So after a month or more without blogging it’s time to write again. Im finding it hard to think of new technology to bring to the fore and to write about, namely because I don’t seem to have the money to invest in new tech so I cannot review any new tech. Then I realised I am buying technology all the time. Guitar tech, that is my domain, it’s where my money seems to be poured, the pedal makers, the amp crafters the great steel forges where tubes are born and these are the places which thrive on my money. I am proud to wear my “MUFF” t-shirt proudly displaying the Electro Harmonix logo on the back, declaring my love for everything EHX my colours proud.
My latest purchase is the Line 6 Relay 30, it is a Bluetooth based wireless system operating at the very top of the license free wireless frequencies (around 2.4ghz I am told!) so there is little chance for interference from radio systems and mobile phone signals. This is imperative in this modern age plagued by hand held communication devices, and it allows for some fantastic stability of signal (the only interference I have encountered so far is from the other guitarist using the same wireless system and thought it would be a larf to switch to my channel). As I can hear so far there is no real loss in signal, it sounds pretty clean which is good as the box claims “Wired tone, wireless freedom!” it’s not a bad claim either. The tone I was using was mostly provided by the EHX Metal Muff pedal running through the effects loop of an ENGL reverb 50 combo amp, which meant at least I wouldn’t loose signal quality from the pedal tones. The only downsides to this set up were, A) it actually meant I used more wires, one for sending to the effects loop one for returning, power for the Metal Muff the Big Muff Pi and the Tuner, power for the Small Clone (running EHX proprietary 9V adapter) patch leads for these effects on the board (three in total) then power for the Amp, patch lead for each end of the wireless and then the power for the receiving unit as well. All in all we are talking 11 cables compared to my usual 8. B) For some reason the Big Muff Pi I am using feeds back like a champ whore when I run it through the effects loop. This could be because I am running the effects loop totally wet and need to blend it out some or the gain on the amp needs to come down some, but either way I can’t use it’s beautifully crafted muddy tone. This is something I need to play with.
As you can see I don’t have the most complex rig ever imagined but my mind is always looking for more areas into which I can expand. I am constantly looking up more and more pedals and effects. Some day I am sure I will run out of money or space in my rig, but I hope not. I can always find space for one more effect, even if it has to float on the edge of my board, or sit on top of my amp.
Oh another quick note. My favourite piece of technology at the moment are my ear plugs. Crafted by the fine people at Elacin, my ER-20 cost me quite a bit off the shelf (Can’t remember quite how much but enough to make me choke on my drink) but they are so good. I have used regular plugs in the past and I find that they are muddy and block a lot of sound from damaging my precious hearing. But they seriously compromise the sound I am hearing as well. This is good until I really need to hear what’s going on. I need to hear the drumbeat and the bass to get my timing down. Now i'm not saying these plugs are perfect, it takes a while to get used to putting them in, as they are by no means intuitive, and if you don’t put them in far enough not only do they fall out. But they have a tendency to not work properly (functioning like regular plugs) plus the can be a pure bitch to clean. But they have saved my ears on more than one occasion and I am incredibly grateful (I have suffered for up to four days with tinnitus after forgetting them once or twice)
Final word, you can never have enough pedals, guitars, amps, or good quality cables. This, my friends, is a fact.
No comments:
Post a Comment