Recent content by stratguy23

Re: Post NAMM aftershock I'm not in the retail business, but I did attend NAMM, and I can report that the Gibson booth was *packed*. People are interested. It was to the point where one could hardly move. Lots of people trying out stuff, which is always good, though the few guitars I tried...

I find these year-end bestseller reports by Reverb interesting, since the site has become so dominant for used gear, at least in the US. No big surprises in the list: https://reverb.com/news/the-best-selling-amps-of-2018 But some observations: Milkman "The Amp" pedalboard amp comes out of...

Conventional wisdom would have it that a point-to-point wired amp is easier to service than one with PCBs. Point-to-point is generally a boutique thing. But then I hear talk (maybe just rumors) that good tube amp techs are getting harder to find, even here in Los Angeles, the guitar/amp capital...

It is the mighty Freddie Green doing Freddie Green-style comping, but, still, this looks unplayable. The song starting at 9:24 is illustrative; 11:19 has a spectacular close-up view:

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards? I have a Walrus Audio Aetos, which I feel is criminally overlooked because it is so useful and well thought-out. It has 8 isolated power outputs, with 2 being high output (300 mA). A *big* plus is its complimentary 120V AC power outlet...

My local GC got in the new Marshall DSL40CR and the 5-watt combo in the Origin series. I played both, not enough for a top-to-bottom review, but enough to get the gist of both amps. The Origin is really, really low gain. It wants to be cranked to give up the goods. I didn't want to be "that...

I don't understand what it means, which likely means I'm not the target audience.

A nice Fender American Tele. They sounded really excited. I Googled the buyer name and think that it's either an elderly guy or a teenager. In either case, I'm really excited for them. Starting on electric with a good Tele - that just seems right to me. These days I'm mostly unemotional about...

... and it was smokin'. Wow. The very long official name is "Ltd. Ed. Slash Les Paul Standard Plustop PRO". It would have been a good *Gibson*. Absolutely flawless. Weight-relieved (not usual for Epiphone), so easy on the back. Big ol' neck, for big ol' beautiful tone. I've played other...

https://reverb.com/news/former-gibson-chief-ted-mccarty-on-tonewoods-and-the-problems-of-top-heavy-management I can't help but think that Reverb was commenting slyly on current times with the title, "Former Gibson Chief Ted McCarty on Tonewoods and the Problems of 'Top-Heavy' Management." My...

Here's another amp that can fit on a pedalboard - one 12AX7 tube in preamp, Class D power amp that's 50 watts at 8 ohms and 100 watts at 4 ohms. It's on the large side - 8.5" x 6.5", vs. the Seymour Duncan Powerstage 170 at 5" x 5.24", vs. the Vox MV50 series at 5.3" x 3.9". Of course, there...

In a Guitar Center yesterday, I heard an employee explaining amps to a customer. The employee made 3 claims: "A 100-watt solid state amp only goes up to 100 watts. But the tubes in a 30-watt tube amp actually pushes its power over 30 watts." "A 30-watt tube amp is actually louder than a...

...was no box at all. Seller just stuck a Les Paul in a hardshell case, and put that in the mail. I didn't know you could even do that. Somehow the case/guitar made it from Montreal to New York City to here in SoCal with no damage whatsoever. The case was secured only by a little padlock...

This is my all-time favorite clean tone, and I thought I'd try to get in its ballpark. It reminds me of The Cure. It's beautiful and deep, and, not normally being into clean tones, I have no idea what goes into it. What's going on here? Chorus? Phaser? Some reverb? FYI, this is a Finnish doom...

I came across this nice interview with Robben Ford by Andertons in the UK. Much of the interview has Ford talking about Seymour Duncan products, namely the Palladium pedal (!), and a Custom Shop pickup set (2 Eclair neck pickups!) in his Les Paul. Like his playing, Ford doesn't speak unless he...