The Hermit’s Cave – Page 20

12th November 2021

First Impressions: Bare Knuckle Pickups Polymath Bridge Humbucker

I recently bought the newly released Polymath pickup, to go into my old Charvel. I’ve been looking for a bridge pickup that suits both the guitar and me for a long time.

Have I found it?

7th November 2021

First Impressions: PC30 Lovepedal Englishman Clone Overdrive

The photo shows a rather dusty-looking pedal in a black enclosure.

There are two control knobs, labelled Level and Drive. Also shown is a toggle switch, which is (if you zoom in a lot) has settings labelled 'D' and 'S'. — The “PC30”, a one-off Lovepedal Englishman clone.

Back at the end of August, I bought a (I suspect) one-off clone of the Lovepedal Englishman overdrive pedal, called the PC30. It arrived in early September, and I promptly forgot about it 🙁

What is it like? Here are my First Impressions.

16th October 2021

First Impressions: Seymour Duncan Antiquity Tele Bridge Pickup

This photo shows the Seymour Duncan Antiquity Tele bridge pickup, fitted to my Squier Esquire known as The Squirrel.

We can see that the pickup has six flat pole pieces (ie no raised pickup poles at all), in a black bobbin.

The pickup has been distressed to make it look old. So have the screws that came with the pickup. — The Seymour Duncan Antiquity Tele bridge pickup fitted to The Squirrel.

I recently bought a new bridge pickup for one of my cheap-and-cheerful Esquire guitars.

How did I get on with it? Read on for my First Impressions.

10th October 2021

Second Bite: Fender MTG:LA Overdrive Pedal, Through The Marshall DSL20HR

The photo shows Fender's MTG:LA pedal sat on my pedal board, next to an MXR Sugar Drive pedal.

This photo really brings out the brushed copper look of the MTG:LA, as well as the LED pipes that light up each of the adjustable control knobs.

The settings shown in the photo are the ones that I ended up settling on by the end of this blog post.

Top row: Tone at max, Treble at max, Bass at 12 o'clock, Tight at just after 3 o'clock.
Bottom row: Level just under 9 o'clock, Boost Level 12 o'clock, Boost Boost 12 o'clock, and Gain at 9 o'clock. — Fender’s MTG:LA pedal, sat on my board at home

I’ve had Fender’s MTG:LA overdrive pedal for coming up on two years now, and it’s fair to say that it’s largely spent most of that time sat in its box on the pedal shelf. It’s a pedal for Strats and Teles, but I play my Les Paul most of the time.

Last July, I had a go at using additional pedals to shape the tone of the MTG:LA, to try and make it work better with my Les Paul. While I liked the results, nothing really stuck, so the pedal went back onto the shelf.

Let’s give the MTG:LA another go, this time by trying my new secret weapon: the Marshall DSL20HR.

10th October 2021

New Arrivals: September 2021

September has been another quiet month for new arrivals – but not quite as quiet as August was! A couple of interesting (to me) pieces came available at prices that suited me.

What did I get? Read on to find out …

5th October 2021

Short Term Review: Fender 57 Custom Deluxe Amp

How has it been three months already?!? And how am I getting on with my Tweed Deluxe amp?

This photo shows a close-up of my Fender Player Stratocaster, leaning against the front of the Fender Tweed Deluxe amplifier. — The Fender Tweed Deluxe Amp is very photogenic!

13th September 202111th September 2021

First Impressions: Mad Professor Super Black Pedal (Straight Into A Power Amp)

It’s not every pedal that gets not one, but two First Impressions posts here on the HomeToneBlog. In fact, I believe this is the first one that I’ve done this for.

How does the Mad Professor Super Black preamp pedal sound, when I run it straight into a power amp? Let’s find out.

11th September 2021

First Impressions: Mad Professor Super Black Preamp Pedal (Into The Front Of An Amp)

This photo shows a top-down view of the Mad Professor Super Black pedal.

The pedal is rectangular; slightly taller than it is wide.

There are two rows of control knobs. Each row has four knobs.

The top row says: "Bass", "Middle", "Treble" and "Gain". These are all in white lettering.

The bottom row says "Volume" and "Presence" in white lettering. Then there are "Volume" and "Drive" in orange lettering.

Below these controls, there are two toggle switches. The switch on the left says 'Bass Cut' in white lettering. The switch on the right says 'Compression' in white lettering.

There are two footswitches on this pedal. The foot switch on the left says 'ON/OFF' in white lettering. The foot switch on the right says 'ON/OFF' in orange lettering.

The controls in white lettering control the blackface side of the pedal. The controls in orange lettering control the Sweet Honey Overdrive side of the pedal.

Finally, we can see that this pedal has side jacks. The 'IN' jack is on the right of the pedal, and the 'OUT' jack is on the left of the pedal. — Mad Professor’s Super Black Preamp Pedal

I recently managed to tear myself away from my beloved Tweed Deluxe amp long enough to snag a second-hand Super Black pedal. And I swear that I didn’t realise this is (partially!) a tweed pedal when I bought it!

31st August 202124th August 2021

New Arrivals: August 2021

For the first time (that I can remember) since I started this blog, there have been no new arrivals this month.

Last month, I got my bucket-list amp: the Fender 57 Custom Deluxe, and I’ve been enjoying it so much I just haven’t been bidding on any second-hand items that have come up for sale.

Along with that, I’m back working for myself once again. I need to get some invoices raised and paid before I can afford to pay myself any wages, and that’s not going to happen until September.