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.
I had a (very minor!) bit of emergency surgery at the end of July, which really limited how much time I could spend with the guitar this month. At the time this is published, I’m pretty close to being fully recovered, and looking forward to getting a few more blog articles written.
I did pick up a couple of pieces of gear to try. It’s fair to say that I had mixed feelings afterwards …
Continue reading “New Arrivals: August 2024”#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.
Always the bridesmaid, but never the bride … until now. It’s time that I finally take a deep dive into (perhaps) the most unusual Klon klone that’s out there.
Today, I’m discussing the JRAD Archer Clean.
Continue reading “#CoffeeAndKlon 39: A Deep Dive Into The JRAD Archer Clean”Recently, I picked up a JHS Notaklön overdrive pedal.
What do I think of it? Read on for my initial thoughts.
Continue reading “First Impressions: JHS Pedals Notaklön”I recently picked up a Blue Bee Overdrive (4 knob version), or BBOD4K for short, by One Control.
What do I think of it? Read on for my (shorter than usual) First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: One Control Blue Bee OD 4K Mini (BBOD4K) Overdrive”This is a second (and lengthy!) look at the LPD Pedals Dutch ’24 that I recently bought.
I’ve already written a First Impressions on the Dutch ’24. In that, I said that I’d briefly tried it as a main overdrive, and was a bit meh about it. (You should definitely go and read that post. I was very happy with how it helped me address the top-end of position 4 on my Strat.)
When used as a main overdrive, I’m finding the Dutch ’24 both incredibly familiar and – at the exact same time! – quite different too.
It’s been bugging me ever since.
So I spent a couple of evenings at the start of the week comparing the Dutch ’24 against other pedals aimed at the blues-rock market.
Along the way, I fell in love with how the Dutch ’24 is its own thing.
Continue reading “First Impressions: LPD Pedals Dutch ’24 Overdrive As A Main Overdrive Pedal”I recently bought a LPD Pedals Dutch ’24 Overdrive pedal.
What do I think of it? Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: LPD Pedals Dutch ’24 Overdrive”I recently bought a LPD Pedals Fifty5 overdrive pedal.
What do I think of it? Here are my First Impressions.
You might want to grab a drink for this one. There’s a lot to cover, as the Fifty5 has three different tone characteristics to explore …
Continue reading “First Impressions: LPD Pedals Fifty5 Tweed Overdrive”‘Studio Diary’ is an occasional series where I talk about building a home recording setup for hobbyists and enthusiasts like us. I share my personal experiences, and the thinking behind some of the decisions that I’ve made along the way.
Fractal Audio have recently overhauled their amp modelling in the Axe-FX 3 / FM-9 / FM-3. And my recent dive into the Orange Getaway Driver has shown me that I need to revoice my signal chain. I’m taking this as an opportunity to re-evaluate everything about the pedal preset I’ve built for the Axe-FX 3.
Now that I’m done with the gain-staging, I want to quickly cover level-matching scenes within the preset. I promise: this will be a much shorter post!
Continue reading “Studio Diary #52: Level-Matching The Pedal Platform Preset”‘Studio Diary’ is an occasional series where I talk about building a home recording setup for hobbyists and enthusiasts like us. I share my personal experiences, and the thinking behind some of the decisions that I’ve made along the way.
Fractal Audio have recently overhauled their amp modelling in the Axe-FX 3 / FM-9 / FM-3. And my recent dive into the Orange Getaway Driver has shown me that I need to revoice my signal chain. I’m taking this as an opportunity to re-evaluate everything about the pedal preset I’ve built for the Axe-FX 3.
I’ve dialled in the amps and cabs for my 57 Vintage, 65 Clean and JTM pedal platform presets. Now I want to (briefly) explore the topic of gain-staging, and how it impacts my pedal platform preset (if at all).
[It turned out not to be a brief exploration at all – Ed]
Continue reading “Studio Diary #51: Gain-Staging Through The Pedal Platform Preset”Another month, more tweed-tone pedals for me to try. What’s not to like?
Continue reading “New Arrivals: June 2024”