Whenever I used to go to the practice rooms to fire up the big amps, I’d end up wearing earplugs to protect my hearing. And even with proper music earplugs, with a little hole to let some through, it sounds way worse than an amp sim at home!
Many tube amps have attenuators or master volumes in them now. Those are pretty good.
yes transparent fuzz is an oxymoron but my faves are the more transparent ones. Keeley fuzz head, monsterpiece npn. No muffs thank you. Bias knobs can help with nuance and you know the volume knob trick right? 
Your VC looks lovely I have a 72 Princeton reverb that works fine in my small flat. I don’t care about my neighbors, or I’ll turn it down if they ever ask. Marshall 1w are WAY louder. I have a jcm1 and jtm1. But these days I mostly jam with my hx stomp and open back headphones…
Yes, was never able to get the tone I liked with the volume knob. But then I haven’t tried in a long time. I expect the RYRA into the SB would be amazing. A few years ago I went nuts on pedals. Then I got all snobby about pure tone and cut them out. Now I use drive-wah, delay on insert. That’s it. Oh and a looper. Sometimes a vibe. And a count to 5. That’s it. Honest.
Got the same idea in london to rip it up. Studios have been closed also and now moving house. Will try again in the summer. Mostly been playing my acoustics which give me great satisfaction.
How do you find the red panda version 2?
For delay, I’m just generally using short delay with my boss dd7 then I typically use echo on my neunaber immerse or use the dry delay effects on my enzo (tbh the enzo delay sounds much better than the other two…) but was thinking of getting a new daddy delay pedal so I can free up the enzo more for doing what it’s supposed to be for and was either going to go back down meris route for a delay then saw this red panda get good reviews (hard to take some YouTube reviews at face value when you know moneys changing hands…). How you find the quality, usability etc? It’s not cheap either - worth it you reckon?
Cheers
The Raster 2 is awesome. I can’t believe how much this pedal can do (delays, pitch shifting, modulation, tremolo, reverse delays, dual delays, ring mod) and how many features are packed in to such a small enclosure. It sounds really good. I don’t really get into pitch shifting, so I always kind of just ignored this pedal because I thought that was mainly what it did.
Let us know how it goes!
Our band rehearsed in a converted auto repair shop/garage in/near central Philly. The drummer had access to this space thanks to his previous band, so we didn’t have to pay to use it. No heating or air conditioning but… it was free!
Yet another vid of a great guitarist playing a cheap guitar. Unfortunately he does not mention the make and model of said guitar.
I have a Kramer Strat-copy that I bought from MusicYo.com for $89. Definitely the worst guitar I ever bought. It just wouldn’t stay in tune after a few seconds of strumming. It would probably need at least $70 worth of replacement parts - tuning machines, nut, etc. - to solve the tuning stability problem. My eventual plan with it is to use it for prepared guitar stuff, ripping off ideas like jamming an object under the strings to turn it into a junkyard koto, sticking a piezo on various spots, etc.
Looks identical to my now gone MiM Strat I traded for my SGJ. Miss that guitar!
If I had to pick between a cheap guitar and an expensive amp or an expensive guitar and a cheap amp, I’d choose the better amp every time.
Cheap guitars (as long as you’re getting something reasonably well-reviewed) mostly just suffer from bad quality control and sometimes from bad components. The vast majority of “bad” cheap guitars can be fixed for free/cheap (setup, etc) or for a modest sum if you really want to dump money into components. All of the Squier Affinity stuff I’ve played at the store is worlds better than some of the junk out there 20+ years ago. Making an amp sound better is a bit of a boondoggle though, and it’s real easy to blow your budget buying pedals to make your cheap amp sound decent.
This was a pretty fun video to watch, and shows just what you are saying. The cheap amp was horrible, but the budget guitar playable. I also heard the term “landfill pedals” here for the first time. Over the years I’ve mostly bought used for getting the most bang for the buck, and definitely don’t like the idea of disposable gear that’s basically impossible to resell and would likely have to be thrown away once the player outgrows it.
On that topic, I started flute lessons about a year ago, and bought a beautiful used (and quite affordable) silver Yamaha flute from the late 70s-early 80s that while being a “student model” stands the test of time as a quality instrument, and has been sort of passed down to me through the used market rather than ending up in a dump somewhere. I actually preferred well-played instruments rather than new out of the box, so it fits me.
Just to save you a few bucks, tuning instability is almost never the machine heads. And you can often rescue a sticking nut, as long as is isn’t filed too deep.
A crappy trem is another story though. I had a beautiful gold Reverend with a Bigsby that would never, ever stay in tune. Now I use a Wilkinson trem, and it never goes out of tune.
Has anyone here got any experience with the Ed O’Brien sig Strat? I have the opportunity to potentially pick one up for a good price locally but wondering if anyone had used one much?
My background is in guitar, but more into electronic stuff at the mo. I was half thinking this could bridge the gap as a ‘synth-like’ guitar for ambient drones etc. it’s basically the same price as a Lyra 8 so considering one or the other (or maybe neither!) but any first hand experience would be good to hear?
I know it had a big neck etc - which is a plus for me.
Set yourself up in a Pachinko arcade. No one will notice some dude with a stack of quads.
Just got one of these Eventide “Mixing Link”. Seems like a nice way to record acoustics with a Mic and add some pedals to the signal 
Oh lord, the pedal gods have smiled on me. I’ve been out of the pedal loop for quite a long time, so this is probably old news to many, but I just found my holy grail fuzz pedal after years of looking.
After scoring that Maestro phaser clone, and still on a high from my Mutron purchase, I thought WTF, let me see if anybody is making an MFZ-1 clone these days. I became obsessed with that pedal years ago. It’s an old Moog-designed op amp fuzz, that was famously used on the Black Keys Big Come Up and Thick Freakness. It’s a unique combination of spitty and soulful. It also sort of reminds me of that honking sound in Magic Sam’s Boogie. Anyway, I never could find one back in the day, and the new Maestro reissue is not it.
So yesterday, I was searching the net and came across the DOD Carcosa, which is based on an even earlier silicon Maestro fuzz called the Maestro FZ-1S, and while it’s not the MFZ-1 I thought I wanted, it’s the exact sound I was looking for and dirt cheap. They are like $100 in the US apparently and like $140 here in Japan. Mind blown.
Not only is it that holy grail sound I described, but it’s way more versatile. It goes from old school overdrive to spitty soulful fuzz to full on doom. The designer Tom Cram is a genius as far as I’m concerned. I’m going to put him up there with the greats. The sweep on the bias knob and filter are absolutely great. Super musical and versatile.
Anyway, sorry for gushing again after gushing over other stuff recently, but I felt this was too good not to share considering the price. The Carcosa, which also gets cool points in my book for the True Detective Yellow King theme, has won all sorts of awards so I’m sure this is probably well-known by lots of people here, so apologies for being totally out of the loop, but yeah it’s awesome. Mine arrived today and I spent a couple of hours straight after work putting it through the paces and I’m so not disappointed. Killer with the Mutron as well, can totally get that Maggot Brain sound.
This is the Carcosa video that made me go, hell yeah. But if that rootsy sound isn’t your thing, it does so much more.
Oh and Magic Sam’s Boogie, just because it’s sort of what this reminds me of and I just cant get enough of his playing.
I’ve pretty much totally have my dream sound sorted now. The Mutron, Carcossa, and Maestro Phaser clone should do me.
Anyway, thanks for putting up with my rambling. It’s good to be playing guitar again.
I’ve really been wanting to buy one. As you mentioned, the bigger neck is a big plus for me too. I’ve been waiting though hoping for a different color (black). The white color is probably one of my least favorite colors on a guitar.
Blues and me aren’t friends, but I’m making an exception for Magic Sam. Awesome stuff.
I owned one of these for awhile; really nice guitar and the sustainer is definitely a great tool for creating soundscapes (especially with a looper and a few effects). Only reason I let it go was to get my Jazzmaster.
