laff.

And I shouldn't talk until I've recorded something of any kind.

I'll get off my binary soap box now.

Until later comes turn it up to Firewire.

Let's Play Remove The Vocals....

Been hiding in another realm for a bit....But yes I emerge victorious. So what have I to purple about this first November entry begins with a simple, cool, free audio product called Audacity. It's a digital audio editing product that software developers all over the world contribute to developing. As a guitar honkey there are songs that have great song parts to listen to or even play along with. But then comes the interuption of some singer contributing their 'Oh-Yeahs' & 'Uh-huh's' & baby this & baby that & all the other not so wholesome lyrical content. If I could wiggle a finger & have something magically happen it would be to have fav songs in their published form but with all vocals muted or faded out. Forget some black box that tries to remove vocals for ya. Forget covers or cover bands or karaoke. I'm talking about the real original thing baby, oh yeah, & uh huh, & come on. So back to Audacity, I've been playing around with taking cool fav things & using the Silence tool to silence the parts I don't want to hear. And then I've been applying fade outs & fade ins & removing the silent periods I created. So you take a 4+ minute song & do this munging & you end of up a couple minutes of just raw music, or in my case, guitar carnage.

So that leads me to the realm I was hiding in. I realized that to manually repeat this process is a pain & it gets old quick. And for this dad with bizzy beez, anything to speed along such things is a must. I realized that, hey, I could write a software tool to take my .wav files with the silence periods & apply the needed fade ins, fade outs, & do the silence removal. It took a long while to find some code examples for getting at the raw audio samples in the .wav files. But after fiddling with all the codeims I have my tool. You would think some simple tutorials on wav file processing would be available on the net of inter. Not really. Cool thing about Audacity is that since it's public for developers to contribute to you can get the source code. That was a help as well in fingering out how to apply a fade to a block of audio data. And brother glob helped me to undertand what interlaced media mean. So I've emerged from my obsessive abyss about getting this thing done so I can use it as desired..I should try to add the tool to Audacity for my own use that way it's all in one place. But that would require my trying to figure out how to follow the model already in place. All I really need to do is tell Audacity to select a region, fade it out, select another region & do a fade in, then select the silent period & delete it.

Go Audacity!

Until later comes, turn it up to binary.

Puttin' On The Brake...

I was pondering the other day as I was viewing some pics of some amps & realized...Hmm a lot of axemen probably go out & buy the loudest loud thing they can. But they probably live in apartment, condo, or townhouse type of dwellings so how can they turn up their loud & not bother their neighbors? Or specifically how can I, John, crank up my Crate amp to get tone but play way quiet? Most probably don't care about noising out others. But there are kind caring rockers out there, well at least I would hope so anyway. So you want to get amp turned up to 11 or beyond to get the desired tone but you want speakers to sound like you've set the volume to 3.

I read something somewhere yesterday that 11 or beyond out of control players just go into small clubs with a decent sound system but their amps are too loud. And often the players aren't willing to cooperate with the sound person. One sound guy said he mentioned to a player that the amp was to loud so the player said "You need me to turn it down?" The sound person was shocked that the player offered to do that. I also read that some place their amps on a slanted rack to get it up off the floor & some turn them sideways or all the way around so the amp is louding out in the face of the player so the sound person has a audio chance at creating a better mix.

So in a nutshell the technology is referred to as a power brake or attenuator. More info than you would to know about it is:

Background info...
Loud cool sounding amp & need it to drive the tubes but sound quieter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_attenuator_(guitar)

This seems to be the popular model,$270+, to get for an amp with 8 ohm speakers...which I have on my Crate...
http://www.zzounds.com/item--THDHP

Do it yourself (DIY) stuff...
http://www.amptone.com/g243.htm
http://amps.zugster.net/articles/attenuation

Until later comes, turn it up to 11 but really 3.

Gadgets & Mods & Pickups & Effects...Oh my...

This morning whilst driving in & listening to parts of songs I had an epiphany. I have plenty of examples of intros, leads, rhythms, swirly, clean, crunch, & overdriven in my set of songs in .mp3's on my smartphone. I have in my head categories of types of sounds to create. And the epiphany is that I have to first sit down & slow down & describe in words what it is a particular sound is. If I can't do that then I can't sit down with the knobs & buttons of gadgets & just turn & push aimlessly hoping to recreate that sound and then shape it to be my 'purple' sound. For some this might be "Well gee, duh John, what did you expect?" As I listen to a lead or rhythm on Halen I or even something on a Satch album I find myself asking myself things like is that a Flanger sound or is a Phaser or is it both. Heck I realized that a sound I so desperately wanted to recreate long ago on one of Satch's songs was due mainly in part to a flanger setting that has no sweep making the guitar sound like it's in a tunnel. And as I listen I hear more & more how overprocessed Vai & Satch are for some of their stuff. Would you like some guitar to go with those effects? It's interesting to listen to early Halen & then move to their subsequent pre-1984 tracks to hear how EVH moved from that simple & classic VH1 sound to becomming more processed then 1984 was great & after that....uhm Eddie dude what happened? Sheez.

I listened to a bit of some intros & leads from Slash on G n R's Appetite & just hear rock & I hear slash & not effects. Friend Jeremy, mad dog, wanted me to learn a song called Peace Dog by The Cult. I listened some clips from their Ceremony album & it's just simple & good sound. So peace, dog.

This would be interesting...Take Brian Setzer(Stray Cats), Trevor Ravin(Yes), Alan Holdsworth, The Edge, John Sykes(Whitesnake), Vivian Campbell(Dio), Eric Johnson, Ace Frehley(Kiss), Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Gilmore, Slash, EVH, Vai, Satch, or whoever I'm missing that should be included here, & stick them each in their own studio by themselves with the same 4.5 minute drum track, with their fav guitars & amps but they are only allowed to use reverb & digital delay to record. No stereo effects, no phaser, no flange, no chorus, no overdubs, no harmonizer's & no mixdown effects processing except for necessary standard EQ settings to shape the sound after recording. What would each come up with for their sound.

There was a song that sang "Video killed the radio star." Effects have sure have had quite the influence on axemen throughout the world & throughout history. I know guys like Satch & Vai are constantly driven to reinvent their sound from song to song or album to album. Is this their desire or is it driven by the business of music & marketing suits who just want album sales & the only way to do that is to always sound new, fresh, or different. Just give me my four or five or ten go button settings in some box hidden somewhere. I don't care what the details are of the box. I don't care what the amp settings are. An example I thought of also this am was that I thought about Halen & boys prepping for a tour. Makes me wonder if Eddie just goes to techies, Ok here's my main amp(s), here's my rack of stuff, Here's my guitars, I'll be back in two days. Make it sound right. Or does he piece together everything himself thing by thing & cord by cord. It boggles me how a national or world tour for such types of bands get prepped for the 1st show.

So as part of the Epiphany & describing sounds, this is the first step. What do I want to find & then make 'purple'

Sound concepts I have in my head:
Classic surf clean
Classic surf crunch
Clean surf swirly sound
Classic Rockabilly such as Brian Setzer
Classic Hendrix clean such as Hey Joe or Wind Cries Mary
Classic rock like Chuck Berry Johnny B Goode
Rocking surf rhythm such as Pipeline in hard rock style
Overdriven surf lead like my Pipeline cover I do how Dale & Stevie Ray V did together.
Clean stereo kind of sound that doesn't sound overprocessed for both leads & rhythm
Clean swirly sound
Crunch rhythm stereo wall of sound like The Cult's intros or EVH in Beautiful Girls or Purple Haze
Crunch rhythm swirly sound
Heavy hard rock rhythm stereo wall of sound that's Halen's Panama-ish or Hot for Teacher-ish.
Heavy hard rock rhythm swirly sound that's Gilmore-ish
Overdriven screaming stereo, in your face harmonics, sound
And something that's classic "The Edgish" that is all over Joshua Tree album.

The stock default patches in my Quadraverb 2 will probably cover a lot of these already.

And as U2 sings "I still haven't found what I'm lookin' for" but I seem to be gettin' there. I'm acutally going to buy strings for my electrics today & boil 'em. And once I find what I'm looking for in the coming weeks & get some tunes down I'm going to make an attempt to find some fun & good wholesome & morally sound peoplez to form some kind of instrumental surf to hard rock band to have fun with first but perhaps play weddings & such. But first I must find my 'Purple' & get to the basics with a metronome. I guess I could get things together & go play at an open mic night thing. I'm not so paranoid about my tremolo system now that I know about boiling strings & such.

Until later comes, turn it up to purple & swirly.

The First 9 Seconds - In The Beginning...

Yep more sound/song stuff.

The 1st 9 seconds that influenced guitar & rock for millions...


=~=~=~=~=~=~==~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~

Found this guy's clips the other day. Whoa...
http://www.jasonjosephphotography.com/soundclips.html

*Marshall 1970 100watt Super Lead*
Hot for Teacher(Seymour Duncan 59)stock specs
Unchained(Seymour Duncan JB)mod
Seymour Duncan 59 plus DOD eq boost
Original 1(Ibanez Artist)mod ©2005
Original 2(Ibanez Artist)mod ©2005
Blues Jam(Seymour Duncan JB)mod

*Marshall 1959slp Plexi Reissue*
Feel your love tonight(w/album)(one tube)
Various VH song parts with one tube in the amp
One tube jam w/background music
Doodling around w/Dimarzio PAF (one tube)
Some AC/DC with my sound (one tube)
Unchained with my sound (beginning part) (one tube)
Fools (Ibanez Artist) (stock)
Mean Street (Ibanez Artist) (stock)
Mean Street (w/album in right speaker) Kramer Striker (stock)

*79 Marshall 50watt JMP*
Original 3 ©2005

*5150combo*
FYI Brother Glop - These amps are $500-$1000 used on ebay or Craigslist.
Mean Street riff with Dimarzio PAF (Marshall 4x12)
Unchained "new version"(Seymour Duncan 59) (No 4x12)
Wankage 1 (Marshall 4x12)
Wankage 2 (Marshall 4x12)
Outta love Again (w/album) Marshall 4x12 (my own vibe)
Blues on Steroids - (Marshall 4x12)
Everybody Wants Some (w/album) Marshall 4x12
Ice Cream Man (w/album) Marshall 4x12
Runnin with the devil (w/album) Marshall 4x12
Panama beginning (completely dry) Marshall 4x12
Panama(Seymour Duncan 59)
Combo with Marshall cab/Greenbacks
Jamies Cryin(combo w/Marshall cab/Greenbacks)
You really got me(Seymour Duncan 59)
Little Guitars 'fool around mix'(Ibanez Artist)
Demo solo(1980 Ibanez Artist)

This place has some rather expensive amps. There's a Soundclips link on the left side which will take you to a page that has links to .mp3 samples. The 1st Scorpion clip is a VH classic
http://www.mojaveampworks.com/