State of the Board – Today’s Edition

Several years ago I started making an “affordaboard.” Yes, I stole the name from guys like 60 Cycle Hum. What that is is a pedal board that has budget pedals on it. The board I made up had a looper on it that I paid $100 for and it was more expensive than all the rest of the pedals combined. At this point, about all I remember is that all the other pedals were about the cheapest I could find on Amazon or Reverb at the time. In addition to that looper, there was a reverb, a vibe, a D-type drive, a TS-type drive, a BB-type drive, and a tuner. I had 7 mini pedals on the board. I remember that the D-type was the most expensive of the rest of the pedals, and it was $28. And I had them all on a pretty affordable rail-type board that I found on Amazon.

That board morphed and changed as I would see something else cheap that caught my eye. By the time I realized the board had completely changed and was no longer an affordaboard, the only pedals left from that original board were the D-type (because I totally dig it!), the reverb (because, to me, reverb is reverb), and the looper (which really didn’t count as an afforda-pedal).

Neeways, a couple weekends ago I swapped out a couple of the last two affordable pedals for ones that don’t necessarily fit that bill. Here’s what it is now.

I run the guitar into one of those pink Nux Flow tuners. I like the pedal. I got it because it’s pink, and I like pink. It’s pretty easy to see although I’ve never had to use it in bright sun to test it. It seems pretty accurate. It’s a good tuner.

That runs into a Tube Screamer Mini. I use it because it’s not a full size pedal. It has a TS808 sound. I think there’s something slightly different about the sound of a TS9 that I actually like better. But, by and large, a TS pedal sounds like a TS. Put me in a room where a band is playing, and I know I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference in the the types.

The next pedal is a Wampler Germanium Tumnus. It’s a klone. I happened to see it on their website the day it was released and get one. Apparently, when they released it, it was an in-demand pedal, and they sold out. The fact that I got one was pretty much an accident. I, also, have a regular Tumnus. When I got it, I tested them side by side, and, honestly, they sound the same to me. The Germanium is on my board though because I got it dialed in and really like how it sounded. So it went on the board.

Behind that one is the only pedal that survived the affordaboard. It’s a Nux Steel Singer, a D-type pedal. When I bought this pedal, I didn’t really think I was going to like it, but I was curious how it would sound when I bought it. I totally dig it! Because of it, I’ve continued to pick up and test D-type pedals. My opinion on them changed because of this pedal, and I really like the ones I have (the Warm Audio Warmdrive is a standout). It’s an always-on pedal for me. I have this one set to some very light drive. I mostly like the way it kind of colors my sound. Best $28 I’ve spent on gear in a long time.

Those three drive pedals go into an MXR Carbon Copy Mini. I’ve got it set for some slapback. I’m not a big user of delay, but, when I do, slapback is usually where I end up. I added it just to kind of round the board out with all the basics.

That delay goes into a Keely Verb o Trem. My #1 fave effect in the world is a good vibe or rotary emulator. I know those two aren’t the same, but they’re about equal in my mind. Other than that D-type, the last pedal from the affordaboard was the reverb. On the opposite end of the board, I had a Lovepedal Pickle Vibe. It was a great sounding vibe! The reason I pulled it off was because I wanted to add the delay, and I didn’t have room to add it without removing it. As an alternative, I pulled the Pickle and the reverb, and added the delay and the Keely. The trem side of the Keely isn’t a vibe, but it gets half way there. And, since it has the reverb on it too, it allowed me to pull two pedals and add three…in a round about sort of way. It, also, isn’t a two-button pedal, so to use one effect and not the other, you have to reach down and turn the side down you don’t want. But it was kind of a compromise that worked for me, so I went with it.

Off the actual board, I swapped from the looper I had been using to a JamMan Stereo. I’ve always been a fan of two-button loopers, and this one is waaaaay ahead of the Boss RC-20xl I had been using for years (but not the one I was using with the affordaboard). The JamMan runs into my amp.

It’s all still on that small rail-type board I got off Amazon just because I really like the mounting system (no velcro or zip ties). Oh – and it’s still powered by whatever the affordable power supply was that I found (a Caline or Donner or something – I don’t remember). I’m not even sure if it’s an isolated power supply, but it has never been noisy at all so I’ve stuck with it.

That’s the state of the board today. Not an affordaboard anymore, but it’s one that hits all the things it needs for my playing.

my board today

My Epiphones and My Gibsons

First, I like my Epiphones. And I like my Gibsons. Or at least I like the ones from both brands that I have now.

Like so many others, my entry into the world of the Les Paul was with an Epiphone. It was a Studio model. It was not a great guitar. At the time, I had 2 other electrics. I had a Strat that I really liked, and I had a Washburn semi-hollow. I had gotten a small bonus at work, and I wanted to try out a Les Paul. The one that I got just happened to be in the budget by the time I split that bonus between me, Mrs Snarf, and the savings account. So I ordered it. I actually wanted another model that the store told me was discontinued, and this Studio model was the other one that I could afford. So I got it.

From the time I pulled it out of the box, I wasn’t a big fan. The neck pickup was really muddy. Like, you-jumped-out-of-the-truck-and-sunk-to-your-knees-in-the-muck-and-the-mire muddy. The bridge was an ok pickup, but it was, to me, still a cheap sounding pickup. I kept it for probably 10 years before I traded it off. I really wanted to like it.

Because of that one, even though I was judging their entire line by their entry level Les Paul, I wasn’t really interested in Epiphones. Then I got an itch for a 335-style guitar. I saw an ad for their 2012 1962 50th Anniversary Edition Sheratons. I really liked the look of it. Sunburst. Fancy inlays. Fancy headstock. Gibson mini-humbuckers. CTS pots and switches. And the Frequensator tail piece looked really cool to me. So I bit.

At the time, it was their top of the line Sheraton. It has been a great guitar. It seems to have a little trouble staying in tune, but I really like it.

Then I got an Epiphone 339. It was a great guitar. Is a great guitar. But I’ll explain the “was” in a bit. It was one that I would occasionally stick in the closet to play other guitars. But whenever I would pull it back out, I would be reminded how much I liked it, and it would be my main player for a while. I really liked that you could get some 335 sounds from it as well as some LP sounds. It was just good playing, good feeling, good sounding guitar. Whenever I would play out and needed an electric, that was the one I grabbed.

Because I still had that 335 itch, a few years after I got that Sheraton, I got a Gibson 335 Studio. It was a good guitar. My biggest problem with it is that, if you tried to get any vibrato on the 1st string, it would fall off the fret board. I liked that guitar. Played it a lot. But got tired of having to remember to avoid shaking the 1st string. That may’ve been something that could’ve been fixed if I had it professionally setup rather doing it myself, but I’ll never know. I ended up trading it off at the same time I traded that Epi LP a few paragraphs above.

When I made that trade, I never really intended to get another LP. That Epi Studio was just so heavy. And the pickups weren’t great. So no more LPs for me. But I had always really liked the look of a gold top LP. Truth is, the first electric guitar I remember seeing (and thought was super cool looking) was when I was a little kid over at a buddy’s house. Sitting in the corner was a gold top LP with P90s and a trapeze tail piece that belonged to his brother. To me, aesthetically, that is one of a few perfect guitars.

I saw a screaming deal on an open box Epiphone 50s Standard LP gold top. It had humbuckers in it instead of P90s. But it was such a good deal that I got it. Figured it would be a closet queen. I played it so much, I eventually swapped the Probucker 1 and 2 pickups out for a pair of Burstbucker 1 and 2 pickups I had sitting on the shelf. It has become the guitar I probably play more than any other.

Because of the 339 and the Sheraton, I had the 335 itch again. I knew that the Gibson I had was a good guitar, but it wasn’t that much better than my Epiphones. So I went to my local Guitar Center and played all the 335 type guitars that I they had. Gibson, Sire, Ibanez, and Epiphone. My search actually came down to the Emily Wolfe Sheraton and an Inspired by Gibson ES-335. I ended up with the 335. It’s been a great guitar. And it has scratched that 335 itch well. Truth is, I swapped the stock pickups out for a pair of 57 Classics I had on the shelf, and keep thinking I need to put the stock ones back in.

Then, because I had been playing that Standard 50s LP more than anything, the 339 had finally gone into the closet for a good while. But as much as I always liked it, I wanted to try a specific Gibson ES-339. I put an alert on Reverb for it and told a couple of local stores that if they got one to call me. Never got a call from the stores. Every few months, my alert would fire off on Reverb, but, by the time I would see it and call the store, it was already gone. Finally saw one and got the store called in time. I finally got my Gibson 339.

At some point, I’ll write about the differences in the two. I used to joke that my Gibson 335 was a Friday afternoon guitar with several little quirks like that high E string that would fall off the side. The ES-339 is the opposite of that 335. .There is nothing wrong with it. It’s the guitar that made me see why folks are willing to pay what they pay for a Gibson. When they are firing on all cylinders, they make some super nice guitars.

And now to the point of all my rambling. Both Epiphone and Gibson make some exceptional guitars. Both also make some dogs. There is a difference in price points in the brands (that now seems to overlap), and, if you get a top of the line from both, you’ll see why. It’s like the difference in a Corvette (a super nice, high-end sports car) and a Ferrari (a super nice, even higher-end sports car). The merits of each can be debated until the cows come home. Is my Gibson ES-339 worth 6x more than the Epiphone ES-339? I don’t know. I can, however, point out some very specific differences in the two, some of which are very subtle, that could justify the higher price. Again, it could be debated, and some of it may be that Gibson-Made-in-the-USA tax.

Either way, they can both be great guitars, and, between the two, you could find something that probably fits your budget.

Why?

Seriously?!? Another blog about guitars and crap?? Well, it’s not completely new. I just changed webhosts and am starting over.

So why another blog about guitars, gear, and whatever other crap I talk about? Mostly to feed my need to write and talk about stuff. Over the years I have found that I really like to write about stuff, and this will let me continue to do that. I really don’t expect this to take off and be read by more than a couple of people, and, when I say a “couple of people” I actually mean me when I write it and me when I read it after it’s posted. That counts as two right?

I’ll post stuff whenever I feel like it. It might be once a week or it might be once a month. Heck, it might even be once a year. The posts will mostly be about guitars and gear, but I might occasionally post something about my other interests like Moab or my little patio garden.

If anyone stumbles upon the blog and happens to actually read it, I hope they enjoy it. I don’t care whether their enjoyment comes from it being smart and informative or they find it the rantings of a crazy person and walk off thinking better of themselves for being the superior person. Either way, I hope it makes them smile, and it’d be nice if they left a comment and let me know they like what I say or think I’m an absolute and total idiot.