I recently bought an Umbrella Company Hitchhike Drive pedal.
What do I think of it? Read on for my first impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Umbrella Company Hitchhike Drive”First Impressions: Rockbox Baby Blues Vintage Distortion
I recently picked up one of the pedals on my bucket list: the Rockbox Baby Blues vintage distortion pedal.
What do I think of it? Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Rockbox Baby Blues Vintage Distortion”Studio Diary #54: The Challenge Of Keeping Up With Fractal Audio’s Firmware Releases
‘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.
Today, I want to briefly talk about the consequences of (what is probably) Fractal Audio’s greatest strength: their regular stream of firmware updates to make their products get closer and closer to the real amps that they’re replacing.
Continue reading “Studio Diary #54: The Challenge Of Keeping Up With Fractal Audio’s Firmware Releases”#CoffeeAndKlon 39: A Deep Dive Into The JRAD Archer Clean
#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”First Impressions: LPD Pedals Dutch ’24 Overdrive As A Main Overdrive Pedal
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”First Impressions: LPD Pedals Fifty5 Tweed 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 #50: Dialling In The JTM Amp & Cab
‘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.
Most pedals that interest me will work best into a clean amp – either my 65 Clean preset or (for many tweed-tone pedals) my 57 Vintage preset. Every now and then, though, I take a look at a pedal that’s designed to run into a dirtier amp.
That’s where my JTM preset comes in.
Continue reading “Studio Diary #50: Dialling In The JTM Amp & Cab”Studio Diary #49: The 65 Clean Speaker Toolkit
‘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.
In the last blog post, I went through the amp & cab settings for my 65 Clean pedal platform preset. We’re not quite done with that preset yet though. You see, while testing it, I realised that I needed even more speaker choices …
Continue reading “Studio Diary #49: The 65 Clean Speaker Toolkit”Studio Diary #48: Dialling In The 65 Blackface Amp & Cab
‘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 just finished documenting the thought process behind the scenes that I will use for my beloved tweed tone pedals. Now it’s time to switch my attention to the scenes that most pedals will use: a ’65 Fender “blackface” tone.
Continue reading “Studio Diary #48: Dialling In The 65 Blackface Amp & Cab”Studio Diary #47: Dialling In The 57 Vintage Amp & Cab
‘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.
Over-arching decisions have been made. So without further delay, let’s get into the heart of the pedal platform patch: the amp and cab emulations. And I’m going to start with the tones that are dearest to my heart: a vintage-voiced platform for my tweed-tone pedals.
Continue reading “Studio Diary #47: Dialling In The 57 Vintage Amp & Cab”