lofi&analog

There's a theme here...

Bought a Jazzmaster. Then I bought another. The one with the white guard is a MIJ Fender with matching headstock, StayTrem bridge and arm, otherwise completely stock. Apart from two marks on it, it's completely mint, so it's not getting gigged. The one with the tort guard is a Squier VM, with Seymour Duncan Antiquity II's, mustang bridge, rhythm circuit removed, and tone pot removed. It's been bashed about a fair bit but it sounds so good. Also pedalboard is coming along, finally fixed my amp footswitch so that's back in action. Got a new power supply on the way to fix the ever present hum, then it's just a case of acquiring a couple of pedals that I want, sorting out my secondary board too, and making some patch leads to suit.

But here are some projects from the last year or so. A lot has changed since that picture, so there will be many updates in the next couple of weeks, including new amps, new pedals, and new guitars.  Bought an Ibanez ORM1 a few years ago, which the previous owner had modified by fitting a P90, a cheapo bigsby knockoff and painting it a fucking awful pale orange. It looked like shit and played like shit. I repainted it badly in red, but it still played like shit, so I kinda forgot about it. Came back to it last month, sorted the action and intonation, and fitted a stop bar, so it now actually stays in tune. Still needs some wiring work but playable at least. The strat is a late 90′s squier standard HH, bought for the colour - think it’s candy apple green but not sure really. Swapped the white pickguard for a red tort one, fitted a set of Fender Tex Mex pups and some funky push pull wiring. I have a 70′s styled Mighty Mite lic Fender neck with rosewood fretboard waiting to be fitted, whenever I find bushings to fit the Klusen tuners I have. And a fender bridge with brass block and Graphtech saddles. Should be sweet when done. The cabinet is a Harley Benton G212 Vintage. 2x12 cabinet with Celestion vintage 30′s, for less than the price of 2 Vintage 30′s. Changed the badge for a Leyland Morris one I had lying around cause I’m a fuckin nerd. Sounds mint. The head is a Peavey Supreme XL. Drive channel sounds like shit and it’s had a rough life, but it cost £50 and the clean channel takes my big muff (ooh err) like a dream.

Hey! It's been a while. Forgot this blog existed. Sorry. So a quick update, moved back into Aberdeen for second year at Uni, and needed an amp that had a headphone socket and could be played quietly. Picked up this Epi 60 watt SS at the pawn shop just round the corner from my flat, and damn it looks and sounds sweet!

And the purchase I'm most pleased with - a brand new in box, never opened Behringer V AMP 2. Behringer is considered pretty low end in the pro audio world, and yeah the connectors are junk and it's all plastic, but this thing is incredible. 32 amp models, changeable cabinet simulation, loads of effects, gigbag+footswitch included, and I picked it up for just £32. They don't even make these things any more! It's no substitute for a real amp, but it's ideal for portability, direct recording, connecting to speakers (or anything with an aux/rca input, like a hifi or a tv), silent practise through headphones, and my favourite bit: you can turn off the amp and cab simulations and use it as an external effects processor with a mixer (or in my case, a Portastudio). Endless fun!