Freedom...

I've been playing guitar for half my life and with that you'd expect that I have acquired a fair amount of skill, and I guess I have. I took lesson for all of three months. I think that this was important. obviously using someone's skill and knowledge to help a learner progress is well-tried and proven way of learning, but after acquiring the use of basic chords and principals I left lesson and went on to learn for myself. I understand that leaving tutelage may inhibit advanced learning, but I felt like the time I spent with the instructor was not showing result like the beginning. 

I have had musical instruction in more ways than one. I learned about the piano from my mother, who plays the piano beautifully, but I wasn't a quick study and traditional music was very difficult to play. When I began going to middle school I joined the band. I have always wanted to play music and it seemed like a natural step. Actually I wanted to join the orchestra and play strings, but my sister convinced me that the instructor was cruel and intolerant. I think she just didn't want to have the same class as her younger brother. It was in middle school that I began to value the guitar. I had a youth minister that in my eyes was the coolest man ever, and he played guitar, so naturally I imitated him. He showed me the three basic chords; G, C, and D. I practiced, to everyone's annoyance, in the living room. Soon after my family moved, but I had already got the bug. They found a local music store that offered lessons and the rest is history. I still learned traditional music in school but in the evenings I learned radio hits on the guitar. I didn't do well in band, but that was fine with me. I joined a another band with my friends from school. However when I told him that I played guitar, he replied, "Great, you can play the drums." He was a cocky son-of-a gun, but he could play the guitar like no one's business. Being the same age and still in middle school I was jealous, but I threw myself into the drums. I got a kit of my own when I turned 14 and I annoyed the family and the neighbors for years. Over the years I've continued my musical development in guitar, drums, bass, piano. I've also been in a few more bands including a (black)gospel choir, for which I played the drums. I've learned and progressed with every new adventure, but recently I found myself stunted.

So why is this blog called "freedom"? Lately I've been bored. I don't really have the money to spend on the newest project I've found. I want to build a pedal from one of these DIY pedal sites. I don't know if it's really worth all that they say it is, but thats another blog. For the longest I've always had issues with laying down a best solo. Recording is always I little kinder than live situations in the fact that you can redo a take, but I have no confidence in what I play live because I never can remember that good solo lick I played in rehearsal and the major scale is just not that exciting. So I play a little four not solo that goes nowhere. Well, not anymore, I've came across just what I need at this point in my musical development. The Pentatonic Scale. I know what your thinking, you know the pentatonic but applied correctly it can become the basis for great lead licks. I've been watching some youtube videos and most of what I'm seeing is based around the pentatonic. This last weekend I tried out the pentatonic over some rock tunes and I got some looks like, "where did that come from". Slap some wah on that and you got instant rock 'n roll. 


Here's a little diagram I borrowed from learn-guitar-online.com

BBE Acoustimax Sonic Maximizer

If your wonder why I've blogged three times in one day, well, its because its my day off and I've been busy.

Here is one of my favorite pedals, The BBE Acoustimas Sonic Maximizer. I know that it sounds cheesy, but it really does the job quite well. The first thing I thought when I saw the pedal was, "Thats for an acoustic?" I mean, you'd think that a pedal with that many knobs to turn would be for a tone-tweaking gear-head lead guitarist, but you're wrong. Its really a DI box with the works plus a sonic maximizer thrown in for good measure.

The best view of this thing is from the rear. Its like a swiss army knife, safe for the cork screw. Its got your Ground life and DI Out, phase, pad like you might expect to find on a regular DI but it also features and extra line out, FX loop and tuner out. For tone purist that don't have a tuner with analog true by-pass then this gives you an option get that tuner out of the chain.

The only down side is that it doesn't fit in your case. I mean, it needs a case of its own. This thing is large and heavy. But its about the only thing you really need to carry with you, besides your guitar that is. The sounds are great and the features can't be beat.

Another reason I like this thing so much is that I got it cheap. I paid less than half price for mine and it was new. Although I think it may have been a 2nd, or remanufacture. I started having trouble with it powering off unexpectedly. I thought it could be a short in the PS but turns out that the ribbon on the circuit had broke right at the adaptor port. A little extra solder and its as good as new, well almost. I have to switch the jacks around. When I reassembled the pedal I switched them around. The inputs in the output kinda of thing, but it back up and working, thus the reason for the post.

Modtone Vintage Wah vs Dunlop Original Wah

So if you are a fan of the Wah then you probably know all about the dunlop wahs. They range from the simple Original that will cost you $70 to the rack-mounted unit setting you back 600 bucks. They have all sorts of signature wahs and ones that make you sound like Jimi Hindrix, but what about the good old original.

I like to kick it old school. I am not a fan of modular this or signature that, so when I look at pedals I like analog and true by-pass. A wah can "funk" up you sound really well, but when its off I want it to stop funking around with my tone. Fans of the original Dunlop wah have often complained about the lack of true by-pass. There are lots of places to find kits and direction on how the mod your original wah, but why buy something that you have to mod. Price? well lets see...

The Modtone. I like Modtone, I'm just going to lay that out there. They make good pedals, of which I own three. Chorus, Volume, and Wah. The Modtone wah is almost identical to the dunlop. Save for one thing, the LED. The LED is one of the major complaints about the Dunlop Wah. You don't know if it is on or off unless you play through it. This can be kind of impractical in a live situation. When it comes to features, the Modtone Wah wins.

Lets break it down and see which pedal is better.

Features: Modtone
(as we mentioned before, the whole LED thing)
Tone: Modtone
(The Dunlop make a nasty nasally sound when the toe is down and there isn't a whole lot of bass when the heel is down. The Modtone does a nice job of keeping it even)
True By-pass: Modtone
(honestly, the Modtone has True by-pass circutry, not exactly true mechanical by-pass but more so than dunlop)
Sweep: Modtone
(The Dunlop wah almost jumps to one side or the other. This doesn't produce a good sweeping wah sound. The Modtone gives you a pronounced wah, almost like someone saying "wah" huh, go figure.)
Price: Tie (same price $69.99)

As you can see, the Modtone takes the cake for the exception of price where they split the cake.

Time To Learn

I've Spent a good bit of time away from this blog, and for that, if anyone still reads, I'm sorry. I know that there isn't a huge following of this blog but still I should keep it up to date.

I do have a little tidbit of knowledge for anyone that cares. I was killing some time this morning and I came across a video that was very helpful. It explained some thing in a way that made it very clear to me. Its about scales and leads and whatnot. I hope that it helps you, I know it sent me into the other room for some jam-time.

Enjoy.


Blues Guitar Lesson: Major Pentonic Blues Licks

ps... I couldn't stop it from auto-playing so now I just posted the link so that those who visit the page wont be greeted by an add for reboks or a shotgun or something. Check it out just the same!

The Badder Monkey Mod, Stage 1

I previously posted about the Digitech Bad Monkey and the possible mods that can be done. I have completed the first phase of the mod. I have switched the .049uf C5 Capacitor for one that is rated .1uf. The sonic difference in noticeable, but not everything I was hoping. I plan to strengthen the change by swapping the .1uf cap for one that is .15uf, thus flattening the mid-hump a little more. Also, I want to hear the difference when the bass is strengthened by exchanging it with a higher rated capacitor. The more I work on this pedal the more I want to do. The strength in this pedal rests in the high and low knobs. It is was sets the Bad Monkey apart from the standard Tube Screamer and the clones. So far the changes have breathed a little more life into a pedal that is loved by some and hated by others. Is there a true "fix" for this pedal? Or is it just "perfect for some"?

Badder Monkey Mod, Stage 2

 I'm pretty excited about Stage 2 of the Bad Monkey Mod. In this stage I've exchanged the C11 Cap for a .1uf instead of a .049uf Cap. I don't pretend to understand why these element change the sound, but they sure do. The step increases the bass response. The change is Very noticeable. I spend a considerable amount of time testing out the new features of the pedal post-mod. The tonal features are a far cry from where we began. It might just find its way back onto my pedal board.

Secondly, on the stage of the mod, I've done a little cosmetic work. I changed out the old red LED for a yellow one. I actually had to solder it in twice. Evidently it has to be put in a certain way, positives and negatives and whatnot. The LED was rated for 2 volts which I thought to be a bit too much. The pedal only draws 9 volts. The LED is a little faint. It may be due to a resister before the LED. I could change it out for one that lets a little more power to the light, but that may result in a popping sound when toggling the pedal on and off.

Most of the changes have been on the inside but heres a picture

The Best Deal I've Seen...

... might be something that is easy to over look.

I also stop by the dollar (or thrift) sections with my wife at the stores we shop at. Well, one day I noticed that Target had batteries in the dollar section. I don't have very many battery powered devices, but I never seem to have one when I need it. This is never more true when I am playing music. There is a certain DI Box that you can only power by 9 volt batterie. The only problem is that 9 volts are not cheap. A 2-pack of energizer is going to run you 5 bucks. So when I saw a 2-pack of 9 volts for a buck I stocked up. I have a large and growing pedal board and although I prefer to power it with a 1Spot from Visual Sound, a run of batteries is sometimes necessary. It would set me back 15 dollar to power the set board on 9Vs, but with this little find I can do it for three.

This is a great find for anyone powering your board or just a single pedal and don't want to invest in a power supply.

Bad Monkey Mod

As far as I can tell the only modding that is really done to this pedal is switching out some capacitors for higher or lower value to effect the tone. I'm totally new at the whole modding ball game but this is what I've found out so far.

If you remove the Capacitor at C5 and replace it with one rated at .1uf then you can flatten the EQ of the pedal. Cutting the mid will give the pedal a transparent sound. If you want to cut the mids even more you can use a Cap with a rating of .15uf.

I pointed out the C5 Cap. It was a little of a wheres waldo. It is right between the knobs and the input jack.

Her are the solder points for C5. Not that hard to find, but its worth pointing out. Just under the knobs there.

There is also a mod for more bass. I'm not sure that this one is as popular as the mid-cut but I'll show it anyways in case you may want to add some bass to you Bad Monkey. Basicly you just follow the same routine. In this case you are changing the Cap at C11 with (again) a .1uf (or .15uf if you like) Cap and then you have bass boost. So Much Bass...

Pictures!

This one is much easier to find. Its basic the lowest thing on the right side.

Flip it over and there you go. The solder points. Pretty easy to find this time.

I haven't actually done this yet, but this is a common mod. You see this mod in the Humphrey Audio "badder monkey" on ebay for 100+ dollars. I bought mine a number of years ago for 40 From Musicians Friend. I't been kicked off the Pedal board because I don't need another "green" style OD when I have my Visual Sound Rout 66. But I may do the mod and use it for a boost or just as another color OD.

Like mods? Try one of these: Boss GE-7, Boss BD-2, Boss TR-2

GIMP 2

... I know it isn't musical but I would like to share my frustrations with you.

I don't know if there are any of you out there that like the little program, but it is driving my up a freaking wall. I though Photoshop was a tough cookie to crack. I would love to be able to run PS on the computer but sadly Adobe is pretty smart and they only let you put the software of 2 computers. I'd love to disable whatever it is that lets them know that you are running it on more computer than to...

I bet I could do most things that I use PS for in GIMP 2 but I really don't want to take the time to learn. The program really is gimpy. The feature that you are used to in PS don't exist in GIMP 2. Crap, some of the features you are used to in Paint aren't in GIMP. I started using GIMP 2 when Adobe got wise and I wanted to do a little editing of a picture for a website. I ran into GIMP years ago when my father, I Lynx fan, showed me a program that was just as good as Photoshop. I didn't know a thing about PS back then so i was starring at greek. Most recently, I though  I might use GIMP 2 to do what Adobe won't let me on this computer. Frustration, frustration, frustration is just about all I get out of this crap. Lynx is great at putting together programs, but the limited features make it seem like they do half the job.

GIMP 2 Leaves me completely unsatisfied.

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is an advanced drum machine for GNU/Linux. It's main goal is to bring professional yet simple and intuitive pattern-based drum programming. According to http://www.hydrogen-music.org/.

Its free, or at least it was free when I downloaded it a couple years ago. Recording acoustic drums in a room-studio is a pain. I have no budget for mic kits and stands and a mixer to handle all the mics. (not to mention the fact that room it's self is not at all acoustically designed for this) So a good drum machine is the best thing for getting tracks together in a days time. If done right, all you notices is that your drummer isn't all that creative. Don't get me wrong. I'd rather have live drums played by a pro than a segments of drum loops, but you gotta do what you gotta do. There are some free DMs out there on the web, and some that you pay out the but for. Obviously Hydrogen is not the top of the line be-all to end all, but it does make for a good starting point. I've had a little trouble getting new kits to load, so that means I'm stuck with the stock sounds. For stock sounds, they aren't that bad. With a little work this program could be a powerful little tool for the artist with more creativity than funds. The controls are intuitive, and pretty in depth. You can Eq and adjust levels (and other variants) for each sound. There are lots of nerdy/tweaky things, but I leave that alone for the most part. I give this program my seal of approval. Not bad for free!

Audacity

So I came about this program about five years ago, that tells you how up-to-date it is, and it actually does quite well. It is a recording program. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles that some of the expensive, fancy programs, but for a piece of freeware it does the job. It's called Audacity and I've used it with great success. Recording and basic editing can be done very intuitively with it's simple interface. Selecting, Cutting, Pasting, Deleting, Adding silence, and tons of other operations are quick and painless. It even has tools like Eq, reverb, noise canceling, and others. I use it for the simple editing of multiple tracks and easy to understand interface. I'm a big fan of simple. Check them out: http://audacity.sourceforge.net

Do you have a word for your fans? Astronaut.

I'm not sure if that is a factual quote, but it is a line in the movie "I'm Not There". A film about the life of Bob Dylan. I'm not sure if I can really recommend this film. I frankly didn't enjoy the movie, but it was artfully filmed and edited to be a quandary or riddle. I don't mind movies that make me think, I enjoy then actually, but this one was a little more bent to the bizarre. Dylan is played for 6 actors, none of them are actually named Bob Dylan. and they each represent a phase of persona of Dylan. To make things worse, the film has no feeling of timeline or structure. Consecutive scene can display portions of Dylan life that are decades apart. In short, it was a head trip. To make things worse, I'm not even that big of a Dylan fan, and maybe less of one now. Although I may do some light reading on the life and times of the man for kick and grins. Maybe listen to some of his songs as a whole and, if I feel a little folky, I may pick up an acoustic and play a song of his.

As a film go, I'd give it 3 of 5 Stars. But Dylan wouldn't care anyways...

My Pedal Rigg

So, here it is. The key to my sound. I bet you are just dying to know. I look at it now and personally, I'm not that impressed. I mean, I just transferred my pedals to a larger board and it looks way to big for the few pedals I have. See for your self.

As you can see. Pretty Simple. Going right to left: Modtone Wah, Modetone Chorus, Visual Sound Rout 66 OD and Compression, Modtone Volume Pedal, Boss DD-20 Delay, Boss TU-2 Tuner. I like to keep the effects simple. I don't like putting anything on my board that I could see my self using in nearly every set I play. Its just too much of a hassle to put everything you own on one board and haul it around with you. I have a single Power supply (visual sound 1Spot) I've used it for the last five year and its still running strong. I plan on looking into getting a couple of pedals to help flesh out the board; boost, tremolo, and maybe another OD to place post volume pedal.

So if you have any suggestion, I'd love to hear them.

The Telecaster

Many years ago there was a man named Leo Fender. He was a man's man. He made things when his hands. There was a vast fascination with music and music in those days was live and acoustic. Any type us amplification of instrument was crude and mostly ineffective in a live setting. Loud volumes were accomplished by multiples of the same instrument playing the same note at the same time. The face of the modern "band" was changing and Leo was greatly aware.

The first guitar the Fender musical instrument company ever produced was called the esquire. The Shape and line are that of the present day telecaster. The instrument was a hit and many musician flocked the the sturdy, reliable, and cheap new instrument. The popularity gave Leo the latitude that he needed to move forward with the two pick-up version of the esquire, The Broadcaster. I know what your thinking. An Esquire with two pick-ups is a Telecaster. Well, the broadcaster's realise got a lot of attention, even the attention of the established Gretsch instruments. They already had trademark a line called Broadkaster. The claimed that the Broadcaster guitar infringed upon that. So the name was changed to "Telecaster".

So the Telecaster was born. Thank goodness, because I would have no idea what I would spend all my money on if it weren't for Leo Fender and his amazing instrument. But since the induction of the Telecaster there has been many models and changes made the guitar. The original Telecaster came with three saddle. The adjustable intonation was relative. Later model changed to six saddles for a more precise set-up. Many combinations of woods, and hollow bodied models have been produced. The Telecaster has worn just about every hat in the book, which adds to the reason I love this particular piece of gear. My Tele.

My First Telecaster was a standard model (made in Mexico) and I still play it. I've owed it over 12 years now. It has seen many places and has been through it all with me. I've replace pick-ups, input jacks, pots, wires, and strap buttons. Its been slung across a room and into a wall. I think toothpicks and wood-glue hold it together and I wouldn't trade it for the world. It still plays like a dream.

My next Tele was a gift from my wife. A Tele Deluxe. Double humbuckers in a Tele, its like awesomeness in awesomeness. I was given that guitar about a year ago now. It seems like a long time but it's just now getting broken in. It has gotten its first sticker (and that was a 6+ month process). Now its just a matter of time before I find the right gauge of string and peg the set-up.

My last Tele (actually belongs to my wife) is a Tele Custom with P-90's. I haven't really had that much to do with P-90 Pick-ups but I thought this would be a good way to learn, plus the guitar looked good and it was a Tele. When my wife picked it out at the store and told me she wanted it I just had to let her have it.

The Telecaster is an amazing instrument worthy of the praise given here, but it is far from the perfect guitar. I would rather play a Tele but other swear by there axes just I do mine. The best thing is to get out there and play them. See what feels right to you. I own, and have owned, many types of guitars and there's just no getting around it. I'm a Tele player.


Continue reading here...

My Newest Piece Of Gear...

... is the Modtone MT-VOL Xcelerator Volume Pedal .

I know its not the most exciting piece of gear but it really is a valuable and often overlooked piece of gear. Yeah, the guy who has a massive pedal collection is going to have one, and many people may consider a volume pedal as a luxury or maybe redundant, after all, why not just use the knob on the guitar. Well these are all good points, but those who know how to use a volume wisely can explore new and interesting sound that were impossible, or at the very lest, very difficult to do with out one of these pedals.


Swells: I know that these are possible with your volume knob, but they are a pain. Personally, my hand doesn't work well enough to pull of great sounding swells just by using the volume control on my Tele. Pedals are right there at your feet waiting for there moment to shine.


Muting/ Silent Tuning: If you haven't already gotten a tuner with a silent tuning feature, or if you don't want yet another pedal between you and your amp. Often a volume pedal (such as the Modtone MT-VOL Xcelerator Volume Pedal) has a aux out that stays hot even when the output is muted (heel down). Silence when you need it is just as important as the noise you'll be making.


Chain Placement/Gain control: Like many guitarist I use the Gain on my amp to create a dirty sound, but I also use an overdrive pedal to add distortion and volume (kind of a double wammy). I've chosen an atypical spot for my volume. It is after my overdrive and before my delay. This way I can play with swells in my delay and control my overdriven sound without effecting the distortion. Although the gain from the amp will be effected. I can still control the amount of distortion the pedal is producing with the volume on my guitar (hey, Im not a virtuoso but I can still tweak it is mid-play). So in short, the pedal controls the amps gain, and the volume on the guitar can tweak the pedal and overall line signal.


A volume pedal is a great tool to have. This one is a passive modal, so it takes no juice to operate. Thats great because I'm out of room on my One Spot Chain (also a great piece of gear). Another reason I'm so excited about the particular piece of gear is that I picked it up on Amazon for what under MF's price. Shop around, there are better deals out there than the big guys, but buyer be ware, some seller are not on the ball! In the corse of this blog I convened my self I should now use my aux out for my tuner and run from my delay to the amp. Soon I hope to post a blog about my rig and what/why I use the gear that I do.


Till Next Time

Bugera V22 22W 1x12 Tube Guitar Combo Amp

This is only a teaser. I don't own this amp, but I have given it a fairly good run through and so far I'm impressed. It has two channels running through an all-tube amp. These amps are cheap and china-made, but the sounds they produce don't lie. The sounds are good, but some what limited. The 22 watt version breaks up a little too early to play much outside the bedroom. It will get volume but at the cost of your clean tone. Serious musicians would be advised to get the heavier-watt model. As for a bedroom/recording amp aimed at getting nice vintage "brown" tones, this is a solid contender. (of corse you can add pedals, mod, and tweaks and a whole world of options opens up) Its not the greatest amp I've played through, but it has some serious bang of the buck. If you are interested then I would suggest finding one and playing through it. The quality control may be and issue since they do descend from behringer. I'd like a 2x10 or 2x12 model combo, but then again I'd end up replacing the speakers in the cab any way.

The sounds are nice and the potential is there, plus it looks cools...

Aphex Acoustic Xciter Pedal

... if you are serious about playing live acoustic guitar you probably have heard a lot of things about would you should and should do to your signal. Some people think that if you drop the cash on an amazing instrument then it should do whatever you need it to with no questions asked. Others want control over their sound no matter the environment they find themselves playing in, If you've ever played acoustic in a live setting then you know that the sound guy is going to want to plug you in the mains. In order to do that you first have to convert your 1/4 inch into a xlr. Sure they make 30 dollar boxes that do this, but thats not a whole lot of fun.

The Dirt: First of all, what in the world does an "xciter" do? I really don't know. You see the knobs; lo tune, lo blend, hi tune, hi blend, but what really goes on when you hit that little shinny button. It works almost like an Eq, but it also adds compression. Pick noise is a little more evident. And even more so if you are heavy on the hi blend. Its obvious that this pedal is purposed to add a broader range of frequencies. But then again, I'm not exactly sure what all its doing to accomplish that, and that is a little unsettling.

The Goods: Besides the fact that I'm not sure what all this pedal technically does, I love the way it makes my guitar sound. It adds a punch to the sound. Its not the solution to every problem, and it can cause feedback in many situations, but if you acoustic signal is a little thin, this pedal will put some meat on them bones. Or a whole lot of meat if you'd like. Don't think that this just adds low end. It also adds hi end. In fact, the hi end is more like the presence knob you find on some (better) amps. Its like the knob that other amps leave off, the high hi-end. Then the lo-end is the same in reverse. Its lower than the low on your guitar's Eq

In summery, this pedal is good. It does good things to the sound of acoustic guitar sounds and is in my line when I play acoustic live through a system. Its compact and fits in my guitar case. It can act as a DI or be powered by phantom power (neat trick). Down side is that when you use phantom power, it will need another box to convert to xlr. The unit is a little steep for what it does. 150 from MF, but I found one of ebay for less than half.

This Might Get Loud

I know that a documentary isn't a piece of musical gear, but a film consisting of Jimmy Page (led zeppelin), The Edge (U2), Jack White (The White Stripes and whatever he did after the white stripes) should be of any guitarist interests in one way or another.

I know how you value my opinion so highly, so your dyeing to find out my thought on this film. Well, don't worry, I will tell you. Jimmy Page is no doubt one of the more legendary guitar players. The Edge is built up as a "sound architect". He uses a lot of pedals and sound gear. Thats interesting, but what's behind all that gear processing and changing his sound. Jack White is my main interest. He's turned the contemporary idea of what makes a great musician. on its head.

The film begins with Jack White at a dilapidated porch. There is a board, nails, and a coke bottle. Jack builds an instrument and plugs it into an amp, then plays a tune with a slide. This is amazing. The entire film is worth the watch for this scene. The film gives a look into the players philosophies on music. The looks at the gear these guys use is enough to make most players mouth's water.

I recommend this film to anyone who has a interest in the guitar or any of the band/musicians in the film. It gets a little dry at times but there are spots that are real gems.

My Newest Piece Of Gear

...is The Visual Sound V2 Series V2RT66 Route 66 Overdrive and Compression Guitar Multi Effects Pedal.
I Live by a set of rules and one of those rules is: No Multi Effects Pedals. This is not your normal Multi Effects. It is really 2 pedals in one casing. The two effect work totally independent of one another.

Compression is an easily over looked effect. Some may shy away because they may think that it squashes the tone and yes it definitely can BUT if used properly (and if the effect unit is worth its weight) then one can enhance there sonic achievement by judicious use of a compressor.


Overdrive is a commonly use effect that gets called everything but overdrive. I like to think of it as dirt. A little bit can really be cool, too much and its just a huge mess. I'm not a fan of Distortion, but that does mean that I don't like to get heavy. I think that your sound should come from where its supposed to com from, Your Amp. Overdrive (and really all distortions) come from your line (unamplified) signal being too strong to be processed properly by the amp. Many things can effect the handling of this signal; such as the wiring, capacitors, and routing of the signal. That's a bunch of technical talk for, "Good sound comes from good amps." No Pedal is going to make your amp sound better. They will defiantly make it sound different, but that's not exactly better.


So how does this pedal stack up? Very Well. Both sides of this pedal do what they should do. The overdrive is tuneful. Not fissy. It can go from Tame to Saturated very well... It also responds to your volume control and playing weight very nicely. Compression is something I use very lightly. In most cases I use it to brighten, boost and cut. But I've also been able to enhance me technical playing by using the compression to extenuate

the note that would have gotten lost otherwise. This Pedal has quickly become one of my most used and favorite pedals and has found a full-time spot on my pedal board. Although its not a metal-head's choice, but for just about everything short of metal it can be useful.


Visual Sound V2 Series V2RT66 Route 66 Overdrive and Compression Guitar Multi Effects Pedal, Highly recommended.

Intro:

I bet your asking your self, "Why is there another blog about Music Gear. Honestly, I think that there is too much hype about gear and catch phases and fads. We need to hear the truth about this junk that everyone is running out to the store and buying so that they can sound like the "Heroes of Guitar"



Who am I? Just one of the millions of those smitten by the music. Someone that is ever searching for the next sound that "fits" In the following blogs I will discuss the devices of our craft. I will pull no punches and let you know exactly what they can and can not do.


My resume`? I've been playing guitar for half my life soon followed by the drums, and bass. I've played in worship bands, metal bands, Punk Bands, School Bands, Gospel Choirs, Acoustic rock group, Jam Bands, and just about everything else inbetween. I've been recording for the last five years and have learned the ropes in sound reinforcement and engineering. I've played everything I could get my hands on for the last Twelve years, now I'd like to publish my findings.


If you have any question feel free to comment. Hope this does sound like bragging, and maybe I can help in some way to better your musical endeavors.