This month has been a very special month. A couple of purchases I’ve been working towards unexpectedly all came together at the same time. And then I learned that you really do need to be careful what you wish for!
The second-hand market remains pretty flat. I did miss out on one of my bucket-list pedals though. It’s going to take me a while before I stop kicking myself over that one. I managed to pickup another great BJFe-designed pedal instead, so it wasn’t all bad š
Fender 57 Custom Deluxe Amplifier
An actual tweed amp. As close as you can get to the original 5e3 circuit without buying a vintage amp. Someone pinch me!
This is what I bought with the money that I’d saved up to buy the Neural DSP Quad Cortex with. I ordered the amp back in March, and when I was originally told November, I just assumed I wouldn’t actually see it until 2022. (Supply chains were looking pretty broken back then.)
Plot twist! Not only did it arrive early, but it turned up right at the start of a short break between jobs. The timing couldn’t have been more fortuitous.
A dream purchase, or a nightmare that’ll finally convince me to give up my love of tweed tone? Here are my (lengthy!) First Impressions.
B&G Little Sister P90 Crossroads
I had a Taylor T5z for a couple of years; I moved it on back in 2019 to fund my home studio upgrade. I didn’t really think anything more of it, until I wrote up its entry in the upcoming Guitar Stories series. By the time I finished writing about the Taylor, I realised that I do actually miss it.
Now, I sold that guitar for good reasons, and I definitely don’t want another one. (If the opportunity came up, I might buy my old one back one day. Maybe.) But I do want another guitar to take its place as the main writing guitar for the all-acoustic covers band that I’m in. I also want something to take the place of my Acoustasonic Telecaster as a travel guitar, for when it’s safe to go away on holiday once again.
My choice? The somewhat unusual and (as far as I know) unique B&G Little Sister. Was it a good choice? And what’s the the whacky name we’ve already chosen for it? Here are my First Impressions.
Fryette Power PS-100 Station Attenuator
The new amp is a bit too loud to really enjoy at home, and there’s no way to turn it down without some external help. I’d normally use one of my Two Notes Captors for this, but they only offer a single, fixed amount of volume reduction. It doesn’t bring the very best out of this amp.
After a lot of research, I decided to go with the Fryette Power Station PS-100 attenuator. Partly because it offers the best control over the volume level, and partly because most of its competitors are out of stock right now.
Was it a great choice for my Tweed Deluxe amp, or is it getting boxed up and sent back for a refund? Here are my First Impressions.
Bearfoot FX Emerald Green Overdrive
Last year, I picked up the Bearfoot FX Emerald Green Distortion Machine. While I thought it was perhaps a niche pedal (for me), I did enjoy it a lot. Right at the end of my First Impressions, I said, “Iām really curious about the OD version of this pedal. Slightly softer clipping might just be what I need. Maybe.”
When one turned up on the second-hand market at an unexpectedly low price, I had to find out.
Is the Emerald Green OD the pedal that I wished the Emerald Green Distortion Machine had been, or is it just more of the same? Here are my First Impressions.