None to come by

A little bummed because was told that none of the new reverse headstock Ibanez S-Series will make it here. Or someone's plain lazy so the webpage remains disregarded.

In any case, happy October, everyone.

Supreme

Yes, I'm still buying DAW picks because they are the ones that work for me.  Limited edition Supreme picks with complementary sticker :-)

Fuzzing drive

Picked this one up just hours ago from Swee Lee :-)

Ibanez's OD850 isn't new, in 1974-1975, it's touted as one of the 'better' interpretation of EHX's Big Muff pedal, manufactured by Nissin Onpa (Japan) till 2002. It's now back for your consideration but that OVERDRIVE label there is a little deceiving (just like the Super Metal). 

The OD850 is what I refer to as a range defined drive unit; it starts out demure & ends in beast mode. However, a good spread of it is just fuzz & more fuzz. Don't blame the 850 for not being something else because it was conceived in the Muff image & that's what it's dishing out. 

So the 850 is a drive in its initial stages but it has nothing extensive to offer & I must say it's not the real parameter of the 850's true identity. It's rather forgettable. Turn it (the SUSTAIN control) up & it starts to fuzz out in anger. The maximum fuzz offering will easily obliterate low notes, the type some germanium units would do. The shred dweebs will have limited applications with this lack of definition but if you peddle some doom in your metal, this might be your break. That's not all because if you couple this with some tone tweaking, you could get some of those super smooth Cliffs Of Dover fuzz tones.

Ibanez: OD850

Availability: Swee Lee Co.

List: $219

Price rant

Here's something new at the stores- Ibanez RGIF8. Iron Label series, primed for distortion & colossal bottom end, for SGD1.8K...

An instrument's worth is somewhat personal but what else can you get for $1.8K?

• A reputable tube amp with $900 change
• An American-made guitar with a higher re-sale value & $200 change
• A multi-FX/ modelling floor unit with $400 change

What am I driving at, really? I'm of the opinion that Ibanez's Iron Label guitars are bordering on deceit. You don't get a higher tier series model & the re-sale value is arguably comparable to a standard series Ibanez. Having said that, I'm still an Ibanez fan & I do own Iron Label models (which are not hyped for looks & feeding the current bearing).   Hmm...

Licking it (1)

Unboxing soon :-)

Not for(za)

I'm currently happy with what Seymour Duncan is dishing out now in terms of overdrive pedals; the Palladium is really right there for the money & the Killing Floor is a very likeable boost unit for me. I've tried the Forza overdrive not too long ago & it's a very rare occasion of being frustrated. Despite being touted as a transparent overdrive by the manufacturer, the pedal sounded half baked in terms of drive. In fact, I hear more fuzz than drive & it hurts to hear any neck pickup interact with this pedal; muddy & rather ill-defined. Someone argues that a great 'woman' tone could be had with this one but if you put any drive pedal to use with whatever tone controls to offer set to nought (absolutely no treble), you can have a convincing woman tone right there. This is also one of those pedals where the drive increases exponentially to such an extent that there was hardly any difference in intensity past a certain upper setting.  Gave it a deserving miss.