10

On this final day of May, I would like to pay tribute to my cat, Lisa, as it is her birthday month. We couldn't remember when her birthday was exactly but it was definitely on the later half of the month. She is not a lap cat & would most probably bite / scratch strangers but she's such a darling, lying around the house & keeping us company. She's a definite lizard terminator & had eaten quite a number that she had caught. More importantly, she kept me company when I stayed up late at night & would sleep beside me when I called it a day. It's still amazing how she would get up every morning at the exact same time, every day of the week. We basically had no use for an alarm clock because she would meow us up. We tried getting her a companion but she didn't like the idea & would hiss at her partner & stopped eating. She remains the princess of the house till today, no other shall share her space & time.

On that note, I used to have a cat before getting married. On my wedding week, the cat died & this loss  wrecked me emotionally for a while, even on my wedding day. I had absolutely no intention to get a new cat because I know its departure would wreck me again but Lisa came into our lives. Someone abandoned her at our work place (we didn't see this happen) & when we took her home, we discovered she was toilet trained so that's how we knew. Our workplace was scheduled to shut down by the year end & the thought of Lisa being abandoned a second time just overwhelmed me. We decided to take her in. Happy 10th birthday to the princess; we absolutely love you being here with us.

Have a good weekend, everyone. Goodbye, May...

Out

Decided to be out of the house today. Staying home & being reminded of unemployment wouldn't do me any good. Had breakfast & added this thirst quencher to the order; iced milk tea. It's also one of my comfort drinks especially on days when I feel darn low.

Was at the East, decided to drop by my favourite satay stall but it's closed. Hope the owner merely took some time off & not end the business for good. That missing store sign is downright disturbing.

Was at a loss. Didn't feel like having rice or noodles as consolation. Decided to just have bean curd with ginko nuts before heading off. 

This is me on my down days. I will always stay away from people, spend time alone & head to places that still hold some fond memories of my past; those days when I wasn't sick & happy. I feel for those who are sick & immobile /  bed-ridden. That desire to be out & about, pretending one is not sick might be more daunting than we perceived it to be. Wishing you folks good health & happiness, always.

GEN 3

There's a mixed reception when it comes to the new Katana GEN 3 amps. Those who already liked the previous iterations will continue to love this version while skeptics continue to question the minor addition in features. Whatever the case may be, I'm of the opinion that the amp per se is a good sounding amp with enough on board features to exclude additional pedals while in use. This is of course based on my experiences with the previous iterations. These amps are now available at Swee Lee less the head version you see here. 

A quick demo by Alex Hutchings to hear the amp's potential which may / may not be your thing. In any case, it gives you an idea of the amp's clean / driven applications.

Pic: BOSS

Soloist prices

The domestic price for the Jackson (Am Series) Soloist SL2MGHT is... $3,999. 

I'm trying to understand why the FR bridge version is listing for as much. Elsewhere, in other guitar stores beyond this country's borders, there is at least a $150 difference, the HT version being the one that lists for less. It makes sense because you pay more for an FR bridge. Deal breaker? Hmm...

Pics: Jackson

FB @ Satyricon

In the mean time, Anthrax's Frank Bello is completing the current Satyricon line up. He did a stint with Helmet before (2004 - 2005) so this is nothing new. Hope there's new Satyricon music to be had soon. However, Darkthrone would probably have a new album out before that can happen.

Pic: Satyricon FB

Out

Back when I was still having chemo, I would hang out at the coffee joint at Esplanade on my off days. I often bought a drink & sat by the waters to look at the sea. I would be sitting near these two bronze kids & that's how the interest to place objects here to be photographed started. My chemo days are well over now (but not my post-chemo meds) but I would drop by to say hi to these kids whenever I am having coffee here. Today, I was at Beez's to get the input jack sorted out & managed to drop by to let the kids see my guitar.

I have Olympia 9s in this one & you'd see more Olympia in my posts in days to come to give you a hint of how much money I have left to keep my interests going. In this country, working to see the days through is not an option. It's downright difficult for sick people like me to just chill, focus on recovering & not think about bills, food, housing loan, etc. This is simply not the place to be if you have plans to take a long term break from work (unpaid leave) to focus on other priorities. It's documented in the media that we are the happiest country in Asia (CNBC, March 2024). Quite possibly, those who were rich & not sick took part in this report. 

Katana discounts

These Katana amps are on discounts at Swee Lee. Katana are good amps, especially for the practicing musicians who would wanna focus on playing instead of tweaking knobs to find that perfect tone before everything starts. Anyway, I'm of the opinion that prices could be lower for the heads. Chances are a cab is required for these & players new to the scene are not prepared / willing to fork out more for an initial amp purchase. Either that or offer generous discounts for stand alone cabs to complement the purchase. Just saying. Offer ends 31 May.

Pic: Swee Lee web store

Eastern Cyclone

Fender brought back the Cyclone. This time, it's a Japanese incarnate. You might say the Cyclone is merely the Duo Sonic with a whammy bridge...

... but the Cyclone is more offset in its body design compared to the Duo Sonic. The Japanese Cyclone is offered in both rosewood & maple fretboards. No compulsion, folks. 

Pics: Fender Japan / MCM

Price watch (81): Ibanez AZ / AZES edition

Guitar prices continue to be at the repulsive end of our purchase considerations. Take this Ibanez AZ2402 for instance, it's now listing for $2,999 (+$300). Darn. It's a tad off the $3K mark & most probably more than the average monthly salary of the worker here.

The AZES31 is now $479 (+$50)...

... while its AZES40 sibling is $499 (+$30). Reality check - when will prices actually go down? Never. Inflation will persist. This is why sale events are important to gear geeks. Also, do not look away from the after-market. Either that or stop playing guitar altogether. 

Pics: Ibanez

Vesak Day

I'm just glad there's a mid-week holiday to give me time away from work & re-think some of the current priorities in life as it's fast approaching mid-year. Have a good break, folks.

PAC @ SG

The new (2024) Yamaha Pacifica Professional PACP12 is now available at the Yamaha stores here. Price: $2,079 because it's a higher tier, Japanese instrument. It's enticing the Ibanez AZ Premium campers to cross over & embrace some Japanese goodness for less. Yield / resist?

 

Pic: Yamaha Corp

Pathway

Interesting - This is a solid body, electric tenor ukulele by the brand Flight. This model is the Pathfinder & it's available at Yamaha ($305). Body is basswood with a flame maple veneer while the neck is a roasted maple unit. Those HS pickups are interesting & suggest the fact that this instrument is not assigned accompaniment duties exclusively. The idea of a solid body electric ukulele isn't new. Agile did this back in 2016: CLICK

Pic: Yamaha SG

Snap MIDI

You can now get an Edwards (Snapper) with a MIDI pickup (BOSS GK) on board. It's only available for the Snapper you see here in the mean time. The other pickups in the guitar are ESP's in-house SS & LH.

 

Pic: ESP Japan

E-II SS

The ESP camp had decided to put stainless steel frets on all its E-II models like 4 months ago. That's how long I've been missing on the ESP stuff. I make no apologies in believing that ESP guitars are among the less affordable instruments out there especially for individuals like me with weakened purchasing power. The reason I make less effort these days to keep with the ESP stuff.

Pic: ESP

Ampworx

The TC Electronic camp touted these to be the best amp emulation in a pedal. The V550 received a definite thumbs up by many players. For those of us who dislike the MESA Rectifier amps, the DW interpretation had won over many reviewers who concluded this version to be better sounding than the amp itself. Of course, better here is subjective but I like what I hear thusfar from online demos. The Jims, did very well to differentiate itself from the other two featured here by sounding very British in its distortion voicing. Available at Swee Lee now: $189 ea.

Pic: TCE

Metalizing

A friend was in Japan recently & he happened to be in a music store. He asked me if there's any guitar pedals that perhaps he could purchase on my behalf. Since the acquisition of an amp with the type of distortion / overdrive that I prefer, I have stopped looking & pedals. However, the MZ-2 (together with the HM-2) are some of the potent intense distortion type pedal back in its time.

To be continued...

DK-1 H

This just popped up on Swee Lee's web store: Jackson DK-1 H. Single pickup guitars are definitely my thing but I'm still averse to the FR Special bridge. I do not wish to have anything to do with it. Anyway, Swee Lee listed this one for $949. Let's take a look at how much other stores (out of SG) are listing it for:

• Canadian Dollars 829 (SGD820)
• Pound Sterling 549 (SGD936)
• USD 665 (SGD895)

No further comments.

Pic: Jackson

Heritage @ C&M

Was across the Causeway last weekend. Will usually drop by C&M Music (Plaza Pelangi) if I crossed over alone. 

Interestingly, there was no sale for the Heritage H-150 but it's $70 cheaper across the Causeway. I had nothing in mind, just casual browsing. Asked if they still have the RG565 in stock - negative.

Pic: Heritage

Aged

Bacchus has relic'd models in their lineups. This one here is the TACTICS24 AGED/RSM, available now at Davis GMC ($1,100). The price is a little steep for something equipped with in-house locking tuners & pickups but it's definitely a winner with that roasted maple neck / fretboard + steel frets. Yes, that's a Wilkinson bridge. 

 

Pic: Deviser

Price watch (80)

Would you agree that discontinued stuff are indeed rare but they don't necessarily deserve the price hike? Also, a collectors' piece - according to...? For the record, no RG was ever equipped with a Floyd Rose bridge since they began life in 1987. The RG1450 is indeed a good guitar, worthy of its Prestige label but we won't pay in excess of $2K for one, yes? The default bridge here is the Edge Pro version, why should we pay more for the RG1450 as opposed to a Genesis RG550 (Edge bridge)?

A Chinese copy with boutique humbuckers on board in excess of $500... I'm sure you would buy this guitar for less, regardless of the pickups in there. Also, there would be keen interest for the pickups if they are not resident in this guitar. Just saying.

SL(ES)H

This guy has a penchant for raising guitar prices. Recently, Gibson had a signature ES-335 going for him. These were limited to 50 pieces worldwide & I must say it's a good thing. If the endorsement is prolonged, it will inevitably raise the prices of the other non-signature ES-335s & we know these guitars are not cheap to begin with. Not a fan anyway, so...

Pic: Gibson

Nylon chorus

Once upon a time, I used to dislike guitars with nylon strings with a passion. Here are my reasons:

• Strings feel thick / overwhelming to the touch. I find nylon strings too fat (for want of a better adjective). This caused playing discomfort.
• Strings are slippery. That's right, these don't stay put when fretted, they tend to move, giving me unnecessary vibrato which made me sound out of tune.
• Guitar sounds dull. This is especially true for the plain strings. I can tolerate the wound strings, though.
• Took forever to tune. Nylon strings required next to forever to tune (especially the fresh ones) in view of their elasticity. I needed to tune the guitar every time I stopped playing. Darn.

These were my opinions on any guitars with nylon strings on board. They were just not my thing. Putting things into perspective, back then, when I was still struggling to play the electric guitar, people kept shoving classical guitars into my face which was a double whammy due to the extra fat neck. 

Fast forward 2022 / 2023 - an ex-colleague passed me her daughter's nylon string electro-acoustic guitar for re-stringing & a minor set up (just lowered the action a tad). I had to plug in the guitar to know if the under saddle pickup was working. The amp happened to have on-board chorus & the guitar sounded darn appealing. I messed with the EQ settings & realized those bland sounding plain strings benefitted from some treble boost. That triggered my nylon-string adventure & it had not stopped ever since.

Adjusto price

Fender's Adjusto-matic (Japan) Jazzmaster is now available at Swee Lee ($1,999). This guitar was last mentioned here on September 2023. I was interested in this guitar due to its no-frills bridge but that price is a deal breaker. Something with a simple bridge system / assembly should cost less, yes?

Pic: Fender Japan

Price watch (79)

This LP Special was available before the Heritage - Gibson debacle. It was in the $1.3+/- price range, it came with a bag. 'Rare' & 'collector's item' here are purely the seller's interpretation & opinion of the current situation. Yes, Gibsons are not available at the stores here but these are arguably within reach (Music Bliss @ Malaysia). That $2,760 price tag does not come with a bag, FYI.

South NWL

The lefty version of the AZ2204NW is now available. A little slow to appear but appear nevertheless. There's this debate about any lefty version of any guitar costing a little more, let's see how much this will list for once it gets to the stores here.

Pic: Ibanez

Red Monday

I'm still in love with the 22 fret S540 models. It is perhaps a silent acceptance of adequacy amidst the shortcomings - obviously those 22 frets. I seldom venture up to the 24th fret while playing but often manifest touch harmonics there. This is the reason why the older, 22 fret S-Series are my thing. Gentle reminder - Malmsteen needs only 21 frets to turn heads.

Anyway, this guitar was brought out to play today to also remind myself how good those IBZ USA pickups are. These were manufactured by DiMarzio so the good tone pedigree is there. Not that I'm a fan of the aforementioned brand but I tend to go with what my ears like & these are definitely likeable.

HDX

An absolutely enticing piece (if you are a single pickup geek like yours truly) but it's a USA only release. I like everything about the guitar less the fretboard - richlite. Deal-breaker.

Pic: ESP

Batt

I am indeed the very small percentage of players out there who power pedals with batteries. I will use, at most, two pedals at any one time so investing in a pedal board with isolated power supply is pointless. The GP extra heavy duty battery you see above came with one of the boss pedals I bought some time ago. I put it in my Snakestortion pedal & it lasted for nearly 2 months before going completely dead. 

Good grass

The LP-like Grass Roots singlecut model has been available at Davis GMC for a while. The Grass Roots name is akin to the 'Squier' of the ESP brand. 

Only the initiated would know that Grass Roots has some serious value for money considerations to offer in their instruments, regardless of the series. The above video would shed some light as to why these things are, in my opinion, a little under-rated. 

Pic: ESP Japan 

E-Quest

This is new for May -  Ibanez has gone ebony for its Q52. That's right, the fretboard for this one is ebony & that very woody body top - it's pale moon ebony.

Also available - the 7-string & slanted frets iteration.

Pics: Ibanez

In labour we trust

Reminder to self - this country thrives on bleeding the workers here with taxes & rent. My respect to those who break sweat to fend for themselves.