Tone. At Home.
Last summer, I bought what is probably the bucket list amp for me: a re-issue of Fender’s legendary Tweed Deluxe amplifier.
Nine months or so later, how am I getting on with it? Was it a good decision, or do I regret paying the perceived Fender tax for an almost 70-year-old amp circuit that’s been heavily cloned?
Continue reading “Short Term Review: Fender 57 Custom Deluxe (aka Tweed Deluxe) Re-Issue Amplifier”Last summer, I bought a Fryette Power Station PS-100 as an emergency purchase, so that I could use my Tweed Deluxe at home volume levels.
Nine months later, how am I getting on with it? Would I buy it again if anything happened to it? And would I recommend it to you? Read on to find out.
Continue reading “Short-Term Review: The Fryette Power Station PS-100”I recently bought a new compressor pedal: Fender’s The Bends. It has a reputation for being a very boring compressor pedal. That’s good: I’m a boring guitar player, and I like boring gear. The question is: is it too boring?
Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Fender’s The Bends Compressor Pedal”This month is a tale of two eras: before land war in Europe, and after the war started.
My plan was to get Hedgehog back in action, and (if they came into stock) pick up a couple of things I felt I needed for some planned recording. And that’s how the month started.
Then Putin launched his invasion of a democratic European nation, while willy-waving his nuclear arsenal at the rest of the world. While we’re almost certainly safe from major consequences ourselves, I decided to bring forward my major planned purchase of the year anyway.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: February 2022”#TweedTalk is my occasional Tuesday column, where I talk about all things related to tweed amps and tweed-tone pedals.
In the recent Black Friday sales, I finally picked up Universal Audio’s Fender 55 Tweed Deluxe amp plugin to add to my collection of tweed tone options.
Is it going to get much use, or am I going straight back to the real amp? Here are my First Impressions.
Continue reading “#TweedTalk 2: First Impressions: Universal Audio Fender 55 Tweed Deluxe Amplifier Plugin”Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m going to do a rundown of what gear we started with and what gear we ended up with – along with a discussion of why.
Previous posts in this series: [2019][2020]
Continue reading “2021 Review: Gigging Gear”Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m going to do a rundown of what guitars I’ve had my hands on, and what I’ve learned from the experience.
This post covers guitars I play at home for fun. I’ll cover the guitars that I gig with tomorrow.
Previous articles: [2019][2020]
Continue reading “2021 Review: Guitars For Home Playing”Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m going to do a rundown of what pedals I’m using, and why.
Previous posts in the series: [2019][2020]
Continue reading “2021 Review: Pedals”Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m going to do a rundown of what amps I’m using for pedal platforms, and why.
Previous articles: [2019][2020]
Continue reading “2021 Review: Pedal Platform Amps”A couple of months ago, I ordered a set of new pickups for my Fender Player HSS Stratocaster. It took a bit of time for them to arrive, and then a bit longer to get them installed.
Now that they’re in the guitar, what are my First Impressions? Read on to find out.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Bare Knuckle Apache & Stormy Monday Pickups In A HSS Strat”