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I know it has been a while since I've posted anything as I have been quite sick and busy (not a great combination).

Courtney and I spent the past week or so practicing for our Zolar X tribute show we did down in Somerville, MA. Our good friends Tim and Lindsay played with their incredible band Thick Shakes and Lindsay set the show up. Tim took some cool pictures and it was a great time despite me being a sickly, frail individual.



I am feeling a bit better now and that means my head is somewhat clear. Whilst preparing and performing the Zolar X material, I got the opportunity to actually play the electric guitar (which I do not do too much anymore. why? I don't really know). One of my favorite things in the world is attempting to achieve the guitar tone I have heard in my head for the past 10 years or so. As of now, I have boiled it down to a few pieces of key equipment that I currently use in my "setup":

1. Vox 125 Lead head (1979-ish)



2. Single germanium transistor treble booster (I originally made one of these in the traditional format: toggle switch sitting on top of the amp. My friend Morgan made one for me in the stompbox format. I used Morgan's for our show this past weekend).

Mine


Morgan's



3. Tech 21 Double Drive (with harmonic boost/cut)



4. Homemade 2x12 cab (speakers are Celestions from a Marshall cab that were given to me by Joe Wizda)



5. Danelectro or Gibson SG guitar (the two are drastically different, but I can satisfy many aural pleasures with just these two guys). Sorry, no photos.

6. Using a dime as a pick




Suffice to say that this is not a lot of equipment and you may say that it is quite minimal, but maybe that is where I have gone wrong in the past. One last thing I decided to do (this thought occurred to me after the show) was to combine the dual input of the Vox 125 Lead into one.

The Vox has two inputs: Normal and Brilliant. I usually plug into the Brilliant channel and kick the high's on the crazy 5-band EQ that it has way down. Actually, I kick the low's down pretty well, too. Regardless, this method works best when using the Rangemaster clone and allows a lot more headroom for other modification on the pedals themselves. I realized that combining the Brilliant and Normal inputs on the amp would give me a more characteristic Vox sound (chimey and yet thick; lots of highs and mids, but plenty of bottom end).

I used an old 1/4" cable for the ends and a stereo input jack that I had lying around to make what you see below.



Sound samples to come in the future.