By far my favorite guitar effect pedal is the chorus. I love the lushness it adds to any guitar/amp combo, the swirling overtones, the chime…every pedalboard I’ve built has had one of these on it. And my all time favorite chorus is the DOD FX-64 IceBox stereo chorus. Not only is it a monster-sounding pedal,…
Category: Guitars
The Bullet Tele gets “Dreamy…”
When I first picked up my Squier Bullet Tele (see “The $89 Tele Surprise“), I thought it to be a decent sounding instrument, fun to play, and worth every penny. I also thought it would be an excellent platform to try my hand at guitar modding. Well, the day finally came, and I’m glad I…
Nashville/High-Strung Tuning brings a sweet sound
After the D string on my 30-year-old Matrix acoustic broke, I realized it was time for a re-string. But instead of putting a set of my usual acoustic lights on it, I stumbled across something called Nashville, or High-Strung tuning. Essentially, you take the “high” octave strings from a 12-string set and use them for…
The $89 Tele surprise
Every couple of months, Guitar Center holds one of their “List” sales. During the weekend (usually over a holiday) they publish a listing of stuff they’re selling at lower than normal prices. I’ve fared well at past events (my POD 2.0 cost me $49) and often preview the lists before the sales actually start. Well,…
Finding a path to cool tones with little Vox
Living in town makes it kinda tough to wail on a 60-watt tube amp with 4×10 speakers — that’s why I recently sold my Fender HotRod Deville — nice amp, nice tone, but get it to “2” and the neighbors might get a bit touchy. After that foray into big amp territory, my interest in…
Rockin’ out at the bottom of the line
There’s an old adage about buying the least expensive home in the best neighborhood you can (something we in the Mikerophonography family did and boy, are we happy we did). Sometimes, the same holds true with guitar gear — buying the least expensive model (with caveats) from a good company will net you a fun-to-play…
Two Epis = twice the fun!
Working on getting broader, more complex guitar sound with the gear in the basement. Tonight, I mic’d my Epi Valve Junior Combo (Bitmo Spanky’d) and my Valve Junior head running into a Marshall 4×12 cabinet with a pair of Blue Ball mics, into my little mixer and out into an old Sony consumer-level DAT recorder….
Coming soon: Adventures with my Valve Junior
I recently got up the nerve to dig into my Epiphone Valve Junior combo and install Bruce Hutcheon’s BITMO Spanky upgrade. It was simple to do, with excellent instructions. While I was shaking and sweating the whole time (not a good thing to be doing with a soldering iron), after about 45 minutes my amp…
Rick-o-sound: Moving in Stereo
When it comes to guitars, my pride & joy is a 1991 Rickenbacker 360. This beautiful six-string was a gift from my wife (is she the coolest or what?) after years of pointing them out on stage at concerts or club shows. One day, I’ll share the whole story; today, I want to tell you…
A Premiere find…
The guitar is a big part of Mikerophonography. As you’ll see as the days go on, playing and recording guitar is really the basis for a lot of what goes on here. I’m a big fan of the six-string (12-strings are right up there, as are the four-string bass variety) and am often looking for…