Tone. At Home.
“The Hermit’s Cave” is my little home recording studio. This is a general catch-all tag for anything about me and my gear.
It’s been a very quiet month. I’ve had my head down working on improving my Tweed Deluxe signal chain, and haven’t really been interested in any of the gear that’s come up for sale on the second-hand market this month.
There was one item, though: a new challenger to be my #1 drive pedal.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: October 2025”I recently bought another Sweet Honey Overdrive pedal.
What do I think of it? Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Mad Professor Sweet Honey Overdrive (Hand-wired 2025 Edition)”Last week, I published an updated Tweed Amp Rig price comparison, looking at how much it would cost (here in the UK) to build a Tweed Deluxe rig for home use in 2025.
There was one answer that was too long to fit in that blog post: is it worth you spending that amount of money on a Tweed Deluxe rig for home use?
Today, I’m going to try and answer that question.
Continue reading “#TweedTone: Is A 5e3 Tweed Deluxe Valve Amp Right For You In 2025?”One regret I have over the years is missing out on “limited edition” guitars (especially the early Gibson Collectors’ Choice Les Pauls). I’m not interested in getting one as a collector, and in the past either the timing hasn’t been right or I haven’t known enough about the guitars to feel confident in getting one.
Not this month.
Although, frankly, it sure was made easier because I didn’t have to find Gibson Collectors’ Choice money to get one …
Continue reading “New Arrivals: September 2025”Back in September 2023, in a blog post called “You’ve Got To Be A Huge Fan Of Tweed Tone To Get A Real Fender Tweed Deluxe Amp In 2023“, I looked at the costs of buying a real 5e3 Tweed Deluxe amp here in the UK.
Two years later, I’m wondering: what has changed? How has the price changed … and how have my feelings on the price changed?
Continue reading “#TweedTone: The Cost Of A Tweed Deluxe Amp In September 2025”I’ve just bought myself one of the new Road Worn 60’s Telecasters.
Now that I’ve had it for a full week, what do I think of it? Does it live up to the hype? Read on for my first impressions of my new guitar, which I’ve named Jody.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Fender Vintera II Road Worn 60’s Telecaster In Blonde”This month, the golden gear theme unexpectedly continued, with a bucket-list item that I thought wasn’t made any more and (I’m ashamed to admit) I’d actually forgotten all about.
And I took my first step towards trying to improve as a musician. Well, I tried, but there are problems …
Continue reading “New Arrivals: August 2025”Back in June, I bought a Deluxe55 amp-in-a-box pedal by Origin Effects.
What do I think of it? Here are my first impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Origin Effects Deluxe55 Tweed Recreation”This month’s theme was going to be “retro”. I’ve picked up one of the o.g. Klon klones from before they were a thing, and (effectively) a re-issue of the original Honey Bee circuit.
Then, towards the end of the month, I had the opportunity to get two more pedals from Origin Effects (the one brand that I planned to explore this year). That has added a distinctly modern vibe to go alongside the “retro” theme.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: July 2025”Earlier this month, I picked up one of my holy grail pedals: a Honey Bee OD made by BJFe.
What do I think of it? Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: BJFe Honey Bee OD Retro”