Using the PodGo

Two or three years ago I took in a box full of pedals to my local GC to trade. I don’t guess it was quite a box full, but it was 7 or 8. It was by and large a bunch of Klones and TS-type that I had never used after I tried them out the first time. I ended up trading them straight up for a Line 6 Pod Go.

Prior to the Pod Go, I had two multi-effect pedals. I had a Vox Tone Lab ST and a Fender Mustang Floor. Both of them still worked well for what I wanted, but I wanted to try something that wasn’t 10+ years old. The Tone Lab was based on the same tech that was in the Valevetronix amp I had bought in like 2008, and that Fender Mustang line that included the Floor had come out in 2010 (I think). So the tech in the new one was like 12 years old, and the tech in the other was 14 or 15. I figured that guitar gear had moved forward a LOT in that amount of time, so I wanted to see what was new. I think the Pod Go had come out in 2020, so the tech was only a couple years old when I got it.

Way back when, I had one of the Digitech RP50 pedals. I never was a big fan of it. Then, at some point, I had bought one of the Line 6 Mini Pods. You know the one. Not the big, red, bean-shaped one. It was the little one that was the same thing. I actually liked it. I just never found the right place to use it, so I eventually got rid of it.

Neeways, I knew somebody that gigged with one of the HX series, and I knew someone else that played a Helix at church every week. And both seemed happy with what and how they did. So, not needing the super robust Helix or really needing the HX, I went looking for the Pod Go. Trading the pedals for it seemed like a no-brainer for it.

Since I’ve gotten it, I have also gotten several IRs and presets for it. But, as I was sitting here playing it a few minutes ago, I realized that the couple that I use the most are ones that I’ve made. They’re also really similar to the actual pedal board I use most often. Tuner > TS-type > klone > vibe > reverb. And, on the Pod Go, I have them run into a Dumble amp emulation. The difference in that and my actual board is that the actual board has a delay on it, and I could never rationalize mortgaging the house to buy a real Dumble.

Now, I’ve made a bunch of presets. Looking through the list of them, I have one made specifically for my Les Paul, one specifically for my Tele, one specifically for my 339, etc. Then I have one that is made specifically for practice (it has the looper in it). Then I have one that is based on the AC30 model and another based on the JCM model and different amps like that. All total, I probably have 20 or so presets that I have made. Weirdly, or maybe not weirdly, most of them are really similar. The differences generally seem to be pretty small. For instance, the LP preset uses a klone and a TS-type where the Tele uses a klone and a Timmy-clone. Although, I have a couple that have the Prince of Tone with the SD-1 or Rat copies in them.

And even with those small differences, and having the different presets for each guitar, I typically end up using one of a couple of the presets. There’s the practice-room preset. I use that one a LOT. In fact, even if I’m not using it in my little practice room, I tend to fall on that one. I’ve actually got two versions of it. One has the looper, and the other has the 10-band EQ instead of the looper. Outside of that, it’s exactly what I describe a couple of paragraphs up. Doesn’t matter what guitar I’m using, that seems to be the one I grab. Even though I have a preset a couple of banks away that says “TeleTimKVRDum” I grab the one that says “PR no loop.”

I think I mentioned further up that the signal chain in that seems to follow my big boards. On the smaller one I use a bunch, it’s a tuner into a Lovepedal Kalamazoo or TS-9 (it seems like I’m swapping back and forth between those two pretty regularly) into a Wampler Germanium Tumnus (klone) into a Keely Verb o’ Trem. My bigger board (that gets used less than the smaller one) is an MXR Uni-Vibe into a Visual Sound Open Road (ODR clone) or Visual Sound Route 808 (TS-type) (I seem to swap these two pretty often too) into a KTR (depending on your perspective it’s a Klone made by Klon) into a Wampler The Doctor delay into a Boss TR-2 into a reverb. I have a reverb on both because my amp doesn’t have one. The key differences being the vibe and the delay in the bigger board.

Funny how we tend to do that. I guess there’s truth in the fact that we each have a “sound” in our head, and that’s kind of what we migrate to when we set our rig up. That seems to be what I have done with my actual boards. And it’s what I seem to have done with the Pod Go.

In fact, several years ago, I ended up laughing about that. I had sat down with that Tone Lab to setup some different tones. I spent several hours one Saturday afternoon setting up a couple of Vox models and a couple of Marshall models and Fender Twin models and Bassman models. I wanted to be able to easily switch between each of the amp sounds because they all sound pretty different. A couple days later, I sat down to go back and play through several of the models I had setup just so I could hear and compare them. When I did, I realized that, although they did sound a little different, by and large, I had dialed them all in pretty close to each other. The AC30 sounded kind of like the JCM sounded kind of like the Twin sounded kind of like all the others.

Which reminds me of a video I saw way back in the early days of the tube of you. It was probably 2006 or 2007. I’ve looked for it several times the last 10 years and been unsuccessful in finding it. Apparently, at some point, SRV and Brian Setzer played a show together. The vid was a point in the show where they were both on stage and swapped rigs. They unstrapped and gave the other their guitar, and they spent 5 or so minutes just swapping licks and having a good time. The thing that stood out to me was that SRV still sounded like SRV playing through a Gretsch and Setzer’s rig, and Setzer still sounded like Setzer playing through a Strat and SRV’s rig.

I’m not going to start a “tone is in the hands” debate because I think that’s right, and I think that’s wrong. But it struck me that day how it didn’t seem like the rig mattered.

That sound in each of our heads is what we want to hear, and no matter what gear we have, we’re going to end up as close to that sound as we can get. Funny how it seems to work out that way.

Lego Advent Calender – 2024 Edition

So the 2024 Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar has reached its end today. And, in my humble, but most accurate, opinion, it is…

THE BEST ONE YET!!!

The advent calendars always seem to have some sort of theme. This year, it seemed to me to be a throwback to a lot of the original Lego Star Wars sets. The mini-builds this year were primarily ships. There was just one location build. There was one Lego Star Wars game build. Ane there were six mini-figs.

I’ll start with the thing I thought was the weak point, and this weak point made for a pretty anti-climactic conclusion because it was Day 24. I actually had to look up what this one was. It was the Crimson Hawk. It’s a ship from the Young Jedi series. I’ve seen the set at the store, but never given it more than a glance. It’s one of the sets that is made specifically for the youngest kids that Lego, specifying it’s for ages 4 and up.

Then there’s the highlights. At least the highlights for me. In no particular order.

The TIE fighter. With the blue trim, you can tell it’s a throwback to the original Lego Tie, set 7146. I’ve got one of those.

The Land Speeder. They’ve done several Land Speeders. I’ve got 2 or 3. The first one they did (I think) is set 7110. The mini-build is almost as big as that one (I jest, but 7110 wasn’t that big). I’ve got that one. I think the others that I have all came as part of another set. I think the mini-build is a nod to the UCS version. They’ve done this one in at least a couple of advent calendars, but this is easily the best one.

Luke and Leia. I absolutely LOVE their Christmas sweaters!!

It’s got Ghost, Razor Crest, a Venator class cruiser, and a cool T-6. Out of those, I have the second Ghost (75357), the first Razor Crest (75292), Ahsoka’s T-6 (75362), but I don’t have a Venator class.

And that brings me to the final highlight. No weapons racks. Again, for kids, those are probably because they give you more to play with with the mini-figs. But, for me, the older collector, they’re always kind of meh.

All in all, my verdict is this is the best Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar. Like I mentioned, Day 24 was a bit of a let down to end on, but I, also, know that I’m not the target demographic for these. I get them every year because I think they’re fun. But it’s Lego. They’re aiming at kids. But, best calendar yet. Most every day, was an “oh cool!” moment. Good job Lego! Looking forward to next year’s already.

Image below was stolen from A to the Z.

I WON!!

So I won the lottery this year. But it’s not like I get to retire.

Every year since whenever it was they started them (like 2012 or whenever it was), I have tried to get in on the Premier Guitar Mystery Stocking deal. For me, it’s a fun little thing to do. I send them whatever the cost is for that year, and they send me that much in random guitar-related gear.

The first few years, I think it was $30. Out of those first 5 years, I think I got 2 pedals out of the deal. Back then, I think they’d stick the pedal in with whatever the basic box was because when I got those pedals, I’d also get strings and picks and whatever else. The years that I didn’t win and just got the basic box, it never was too bad. I’d still end up with strings and picks and some other guitar related gear that would be fun. And there was always one thing in the box that was kind of the “premium” item. So the years that you’d get the basic box, there’d be several little things and one something that would’ve been worth 2/3s the cost of the box. You could easily tell what that “premium” thing was.

Truth is, in those first few years, I found several things in the basic box that became my go-to. For instance, if it weren’t for the PG Mystery Stocking, I wouldn’t be using the picks I’ve been using the last 10 years or so. I also got a strap in the one in like 2019 that is the strap I use when I play out now. It’s one of those with the self-locking connector that makes it so I don’t have to use the rubber washers I had been using for years. And, no, I don’t use the Fender or Dunlop or whichever straplocks. Mostly I don’t because I don’t want to end up grabbing a guitar that I forgot to put them on, getting out somewhere to play, and then realizing I can’t use my strap because it doesn’t have the right straplocks. Anyways, up until the last couple years, there was always something in the box that I could use.

And here, I am going to pause and mention that I know the deal has always been that you send in whatever the price is, and they send you at least that much worth of gear. No promises that it’s going to be something that you want or anything that you might need. Just you send us $30 and we’ll send you $30 worth of something.

Now I didn’t get in every year from the start until this year. There have been 2 or 3 years that I was just late, and didn’t get my name in quick enough before they ran out. Seriously, they would sell out in a matter of a couple of minutes some years. I did find the last two years that, if you missed the initial rush, you could wait a couple of hours, refresh the page, and they would be available again for a little while. And, if you tried to get one during those initial few minutes, the website was always super laggy and not able to handle the traffic.

From that traffic and order perspective, the last couple years were no different. In fact, despite my best efforts, I missed the initial rush because I couldn’t get the order page to load. So I got mine ordered those years an hour or so after things settled down and a few would show up as available. Both years, I ended up getting what has very un-affectionately become known as the box of sad. The basic box. In fact, I think last year’s box was whatever was left when they were cleaning out the room.

Between the 2022 and 2023 PG Mystery Stockings, I didn’t keep anything in them. Everything I got either went in the trash or into my give-away box that I keep so that if I hear someone say “I need a strap,” I can grab one out of the box and give them one to use and not worry about getting it back. Also, in the 2022 box I got a guitar strap. In the 2023 box, I got the exact same strap. And in the 2023 box, I got a second strap. Two straps in one box.

Those two years really made me question if I was going to do it again this year. Two years in a row where everything in the box seemed like an afterthought. Two years in a row where it felt like PG was just throwing a bunch of cheap stuff in a box and sending it out. Both years, if you added up the MSRP (which is how they determine the box value minimum), it barely hit the $35 or $40 (whatever it cost those years), but, if you added up the actual street value, it didn’t hit the total. The box of sad. There’s a reason folks were calling it that online.

This year, I wasn’t really planning on trying to get in on one, but I woke up that Monday morning and decided that, if I was sitting at my computer at the release time, I’d give it a shot. But I was not going to do the try-again thing an hour later if I missed the initial rush.

I was sitting at my computer at the time, so I refreshed the order page. Surprisingly, it came right up with zero delay or lag. I ordered one. Then, out of curiosity, I kept the page up and occasionally refreshed it. I finally closed it 2 days later when I got the email from PG that they still had them available. Apparently, the last 2 years of bad press caused people to stay away from it this year.

The basic boxes always come USPS. So I was more than a little bit happy when I got the UPS ship notification. The back of my mind was still a little concerned because the shipment said 2 pounds and that’s about what the basic box always came in at.

When it finally came in, I WON!! Unlike those early years where they sent the pedal in a box with the strings and picks and other non-premium stuff, I opened the box and there was just a pedal in it. But I had gotten a pedal out of the deal.

It’s a Maestro Fuzz pedal. I’m not a fuzz person. And plugging this one in and playing with it some this weekend, I’m still not a fuzz person. But I thought it was really cool that I got a pedal. New toys are always fun! So I’ve played around with it, and I’ll probably toss it in the box o’ pedals that I keep on the side that will eventually go back to GC or the local MusicGoRound. But I still think it was really cool that I didn’t get the basic box again this year.

Although, I haven’t seen the absolute furor online this year with complaining about what they did (or didn’t) get in the box. So I’m really curious what the basic box was this year. My theory is that the initial few years of the box was a fairly small run with things that were a little more curated. By the last couple of years, the Mystery Stockings had just become a big, unwieldy event that was not easily managed and even less easily curated and distributed. So it went from a good time to a box of sad.

With the apparent slow sales this year, and PG even having to send out an email after a couple of days telling folks they were still available, I’m hoping they don’t stop doing it. For the $40 it cost this year, it’ll still be my annual lottery ticket if it continues. I’m just hoping that they’re able to get the scale under control where they’re able to get back to it being fun and not just a way to send junk to a bunch of people like it had turned into the last couple years.

Black Friday Deals

There are a LOT of Black Friday deals out there. And, since T-day isn’t even until next week, there are more of them coming. I almost always end up picking something new up between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Most of the time, it’s the Cyber Monday deals that get me.

This year, I’ve already spent my Black Friday budget. Well, not that I really had a budget. So no budget, but I bought a pedal from one of the Black Friday deals. It has already come in. I’ve already been playing with it. And I love it!

I saw an email from JHS Pedals that they were selling everything for 25% off. I immediately thought that I should get a Morning Glory. That would price those at $150. I’m not sure I could get a used one for that. But I couldn’t really rationalize spending that much on a pedal right now. Besides, I have several BluesBreaker clones, and, as much as I like them, both my boards end up with a klone a screamer of some sort. I always end up pulling the BB clones off eventually and going back to the other. So, I guess most of it was that I didn’t want to spend $150 on a pedal that was probably going to end up in the drawer.

Then I remembered that I’ve been trolling Reverb lately for a 3-series Harmonic Trem. I wanted to pay $70 or less for one shipped. All of the used ones I was seeing were running about $75 + $15 shipping. I’m not spending $90 on a pedal that I can get a brand spankin’ one for $100. There’s no sense in that. In my humble opinion, something used should be at least 25% off if not more like 40% off.

So, I laughed all the way to my cart as I got my new pedal for $75. Which was cheaper than the vast majority of the used ones on Reverb. I was going to get it directly from JHS, but they had that big banner up that said to add up to 2 weeks extra for shipping during this sale. So I hit Amazon, and I ordered the pedal at like 9pm and it was dropped off on my porch by 9am the next morning.

Wasn’t really sure what a Harmonic Trem was when I got it, but I’m a big fan of trem pedals in general, and I had read that this pedal could do the univibe thing. Which a univibe is my all time fave pedal. Got it in, and I’ve been playing with it since.

I like that it has a Vol knob. I really wish my other similar pedals had that because most don’t. With the toggle switch up in the trem position, it sounds like a trem. It’s good, but I’m not sure that it would knock my Boss trem off my one board or my Keely trem off my other board. It’s good, but it’s not that good.

But flip that toggle switch down to the harmonic trem setting, and I think I’m in love. It’s not quite that full swirly sound that you get from a univibe, but it goes from being a regular tremolo sound to this warbly, curvy sound that’s not the regular trem sound an not quite the sound of a univibe sound, but oh my gosh I like it!

The big board has a univibe at the front and that trem on the end. The little board just has a trem on the end with no vibe. So it’s probably going to kick the trem on the little board off and replace that one.

By my own admission, I’ve only had it a few days now, so I’m still in the honeymoon phase with it. But, so far, I have been enjoying it enough and like the sounds I’m getting from it enough that I think this one is a winner.

Also, I’m scratching my head, but I think this is the first JHS pedal that I’ve owned. I do have a couple of the the IRs that they made loaded in my PodGo, but I don’t think I’ve had any of their pedals. Wait, that’s not entirely correct.

I just remembered that I picked up a Notaklon when they were released, but it’s buried in a drawer somewhere. It sounds like…a klone. But, doing a couple of different tests where I tried to be as objective as possible, my KTR is actually the best sounding Klon/e that I own. And, I got one of those Wampler Germanium Tumnus pedals, and it sounds absolutely amazing to my ear. So that are what I run on my boards.

I, also, picked up one of the Lizard Queen fuzz pedals (the EHX pedal), but it is also buried in a drawer somewhere. I got it on a whim a couple months after they were released because I was trying to be on a fuzz kick at that point. It’s a fuzz. I got it more because it was EHX’s new fuzz and not because it JHS had a hand in designing it. I don’t really use fuzz, and, when I do, I either grab my Wrought Iron Kaibur Fuzz or another one-off fuzz that a forum-buddy had made and sold.

Neeways, the JHS Harmonic Trem pedal. I’m a fan. It’s going on the little board probably before the weekend is over.

Anti-social Media

The election is finally over. Thank the Maker!

But that hasn’t kept one side from gloating and the other side from crying big ol’ crocodile tears. And, truthfully, no matter how this election would’ve ended, I don’t believe the noise from it will be over for months. But I digress. Today I wanted to make an observation and call it done.

Apparently, there is no longer any room for someone in the middle. There is no room for compromise. Working with the other side to try to move forward is no longer accepted.

It seems that now everything that does not completely agree with you is extreme. If someone’s thinking is anything to the right of yours, then they are a filthy fascist. If their thinking is anywhere to the left of yours, then they are a brain-damaged liberal. There can be no common ground unless they think exactly the same way that you do.

Growing up, you could disagree and still be friends. These days, it seems you must draw a line in the sand about everything, and, if someone isn’t standing on your side of that line, then they must be cut off.

And we wonder why society is the complete dumpster fire that it is.

I blame a lot of this on the rise of social media, which, from today forward, I am calling anti-social media. I know it’s not the only thing to blame, but it certainly brings out the worst in people.

As an example, I was scrolling the big R this morning, and, for some reason, clicked on a political thread. There was a LOT of hate in that thread. It was mostly one side spewing venom at a single poster who may or may not have been from the other side. They never said anything that gave away their ideology. They merely dared to ask if political comments could be curbed now that the election was over. One quote stood out that sort of encapsulated all of the hate being slung. Paraphrasing, it said, “no stopping, no rest, and no peace until <the other side> no longer have a voice in this country.” And admit it. You can hear that comment coming from either side.

No compromise, right?

The older I get the more I am convinced that the world isn’t as black and white as preachers and politicians want us to think. Don’t get me wrong, right is right and wrong is wrong, but there is a LOT more grey than I would’ve admitted in my younger, more idealistic days. And, in those grey areas, when you’re dealing with over 330 million people, compromise is an absolute necessity if you want to avoid the morass that our political landscape has become.

Mexico Finally Did It

I’ve seen folks wonder when it was going to happen, and it looks like it has finally did. The Buck Owens Telecaster, which is a good looking guitar if I should say so myself, is a MIM Tele, and it costs $2,000.

I remember his Tele. I was a kid, it was a Saturday night, and the fam was all sitting around watching Hee Haw. “Glooooom, despair, and agony on me…if it weren’t for bad luck I’d have not luck at all…” He didn’t use it on that song, but it showed up occasionally on the show.

We watched it every Saturday night. I liked watching Buck Owens and Roy Clark. In my kid mind, they were funny, and, even then, I realized that they were both great musicians. And the two of them had pretty good chemistry and made me laugh.

As an 8 or 9 year old, it was a good time. I still remember enough about the show and the music and the fun that it has stuck with me all these years later. Buck Owens remains, to me, what that Bakersfield sound is supposed to be. And he should since he pioneered that sound. I didn’t even realize that sound had a name until a few years ago. I’ve always enjoyed it.

As a complete tangent, I didn’t know until recently that he was from just up the road in Sherman. I always thought he was a born and raised Californian. I also didn’t realize that he didn’t really like Hee Haw, but like most every job I’ve ever had, they paid him enough that he did the job.

You can hear his influence in several artists, especially Dwight Yoakum. Up to now, Epiphone’s Dwight Trash Casino is one of only a couple of signature guitars I’ve wanted. I didn’t find out about that one until it was too late. As I recall, it was an Epi Elitist. So it wasn’t a cheap one either. I’d love to get one of these Buck Owen Teles, but it’s a little too rich for my blood.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not throwing shade on the guitar or the fact that it’s not MIA. I’m sure it’s a great guitar and worth what they’re asking. Truthfully, I wouldn’t get it no matter where it was made. The price is a bit much for what I want to pay for a Tele. But this is the first time I’ve seen a MIM Fender hit that $2,000 point. That’s more than some MIAs cost.

Ensenada is making some great instruments. In fact, the Tele I have is from there. I’ve also got a Strat from there. A couple of them in fact. They’re not shabby instruments! The MIM instruments are, in my mind, supposed to be a little more affordable than those that are MIA. Hitting that $2k mark means that they may not be so much anymore.

So, the new question is when Epiphone is going to hit that price point. They’re getting close. Awfully close. But they’re not there yet. If Fender is now there, I imagine that Epi will probably hit it with a model or two next year.

And since I mentioned it up there, here’re the signature guitars I’d like some day. I had the Nita Strauss Ibanez. It was a super nice guitar. I liked it, but it wasn’t for me. It wasn’t one that I had planned to get. I just picked it up at the local GC and played it once, and decided I needed to give it a chance. I’ve also got a Jimi Hendrix Monterey Strat. I bought it to be more of an art piece that hangs over the door of my little music room. It doesn’t really get played. It just hangs there and looks cool. Those are the only signature guitars that I’ve had/got.

I almost bought one of those Emily Wolfe Epi Sheratons a couple years ago. Like the Nita Strauss Ibanez, it wasn’t one that I went looking for. I was in the market for a 335-esque guitar and walked into the local GC where a black one was hanging on the wall. It looked really cool, and it played and sounded like a 335 should. They had another regular Epi 335 on the wall next to it. I liked the neck on the 335 better than the Sheraton, so that’s the one I took home.

If they ever make one, I’d be all over a Henry Garza signature Strat. Even though Los Lonely Boys isn’t nearly as active (or don’t seem to be) as they were 20 years ago, that guy is still one of my fave players. As far as signatures that I know are out there, here’re the ones I’ve said I would like. One of those Dwight Trash Casino guitars. I’d kind of like an SRV Strat some day just because SRV. I kind of dig the Brad Paisley Tele. Then there’s the Brent Mason Tele. I dig the Robert Cray Strats. I want that one mostly because it’s a hard tail, and there aren’t too many of those out there. Now I can add the Buck Owens Tele to that list.

Various Thoughts of Late

Not much to talk about today. So I’ll just throw out some random things from the last few weeks.

  • First, how come I had to google how to make this a bulleted list. It should be obvious and up front. I have plenty of complaints about how MS does stuff, but at least they do this right.
  • I recently replaced the pickups in my Tele with a couple from Bootstrap Pickups. Telecasters are one of those guitars that I really feel like I should like. After all, it’s an iconic guitar. But they’ve just never done much for me. I, honestly don’t remember which pickups I got. I think it was a Pretzel in the neck and Palo Duro in the bridge. They sound really nice to my ear. I had originally replaced the stock pickups in it with a couple of GFS pickups. I moved those GFS pickups into the Squier Tele that I use as a beater. The Bootstraps sound good enough that I have kept that Tele out since I replaced them. It sounds just like I expect a Tele to sound. And that’s kind of weird. I’ve never really been a Tele fan, so I’ve surprised myself that this one has stayed out for more than a day or two at this point.
  • My pepper plant has fallen over. Not sure why. It’s still growing and producing peppers and everything. It’s just growing sideways. Kind of weird.
  • Picked up one of the new Nux Vox pedals. I couldn’t remember the name so I had to look it up. They call it the 63 Diamond. It’s a pretty good sounding pedal. Sounds like it’s advertised, kind of Vox-y. I’ve gotten several of their pedals, and I have been impressed by most of them. In fact, their Steel Singer (D-type) pedal stays on one of my boards. And their Morning Star (BB-type) is one of my fave of that kind. For that Morning Star, kick on the Shine feature, and it just sings. The only Nux I haven’t really liked was their Klone. I forget what it was called, but it was just kind of an average pedal. Didn’t do much for me. I guess their TS-type has also been kind of meh for me, too. But overall, I like that brand.
  • Bought that ODR-1 that I talked about in the last post. Because of it, I was going to swap out the TS-type on my board with the Visual Sound Open Road. Still haven’t gotten that done. Not that I’ve changed my mind and don’t want to do it now. More that I keep getting distracted and not doing it. Eventually it’ll happen.
  • Planning a trip out to the desert southwest before too long. I need to get my hiking backpack locked and loaded and ready for that trip. I noticed recently that Teton (formerly Teton Sports) no longer sells the backpack that I use. I sometimes think I was the only one that liked that model. And I really like it. I think I had a post about it on my old blog. I might have to do a backpack post on this new site too.

Am I a Nobel guitar player?

Every time I hear someone play an ODR-1, I dig it. It’s just a really good sounding pedal! I had somehow missed until a couple years ago that it was something of a Nashville staple pedal.

Back in like 2021, I had a guitar buddy that had one, and he loaned it to me. I really liked it. It was like a Tube Screamer but without the mid-hump. Did I mention that I really liked it? So I found a mini-ODR for $50 shipped, so I got it. For some reason, it never did much for me. I never could get it to sound like I remembered the other one sounding. So a year or so later, I traded it off. I think it was in that box of pedals that I traded to GC for my PodGo.

Since I got rid of it, I’ve always remembered really liking that one I had borrowed. I should’ve just gone back to that buddy and asked if he wanted to sell it, but I never did. I’d still occasionally think I needed to try one again. Being the fan I’ve always been of Wampler, about a year ago, I had some Amazon credit, so I picked up a Belle.

I like the Belle. To my ear, it’s a lighter OD than what that buddy’s ODR could be, but it’s a good sounding pedal. It has that button on the side that’s supposed to do something to the clipping, but, honestly, I don’t hear a difference. I actually ran it on my board for a while. I ran it into a klone, and those two sounded really, really nice to my ear.

So last weekend, during all the Labor Day gear sales, I saw someone that had one of the full-size ODR-1 pedals on sale for $100 shipped. So I bit. Got it in this week, and I’ve played around with it a bit. I like it better than the mini that I had. Or at least how I think I remember the mini sounding. (Yes, I know they probably sounded just the same, and I’m being stupid.) Got it all set up to a sound I like, and it’s a nice sounding pedal.

Then, today, I remembered that I have an old Visual Sound Open Road in the drawer. From what I’ve been told, it’s an ODR-esque pedal. So I pulled it out this morning, lined up the new ODR-1, the Belle, and that Open Road. I played around with them to get them sounding the way that I like them. Once I got that done, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that they sounded pretty much the same. I was, also, reminded just how much I like that Open Road. For drive pedals, it sometimes gets shoved to the back of the drawer and forgotten.

After this morning, I’ve actually got that Open Road laying on the floor to take the place of a TS-clone that I have on my board at the moment. I had forgotten just how much I like that pedal. I’ll swap them out this afternoon.

The Belle and the ODR will go into the drawer. I’m not looking to get rid of either at this point. I’m glad I got that ODR. Otherwise the the Open Road may’ve stayed buried in the back of the OD drawer for a while more.

Reverb Changes

I like Reverb. At least in the past I have. I’ve spent way to much money on that site. I, also, used to use it to sell gear that I didn’t necessarily want anymore. And this post is going to be a little complain-y I’m sure.

Before Etsy bought them (or whatever their parent is called), I used to sell a bunch on there. I say it was a bunch. I definitely wasn’t a store, but every couple of months I was selling something…a pedal or some piece of gear that I wanted to turn into credit to turn around and get something else. And I was pretty constantly buying something. Then they got bought.

Since then, it seems that the selling fees went up. Looking on the site, it appears that they have a selling fee and a payment processing fee that, together, come out to be 8%. It always feels way more than that thought. It used to not feel that way. Nowadays, if I price my stuff where I think is fair, then add on shipping in the amount that I feel like I can drop off and look like a good guy and still end up with a price I can live with, then subtract out the fees, it seems like I’m only getting about 70% of what I want to get. That’s not that much better than I get at the local GC if I take stuff there. And, at the GC, I don’t have the headache of trying to sell stuff (but that’s another story).

Then, Reverb has started this thing where, no matter what the condition of something is, they have front and center the comparison to new pricing. So, you’re buying a busted, hoopty something, and almost before you see the price, you see it say “$XX Typical new price, $XX Savings.” You know what, it’s not new, so I don’t care what the new price is. It’s used, so show me the comparison to the average used price. Also, sometimes it shows a dollar amount savings from new and sometimes it shows a percentage. Standardize that, and make it the percentage. Dollar savings, to me, is meaningless. If you’re going to make me look at the price as compared to the new version, then I’m doing that math in my head anyways.

Of course, that doesn’t really matter at this point since I’m not buying much on there at this point. Sellers have gotten to where they’re asking too much for used gear. So, if you’re going to buy new, there are a lot of options, and Reverb is only one of those. And I’m not really selling there anymore. With fees what they are, like I mentioned up there, it’s almost not worth it to sell there anymore. I’d rather just collect pedals in a box and take them all to the GC all at once and avoid the headache of having to pack and ship and hope that someone doesn’t stiff me.

Now, mentioning all that, I’m about a hypocrite too. I still buy stuff there way too much. In fact, I’m waiting on a pedal to come in now. Should be here in a couple days. But I can’t think of the last time I sold something there. Although it’s about time that I either get a box full of pedals together to take to the GC or give up and start selling stuff on there again.

Squier vs Fender

I have several Squiers. I have several Fenders. They’re both good companies. They both make good guitars.

Brief history. My most recent Squier and my most recent Fender have both been Telecasters. And both were purple. One was a Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele. The other was a Fender Road Worn 50s Tele. I had seen a purple Tele and really liked the look, so I decided that I needed one.

I saw the Road Worn, and thought I should get it. But it cost over twice as much as the Squier. So I went with the Squier. It came in, and I quickly realized that it must’ve been a Monday morning guitar because it had issues. So, a few months later, I sprung for the Fender. Ever since then, I’ve said I should’ve just started with the Fender all along. It would’ve saved me getting the Squier.

So I have two purple Telecasters.

Now, I think that Squier guitars have their place, and they are generally good guitars for the money. I’ve, also, always talked about how they are good alternatives to their more expensive Mexican and American made cousins. I’ve always known, however, that there are things about the Fenders that make them nicer guitars, but, until today, I had never looked to see what any of the differences were.

Several months ago I swapped out the stock pups from the Fender. I was never really happy with the ones that came with it. So I got the GFS pups and figured I’d try them. The new neck pup was really nice. I liked it a lot! But the bridge never really caught my ear. I kept hearing about Bootstrap pickups, and thought I’d order them to see what they sounded like. I made the swap today.

I liked that GFS neck pickup I had gotten so well I thought I’d stick it in the Squier. So back to back I had both of those guitars pulled apart. The difference was, to me, absolutely astounding.

The Fender is a Road Worn. So it has nicks and scratches and worn paint all over it. But the cavities were all finished out nicely. They were even shielded. No rough spots or edges. The couple of date and barcode stickers in the guitar were positioned with intent. They were straight, and it appeared that someone had taken the time to do them right. The electronics were looked nice. Taking the parts off, they came off as expected, and the screws came out easily. I was able to change the pickups, and it all went back together with no issues. Start to finish took me roughly an hour, and I was playing the guitar again. The new pickups sound pretty nice if I should say so myself.

Once I got done with the Fender, I started to work on the Squier. And it was a whole different ballgame. First, parts didn’t want to come off. In fact, I ended up stripping the head on one of the screws on the bridge plate trying to get it off. None of those 4 strings came off easily. Then the cavities were all pretty rough. None of them were finished as nicely as the ones on the Fender. And none were shielded. I was, also, surprised to find out that the new electronics didn’t quite fit the old hardware. So off to Amazon to order new hardware. There was also this weird grease-looking stain under the pickguard and a spot of the same whatever-it-was under one side of the control plate.

Folks talk about the fit and finish of new guitars all the time. This Squier had issues from the get-go, but the usual pull-it-off-the-wall-and-play-it fit and finish wasn’t too bad. However, today, after pulling the pickguard and the bridge plate and the control plate all off, any illusion of good fit and finish quickly went away. Under the hood, there was a reason this guitar cost half what the Fender cost.

Like I said, start to finish, the Fender went from one set of pickups to the new set in about an hour. I spent about the same amount of time on the Squier. In that time, I managed to get it apart and realize that I needed to order a bunch of parts. I spent another 30 minutes ordering parts and putting some parts back together so I don’t lose them. Once I get all the parts in, I’ll be able to spend another 30 or 45 minutes putting them all on. Problem is, since one of the parts I had to order was a new bridge, once I’ve got all that on, I’m going to have to take time to set the guitar up again.

Once I get the Squier back together it should be a great guitar, but it still won’t be that Fender. Truth is that, after today, I realize that, no matter how much I’d like for it to be, that Squier will never be as nice a guitar as the Fender. Even though I’ve got some really nice instruments in there (and some really budget ones), I always skeptically looked at the difference in the two and think the nicer ones might not deserve their higher price tag. Today I realized that was wrong. There’s a reason that the Fender cost over twice what the Squier cost.