Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
Custom “Peavey Renown” 160watt Guitar Amp/ Half Stack
I was looking around at some of my old gear in my basement the other night, trying to figure out what I have and what I could probably stand to replace. I came across a really, really powerful Peavey Renown combo amp that I never use because it has blown speakers and suddenly found myself reasoning this way:
In a perfect world:
- The Peavey Renown is such a great, powerful, classic amp and I would LOVE to be able to use it. I always considered this the ultimate jam-space amp and was very welcome in my guitar gear.
But there is an issue:
- It’s going to cost me more than 300 bucks to get decent, powerful enough replacement speakers. At that cost, I may as well bite the bullet and get a new amp.
Hmmm… Now, what do I have lying around?
- There is a 4×12 Peavey speaker cab that I don’t use much
- A new shiny skill saw with various other power tools that I’m itching to use
- A few pints and a Viking instinct
Ibanez JS100 – Joe Satriani signature series. Awesome guitar!
I’m a big Joe Satriani fan. In fact, most of the guitar players I know share some sort of appreciation for what he has done. Personally, “Satch” was one of the biggest influence on my playing while growing up. I spent countless hours, sitting in my bedroom, playing an old B.C. Rich over “Surfing With the Alien” and trying to make it sound like the recording. Needless to say, I’ve been playing for twenty years and still can’t do most of what he can. Joe is the man!
Anyways, being the fan that I am, I decided to pick up one of his signature-series Ibanez electric guitars a few years back. I love his tone and thought that playing that guitar would be one step closer to achieving that sound. I was not let down. The second I plugged it in, I could tell that this guitar was definitely something special.
I’ve owned many guitars. From a 70′s Gibson Flying V, to a 50′s Sears Silvertone, I’ve spent a decent amount of time paying a wide variety of instruments. The Ibanez JS100 has one of the warmest tones, and silky smooth fretboards of any guitar I have ever played. I mean it, this thing is awesome.
Green Day 21st Century Breakdown – Epic Win
If you’re a Green Day fan like me, you were probably a little hesitant to hear the new record “21st Century Breakdown”. I mean come on, the previous release “American Idiot” was such a monumentally awesome album – It seemed a tough act to follow. In fact, I’d almost say it was so good that I’d give the band a “get out of jail free card” for the follow-up record. Even if they had released “American Idiot 2 – Electric Boogaloo” I’d probably be ok with it.
Album Review: Well, I’ve had the new record “21st Century Breakdown” for a few days now, played it through in it’s entirety three times, and I just have to say…
Like American Idiot was, 21st Century Breakdown is different, melodic, catchy, and basically an awesome record!
I really, really dig this record more each time I play it. It’s not really a huge leap from American Idiot. In fact, I see it as sort of a sister record. One thing that stands out to me is that the songs seem very.. um.. mature for Green Day. The harmonies are awesome, the melodies are great, and I feel like the band reached out of their standard formula a little when writing it. I mean, I’m not saying the record is unlike any other Green Day album. That’s not the case. If I had never heard any of 21st Century Breakdown before, walked into a bar and heard another band covering one of the tunes, I would instantly know it was a Green Day song. But, the writing just seems a little more thought out.
“Hopelessly Lost” added to Radio Paradise listener review channel
Radio Paradise (internet radio station I really like) allows people to upload songs for consideration. If they get approved, they get added to the rotation. There are three steps in this process:
1 – The DJs give each submission a quick listen and decide if it’s even a possible match for their station. Most (they get hundreds a month) get a “sorry” at this step – meaning they declined the song.
2 – If the DJ approves the song, it gets added to list and played on a “listener review channel (LRC)” radio stream. Users rate the songs on this channel as either good or bad.
3 – Over a bit of time, if there are enough “good” ratings, the song gets added to rotation on the main Radio Paradise stream. Radio Paradise has a massive audience around the world.
The other day, after receiving a few compliments regarding some of my recordings, I said screw it and uploaded “Hopelessly Lost” for consideration.
Well…
Line6 Spider III 120 – probably the best guitar amp I’ve ever heard
I’ve been pondering buying a new guitar amp for a while now. I currently use this old Crate Guitar Combo Amplifier that I bought off a friend like six years ago. It’s good and all, but the clean channels crackle and the effects are only fair. I want to begin recording some tracks in my basement and the sound from the Crate just isn’t what I am looking for. I’ve had it for years, driven it hard, and it owes me nothing. I guess it’s time to move on.
Over the years I’ve developed what I consider to be a unique progressive funk-rock style of playing. When it comes to electric guitar, I primarily play my Gibson Les Paul Studio. For my sound, I like strong mid-range, a decent amount of gain, and rarely use any effects aside from reverb. I’m not sure why, but I’ve had this mental block about muddying up the guitar tone with needless effects. It’s strange, I’m a huge Joe Satriani fan and he uses a bunch of effects. I guess I’ve always thought that he just uses them with a certain level of “taste” that other guitar players, myself included, just can’t seem to be able to duplicate. For me, too much effect can ruin the sound. For example, in my opinion Steve Vai just seemed to pile up the effects layers as high as he could, like someone buying a big truck or fast car to make up for something. Needless to say, I was never a big Steve Vai fan. (Go ahead, start the hate mail… 
)
Noise-canceling headphones for musicians
I’m a guitar player and have a basement full of antiquated gear. Most of the crap I play though has had beer spilled on it, been dropped, kicked, and generally abused. My guitars are beautiful, but the rest of my gear needs badly to be updated. This was brought home to me the other day when I went downstairs to play for a bit.
I don’t seem to get much time to play these days, and when I do it seems I spend most of the time trying to get a decent sound. Usually I put both guitar and vocals through a mixer (Alesis MultiMix 8 USB Analog Mixer) plugged into a guitar amp (Crate Guitar Combo Amplifier), which is in turn plugged into a four-twelve speaker cabinet. It was great for jamming with people, but not the best sound quality.
Home Recording and Windows Media Edition? Not So Much…
I’ve wanted to set up a home recording studio for years. Nothing too fancy or expensive, just something I can use during those increasingly rare moments when I get time to sit down and play my guitar. I occasionally find myself playing something catchy, brainstorming up some lyrics, and writing at least the basics of a song. Unfortunately, because I don’t write music with any regularity, I usually completely forget the song by the next time I sit down to work on it. Or, if I scribble it down in a notebook, I find it hard to recall the melody or get the same feel I had when I first wrote it… bah…
Well, I decided to bite the bullet and get things rolling on this studio thing. I’m certainly not new to the concepts of multi-track recording. In fact, over the past 18 years of playing I’ve used a ton of systems including Tascam multi-track cassette recorders, reel-to-reel systems, and computer hardware/software interfaces. I pretty much know what I need get; I’m just a little out of date with the available technology and what falls within my price range.
After talking to a lot of people, reading a bunch of articles, and doing what I can to bring myself up to speed, it became obvious that a computer-based system was the way to go. This was no shock, but I have to say…
I hate recording music with a computer.
I know computers fairly well. I’ve worked as a Web Developer for more than 8 years and can find my way around a machine better than most of the people I know. The issue I have is that sitting at a monitor, using a mouse to adjust virtual sliders, praying that the computer runs smoothly, and dealing with drivers and codecs makes me crazy. It just takes something away from the “playing music” part of recording when you need to deal with the computer at the same time. I prefer using “stand-alone” systems with real knobs and buttons, but it’s no secret a computer based system offers more possibilities. I accept that, I just hate using them.