filed under:stuff
My iBook was acting funnier than usual so I formatted the drive an did a re-install of 10.3. It gets this frustrating habit of thinking that the mouse button or trackpad is being pressed. A very big pain in the ass. The reason I know it's not mechanical is that repairing permissions fixes the problem for a while.
I forgot to save a lot of passwords so I get to reset a bunch and guess at others. Fun!
ION, I called Austin to see if my amp was done and the amp tech is gone until January 4th. No big deal. It just pushes back my getting the amp back to about the 10th or so. I was dividing up my pedals today to get ready for the whole 2 amp thing. I decided to keep the newer types of effects for my Fender amp and the vintage ones for the Gretsch. So the Tonebender and Rangemaster go to the Gretsch and since the amp was made by Valco is should give me a fairly decent early Zep sound. A funny thing I noticed is that all of the effects I use are considered vintage by today's standards.
Yeah, so there.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Monday, December 26, 2005
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Gift to myself
filed under:guitar
Building all the pedals I wanted but couldn't afford was just a step in getting "my sound". The effects are just a link in the chain.
The last link is the amp you see right here. This is a Gretsch 6162 amplifier that I've owned since I was 13. It hasn't worked though for about 20 years. I've always wanted to get it fixed but I've always had other bills and stuff.
But Saturday I drove to Austin and dropped it off at Austin Vintage Guitars. These guys know how to fix old gear and have a touch for bringing dead gear back to life.
The 6162 is a small combo amp with 17 watts of power through 2 10' speakers. It has built-in reverb and tremelo and from what I remember, the tone on this amp was clear and tight, a great addition to the rig. I'll probably be A/B ing between amps to broaden the sounds I can get instead of running them both at the same time.
It's supposed to be done on Friday and I can hardly wait.
Building all the pedals I wanted but couldn't afford was just a step in getting "my sound". The effects are just a link in the chain.The last link is the amp you see right here. This is a Gretsch 6162 amplifier that I've owned since I was 13. It hasn't worked though for about 20 years. I've always wanted to get it fixed but I've always had other bills and stuff.
But Saturday I drove to Austin and dropped it off at Austin Vintage Guitars. These guys know how to fix old gear and have a touch for bringing dead gear back to life.
The 6162 is a small combo amp with 17 watts of power through 2 10' speakers. It has built-in reverb and tremelo and from what I remember, the tone on this amp was clear and tight, a great addition to the rig. I'll probably be A/B ing between amps to broaden the sounds I can get instead of running them both at the same time.
It's supposed to be done on Friday and I can hardly wait.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Beauty Pageant
filed under:stompbox
It's that wonderful time of year.BuildYourOwnClone.com's 2nd Annual Pedal Pageant is underway with some great prizes for the winners.
To enter all you need to do is build a pedal kit from BYOC then send in a picture of your finished stompbox. As most pageants are, this is a beauty contest and is judged that way, so don't enter crappy looking boxes like mine.
Good luck.
It's that wonderful time of year.BuildYourOwnClone.com's 2nd Annual Pedal Pageant is underway with some great prizes for the winners.
1st place: $300 shopping spree* at www.smallbearelec.com + 10 BYOC circuit boards
2nd place: $100 shopping spree* at www.smallbearelec.com + 5 BYOC circuit boards
3rd place: $50 shopping spree at* www.smallbearelec.com + 3 BYOC circuit boards
4th - 10th places: 3 BYOC circuit boards
To enter all you need to do is build a pedal kit from BYOC then send in a picture of your finished stompbox. As most pageants are, this is a beauty contest and is judged that way, so don't enter crappy looking boxes like mine.
Good luck.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
PWNED!11
filed under:stompbox
At last, my mad (bad) soldering sk1llz have taught the my Tube Screamer clone who the man is!!!
The sound is pretty damn cool, though not as much distortion as I'd like. Still it has a pretty cool overdrive sound and the added tone control that my DOD OD 250 doesn't have gives the Screamer a little bit more tonal flexibility. I don't think that'll replace anything on my board but it definitely has a spot.
Now that that it's done I'll have time to make music now. At least for a little while because I suspect that the fam got me another stompbox kit for Christmas.
At last, my mad (bad) soldering sk1llz have taught the my Tube Screamer clone who the man is!!!
The sound is pretty damn cool, though not as much distortion as I'd like. Still it has a pretty cool overdrive sound and the added tone control that my DOD OD 250 doesn't have gives the Screamer a little bit more tonal flexibility. I don't think that'll replace anything on my board but it definitely has a spot.
Now that that it's done I'll have time to make music now. At least for a little while because I suspect that the fam got me another stompbox kit for Christmas.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Trouble shooting
filed under:stompbox
The Screamer clone is wired up and of course it doesn't work. And of course it has to be due to operator (or in this case, builder) error.
I've been going through the circuit trying to find cold solders, bad components and such but even with helpfrom the engineers at work I haven't been able to locate the problem. I did however figure out today that instead of using a 1/4" stereo jack for the input that also turns the unit on I had put in some other kind of jack, so the unit was not getting any electricity at all. That's a real n00b mistake so color me dumbass.
After replacing the jack I got a little frustrated because the silly thing still refuses to work.
When I get it home I'm going to rip it out of the case and really go through the whole thing one part at a time and finally get it working before I get too upset with the whole thing and start crying like a little girl.
The Screamer clone is wired up and of course it doesn't work. And of course it has to be due to operator (or in this case, builder) error.
I've been going through the circuit trying to find cold solders, bad components and such but even with helpfrom the engineers at work I haven't been able to locate the problem. I did however figure out today that instead of using a 1/4" stereo jack for the input that also turns the unit on I had put in some other kind of jack, so the unit was not getting any electricity at all. That's a real n00b mistake so color me dumbass.
After replacing the jack I got a little frustrated because the silly thing still refuses to work.
When I get it home I'm going to rip it out of the case and really go through the whole thing one part at a time and finally get it working before I get too upset with the whole thing and start crying like a little girl.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Teh t3rr0r1zt have 1!!!
filed under:fucktards
Some asshole spammed my comments on some old posts from last year with comments that didn't even make sense. All he wanted was text on other sites that mentioned his name so he could be spidered to infamy. Fucker.
As soon as I figure out how to set up comments for approval I'll put an end to crap like that, I tell you what!!! Actually, I just have to mod my modded template to work with Blogger's comments admin method.
So what does that mean in the long (and/or short) run? No instant gratification. :waah:
At least I haven't been "Texas Hold 'Em"ed much.
Some asshole spammed my comments on some old posts from last year with comments that didn't even make sense. All he wanted was text on other sites that mentioned his name so he could be spidered to infamy. Fucker.
As soon as I figure out how to set up comments for approval I'll put an end to crap like that, I tell you what!!! Actually, I just have to mod my modded template to work with Blogger's comments admin method.
So what does that mean in the long (and/or short) run? No instant gratification. :waah:
At least I haven't been "Texas Hold 'Em"ed much.
Monday, December 05, 2005
ISO content
filed under:life
This is the first full week out of sweeps ratings at work so things are a little more relaxed. I have a couple of jobs pending but nothing that needs to be done right now, so I actually have time to put thought into my commercial work. I can finally craft a commercial instead of just pushing words together.
Last Friday was the first time that I actually shot a spot in 16 x 9. I was shooting a high end jewelers shop that even though it's been new remodeled it is still pretty small. I called the owner over to the monitor to show him the difference and he agreed to shoot the spot in 16 x 9. I've shot stuff in 4 x 3 and then masked it to 16 x 9, but shooting in 16 x 9 is a bit more of a commitment than faking it. The results were great and the spot has a certain weight to it that I don't think it would've had in 4 x 3. I'll probably end up shooting more in in 16 x 9 as we make the transition to HD.
Thursday we had mini-seminar on commercial script writing from a consultant who's been helping our sales department land some big accounts. He hit the essentials then made some suggestions that went against what I consider to be truth in advertising. For example he suggested that if a client is having a sale that's going to last 3 weeks you just say "This week only!" The reasoning is that the people who shop this week won't be paying attention next week so they won't notice the spot after that. I'm very at odds with this line of thinking. To me it's that whole "It's ok to lie if you don't get caught" crap that I can't stand. I'd almost forgotten that TV stations are whores. But then again, what business these day isn't? At least my boss has a problem with it too.
The boy played a gig Saturday night. His band went on last but since their fanbase age averages 15 they either a) couldn't get their parents to drive them halfway across town to the club or b) had to be home by the time they went on stage. So after playing to about 100 kids at the last gig, they played to about 8 this time. Those are the breaks, but they learned to give it all for the ones who showed.
Oh yeah, I've almost finished the Tubescreamer clone. Just a few more solders and I'll be done. It probably won't work so I'll be trouble shooting for a while.
This is the first full week out of sweeps ratings at work so things are a little more relaxed. I have a couple of jobs pending but nothing that needs to be done right now, so I actually have time to put thought into my commercial work. I can finally craft a commercial instead of just pushing words together.
Last Friday was the first time that I actually shot a spot in 16 x 9. I was shooting a high end jewelers shop that even though it's been new remodeled it is still pretty small. I called the owner over to the monitor to show him the difference and he agreed to shoot the spot in 16 x 9. I've shot stuff in 4 x 3 and then masked it to 16 x 9, but shooting in 16 x 9 is a bit more of a commitment than faking it. The results were great and the spot has a certain weight to it that I don't think it would've had in 4 x 3. I'll probably end up shooting more in in 16 x 9 as we make the transition to HD.
Thursday we had mini-seminar on commercial script writing from a consultant who's been helping our sales department land some big accounts. He hit the essentials then made some suggestions that went against what I consider to be truth in advertising. For example he suggested that if a client is having a sale that's going to last 3 weeks you just say "This week only!" The reasoning is that the people who shop this week won't be paying attention next week so they won't notice the spot after that. I'm very at odds with this line of thinking. To me it's that whole "It's ok to lie if you don't get caught" crap that I can't stand. I'd almost forgotten that TV stations are whores. But then again, what business these day isn't? At least my boss has a problem with it too.
The boy played a gig Saturday night. His band went on last but since their fanbase age averages 15 they either a) couldn't get their parents to drive them halfway across town to the club or b) had to be home by the time they went on stage. So after playing to about 100 kids at the last gig, they played to about 8 this time. Those are the breaks, but they learned to give it all for the ones who showed.
Oh yeah, I've almost finished the Tubescreamer clone. Just a few more solders and I'll be done. It probably won't work so I'll be trouble shooting for a while.
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