Ibanez: Open pore

The Ibanez RG350/370 are new in the Standard range. I'd say these guitars are rightfully there to perpetuate a no-frills, mid-price affair. New this year would be the finish. These models were given an 'open pore' treatment, meaning- a non-gloss overcoat with the stain sunken into the wood grain. Together with the binding treatment, it's a fair regurgitation to stir some interest among us who are in search of RGs in this price range.

Screaming mini

You can now stop trying to find the mini equivalent of the Tube Screamer because the Tube Screamer has gone mini. The manufacturer promises the same tone standards so there's nothing to lose except some weight from your pedal board. No battery support for this one, just keep that in mind.

New Ibanez @ Swee Lee

List: SGD1,699

List: SGD2,499

The first batch of 2015 Ibanez guitars are in at Swee Lee. If you are looking forward to the Premium Steve Vai models depicted above, they are in stock.

ESP: Gus G

The latest addition to the ESP Gus G fold is this EC model you see here. It's a very regular looking affair, in fact, the most regular of them all.

Pedal-ing

Starting the month with some pedal-ing activities. Just testing out how my JDE Deuce Coupe would sound like in a cascade format. As a stand alone pedal, the DC sounds polite in Drive mode. It emanates a rather prickly tone even when the Tone knob is inclined towards the bass side. In Ultra mode, in addition to more intensity (but nothing in distortion territory), there's  more bass to be heard as well. The 805's job is to saturate the signals in terms of drive without adding to too much hissing. I managed to fatten things up much more with the Treble knob knocked off way back to almost zero. Just love the saturation from this lineup. Didn't hear much noise coming from these 2 in simultaneous use. Maybe the batteries helped.

Vox it!

Closing the month with an acquisition- the Vox AC4C1 12" version. Actually, this was paid for last year. The final piece at City Music was a display model so they offered me a fresh piece at the same discounted price but the catch is, I have to wait till February 2015. I didn't mind waiting & here it is today.

Happy end of February, everyone.