Friday, March 25, 2005
My Pedalboard is finally wired up
So I've been anticipating this moment for quite some time. When I got my COT50 on Wed. I knew it was time. The George L's had come from www.tonefactor.com (thanks again guys) last week and my www.loooper.com from my pal a while ago so now I was set.
My wife left for a bead making class this morning so free time was king and the board is now wired as such:
Everything went VERY smooth. The George L's are simple to use so if you're teetering on the fence get them...they do sound great. I can hear all frequencies...it's almost disturbing how clear they are lol.
Anyhow, I'll review in full the board in a week or so...I haven't used any of these pedals live since I got them over the last month (with the exception of the tuner and XDD which I've had for a while). Untill then...
My wife left for a bead making class this morning so free time was king and the board is now wired as such:
Everything went VERY smooth. The George L's are simple to use so if you're teetering on the fence get them...they do sound great. I can hear all frequencies...it's almost disturbing how clear they are lol.
Anyhow, I'll review in full the board in a week or so...I haven't used any of these pedals live since I got them over the last month (with the exception of the tuner and XDD which I've had for a while). Untill then...
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Lovepedal COT50
Hey all you gear freaks. My new COT50 arrived today and I spent about an hour in total with it. For all of you who might not be familiar www.lovepedal.com is a site I ran into while hanging out at Harmony Central. I listened to the clips of the COT50 and thought "now this is a pedal I could like". I'm a strat kind of guy mostly and love old marshall sounds. With the reviews I read and the sound bytes I knew I was in for a treat.
I was not dissapointed. I plugged this pedal into my Crate VC30 and started to play with COT's knob (hehe). I started with it low, about 9-10 o'clock and was shocked at how transparent it was...it was my sound with just more...everything. I was a cool vibe. Increasing the bias with the knob and was greated with increasing amounts of sustain and a slight bit of compression...although this could have been from my amp...it was running quite hot by now. It's a good thing when I can't discern my amps natural compression from that of a pedal. This is what I was hoping for. With the knob fully cranked I was in heaven. From all the fuzz face comments I figured the pedal would be more wooly at this setting. It still felt like a really good version of my amp. I was impressed.
As has been said, the pedal is VERY responsive to your volume and tone controls. This was actually a bit negative for me. I had a capacitor installed on the volume pot of my Strat to help it stay bright as a rolled it off. It was way too bright with this pedal. Rolling off the tone controls did help so I was still happy. I'm hoping other guitars without the mod will do better with this. Someone on HC/The Gear Page mentioned the COT50 was nothing but a treble booster...well I wouldn't go that far but I can see that if his guitar is somewhat like mine how he might get that impression. I think in this case he jumped the gun a bit.
All in all this pedal is GREAT. I will be looking into more Lovepedal gear in the future. I love the look and the feel and the sound of this pedal. I'm sure you all will be hearing more about it in the future.
picture: http://img119.exs.cx/img119/3832/cot503ht.jpg
I was not dissapointed. I plugged this pedal into my Crate VC30 and started to play with COT's knob (hehe). I started with it low, about 9-10 o'clock and was shocked at how transparent it was...it was my sound with just more...everything. I was a cool vibe. Increasing the bias with the knob and was greated with increasing amounts of sustain and a slight bit of compression...although this could have been from my amp...it was running quite hot by now. It's a good thing when I can't discern my amps natural compression from that of a pedal. This is what I was hoping for. With the knob fully cranked I was in heaven. From all the fuzz face comments I figured the pedal would be more wooly at this setting. It still felt like a really good version of my amp. I was impressed.
As has been said, the pedal is VERY responsive to your volume and tone controls. This was actually a bit negative for me. I had a capacitor installed on the volume pot of my Strat to help it stay bright as a rolled it off. It was way too bright with this pedal. Rolling off the tone controls did help so I was still happy. I'm hoping other guitars without the mod will do better with this. Someone on HC/The Gear Page mentioned the COT50 was nothing but a treble booster...well I wouldn't go that far but I can see that if his guitar is somewhat like mine how he might get that impression. I think in this case he jumped the gun a bit.
All in all this pedal is GREAT. I will be looking into more Lovepedal gear in the future. I love the look and the feel and the sound of this pedal. I'm sure you all will be hearing more about it in the future.
picture: http://img119.exs.cx/img119/3832/cot503ht.jpg
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Crate V30H and V212T
One of the lines my store deals pretty heavily with is Crate. I was pretty excited when I heard that they were coming out with a head and cab version of the V3112 which I think is a fantastic amp. I am currently playing through a Vintage Club 30 and really dig it's tone once you get it ramped up on the clean channel. Very british with more sparkle...great tone in a cheap amp.
Anyhow, today we got the aforementioned amp in. I eagerly ripped it open and though about how it would be my first ever review. Anyhow, the head is equipped with 2 channels and has boost and presence buttons (not footswitchable functions). The boost adds gain as you might expect and the presence button adds some higher than highs to the sound. Pretty subtle changes but nice features. The 2 channels share the same tone controls and reverb mix. A spring reverb tank provides the effect. An effects loop is provided and the heads output is for 8ohms only. Groove Tubes el84r's provide the grindy, chimy sound of this amp. I will admit I was hoping for the el84s' as I understand they are the rebranded JJ's.
To the sounds. For testing I used an Anderson Classic. I also cranked the amp up to about 4 on master volume and attenuated with a Marshall Powerbreak. First the clean channel. Immediately I noticed the amp has a lot of top end...not really in an ice picky sort of way but just a lot of different frequencies up there. I tried some subtle adjustments to the EQ but couldn't really dial it out. It wasn't untill I rolled the tone pot of the Anderson half off that I got a sound I was happy with. I found this odd and on most guitars this would have sounded pretty bad given they don't have great, useable tone pots like Andersons do. Next I flicked over to the gain channel. Again I noticed the sound was a bit toppy and thin. Rolling off the treble control or rolling up the bass instantly made the sound too boomy. I am wondering if this is a function of the new tone tubby speakers they are using in this cab? I don't recall the v3112 being like this with the Celestion 70/80 speaker.
All in all this was kind of dissapointing. The amp gets high marks for cosmetic appeal but not so high marks for sound. At $1550 CND + taxes this is not a cheap alternative to other amps either. I mean, one could almost get any of the Fender RI's or some of the Marshall tube offerings for this price. I had high hopes for this, especially with some of the hyoe that surrounds the tone tubbys. This one simply didn't do it for me. Too bad!
Anyhow, today we got the aforementioned amp in. I eagerly ripped it open and though about how it would be my first ever review. Anyhow, the head is equipped with 2 channels and has boost and presence buttons (not footswitchable functions). The boost adds gain as you might expect and the presence button adds some higher than highs to the sound. Pretty subtle changes but nice features. The 2 channels share the same tone controls and reverb mix. A spring reverb tank provides the effect. An effects loop is provided and the heads output is for 8ohms only. Groove Tubes el84r's provide the grindy, chimy sound of this amp. I will admit I was hoping for the el84s' as I understand they are the rebranded JJ's.
To the sounds. For testing I used an Anderson Classic. I also cranked the amp up to about 4 on master volume and attenuated with a Marshall Powerbreak. First the clean channel. Immediately I noticed the amp has a lot of top end...not really in an ice picky sort of way but just a lot of different frequencies up there. I tried some subtle adjustments to the EQ but couldn't really dial it out. It wasn't untill I rolled the tone pot of the Anderson half off that I got a sound I was happy with. I found this odd and on most guitars this would have sounded pretty bad given they don't have great, useable tone pots like Andersons do. Next I flicked over to the gain channel. Again I noticed the sound was a bit toppy and thin. Rolling off the treble control or rolling up the bass instantly made the sound too boomy. I am wondering if this is a function of the new tone tubby speakers they are using in this cab? I don't recall the v3112 being like this with the Celestion 70/80 speaker.
All in all this was kind of dissapointing. The amp gets high marks for cosmetic appeal but not so high marks for sound. At $1550 CND + taxes this is not a cheap alternative to other amps either. I mean, one could almost get any of the Fender RI's or some of the Marshall tube offerings for this price. I had high hopes for this, especially with some of the hyoe that surrounds the tone tubbys. This one simply didn't do it for me. Too bad!
Monday, March 21, 2005
Gear Herald: Issue One
Hey all you guitar geeks and gear fanatics! I suppose you are wondering, "why should I care what this guy writes about gear?" Good question. I'm just like most of you...a pretty average player and guy who happens to have an obsession (as my wife calls it...I think a healthy interest is all) with guitars, amps, pedals...Everything guitar. If I won the lottery the first place I'd be is the music store. I enjoy reading about gear and so I figured I'd start writing about my experiences with the gear I run into. Why not turn the obsession into a hobby? Can't be bad right?
I work for a 5 store retail chain in Western Canada (if you really must know which one email me and I'll tell). I've been with them for 3 years and in instrument retail for 4 years. I get to see a lot of gear every day. I occasionally get to sit down and test it. When I get that chance, I am going to let you know, unedited, what I thought of it. High end, middle of the row, low end you name it, I'll talk about it at one point or another. Hopefully you'll find my insights helpful or stupid or hilarious or something that will be of interest or benefit to you. Keep coming back and checking out the site. I'll try and have something to write most days.
So anyhow, that's my intro. You'll find out more about me as time goes on. Like I said, there is no particular reason why this will be incredible...But I think I have an ear for tone and a passion of helping people discover theirs. Feedback and criticism is welcomed.
Extra, Extra, read all about it (whatever it is...) :)
I work for a 5 store retail chain in Western Canada (if you really must know which one email me and I'll tell). I've been with them for 3 years and in instrument retail for 4 years. I get to see a lot of gear every day. I occasionally get to sit down and test it. When I get that chance, I am going to let you know, unedited, what I thought of it. High end, middle of the row, low end you name it, I'll talk about it at one point or another. Hopefully you'll find my insights helpful or stupid or hilarious or something that will be of interest or benefit to you. Keep coming back and checking out the site. I'll try and have something to write most days.
So anyhow, that's my intro. You'll find out more about me as time goes on. Like I said, there is no particular reason why this will be incredible...But I think I have an ear for tone and a passion of helping people discover theirs. Feedback and criticism is welcomed.
Extra, Extra, read all about it (whatever it is...) :)
