Melody Maker

Well, now I've done it!  I went ahead and bought a Gibson!  No, not a $1,000 + guitar, but just the opposite.  I found the deal of the year as far as guitars go:

I had been thinking of getting a guitar with P90 pickups for Father's Day, and I had been visiting online vendors in search of an affordable guitar.  I had my sights set on an Epiphone WildKat (unless a better deal came along).  Well, that 'better' deal came in the form of a Gibson Melody Maker Flying V!  Although this particular Melody Maker is not a P90-equipped guitar, it was a deal too good to pass up. 

Last year, Gibson came up with a line of humbucker-equipped Melody Makers in all (or nearly all) of the iconic Gibson shapes.  The guitars initially sold for over $500, which at the time, was the lowest price I had ever seen on a new Gibson guitar.  The prices on these guitars started gradually going down, and now this past May, I saw them advertised at the same price as an Epiphone WildKat.  When I saw the Melody Maker Flying V, I just had to buy it!  I'm usually not into 'pointy' guitars, but I make an exception for the Flying V because it is my Son's favorite guitar shape.  He plays the Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games, and his 'guitar' for those games is a Flying V.  Whenever he draws a guitar, he draws a Flying V, so I couldn't pass up buying the Melody Maker Flying V (plus the price was fantastic).

I got the guitar almost a month ago, and I was very pleasantly surprised.  The guitar came in perfect condition and it was set up just right.  All I had to do was tune it and start having fun!  What I really like about the guitar is that it is very light weight.  I had read that it was light weight, and since I knew my Son would like it, I was hoping it would be light enough for him to hold comfortably.  It was just as I had wanted, so now he can hold the guitar while I try to teach him some guitar basics.  The guitar has only one bridge pickup and one volume control knob (no tone control), but with only that control, the guitar is very responsive.  The tone can be manipulated with an amp or a pedal, so the lack of more controls or pickups becomes a non-issue.  Overall, I am very happy with the Melody Maker.  It's a USA-made guitar for a great price that is hard to beat!

My Multi-Effects Pedals

It's been another three months since my last post, so I decided to do a post about my multi-effects pedals. Since my last post, I bought another DigiTech multi-effects pedal. This newest one is an RP155.

My first DigiTech multi-effects pedal was an RP50. I bought it in 2008, when I was first getting into electric guitar. It's a good pedal to start out with. I like it because it's small and compact, but after a while, I started wondering about the models that come with an expression pedal built in.

My RP200 has an expression pedal. I bought it for next to nothing off of Craigslist last year. It is an older, American made version and is made very well. I like it not only because of the expression pedal, but because it has an auxiliary input and a dedicated headphone jack. I can hook up an mp3 player with backing tracks, or the audio from a computer based training video to it and play along. The headphone jack comes in handy late at night too.

My new RP155 has a 20 second looper on it. I had never used a looper before, so I decided to give one a try. So far, I really like it. The looper on this model is very basic and easy to use (which is a good thing). Even though it's very basic compared to a dedicated looper, I can add as many overdubs as I want. The initial loop length dictates the length of each additional overdub. In other words, if the initial loop is 10 seconds, for example, the overdub loops can't be over 10 seconds each. So it's better to make the first loop as close to 20 seconds as possible. That gives me more time for the additional overdubs. What I like about the RP155 having a looper built in is that I can create a loop, stop it, and then change presets and play the loop again and play over it or overdub it using the new preset.

The only drawback that people have commented about is the fact that you cannot use the drum machine while using the looper. If I ever get fancy enough to want to use a drum machine and the looper at the same time, all I have to do is add the RP200 after the RP155 and use the RP200 drum machine.

Since the RP200 also has an AUX input, I could also place it in front of the RP155 and add additional sounds to loop through the RP155 using the PR200's AUX input. I tried doing just that shortly after I got it. I have a keyboard that allows me to record a limited sequence of notes on it, so I played some notes and recorded them and then hooked the keyboard up to the RP200 AUX input, with the RP200 in front of the RP155, and I was able to loop my recorded keyboard notes.

The RP155 also works with software called X-Edit that you can download from the DigiTech website via a USB port on the unit. I was checking out the software, and it is pretty cool. I can change presets and store them in different locations on the RP155 pretty easily (plus I can name them). I even found a preset that is set up to emulate a bass, so I relocated it closer to the presets I like so far. That way, I have a whole three or four piece band I can use with the looper function - guitar, bass, and drums (from the RP200)!

Needless to say, I've been having fun experimenting with my DigiTech family. Now, I just need to practice some actual new stuff on the guitar to put all of my 'one-man-band' ideas into action! I've been studying up on some music theory as it applies to the guitar, so that will help me expand my playing also. Oh yeah, I also re-strung my acoustic with 10s. These new strings are a lot easier on the fingers than what was on it before, so it makes me want to play it more often. Speaking of 'more often', I hope I can start posting more often also. Stay tuned and see if I really do it this time!