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.
Normally, I try to pick up something memorable in January, to celebrate another year of running my own business. It doesn’t always happen, but the idea’s always in the back of my mind when I’m looking at what’s around on the second-hand market.
This month, I picked up just the one item … but it turned out to be very special to me.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: January 2023”I’ve had a lot of success – and a lot of joy – using my Axe-FX 3 to record guitar pedal audio demos. Heck, it sounds so good, it’s my go-to pedal platform all the time now.
Can I do the same with my Synergy rig? Instead of running my Synergy modules through the SYN-5050 power amp + attenuator, can I run them straight into the Axe-FX 3 instead? Can the Axe-FX 3 add a bit of that power amp tonal magic?
I’m going to experiment, and find out.
Continue reading “Studio Diary #37: Can I Use The Axe-FX 3 As A Power Amp For My Synergy Rig?”#CoffeeAndKlon is my (irregular!) Sunday morning magazine series, where I talk about whatever’s on my mind right now. There’s always coffee, and there’s normally chat about the Klon and its many competitors.
Back at the end of September, PRS announced that they were getting into the pedal business. There were three pedals launched, and amongst them was a drive pedal that they called ‘Horsemeat’ … because it’s a Klon-killer.
But is it really? Read on to find out what I think …
Continue reading “#CoffeeAndKlon 34: Is The PRS Horsemeat A Klon-Killer?”I’ve only picked up a couple of new (to me) pieces this month. One of them was a pedal that I’ve been looking for for over a year, so that was nice. The other? It’s a new release, and one that I’m already looking to put onto my board as an always-on pedal.
Definitely a month of quality over quantity.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: December 2022”Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m doing a rundown of what home studio gear I’ve used this year, and why.
Previous years: [2019] [2020] [2021]
Continue reading “2022 Review: Home Studio Gear”Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m doing a rundown of what gear we started with and what gear we ended up with – along with a discussion of why.
Previous years: [2019] [2020] [2021]
Continue reading “2022 Review: Gigging Gear”Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m doing a rundown of what guitars I’ve had my hands on, and what I’ve learned from the experience.
This post covers guitars that I play at home for fun. I’ll cover the guitars that I gig with tomorrow.
Previous years: [2019] [2020] [2021]
Continue reading “2022 Review: Guitars For Home Playing”Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m writing up a rundown of what pedals I’m using, and why.
Previous years: [2019] [2020] [2021]
Continue reading “2022 Review: Pedals”At the end of September, seemingly out of the blue, PRS dropped their first three guitar pedals ever: an overdrive (the Horsemeat), a double-flanger (the Wind Through The Trees) and this one, an optical compressor (the Mary Cries).
Mine has just arrived. What do I think of it? Is it worth the price? Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: PRS Mary Cries Optical Compressor”Earlier this month, I revisited my first-ever tweed-tone pedal: Joyo’s Sweet Baby Overdrive pedal.
Many years have passed since I’ve played one of these. Is it going to be a happy reunion, or am I going to get a crash course in why I replaced it with my beloved Mad Professor Sweet Honey Overdrive?
