Project Studio set-up

Yamaha PM1000

     We helped an old punk rocker setup his studio today. Nice guy, it was fun--relics and all--still more to do.

???

Snake? Snaaaaaaake!!

NPBD: New Pedalboard Day!

Modded Crybaby->CS400 compressor->VS Angry Fuzz->Klon circuit->Firewatch (bufferless/modded Tube Screamer)->L6 Echo Park

Finally organized these guys onto a pedal board. Some pretty good sounds here but it'd be fun to add a Big Muff, other delays, and more modulation.

Shot of just the board:

MXR M-108 EQ

     My friend brought this vintage MXR M-108 to me when it stopped working during a show. I took it apart and tested it, but it works fine! I think the problem is either faulty (non-"locking") jacks, a power problem, or the stiffened inner foam falling onto the circuit.

      Probably one of the first graphic EQs--it's a strange pedal in that it doesn't have a stomp switch and it doesn't take 9v batteries/DC. Instead, it has an AC cord and a transformer which puts out 15V.

     In my short tests through my SS amp, I found the 31.2 Hz and 18KHz sliders to have little effect. That is most likely just due to the fidelity of my amp/speaker!

Gut shot and schem:

Sound demos

Here's demos for almost everything I've built so far: demos

Still need to do one for the Hot Cake!

New Music

My friends are all very busy, talented people. Here's some new music they're planning on releasing:

     "As Oceans" is a Metal/Djent band. Always powerful, they dish out thought-provoking and surprising new sounds. I was lucky to hear the final masters and could not stop bobbing my head. They're planning on releasing their first record in June of 2012.

     "Titan" is a progressive rock power trio who is finishing up their first full length record. Complex meters and shifting textures are the name of the game. "Broken Hands" and "Answer" are my favorite tracks and I'm looking forward to hearing the new tunes.

     Alexis Worthington is a singer-songwriter from Charlotte, NC. She is signed to ASU's student-run record label, Split Rail Records, which will be releasing her debut album, "Show Me Where To Go" on May 3, 2012. On the album and live, she is backed by a very solid group of musicians. Along with members of Titan, I co-engineered the album.
     Alexis recently won a contest to open for Dave Barnes in Charlotte.

      Here's one of the last songs I finished producing. It was written and sung by Allison.


early may listening

Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again
The Budos Band - The Budos Band III
Fleetwood Mac - The Best of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac

MXR Carbon Copy Repair

     A customer (the guitarist from Bafoodus) brought in a non-working Carbon Copy. The symptoms were common: the status LED wasn't working, there wasn't any sound when the effect was engaged, and yet the MOD LED/push button were functioning fine.

I replaced a transistor and it was good to go! This is a really nice sounding delay that feels better than my L6 Echo Park

Hotcake

     Here's a Hotcake I made with a PCB that I had fabricated. Hotcakes are thick, transparent overdrives that are quite articulate. At the highest gain, it actually gets into fuzz territory. It compliments my Blues Jr. well by removing some of the muddy low end and and providing a nice British crunch.


    Nels Cline, members of Pavement, and Laura from Superchunk all use this circuit.

If anyone is interested, I'm selling PCBs of this circuit for $8 apiece

Wah

     Here's a recent repair/mod. This was a Dunlop Crybaby GCB-95 that had a broken inductor--effectively working as a volume pedal. I replaced it with the inductor from a Vox v847 and took out the buffer. It now is True Bypass and an LED indicator could be added. I took off the nameplate in hopes of replacing it with another etched/engraved one. Tonally, other mods were done, which are described here:


Here's what it sounds like with some dotted 8th note delay