I Joined a Band!!

Well, I joined my first band today since high school. ;) I met my band mate, Doug, at Guitar Center one day (as we share the same sales guy). He invited me over to see his gear and to jam a few times and we started keeping in touch. So one day out of the blue he invites me to this audition for a guitar spot in a Classic Rock band he's putting together. I ultimately ended up declining the offer since I really have no musical repertory to speak of, and certainly not when it comes to Classic Rock.

So after a second invitation I end up going to the audition with not one single song worked up. ;) They seemed to like me in spite of this, and actually let go of another candidate they were looking at. So now I am in a band! ;) I have a lot to learn and I am looking forward to getting all the experience that comes with it. I really like all the guys in the band and I feel like it could be one of the rare experiences where the whole band gets along really well.

We have yet to name ourselves, but we have some ideas already. More to come as the details unfold.

New Amp!! Kingsley ToneBaron

Well, my Kingsley ToneBaron is finally here! The amp I have been waiting for since before X-Mas has arrived and I am so excited. :) Simon and I decided to make some last minute changes to some of the features of the amp, and I can't wait to try them out.

I received it yesterday afternoon and played it for about 5 hours straight (I only had a couple of momentary distractions). I got up this morning and played it again for a few hours and then off and on all day for a couple of hours at a time.

My first impression is, yep, this thing sounds just like it does on the website. Which is good, because that is why I wanted one in the first place! ;) The tone sounds so good and so organic (for lack of a better word). It has a lot of natural compression, or sag (maybe?)... which I could hear clearly in the OD clips on the web, but wasn't sure how much it would come out playing it in person (it does). I really like this sound... it almost "folds in over itself" in manner of speaking. Very cool, indeed!

The cleans are gorgeous... very fat, round and sustainful. I was really impressed with how loud I can play without ear fatigue. This amp gets loud without seeming loud, if that even makes any sense.

There are so many tones and options for sounds on this thing that it will take me a while to explore it all. Add to that how different it reacts (as you would expect) to different guitars with different PUs and you've got a recipe for lots of long weekend afternoons chasing tone.

I do, however, have a pretty good grasp on the main features of the amp and the controls, so I'll be ready to do a full review soon. I have gotten to hear it in the mix playing with some backing tracks and some of my own stuff and it simply sounds amazing with accompaniment. It is also a very easy amp to record.

More to come as I continue to dig in.

Tyler Strat Pickup Mod

I love my Tyler, but I was having some trouble playing it with distortion on a loud amplifier. The bridge pickup would squeal uncontrollably on the gain channel of my amp with the volume cranked up to rehearsal/gig levels. I figured it might be the cover on the Duncan JB, so I decided to pull the cover off and give it a quick test. I was correct. ;)






Typically, factory covered Duncans do not have pickup tape installed on them, so I just stole some off an old, cheap Ibanez pickup (I was never going to use anyway) and taped it up. The pickup looks stock, and now my Tyler behaves at high volume. ;)