What Seems Like Nothing is Something!

It seems I'm getting into the habit of only posting once a month. Hopefully I can start posting more often again soon. I have not been doing anything new with the guitar. I've been doing my usual routine of rotating my guitars and trying out my new 'toys' on them. Right now, I have my Ibanez Jet King out again. I put away my Strat copy after I finished trying out all of my Vox DA5 settings on it. All of the settings I have from the Vox Tone Room sounded pretty good through my Strat copy (with a little adjustments on some). Now I am going through those same settings using my Jet King. So far, I love everything that is coming out of my DA5!

I've also been playing around with my Tube Driver and my Jet King together. This is the first time I try the Tube Driver with a humbucker-equipped guitar. The Tube Driver works well with both single coils and humbuckers. I have come to the conclusion that my particular Tube Driver works best with my DA5 amp (as opposed to my Champ 600) and it works best at higher gain settings. I have to work at finding the sweet spots on the Tube Driver, but when I do, it's pretty awesome!

Although I haven't been working on anything new, I have discovered one thing: My guitar playing has improved! All of the noodlin' I've been doing with my amps and my pedals through my various guitars has payed off! While I've been experimenting with all of these new tones, I've actually been practicing, but it doesn't feel that way (it feels like I've just been having fun!). My point is that practicing can take on many forms: From a formal practice session where you concentrate on chords and scales, to just having fun experimenting and jamming. The important thing is to pick up your guitar and play. It doesn't have to be something new, just play (something I need to do more of myself!).

My Harmony Electric - Plus: Playing with Pedals!

It's been over a month since my last post! In that time, I've put away my Tradition Tele-style guitar and brought out my Harmony Strat copy. My Harmony Strat copy was my first electric guitar. I bought it in 2007, after years of only having an acoustic guitar. The acoustic guitar that I was playing on and off at the time is also a Harmony. It is one of the last U.S.A. made Harmony guitars (made in 1975). I've always loved my Harmony acoustic, so when I had the chance of buying a Harmony electric at a very reasonable price, I took the chance and ordered it. I had not been playing guitar that often up until that point, so I did not want to buy an expensive guitar. I did not want to buy something expensive, not knowing if I was going to continue playing on a regular basis. There are a lot of people that buy an inexpensive guitar as their first guitar, only to be discouraged because the guitar is poorly made and set up and is hard to play. This was not the case with my Harmony electric. I loved it from the first day I got it! It is made very well, considering the price. It was also set up very well when I got it. I have researched the model number on the internet, and it seems this guitar model was made in 1990 or 1991, but it was brand new when I bought it in 2007 (new old stock).

Now that I am using my Harmony, I have been testing it out on my Vox DA5 amp (as I have been testing all of my guitars since I bought my amp). So far, my Harmony sounds great with all of the different amps settings I have used. I still need a few more settings to try out on my Harmony.

I have also been using my Harmony to test out my two pedals that I bought last month. The RAT 2 pedal was great from the start, so I have not really been testing it all that much. The Tube Driver pedal needed a different tube to make it sound better, so that is what I have been focusing on lately. I was able to get two tubes from a great member of one of the forums I belong to. As soon as I got the tubes, I began experimenting with them. I swapped out the 12AX7A tube in the Tube Driver with one of the 12AU7 tubes I was sent. The first tube I tried was an improvement, but I was not totally satisfied with the sound I was getting out of my pedal. I then tried the second tube with great results! I am now very happy with my Tube Driver pedal! I've been testing it with my Fender Champ 6oo and with my Vox DA5. To my ears, it sounds better through the Vox. I am thinking of putting up a demo recording of both of my pedals in the near future (I just have to get up the courage to record myself again!). As I've been saying lately, "Stay Tuned" to see if I go through with it!

Pedals!

I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted! I have really not been doing anything new on the guitar lately, just my usual routine (when I make time to pick up my guitar). Ever since I got my Vox DA5 amp, I have been trying out all of the settings on each guitar that I have been using. I'm still using my Tradition Tele-style guitar, so I've been putting it through it's paces on the DA5. I have to say, it sounds great! Now I know why they say that Telecasters are probably the most versatile guitars out there!

Now that I have the Vox DA5, I've been using the built in effects a lot in my practicing, but before I acquired it, I hardly ever used effects. I have my DigiTech RP50 processor that I demo in my little audio clip, but I don't use it that often. Early on, I also bought a Danelectro FAB distortion pedal, which I had planned to use with my Fender Champ 600 tube amp when I bought the amp. I ended up giving my son the FAB pedal for his little electric guitar. This brought about a chain of events that led me to obtain two great vintage pedals. When I gave my son the FAB, he needed an extra cable to hook it up, so that left me with no extra cables. I started looking for cables on Craigslist, and I found an old ad advertising cables and pedals. Well, to make a long story short, I ended up bringing home the two pedals in the photo along with some cables!

The black pedal is a RAT 2 distortion pedal. From what I have read on the web, these first came out in 1987. It was made in the USA and is built like a tank! I love the sounds I can get out of this pedal. It is a keeper for sure! The other pedal is a Tube Driver overdrive pedal. This pedal has a tube in it, just like the tubes that are found in tube amplifiers. When I first plugged it in, I didn't like what I heard. It produced a lot of muddy and inconsistent distortion (too much for an overdrive pedal IMHO). I later opened it up and found that the tube in it was not seated properly in the socket. I pushed the tube all the way into the socket and started using it. I used it for about two hours, and it sounded better, but not great. It seems that I am going to have to replace the tube in it. I've already research what kinds of tubes I can use in it, and have contacted a guitar forum member that says he has tubes. Let's see what happens when I put a new tube in it! Stay tuned!