You probably haven’t heard of this guitar. We certainly hadn’t. But once we’d tried one, we were sold.
First Impressions: Vox’s GIULIETTA VGA-3PS Guitar
Studio Diary #27: A New Lease Of Life To My Old Amps
I’m supposed to be rehearsing the four (possibly five) songs for acoustic guitar that I’m aiming to record by the end of the year. However, for the last few weeks, I’ve been lured away by the seductive purr of my guitar amps.
Here are three short narratives on the sirens that have waylaid my acoustic adventures …
Continue reading “Studio Diary #27: A New Lease Of Life To My Old Amps”New Arrivals: July 2021
This month has been a very special month. A couple of purchases I’ve been working towards unexpectedly all came together at the same time. And then I learned that you really do need to be careful what you wish for!
The second-hand market remains pretty flat. I did miss out on one of my bucket-list pedals though. It’s going to take me a while before I stop kicking myself over that one. I managed to pickup another great BJFe-designed pedal instead, so it wasn’t all bad 🙂
Continue reading “New Arrivals: July 2021”First Impressions: B&G Little Sister P90 Crossroads
Earlier this month, I took a trip up to Birmingham to try out a couple of B&G Little Sister P90 Crossroads guitars. I liked them so much, I brought one home with me and named it Merrang! (The exclamation mark is part of the name.)
Why did I get it, and what is it for? Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: B&G Little Sister P90 Crossroads”First Impressions: Fender 57 Custom Deluxe Amp
I’ve finally done it. I’ve gone and bought an actual 5e3 circuit tweed amp. I wasn’t planning on getting one, but when a different planned purchase didn’t happen, I went for it. And then, by an amazing stroke of luck, the amp arrived months earlier than expected – right when I’ve got a short break from work between jobs.
This is going to be one of the longer First Impression posts. I’ve got a lot of notes to share with you, even though I’ve only had the amp a couple of days.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Fender 57 Custom Deluxe Amp”New Arrivals: May 2021
Regular readers are probably bored with me talking about the state of the second hand market here, so I’ll keep that brief. Anecdotally, there still isn’t a lot of second hand gear turning up, and (again anecdotally) it’s becoming more and more common for sellers to list second-hand guitars at above-retail prices. eBay has really cut back on its offers this month too, which probably isn’t helping the situation.
This month, though, there has been a number of interesting (to me) items crop up. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to even think about bidding on them because I’ve been into hospital for an operation, and it’ll be July before I’m fully recovered and able to lift amps and guitars again.
I was able to pick up a couple of pedals off my wish list, thankfully. And this month saw the release of a new guitar that’s completely blown me away. Read on to learn more!
Continue reading “New Arrivals: May 2021”First Impressions: Boss FDR-1 Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb Overdrive Pedal
I recently picked up another of the Boss Legend Series pedals: the FDR-1.
Is this dinosaur of a pedal a dud or a delight? As with its sister pedal the FBM-1, it all depends on what guitar you play … and what you want to use it for.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Boss FDR-1 Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb Overdrive Pedal”New Arrivals – February 2021
It’s been a quiet month.
The second hand market … is a bit weird right now. It’s become all-too common for asking prices to be close to (or even above!) the original retail price. It isn’t just rare or vintage gear that’s seeing high prices, either.
Instead, I’ve focused on trying to make the most of what I’ve already got – especially my Telecasters. I think it’s been a month well spent.
Continue reading “New Arrivals – February 2021”First Impressions: Catalinbread Formula 5F6 Drive Pedal
As regular readers will know, tweed-tone pedals are kind of my thing. Good, bad, or indifferent, I’m always on the lookout for an opportunity to try as many of these pedals as I possibly can. The Catalinbread Formula 5F6 is one of the few that’s in regular production.
The day this was delivered, I was pretty down on it over on my Twitter account. Has anything changed now that I’ve had a bit more time with it? That all depends on what kind of guitar you play …
Continue reading “First Impressions: Catalinbread Formula 5F6 Drive Pedal”Studio Diary #23: Exploring How To Record Finger-style Acoustic Guitar
One of my New Year Resolutions for 2021 is to finally record some music. I’d like that music to be Phase One – the songs I originally wrote back in the early 90’s. Although they were all written on electric guitar, they’re all finger-picking pieces. I think it’ll be cool to record them on acoustic guitar.
Before I can do that, I need to learn how to record acoustic guitar. I haven’t done this before, and I have a lot to learn.
Read on to see what I’ve tried so far.
Continue reading “Studio Diary #23: Exploring How To Record Finger-style Acoustic Guitar”