Gahr
Ambassador of Blues & Brews
Hi guys!
It's been REALLY long since I posted here, I'm sorry. But getting a PM from @syscokid made me realize how much I missed the place. I've kept in touch with @Robert Herndon on and off on Messenger, but for the last few months the guitar has taken a backseat in my life. The last six months have been filled with lots of the stuff life throws at you at random times; work, refurbishing, a wife needing surgery on a broken leg, just stuff that keeps you from doing things you REALLY want to do. It's all good, though! I've been working out a lot to keep fit (last year's back problems have really changed my focus!) and now it is time to work out on the guitar as well!
Lately I've been playing the guitar a lot. Most of the time through my Selmer Treble & Bass 50W head. Now, it is WAAAAAY too loud for living room use, but the clean sound is great at low volumes. In order to get a nice overdriven sound I've been looking at different OD pedals: I love my Crowther Hotcake, and it is a killer with Vox amps, but since I have sold both my Voxes, I don't have the same use for it. It works well with the Selmer turned up really loud, but I needed something different at lower volumes. So I ended up buying a Mad Professor Simble. It is meant to be a Dumble-style pedal, intended to make your amp sound somewhat like a Dumble Overdrive Special. I love Robben Ford's guitar tones on albums like "A Day in Nashville" from 2014, so anything resembling that is fine by me!
Now, does it make my Selmer sound like a Dumble? Well, that is definitely debatable, but it sounds DAMN nice! I only got it yesterday (I ordered it from Thomann in Germany a while back, and because of Covid restrictions picking stuff up at the post office is a bit difficult...). So far I have only tried it with two guitars; my '65 SG Standard and the Les Paul Goldtop sporting late '60s T-Tops. The pedal comes with some suggestions for settings based on the guitar/pickup/style of music you are playing, and I went for the hum bucker setting. And I was pretty much blown away. I turned the treble down a bit both on the amp and the guitars (more on the SG than the LP), and MAN! The tone I have been hearing in my head lately was RIGHT THERE. Smooth, clean yet nicely compressed and mid focused. The pedal is very responsive to the pick as well. You can go from super clean to nice and overdriven simply by varying your attack. This is the first time I buy a new pedal in a long while, and I think it has already proven to be worth it.
And it seems like we're getting the band back together as well. So hopefully 2021 won't turn out all bad.
It's been REALLY long since I posted here, I'm sorry. But getting a PM from @syscokid made me realize how much I missed the place. I've kept in touch with @Robert Herndon on and off on Messenger, but for the last few months the guitar has taken a backseat in my life. The last six months have been filled with lots of the stuff life throws at you at random times; work, refurbishing, a wife needing surgery on a broken leg, just stuff that keeps you from doing things you REALLY want to do. It's all good, though! I've been working out a lot to keep fit (last year's back problems have really changed my focus!) and now it is time to work out on the guitar as well!
Lately I've been playing the guitar a lot. Most of the time through my Selmer Treble & Bass 50W head. Now, it is WAAAAAY too loud for living room use, but the clean sound is great at low volumes. In order to get a nice overdriven sound I've been looking at different OD pedals: I love my Crowther Hotcake, and it is a killer with Vox amps, but since I have sold both my Voxes, I don't have the same use for it. It works well with the Selmer turned up really loud, but I needed something different at lower volumes. So I ended up buying a Mad Professor Simble. It is meant to be a Dumble-style pedal, intended to make your amp sound somewhat like a Dumble Overdrive Special. I love Robben Ford's guitar tones on albums like "A Day in Nashville" from 2014, so anything resembling that is fine by me!
Now, does it make my Selmer sound like a Dumble? Well, that is definitely debatable, but it sounds DAMN nice! I only got it yesterday (I ordered it from Thomann in Germany a while back, and because of Covid restrictions picking stuff up at the post office is a bit difficult...). So far I have only tried it with two guitars; my '65 SG Standard and the Les Paul Goldtop sporting late '60s T-Tops. The pedal comes with some suggestions for settings based on the guitar/pickup/style of music you are playing, and I went for the hum bucker setting. And I was pretty much blown away. I turned the treble down a bit both on the amp and the guitars (more on the SG than the LP), and MAN! The tone I have been hearing in my head lately was RIGHT THERE. Smooth, clean yet nicely compressed and mid focused. The pedal is very responsive to the pick as well. You can go from super clean to nice and overdriven simply by varying your attack. This is the first time I buy a new pedal in a long while, and I think it has already proven to be worth it.
And it seems like we're getting the band back together as well. So hopefully 2021 won't turn out all bad.
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The key to a good life is a varied diet!
I put one together from parts a while back, but sold it (or rather took it apart again and sold the parts individually). It was a nice enough guitar, cream colored with a rosewood fretboard, inspired by Robbe Ford and Michael Bloomfield's Teles (but with a humbucker in the neck like Albert Collins'), but in the end I ended up never playing it. I still really want one, though. That being said, Robben Ford plays a'64 SG a lot these days... I don't think I'l be getting another Tele again for a while, though. I need to get my SG Standard regretted, so all the money I can set aside for my "guitar budget" will be channeled into paying for that over the next months.
