[Pedal board or Multi effects unit?]

I've gone back and forth over the years. I've never had a huge pedal collection and use effects sparingly anyway. Years ago I had a distortion, chorus and  maybe wah wah and that was it. My old buddy Ed was always trying to get me to use his multi digital contraption thingy. Can't remember the brand but it had too many menus, parameters and it even sounded digital. I never cared for it.  Then at some point I got a BOSS ME50.  I liked that. It had knobs instead of menus and the effects sounded pretty authentic, not computerized. I can't remember why, but I got rid of that about 10 years ago.

So at this point I have an Octopus Tuner, MXR Dyna Comp, one of two Overdrive/Distortion,  Cry Baby 535Q Wah, and a Chorus. I power them either through a powered pedal board, a One Spot or the Octopus pedal that can power the other pedals. No matter which way I do there's a tangle of cords and jumper cables. This is only my latest rig. Over the years I've gone through various overdrives, chorus, wahs, compressors, tuners....etc. But lately I've been eyeing the BOSS ME-70 and it's looking more and more attractive. One cord in and one cord out sounds pretty convenient.  And as I said about ME50,  it's knobs and pedals rather than menus and  amp modeling. But even so I know I'll only use about 10% of all the options this unit is capable of. What to do?

Any thoughts? 

[Alternate uses of anything]

The first real band I ever played with, I used to take one of the drummers drum sticks and dangle it in my right hand to bounce against the strings of my Strat while making chords and playing scales with my left. It made a certain rhythmic  pattern that I could control pretty well and I had worked out a pretty cool technique with it. There were a few songs we did that I played exclusively with the drum stick. Too bad I never developed it more.  Maybe I could have made it my own little gimmick.   

[PRS Sonzera amp repair.]

3 hours ago, Dub-T-123 said:

My friend used to have that same guitar. It was pretty good. Glad you got the amp fixed

Thanks. I got that guitar when the bass player in my band knocked my Les Paul over and the headstock broke. He felt so bad he gave me that PRS. It's an SE and he probably got it for free from Paul himself because he used to run sound whenever Paul Reed Smith band played. 

Actually, that incident was almost 3 years ago to the day. It was the night before Thanksgiving 2019.   

[PRS Sonzera amp repair.]

3 hours ago, Twang Gang said:

I'm sure we can come up with some complaints if we think about it.  First of all, it broke down in the middle of a gig - I'd be disappointed about that.  Then you spent $45 for nothing, and it took PRS 3 weeks to fix.

Just kidding - glad you got it sorted out under warranty. 

Yeah, the first 3 things were kinda complaints.  Should have just taken in to PRS first. They said they replaced diodes in output transformer, whatever that means. They also biased the power tubes while there. 

[PRS Sonzera amp repair.]

I figured I'd show a little love to the folks at PRS. 

As I mentioned in some previous threads, my PRS amp died on me in the middle of a gig this past summer. I lost the receipt and couldn't remember the purchase date so I just assumed it was out of Warrantee. A friend thought he could fix it but couldn't. Then I took it to Bill's Music and they charged me $45 to tell me they couldn't fix it. So I ended up taking it to PRS directly. Since I had no receipt and could only guess purchase date by an old digital photo (1/11/2020) I fully expected to pay between $100 - $200 for the repair.  Well it took them about 3 weeks, but when I went over to the Stevensville facility to pick it up, I was happily surprised that they covered it under Warrantee, 

Here's the old photo I used to estimate DOP

Now, I have no full band gigs booked until Spring to get it some use, But I'm sure we will get some booking before then and I can crank it again.

I guess this falls under the No Complaint Department.

[Stupid Jokes]

True story. Today my wife told me her make-up mirror broke. I said "I can't see myself living without a mirror"  

 

[Stupid Jokes]

13 hours ago, gearbasher said:

What do you call an Irish woman with one leg?

Ilene

 

You forgot part 2. 

What do you call a Japanese woman with one leg?

Irene

[Gallagher]

RIP Gallagher.  I parked my car on the parkway and drove my car in the driveway in his honor.  

We were in Ocean City Md back in about 2000 and he was appearing at the Convention Center there. I took my two oldest sons, who were about 9 and 11. At the end of the show he started doing his Sledge-O-Matic thing and my sons went right up to the front. Luckily I had a pickup truck at that time. They were so covered in watermelon, ketchup, and whatever else he smashed, I put them in the bed of the truck. I told them to sit low and stay down. Luckily it was only a short drive down Coastal Highway to our place. The look on my wife and her mother's face when I pulled up with them in the back was priceless.   

[Pick-up distance from strings and tone characteristics]

I never used to think much about pickup height. At some point years ago I noticed my HB on my Les Paul was pretty close to the strings. I had read somewhere that the magnets can pull slightly on the strings and effect sustain. I backed the P/U off a little bit and it did make a difference. I now make sure to not let them get too high. 

[Kids and Cars]

 

[Iron Maiden - The Writing On The Wall]

2 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

I love Number, Power Slave and P O M. The last newish stuff I liked was on Brave New World.

Jeez time flies. The new Iron Maiden is already over a year old. 

If I remember correctly I made that joke because you had just recently "left" the Forum.  🙂

[Tennessee Knows How to Party]

8 hours ago, badbluesplayer said:

Nope.  But I live in TN so I have to watch the game or they'll take all my ammo.

Won't they have to pry it from your cold, dead hands? 

[Tennessee Knows How to Party]

Looked like it was a wild game. Tied 49 to 49 before the FG. Did you mean you were at the game?

[Beatles Ed Sullivan colorized]

Somewhere around my house I have a DVD set of all the Ed Sullivan shows featuring The Beatles. It' the entire episodes, with the other acts and original commercials too.

Since I was born in 1968, I missed the whole Beatlemania thing. It really wasn't until I was in my mid 20s that I appreciated them and the influence they had. I kinda like seeing the old footage in color since black and white  doesn't have the nostalgia for me that it might for the ones who are just a few years older.     

[Pros and cons of Rosewood/Ebony fretboards vs. finished maple?]

Maybe it's in my head, but it seems to me a RW fretboard gives a slight bit of resistance or friction when bending notes. I actually prefer this. Also, maybe someone will tell me I'm pressing too hard if I can feel the difference. That my well be true. At this point, I play the way I play. Having said that, the difference is minute and a maple board is certainly not a deal breaker for me.

[Does this look like maple to you?]

On 10/9/2022 at 1:08 PM, Rabs said:

That top is 100% NOT Mahogany...  

Well I did say I know nothing about woods. 

[Taking Halloween Lights to the Next Level]

I thought it was pretty cool. The technology is there, why not use it?  It actually looked kinda CGI to me though. 

 

[New PRS pedals]

8 hours ago, Dub-T-123 said:

What is the amp doing?

My PRS Sonzera amp? It won't power on at all. 

It started by slowly going out on me in middle of a gig about 6 months ago. That gig was about 1 mile away from PRS factory.  A guy I play with looked at it and tested the tubes, and said two 12AX7 tubes were bad and left those two spots open for me to replace them. Well that didn't work and now the amp won't even power on.  So I finally took it to Bill's Music and guy there said this:

 1 Service ELECTRONIC REPAIR 45.00 NO POWER Tested all fuses and tubes. Has a problem with DC tube heater voltage. No schematic available. Return to PRS for repair. NOT REPAIRED 45.00 SUBTOTAL 

[New PRS pedals]

23 hours ago, Rabs said:

 

Thanks. I can hear that much better.

Coincidently, I'm probably going to take a trip over to  PRS in Stevensville  this weekend. My PRS amp died on me several months ago and no one else seems to be able to fix it.  I just picked it up from Bill's today and it cost me $45 to have him tell me he couldn't fix it.  😞

 

[New PRS pedals]

On 10/9/2022 at 1:04 PM, Dub-T-123 said:

Ugh where to begin… I don’t want to be mean but it’s a given that Philip McKnight is not going to make gear sound good… He is not a decent player and he’s extremely bad at using amps and effects. I didn’t watch the video but any philosophy or whatever that he’s got is obviously crap because listen to the results 

I'd never heard of this guy before watching this demo. He surely wasn't anything special as a player.  I didn't think he was horrible, I assumed he was just playing simple stuff and focussing more on the pedals. But after rewatching, I was kinda thinking why is he doing palm-mutes while demoing the flanger? I'd like to actually hear the effect but it's hard when all the notes are choked off.

[Does this look like maple to you?]

I know nothing about woods, but my guess would have been mahogany. And like Farns said, at least some Customs, I think, use mahogany tops. 

[New PRS pedals]

I wasn't blown away by the sound of any of those pedals. They were all very subtle IMO. But I did enjoy the review for some reason. I liked listening to his philosophy of how he sets pedals and amps. Especially the Compressor. 

[What's for breakfast,lunch, or dinner?]

I love these old threads. It started in 2016 and kept going through 2019 then took a three year break to come back again at the end of 2022.

[Word Games]

Meanwhile, Bartolo Colon is wondering how he made so many posts on a guitar forum. 

[Word Games]

On 9/27/2022 at 3:35 PM, jdgm said:

Moving swiftly on.....

Palindromes!

Was it a cat I saw?

Never odd or even.

Madam I'm Adam.

Murder for a jar of red rum! 

Satan oscillate my metallic sonatas!!

They are actually brilliant.